They extend from the Nile at Aswan to the Red Sea, and reach northward to the Kena-Kosseir road, thus occupying the southern border of Egypt east of the Nile. They call themselves "sons of the Jinns." With some of the clans of the Bisharin and possibly the Hadendoa they represent the Blemmyes of classic geographers, and their location today is almost identical with that assigned them in Roman times.
They were constantly at war with the Romans, who eventually conquered them. In the middle ages they were known as Beja, and convoyed pilgrims from the Nile valley to Aidhab, the port of embarkation for Jedda. From time immemorial they have acted as guides to caravans through the Nubian desert and up the Nile valley as far as Sennar.
They intermarried with the Nuba, and settled in small colonies at Shendi and elsewhere long before the Egyptian invasion (AD 1820-1822). They are still great trade carriers, and visit very distant districts.
The Ababda of Egypt, numbering some 30,000 (in 1911), were governed by an hereditary "chief" in 1911. Although nominally a vassal of the Khedive, he paid no tribute. Indeed he was paid a subsidy, a portion of the road-dues, in return for his safeguarding travellers from Bedouin robbers. The sub-sheikhs were directly responsible to him.
The Ababda of Nubia, reported by Joseph von Russegger, who visited the country in 1836, to number some 40,000 have since diminished, probably amalgamated with the Bisharin, their hereditary enemies. The Ababda generally speak Arabic (mingled with Barabra Nubian words), the result of their long-continued contact with Egypt; but the southern and south-eastern portion of the tribe in many cases still retain their Beja language, ToBedawiet. Those of Kosseir would not speak this before strangers in 1911, as they believed that to reveal the mysterious dialect would bring ruin on them.
From time immemorial the Ababde have been the guides of the caravans through the Nubian desert; many of them are great speculators in the slave trade, and their chiefs exact a tribute upon every slave, and upon every loaded camel passing through the desert, which does not belong to one of their own tribes.
On the morning of the 18th March, about twenty skins were filled, but the Ababde were not yet satisfied, and the merchants, rather than protract their stay, and see their store of water diminished by the hourly waste, preferred ceding some of their skins to the guides, upon the condition of departing immediately.
The Ababde chief of the caravan being acquainted with my misfortunes, sent for me just as we were on the point of departure, and having made some severe reflections upon the cruelty of the Egyptians towards me, made me a present of a sufficient quantity of water to fill one of the smaller skins.
The Ababde are possessed of considerable property, but have a bad character, being described by all those who deal with them as a faithless people, who betray their companions, thus rendering themselves unworthy of that origin from the Arabian Bedouins, of which they boast.
From time immemorial the Ababde have been the guides of the caravans through the Nubian desert; many of them are great speculators in the slave trade, and their chiefs exact a tribute upon every slave, and upon every loaded camel passing through the desert, which does not belong to one of their own tribes.
The Ababde chief of the caravan being acquainted with my misfortunes, sent for me just as we were on the point of departure, and having made some severe reflections upon the cruelty of the Egyptians towards me, made me a present of a sufficient quantity of water to fill one of the smaller skins.
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