CHAPTER 10

The Kerridt

I The Kerriat form a small camel-owning tribe, the members of which at present rank as nomad Arabs and do not obviously differ in

type from their western neighbours the Kababish and Hawawir.

The name "Kerriat" does not, however, appear in the nishas and the tribe seems to be really a heterogeneous collection of Arabs

grafted upon some more ancient stock.

Their grazing-grounds have always been, and are still, west and

north of Omdurman, to the east of the Wadi el Mukaddam; but in

practice they go farther westwards in the rainy season, and a few of them remain throughout the year as far inland as el Safia. None of them are sedentary or own any land upon the river.

Their name suggests that the substratum upon which the tribal

edifice was reared were dwellers round Gebel Kerri, the ancient seat

of the 'Abdullab near the Shabluka cataract, and the common state-

ment, which has also been volunteered to me by Kerriat themselves,

to the effect that they are 'Anag by origin, bears out this view^. Their

chief sections are the 'Adalin, the Mihaymidab and the Sonaytab.

II They are wont to intermarry largely with the Hawawir, and it

is noticeable that the most distinctive camel brand used by the latter

is practically identical with that placed by the Kerriat on their she-

camels^.

^ At the same time such Kerriat as I have questioned on the point deny any connection between the names "ICerri" and "Kerridt."

^ The Hawawir brand referred to is the kildid mahgdn, viz. NT, on the right

side of the neck (see MacMichael, Camel Brands..., p. 31). The I^erriat place the

kildid in the same place, but only on she-camels, in the form IIP.

As I gave no account of the Kerriat brands in the work referred to above, I may add them here.

1. The 'Adalin. (a) On males: a short sot above the thifina, a shurdba, and a khurus, all on the right. On the left a kutfa and a zaiayt (or zalat). (b) On females: the kildid as described, a shurdba, and a 50/, all on the right.

2. The Mihaymidab. (a) On males: a khurus on the left; and on the right a dukka on the neck, a fera'a {i.e. tip of ear cut off), and a ddmi'. All or any of these marks is used, (b) On females: the kildid as described: some add a ddmi'.

3. The Sonaytab. (a) On males: a ddmi' and a s6t on the right, (b) On females: the kildid as described, and afera'a, a ddmi' and a sot, all on the right.

N.B. A khurus is a horizontal cut half-way down the edge of the ear. A zaiayt or zalat, is a brand made round the back of the ear just above the

base.

The meaning of the other technical terms used will be found in Camel Brands— The fact that the one brand which is common to the whole tribe, and which may therefore be called the tribal brand proper, is placed not on males but on females may well be a relic of a matrilinear period.