Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/332

 who were charged by the Egyptian Government with collecting the taxes. Christian and Mussulman Syrians, Albanians and Greeks, are the non-African elements which are met with in Kordofân, and which contribute to the intermingling of the races. But the modification of the type is more especially due to the people of the neighbouring tribes brought in by the dealers, such as the Nubas, Denkas, and Bongos. The Takruris, Fellatas, and other western immigrants, travelling with the double object of selling their merchandise and propagating the doctrines of the Koran throughout the towns along their route,

have also settled down in the country, and constitute new tribes by intermarrying with the daughters of the Arabs. A great number of Takruri come to Kordofân to offer their services temporarily at the sowing or harvesting seasons, and when they are well received they settle down in the country. The islands of the White Nile, which however, are not considered as belonging to Kordofân, are nearly all inhabited by Arabs. One of them, the largest and best cultivated, is that of Abba, in which the Mali, Mohammed-Ahmed, revealed his mission to his first disciples, and gained his first victory over the Egyptians in 1881.