342 THE SOUTHERN MAHASS iii. ii. ii.

To acquire rich lands on the river bank and intermarry with the

numerous subtribes of Guhayna who pastured their flocks inland

and cultivated a rain-crop in the wddis was an easy step. The

same process has been seen at work in northern Kordofan, where

immigrant Danagla took advantage of the nomad Arabs' ignorance

of artificial irrigation and contempt for manual labour, except in so

far as it might be done by their slaves, to acquire a hold over all the

best basins of the Khayran at the expense of the Dar Hamid. The Mahass in the same way forestalled the Rufa'a on the Blue Nile.

In both cases the result has naturally been some degree of jealousy

and dispute.

Ill Though these Mahass are essentially and always sedentary

they divide themselves theoretically, and on the Arab model, into

subtribes. Such are the following; all of whom are emigrants by

origin, living south of Berber Province:

1. Ghardakab^ {a) Muhammadab\ On Tuti Island, at 'Aylafun, Be-

{b) Barakat J shakira East, Shigla and Elti.

2. Subahab {a) Dakhalab. At H. el Nuba.

3. '(3nab. At Beshakira West, and on the site of Khartoum before

that town was built by Khurshid Pasha.

4. MiKiNAB. On Tuti Island.

5. Khogalab^. At el Kubba and on Tuti Island.

6. Wawissi^. In Kayli district, north of Khartoum.

7. Genna el Hag. In the Gezira.

8. Awlad Fellata. At Kutrang.

9. Awlad MANfa. At el Rekayba.

Appendix on certain Burial Customs on the Blue Nile

Some of the burial customs in vogue on the lower Blue Nile may be of Nubian (Barabra) origin and due to the settlements of Mahass in those

parts. They are not used by the Fung. Beckett {Cairo Scient. Journ. No. 59, Aug. 191 1) in an article on "Nubia and the Berberine" says that

after the burial and the filling in of the grave there is feasting for seven

days and that the feast is again repeated after forty days, "and this time

all who come bring with them pebbles gathered from the desert around. Over these pebbles the Koran is read by the Sheikh of the village and each

person then deposits those he brings on the grave, which is completely

covered with them." Pots of water are put near the heads of the graves and replenished by the relatives of the deceased, and near the pots are

stuck palm branches.

On the Blue Nile, round el Kamlin, hurmas of water are similarly

1 Idrfs wad Arbab's section.

2 I.e. descendants of Kh6gali 'Abd el Rahman (D 3, No. 154).

^ A large sub-tribe.