252 THE GUHAYNA GROUP iii. 2. xiv.

His son 'Awad el Kerim Abu Sin succeeded him and must have been the chief of the tribe at the time when they, in alliance with

the 'Abdullab, sacked Arbagi in 1784^. He was killed in the war of

1802 against the Batahin^. But the greatest of all the Shukria sheikhs was the "grand old Arab patriarch " Ahmad Bey ibn 'Awad el Kerim of whom Sir Samuel

Baker has left so vivid a portrait^. During the early years of his

sheikhship the tribe was at mortal feud both with the Batahin and

with the Ga'aliin and Ahamda east and south of Shendi^, and, like

the rest of the nomads, at daggers drawn with the Fung government^.

But when the Turks conquered the Sudan they found it necessary

to obtain the support of the influential sheikhs, and Ahmad Bey became one of their most trusted allies. In return, wide privileges were granted, and during the latter part of the Turkish regime the

Shukria were lords of the Butana and held a general overlordship

over all the nomads of the Blue Nile, the Gezira and the Atbara, and tithes were paid to the Abu Sin family^ on the crops of nearly

every wddi in the ancient Island of Meroe.

The Shukria attempted to keep aloof from the Mahdi' in the

early Dervish days and their power diminished in consequence. Then came the famine of 1889 and almost annihilated the tribe^. Now, though they are again a large and wealthy camel-owning tribe they can

no longer claim any position of pre-eminence.

Part of them are now in Kassala province^, and the majority are between the Blue Nile and the Atbara. The head of the Abu Sin

family, 'AbduUa ibn 'Awad el Kerim, still resides at Rufa'a and enjoys

the esteem and respect of all, as did his grandfather Ahmad Bey, but

his ancient authority is a thing of the past. His brother Hammad

rules the Shukria of Kassala.

The main subdivisions of the Shukria are as follows

:

NAfLAB. Descendants of Nail wad Sha'a el Din. They include the Abu

Sin family. NurAb. Descended from el Nur, brother of Sha'a el Din. Most of them are in Kassala Province, but there is a branch near Abu Delayk.

^ See D 7, xc. - See D 7, cli.

* See note to D 7, ccxc, and Baker, pp. 75 and iii.

* Burckhardt, p. 346, and Cailliaud, iii, 108.

^ Ibid. pp. 316 and 400.

* Cp. Baker, p. 75. The head of the family held the title " Sheikh el Mashdikh." Mansfield Parkyns (11, 405) adds, however, that the same title was held by the chiefs of the Abu Gin and the Abu Rof families.

' Cp. Sir C. Wilson, loc. cit.

» Slatin, Ch. xiii.

* In Turkish days ICedaref used to be known as " Silk Abu Sin."