240 THE GUHAYNA GROUP iii. 2. iii.

of the GuHAYNA element than any other ^. When I asked one of

their chief men, 'Agab Abu Gin, whether the Rufa'a were Guhayna

or AsHRAF his reply was "It is said we are Ashraf, but God knows:

if we are not Ashraf we are certainly Guhayna."

Makrizi calls the Rufa'a a branch of the Beni Hilal^, and it will

be noticed that one section of them in the Sudan is called the Hilalia.

It is possible therefore that the legend of Abu Zayd el Hilali crossing

the Blue Nile near the site of the village of Rufa'a is connected with

the southern movement of the Rufa'a from the Eastern Desert to

the Blue Nile.

IV In the Fung days the Rufa'a were almost entirely nomadic and

their headquarters were Sennar, Arbagi, and el Talha. The village of

Rufa'a, after which a district is now named, was not founded until

the northern half of the tribe had begun to relinquish the purely

pastoral life.

At present the habitat of the Rufa'a is along the Blue Nile from

its embouchure to south of Singa. They fall into two main groups.

Of these the northern group are settled in villages in the Blue Nile

Province: here in a single village one sometimes finds a medley of

Rufa'a, Mahass, Ga'aliin, Danagla and others: in other villages

the whole population is composed of a single section of Rufa'a. They and the Mahass are generally regarded as the ancestral tribal owners of the riverain land in the northern districts of the Blue Nile

Province, and the claim of the Rufa'a at least is probably well founded,

for it must be remembered that though the 'Abdullab, whose epony- mous ancestor four centuries ago helped 'Omara Dunkas to found

the kingdom of Sennar, have since that time been an entirely inde- pendent tribe, they were properly Rufa'a of the Kawasma section, and their sphere extended from north of the junction of the Niles

southwards to Arbagi.

V The southern branch of the Rufa'a is more nomadic than seden-

tary and is often referred to by other tribes simply as the " Guhayna "

or " Guhayna el '(3l" (" feckless Guhayna")^. These are divided into

Rufa'a el Shark (Eastern Rufa'a), or NAs Abu Gin, and Rufa'a

EL Huoi (Rufa'a of the Gezi'ra, i.e. Western Rufa'a), or NAs Abu R6f.

These alternative names, "Abu Gin's folk" and "Abu Rof's folk,"

are given them because for many generations they have been ruled

^ Sir C. Wilson speaks of them {loc. cit.) as a branch of Guhayna.

^ Quatremfere, ii, 201. The Beni Sulaym, who accompanied the Beni Hilal in

their great migration, also contained a section called Rufa'a (Quatremere, 11, 214).

' The proverb says " Guhayna el 'Cl, el 'ashira fok zol," i.e. "feckless Guhayna,

ten of them all at one man." They are supposed to be particularly excitable,

irresponsible and hasty.