1. 4. VIII. THE NON-ARAB RACES OF DARFUR 75

In Darfur the Dagu call themselves Fininga. They are known

to the Fur as Miringa, to the Birked as Nishigi, and to the Mesali't

as Bereje.

In view of Earth's theory, quoted above, that the Dagu may have come from south of Sennar, and the evidence of their own traditions,

is it not possible that there is a connection between the words

"Fininga" {smg. "Finichei") and "Fung"? It will be noticed that

the period of Dagu ascendancy in Darfur corresponds to the time when the Fung, having founded their kingdom in 1504, were extend-

ing their power over the neighbouring provinces.

They perfunctorily claim descent from the Beduin of the Hegaz

and say that their ancestor, who brought them from Arabia, was a

certain Kedir who gave his name to the well-known Gebel Kedir^,

one of the Nuba mountains lying west of the upper reaches of the White Nile, south of latitude 11°, east of Talodi. From Kedir, they

say, the Dagu moved westwards, leaving small colonies in Kordofan,

to Darfur, and there took up their abode.

The successors of Kedir were in turn Mai, Zalaf, Kamteinyei'^,

'Omar, 'Abdullahi Bahur and Ahmad el Dag. Of the first three

nothing is recorded, but it was 'Omar who finally ejected from the Dagu country of the present day the Foroge or FoROKEwho inhabited

it previously, and drove them back south-westwards to their original home in Dar Fertit^. Of Ahmad el Dag is told the story, not peculiar

to him*, that his pride and presumption were such that he was not

content to ride a horse or any other animal but a tiang, and that his mount ran away with him and galloped to Dar Sula, and he was never more seen in Darfur. They explain thus the foundation of the western

colony of Dagu^. It is impossible to arrive at any exact date for this

event, but the Sula colony must have broken away from the main

^ Gebel Kedfr was chosen in 1881 by the Mahdi as the starting point of his campaign. He called it Gebel Masa because the Muhammadans believe that the

true and "Expected" Mahdi will come from a hill named Masa (see MacMichael,

Tribes..., p. 37).

^ "Teinyei" means a cow in the language of the Dagu of Darfur and of those

in Sula.

* It may be noted that the Fur are known to the people of Dar Tama by the name of Forok. Dar Foroge is shown, on Nachtigal's map, for instance, in Dar Abo Dima, north of the Ta'aisha country. El Tunisi {Voy. Darf. p. 134) calls it " Dar-Faraougueh."

'' At Turra I was told practically the same story of the Fur Sultan 'Omar Layla ("Lele") who died in Wadai in 1739. It was added that whenever "karamas" were being offered in memory of the various Sultans, 'Omar's bull invariably gave much trouble and refused to be sacrificed though all the rest came quietly to the

slaughter.

^ The Dagu o"f Sula call themselves "Koska" instead of "Fininga" as in Darfur.