It would appear from this account that Burckhardt supposed
the Hadharebe, Adareb, or rather the Süakiny to be,
not a distinct tribe of the Bisharjne race, but a people mixed
up from different branches of that stock, and deriving their
name from a few Arabian settlers who had soon become assimilated
to the great body of the population. He says “ that
they have exactly the same features, language and dress as
the Nubian Bedouins :* their favourite dress leaves the upper
part of the body almost naked. If to it be added a handsome
pair of sandals, two or three large amulets hanging over
the left elbow, a sword and korbadj in the hands, the thick
and bushy hair white with grease, and a large wooden skewer
sticking in it, to scratch the head with, the whole will afford
a tolerable ^picture of a Süakiny Bedouin.
“ The Süakiny have in general,” as Burckhardt says,
“ handsome and expressive features, with, thin and very short
beards. Their colour is of the darkest brown, approaching to
black, but they have nothing of the Negro character cffeoun-
tenance. They are a remarkably stout and muscular raee.”-f*
f 2. The Bishari.
The country of the Bishari reaches from the northern
frontier of Abyssinia, along the course of the river March,
which flows through the northern forests of the Shangalla,
abounding with elephants, to the Belad-el-Taka and At-
bara, where dwell the Hadendoa and the Hammadab, said
to be the strongest tribes of the Bisharine race.^ Tribes of
the Bishari reach northward as far as Gebel-el-Ottaby in the
latitude of Derr, where the Nile, after its great western bend
turns back towards the Red Sea; they occupy all the hilly
country upon the Nile from Sennaar to Dar Berber and to the
* The Bishari are Bedouins, i. e. Nomadic tribes of Nubia. I suppose these
are meant.
+ Burckhardt’s Travels in Nubia, p. 439. I have inserted the figure of a Sdak-
iny Bedouin from a drawing of Mr. Salt’s, given in Lord Valentia’s Travels, agreeing
exactly with thé above description by Burckhardt. It will serve for a specimen
of the physical characters of the Bisharine race.
t Bitter’s Erdkunde.—Burckhardt’s Nubia, 369. Burckhardt says, “ the Hadendoa
Bedouins, the only inhabitants of Taka seen by me, evidently belong to the
same nation as the Bisharein and all the Eastern Nubians, with whom they have
the same features, language and characteristic manners.’’
Red Sea ; consequently the territory of the ancient Blem-
myes.# The possession of many tracts of this mountainous
country is disputed with them by:tbe Ababdeh, their neighbours
towards the north, with whom they are allied by language
and descent, as they are with the Adareb towards the
south. The mountain of Offa, at fifteen days’ journey from
Assouan, is, according to Burckhaidt, the chief seat of the
Bishari, where ruins are. Said-,tq «exist.
The Bishari are described by Burckhardt : “ The inhospitable
character of the Bisharein would alone prove them to
be a true African,race, were this not put beyond all doubt
by their language*” They are divided,into a .great number
of; small tribes* They rarely vfl§s$enfl. from their mountains
into the valley of the Nile. They winter among the mountains
near the Red Sea, for the < sake ofbpastures. |©r their
^flecks of sheep and^amels|i«hieh ap? all their riches. They
sometimes make plundering expeditions as far as Sennaar and
Dongola. Their chief- Occupation is collecting the leaves of
senna, and hunting ostriches in the desert., < j
The physical character of the Bishari, according to Riippell,
resembles that of the Barâbra. Burckhardt says “ the Bièha-
çein of Atbara, like their brethren, are a handsome and bold
race of people ; they go constantly armed, and are seldom
free from Ipkarrels. Their dress, or rather undress, was
everywhere the same, consisting only of a dammour shirt,
worn by both men and women. I thought the latter, remarkably
handsome ; they were of a dark brown complexion, with
beautiful eyes and fine teeth ; their persons were slender and
elegant.”
The Rishari were likewise described by Hamilton, who
visited a tribe of them in the country above Egypt, where
they are the guides across the wilderness, and among mountains
: “ the better sort ride on dromedaries : they are a
shrewd, intelligent people, active, of small stature, and prepossessing
countenance: some with a cast the Negro •
others with a very fine profile.” This sort ,of variety in physiognomy
is observed by almost every traveller among the
* Strabon. lib. 17. c. i. Mémoire sur les Blémyes, Quatremèré. Mem. sur
l’Egypte, Ritter’s Erdkunde.