III. 4. IV. THE GUHAYNA GROUP 309

the sheikhship some ten generations ago, until the Ribaykat sup-

planted them. It is also said that of the Awlad 'Ukba who crossed

into Egypt from Arabia a part passed through Tripoli and eventually

drifted into the ranks of the Fellata in West Africa, that others

are incorporated in the great Awlad 'Ali tribe of the Libyan desert^, and that a third portion settled in the Syrian desert.

This is quite enough to identify the Awlad 'Ukba of Kordofan

with the Beni 'Ukba who still live among the Huwaytat on the

Arabian coast round Makna, Muwayla and Ziba^, and in company

with the MuzAYNA in Sinai^.

In an earlier chapter we have already met these Awlad 'Ukba as

a branch of the Beni Gudham.

Dr Wallin, who made their acquaintance near 'Akaba in 1848,

quotes* various Arabic authorities as to their ancient history,

Ibn Fadlulla el 'Omari^ (1301-1348) says they are responsible for

convoying pilgrim caravans part of the way between 'Akaba and

el Medina. Ibn Khaldun^ corroborates this, and adds: "In Afriki'a,

in the west, there are some of them, as well as in the neighbourhood

of Terabulus" (Tripoli), He also speaks of the Beni Wasil of

Egypt' as "a branch of the Beni 'Ukba son of Moghraba^ son of Gudham of the Kahtania^,"

The Beni 'Ukba told Wallin^" that in old days their territories

used to be more extensive, and that they had been divided at the commencement of Islam into Musalima and Beni 'Amr, and they

described how they had been gradually ousted from their more

northernly territories by the Huwaytat.

Burton tells us^^ at length how after years of struggle against odds

the Beni 'Ukba were compelled to conclude peace with the Huway- tat on terms so disadvantageous as to be dishonourable^^, and to

^ For the Awlad 'Ali see, e.g.. Junker, p. 33 ff. ; Klippel, pp. 10, etc.

^ Cp. Burton, Land of Midian, i, 161 ff., Wallin, p. 299, etc.

' Wallin, p. 298. I found the Beni 'Ukba still in the localities mentioned when

I visited the Arabian coast with the Red Sea Patrol in 19 15.

* Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc. Vol. xx, 1851, p. 301. Burton was familiarwith Wallin 's work and also cites the Arabic authorities and gives a long account of the traditional

history of the tribe (Land of Midian, i, 161 ff.).

^ Referred to by Wallin as "the author of Al-Mesaliku-l-Absar." See Huart,

p. 326. He is also known as Abu el 'Abbas Shihab el Din Ahmad (Wallin, p. 343).

^ Wallin speaks of him as "the author of Al-'Ibar." The reference to Ibn Khaldun is Vol. i (ed. de Slane), pp. 9-1 1.

' Q.v. ap. Klippel, pp. 5-6.

* "Moghraba" should perhaps be "Mahria": see Wiistenfeld, Tab. 5.

* Other passages quoted are merely genealogical in tenour.

^'' Q.v. p. 300. ^^ Loc. cit.

^^ Burton says " these hard conditions were actually renewed some twenty-five

years ago" (i.e. about 1850).