1. 4. IV. THE NON-ARAB RACES OF DARFUR 55 ably further west than at present, on the same latitude. Their native language is a dialect of Tibbu, but most can also speak Arabic of a kind.

They are first mentioned by that "Herodotus of the Arabs," el Mas'udi, about 943 a.d. He speaks of the descendants of "Kush the son of Kana'an," whom he refers to in general terms as " Habsha " and "Ahabish" {i.e. literally, Abyssinians), as moving westwards after the flood and then dividing into two main branches. The Nuba, the Bega and the Zing became separate, he says, from the others, who continued westwards "towards el Zaghawa and el Kanem and Marka and Kaukau and Ghana and the [s.c. countries of the] other kinds of blacks and Demadem." Later he speaks of these western migrants themselves as containing "Zaghawa and Kaukau and Karakir and Madida and el Melana and el Kumati and Duwayla and el Karma." What he obviously means is that certain Ethiopian races at a very early period pushed westwards to those countries bordering on the Niger west of Lake Chad which were subsequently known as Zaghai, Ghana, etc.* El Idrisi, who wrote his Geography about 11 53 after extensive travels in West Africa, in dealing with the desert of Tiser and the Zaghawa and Fezzan describes the precarious semi-nomadic existence of the people, and says: Les deux residences les plus considerables du Zaghawa sent celles de Sakouat (Siw) et de Chameh {AAt>). On y trouve une tribu voyageuse appellee Sadraiet (ajIjJlo), qui passe pour etre Berbere. Les individus qui la composent ressemblent aux Zaghawiens; ils ont les memes habitudes, ils se sent identifies a leurs races et ils ont recours a eux pour tous les objets qui leur sent necessaires, et pour leur negoce. Chameh est un gros bourg, aujourd'hui mal peuple, dont les habitants se sont transportes pour la plupart a Koukou {), ville situee a 16 journees de distance. Ils boivent beaucoup de lait, leurs eaux etant saumatres, et mangent de la viande coupee en lanieres et sechee au soleil. lis se nourrissent aussi de reptiles, dont ils font une chasse abondante et qu'ils font cuire apres leur avoir coupe la tete et la queue. Ces peuples sont tres sujets a la gale, en sorte qu'a ce signe, dans tout le pays et dans toutes les tribus du Soudan, on reconnait un Zaghawien. S'ils s'abstenaient de manger du serpent, ils en seraient totalement exempts. lis vont nus et cachent seulement leurs Cp. MacMichael's vocabularies in Journ. Anthr. with those of Carbou, i, 213 e< seq.

* Vol. ni, Ch. 33, pp. I, 2, 37, 38.

The names vary in different MSS. Kaukau (Leo's "Gago") is Kagho (or Gao or Gogo) on the Niger. See Cooley, p. 32.

* Cooley learnedly discusses the exact geographical situation of these western kingdoms and may be consulted for details.

* P. Ill in Vol. V of the Recueil de Voyages....