III. 1. XXIII. THE GA'ALlfN AND DANAGLA GROUP 211 Ga'aliin proper is symbolized in the "nisbas" by the statement that the mother of Ghanim, ancestor of the latter, was a daughter of Rubati.

XXII Now, curiously enough, though the "nisbas" do not link the RuBATAB and the Manasir as closely together as one might expect, the latter and the Dubab appear as descended from brothers in spite of the fact that all of the Dubab live in the immediate vicinity of Gebel Daier in southern Kordofan and belong to the same Nuba type, slightly arabicized, which is found among all the northern hills of Dar Nuba.

For the fact that the Sakarang or kings of Tekali and the royal families of Darfur and Wadai are credited with a Ga'ali ancestry rank sycophancy is partly responsible, but it can hardly have caused the inclusion as Ga'aliin of the Dubab or the equally negroid Tomam and TuMBAB who are neighbours of the latter. The appearance of these in the "nisbas" is in fact additional evidence of that early movement from the river of Nubian Arabs, of the type generally included under the vague genealogical term "Ga'aliin," into the parts of Kordofan immediately north of the Nuba hills, and the fusion of these with the Nuba and others which has produced the present day tribes of Kordofan Bedayria, Gawama'a, etc., and accounts for the linguistic similarities between the Barabra and the Nuba.

XXIII The MiRAFAB were the original owners of Berber. Burckhardt says of them*: "A free born Meyrefab never marries a slave, whether Abyssinian or black, but always an Arab girl of his own or some neighbouring tribe."..." They are careful in maintaining the purity of their race." He describes them as a tall strong people of dark red-brown complexion, with oval face, straight nose, and distinctively Arab rather than Negroid in appearance. Of their characters he formed the lowest opinion : Cheating, thieving, and the blackest ingratitude, are found in almost every man's character. ...In the pursuit of gain they know no bounds, forgetting every divine and human law.... I have never met with so bad a people, excepting perhaps those of Suakin.

None the less they were "of a very merry facetious temper, con-See, e.g., BA, clvi. Note, too, that "A 8" is counted a "Ga'ali" pedigree and its subject a Ga'ali, though the occurrence of Rubat among his ancestors shews he belongs strictly to the Rubatab. A similar line of argument applied to "A 5" denotes that the Mekabda are commonly counted Ga'aliin.

This termination -mig is common in Dongolawi place-names.

' See pp. 92 and 196, and cp. genealogical trees of the "A" group.

* Nubia, pp. 210, 211, 216, 217, 221, 224, 230. "The people Myrifab" and the"Rabotab" (Rubatab), 'Aliab, and "Macabrab" (Mukabirab) are all mentioned, before Burckhardt's time, on Bruce's map.

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