at last rose. My condition, as the heat went on increasing, became more
dreadful; and I crawled around, changing every moment my position, in
order to enjoy the little shade afforded by the leafless branches of the
tree. About noon there was of course scarcely a spot of shade left—only
enough for my head,—and I suffered greatly from the pangs of thirst,
although I sucked a little of my blood till I became senseless, and fell
into a sort of delirium, from which I only recovered when the sun went
down behind the mountains. I then regained some consciousness, and
crawled out of the shade of the tree, throwing a melancholy glance over
the plain, when suddenly I heard the cry of a camel. It was the most
delightful music I ever heard in my life; and raising myself a little
from the ground, I saw a mounted Tarki passing at some distance from me,
and looking eagerly around. He had found my footsteps in the sandy
ground, and losing them again on the pebbles, was anxiously seeking
traces of the direction I had taken. I opened my parched mouth, and
crying, as loud as my faint strength allowed, “áman, áman” (water,
water), I was rejoiced to get for answer “íwah! íwah!” and in a few
moments he sat at my side, washing and sprinkling my head, while I broke
out involuntarily into an uninterrupted strain of “el hamdu lilláhi! el
hamdu lilláhi!”
Having thus first refreshed me, and then allowed me a draught which,
however, I was not able to enjoy, my throat being so dry, and my fever
still continuing, my deliverer, whose name was Musa, placed me upon his
camel, mounted himself in front of me, and brought me to the tents. They
were a good way off. The joy of meeting again, after I had been already
despaired of, was great; and I had to express my sincere thanks to my
companions, who had given themselves so much trouble to find me. But I
could speak but little at first, and could scarcely eat anything for the
next three days, after which I gradually recovered my strength. It is,
indeed, very remarkable how quickly the strength of a European is broken
in these climes, if for a single day he be prevented from taking his
usual food. Nevertheless I was able to proceed the next day (the 17th),
when we kept more towards the slope of the Akakús, and here passed a
broad lateral valley, rich in herbage, called Ádar-n-jelkum, after which
we descended about a hundred feet from the pebbly ground into sandy soil
forming a sort of valley called Ighelfannís, and full of ethel-trees and
sebót. In such a locality we encamped two hours after noon, near
splendid ethel-trees; but the strong north-easterly wind, enveloping
ourselves and baggage in thick clouds of sand, banished all enjoyment.
[Sidenote: Thursday, July 18th.]
We continued our march with the sure expectation of soon reaching
Ghát[62], the second great station on our journey. The valley after some
time became free from ethel-trees, and opened a view of the little town,
situated at the north-western foot of a rocky eminence jutting out into
the valley, and girt by sand-hills on the west. Its plantation extends
in a long strip towards S.S.W., while another group, formed by the
plantation and by the noble-looking mansion of Háj Ahmed, appears
towards the west. Here we were joined by Mohammed Sheríf, a nephew of
Háj Ahmed, in a showy dress, and well mounted on a horse; and we
separated from Hatíta in order to take our way round the north side of
the hill, so as to avoid exciting the curiosity and importunity of the
townspeople. But a good many boys came out of the town, and exhibited
quite an interesting scene as they recognized Yakúb (Mr. Richardson),
who had visited this place on his former journey. Many people came out
to see us, some offering us their welcome, others remaining indifferent
spectators.
Thus we reached the new plantation of Háj Ahmed the governor, as he is
called, of Ghát, and found, at the entrance of the out-building, which
had been destined for our use, the principal men of the town, who
received us with great kindness and politeness. The most interesting
among them was Háj Ahmed himself, a man of grave and dignified manners,
who, although a stranger to the place, and a native of Tawát, has
succeeded, through his address and his mercantile prosperity, in
obtaining for himself here an almost princely position, and has founded
in reality a new town, with large and splendid improvements, by the side
of the old city. His situation as governor of Ghát, in reference, and in
some degree in opposition, to the Tawárek chiefs, is a very peculiar
one, and requires, on his part, a good deal of address, patience, and
forbearance. I am convinced that when we first arrived he did not view
us with displeasure, but, on the contrary, was greatly pleased to
receive under his roof a mission of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government,
with whose immense influence and power, and the noble purpose of whose
policy, he was not entirely unacquainted; but his extraordinary and
precarious situation did not allow him to act freely, and besides I
cannot say that he received from us so warm an acknowledgment as his
conduct in the first instance seemed to deserve.
Besides him, the chief parties in our first conversation were his nephew
Ahmed Mohammed Sheríf (the man who came to meet us), a clever but
forward lad, of pleasant manners—whom in the course of my travels I met
several times in Sudán,—and Mohammed Káfa, a cheerful good-humoured man.
[Illustration]
Our quarters, of which the accompanying woodcut gives the ground-plan,
were certainly neither airy nor agreeable; but the hot sand-wind which
blew without made them appear to us quite tolerable.
[Footnote 60: Augustin. Op. vol. xvi. p. 526. ed. Bassan.:—“Garamantum
regibus tauri placuerunt.”]
[Footnote 61: See my Wanderings along the Shore of the Mediterranean,
vol. i. p. 5. ff.
It is, however, to be remarked, that even now, when the quantity of
water all over the ancient world has certainly decreased a great deal,
oxen are sometimes used on this Sudán road by way of Ghát soon after the
rains. I have been assured that in 1847 or 1848 the well-known Tébu Haj
Abérma travelled with oxen from Kanó as far as Ghát, about the time of
the ʿAïd el kebír,—that is to say, in the month of December,—the oxen
being watered every second day.]
[Footnote 62: If I were to give the real native sound, I should write
Rhát rather than Ghát; and it is only from fear lest I might offend the
ear of the English reader, that I abstain from following this principle.
The ghain of the Arabs has a double sound, sometimes as _gh_, at others
as _rh_, and the latter prevails entirely in this part of Africa; and I
do not see why we should not express this difference. For the same
reason I should prefer writing Sonrhay, and not Songhay, or Sunghay.]
CHAP. X.
THE INDIGENOUS BERBER POPULATION.
There can be no doubt that even Fezzán, in ancient times, had a
population entirely different from that dwelling near the coast; but the
original black inhabitants of that country have been swept away, or
mixed up entirely with the Arabs, who seem to have invaded this country
not earlier than the 15th century of our era, for in Makrizi’s time
Fezzán was still a Berber country.[63] But few names now remain which
evidently bespeak a Central African origin, such as those terminating in
_awa_, as Tasáwa or Tessáwa (a town already mentioned by Edrísi[64]),
Portukawa, and others.
But in the country of Ghát, which we have now entered, the case is very
different; for here the former state of things has not been so entirely
altered as not to leave some unmistakable testimonies behind it.
All the original population of North Africa appear to have been a race
of the Semitic stock, but who, by intermarriage with tribes which came
from Egypt, or by way of it, had received a certain admixture. The
consequence was, that several distinct tribes were produced, designated
by the ancients as Libyans, Moors, Numidians, Libyphœnicians, Getulians,
and others, and traced by the native historians to two different
families, the Beránes and the Abtar, who, however, diverge from one
common source, Mazigh or Madaghs. This native wide-spread African race,
either from the name of their supposed ancestor, Ber, which we recognise
in the name Afer, or in consequence of the Roman term _barbari_, has
been generally called Berber, and in some regions Shawi and Shelluh. The
general character and language of these people seem to have been the
same, while the complexion alone was the distinguishing point of
difference.
How far southward the settlements of this North African race originally
extended, it is difficult to say; but it may be gathered, even from
ancient writers, that they did not extend to the very border of the
naked desert, and that they were bounded on the south by a region
occupied by Æthiopian races,—an observation which is confirmed by the
present state of things. Wárgela evidently belonged originally to the
dominion of the Blacks, as well as Tawát. The Berbers seem in general to
have kept within their borders till driven from their native seats by
the Arabs: for they had been mildly treated by the former conquerors of
the country (the Phœnicians, the Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines), and
they appear even to have partly embraced Christianity[65]; but this, of
course, was just another principle of opposition between them and their
Mohammedan conquerors, and a great proportion of them were evidently
obliged to retire into the more desolate regions in their rear. The
exact time when this happened we are not able to determine.
In the western part of the desert this transmigration commenced before
the time of Islam; but in the central part of Barbary the flight of the
Berbers seems to have been connected with that numerous immigration of
Arab families into North Africa, which took place in the first half of
the 11th century, in the time and at the instigation of Ahmed ben ʿAli
el Jerjeráni, who died in A.H. 436, or 1044-5 of our era.[66] The
fugitives pushed forward in several great divisions, which it is not
essential here to enumerate, as, with a few exceptions, they have become
extinct. It seems only necessary to advert here to the fact, that of all
the reports handed down to us by the ancient Arab historians and
geographers respecting the different Berber nations existing in the
desert, the name of Tarki, or Tawárek, by which they are at present
generally designated, occurs only in Ebn Khaldún[67], under the form
Tarká or Táriká; and after him Leo Africanus is the first who, in
mentioning the five great tribes, names one of them Terga.[68] This
name, which has been given to the Berber inhabitants of the desert, and
which Hodgson[69] erroneously supposed to mean “tribe,” is quite foreign
to them. The truly indigenous name by which these people call
themselves, is the same by which they were already known to the Greeks
and Romans, and which was given to their ancestors by Ebn Khaldún and
other Arabic writers, viz. Amázigh, Mázigh, Mazix, Masix, Mazys, Mazax,
and even Maxitanus in the singular form. The general form now used in
these regions is Amóshagh[70] in the singular, Imóshagh in the plural,
and Temáshight in the neutral form. This is the native name by which the
so-called Tawárek[71] designate their whole nation, which is divided
into several great families. And if the reader inquires who gave them
the other name, I answer, with full confidence, the Arabs; and the
reason why they called them so was probably from their having left or
abandoned their religion, from the verb ترك, “tereku dínihum;” for, from
evidence which I have collected elsewhere, it seems clear that a great
part of the Berbers of the desert were once Christians (they are still
called by some Arabs “the Christians of the desert”), and that they
afterwards changed their religion and adopted Islám; notwithstanding
which they still call God “Mesí,” and an angel “anyelús,” and have
preserved many curious customs which bear testimony to their ancient
creed.
I said that the regions into which the Berbers had thus been obliged to
withdraw, had been formerly occupied by Ethiopian or, as we may rather
call them, sub-Libyan tribes. But who were these tribes? We have here to
do only with the region about Ghát, reserving the other districts of the
desert for future discussion as we advance in our journey. This region,
as well as the whole country southward, including Aïr, or rather Asben,
was anciently inhabited, I think, by the Góber race. But the Hogár, or
Azkár, who now occupy this country, do not seem to have been its first
conquerors, but to have found another race, nearly related to
themselves, in possession of it.
The tribe which now possesses the country, the Imóshagh or Tawárek of
Ghát, are generally called Azkár or Azgar; but they are named also
Hogár, or Hágara, though the latter name is very often employed to
denote another tribe. Upon this point, also, we have received full and
credible information from Ebn Khaldún, who tells us[72] that the name
Hogár was formed from that of Hauwára, and served to designate that
section of the great Berber tribe which had retired into the desert
about Gógó; and it is very remarkable that the Hogár were described just
about the same time, in those same regions, by the traveller Ebn
Batúta.[73] Hogár therefore seems to be the more general name, while
Azkár serves to designate a section of this tribe. However, this name
also appears to be an ancient one, being mentioned already by Edrísi
(A.H. 453)[74] as the name of a tribe evidently identical with that of
which we are speaking, the settlements of which he indicates as being
distant twelve days’ journey from Tasáwa, and eighteen from Ghadámes. It
is mentioned about a century later by Ebn Sʿaid[75] as dwelling in the
same place. The Tinýlkum Ibrahim was of opinion that Azkár means that
section of the Hogár who had remained (at some period unknown to us)
“faithful to the established authority.” But this interpretation of the
name, if we consider the early period at which it occurs, does not seem
quite probable; and I suspect that those may be right who give to the
name a more general meaning.
At present the Azkár form but a small part of the population of the
country which they rule, namely, the region inclosed between the desert
bordered by Wadi Talíya in the east, the valleys Zerzúwa and Áfara in
the west, the well of Asïu towards the south, and Nijbertín towards the
north, and are not able to furnish more than about five hundred armed
men. In fact, they form a warlike aristocracy of five families, divided
into thirty divisions or fayas, each of which has an independent chief.
The names of the five families are Urághen, Ímanang, Ífogas, Hadánarang,
and Manghássatang. The Urághen or Aurághen, meaning the “Yellows,” or
“golden” (in colour), who seem to have once formed a very powerful
family[76], and have given their name to one of the principal dialects
of the Tarkíye or Temáshight, are at present much dispersed, many of
them living among the Awelímmiden on the northern shore of the Isa or
Niger, where I shall have more to say about them. Even among the Azkár
they still form the most important division, and count at least a
hundred and fifty full-grown men. A large body of them is settled in and
about the valley of Arikím, on the direct road from Murzuk to Sudán, and
about fifty miles to the south of Ghát. Their original abode is said to
have been at a place called Asáwa, to the south of Irálghawen. But the
tribe that formerly possessed the greatest authority, and which on this
account is still called Amanókalen, or the sultan tribe, is that of the
Ímanang, who are at present reduced to extreme poverty, and to a very
small number, said not even to reach ten families. But they have still a
very large number of Imghád under their command. Their women are
celebrated for their beauty. They are most of them settled in the valley
of Díder. The third division of the Azkár, to which Hatíta, the friend
of the English, belongs, are the Manghássatang, or Imaghássaten, whose
leather tents are generally pitched in the Valley of Zerzúwa, on the
road from Ghát to Tawát, about six days’ journey from the former.[77]
The three clans, or “tiyúsi,” which I have mentioned, constitute at
present, strictly speaking, the family of the Azkár; the other two
divisions, viz. the Ífogas and the Hadánarang, having separated from the
rest, and broken in some way the national bond which formerly united
them with the others. One of them, the Ífogas, are scattered over the
whole desert, some having settled among the Kél-owí at a place called
Tórit, on the road to Damerghú; another section dwells in the more
favoured valleys to the east of Mabrúk; while a small portion of this
tribe remains in the territory of the Azkár, where they have their abode
in the valley of Áfara, about halfway between Ghát and Tawát. The second
of these tribes, viz. the Hadánarang, is settled in a place called
Ádemar, not far from the southern frontier of the territory of the
Azkár, in the midst of the Imghád. They are, to some extent at least,
migratory freebooters; and to them belonged those robbers who, soon
after we had fortunately got out of their clutches, murdered two Tébu
merchants on the road from Aïr to Ghát, carrying away their whole
caravan, with no less than thirty-three slaves.
I was assured by Hatíta that there were not less than thirty
subdivisions of the larger clans, called “faya,” in Temáshight; but I
could only ascertain the names of four of them: viz. the Izóban and the
Okéren, living in the Wadi Irárarén, and probably belonging to one and
the same family (I believe the Ímanang); the Degárrab, probably a
section of the Hadánarang, living in a place called Tárat together with
some Imghád; and finally the Ihiyáwen or Ihéwan, a portion of whom dwell
in Titarsén, while another section has settled near Tasáwa in Fezzán,
forming the last link of the chain which connects the Imghád and the
Azkár. Another link is formed by the Makéresang, who, like the former,
submit to the authority of the chief Nakhnúkhen; then follow the
Ifélelen, who are settled in Tasíl with the Imghád. The least degenerate
of these half-caste tribes, who hold a middle place between the Imóshagh
and the Imghád, or between the free and the servile, is said to be the
section of the Mateghílelen, now settled in the Wadi el Gharbi, in
Fezzán, while their kindred certainly belong to the Imghád. This is the
best proof that the name Ámghi does not express national descent, but
social condition. Another section or tribe loosely connected with the
Azkár, but not regarded as noble, although as strict ascetics they are
much respected, and are enabled to carry on almost undisturbed the
commerce between Fezzán and Negroland, are the Tin-ýlkum, of whom I have
already had occasion to speak repeatedly. At present they are settled
partly in the valley Tigger-odé, where their chief the Háj ʿAli resides,
partly in Wadi el Gharbi and around Tasáwa; but their ancient seats were
to the south of Ghát, and even in the town of Ghát itself, they having
been called in to decide the quarrel between the former inhabitants of
that place, the Kél-tellek and the Makamúmmasen.
As I said above, the ruling class of the Azkár constitutes by far the
smaller part of the population of the country, while the great mass of
the population of these regions consists of a subject or degraded tribe
called Imghád, or, in the Arabic form, Merátha or even Metáthra. This I
formerly considered to be a gentile name; but I found afterwards that it
is a general epithet used by all the different tribes of the Imóshagh to
denote degraded tribes. The singular form of the name is Ámghi[78],
which is the counterpart of Amóshagh, as it means “servile,” while the
latter means “free.” The Imghád of the Azkár differ a great deal from
the ruling tribe, particularly the women; for while the Imóshagh are
tolerably fair, a great many of the former are almost black, but
nevertheless well made, and not only without negro features, but
generally with a very regular physiognomy, while the women, at least in
their forms, approach more to the type of the negro races. But as for
their language, I must confess that I am not able to decide with
confidence whether it sprang originally from a Berber dialect or the
Háusa language[79]: many of the people, indeed, seem to be bilingual;
but by far the greater part of the men do not even understand the Háusa
language. I am persuaded that they were originally Berbers who have
become degraded by intermixture with the black natives.
The Imghád of the Azkár, who altogether form a numerous body, being able
to furnish about 5000 armed men, are divided into four sections,—the
Batánatang or Ibétnaten, the Fárkana or Aférkenén, Segígatang, and
Wárwaren, which latter name, I think, very naturally calls to mind the
Latin “Barbari,” a name which, according to some ancient authors,
belonged to certain tribes of Northern Africa[80], and may fairly
explain the origin of the name Berber, though it is to be remarked that
“_war_,” a syllabic with which a great number of Berber names begin,
seems to signify “man.” Of these four divisions the last three seem to
live principally in and around the small town of Bárakat, a few miles
south of Ghát, and in and around Jánet or Yánet, about thirty miles
S.S.W. from Égeri. Neither the population of the town of Ghát nor that
of the town of Bárakat is at present formed by these Imghád; but I
should suppose that in former times they were also the privileged
inhabitants of Ghát itself, which at present is occupied by a very mixed
race, so well described by the late Mr. Richardson. These two favoured
spots of the desert seem to be left entirely to these people as tenants,
on condition that they take care of the plantations and of the gardens,
and gather the fruit, of which they are bound to give a portion to their
masters. Some of the noble Imóshagh, indeed, seem to have a great many
of these people at their disposal. The Batánatang or Ibétnaten, reside
principally in a valley called Tesíli, while another section of them
have their abode amongst the Hogár, in a district called Tehellahóhet,
on the road from Asïu to Tawát. A portion of the last tribe (viz. the
Fárkana or Aférkenén) dwell in a valley called Tárat, about a day’s
journey north-west from Nghákeli.
Besides these four great divisions, there are many other sections of the
Imghád. The names of these, as far as they became known to me, are as
follows:—the Dik-Surki, settled in the territory of the Azkár in a place
called Édehi; the Kél-n-tunín, living in Aderár; the Amatghílelen[81],
who have their abode in the same spot; the Kél-áhenet, living in Hágara;
the Akeshemáden, in the valley called Atúl; the Íkelan, who have their
dwelling-places in Zerzer; the Kél-ghafsa, in Ífak; the Kél-ífis, in
Temághaset; and finally, the Ijrán.
The ruling race of the Imóshagh subsists entirely on the labour of this
depressed class, as the old Spartans did upon that of the Lacedæmonians,
but still more upon the tribute or gheráma which, as I mentioned above,
they raise from the caravans—a custom already mentioned by Leo
Africanus.[82] Without some such revenue they could not trick themselves
out so well as they do, though when at home in their “tekábber” they
live at very little expense, particularly as they are not polygamists.
The Imghád are not allowed to carry an iron spear nor to wear a sword,
which is the distinction of the free man, nor any very showy dress. Most
of them may be regarded as settled, or as “Kél,” that is to say as the
constant, or at least as the ordinary, inhabitants of a given place; and
this indeed, it seems, is even to be said of a great many of the Azkár
themselves, who seem to hold a middle place between the nomadic and the
settled tribes. The consequence is, that many of them do not live in
leather tents, or “éhe,” but in round conical huts called tekábber, made
of bushes and dry grass.
The town of Ghát (the favoured locality of which might be presumed to
have attracted a settlement at a very early age) is not mentioned by any
Arabic author except the traveller Ebn Batúta in the 14th century, and
seems never to have been a large place. Even now it is a small town of
about 250 houses, but nevertheless of considerable commercial
importance, which would become infinitely greater if the jealousy of the
Tawáti would allow the opening of the direct road from Timbúktu, which
seems to be under the special protection of the powerful chief Gemáma.