SHILLUK, NUBA, TAKELE, ETC. 161 source. This gold is met with in commerce in Kordofan in quills ; it is frequently preferred to ready money, and is also cast into rings. It would apj)ear that the negroes at Shabun possess no fireproof crucibles to melt the metal, as is the case with the other negroes and Galla tribes. The Dongola\is have in several places intermarried with negro girls, whence a mixed language, as I am told, has originated : they, however, preserve the characteristics of the father, and a Dongolavi, although born of a negro mother, may be immediately recognized.

The Nuba negroes are for the most part heathens, and only very few of them profess the Mahommedan faith. Their ideas of religion, in general, are very limited, and they observe scarcely any ceremonies of worship. They believe, indeed, in a superior being, but it ranks below the moon, and hence it comes that the end of the lunar month is especially kept holy. ISIany of them again imagine that the sun, which produces the rain, is the superior being, because nothing can grow without rain. They can accurately determine the period when the rainy season will begin, and count from the commencement of each month. They are not idolaters, but are by no means free from superstition, for before entering upon any undertaking or business, they wait for certain omina, according to which they regulate their actions. If, for example, an owl perch upon a house in the night and utter its melancholy note, they consider it a certain sign that one of the M