African people in the eastern parts of the. continent, from
Kaffirlan&N to Nubia and Egypt. “ Their complexion is
nearly black : their women are reported to be handsome.
When we asked; them if they' were accustomed to eat live
flesh, they denied it, but spoke with pleasure of the luxury
of opening the veins of a dromedary or a sheep and drinking
the warm blood.” The author Suggests the idea that a similar
practice, prevalent among the ancient Hebrews, was
the object of a prohibition in Deuteronomy, ch. xii. ver. 23.
Ë According to Maerizi, the Bishari and the Ababdeh occupy
the country -of the Bejas or Boujas, who were a powerful
and numerous people iri the middle ages, when they were at
least partially converted to Christianity. The Bejas were a
nomadic people, who were in possession of the gold, silver,,
and èmerald mines of the Desert. Maerizi described thé
Bejas as living under tents of hair: he. says,W their colour
is darker than that of the Ilabesh : they have the manners
of Arabs : they have no towns, no villages, no fields. Their
provisions are carried to them from Egypt and Habesh, and
Nouba. They were formerly idolatrous, and then took the
Islâm. They are hospitable and charitable people' ,• they
are divided into tribes and branches, every one of which
has its chief. They are pastors, and live entirely on flesh and
milk.”*
The Bishari and Ababdeh are descended, according to Ma-
crizi, from the Bejas, intermixed with Arabs. TheBishari
however, as well as the Ababdeh, appear from their, general
character and languages to be a genuine African race, and if
there is any mixture of Arabian blood in their stock, it is probably
in small proportion. The Arabian language, which has
so generally diffused itself among the barbarous nations who
have adopted Islâm, has produced little or no effect on the
speech of the Bishari.
The name of Bejas was unknown to the ancients, but a people
termed Blemmyes are described by Strabo, Dionysius Peri-
egetes,and Stephanus, as occupying the country of the Bejas.
By Vopiscus they are mentioned as a powerful nation in' the
* Extracts from Maerizi, by Burckhardt.
reign of Ptolemy, whose army advanced into their territory,
and brought’ captives':, to, Rome. They, were afterwards so
troublesome to the Romans that.Diocletian, as we have seen
from Procopius, engaged the Nobatæ of Libya, to «abandon
their >.own,,country and settle on theS Nilé, invthe countiy of
the Barabra, for the protlktion of’ the* Roman frontier.
M. Quatremère and Professor Ritter have collected all that
the ancient' writers have recorded respecting the Blemmyes,
and leave no room for doubt that they a*re the same,race
afterwards termed Rejets, and pa ore recently, known as Bishari
and Ababdeh.f
3. The Ababdeh.
The Ababdeh.occupydhe country tofhe northward of the
Bishari^, yi®. from, the parallel :of Deir* to the frontiers of
Egypt, and in'thp eastern desert as far northward,as Kosseir.
Th^ey were scarcely known previously to the French expedition
to4 Egypt. They conduct tthe caravans^to Sennaar, as
they formerly led those from Kenne to Kosseir until they
were dispossessed by the Maazgou and Ataouy Arabs. Their
habits resemble those of the Bishari, w;hose« language they
are said to speak. They are all Bedouins and are described as
very cruel and perfidious. They wander about-and carry out
pf their country as traders, its native: productions, ;natrop,
alum, gums, and senna, on their dromedaries. On the borders
pf Egypt they have been confounded with Arabs. The
earliest description of the Ababdeh was given by M.. Du Bois-
Aymé a member of Napoleon’s Egyptian Commission :
; “ Les Abâbdeh sont un tribu nomade qui habite les montagnes
situées à l’orient du Nil au sud de la vallée de Qoçeyr.
“ Les Abâbdeh diffèrent entièrement par?leurs, moeurs, leur'
langage, leur costume, leur constitution physique des tribus
Arabes qui, comme eux, occupent les déserts qui environnent
l’Egypte. Les, Arabes sont blancs, se rasent la tête, sont
vêtus. Les Ababdeh sont noips, mais leurs traits ont beaucoup
de ressemblance avec ceux des Européens. Ils ont les
* See M. Quatremère’s excellent work on Coptic Literature, and Professor
Ritter’s Erdkunde.