1 86 THE PROGRESS THROUGH EGYPT 11.2.XLI11.
XLIII In 1299^ the Mamluks suffered a severe defeat at the hands
of the Mongol hordes at Hims, and one of the after-effects of this and of the oppressive taxation necessitated by a depleted war-chest was the serious Beduin revolt which broke out in Upper Egypt in
1302. The trouble was quelled with promptitude and thoroughness. From Giza and Atfih southwards thousands were put to the sword and their possessions confiscated. A nomad wherever found was at once executed^. It is said that 8000 oxen, 6000 sheep and goats,
4000 horses, and 32,000 camels formed the spoil. XLIV Meanwhile, the settlement of Nubia seems to have been
distinctly successful, for in 1 304-1 305 we have the king Amai^
bringing presents to Cairo and seeking aid from the Sultan el Nasir Muhammad ibn Kalaun, and obtaining it. Taktoba the Governor of Kus was sent to help Amai with an army of regulars and Arab
auxiliaries^.
In 131 1 the tribute was paid by Kerenbes^, the last Christian
king of Dongola, but he was evidently less docile than his predecessors,
for both in 1315 and 1316 troops had to be sent to Dongola. The second of these two expeditions was accompanied by 'Abdulla ibn
Sanbu, nephew of Daud, and resulted in the capture of Kerenbes and his brother Abraam and their removal to Cairo ^.
'Abdulla ibn Sanbu—a Muhammadan—^was then made king. XLV A new favourite now appears for the Nubian throne, Kanz el Dowla the chief of the Beni Kanz settled round Aswan. He attacked
'Abdulla, put him to death, and made himself king. Whether he had
allied himself by marriage with the royal house, in the usual manner,
or whether he had no other right than might, we do not know.
^ Lane-Poole, Hist. p. 300,
^ If he claimed not to be a nomad he was told to pronounce the shibboleth "da^k," the k of which the Egyptian would pronounce as an 'ain and the Beduin
as a hard g. ,
^ Ibn Khaldun (ed. ar. Vol. 5, p. 429, Bk. 11) calls him "Ay" {^^) and says he does not know if he was "Semamun's" successor or whether any other ruler interposed between the reigns of the two. He dates his death in 1316, but is probably in error.
* El Makrizi, Kit. el Seluk, ap. Quatremere (11, 114): cp. Lane-Poole, p. 299.
^ Makrfzi, loc. cit. Ibn Khaldun calls him {loc. cit.) "Kerbays" and makes him brother as well as successor of Amai ("Ay"). Makrfzi 's account is adopted
in the following paragraphs.
* Ibn Khaldun {loc. cit.) gives " 'Abdulla Nashli." He says he was one of the Nubian royal family who had lately settled in Egypt and been converted to Islam.
Ibn Khaldun's account of what follows is that "Kerbays" fled to the Mek of
el Abwab and that the Sultan requested the Mek to hand him over and that the Mek complied. Kerenbes must have been sent to Egypt by way of the Red Sea,
e.g. via 'Aidhab, for after 'Abdulla's murder, according to Ibn Khaldun, the rebels sent to el Abwab for Kerenbes and only then learnt that he was in Egypt. When the Sultan heard of the episode he sent Kerenbes to them and he became their king.