i84 THE PROGRESS THROUGH EGYPT ii. 2. xll
The Beni Hilal and Beni Kanz have been sufficiently described
already.
The army was divided into two portions, one of which followed
the west bank of the river and the other the east. Shamamun made no attempt to withstand its advance, but wrote to Gurays, the " Lord
of the Mountain^," and "Governor of the isles of Mikhail and the
province of Daw" [Derr(?)], ordering him to follow the policy of
retreating gradually until he joined forces with him.
The Muhammadans overtook the Nubians at Dongola and de-
feated them with great slaughter. Shamamun fled and Gurays was
captured.
Shamamun's nephew^ was then appointed by the victors to the
throne of Dongola, and Gurays was reinstated as his vassal and ordered
to pay tribute.
This done, the Arabs retired, but Shamamun at once reappeared and reconquered his kingdom and ejected his nephew and Gurays,
XLII In 1289 a larger force, accompanied by the two deposed
rulers, was sent from Egypt. During their advance Shamamun's nephew died at Aswan and was replaced by a nephew of the old
king Daud^.
The Arab advance was in the main the same as on the occasion
of the previous expedition, but Gurays and the Awlad Kanz went ahead of the main army to try and effect by peaceful means what
the troops would otherwise achieve by force of arms. Resistance was only met with when the territories of Gurays had been left
behind, but when Dongola was reached it was found that Shamamun had fled to an island fifteen days to the south, and within three days'
journey of Kabushia,
The Arabs lost no time in pursuit, and Shamamun, deserted by
his adherents, retired to the capital of Ador.
The country at once submitted peaceably, the necessary formalities were arranged at Dongola, and by 1290 the Muhammadans were
back in Cairo with their booty. It is almost unnecessary to say that Shamamun immediately reappeared in Dongola, and without any
^ From Abu Salih (p. 266, quoted above) we gather that the Lord of the Moun-
tain lived at Ibrfm and that the people there belonged to the province of Marls. Speaking, however, of Mukurra (p. 263) Abu Salih mentions "A city called the
city of Bausakd. This is a large and handsome city, full of people and of all com-
modities, and possessing many churches. Here dwelt the Lord of the Mountain, whose eyes were put out by George, son of Zacharias Israel. Here is the monastery of Saint Sinuthius...near the town there is a gold mine."
^ Presumably his sister's son; see p. 178.
^ Ibn Khaldun instead of "nephew of Daud" gives "Daud the son of Mar-
tashkfn's brother" {loc. cit.).