150 THE PROGRESS THROUGH EGYPT li. i. xv.
holder of this title was also called "Amir of Aswan," chief, that is,
of the Arabs in that vicinity^.
After the granting of the title Kanz el Dowla these western
Rabi'a and such alien elements as they had assimilated came to be known as Beni Kanz-.
About 1171-1175 they were in rebellion against Saladin^.
In 1287 we find them taking part in the Nubian expedition of
Kalaun^. By this time they were virtually supreme from Kus to south
of Aswan on both sides of the river, and, having allied themselves by marriage with the kings of Nubia, were in the position of being
recognized on either side of the frontier of Egypt as forming an
almost independent state ^. Succeeding centuries failed to oust them from their position and they are represented at the present day by
the Kenuz who live from Aswan to Korosko^.
In the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they were a
perpetual thorn in the side of Egypt, being generally allied with the
'Ikrima, the branch of Kays 'Aylan to which the Beni Hilal also
belonged'^, and employing themselves largely in raiding from 'Aidhab
on the one side to the oases on the other.
In 1366 they openly defied the government and actually pillaged
the military post of Aswan. For this exploit they paid dearly, and in
1378 the heads of eleven of their chiefs were sent to Cairo by the Amir of Aswan. Their repression was, however, carried out with
too heavy a hand and in consequence they were reduced to despera-
tion and revolted en masse in 1385 and captured Aswan itself. They
then resumed their career of brigandage and terrorization, and for
^ See following chapter. The term "Governor of Aswan" which is sometimes used is misleading. Kanz el Dowla's position is made clear by Ibn Khaldun's
description of him as "amfr of the Arabs in the neighbourhood of Aswan":
e AijjJt J-i=> w*aJ-» O'^-*' i5*"'>*^ »r->*^' Jt^^' O^^
(Ibn Khaldun, ed. ar. Vol. 5, p. 288, Bk. ii). His position was analogous to that of
the 'Abdullab "Mangil" in Fung days.
2 Ibn Khaldun (ed. ar. Vol. 6, p. 5) says: "The people living next to Aswdn
are known as the Awlad Kanz: their ancestor was Kanz el Dowla." Unless there
is any pre-Fdtimite mention of Awlad Kanz, which, so far as I know there is not, though Mas'udi and Ibn Selfm both wrote in the tenth century, it seems certain
that the tribe did in fact only take the name of Awldd Kanz after the granting of the
title of Kanz el Dowla (^Treasure of the State). Mas'udi {q.v. in Khetdt, II, 572 ff.)
could hardly have omitted to mention the name otherwise.
3 See following chapter. * See following chapter.
* Ibn Khaldun, ed. de Slane, pp. q-ii ; Lane-Poole, Hist. pp. 29 and 308.
• See Beckett. The singular of Kenuz is Kanzi. Alternative derivations that have been suggested for the term Kanz are Kenes (the hieroglyphic name of an
island of the first cataract) and Ta Kenz ("land of the bow"), the old Egyptian name for the country (Beckett, p. 196).
^ Wiistenfeld, F; Caussin de Perceval, Table X A.