III. 3. XVIII. THE GUHAYNA GROUP 293
'Errik^
I. El GubarAt^
(a) Um Surra
b) AwlAD Gid
c) „ Hasabu
d) ,, Serhan
e) ,, HAMDAN
(/) „ Kaid Um Rayda
(a) El Bellal
(b) El Belluli
(c) El 'Imayrat
(d) El Mansuri
3-
4-
5-
6.
7-
8.
9-
10.
II.
12.
AwlAd Sinna
,, Hamaydan Um La'asa Awlad 'Abbas El Gerarha^ El Fatimia El Mati'ya^ El GHAZALfN Awlad Sa'ad
Abu Tom
(h) BENI HELBA
XVIII The Beni Helba were until recent years a large and rich
tribe with their " ddr" proper situated in the 'Id el Ghanam district,
south-west of Gebel Marra, and with a smaller branch, the 'Alowni and other Awlad Gabir, living east of Marra and south of Gebel
Harayz, An independent tribe of Beni Helba also lived in Wadai^.
In the early years of the nineteenth century the Sultan Muham- mad Fadl (1799-1839) decimated the numbers and seized most of
the herds of the Darfur tribe^. They recovered their wealth and
prosperity only to be again decimated during the Mahdia. After the
overthrow of the Khalifa they again recuperated, but the fiscal ex-
actions of 'Ali Dinar and his continual demands for levies and horses and cattle, beginning in 1900 and culminating in 1909, drove the
bulk of the Beni Helba into Dar Rizaykat, Dar Sula and Dar Humr.
On the defeat of 'Ali Dinar by the Government in May, 1916,
the Beni Helba saw their opportunity for revenge, collected their
scattered forces and set to work to raid the cattle of 'Ali Dinar and
of the sedentary Fur and others living on the confines of the country, hoping no doubt to lay the foundations of a fresh tribal fortune in
place of those lost in preceding generations. The Beni Helba refugees
in Dar Sula at the same time seized the opportunity to stream back
into Darfur and assist in the good work.
The Beni Helba are divided into Awlad Gabir and Awlad
^ See note 5, p. 292.
* Cp. among the Humr Felaita and the Beni Gerar.
' See note on p. 283, above. • Cp. p. 202.
* Barth, Vol. iii, App. 7, p. 545, classes them as one of the chief tribes of Wadai. Cp. Nachtigal, Voy. au Oiiadat, pp. 70, 72, who classes them among the camel- owning nomads. El Tunisi mentions them in Darfur {Voyage..., p. 129).
' Carbou, 11, 89, 90.