[52] J CHAPTER 4 The non-Arab Races of Ddrfur I The consideration of the races who inhabited Darfur before the Arabs is, on the one hand, rendered more difficult by the lack of modern scientific research, and, on the other, made more easy by the fact that the Arabs have coalesced so slightly with the older population that it is still easy to pick out the non-Arab elements. Several intrepid and accomplished travellers have visited the country and brought back valuable information, but anthropology had not in their days made such giant strides as now, and their statements are not always backed by scientific data of the type available for Egypt and Lower Nubia. It is the researches of Barth and Nachtigal and the acute observations of el Tunisi that have cast most light on the pre-Arab element in Darfur.

II BedayAt. The northern portion of Darfur is contained in that vast unfertile northernly portion of Africa which is set aside by nature for those who lead a pastoral life. Scattered in insignificant numbers as far south as Kebkebia and Kuttum, but chiefly roaming further north in the Ennedi district outside Darfur are the Bedayat, a wild and entirely nomadic race related to the Zaghawa. Their geographical position between the Kura'an (to the north) and the Zaghawa (to the south) roughly represents also their ethnographical status. Barth calls them "Terauye" and says the Arabs call them "A'uwa." The Arabs of Kordofan and Darfur speak always of "Bedayat," and "A'uwa" seems to be the Kura'an name for them and "Terauye" or "Terawa" a name applied to them by the Arabs of Borku. Lieut. Ferrandi divides the Bedayat into (a) a northern group, and (b) a southern group called Billia, and says they claim to have once been Christians. In Barth's time most of them were pagans, but they now profess Muhammadanism. Parties of these Bedayat periodically swoop down over the deserts that intervene " Ddrfur" means "The Country of the Fur."

Vol. HI, App. I, p. 496.

See " Renseignements Coloniaux," p. 308, in L'Afrique Frattfaise (Suppl.), Dec. 1914. * • Ibid. On this point see App. 5 to this chapter.

El Tunisi (Voy. au Ouaddy, p. 17) speaks of the Bedaydt as not of Arab origin though their manners and way of life, but not their language, are those of the Arabs. He classes them (p. 25) as nomadic negroes or " pseudo-beduins."