“ Their country is the most fertile along the Nile between Egypt and Khartum. Many of their villages are well built; some of the houses are fortified. They speak Arabic and generally preserve the Semitic type, though they are obviously of very mixed blood. ”

“ The typical Shagīa has a sloping forehead, aquiline nose and receding chin. They have adopted the African custom of gashing the chests of their children. In the wars of 1884–85 General Gordon’s first fight was to rescue a few Shagīa besieged in a fort at Halfaya. In April 1884 Saleh Bey (Saleh Wad el Mek) , head of the tribe, and 1400 men surrendered to the mahdi’s forces. Numbers of Shagīa continued in the service of General Gordon and this led to the outlawry of the tribe by the mahdi. When Khartum fell Saleh’s sons were sought out and executed by the dervishes. ”

“ They must have dispossessed and largely intermarried with a people of Nuba origin. They appear (from a statement by James Bruce) to have been settled originally south of their present country and to have moved northward since 1772. ”