74 THE NON-ARAB RACES OF DARFUR i. 4. viii.

Ans. Well, there used to be, but nowadays they appeal to God only. Ques. Did they adopt this system of holy sites from the Fur? Ans. It is general in Darfur. The Dagu and the Birked and the Fur and the Zaghawa and BedayAt all do the same, and the practice is prac-

tically universal except among the Arabs.

Ques. Is there a medium ? Ans. Yes, a woman generally. Her position is hereditary from mother

to daughter, irrespective of age. Among the ZaghAwa she is called the bada.

Ques. Is there any particular season more favourable than another? Ans. No, but of course at this present season (June) it would be for

rain most people would be praying and making their offerings. The DAgu

of Dar Sula make a regular festival of it. The Sultan and his nobles attend and all the horsemen, and they place the di/m in front of a hole in a

certain rock and wait. If the ants—the big black battling ants—come out,

it is a good sign and all rejoice. If not the prospect is bad. This particular system I believe to be confined to Dar Sula. Throughout Darfur it is merely a question of making offerings at certain places and praying for

success.

The Dagu in Darfur live by cultivation and breeding cattle in

the fertile tracts round Nyala and Takala to the west of Dara.

They have a hereditary Sultan, tributary to the Sultan of Darfur

of course, as head man, and his right-hand man is the sambei —a sort of president of the tribal sheikhs or damdlig^, who does most of the work. All the sections of the tribe are subject to the

sambei's orders except the Sultan's own and one or two others

closely related to it. The position of the sambei, however, is not

hereditary, but almost elective. He is chosen by the people from among the body of the tribe by a consent that is as near as possible unanimous. In theory he can be dismissed by the Sultan, but in

practice he is secure so long as he commands the confidence of the

people.

In addition to the main DAgu settlement in Darfur and the colony

in Dar Sula there are also smaller groups of Dagu in Dar Messina,

in Kordofan, on the north-west fringes of the Nuba country in what

are known as the Dagu Hills, and even a few small and scattered

settlements farther east near el Obeid^ and, it is said, east of

Tekali^.

^ In Ddrfur, even among the Arabs, the tribal elders, the body that chooses or deposes the head sheikh that is, are known as "damdlig" (sing, "dimlig"). See para, xxi to follow. The term is not used elsewhere in the Sudan. For the position of the "sambei" among the Dagu cp. that of the "dincjar" among the Ma?alft (Para. xvi). The tvvo exactly correspond.

^ Cp. MacMichael, Trihes...,pp. •;! , 52. Seealso Carbou, I, 371, and il, 218—220. The Ddgu in Kordofan are regarded locally as "Hamegs" or "Nuba" by origin.

' These last I have not met and I only heard of them when in Ddrfur.