Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/331

 INHABITANTS OF KORDOFAN— THE MU8ABAT8 AND Z00IIAWA8. 261 Inhabitants op EordofIn. Central Kurdof&n, in the vicinity of £l-Obcid, is one of the most densely inhabited regions of eastern Africa; in a radius of about 60 miles round the capital, the villages are on the average not more than 2 or 3 miles from each other. Each tukul, or circular hut of thatch with a conic roof, and occasionally the village itself, is surrounded by a belt of prickly hedges. The peoples who occupy these settled groups of houses are of a very mixed race, and the original type is very difficult to be recognised. Founded as commercial stations on the routes from the Nile to the countries of Central Africa, the towns of Kordofan are places of assembly for the merchants, who here come to rest from their march across the surrounding deserts. The soldiers and slaves of every tribe who accompany these traders tend to corrupt the race and destroy its primitive elements. The people who are the result of these crossings are intelligent, happy, talkative, and " given to dancing and amusements." In some villages the Ghodiats (Gilledats or Gowameh), supposed to be of more or less pure aboriginal descent, are still said to survive. According to Munzinger, who calls them Kadejat, they are related to the Funj. They dwell to the east and south of the mountains of Kordofan and Jebel-Ain or " Mountain of the Waters," and, in spite of the conquests and changes in the political regime they still constitute an independent group. They acknowledge one of their own people as a sheikh and pay tribute to him ; but if they are not satisfied with him they beseech a fakih to take off his turban of investiture and place it on the head of another person. This ceremony is quite sufficient to effect a transfer of the authority. The Musabats and Zoghawas. By virtue of a long occupation, the descendants of those who invaded this country at an already distant period are considered as having the best right to the name of Kordofanese. Such are the Musalmts, who say they are of For descent, and whose chief, residing at El-Obeid, still takes the name of sultan. Such are also the Eimjaras, likewise of For descent, who obtained possession of Kordof&n at the end of the eighteenth century, but who were compelled to yield their power to the Egyptians in 1820, after their defeat at the battle of Bara. About one thousand of them still live isolated in a few villages near El-Obeid, and their chief takes the title of sultan, like that of the Musabats. Some twenty years ago a few Kunjara still spoke their native For dialect ; but Arabic has now become generally emplo} ed by them as well as by the sons of the conquering Forians. The Zoghawas, the remains of the nation which in the twelfth century ruled over all the space comprised between the mountains of Dar-For and the Nile, are rtill to be found in the northern part of Kordof&n. The other inhabitants of the country whose origin is known are the Jalin Arabs, who have nearly all the trade in their hands, and the people of Dongola, the Danagcleh or Danagla,