HISTORY. 17

ma (Sheikh Moosa), el Messerie (Sheikh Labaied),

Koncieri or Darfiirer, Pergu, and Nas-Gioffon ;*

but these people may be arranged collectively under

three heads, namely : the Negroes ; the Bakkari

and Arabs or free people ; and the Dongolavi. All

these various tribes differ in their manners and

customs, if not totally, at least to a certain extent, and speak thirteen dialects and languages among

them.

The total population of Kordofan may be com-

puted at 400,000 souls, excluding the nomadic Bak-

kari. The Defturdar did all in his power to de-

grade this country, and his name is, even at the pre-

sent day, a word of terror to the natives. Terribly,

indeed, the tyrant abused his authority in this un- happy country; no pen can describe the cruelties which he perpetrated in the province. Human nature

revolts at hearing the inventions of this ruffian, prac-

tised upon his unfortunate \'ictims for the mere gratifi-

cation of his passion of cruelty. I should not have

believed every rumour, or have regarded the ac-

counts I heard of the atrocities of this man, for the most part, in the light of fiction, if I had not re-

ceived corroborating evidence in all the districts of

Kordofan, Sennaar and Eg}'pt, through which I

travelled ; tales the more worthy of credit, inasmuch

as many persons are yet living who were not only

• The German orthography has been generally followed, as it ig

impossible to give the exact spelling of these names, without being

furnished with the Arab characters. Tb,