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 Muhammad 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 exactions 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 camelowning nomads. El Tunisi mentions them in Darfur {Voyage..., p. 129).

' Carbou, 11, 89, 90.