CHAPTER 8

The Hawdwtr, Gelldba Hozudra, Wdhia and Korobdt

I In an earlier chapter^ some account has already been given of

the career of the Howara Berbers who settled in Upper Egypt and became arabicized. We saw how in Burckhardt's time they were

in occupation of both sides of the Nile and were still rich and

prosperous-. Until the time of Muhammad 'Ali they had been extremely powerful, owing chiefly to the excellence of their cavalr}% and acknowledged no authority but that of their own chiefs. The

family of the great chief Hamam Abu Yusef had " assumed the whole

Government of Upper Egypt, south of Siout, and the Mamelouks had been obliged to cede it to them by treaty." Hamam also extended

his authority into northern Nubia "which he several times visited as

far as Mahass^."

The rule of the Howara was, however, accused of being oppres-

sive and extortionate"*, especially towards the Copts, many of whom were used as slaves, and shortly before Muhammad Ali's accession

the Mamluks attacked Hamam and succeeded in defeating and killing him. But they were unable to subdue the tribe as a whole, and it remained powerful until after the fall of the Mamluks, when Ibrahim Pasha finally crushed it. He is said to have slain 2000 of the Howara.

II HawAwir. The Hawawir nomads of Dongola Province belong

to this stock and preserve the tradition of their Berber ancestry. They

are a large and fairly rich tribe of camel-owners and in the rainy

season move to the west and north-west with the Kababi'sh. Their main divisions are as follows^:

^ Part II, Appendix to Chap. i.

^ Burckhardt, Nubia, App. in, pp. 531-533.

^ Ibid. p. 135. Cp. Hamilton, p. 257. For other details see MS. D 4 ix.

* Denon, who accompanied Napoleon's expedition, on the contrary, heard of Hamam as a champion of the oppressed and of his time as a sort of golden age

for the Arabs of Upper Egypt. They spoke " du temps du cheikh prince Ammam,

oil on ne traitoit pas d'impositions arbitraires, mais de ce qui pouvoit etre le plus

utile k tous." {Voyages..., I, 303.) MS. D4 describes Hamam as farming out Nubia in very cynical fashion.

^ The camel brands of several of these divisions

are well known, namely the Lam Alif (a) of the \ / \A . . j. Rubab and the 'erik (b) of the 'Abbasab. But the Y \.^__v P most distinctive of all their brands is the Kildid /\ 7\ mahgdn (c) which is used on the right side of the Ct DC

neck by most of the Hawawir.