Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/374

 298 NORTH-EAST APRICA. seek fresh pastures. The Ababdeh likewise dwell in grottoes, similar to those of their ancestors the Troglodytes. If the clay of these caverns were explored, it woidd undoubtedly yield a rich harvest of prehibtoric objects. Gums, a few other simple products, and fish, in the vicinity of the Red Sea, are the only means of exchange by which the Ababdeh procure the durrah required for their frugal diet. Most travellers speak highly of their honesty, gentleness, and frankness, and however miserable they may be, they never beg like the fellahin. Other Ethnical Elements in Nubia. The powerful Kababish and Ilassanieh tribes, who extend beyond their own domains, where they are too much crowded together, into Kordof^n and into the peninsula lying between, and formed by the two Niles ; the Shukrieh, encroaching on the steppes to the north of the Atbara ; the Sawrat, the Ha wins, and the Jeraiad of the Bayuda ; lastly, the Robabat, and Shaikieh, who occupy the two banks of the Nile between Berber and Dongola, and now speak the Danagla language, complete the population of Nubia. These Arabs or peoples assimilated to the " Arabs " possibly amoimt to 200,000 or 300,000 persons. Immigrants from other regions have been amalgamated with the body of the Barabra nation, and the memory of their origin has been retained only by the aristocratic families who have taken interest in pre- serving their genealogies. Such is the case with the Bosniaks, who are descendants of the soldiers sent in 1520, on a mission to re-establish peace in the coxmtry. They caused fortresses to be built on the escarpments overlooking the river, settled there as sovereigns of the country, and allied themselves by marriage to the ancient chiefs. At the present time these " Kalaj " of Bosnia are still the most important people of Lower Nubia, more especially between Assuan and Korosko, and to them it is that the Egj'ptian Government has intrusted the local administration. Topography. Below Berber, Ahii-IIamed, the principal starting-point of the caravans, occupies one of those positions which in time become market-towns. A large city might even spring up in this place were both banks of the Nile not bounded by a vast desert. Here it is that the river, ceasing to flow north-westwards, trends abruptly round to the south-west, commencing the great curve which it completes at a distance of 240 miles farther north. To avoid this enormous detour the merchants are compelled to leave the Nile, and journey for seven or eight days amid the rocks and sands of the desert. South of Abu-IIamed the valley of the Nile is broadened by the large island of Mograt, which leaves to this mart fertile lands more extensive than those of most other Nubian villages. But the port where the merchants of Korosko embark and disembark is merely a group of cabins, inhabited by camel-drivers and fishermen. Doubtless the caravan traders in this country have no need of warehouses to protect