The Ergágeda, who were formerly regarded as the Welaye, or the holy
tribe.
The Welád el Wáfi, at present the Welaye, with the Sheikh Áhmed el
Bakáy as Welí, while his elder brother, Sídi Mohammed, exercises great
authority over the whole of Ázawád. The Welád el Wáfi cultivate the
friendship of the Hogár, while the Welád Sídi Mukhtár are the deadly
enemies of the latter. They are subdivided into three divisions,
called—
El Mesádhefa, Welád ben Haiballa, and Welád ben ʿAbd e’ Rahmán.
The Welád Sídi Mukhtár.
El Hemmál.
The Togát also are said to belong to the Kunta.
The _Berabísh_ (singl. Berbúshi), a tribe less numerous than the Kunta,
mustering about 260 men armed with muskets, and 180 horsemen, and not
spread over so wide a tract, being concentrated in the district between
Árawán and Bú-Jebéha. They pay a tribute of 40 mithkál of gold to the
Hogár, and are molested by continual incursions of the Welád ʿAlúsh. The
Berabísh, who probably are identical with the _Perorsi_ of the ancient
geographers, have migrated southwards since that time, and are of very
mixed blood. They lived formerly in El Hódh, and are mentioned by Marmol
Carvajal, who wrote in the seventeenth century, as visiting the market
of Ségo; in the beginning of the sixteenth century, they lived still
further to the W., and visited especially the market of Jinni.[63] The
Berabísh are divided into two groups, the principal of which is ruled by
the chief Hámed Weled ʿAbéda Weled Rehál, and consists of the following
sections:
The Welád Slímán, the Shiúkh, that is to say, the tribe to whom the
Sheikh belongs, and who have based their power and wealth upon the
ruin and spoil of the Welád Ghánem.
The Welád ʿEsh.
The Welád Bú-Hinde.
El Gwanín el kohol.
El Gwanín el bédh.
Welád Áhmed.
These are the free tribes of this group; the following are the degraded
and servile tribes, the “lahme” or “khoddemán”:—the Yadás, the Ládim, or
rather only a small portion of that tribe, the Árakán, the Áhel ʿAísa
Tajáwa, El Ússera.
The second group of the Berabísh as a whole, bears the remarkable name
of “Botn el jemel,” on account of its being composed of heterogeneous
elements, brought together by chance, just as is the case with various
kinds of food in the “stomach of the camel.” It is ruled by a chief of
the name of Hamma, and consists of the following tribes:—Welád Relán;
Welád Derís, originating from Tafilélet; Welád Bú-Khasíb; Welád Ghánem,
and the Turmus, the latter being the tribe of which I have spoken on a
former occasion.