198 THE GA'ALlfN AND DANAGLA GROUP iii. 1. 11.

Muhammadan Empire was founded by " 'Abd el Kerim ibn Yame"

in 1020 A.H. (161 1 A.D.^) and

Yame etait de la tribu des Djaliya's [Ga'aliin, that is], au Chendi, au nord de Khartoum, dans la vallee du Nil. Son ancetre etait Saleh ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas, aussi Yame et sa famille se disaient-ils Abassides, comme le font encore les indigenes de Chendi, dAbou Harras, d'Ourfa, de Neselmiya [Mesallamia ( ?)] et les habitants de la ville de Sennar. Avant de venir au Ouadai, Yame s'etait arrete assez longtemps au Darfour'^.

This 'Abd el Kerim was a contemporary of Sulayman Solong

the first Muhammadan ruler of Darfur, whose descendants have

always claimed to be descended from the Beni 'Abbas through a

certain "Idris Ga'aP." The "Yame" or "Yame" who appears as

father of 'Abd el Kerim is undoubtedly "Gama'i"—the singular of Gawama'a : Barth indeed says*

:

Woda, the son of Yame, belonging to the tribe of the Gemir, who at

that time were settled in Shendy, and...had emigrated with his country- men into the regions which afterwards, in honour of him it is said, were comprised under the name of Waday...

;

and here "Gemir" can hardly mean other than Gawama'a.

When, in 191 6, I visited Turra in Gebel Marra, the seat of the

ancient Fur kingdom and the burial-place of its Sultans since the

time of Sulayman Solong, I found established there a small colony

of Gawama'a "fukara" who claimed descent from an ancestor Idris, who had been "brought by Sulayman Solong from the river seven

generations ago for the sake of religion." They had ever since been

guardians of the royal tombs and " Imams" of the local mosque.

Ill Now as regards the Gawabra-Bedayria group, it is fair, I

think, to say that the only denomination under which they can all be

classed with any accuracy is that of Danagla, inhabitants, that is,

of Dongola^ ; and it is doubtful whether they were ever called Ga'aliin

until el Samarkandi asserted that they were descended from el 'Abbas and linked them on that score with the Ga'aliin proper who lived

further upstream. This is not to deny for a moment that there is an

essential similarity of race between the two groups : it is quite obvious

that such exists, and an average Dongolawi might pass for an

average Ga'ali, or vice versa, at any time or place. Nor was el Samar-

^ Helmolt (Hist. p. 584) gives his date as 1635-1655.

^ Nachtigal, Voy. au Ouadai, p. 93.

* See, e.g. Helmolt, Hist. p. 585 ; and p. 92, above.

* Vol. Ill, p. 528. He notes, however, " The derivation of this royal family from the 'Abbasiyin is altogether imaginary."

* All inhabitants of Dongola do not, however, care to be called Danagla. The Rikdbfa, for instance, regarding themselves as Shurafa, resent the application of the name to themselves as suggesting they are merely Nubians.