L 4. V. THE NON-ARAB RACES OF DARFUR 59

The range itself is a jumbled mass of hills of volcanic origin, between lOO and 200 miles in circumference, divided by numberless

small valleys. The people are semi-nomadic: for the greater part of

the year they are constantly shifting camp from place to place in and about their hills according to the grazing facilities, and in the

rains, though a few folk remain stationary in villages for the sake of

cultivation the great majority are away with the flocks in the great

uninhabited area lying east of the range and west of the Wadi el

Melik, where the Kababish Arabs send their camels and sheep at

the same season from the opposite side. They are primarily herders

of sheep and goats and have little cultivation. They buy most of their

corn from the Berti to the south and there is a small but long-

established colony of Midobis living in the northern Tagabo (Berti)

hills.

The huts which compose a Midob village are of a curious—and

to me unique—design. As having no permanent value they are built

in a ramshackle manner, and when the site is changed they are simply

abandoned. In shape they are roughly circular and in appearance

not unlike great beehives : in content they slightly exceed the ordinary

village tukl of Kordofan and Darfur.

The sides are formed of long boughs stuck in the ground so as

to bear slightly inwards. Their tops do not converge so as actually

to meet—this would make the house too small—but the space between

their tops is filled by interlacing many other shorter boughs hori-

zontally from fork to fork in the manner of a rook's nest. Stability and support are given to the structure by two or more stout roof-

trees, forked at the top, which are planted side by side a few feet

apart near the centre of the hut. Smaller boughs and sticks are thrust

in and across the forks of the larger boughs and interstices are crudely plugged with bunches of grass and cornstalks. The doorway opens

to the south and is low and formed of two shayhas. The interior

is not open as in the case of a tukl. On entering the door one

advances along a kind of gangway which extends as far as the roof-

trees. This gangway consists of a high partition of grass-matting

{sherkajiia) on either side, reaching nearly to the roof. On one

side the partition is continued at a right angle along the line of the

roof-trees to the outer wall in such a way as to form a private room

in the angle: on the other side it ends near the centre of the hut,

thus leaving about three-quarters of the interior open. The villages

are all on the plain but usually close to the foot of the hills.

The people are Muhammadans, but there are plentiful traces of more ancient manners and beliefs. For instance, a matrilinear system