The whole tract of the desert between Áderér and the sea, in a wide
sense, is called Tíris, but in a proper and restricted one, this name is
applied only to the northern part of it, the middle tract of it being
called “Magh-tér,” and the southern one “El Giblah;” but care must be
taken not to confound this district with what the Arabs of Ázawád and
Timbúktu call “El Giblah,” with which very vague name, signifying in
their dialect “the west,” they indicate all that part of the desert W.
of them from Waláta as far as the sea. El Giblah is bordered towards the
N. by Magh-tér, towards the E. by Áderér, towards the S.E. by El Abiár,
and towards the S. by the Senegal; this more favoured southern tract,
however, bearing the particular name of Shemmámah, is covered with thick
forests of the gum tree while another portion of it, consisting of
ranges of sandhills, is called Igídi or E’ Swéhel. El Giblah, as well as
all Tíris, has no permanent wells, being extremely dry and sterile, but
in the rainy season water is found just under the surface. A few of the
most remarkable expressions of the idiom of the Arabs of the Giblah
are:—sengetti, dukno; (tefangurút/tajimákhet) } kohemmi; nísha: hasse;
ʿaganát: busúsu; adelagán, dúnguri; tarer, hoy, a kind of vegetables;
ghursh, hak; sofíf, cleverness; asúfaf, clever; likshásha, large
calabash; bíshena, sába; mutteri, héni; tasáret, mat of reed; tarzay,
pl. terziyaten, awéba; smángeli, I have forgotten, it has escaped me;
selli, let this talk.
The Brákena, a large tribe, levying tribute on the harbours of Bot-
hadíye, but at present greatly reduced, have partly become the khóddemán
and lahme of the more successful Terárza (a name totally distinct from
Tegháza). They are divided into several sections:—
Áhel Agréshi, the Soltana tribe.
Áhel Weled ʿAbd Allah, all the sections of the Brákena being derived
from this ʿAbd Allah, son of Kerúm.
Welád Síd.
Welád Bakr.
Welád ʿAíd, formerly very powerful, at present “lahme.”
Welád Mansúr.
Welád Nurmásh.
Welád Áhmedu.
Áhel Mehémedát.
Welád Ágram, and perhaps others.
The Terárza, a powerful tribe, with Mohammed el Habíb Weled ʿOmár Weled
el Mukhtár as chief, in two great sections:—
Welád Áhmed ben Damán.
Welád Damán.
The names of the several sub-divisions into which both these
sections fall, I was unable to make out with certainty, with the
exception of the name of that division of the former section to
which belongs Mohammed el Habíb, they being called:—
Áhel ʿOmár Weled el Mukhtár.
The Elleb, a considerable tribe, who seem to have some sort of relation
with the Terárza, while the Erháhela are in a state of dependence upon
them.
The Welád Abéri or Abiyéri, a powerful tribe with a respected chief
called “El Sheikh Sadíye,” who resides generally near the well Bú-
Telimít, mentioned above as belonging to the district El Ábiár, and
distant about seven days S.W. from Wadán and nine from Ojúft.