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INTRODUCTION

In the chapter that follows an account is given only of those Arabic- speaking tribes which are the best known in the Sudan at the present day and in which the Arab element either preponderates or is at

least sufficiently strong to warrant the popular definition of them as Arabs.

Thus there is no account of the Bishariin, Hadendoa, Halanka and Beni 'Amir of the Eastern Deserts—the Bega of the Middle Ages—who are predominantly Hamitic and do not have Arabic in general use ; nor of the Nubian Mahass and Sukkot of Haifa Pro-

vince; nor of the "Nuba" of el Haraza and Kaga; nor of the Fung and Hamag of the southern Gezira, whose affinities are rather with

the Shilluk and Burun than with the Arabs. Some description has

already been given in Part I of their general ethnical characteristics and history, and from the text and notes contained in Part IV further items of information may be gleaned.

On the other hand, it is impossible to avoid devoting some space

to the Danagla, and to the various branches of the Mahass who have taken up their abode south of the cataract regions, since it is beyond question that they have as much Arab blood in their veins

as, for instance, the sedentary "Arabs" of Central Kordofan; and

for the same general reason a short notice concerning the 'Ababda has been inserted, and the Hawawir, though largely of Berber origin, have a section to themselves.

Some few of the names that are applied in the ''nisbas" as though to distinct and separate tribes, and other names that are more

or less familiar in the same sense to the natives of the Sudan, will not be found heading paragraphs in this chapter, but a reference to the index will generally shew that such are in fact included among the

subdivisions of a larger tribe or dealt with incidentally elsewhere. Under this category in particular fall the family groups—^the name

tribe would be a misnomer—of the Medanii'n Hasunab, Faradiin, Delaykab and others, who only derive a separate entity from the

fact that their forebears were well-known holy men of the eighteenth

century, or perhaps merely members of the entourage of such.

In two respects at least the Arabs of the Sudan form a single

entity. They are all Muhammadans, though their Muhammadanism has been tainted by the customs and superstitions of the various

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