The Humr (also known as Humur, ) are one of two branches of the Messiria, a subgroup of the Baggara ethnic group, native to the south-west province of Kordofan,

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. Speakers of

Chadian Arabic Chadian Arabic (), also known as Shuwa Arabic, Western Sudanic Arabic, or West Sudanic Arabic (WSA), is a variety of Arabic and the first language of 1.9 million people in Chad, both town dwellers and Baggara, nomadic cattle herders. Most of its ...

, the Humr live in the area surrounding the towns of Babanusa, Muglad and Al Fula (). The Humr are divided into two groups - the ''Ajaira'', who live in the area from Muglad to

Abyei The Abyei Area () is an area of on the border between South Sudan and Sudan that has been accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agree ...

and the ''Felaita'', who live in the vicinity of Babanusa, Alfoula and Kajira. There are six clans in the Ajaira and five in the Falita, and thus twelve Humrawi clans in all.

Anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

Ian Cunnison lists the clans of the two divisions of the Humr as the Ajaira consisting of the Fayyarin, Awlád Kamil, Mezaghna, Fadliya, Menama and Addal clans, and the Felaita consisting of the Metanin, Ziyud, Awlád Serur, Jubarat and Salamat clans. The people who govern each tribe are known as the " Nazir" ().

Hunting

The Humur are intrepid hunters of

elephants Elephants are the Largest and heaviest animals, largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian ele ...

and the

giraffe The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...

. Humrawi hunters' main reason for hunting the giraffe is the preparation of the drink ''umm nyolokh''.

''umm nyolokh''

The Humur are most commonly known outside the Sudan as the preparers of a drink made from the

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

and

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid biological tissue, tissue found within the Spongy bone, spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It i ...

of a giraffe, which they call ''umm nyolokh'', and which they claim is intoxicating, causing

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

s and

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...

s. If substantiated by a chemical analysis, this claim would make the giraffe the first mammal to be discovered to contain a hallucinogen in its bodily tissues, and the Humrawi the first people to have discovered the existence of such a mammal. Ian Cunnison, who accompanied the Humr on some of their giraffe-hunting expeditions in the late 1950s, noted that:

It is said that a person, once he has drunk umm nyolokh, will return to giraffe again and again. Humr, being Mahdists, are strict abstainers rom alcoholand a Humrawi is never drunk (sakran) on
liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...
or beer. But he uses this word to describe the effects which umm nyolokh has upon him.

Cunnison's account of a psychoactive mammal found its way into a mainstream literature through a conversation between Dr. Wendy James of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and specialist on the use of hallucinogens and intoxicants in society Richard Rudgley, who considered its implications in his popular work ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances''. Rudgley hypothesises that the presence of the hallucinogenic compound DMT might account for the putative intoxicating properties of umm nyolokh.

References

{{authority control Ethnic groups in Sudan