III. 2. XIX. THE GUHAYNA GROUP 257

Midob in northern Darfur^; the mother of the Nawahia^ a Persian from Baghdad whom Hamid found astray : the child she was carrying when Hamid found her came to be ancestor of the Baghadda^, who have several villages among the Dar Hamid. The Awlad Akoi^ are

said to be descended from Hamid's brother Hammad, the 'ARipfA to have come for the most part from Borku, and the Gilaydat to con-

tain a large element of "slave" or negro.

It is likely that though the eight tribes of Dar Hamid may have been closely connected in antiquity, and are certainly so by inter- marriage at present, their being grouped together under a common

designation was primarily due to their occupying a single tract of country under the leadership of a single chieftain: as Pere Jaussen

says^

:

Bien qu'admettant la descendance naturelle d'un seul homme qui represente la souche de toute la tribu, las Arabes n'excluent point I'ac- croissement de la tribu par adhesion, ni meme une origine par simple agglomeration d'entites independantes se reunissant autour d'un cheikh, qui donne son nom a tout ce groupe.

The Ferahna, Hababin, Meramra, MeganIn and Nawahia are probably of the same original stock, and the remainder, though cog- nate to them, may be later accretions. The story of the child who became ancestor of the Baghadda is no doubt a symbolical method

of stating that the forefathers of the Dar Hamid on their way to Kordofan and Darfur attached to themselves some of those Bagh- adda whom we know to have been settled among the Kanuz between

Aswan and Halfa^.

XIX Of the history of Dar Hamid until the eighteenth century we know nothing. It was perhaps during the first half of it that the Meramra under one Kirialo were the ruling section of the tribe then camping partly in Kordofan and partly in Darfur. Kirialo fell under the displeasure of the Sultan of Darfur on account of his refusal

to collect the v>^hole tribe round the capital and was imprisoned, and

his ''nahds" passed to 'Abd el Hamayd the sheikh of the Awlad Akoi. The latter set off with a force of Zaghawa and Kura'an,

ostensibly to enforce the Sultan's orders, but having once reached

^ An alternative story as regards the Ferahna is that their name is connected with Fara'on (Pharaoh) and that they are mainly descended from Egyptian traders.

^ The word " Nawahia" is said to be formed from that of " Muhammad Nahi," son of Hamid (by Um Kassawayn).

^ 5/w|r. "Baghdadi."

* Cuny's (p. 175) "Arabes Goi." * Pp. 114, 115.

" See Burckhardt, p. 26. "Among these [the KenOz] were also Bedouins of the neighbourhood of Baghdad, whose descendants are still known by the name of Bagdadli."

M.S.I. ij