3i6 THE GUHAYNA GROUP iii.4.xi.

place far to the north of the Wadi el Melik, in the cold winter months. So far from appearing to tend towards a more sedentary existence, the Kababi'sh, as their herds have increased under the Pax Britannica, have, if anything, become more universally nomadic.

(b) THE MOGHARBA or MOGHRABfN XII From the word "Moghrabi," the singular of Mogharba or Mograbin, through the Latin Maurus, has arisen the anglicized "Moor," and from "Moghrab el Aksa," "the extreme west," the name "Morocco." It must not, however, be assumed that all the Mogharba in Egypt or the Sudan came from Morocco : it is unlikely that any of them, a certain number of individuals of the merchant class excepted, did so.

The term was loosely applied during the time of the later Mamluks and of Muhammad 'AH Pasha to all the Beduin tribesmen who lived west of Egypt. Take, for instance, the following from Burckhardt: The temple of Ebsambal serves as a place of refuge to the inhabitants of Ballyane, and the neighbouring Arabs, against a Moggrebyn tribe of Bedouins, who regularly, every year, make incursions into these parts. They belong to the tribes which are settled between the Great Oasis and Siout. When they set out, they repair first to Argo, where they commence their predatory course, plundering ail the villages on the western bank of the river ; they next visit Mahass, Sukkot, Batn el Hadjar, Wadi Haifa, the villages opposite Derr, and lastly Dakke ; near the latter place, they ascend the mountain, and return through the desert towards Siout. The party usually consists of about one hundred and fifty horsemen, and as many camel-riders: no one dares oppose them in Nubia; on the contrary the governors pay them a visit, when they arrive opposite to Derr, and make them some presents. The incursions of this tribe are one of the principal reasons why the greater part of the western bank of the Nile is deserted.

XIII It was from such Mogharba that the armies of Isma'il Pasha and of the Defterdar were largely recruited preparatory to the conquest of the Sudan . That the Berber element was perhaps as strong as the Arab in these Mogharba will be clear from preceding chapters, but there is no reason on that account to consider the term "Arab" For a discussion of this point by a comparison of present conditions with those described by Parkyns in 1850, see my Tribes..., pp. i8g ff.

* Nubia, p. 92. * I.e. Abu Simbel.

* Burckhardt notes elsewhere (p. bcxvii) "The Arabs who inhabit Thebes and the adjacent country, are originally Moggrebyns." See also Volney, Travels..., 1,76,77-" See Cailliaud, n, 50, 51. He defines them thus: " Les Arabes Mohgrebins sont ceux qui habitent la cote de Barbarie la plus rapproche de I'Egypte."