CHAPTER 6

The Kendna and Deghaym

I KenAna, The Kenana of the Sudan claim to be an offshoot of

the great Kenana tribe of Arabia, and there is no reason to doubt that

there is good foundation for their claim. But whether their Arab

ancestors ever formed a branch of the Kenana whom we have already met in Egypt, or whether they immigrated quite independently by way of the Red Sea, is not certain: the latter supposition is the more

probable and more in accord with their own traditions.

In the Sudan at the present day they are for the most part Bak-

kara, breeders of cattle and horses, and are divided by the river into two main divisions. One of these, the larger, owns cattle camels and

sheep and lives south of Singa and Sennar, on either side of the Blue

Nile, with the Rufa'a group. In the rains these move northwards,

out of the fly infested area, to the Butana on the one side and the

Sekadi Moya district on the other. They fall into the three groups of

Seragia, Abu Rihan and KoATfL^.

The other division of Kenana grazes in Kordofan with cattle and

sheep over parts of the same country as the far more numerous Hawazma. a branch of them have also found their way south into

the Shilluk country and have settlements on the west bank of the

Nile as far south as the tenth parallel of latitude.

The main sections of the Kenana are given as follows by their

tribesmen in Kordofan.

A. Sowarab

1. AwlAd Yasin. Chiefly in the Gezira,

2. Zoayda

3. Isayba'a. Chiefly in the Gezira. B. SERAGfA

1. Awlad Dali^. Chiefly in the Gezira.

2. Um Belal

3. Awlad Roaya

4. Zaydan

^' TT ' I Chiefly in the Gezira. 6. Habaylia j ^

^ A subsection of the Bishann ('Aliab) of the Eastern Desert is also called

Koatil (plural of Katul). The Seragia clearly correspond to the Seragab section of Kababish, who claim to be of Kenana descent.

^ Some of these live near Tekali ; others with the rest of the Kenana in Kordofan. The former have with them a few of the Sowarab section also.