Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/301

 THE BEJAS. 286 clans bunded together at the time of the TurkiHh invasion ; but their confederation did not lu8t long, and under the Egyptian rule the tribes have again become scattered into a multitude of communities without common concert. The Bejos, rather than the Abyssinians, are probably the " Ethiopians " of Herodotus, the civilised people who built the city of Meroe and its pyramids. In the Middle Ages the Bejas also constituted a powerful state, whose capital was Aloa, on the Blue Nile, about 12 miles above Khartum. At this period the Bejas were Christians, at least in the vicinity of the confluence. When their city was over- thrown by the Funj and they returned to the steppes they also embraced the religion of the nomud pastors. All the Bejas are Mohammedans, although most of them, like the Bedouins of Syria and the Arabian peninsula, are only so in name, in spite of the ardour with which they have enrolled themselves amongst the followers of the Mahdi, under whose guidance they have regained a certain national unity. Of all the southern Beja tribes, the most powerful is that of the Hadendoas, who roam over the Tuka steppes, between the Gash and the Atbara to the west, and the Barka to the east, although in their migrating and pillaging expeditions they often pass beyond these limits. According to Munzinger, they number about one million persons. Another numerous people are the Shukurieh or Shuk- rieh, a nation of pastors herding their flocks between the Nile and the Atbara, and cultivating the irrigable valleys in the neighbourhood of Eassala. The Hallengas occupy the narrow zone comprised between the Atbara and the Gash, while the Hamrun dwell on the plains where the Atbara effects its junction with the Bahr-Settit. Farther to the west and south-west, some Dabeina hordes roam over the steppes watered by the Rahad. In the " Mesopotamia " of the two Niles the soil is disputed between the Abu-Rof, or Rufuh, the Jalins, and the Hassanieh, that is to say the " Cavaliers " or " Horsemen." Lastly, to the east of the Hadendoas, the circumference of the advanced plateau of Abyssinia between the Barka and the Red Sea, nearly as far as the gates of Suakin, is occupied by the Beni-Amers. According to Ilartmann the Hamrans, whom he calls Homrans, that is to say the " Reds," are related to the Agau. Nevertheless, all these populations call themselves Arabs, and are generally considered as such on account of the religion they profess, their pastoral and warlike habits, and also on account of the language henceforth adopted by them. Besides, it is certain that the Arab element is strongly represented in these nomad Beja tribes, as i% proved by numerous families whose type is absolutely identical with that of the Arabs of the Asiatic peninsula. According to tradition they are descended from the tribe of the Uled- Abbas, in Hejaz. In the greatest part of the Beja countries, the original dialects are giving way before the language of the Koran ; but they still surWve, at least in a state of patois, in the vicinity of the Abyssinian mountains. Almqvist, who has ooropoeed a general grammar of the Beja idioms, recognises four principal dialects, without counting the jargons which the hunters love to speak, probably because they are under the influence of the sui>er8tition, so common in many countries, that certain local words have the power of fascinating animals. The original