Note note 63 — APPENDIX. No. III.

(63.) In the history of Bahnase (Oxyrinchus), and that of its valorous defence against the Arab conquerors of Egypt, I find it stated, that a large army of Bedjas and Noubas, headed by Maksouh, king of Bedja, and Ghalyk, king of Nouba, came to the assistance of the Christian chief, Batlos, who was besieged at Bahnase, by the officers of Amr Ibn el Aas. This black army is said to have consisted of 50,000 men. They had with them 1,300 elephants, each bearing upon its back a vaulted house made of leather, in which 10 men took their post in the battle. In the company of the Bedjas were a race of men of gigantic stature, called El Kowad (القواد), coming from beyond Souakin. They were covered with tiger skins, and in their upper lips copper rings were fixed. The Moslims defeated this army. There is a strange mixture of truth and romance in this history, but the arrival of the Bedja army is so well authenticated by a train of witnesses, that little doubt can remain of its having really taken place; although the number both of men and elephants seems to be exaggerated. The elephants of southern Nubia are, as far as I know, no longer used to ride upon.