1st day. Dháhar el hamár, a hilly chain called the ass’s backbone.
3rd. El Immerághen.
5th. Wallen, a well.
12th. Ám-rannán, a well, two days W. from Ín-denán, having crossed the
arid desert Tanezrúfet. In summer you travel here by night. In winter,
travelling night and day, with only short halts, you may accomplish this
march in four days.
17th. Ín-asserér, perhaps “the well of the stony tract,” or hammáda,
“serír,” being the proper term for such a region.
20th. Tin-hekíkan, a well, in former times the common settlement of the
tribe, which thence has received the name Kel-hekíkan. It is W. or S.W.
of the well, called Taunant (see p. 457).
22nd. Mabrúk; the last day’s march a short one.
D.—_A few particulars with regard to the region called Ázawád, and the
adjoining districts._
The name Ázawád is a corruption due to the Arabs of the Berber name
Ázawágh (pronounced Ázawár), which is common to many desert tracts. But
the district which has become known to the Europeans under the name
Ázawád, comprises an extensive tract of country to the N. of Timbúktu,
stretching north-westward as far as “El Júf,” the great sink or “belly”
of the desert, full of rock-salt, and to the N.N.E., a little to the N.
of Mabrúk, while its southern part, extending from the distance of one
day’s march from Timbúktu, to about three days northward, is more
properly called _Tagánet_. I will only add, that Caillié mistook the
name Ázawád, which he writes Zawát, for that of a tribe. (Vol. II. p.
97, and elsewhere.)
The tract of Ázawád, although appearing to us a most sterile tract of
country, and thus characterized already by Arab travellers from the N.,
as Ébn Batúta and Leo Africanus, is a sort of paradise to the wandering
Moorish Arab born in these climes. For in the more favoured localities
of this district he finds plenty of food for his camels, and even for a
few heads of cattle, while the transport of the salt of Taödénni to
Árawán and Timbúktu affords him the means of obtaining corn, and
anything else he may be in want of. There are four small towns or
villages in Ázawád, the most considerable of which is Árawán, a town
small in extent, such as described by Caillié[60], the number of its
inhabitants scarcely exceeding 1500, but a very important place for this
part of the world, and where a great deal of business is transacted,
principally in gold, as I have described on a former occasion (p. 22 et
seq.). On account of this trade, several Ghadámsíye merchants are
established here. It is a fact which was unknown before, but which is
indisputable, that the original inhabitants of this place, as well as of
the whole of Ázawád, belong to the Songhay nation, the Songhay-kiní,
even at the present day, being the favoured idiom of which all the
inhabitants, including the Arab residents, make use. The present chief
or headman of the town is Sídi Mohammed, a younger son of the notorious
chief El Habíb Weled Sídi Áhmed Agáde, who died the year previous to my
arrival in Timbúktu. The younger son gained the precedence over his
elder brother Óba, who has performed a pilgrimage to Mekka, solely on
account of his mother being the sister of Hámed Weled ʿAbéda Weled
Rehál, the chief of the Bérabísh, and the murderer of Major Laing. The
family of El Habíb belongs to the Ígelád, forming at present a small
section of the large group of the Áwelímmiden. They are now only
distinguished by their learning, but formerly they were very powerful,
and, together with the Imedídderen, were the most ancient inhabitants of
the locality of Timbúktu. The inhabitants of Árawán pay an annual
tribute of sixty mithkál of gold to the Hogár, in order not to be
molested by their continual predatory incursions.
The three other small towns, or permanent dwelling-places in Ázawád,
viz. Bú-Jebéha, Mʿamún and Mabrúk, all lying in a line N.N.E. from
Árawán, almost at the equal distance from each other of two days’ easy
travelling with camels, are much smaller and less considerable than
Árawán. Of rather more importance at present than the two others is Bú-
Jebéha, which is principally inhabited by Kél e’ Súk, and has a little
commerce; but Mabrúk seems to have been of great importance in former
times, when it was inhabited by Songhay people, had a Songhay
name,—Mabrúk being a comparatively modern name given to it by the
Arabs,—and was the market of Waláta. In some respects this place might
seem to have a right to be identified with the ancient Aúdaghost; and
there are certainly the sites of some former dwelling-places in the
neighbourhood, especially Tel-Aröást, two days N.E. either from Mabrúk
or from the hilleh, but in another place I have explained (Vol. IV. p.
581) why we have to seek the site of Aúdaghost in quite a different
locality. There are some valleys clad with palm-trees to the east of
Mabrúk (see Vol. I. Appendix, p. 570), especially the valley called
Tesillíte, which produces two different kinds of dates, viz. the
tíssagín and the tin-áser. The names of the respective chiefs of the
three places are—Mohammed Weled Sídi ʿOmár, the chief of the tribe of
the Ergágeda in Mʿamún; Najíb Weled el Mústapha el Kél e’ Súki (the same
who signed the letter of Áwáb, the chief of the Tademékket, giving a
complete imána to the English in the territory comprised between Gúndam,
Bamba, Timbúktu, Árawán, and Bú-Jebéha), together with ʿAzízi in Bú-
Jebéha, and Méni Weled Sídi ʿOmár in Mabrúk.[61]
There was formerly, in Ázawád, another place with a permanent
settlement, called “El Hilleh,” or “Hillet e’ Sheikh Sídi Mukhtár,”
which I have mentioned in a former place (Vol. I. p. 560, and Vol. IV.
p. 454), two days east of Mʿamún[62], and about the same distance from
Mabrúk, but this place was deserted a few years ago, on account of the
well Bú-Lanwár, which is stated to have had a depth of forty fathoms,
having fallen to ruins. The hilleh was situated in the “batn,” or
valley, at the northern foot of a black rocky chain of hills called
“Ellib el Hejar.” To the north is another chain or ellib east of the
hilleh; but, on this side, still in the batn, is a locality called “El
Mádher,” with good pasturage for horses. Other well known localities
thereabouts are, Shirshe el Kebíra, and Shirshe e’ Seghíra.
Of the wells of Ázawád, the following are the most notorious: first, in
the southern part of the district, towards Tagánet, Mʿamún, different
from the place of the same name; Énnefís, a copious well, two hours S.W.
from Mʿamún, and situated in a hilly district, thickly clad with
underwood, and containing quarries of a beautiful black limestone, from
which the Tawárek manufacture their heavy arm-rings, or áshebe; Meréta,
Makhmúd, Shíker, Gír, Kartál, a very copious well, ʿEn-filfil, and
others. Further to the N. and N.W. are the wells, Halúl, El Hóde, Shébi,
Temandórit, Tékarát, Aníshay, Áshorát, a well where the Sheikh Áhmed el
Bakáy, in the early part of his life, resided for a long time, Ánnazau,
to the north of Mabrúk; Alibáda (ʿAlí Bábá?), Bú el Meháne, or Bel
Mehán, the well mentioned in the itinerary (Vol. IV. p. 454), as distant
about ten miles from the hilleh, Belbót, south of Bel Mehán; Írakshíwen;
Merzáhe, south of the latter; Megágelát, two days south of the hilleh,
and others.
The most famous wells in the district called Tagánet, are—Wén-alshín,
situated at the distance of four days from Timbúktu, and three from the
hilleh, where Mohammed e’ Seghír, El Bakáy’s elder brother, usually
encamps part of the year; Tin-tatís, half a day S.W. from the former;
ʿEn-óshif, Ímmilásh, ʿEn-gíbe, ʿEn-séek, ʿEn-odéke, a well where Bábá, a
younger brother of El Bakáy, has his encampment, three days south from
Mʿamún, four days N.E. from Timbúktu; Ámenshór, Árrazaf, ʿArúk, El
Makhmúd, different from the well of the same name mentioned above;
Igárre, Mérizík, Twíl, Waruzíl.
Towards the north, the district of Ázawád is separated from the dreary
and waterless desert known by the general Berber name of Tanezrúfet
(meaning “arid hammáda”) by the two small districts called “_Afeléle_”
(meaning the little desert, or “afélle”), and north of it Áherér.
Afeléle is a highly favoured region for the breeding of camels, and
contains some famous valleys, or “wádián,” such as Tekhatímit, or
Teshatímit, Afúd-énakán or Afúd-n-akán, Tadulílit, ʿAbatól, Shánisín,
Agár, and others. _Áherér_, likewise, is considered by the Arabs as a
fine country diversified by hill and dale, with plenty of wells, and
even temporary torrents. This is the district, in one of the valleys of
which, “Wádí Áherér,” Major Laing was attacked and almost killed by the
Tawárek.
Towards the east, the districts of Ázawád and Tagánet are limited by
several smaller ones, where the Arab population is greatly mixed with
the Berber or Tawárek element, especially the Ífoghas. At the same time,
these districts separate Ázawád from Áderár, the fine hilly country of
the Awelímmiden, which is excellent not only for the breed of camels,
but also for that of cattle. These intermediate districts are—_Ím-
eggelála_, a district of about two days’ extent in every direction,
consisting of black soil, and furnished with shallow wells; E. and
E.N.E. of Tagánet, is _Tilímsi_, a district rich in food for the camel;
E.N.E. of the hillet e’ Sheikh el Mukhtár, is another district called
_Timitrén_, with many wells and a few villages; and E.N.E. of the
latter, the district called Tirésht, or _Tighésht_, bordering on Áderár.
Of Arab tribes in Ázawád and the adjoining districts, I have first to
mention several sections of the great tribe of the _Kunta_, who are
distinguished by their purer blood and by their learning above almost
all the tribes of the desert.