ABABDA, a nomad tribe of Arabs who reach northward to the Kena-Kusayr road, in the country east of Luxor Diran, Aswan and the Northern Atbai. They call themselves "sons of the Jinns," and they are the Gebadei of Pliny and probably the Troglodytes of classical writers. From time immemorial they have acted as guides to caravans through the Nubian desert and up the Nile valley as far as Sennar. Many of them are employed in the telegraph service across the Arabian desert. They are great trade carriers, and visit far away districts. The Ababda of Egypt, numbering some 30,000, are governed by an hereditary "chief"; they generally speak Arabic mingled with Barabra words. As a tribe they claim descent from Selman, an Arab of the Beni Mal. They have adopted the dress and habits of the fellahin. In Nubia they live in villages and employ themselves in agriculture. Others fish in the Red Sea and hawk the salt fish in the interior. Others are pedlars, while charcoal-burning, wood-gathering and trading in gums and drugs, especially in senna leaves, occupy many. The Ababda build huts with hurdles and mats, or live in natural caves. They have few horses, using the camel as beast of burden or their "mount" in war. They live chiefly on milk and durra, the latter eaten either raw or roasted. They are very super stitious, believing, for example, that evil would overtake a family if a girl member should, after her marriage, ever set eyes on her mother : hence the Ababda husband has to make his home far from his wife's village. In the Mandist troubles (1882-98) many "friendlies" were recruited from the tribe.