III. 4. VI. THE GUHAYNA GROUP 311

The 'Atawia of Kordofan are generally considered to be Ka- WAHLA by origin, but this may mean no more than that when the bulk

of the Kawahla joined the Kababish^ the 'Atawia came with them.

There are also cattle-owning 'Atawia farther south among the RiZAYKAT Bakkara, and we have already seen that " 'Ati'a" is one of

the most generally accepted and best known of the traditional Bak- kara ancestors.

VI The NuRAB, the richest and also the ruling section of the Kaba-

BfsH, claim to be properly Rikabia from el 'Afat in Dongola^. The Seragab are said to be Kenana^. The Berara are Ga'aliin*. The AwLAD SuLAYMAN Say they are an offshoot of the great tribe of the same name which was once settled between the Great Syrtes and Fezzan and which terrorized Borku Bornu and Kanem in the nine-

teenth century^.

The AwLAD '(3n, a sheep-owning section round Gabra, were

probably identical, some generations ago, with the 'Onia branch of

the Shaikia.

The 'AwAiDA^ say their eponymous ancestor 'Aid was a famous

^'fekV^ from Aden. As they do not appear under their present name

in the manuscripts one might be apt to suppose that they were new- comers to Africa, who since their arrival had absorbed the families

of Bega Kanuz and Shaikia'^ which are to be found among them. But it is much more likely that the true 'Awaida, who have absorbed

these foreign families, are of common stock with the 'Aidab of Don-

gola, whom we have met previously both among the Shaikia and the

Bedayria.

For a time the 'Awaida were with the Rufa'a in the East between

the Rahad the Binder and the Atbara rivers, and a certain number

of them remain there stilF. But the greater number crossed the river and joined the Kababish. This probably occurred about the beginning

of the nineteenth century^.

^ Q.v. sub Kawahla (Chap. 5 to follow).

^ See D I cxiii. ' Cp. sub Kenana (Chap. 6).

* They probably joined the Kababish comparatively recently. They alone of

all the sections brand their camels on the left side.

* See note to Tunisi's Voy. au Ouaddy, p. 660; also for a full account of them see Carbou, i, 85-103, and 31-35, and Barth, Vol. in, Chap, xl, pp. 61 fF. Those now settled in the Chad region are of the Tripolitan Arab type.

* Sing. 'Afdi. ' Viz. the 'Adlanab section.

* The only sections I have met have been some Kanzab and Musiab at 'Id

el 'Awafda in el Kamlin district.

* Their division into Zurruk and Bayyid {i.e. dark and light) has reference to the colour of their camels and not to themselves. Dark camels are the rule among the "south and middle tribes, Harb, Metayr, and Ateyban" in Arabia (Doughty, Wanderings..., 11, 125).