I. 4. XX. THE NON-ARAB RACES OF DARFUR 93
between Marra proper and Si^ The aboriginal population, both here and in Gebel Si, is fabled to have been "To Ra" but no more
is known of them and they are not differentiated by tradition in any way from the original FuR^.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century the FtfR were
sufficiently powerful to leave the mountains. The Musaba'at, a branch of the Kungara, had already found their way into Kordofan^, and the royal capital of the other Fur was now set up near Tina in the fertile country at the eastern foot of the Turra range. From here the Fur not only subdued all eastern Darfur but by the second half of the eighteenth century Tirab had overrun Kordofan, crushed the
circumstance of the greatest importance." Again, in Bakirmi, Barth says (ni, 453)
:
"The mother of the Sultan, or the 'Kufi-banga,' is greatly respected, but without possessing such paramount authority as we have seen to have been the case with the 'magira' in Bornu, and as we shall find exercised by the Moma in Waday." A relic of the same idea no doubt survives in the official position of dignity until lately enjoyed by the grandmothers of the Sultan of Darfur and in particular the maternal grandmother. El Tunisi says ( Voy. au Darfour, p. 184) on this subject : " Si le sultan regnant a encore son mere et sa grand 'mere, el'es ont chacune un rang; bien entendu, ce rang n'estpas une dignite toujours presente dans I'fitat; il meurt avec celles qui en sont revetues."
Thus the Tungur, in claiming Ahmad el Ma'akur as their ancestor, marry him to the daughter of the last Dagu Sultan, the Dagu having been predominant until the coming of the Tungur; and Sulayman Solong is allotted an Arab mother (Slatin, Ch. 11). Similarly, the Musaba'at, calling Ahmad el Ma'akur a Hilali, marry him to the daughter of the last Tungur Sultan (see MacMichael, Tribes..., p. 56), and the Dagu of Darfur agree with them in this tradition.
^ Turra is part of the same range as Marra. It is the burial-place of the Darfur Sultans and there stand the tombs of Sulayman, Musa, Ahmad Bukr, Muhammad Dowra, Abu el Kasim, Tirab, 'Abd el Rahman el Rashfd, Muhammad Fadl and Husayn. They were rebuilt by 'Ali Dinar about 1910 in red brick with grass roofs in place of the old stone and mud edifices. The graves of Sulajmian and Musa his son are in a single tomb standing alone to the north of the rest. 'Abd el Rahman, Muhammad Fadl and Husayn have a single large tomb. The others have each a separate tomb. "The five tombs containing Musa's successors are side by side in a single walled enclosure. Near by the tomb of Sulayman and Musa is a large stone mosque built by the Sultan Ahmad Bukr (1682-1722) which is still in good repair but for the roof. There is a similar mosque called "Gama'i Kurro"near Buldang, between Kebkebia and Kulkul to the north-west of Marra. This is said to have been built by Abu el Kasim (1739-52) and is a large well-made construction of red bricks, morticed with earth and slips of stone and having arched doorways and windows.
- The people of Turra say the To Ra were called after the giant lizard or "monitor" {Ar. "wiril," or "warana"), called "to" in Fur dialect. Its scientific name is Varanus Niloticus. The same name "to" or "tow" occurs also as the nickname of the present " Shartai" of the Birked.
' For the various accounts of their secession see MacMichael, Tribes..., pp. 60—
62. The name of Tonsam, the traditional Musaba'dt ancestor and (generally) uncle of Sulayman Solong, survives in Tunsum, or Tulzum as it is now called, a site in the hills between Turra and- Tfna. The Musaba'at in Kordofan have twisted "Tonsam" into "Muhammad Tumsah." Practically all accounts, though differing in details, date the Musaba'at secession from the time of Sulayman Solong. The name "Musaba'dt" is derived from "sobaha," "to go east." The Arabic h is commonly dropped by the Fur and the s weakened to s.