Áderér is a rather elevated district, composed of sandhills grouped
round a considerable range of hills, as its name, meaning the mountain
range, indicates, which is the same as that of the district lying
between Ázawád and Áír, being distinguished from it only by a slight
difference in the pronunciation. It is encircled towards the north by
the awful zone of immense sandhills, called “Maghtér,” and towards the
south by another similar, but less sterile girdle, called “Warán,” both
these districts joining towards the east of Áderér, at a point called
“El Gedám,” at the distance of six days from Wadán, in going from east
to west:—Metweshtíye, first day; Máderás hasi, second; Amasít, third;
Zwíri wén Zwemra, fourth; Wadán, sixth day, having passed a good many
wells. Between Áderér and El Hódh, and separated from that district of
El Hódh which is called El Batn, by a range of hills to the north of
Tagánet, there is a very extensive valley, or valley-plain, called Khat
e’ dem, running, as it seems, about east and west, along the northern
foot of the ridge of Áderér, at the south foot of which lies El Hódh,
with abundance of wells, and even a couple of ksúr, or perpetually
inhabited villages. The following is a list of a few of these
localities:—
Mochénge, shallow well, with a ksar belonging to the Gesíma. Bélle,
well, and ksar inhabited by Bámbara (Aswánek?). These on the south side
of the Khat, where there are a great number of shallow but full wells,
of which the group called Khat el Moina is one of the most considerable.
In the middle course of the Khat there is Ófaní, a large dhaye, or tank;
Fetéle, Kébi, Zorúgo, all tanks; but the largest of these tanks is Úm el
Medék, which lies on the road from the celebrated Bír Nwál to Wadán,
then Twéshtair and El Bahéra, also large tanks; on the west side of the
Khat there is the large well Tishti. The breadth of this celebrated
valley, with whose excellency the wandering Arab is as much enchanted as
a European is with the most romantic spots of Switzerland and Italy, is
indicated by the distance of three days between the well Tálemist and
the famous well Bú-Sefíye, on the road from Tishít to Wadán.
Áderér, according to the different nature of its various parts, is
divided into “Áderér e’ temar,” and “Aderér suttuf.” In Áderér Proper
there are four ksúr, or towns, the most considerable of which, and the
only one known in Europe, is Wadán, a town smaller than Tishít, but at
least, till recently, when it has likewise suffered from intestine
broils, better inhabited than the latter, and was evidently so, even in
the first half of the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese established
here a factory for a couple of years. Wadán, as well as Tishít, was
originally a place of the Azér, and the Azeríye is still the language of
its indigenous inhabitants. It has besides, a considerable Arab
population belonging to the following tribes:—
El Arzázir.
Idáw el Háj, probably the founders of the empire of Ghánata, a tribe
of great importance in the history of African civilization, and
divided into the following sections, as far as they live in Áderér:—
Áhel Sídi Makhmúd, the Soltana tribe, to whom belongs the chief of
Wadán, ʿAbd Allah W. Sídi Makhmúd.
Idé Yakób.
Síyám.
Áhel el Imám.