CHAPTER 11

The Southern Mahass

I The Mahass proper, those living in the cataract country between Dongola and Haifa, are, of course, not Arabs in any sense of the word. There are, however, a number of Mahass settled farther south,

particularly in Dongola, Berber, Khartoum and the Blue Nile Pro-

vinces, who have become so assimilated by intermarriage to the Arabs

that they are as worthy of inclusion in any work dealing with the Arabs of the Sudan as are most of the other sedentary tribes.

The Mahass proper are Barabra, but Barabra containing much more of the negro and less of the Arab element than is found, for

instance, in the Barabra north of Haifa or in Dongola^. As has been

explained^, the causes of their isolation are mainly geographical, but

it would seem that some few Arabs must at some period have found

their way into the country of the Mahass and so given the latter some excuse for claiming descent from Kuraysh^ or the Ansar.

II At some early date, perhaps about the time of the foundation of

the Fung kingdom, some of these Mahass, with pretensions to a noble lineage* and a certain amount of education, left their own country and established themselves as holy-men among the more

ignorant medley of Arabs Fung and Nuba in the south. Thus arose

the Mahass settlements on the lower reaches of the Blue Nile and round Khartoum, at 'Aylafun, where the tomb of Idri's wad Arbab^

is still tended by his descendants, at Kutrang^, el Rekayba, el Kamlin',

Kalkol^, Tuti Island, el Halfaya^, etc.

^ Cp. Burckhardt, p. 58. He calls the Mahass "perfectly black; their lips are

like those of the Negro, but not the nose or cheekbones."

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^ Cp. Burckhardt, pp. 64 and 133. He speaks of "a branch of I^uraysh" as "possessing itself of Mahass."

* They claimed to be Khazrag, i.e. among the number of the "Ansar" who settled in Upper Egypt (see ABC, ix, etc.).

* Q.v. D3, 141.

® The last syllable of "Kutrang" is said to be connected with "Anag." The old red-brick ruins here lie a mile or two north of the village, but are a mere shapeless mound.

' The original Mahass settlement here is said to have been known as Feranfb, but the name has now disappeared (see, however, D 2, vu). The true form of "Kamlfn" is "Kamnin" (see ABC, vi and D 3, 109). 'Aylafun, Kutrang and Kimlin ("Alfon, Cotram and Camin") are mentioned by Poncet in 1698 (p. 17).

* The Mahass, it is said, were preceded here by the Zenafla.

* See D 3, 154. Certain Mahass, too, have joined the Awldd 'Ukba section of Kababfsh (see p. 313, and "ABC," v and viii).

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