II. 1. X. IN THE MIDDLE AGES 139

according to the custom of the infidels as to the succession of the sister or the sister's son^. So their kingdom fell to pieces and the A'rab- of Guhayna took possession of it^. But their rule shewed none of the marks of states- manship because of the inherent weakness of a system which is opposed

to discipline and the subordination of one to another. Consequently they

are still divided up into parties and there is no vestige of authority in their

land, but they remain nomads following the rainfall like the A'rab of Arabia. There is no vestige of authority in their land since the result of the com- mingling and blending that has taken place has merely been to exchange the

old ways for the ways of the Bedouin Arab"*.

The most important mention of the Guhayna in the Sudanese

nisbas is to the effect that they reached a total of "fifty-two tribes

in the land of Soba on the Blue Nile under the rule of the Fung, but most [of them] are in the west, [namely in] Tunis and Bornuh^." Of the movement of the Guhayna south-westwards into Kordofan and Darfur more will be said in the chapters that follow.

X Lakhm. The tribes of Lakhm were kinsfolk of the Beni Gud- HAM, and, like them, strictly speaking, a branch of Tai.

We have seen how they came originally from Yemen and settled on the confines of Persia. They founded a dynasty there in 268 a.d.^ and its records are chiefly of warfare against the tribes to the west of them in Syria, Ghassan, Beni Bukr, Beni Tamim^ and others.

In old days they and Gudham had both been worshippers of the

planet Jupiter^, but by the end of the fifth century, if not earlier,

Christianity had made considerable strides to the east of Syria and many of the Arab tribes, including Lakhm, had been converted

to it».

The rule of the Lakhm at Hira ended with the rise of Islam.

^ The Arabic of this passage is as follows

:

See notes on pp. 92, 93 and 178, re matrilinear descent. Cp. Quatremere,

II, 38: "Chez les Nubiens, dit Abou-Selah, lorsqu'un roi vient ^ mourir et qu'il

laisse un fils et un neveu du cote de la sceur, celui-ci monte sur le trone, de pre- ference a I'heritier nature!."

- wjI^I, the word used exclusively for nomad Arabs.

* The reference is evidently to the southern "kingdoms." The Beni Kanz, etc., were still all-powerful farther north.

* See "BA" cxxni in Part iv.

* See Van D\'ck, pp. 24-28. Butler (p. 214 note) quotes Ibn Dukmalj as denying

their right to he called Arabs. This denial is unreasonable.

' These wars took place between 473 and 576 a.d.

* Caussin de Perceval, i, 349.

* The Lakhmite king el Na'aman Abu I^abus (588-611 A.Xi.) was a great builder of churches (Van Dyck, loc. cit.).