256 THE GUHAYNA GROUP iiL2.xvii.

(/) dAr hAmid

XVII Until the latter part of the Turkish period this tribe was

almost entirely nomadic and to a certain degree it is so still. For

several generations past a portion of it has been with the Kababish

of Dongola and a yet larger section with the western Kawahla, who

until the " Mahdta" were incorporated as a subtribe with the Kaba-

BfsH of Kordofan. Both of these outlying Dar Hamid groups remain

entirely nomadic^.

The remainder of the tribe has built many villages of straw

*'tiikls" in the well-wooded, fertile and undulating district which marches to the north with the high, rough country of the Kababish, and many of them reside there all the year round cultivating " dukhn "

or grazing according to the season; but in the " Kharif" a large pro-

portion of the tribe take their coarse woollen tents and move some

distance northwards and westwards like the true nomads until the

rainwater has dried up and they have to return to the villages in and

around the " Khayrdn." The nomadic character of the tribe made it

easy in the last century for various Danagla and others to acquire

possession of many of the basins of the " Khayrdn" which are culti-

vable by " shaduf" and

'' sdkia." The Dar Hamid having no interest

in or knowledge of artificial irrigation only used the wells in the

*' Khayrdn" for watering their flocks, and were content to let others grow vegetables. In addition the Danagla were special proteges of

the Turks and always sure of support if any attempt was made to

oust them.

It is hard to say at what period the Dar Hamid took up their

abode in central Kordofan. It may have been in the first half of the

sixteenth century, or it may have been earlier, at the time of the

great southern movement of the Guhayna tribes through Dongola.

Their ancestor Hamid "el Khuayn" lived, according to their

"7iisbas" from eleven to thirteen generations ago. He and his

brother Hammad, it is said, came from Egypt and pushed through

to Darfur, and their descendants took up their abode partly in Darfur

and partly in Kordofan.

XVIII The main divisions of the tribe are the Ferahna, the Haba-

bIn, the Meramra, the Nawahia, the 'Arifia, the Awlad Akoi, the Meganin and the Gilaydat; and the parentage attributed to some

of these by tradition throws some light on the early connections of

the tribe. The mother of the first two is said to have been from Gebel

^ The commonest camel-brands of the Dar Hamid Kawdhla are the same as

those of certain of the Meganin branch of Dar Hamid.