DOI article:
Smith, Grafton Elliot; Jones, Frederic Wood: Anatomical report
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18102#0041
support to such a solution of the problem ; and so long as the question
remains unsettled it only prejudices the final solution to call both
the Barabra and the b group people " Nubian." That this is no
imaginary difficulty can be shown by a reference to the views set forth,
for example, in Keane's " Man : Past and Present" (Cambridge
University Press, 1900), without committing ourselves either for or
against the hypotheses *.
" The Nubians belong originally to the Negro stock, although
many have long been assimilated to the Hamitic type through secular
interminglings in that part of the Nile Valley which from them takes
the relatively modern name of Nubia.
" But rightly to understand the question, we have carefully to
distinguish between these half-caste Nubians and the full-blood
Negro Nubas, who gave their name to the Nuba Mountains, Kordofan,
true cradle of the race, where most of the aborigines still belong to this
connection. From Kordofan . . . they spread in remote times west
to Darfur and Waday . . . and in historic times along the Nile north
to the Egyptian frontier" (p. 73). " The three groups (Kenus, Merisi
and Dongolawi). all now Muhammadans. but formerly Christians,
constitute collectively the so-called ' Nubians,' of European writers,
but call themselves Barabra, plural of Berberi, i.e. people of Berber,
although they do not at present extend so far up the Nile as that
town. They are unquestionably Strabo's ' Noubai' . . . and the
Nobatae of Diocletian's time " (pp. 73 and 74).
We quote this statement of a view, to which many writers have
given their support, not because we regard it as a likely solution
of the Nubian problem, but merely to add point to the caution
expressed already in these notes, that at present we are not justified
in calling both the early and the late inhabitants of Nubia " Nu-
bians " : in fact, it is very doubtful whether we ought to apply this
name to the pre-hellenic population of the Nile valley between Aswan
and Meroe.
However, if it is agreed that we call the country south of Aswan
" Nubia " and that the early dynastic inhabitants of this territory
* Dknikkr ("The Races of Man," p. 436) states that in his opinion it is wrong to call the
*' Barabras " by the designation " Nubians ," " for this leads to a triple confusion, " <S'ce nls" thp
writings of Sartmann.
remains unsettled it only prejudices the final solution to call both
the Barabra and the b group people " Nubian." That this is no
imaginary difficulty can be shown by a reference to the views set forth,
for example, in Keane's " Man : Past and Present" (Cambridge
University Press, 1900), without committing ourselves either for or
against the hypotheses *.
" The Nubians belong originally to the Negro stock, although
many have long been assimilated to the Hamitic type through secular
interminglings in that part of the Nile Valley which from them takes
the relatively modern name of Nubia.
" But rightly to understand the question, we have carefully to
distinguish between these half-caste Nubians and the full-blood
Negro Nubas, who gave their name to the Nuba Mountains, Kordofan,
true cradle of the race, where most of the aborigines still belong to this
connection. From Kordofan . . . they spread in remote times west
to Darfur and Waday . . . and in historic times along the Nile north
to the Egyptian frontier" (p. 73). " The three groups (Kenus, Merisi
and Dongolawi). all now Muhammadans. but formerly Christians,
constitute collectively the so-called ' Nubians,' of European writers,
but call themselves Barabra, plural of Berberi, i.e. people of Berber,
although they do not at present extend so far up the Nile as that
town. They are unquestionably Strabo's ' Noubai' . . . and the
Nobatae of Diocletian's time " (pp. 73 and 74).
We quote this statement of a view, to which many writers have
given their support, not because we regard it as a likely solution
of the Nubian problem, but merely to add point to the caution
expressed already in these notes, that at present we are not justified
in calling both the early and the late inhabitants of Nubia " Nu-
bians " : in fact, it is very doubtful whether we ought to apply this
name to the pre-hellenic population of the Nile valley between Aswan
and Meroe.
However, if it is agreed that we call the country south of Aswan
" Nubia " and that the early dynastic inhabitants of this territory
* Dknikkr ("The Races of Man," p. 436) states that in his opinion it is wrong to call the
*' Barabras " by the designation " Nubians ," " for this leads to a triple confusion, " <S'ce nls" thp
writings of Sartmann.