CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 115 el Nassarie, Hababin, el Ilommer, etc. ; beside these, the Kubbabeesh under Sheikh Sale must be mentioned. These Arabs, as they call themselves, are, like the negroes, black ; one tribe of Bakkara, (Hababin,) however, is copper-coloured, although they live under the same zone and lead the same kind of life. I very much doubt the tradition, that all these tribes wandered out of Arabia into Africa, during the great migration of nations in the seventh century. I know of no tribe in all Araby of black colour, and the climate of Africa could not have made them as dark as they are at present, even in a thousand years. If this discoloration be the effect of climate, why have not the red Bakkara, as they are here called, become black ? for the copper-coloured nations more readily change to black than those of white complexion.

Their features, moreover, bear no resemblance to those of the Arabs ; they are, also, unlike the negroes ; they have not the prominent cheek-bones and the thick everted lips ; their hair is rather smooth than curling, and they wear a number of plaits. This race is, in part, of pure blood, and yet they speak very bad Arabic, whereas other Arab tribes, who live at a much greater distance from the parent countr}% as several tribes of Bedouins, have preserved the native purity of their language. It is far more proba])le, then, that these Arabs have been inhabitants of Africa, on the borders of the Red Sea and in the neighbouring deserts, i2