INTRODUCTION ONE of the first steps which anyone desirous of studying the

history of a people naturally takes is to consult such native

records as may be extant and appraise their importance as evidence.

Following this course in the case of the Sudan Arab one is sur-

prised to find that a large proportion of the population is in possession

of scraps of paper which they regard as having a historical value. The owner often cannot read, but he is prepared to produce for inspection

a handful of disreputable papers, torn, frayed and filthy. Some turn

out to be unintelligible contracts concerning the cultivation of a plot

of land, some are extracts from a manual of prayer and ablution, some are promissory notes: others contain strings of names, pedi-

grees of the owners to 'Abbas the uncle of the Prophet or some other

notable. If the native is asked the source of the genealogical frag- ment either he thinks that he found it among his father's papers or

says that it is an extract which was taken for him from a larger work owned by some "/<?/jz." In the latter case one's hopes are perhaps

raised by a graphic description of an enormous tome, centuries old,

said to have been composed "by el Samarkandi perchance; but God knows!" And one proceeds in search of the ''feki." Then comes

disillusionment. Sometimes the manuscript has been lost or burnt,

or it has been lent to a relative at the other end of the country, or

eaten by white ants. Sometimes the ''jekV admits possession and

with great care produces a few pages of genealogies obviously written

within the last few decades. In this case one is generally referred

for the original manuscript to some other ^^fekl^' who either lives beyond one's reach or died some years ago.

In time, however, one does hear of some accessible "/e/?/" whose

manuscript has been the fons et origo of many of the ragged shreds

in circulation and from him one learns that he or his father copied

this "nisba," fifteen or twenty years ago, from the copy that was in

possession of some other learned "fekt."

Occasionally one finds a "nisba" that is known to have been in

the hands of the owner's family for several generations. An original

author's manuscript a century or more old I have never seen, though

such may possibly exist.