TRADE AND OCCUPATIONS
The Auderas country, still almost in Tegama, is far less interesting
ethnically than the north or east. The old permanent habitations in
the area are less characteristic of the Tuareg; there are hardly any
inscriptions or rock drawings, with the exception of the large group
at T’in Wana, and a few scattered about elsewhere. Owing to the many
pools and “eresan”[201] there are no deep wells. At Auderas itself
there are some ruined stone-built dwellings of the later type, but a
few earlier examples may be seen both there and at Abattul, a village
about two miles to the N.E. in the same basin of valleys. A famous
mosque was founded there by Muhammad Abd el Kerim el Baghdadi. Abattul
village lies between the domed peaks of Faken[202] and Mt. Abattul,
which is itself a spur of Mount Todra. Behind, and between them, a
valley and rough track run north to Mount Dogam. Just south of the
village are the valleys which converge from Todra and Faken on the
main Auderas basin. From Auderas Mount Faken is a prominent object on
the northern horizon with a rounded top and vertical black sides which
look unscalable. Almost at the foot of Faken on the Abattul side is
a pool in a deep gorge, usually containing water enough to swim in
most of the year. The path from Auderas to Abattul is very rough,
as it crosses and re-crosses several small valleys where gazelle,
some wild pig, and occasionally monkeys are to be found. Abattul
village lies just under a low white cliff in which there are a few
caves and many smaller holes inhabited by owls and night birds. It
was the first settlement in the basin and was only gradually abandoned
as the country became less subject to raids and war. The inhabitants
had settled in this place so that they could easily take refuge in
the inaccessible crags of Mount Todra just behind their village, in
time of raids. Even nowadays the folk from Auderas have to resort to
the mountain from time to time, but not so often as to prevent them
from living further away. The stone mosque at Abattul is one of the
few in Air which is still used for prayer.[203]
The main road from Auderas to Northern Air runs over very rocky
ground to a plain west of Faken, bordered by two valleys on the
east and by low hills on the west side. The latter continue for some
distance along the valley of Auderas until it eventually reaches the
foothills of Air on the Talak plain. The different groups of hills are
known by names which the Itesan sub-tribes adopted and retained.[204]
The plain north of Agades is the Erarar n’Dendemu of Barth:[205] it
contains El Baghdadi’s place of prayer mentioned by the traveller,
lying under a small hill. Turning left here into more broken country
by a small tributary the track enters the Ighaghrar valley, which
descends from the Gissat and T’Sidderak hills.[206]
At the head of the basin a steep drop leads into a valley flowing north
between Mount Bila to the west and Mount Dogam to the east. This drop,
the descent of Inzerak, is equivalent to the ascent south of Auderas
at T’inien on to the central platform of the plateau. It leads into
one of the most beautiful valleys in Air, called Assada, the head
of which, at right angles to its main direction, is formed by small
ravines draining Mount Dogam. It runs along the eastern foot of Bila
and falls into Anu Maqaran, the central basin of Air. When we came
into Assada there were two or three pools near the foot of Inzerak;
further up the T’ighummar tributary lay a small village of stone
houses with a deep well and mosque on an alternative loop road from
Auderas branching off at the place of prayer of El Baghdadi. This
alternative track was the one taken by Barth in 1850; it debouches
into the Tegidda valley, a tributary of the Assada from the north,
at Aureran well.
I camped in Assada three times in all, twice near the foot of
the descent and once a mile or so further down at the wells
of Tamenzaret,[207] which are temporary and require to be dug
again every year. The deep narrow valley with its sandy bed and
immense trees growing in the thick vegetation on both banks was
magnificent. Towering up on either side the red mountains framed,
in a cleft towards the east, the cone of Dogam seated on a pedestal
of black lava and basalt. Most of the Dogam massif is so rough as to
be impassable. It seems to be a volcanic intrusion in the Todra group,
to which it really belongs. I suspect that the basalt boulders covering
the plain north and south of Auderas, and perhaps certain features
of Todra itself, owe their origin to the Dogam activity. But Bila
is hardly less imposing: on the Assada side it presents a wall of
vivid red rock. The fine clean colours of dawn on the first morning
I saw the mountains against a cold blue sky offered the most lovely
spectacle I saw in all Air.
The Assada and T’ighummar valleys are inhabited by a northern section
of the Kel Nugguru, who pasture their goats and camels there, and owe
allegiance to Ahodu of Auderas. There are a few ruined stone houses
below Tamenzaret and the remains of a mosque at the old deep well of
Aureran, where the main road divides. From here one branch proceeds
north past another ruined settlement to the Arwa Mellen valley and
mountain, the other turns east towards the upper part of the Anu
Maqaran basin. I took the latter road to T’imia. It crossed several
broad valley beds flowing northwards from Dogam, notably the Bacos,
where there is a village and palm grove, and the Elazzas not far from
where they fall into Anu Maqaran. The road I have had occasion to
mention as running from Agades by the Ara valley over the shoulder
of Dogam descends from the Central massif by Bacos or Elazzas. The
latter corresponds to the Ara on the other side of the Dogam pass. By
these two the Todra-Dogam group is divided from Bagezan.
Near its junction with the main Anu Maqaran valley, the Elazzas is
a broad bed between low rocky banks. At a certain point where it
crosses a ridge of rock large quantities of water are held up in the
sand. The remains of a recent village with a few date palms appear on
the site. The rocks in the neighbourhood bear a few rude pictures, but
the ruins, a few round pedestal foundations of loose stones some 15-20
feet in diameter and 2-3 feet high, on which reed huts used to stand,
are uninteresting. Bila from here has the appearance of a long flat
ridge, in pleasant contrast to the isolated peaks of Aggata and Arwa in
the north, or the confused mass of Bagezan to the south and south-east.
The upper part of the Anu Maqaran valley where the Bagezan and the
Agalak mountains at the western side of the T’imia massif approach
one another is called Abarakan. The road passes a large cemetery and
the valley narrows between high hills with bare sides until a big fork
is reached: one valley goes north to T’imia village, the other south,
emerging on the central plateau east of the Bagezan mountains.
T’imia village is a veritable mountain fastness. The Agalak-T’imia
massif was evidently highly volcanic, for a great flow of basalt
overlying pink granite boulders has taken place along the valley
towards Abarakan. The track climbs steadily over the broken lava
stream. The going is rough. Then suddenly the track seems to end
altogether below an overhanging cliff of lava some 30 feet high lying
right across the bed of the ravine. We reached this point and found
the men of T’imia had come down to meet us in order to help our
camels to negotiate the path which follows a narrow crevasse in one
side of the cliff. The cleft is so narrow that a camel with a bulky
load cannot pass at all; it is so steep that the poor animals were
forced to proceed in a series of ungainly lurches or jumps. Above
the cliff the valley broadens out again, and where two small side
valleys enter it lies the modern village of T’imia.
PLATE 23
[Illustration: TIMIA GORGE]
[Illustration: TIMIA GORGE: PINK GRANITE TO LEFT, BLACK BASALT
TO RIGHT]
This settlement of Kel Owi nobles is very different from the servile
Auderas. The parentage of these Kel Owi may be obscure and mixed, but
their physique, the general cleanliness of the place and the neatness
of their domed huts stamp them as nobles. The dwellings stand grouped
in compounds, or sometimes as single huts, scattered between a row of
gardens with irrigation wells, and the slope of a hill covered with
huge boulders. In one of the smaller side valleys is a large grove
of date palms with most of the gardens, near the site of the older
village, a collection of rectangular masonry houses in ruins, and round
hut sites marked by a ring of stones and a hearth. The little mosque
of stone and mud construction lies between the old and new villages,
but it was desecrated by the French soldiers and is no longer used. A
matting shelter and compound in the new settlement serve to-day both
for a place of prayer and a school, presided over by the ’alim
’Umbellu. Though over sixty he still works daily in his garden
in the intervals of teaching the children of the village. Fugda,
chief of T’imia, is one of the cleverest men in Air. Under the
guidance of these two men the community has prospered. The villagers
are enterprising. In the changing conditions of things they are
an exception to the usual rule, for the men combine caravaning and
trading on a large scale with gardening and date cultivation, without
the help of any Imghad. When we came this way some of their camels were
fattening in Abarakan ready to go to Bilma with the annual salt caravan
in charge of a selected party of men. Another herd of some 100 head
was going to Damergu to fetch millet for sale to the French post at
Agades, and later I met yet another drove in Assada going south from
Iferuan by way of Auderas to fetch more grain for sale in Northern
Air after working on transport duties in Nigeria for the winter.
The life of the camel-owning Tuareg may be said to centre round
the autumn salt caravan, which all the best camels accompany. It
usually leaves in October, starting from Tabello[208] in the upper
Beughqot valley, where parties from all over Air, Damergu and the
Southland rendezvous in order to start together. Since the war these
caravans have been comparatively small, but even during the last few
years they have numbered 5000 camels. Ever since the occupation of
Agades by the French, the Camel Corps has been turned out to guard
the concentration and escort the caravan across the desert, for so
valuable a congregation of camels might any year, as it sometimes
did in the past, prove an irresistible temptation for raiders. The
largest caravan ever escorted reached the fantastic total of over
30,000 camels. The caravan marches for five days to the oasis of
Fashi, where it is joined by a smaller caravan from Damagarim via
Termit. There, a halt is made for a short time to water and feed on
whatever scanty pasture is available, and in some three more days Bilma
is reached. The animals go out empty except for a little grain or live
meat in the form of goats and sheep, and some trade goods for the Tebu
and Kanuri inhabitants of Fashi and Kawar and Tibesti. They bring back
salt and dates both from Fashi and Bilma. The latter place has perhaps
the finest salt deposits in Africa. It costs nothing to get except the
labour at the pans of making it up into loaves and loading it wrapped
in matting bales. The outlay may be threepence to fivepence a load, in
addition to an export tax of two francs per camel levied by the French
authorities. The salt is sold in Hausaland for anything up to 7_s._
or more a loaf according to the time of year. As a fully-grown camel
can carry four to six loaves of salt, the trade is extremely lucrative.
Both Fashi, or Agram as the place is also called, and Kawar have
practically no pasture, and the few camels which live permanently
there eat dates. The desert for five and a half days between Tabello
and Fashi and three days between Fashi and Bilma is not only waterless
but also nearly pastureless as well. The camels start out loaded with
a sufficient supply of fodder for the outward and return journeys;
the huge bales of grass are dropped _en route_ at the end of each
day’s march to provide for the equivalent return stage. Since
the practice of escorting caravans has been instituted the French
authorities quite rightly forbid isolated parties crossing the desert
and attracting raiders to the neighbourhood. The route now chosen
for the caravan runs from Tabello to Tazizilet on the edge of the
Air mountains, and then straight across to Fashi in an almost due
easterly direction. Formerly another road, which was more convenient
for the northern tribes of Air, was also in use. It left the mountains
at Agamgam pool in North-east Air and went to Ashegur well, north of
Fashi; this way the distances between watering-points was shortened,
and there was also rather more pasture.
This annual salt caravan is the largest enterprise of its sort in the
world at the present time. It is called in Air the “Taghalam,” a
word derived from “aghelam,” meaning a “prize camel,” but the
French call it the “Azalai,” which means the “Parting” or the
“Separation,” the name given to a similar caravan which annually
leaves Timbuctoo to collect salt at Taodenit for sale along the Niger.
With the advent of European salt in Nigeria the trade has become
somewhat less remunerative, as the Air “Taghalam” no longer enjoys
its ancient monopoly in the Central Sudan, but the infinitesimal cost
of production and the cheap transport in the hands of nomads will
always enable it to compete with the imported European trade product
to some extent. Bilma salt is of good quality; it is comparatively
free from sand or medicinal chemicals and is preferred by the natives
of the south to the purer European product. The loaves are made up
in conical form and are pink in colour, standing some 18-24″ high
by 9-12″ at the base.
The return journey of the “Taghalam” follows the same course as
the outward one. The whole trip, which is extremely strenuous for
men and camels alike, takes some three weeks. There are always a
number of casualties among the camels from exhaustion, but so large
are the profits that every Tuareg is ready to take the risk and send
as many of his herd as he can possibly spare at least once a year,
either in the autumn or on the smaller “Taghalam” which goes
in the spring. After returning from Bilma the camels are rested and
then proceed to Damergu and the south to sell their salt and their
services. They are joined by any other camels fit to go, and when they
have disposed of their merchandise engage in transport work between the
cities of the Southland until about March or April. Then they begin to
move north again before the rains set in in the Sudan. The proceeds
of this work and of the sale of Bilma salt, or dates from Fashi and
Air, are invested in grain and such trade goods as cotton cloth, tea,
sugar, snuff and hardware, which are the only luxuries of Air. By the
time they reach the mountains the summer rains have probably begun,
and they have some three months in which to recuperate on the fresh
pasture of the hills in preparation for the next year’s routine.
Transactions in salt and grain are measured by the camel load,
which varies considerably from place to place. Metrology is not
an exact science in Air, but recognised standards nevertheless
exist. The actual measures are kept by the tribal chiefs, and it is,
of course, common gossip to hear it said that a certain chief gives
unduly short weight. The only truly Tuareg measure is a unit of
capacity; in the first instance it is the handful, whether of grain
or salt or other commodity. But the measure has been standardised
by establishing that a handful shall be as much millet grain as an
ordinary man can pick up in his hand with the fingers _closed_ palm
upwards.[209] Six such handfuls nominally make one “tefakint,”
which is measured by heaping the grain in a small circular basket
with sloping sides 1¾″ deep × 3⅝″ in diameter at the mouth
× 2″ at the bottom. The next larger measure is the “muda,” a
cylindrical wooden cup with a hemispherical bottom in a U section. As
the handful and the “tefakint” are too small to measure bulky
wares like dates, the “muda” has become the effectual standard
in the country, but it varies in certain areas. At Auderas it is of
five “tefakint,” but in Agades of ten. The T’imia and Kel Owi or
Ighazar “muda” is different again, three of them being the same
as two Auderas or one Agades “muda.” The three “mudas” are,
however, generally recognised and are not the subject of bargaining in
each transaction. The measure corresponding to the Air “tefakint”
basket in Damergu is a round section cut from a large calabash; this
slightly convex plate is held by a loop for the fingers fixed to the
underside. All these grain measures are considered to be full when
the grain is heaped up so that it runs over the edge.
For small weights the silver five-franc piece, or “sinko” as it is
called, is now also used, especially in measuring the value of silver
ornaments. The rate of exchange current in 1922 in Air at Agades
was four silver shillings or five silver francs to the “sinko”;
a general rate of five obtained elsewhere in Air, as silver francs and
shillings were not distinguished from each other. The people of Air
have the nomads’ dislike for paper currency in any form. Various
coins, including the Maria Teresa dollar, are still in circulation,
but French coinage is gradually replacing all others. Cowrie shells
are no longer used and gold is now unknown. The mithkal of Agades
dates from the time when the gold trade was still flourishing, and
its form here is peculiar to this city. It seems to have been a unit
of weight and not of currency; as a recognised amount of gold it was
used as the basis for striking bargains, but the metal probably did
not pass from hand to hand owing to the inconvenience of handling
dust. With the decline of the gold trade the mithkal survived as a
unit of weight, but its theoretical value changed considerably in
the course of centuries. We find in Barth’s day the exchange was
reckoned at 1 mithkal = 1000 cowries, and 2500 cowries = 1 Maria Teresa
dollar; but whereas the Agades mithkal was only worth two-fifths of
a dollar, the Timbuctoo mithkal was worth one-third of a dollar. It
is interesting to arrive by a round-about method at a rough estimate
of the change in value of the unit.
The mithkal as a simple unit of weight was a part of a larger unit
in the following equation:[210] 100 mithkal = 3 small karruwe =
1 large karruwe = 6½ Arab rottls. The Arab rottl weight varies
between 225 grammes in Persia and about 160 grammes in Cairo, several
slightly different standard rottls being used in other parts of
Egypt. Taking 160 grammes as the equivalent of 1 rottl, and assuming
Barth’s equation to be correct, we get 10·4 grammes for the Agades
mithkal. The unit of 10·4 grammes of gold dust in the fifteenth
century A.D. was in the nineteenth century equal to two-fifths of
a Maria Teresa dollar weighing 28·0668 grammes silver 0·833 fine,
or in other words, 13·5 grammes of silver.
The only measures of length in Air are the “aghil” (plural
“ighillan”)[211] and the “tedi” or “teddi.” The former is
the universal dra’, ell or cubit measured from the inner elbow-point
to the first joint of the middle finger on an average man, say 5 ft. 10
in. tall. Ten “ighillan” make one “amitral,” the two measures
being only used for cloth, etc. The “tedi” is the fathom and is
used for measuring the depth of wells or the length of rope, etc. There
is no measure in Air for distance, which is invariably calculated by
the parts of a day or the number of days taken to cover the ground.
The pack-saddle of Air is peculiar to the country. It is very simple,
consisting of two sheaves of grass or straw, two semi-circular pieces
of matting made of plaited dûm palm fronds, a skin filled with grain
or stuffed with dry camel dung and a wooden arch terminating in flat
boards. A bundle of grass, with the butt ends even and trimmed, is
laid on the semi-circular mat, which is then rolled around it and
sewn up with ribbands of palm frond by a long wooden or iron bodkin;
the flowery ends of the grass project beyond the matting. One of these
mat cylinders or cushions is fitted each side of the camel’s hump
with the butts nearly touching one another over the withers. Over
these pads is placed the arch of wood, the ends of which terminate
in boards some 9″ × 3″ at the ends, resting on the pads, which
are tied on with twisted dûm palm rope. A stuffed goatskin thrown
transversely over the back of the camel behind the hump forms a rear
pad. Its corners are tied to the two ends of the arch with adjustable
cords to regulate the distance between them. The loads, which must be
carefully balanced, are slung over the pack-saddle; two loops on each
load are hitched to the other two on the other load with two short
sticks. The weight of the load rests on the side pads and the ends
of the back pad; the load cords bear on the latter and on the side
pads just in front of the wooden arch, which prevents them slipping
backwards. The load ropes rest on, and are not tied to, the saddle. No
girths, crupper or breastband are used unless the loads are very bulky
or need special steadying. Unloading is extraordinarily simple, for
as soon as the camel has been knelt down the loops are disconnected
by pulling out the short sticks and the loads fall down on either side.
The pack-saddle is simple and cheap, but is not efficient on steep
slopes where the camel may stumble or lurch awkwardly. As these
conditions prevail all over Air, the arrangement is really far from
ideal, though in the plain land it is practical enough. The principal
advantages are that every part of the saddle is easily adjustable
to suit any particular camel, while the whole equipment weighs next
to nothing. The goatskin used as the back pad on long journeys is
filled with a provision of grain, saving an additional receptacle on
each camel of the caravan. The resultant economy of space and bulk
is unequalled in any other system.
The rest of the camel’s equipment consists of a head rope, a hobbling
rope and the load ropes. In Air all rope is made of split dûm palm
fronds soaked in water till they have fermented, or, if no time is
available, from fresh material. The strips are twisted like ordinary
two or three strand “cable laid” rope. It is a strong, serviceable
material costing nothing and available everywhere where the dûm palm
grows, which is all over Air and the Sudan. The scarcity of date palms
precludes the use of the brown fibre which grows below the fronds,
known to camel travellers in the north. The dûm palm rope does
not wear so well as the latter but is easier to manufacture. Every
camel-man in Air spends a certain part of the day making rope,
twisting the fronds from split ribbands about ¼-½″ broad,
bundles of which he carries about; he sits on the ground talking and
twisting, using his big toe to hold the end of the rope he has made,
and weaving in strand after strand with incredible speed. The rope
is nearly all two-stranded cable, but the tightness of twist and the
finish vary with the use. Load ropes are very closely twisted cable,
passed twice round the package at each end and terminating in a loop
adjusted by a running half-hitch to raise or lower the load on the
side of the camel. Lashing rope and rough nets are made of loosely
twisted strands. The camel head rope is a long piece with a slip
knot at one end passed over the lower jaw of the camel and pulled
tight behind its front teeth. Hobble ropes are stout lengths passed
round one foreleg, then twisted and passed round the other, leaving
about 18″ of movement between the limbs: the ends are secured by
passing a knot through a small loop. Carefully made rope is beaten
with a stone to make the strands pack tightly.
Loading camels is hard work and can only properly be done by two
men. The pack-saddle is put on the kneeling camel, which is prevented
from rising by slipping one of his knees through a looped hobble rope,
which, when not in use, is carried round the animal’s neck. The
camel protests vigorously in season and out of season and pretends
to bite the men. They work stripped to the waist, wearing only their
trousers tucked up to the thigh, and the inevitable veil. They stagger
under 150 to 200 lbs. loads, swinging them on to the camel’s back,
slipping the loops through one another and securing them with the
two sticks. The camel is then released, gets up with a jerky movement
resembling a deck chair being opened, and probably throws its burden
to the ground immediately, when the operation recommences. If this
does not happen at once the head rope is secured to the next camel
in front with a half-hitch that can be released by pulling the free
end. By the time fifty camels have been loaded, at least five in
an endeavour to graze on the same bush have bumped into one another
and their loads have fallen off. The operation of loading may take
place in the early morning when it is cool, or before dawn when it
is always cold, or at noon when the temperature is like a furnace;
it is always tedious and tiresome and bad for the temper, which the
incessant complaining of the camels aggravates.
Eventually the caravan moves off. The camel-men walk along, watching
their loads if they are conscientious, and when everything is going
well they climb up on their camels and sit on the loads. They jump
up on to the neck of the camel after pulling its head down and so
reach the top, but they never kneel a camel after it has started
on the march until the day’s journey is over, unless the load
has been thrown or has slipped very badly. The guide takes the
head of the caravan and the march starts. The Tuareg of Air know
their mountains as well as the average Londoner knows London: they
can find their way along the more important tracks. For the less
known ways a special guide must be found: in the outer deserts the
reliable guides can be counted on the fingers of both hands. Efale,
the leader of the “Taghalam” and veteran of the Eastern Desert,
T’ekhmedin and Kalama on the northern routes—are all resourceful,
patient and observant men when travelling, but complete autocrats whose
orders cannot be questioned. Their knowledge of the roads depends on
estimation of time and memory and not on any supernatural powers. They
know the stars[212] and have some sense of direction, but especially
do they know every fold of ground and almost every bush. Their powers
are remarkable but not inexplicable; their observation and memory
rarely fail them, but for obvious reasons they do not care to travel
by night. Once started the march goes on hour after hour. The heat
grows more intense. The narrow path winds down the bed of a valley or
among the trees on the banks, or over rocky plains or amid sand dunes.
In Air the vegetation exists principally along the valleys. In the
south the dûm palm grows in veritable forests or in low thickets,
when it resembles the dwarf palm. The _Acacia Adansonii_, _Acacia
Arabica_ (“Tamat” in Temajegh), _Acacia Tortilis_ (the “Talha”
of the Arabs and “Abesagh” or “Tiggeur” in Temajegh), as
well as two or three other varieties, are common. They occasionally
grow to very large dimensions. The Aborak (_Balanites Ægyptiaca_)
also does very well; trees with trunks up to 2 feet in diameter are
common in the larger valleys, and in North-eastern Air I have seen
some up to 3½ feet across. The bushes and grasses are innumerable,
but flowers are rare, except for the yellow and white mimosa blossom
on the trees. Nearly all the trees and bushes are thorned, some with
recurving barbs which are dangerous for the careless rider. If burr
grass is less frequent than in the south, spear grass abounds and is
almost as painful. Vegetation in Air defends itself against pasturing
animals vigorously but vainly, for the animals in the country seem
to thrive on a diet of thorns, and man ends up by being the worst
sufferer from these useless provisions of Nature. Thorns are not
the only minor horror of life. How often after a long march has some
delicious glade appeared at hand, cool and inviting. After angrily
dismissing the suggestion to choose a camp site in the middle of an
open river-bed where the sun on the sand will cook an egg in a few
minutes, you throw yourself down to rest in deep green shade fanned
by the breeze. The unwary traveller soon learns the consequences
of disregarding native advice, for he will quickly arise from a bed
of thorns with his clothes full of burrs, and his mouth full of bad
words, while his whole attention will probably be directed towards
dodging a large tarantula or scorpion or, happily less often, a little
yellow-crested sand viper, than which there is hardly anything more
deadly in all Africa.
PLATE 24
[Illustration: ABOVE: NECK WALLETS, POUCH, “STAR” GAME TRAP
CENTRE: AMULET BAG, WOODEN LADLE, WOODEN SPOON, AMULET POUCHES
BELOW: STRIP OF MATTING, LEATHER BOTTLE, HOUSEHOLD POTS OF CLAY AND
HIDE, SKIN FOR CHURNING BUTTER]
Apart from trades directly connected with camels the Tuareg have
practically no industries. They neither dye nor spin anything, except
a rough sewing thread of local cotton; nor do they weave in wool or
cotton. Mats of two sorts are made; the one of palm fronds plaited
in bands some two to three inches broad and sewn together spirally
to form rectangles or ovals worked in varying degrees of fineness,
the other made of stiff grass and thin strips of black leather. The
technique of the latter is good: deep borders with an intricate
geometric ornament are woven in the leather warp. Mat-making and
leather-working are carried on by the women. They attain great
skill, but although leather-working is usual all over the country,
it is at Agades that the craft is especially well developed. Fine
designs in coloured strips of leather are made on cushions, bags
and pouches like a sort of embroidery. The industry is in the hands
of a few women and is probably of Manding origin, brought to Air
by the Songhai conquerors or even before. Decorated camel riding
saddles, leather head ropes and travelling wallets or pouches of
various shapes are made. The leather used is the goatskin locally
tanned with the seed pod of the “Tamat” acacia, and dyed with
red maize leaf or indigo. A certain amount of prepared leather is
also imported from the south. In these articles the foundation is
usually of black leather, which is ornamented with coloured strips
or bands and metal studs. Camel head ropes are made of twisted or
plaited leather strands with coloured tassels; the more elaborate,
the finer are the strands used; the tassels are bound with coloured
leather threads woven in patterns. The technique of these head ropes
is the best of its sort I have ever seen. Cutting leather in strands
to the thickness of coarse sewing thread is a highly skilled art,
and all the more remarkable in that only knives are used, for scissors
are unknown except in the blacksmiths’ equipment. I have seen cords
for carrying amulets or pouches made of ten or a dozen threads, each
less than ¹⁄₃₂″ thick, bound at intervals and at the ends.
A most characteristic article is a flat rectangular envelope of
leather some 6″ long × 3″ broad. It is only open at the bottom
and slides up and down the two cords, by which a sort of portfolio
is hung from the neck; this consists of four to six leather flaps in
which amulets, trinkets, needles and papers are preserved. The black
cover is ornamented with some stamped rectilinear pattern and has small
tassels at the bottom. A similar object is the small leather amulet
case about 3″ broad × 2″ long × 1″ deep, also slung round
the neck, and provided with a lid like a box. A larger semi-circular
pouch with a design in strips of coloured leather suspended over the
shoulder by a long cord is typical Agades work. Triangular travelling
bags of all sizes are made of soft leather, closed at the neck with
a running cord; they vary in size from those 5 inches long for snuff
to others 2 feet or more for clothing and food. Both these bags and
ornamented goatskins for packing personal belongings have polychrome
patterns on the surface, which is roughed and rubbed with moist
dyes. The plaited head ropes and the surface dyeing of leather seem
to be a more indigenous technique than the “Agades work” proper,
in which the design is procured by appliqué strips.
Carpentry is rudimentary and the craft akin to iron-working. The
artisan, known as the “Enad” or smith, whatever his caste, is
a person of standing in the community: he is a man whose advice is
sought in council though he rarely becomes a leader. In the olden
days the “Enad” is said even to have had a peculiar form of grave
to distinguish his resting-place from that of other men, but however
this may have been, there is nothing now to show that the smith of
Air ever belonged to a separate race or caste. To-day the smith is
only respected for his skill. The position is usually hereditary
and includes the duties of the blacksmith, jeweller, carpenter and
farrier, with the same set of tools for all these trades. His adze is
an acute-angled crook of wood with a socketed iron cutting edge bound
on to the point of the short limb; the form dates back at least to
the Neolithic period of civilisation. The axe is equally primitive:
the cutting edge, instead of having a socket, ends in a point
which is fitted into a hole bored through the club head of a wooden
haft. With these two tools, a few hammers, usually of European shape,
tin-shears, pincers, files and chisels, the “Enad” contrives to
turn out some remarkably fine work. Using only his adze he will cut
spoons with a pointed bowl at a slight angle to the flat handle, or
round ladles, from a solid block of “Aborak” wood. They are then
ornamented with geometric patterns burnt on the handles around the
edge. The Air “Enad” does not smelt iron, for all the presence
of ironstone in the hills and magnetite sand in the river-beds. The
only iron-working done is quite simple bending, beating or tempering
on an anvil shaped like a huge horseshoe nail planted in the ground. A
goatskin bellows closed by two wooden slats and a clay nozzle are used
as in the Southland. The iron is heated in a hearth in the sand filled
with charcoal. A certain number of inferior iron knives are forged,
but the Tuareg of Air must be regarded as having hardly yet reached
the iron-working age of evolution.
The Agades blacksmith-jewellers melt down silver coins heated in small
clay crucibles. They lose a lot of silver by oxidation, but the work
is remarkably well finished, considering the primitive nature of their
tools and the heavy hammers employed. The wooden household furniture
will be described later; so far as there is any at all, it is well
made, but rough. The principal skill of the smiths is displayed
in making and decorating camel riding saddles and certain U-shaped
luggage rests, to which particular reference will be made hereafter.
The Tuareg riding saddle, or “tirik” (“t’iriken” in the
plural) in Temajegh, or “rahla” in Arabic, is a highly efficient
production, combining comfort with extreme lightness. It consists
of a circular seat over an inverted V frame which fits across the
withers of the camel. High above the seat are a broad, tall cantle
shaped like a Gothic arch and large cross pommel. The whole saddle
weighs perhaps 10 lbs. at the most. Its equipment includes a quilted
saddle cloth over the withers and a single plaited leather girth two
inches broad. No iron is used in the saddle, except for two rings
which pull by diagonal straps from the underside of the seat over the
flat Ʌ shaped frame of the saddle. The girth is permanently attached
to these straps at one end, the other end is lashed to the ring on
the off-side straps by a leather thong. The seat, cantle and pommel
are made of separate pieces of wood held together by raw hide, which
is pulled over them wet and dried in place; the violent contraction
of the hide holds the component parts together as firmly as if they
were screwed or dovetailed. The broad Ʌ sides which fit over the
withers are of soft tanned leather stretched over a rectangular frame:
the upper part is covered with leather over hide and wood. The common
saddle has dark red leather over the seat and cantle and black leather
over the cross pommel and along the edges of the cantle. The elaborate
decoration of the more ornate patterns is invariably the same. In this
variety the seat and edging are of red and black leather as previously
described, but the back of the cantle and the front of the cross pommel
are covered with pale green leather, on which is applied a geometric
decoration of horizontal and diagonal strips of stamped and fretted
silver or white metal, with red cloth showing through the holes. Every
example I saw had the same green leather background on the front of
the pommel and back of the cantle. I observed no instance where the
ornament was on a different background or where green leather without
the silver metal design had been used. Where the design comes from
I have no idea; it is remarkably well executed and dignified without
being so barbaric in splendour as the horse saddles of the Sudan. Every
element of the construction and ornament is traditional and rigidly
adhered to. I can offer no suggestions regarding its origin, but can
only note its presence. Some symbolism is probably involved.
PLATE 25
[Illustration: LEFT: BRIDLE STAND AND SEAT
CENTRE: CAMEL RIDING SADDLE WITH PLAITED GIRTH AND THONG
ABOVE: PLAITED LEATHER CAMEL BRIDLE AND LEATHER HOBBLE
RIGHT: WOODEN ARCH OF CAMEL PACK SADDLE]
Where a man can afford to have a leather bridle he usually dispenses
with the running noose which, when rope is used, is slipped over the
camel’s lower jaw behind the front teeth. The leather bridle is
fitted to a head collar consisting of an arched iron nose-piece with
a curved iron jowl-piece attached to one side by a brass or copper
link ring. The bridle is fastened to the other end of the jowl-piece
and runs through a ring on the nose-piece itself, so that any pull on
the bridle closes the former on to the latter, compressing the jaws
of the camel. The nose-piece is kept in position by a horizontal band
of plaited leather attached to the ends and passing round the back of
the camel’s head below the ears. The top of the arched nose-piece
is usually shaped into a loop on to which a crest of black ostrich
feathers may be attached.[213] As an alternative or in addition to
this equipment the riding camel often also has a nose-ring in the
left nostril for a light rope or leather bridle. The nose-ring is
the mark of a good riding camel, but is sometimes not employed for
guiding the animal, as its use necessitates light hands to avoid
injuring the beast.
In addition to its lightness the Tuareg riding saddle has the
inestimable merit of bringing the weight of the rider over the
shoulders of the camel, or in other words over the part where the
animal is strongest. The hinder parts of the camel are sloping and
can carry no weight; all the heavy work is done by the fore-legs. The
rider, sitting in the saddle, which must be arranged with padding
if necessary over the front part of the withers to bring the seat
horizontal, rests one foot against the vertical part of the camel’s
neck just above its curve, holding on to the neck with a prehensile
big toe. The other leg is crooked below and falls over the opposite
shoulder of the camel at the base of the neck. Bare feet are essential
for good riding, as, in addition to enabling some grip to be obtained,
they are used to guide the camel with recognised “aids.” With
a broad cantle and a high pommel between the legs a far better grip
can be obtained than on the Arabian saddle, on which a good seat is
entirely a question of balance. Provided the saddle cloth under the
Tuareg saddle is properly adjusted there is practically no galling of
the withers or sides. If provisions or water-skins are carried they are
slung under the seat of the riding saddle, their front ends attached
to the girth rings, their rear ends tied together behind the hump,
resting on a small pad to prevent rubbing over the backbone.
The large goatskins for water and small ones for meal do not differ
from those used throughout the East. The goat is skinned without
cutting the hide except around the neck and limbs: the skin is peeled
off the carcass and well greased. The legs are sewn up and roped
for slinging: rents or holes are skilfully sewn up or patched with
leather and cotton thread so that they do not leak. A new skin recently
greased with goat or sheep fat is abominable, as the water becomes
strongly impregnated with the reek of goat. But water from a good
old skin can be almost tasteless, though such skins are hard to come
by. Some of the water one has drunk from goatskins beggars description;
it is nearly always grey or black, and smelly beyond belief. The
one compensation is that the wet outside of the skin keeps the water
deliciously cool owing to constant evaporation. With a riding saddle,
a skin of water and a skin of meal or grain as his sole equipment,
the Tuareg reduces the complications of travelling to a minimum.
His weapons are few but characteristic. First and foremost he wears
a sword, called “takuba,” as soon as he reaches man’s estate,
and before even he dons the veil. His sword has been romantically
associated with the Crusaders and I know not who else. It is a
straight, flat, double-edged cutting sword of the old cross-hilted type
up to 3 ft. 6 ins. long by 2-3½ ins. broad below the hilt, tapering
slightly to a rounded point. The guard is square and broad and the
hilt is short, for the Tuareg have small hands. The pommel is flattened
and ornamented. The hilt and guard form a Latin cross. The type never
varies, though of course the blades differ greatly in quality and form,
ranging from old Toledo steels with the mark “Carlos V” on them
to an iron object called a “Masri” blade made in the north. Some
are elaborately ornamented, but the most prized are plain with two
or three slight canellations down the middle; they are probably of
European manufacture. The commonest Masri blades bear two opposed
crescent “men in the moon” faces as their mark; another cheap
variety has a small couchant lion. The Tuareg prizes his sword as
his most valued possession and many, like Ahodu, speak with pride of
a blade handed down in their families for generations. His particular
sword was reputed to have magical properties, for it had been lost in a
fight at Assode, where the owner, rather than allow it to be captured,
had thrown it from him into the air, only, through the instrumentality
of a slave, to find it again many years afterwards, buried deep in the
rocky ground on a hillock near the site of the battle. The sword is
worn in a red leather scabbard slung from two rings by a cotton band
over the shoulder. The edges of the blades are kept very sharp. As a
weapon these swords are quite effective. Ahodu in a raid received a
sword wound from a blow which had glanced off his shield; it ran from
the left shoulder to the left knee, and had cut deep into his arm and
side. It would have killed most Europeans; he not only recovered but
had to ride four days from the scene of the fight back to Air.
Two sorts of spears are used, the wooden-hafted with a narrow
willow-leaf socketed blade and an iron socketed butt, and one made
throughout of metal. The latter, called “allagh,” is a slender and
beautiful weapon up to six feet long.[214] The head is very narrow,
not above an inch broad: the greatest breadth is half-way down the
blade, which projects on either side of a pronounced midrib. Below the
head are one or more pairs of barbs in the plane of the blade. The
haft is round and about half an inch in diameter, inlaid with brass
rings. Two-thirds of the way along the haft is a leather grip; below
that is an annular excrescence, and then the haft is splayed out,
terminating in a chisel-shaped butt 1½″-2″ broad. These spears
are used as lances or as throwing weapons. They are graceful and
well-balanced, but are not made locally. Wherever they appear the
influence of the Tuareg can seemingly be traced. It was from this
people also that the cross-hilted sword probably came to be adopted
in the Sudan, while they themselves certainly learnt its use in the
Mediterranean lands, perhaps even from the Romans.
Sheath knives some 6″ long, with fretted or inlaid brass hilts and
red leather or leather and brass sheaths, are worn at the waist. The
arm dagger is the most typical of all Tuareg weapons. They seem to be
the only people to use it: it has a small wooden cross hilt and a long,
narrow, flat blade. This weapon is worn along the forearm, the point
to the elbow, the hilt ready for use under the hand: the sheath has a
leather ring which is slipped over the wrist. The hilt is held in the
hand, knuckles upward and two fingers each side of the long member
of the cross. It is, in fact, a short stabbing sword, the handiest
and most redoubtable of all the weapons of the People of the Veil.
For defence they have large shields[215] roughly rectangular in
shape and as large as 5 ft. × 3 ft., of sun-dried hide from which
the hair has been removed. The best are made in Elakkos and some
parts of Damergu of oryx hide. The edges are bound in leather, but
the shield remains stiff yet fairly flexible, as it consists of only
one thickness of hide. The corners are rounded and the sides somewhat
incurved, the bottom being usually a few inches broader than the top. A
loop in the centre of the top side is used to hang the shield from the
camel saddle. In use it is held in the left hand by a handle attached
behind about a third of its length from the top rim. There are no
arm loops, as the shield is too ungainly to move rapidly in parry,
though its size effectually protects the whole body. The hide of
the white oryx is extremely tough and is said to turn any sword-cut
and most spear-thrusts. The shield is especially remarkable for
its ornamentation. Some of the more elaborate have metal studs with
roundels of red stuff near the edges, but an uncoloured cruciform
design worked on the surface by a series of small cuts always appears
in the upper part of the shield on the centre line. The design in
all examples I have seen, and probably in most cases, is much the
same and is certainly symbolic, for we hear of the shield and cross
ornament being engraved on rocks. The design seems to be derived
from a Latin cross, the lower and longer arm of which terminates
in a group of diagonal members, usually three on each side, forming
a radial pattern. In this form it resembles nothing so much as the
Christian cross standing on a radiating mass representing light or
glory, but certain examples have the radiating marks at the top as
well as at the bottom of the cross.
The Tuareg does not usually use either bows and arrows or the throwing
iron with its many projecting knife-blades. Instances are not wanting
in which these weapons have been used, but they are neither typical
of the equipment of the Tuareg nor natural to his temperament. Where
they have been used they have been consciously borrowed from some
neighbouring or associated people, such as the Tebu, who use the
throwing iron extensively. The People of the Veil have one most
especial vaunt, which is that they fight with the _armes blanches_
and disdain insidious weapons like arrows. The advent of civilisation
has brought them the rifle, which they are as proud to possess as
any fighting man must be, but they have never been seduced from the
sword, spear and knife which are their old allegiances. It is common
to hear a Tuareg say that he would be ashamed to stoop to the infamy
of the Tebu: he will explain that whatever happens the Tuareg will
never creep up to a camp at night and cut his enemy’s throat in the
dark. He will fight fair and clean, attacking with spear and sword,
preferably by day. He prides himself on the distinction which he
draws between murder by stealth and killing in a fight or raid. He
may be a liar and not live up to his vaunt; but to have the ideal at
all is remarkable; it must be said to his honour that on the whole he
has proved that he can live up to his self-set standard. In all the
bitter fighting with the French during the last two generations I am
only aware of one instance in which the Tuareg have stooped to what in
their own view was treachery, and that was when they tried to poison
the survivors of the Flatters Mission after the attack at Bir Gharama.
Their tactics in war are the usual ones of desert fighting. Guerilla
warfare, ambushes, surprise attacks and harassing descents on
stragglers are all known. On one occasion in an attack on a French
patrol, which had exacted a fine of camels from a tribe, the men came
up in the dark on the opposite side of the square to that on which
the animals were lying and called to them, whereupon the animals,
recognising the voices of their masters, rose and swept through the
sleeping camp, which was over-run and decimated. In the desert men
neither give nor get quarter, for prisoners and slaves are encumbrances
to free movement. In ordinary raids the losing side is either destroyed
or dispersed.
PLATE 26
[Illustration: TUAREG SWORD AND SHEATH, SHIELD, ARM-SWORD AND SHEATH
AND TWO KNIVES]
As far as possible the Tuareg fight according to their code, which in a
less cynical age would be called chivalrous. They obey the injunctions
of Islam neither to destroy palm trees nor to poison wells. They
will give water in the desert to their worst enemy. They will lie and
deceive their opponent whenever possible, but they will not infringe
the laws of hospitality. When they have given the “Amán” or peace,
they do not break their word. They are faithful to the tribes which
they take under their protection and to those who have received their
“A’ada” or “right of passage,” confirmed with the “Timmi”
or oath suitable to the occasion. Their reputation as base fighters
has little real foundation. Every case of which I have heard, when
such an accusation was brought against them, has resolved itself into
some surprise attack by a raiding party, the essence of whose success
depended upon an unexpected descent upon an unsuspecting enemy. Of
their courage I will write nothing, for it is too easy to exaggerate;
but their proverb says: “Hell itself abhors dishonour.”
[Footnote 201: Singular: Ers. Water-scrapes in the sand of
valley-beds.]
[Footnote 202: Or Efaken.]
[Footnote 203: See Plate 35.]
[Footnote 204: See the Kel Geres group in Appendix II.]
[Footnote 205: Barth, _op. cit._, Vol. I. p. 385.]
[Footnote 206: Misnamed the Dogam Mountains on the Cortier map. Dogam
is to the east. The Ighaghrar valley runs south and then, assuming
the name of Tagharit, west, and then on to the Talak plain. This
valley does not run into the Auderas valley as the Cortier map shows.]
[Footnote 207: The “Assada well” of the Cortier map.]
[Footnote 208: Quite close to the Nabarro of Barth. The name is not
given on the Cortier map.]
[Footnote 209: Specifically it is not as much as a man can heap on
his open or hold in his half-closed hand.]
[Footnote 210: Cf. Barth, _op. cit._, Vol. I. pp. 467 and 479.]
[Footnote 211: In Masquerey’s Temajegh dictionary as “iril”
and “irillan” respectively.]
[Footnote 212: The Great Bear is called “Talimt,” the Cow Camel;
the Pleiades are the “Chickens.”]
[Footnote 213: See Plate 36.]
[Footnote 214: In Plate 47 Sidi is carrying such a spear flying the
author’s pennant.]
[Footnote 215: The round shields mentioned by Duveyrier as in use
among the Northern Tuareg are unknown in Air. See Plates 22 and 26.]