II. 2. xxvi. AND THE INVASION OF DONGOLA 171
"rahrah'^" On the banks of the Atbara, we are told, lived a tribe
called the Digiun^ connected on the one hand with the people of
'Aloa and on the other with the Bega. Beyond them and bordering on Abyssinia were the Baza^, among whom "all the women bear the same name, and hkewise the men."
The hereditary kingship of 'Aloa was held in Ibn Seli'm's day by one Simeon whose capital was at Soba near the junction of the Niles.
^On voit dans cette villa des constructions fort belles, de vastes cou-
vents^, des eglises ou Tor abonde et des jardins; I'un de ses faubourgs^ est peuple de Musulmans. Le roi de 'Alouah est plus riche que le roi de Maqorrah; il a plus de guerriers et plus de chevaux; son pays est plus
fertile et plus vaste'; les palmiers et les vignes cependant y sent rares; la
recolte la plus abondante est celle du dourrah blanc qui ressemble au riz
;
on en fait du pain et de la biere....Ces peuples sent de la religion chretienne
Jacobite; comme chez les Nubiens, leurs eveques leur sont envoyes par le
patriarche d'Alexandrie. lis se servent des livres grecs qu'ils traduisent dans leur langue. lis sont moins intelligents que les Nubiens. Leur roi
est maitre absolu...^.
In the Gezira, some distance south of 'Aloa, lived a certain people
called the Kersa^. Of them it is related
:
a I'epoque des semailles, chaque individu vient avec ce qu'il possede de semences et forme un enclos en rapport avec la quantite de graines qu'il a apportees; puis il seme aux quatre angles de 1 'enclos une petite quantite de ce grain et depose le reste, avec un peu de biere, au milieu de I'enclos
^ Burckhardt, " rahwah " (p. 497). Possibly the term is connected with the "Rehrehsa" of the stele of Heru-sa-atef. This king (sixth century B.C.) reigned at Meroe and records an expedition he made against a people of that name and two attacks by them on Meroe. (See Budge, n, 80, 81.)
^ May these be the Dagu, not yet gone to Darfur? It is unlikely; and Burck- hardt reads " Deyhyoun" {i.e. ^^jo*^)^ for 0>!^^»^J*) ^^i^ Quatremere "Rihnoun" (n, I?)-
' Burckhardt, "Nara." Two of his MSS. spelt it so, and one "Zonara."
* Trans. Bouriant, Khetdt, 11, 557. For earlier mentions of 'Aloa see pp. 46- 48.
^ Burckhardt (p. 500) translates "handsome edifices and extensive dwellings."
* The Arabic is iaJj, the plural of J»bj: Burckhardt {loc. cit.) translates "inns where Moslims live." He explains that the word means " public buildings destined originally for the accommodation of students ; many of them still exist in the Hedjaz and at Cairo where they have declined into mere lodging-houses." I think " hostels "
would be the best translation. See note to "D 7," i, in Part IV.
' Mas'udi {in, 32) had heard that 'Aloa was subject to the king of Dongola: he was probably misinformed.
* This passage cannot fail to recall the opening paragraph of MS. "D 7" {q.v. in Part IV).
* Bouriant gives "les Kernina" (UaJjXJI), Burckhardt (p. 501), "A nation of the name of Koroma or Kersa": the latter notes: "This I find written Korsa, Kortyna, and Koroma {\^j£s L«^^ \x^j£s)." The people are presumably the same as Mas'udi's "Kunna" (see p. 168). We shall later in this chapter find the
Kersa grouped with the 'Anag and others in the thirteenth century.