The kingdom of the Beja (mamlakat
al-buja); They dwell between the Nile and the sea and are divided into
several kingdoms, each governed by its own king.
The
first kingdom of the Beja (al-buja) begins from the Aswān frontier. This
is the last district of the Moslem territory stretching east and west from
south to the frontier of Barakāt. They are a kind of Ḥabash called Naqīs, and
their capital is called Hajar. They are subdivided into tribes and clans (buṭūn),
as is customary among the Arabs; some of their tribes and clans [p. 72] are
al-hadarāt [sic! obviously for al-ḥadāriba], Suhāb, al-'Amā’ir, Kūbir (Kūtir?),
Manāsa, Ras'a, Arbari'a and az-Zanāfij. Gold mines, precious stones and
emeralds are found in their country. They are at peace with the Moslems and the
Moslems work in the mines of their country.
The
second kingdom of the Beja is that of Baqlīn, which has many towns and is very
large. Their religion is similar to that of the Magians (al-majūs) and
the Dualists (ath-thunawiyya); they call the Almighty God by the name
"az-zabhīr"<ref>A tentative Arabic script from the
Ethiopian word Egziā’behēr (God). From this passage, one might
guess that they were Christian (Conti Rossini, Storia d’Etiopia, p.
274.).</ref> and the devil by the name "sahāy harāqa".
They pull out the hair of their chin and remove their central incisors.
The
third kingdom is that of the Bāzīn, who border on the kingdom of the 'Alwa
Nubians and the Baqlīn Beja, with whom they are, however, at war. The crop on
which they live is ... [lacuna] ... which, together with milk, forms their
staple food.
The
fourth kingdom is called Jārīn. They have a dreadful king, whose rule extends
from Bādi’<ref>Arabic: Bādi or Bāsaʾ (Tigre
and Tigray: Batsa: Bade) is the old name of Massawa
Island.</ref> on the Red Sea coast, to the frontier of Barakāt in the
territory of the Baqlīn, until a place called Hall ad-dujāj. They,
too, remove their upper and lower incisors lest - they say they resemble the
teeth of asses; they also pull out the hair of their chins.
The
fifth kingdom is that called Qat'a [Ibn Hawqal: "Qas'a"], the last of
the Beja kingdoms. It is very large, extending from Bādi’ to a place called
Faykūn.
[p.
73] They are a warlike, powerful nation who possesses a fighting
clan (dār muqātila) known by the name of dār as-sawā, where
their bravest young men are specially trained for war and combat.
The
sixth kingdom is the kingdom of the Najāshī, which is a vast powerful country.
Its royal town is Ku'bar [Aksum]. The Arabs go thither to trade. They have big
towns and their sea coast is called Dahlak. All the kings of the Habasha
country are subject to the Great King (al-malik al-a'zam) and are
careful to obey him and pay tribute. The Najāshī professes the Jacobite
Christian religion (dīn an-nāsraniyya al-ya’qūbiyya).
The
last [i.e. 7th] kingdom of the Ḥabasha is that of the Zanj, a people who dwell
near the Sind, as well as on other related nations, different from those Zanj
who dwell on the borders of the Sind and the Kurak. They are people (qawm)
who, Respite of their multitude (hisāb) are, however, of the same mind (ijtimā'
qulūb). (ibid. I, pp. 191-193).
Or can be downloaded at:
https://ia801409.us.archive.org/35/items/kitabalbuldan00yaquuoft/kitabalbuldan00yaquuoft.pdf
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