2o6 THE GA'ALlfN AND DANAGLA GROUP m. i. xiii.
live there in their villages to the present time among a medley of
equally debased Bedayria, Musaba'at, Birked^, Tomam, Tumbab and DuBAB.
XIV Among the subdivisions of the Ghodiat are the following
:
BURUH
\
Nafar el Marad
, 'Omar
, Safei'
I „ Sa'i'd
I ,, Abu Khadra
Idayrat Ku'tJK Mekabda (properly Bedayria) Serarir
I Salamat (an offshoot of the Bakkara Salamat)
The Mekabda, it is worth noting, appear in the "nisbas" as a
Ga'ali tribe closely cognate to the Manasra. Those who are among
the Ghodiat are regarded locally as Bedayria affiliated for several
generations to the Ghodiat.
(c) THE BATAHfN2
XV The Batahin of the present day are a nomadic tribe with head-
quarters at Abu Delayk, halfway between Khartoum and the Atbara, and to a less degree at 'Alwan. The more southernly members of the
tribe, but for a few scattered individuals settled near Wad Medani and el Manakil, are certain of the 'Abadla section in Rufa'a district, and the most northernly the Butugab, who have lately split away from the main tribe and live in Khartoum North district.
Eastwards they do not extend beyond the boundaries of the Blue
Nile Province, except in the season of the rains when they roam the common grazing ground of the Butana, and westwards their rights end fifteen miles or more from the river.
XVI Until about half a century ago the majority of the tribe, less
powerful then than now and living round 'Alwan, were dependent
for water upon the "hafirs^^ until these dried up in the early spring, and then upon the river. But for a long time there had been also a
few of them at Abu Delayk, and it seems that these were popularly
regarded as having ancient rights in that vicinity, if not as aboriginals^.
However the Shukria under the great Abu Sin family had made
themselves supreme in Fung days between the Blue Nile and the
Atbara and maintained their supremacy throughout the Turkish
period. The Batahin were a negligible factor under these conditions;
and, in addition, the Delaykab*, descendants of a certain Kahli "fekV
1 Q.v. Part I, Chap. 4. ^ Sing. Bathani.
^ Cp. D 3, No. 74. It is said they owned one well there. Burckhardt (p. 345) mentions Batahin among the Arabs of Shendi district in 1814, and no doubt he
refers to the families whose headquarters were at Abu Delayk.
* Q.v. in Chap. 5 (a) of this Part.