70 THE NON-ARAB RACES OF DARFUR i. 4. vii.

Arabs, and they still, after the debased Ga'ali manner, make per-

functory claim to be descended from the Beni 'Abbas, however

difficult it may be to reconcile this with the Beni Hilal connection. In Darfur and Kordofan it is not uncommon to see both the

distinctively negroid and the distinctively dark Arab type among the Tungur; but in Wadai, on the other hand, Nachtigal found the TuNGUR with "a skin almost white." They spoke Arabic and had

the reputation of being Arabs^.

M. Carbou speaks of the western Tungur as a population inter- mediary between the Arabs and the Kanembu and Tibbu, and mixed with other tribes among whom they have lived. As regards their appearance he says: "On trouve chez les Toundjour le teint clair

des Arabes ('hamer': rouge), mais la nuance 'akhdher' (litt. vert: bronze fonce) est la plus repandue. Quelques-uns d'entre eux, assez

rares d'ailleurs, ont le teint 'azreq' (noir-gris)."

Their chief, he says, is known as the fougbou, a word of Kanem

origin 2.

Most of them are in Kanem : others are in Bornu and Wadai (Dar

el Ziud, etc.) and Darfur. M. Carbou scouts the idea that they came from the east and has little doubt but that there is good foundation

for their claim to be connected with the Beni Hilal and to have come from Tunis^. They do not practise female excision as the Arabs and Wadayans do*.

The Tungur of Darfur are mentioned by el Tunisi among the minor Sultanates of that country, neighbours of the Birked, living between Gedi'd Ras el Fil and Tubeldia^. They had "une certaine

dose de religion et d'intelligence, ce qui les maintient dans les limites d'une conduite plus moderee." Unlike the other petty sultans, the

ruler of the Tungur used to wear a black turban, and he told el Tunisi

that he did so as a sign of mourning for the glory that had departed®.

As we have seen, in the early days of their predominance in Darfur their capital was at Ferra, north-west of Kuttum, near Si, but

they pushed southwards thence and made Gebel Harayz, south of

el Fasher, one of their headquarters. Moderately large colonies of Tungur still exist both round Kuttum and Harayz. With the exception

of the indeterminate Tungur-Fur of Furnung they speak Arabic only and are known by no other name than Tungur to the various dialect-

speaking tribes of the country. They are divided into a large number

of sections, mostly small and negligible, but the following appear to

^ Voy. au Ouaddi, p. 93. ^ Carbou, i, 82-84 ^^'^ 167.

' Ibid. II, 17; and l, 73, 74.

• Ibid. 11, 17, 22.

* Voy. au Darfour, pp. 128, 133.

* Ibid. p. 128. The custom does not survive now.