Dr. Barth's Journey to Aghadez--Description of the
Route--Tiggedah--Luxuriant Scenery of Asadah--Plain of Tarist--Beautiful
Valley--Buddeh--Small Caravan--Aghadez--its Inhabitants--their
Occupation--The great Koku, or Sultan--Asbenouee Revolutions--Election
of a Prince--Interview--Ceremony of Investiture--Razzia--Intricate
Political System--Account of Aghadez--Mosque--Environs--Women--Tribes
of Asben--The Targhee Family--Population of the Ghat Districts--of
Aheer--The Oulimad and Tanelkums--Tribe of
Janet--Haghar--Sagamaram--Maghatah--Extent of Aheer--Connexion
with the Black Countries--Mechanism of Society in
Aheer--Chieftains--Tax-gathering--Food of the
Kailouees--Maharees--Amusements--Natural Features of
Asben--Vegetation--Cultivation--Manufactures--Bags for Charms.
Dr. Barth[6] has made a very interesting journey to Aghadez. He says the
track lies either through fine valleys or over mountain-chains cut up by
defiles. Here and there were charming spots, green with herbage and
trees. In going, the shallow wells at Eghelloua were found to be full of
water; but a month later they were all dry. Beyond is the Wady Chizolen,
overlooked by a mountain that rises abruptly to the height of two
thousand feet. Then comes the valley of Eghellal, with its rivulet, and
beyond swell the famous mountains of the Baghzem. The worthy Doctor
seems to have been too much occupied in collecting geographical data to
preserve many picturesque facts by the way. On the third day he encamped
at Tiggedah, where numerous species of trees and bushes tufted the
valley, which was clothed also, near the margin of its streams, with
grass as fresh and green as any in Europe. At that time, however, the
place, with the exception of the cooing of wild doves and the cry of a
solitary antelope, seemed perfectly unvisited by man. Afterwards, it was
found full of flocks and herds, and enlivened by the encampment of a
salt-caravan, with a string of young camels bound for Aghadez. The tribe
to whom the valley belongs are nomadic, and shift from one place to
another, as their fancies and necessities suggest. Amidst the trees,
however, may be seen a small mosque, built of stone and roofed with
palm-trees.
[6] See the papers read before the Geographical Society, in
January and March 1851. It appears to me that Mr. A.
Petermann slightly depresses the importance of the part
played by Mr. Richardson in this mission. However, this may
arise from the fact that the communications on which his
paper was founded were all from his German friends. It is
not necessary to be grudging of notice to any of the three
enterprising gentlemen who undertook this arduous journey;
but we must always remember who planned the Mission, and
who directed it with consummate prudence as long as life
and strength lasted. In Mr. Richardson's MS. an outline is
given of Dr. Barth's journey, and I therefore insert it,
with corrections and additions, from the papers just
alluded to.--ED.
This agreeable place prefaces the still more luxuriant scenery of
Asadah, where the vegetation is so rich, and the path so shut up by
branches, that it is difficult to keep on the camel's back. What a
contrast to the naked deserts of Ghat! It was from between the rich
foliage of this valley that Dr. Barth obtained his first glimpses of the
majestic mountain-chain of Dogem, estimated to attain the height of
between four and five thousand feet. It is the loftiest range in Aheer.
The plain of Erarer-en-Dendemu, which next succeeds, is covered with
brushwood and low trees, and inhabited by lions--here called the Father
of the Wilderness. Dr. Barth saw several, as well as a kind of ape about
the size of a small boy, squatting in crowds on the lower hills. Beyond,
overhung by the mountains of Anderas, is the rocky plain of Tarist,
famous among the Arabs, as well as the Kailouees, on account of the
remains of a mosque, indicated only by lines of stones on the ground. It
was founded by a great saint called Sidi Baghdadi, and is a general
resting-place for caravans. The basaltic formation here succeeds the
granitic; and the plain is covered with loose black stones, about the
size of a child's head.
Escaping from this rough ground, the travellers entered a narrow valley,
trenched by a broad watercourse, along the sides of which was a thick
growth of palm-trees. There are two villages in this wady. Near one of
them slaves were seen yoked to a plough, and driven like oxen, by their
master. Further south the hoe replaces the plough in preparing the
ground. This valley, inhabited by the Imrad (a Targhee tribe), is
capable of producing not only ghaseb, but corn, wine, dates, and all
kinds of vegetables. Fifty gardens adorn, it is said, the neighbourhood
of Ifargen. But, in general, the rich soil is left uncultivated, and is
covered by wild and sickly vegetation, which checks the progress of the
traveller.
In Wadi Buddeh grows a prickly plant called karengia; and a parasite
(_griffenee_), producing a sweet but insipid berry of a red colour. A
party of five lions were pursued like so many jackals. A small caravan
of four persons, in Wadi Teffarrakad, were making use of four different
modes of progression: one was on a camel, another on a buffalo, the
third on a donkey, and the fourth used his own legs. In Wady Boghel were
the signs of a field of ghaseb having existed last year. The ground was
covered by a sickly wild melon; and in the thick foliage of the trees
the guinea-hens were cackling. Here Dr. Barth saw the first specimen of
the baure tree, the trunk measuring twenty-six feet in circumference,
and the thick crown rising to the height of eighty feet. Here and
elsewhere wild beasts were observed. The whole country, indeed, abounds
in lions, wild boars, gazelles, ostriches, and monkeys.
On the seventh day the party reached Aghadez, which they entered about
an hour after sunset, it being the custom in this country never to enter
a town by day. Aghadez is situated on a hamadah, or lofty plateau of
sandstone and granite formation. Around, although there is no arable
soil, a good deal of herbage and wood is found in the depressions of the
plain. It is not surprising, therefore, that this much-talked-of capital
is nothing but a large village, as indeed are all the other places of
Aheer, with the exception of Asoudee. Aghadez, which is mentioned by Leo
Africanus, is said by tradition to have been founded or enlarged by
settlements from the north, consisting of a people called Arabs, but
probably Berbers, since expelled by the Tuaricks. It serves as a sort of
rendezvous between the Kailouees and the tribes to the south and west. A
peculiar language (Emghedesie) is spoken by the inhabitants in their
private intercourse; but Haussa is the idiom of trade. There are about
seven hundred inhabited houses scattered among the ruins; and of fifty
thousand people who must previously have lived within the walls, scarce
eight thousand remain.[7] The inhabitants are partly artizans, partly
merchants; but few caravans now pass on this route, and commerce with
Timbuctoo seems altogether to have ceased. The trade that exists is
entirely in provisions, principally in ghaseb, or millet, which is
imported from Damerghou. The system adopted is entirely one of
barter--the Aghadez money consisting of turkedi,[8] or dark-coloured
cotton for female clothing made in Soudan, Egyptian leather for sandals,
English calico, white shawls, cloves, pepper, pearls, &c. All these
objects are imported, the only manufactures of Aghadez being
leather-work (sandals and saddles) and coloured mats. I do not know what
materials are used in tanning. The Fezzanee gets assistance, according
to my fighi, from four trees--the graut, the ethel, the pomegranate, and
the essalan. The first and last are a species of acacia. Women and men
work in their houses at the production of these articles, and merchants
go and purchase _a domicile_, there being now no shops. There are three
market-places or bazaars, where prices are very low.
[7] This is Dr. Barth's statement, which I have introduced from
his own account. It will have been seen that Mr. Richardson
(see vol. i. "Note on the Territorial Division of Aheer,")
makes a much lower estimate. I may here remind the reader,
that even when in his diary Mr. Richardson inserts two
different and contradictory statements, I do not undertake
to select one and suppress the other, except in the case of
an obvious slip of the pen. Nor have I thought it necessary
to burden the page by indications of slightly different
assertions. A diary must necessarily abound with imperfect
observations, which correct or complete one another; and
perhaps the general impression left on the mind of the
reader--who accompanies, as it were, the writer in
receiving its various elements--is more like truth than it
would be after the perusal of one absolute dogmatic
statement.--ED.
[8] As an illustration of the previous note, I will observe
that this word is spelt in several different ways in the
MS., and I do not know which is the correct one.--ED.
The Sultan of Aghadez, the great Koku Abd-el-Kader, does not receive any
direct contribution towards his revenues, from the people of Aghadez,
but levies a kind of _octroi_ of ten mithkals on every camel-load of
goods that enters the town, provisions being exempt. He has property of
his own, however; receives presents at his installation; and can always
raise a sum by making a razzia on any neighbouring freebooters.
It is a fundamental law in Aheer, that the Sultan of Aghadez shall
belong to a particular family, which is said to derive its origin from
Constantinople. Therefore when, in consequence of some discontent,
Abd-el-Kader was deposed last year, the malcontents chose a relative,
Hamed-el-Argau; but he also displeasing, a rival was set up in Makita,
also of the same family. This caused great confusion, and the Walad
Suleiman took the opportunity to make forays against Aheer. The prudent
then resolved to restore the old Sultan, and succeeded, as I have
already said, in their endeavours. When Dr. Barth arrived in Aghadez,
the investiture was about to take place. The Sultan is chosen by the
Kilgris and Iteesan tribes, who nourish a deadly hatred against their
kindred, the Kailouees. On the present occasion, however, a marabout
proclaimed peace and good-will between these ancient enemies. It was
necessary, indeed, that some understanding should be come to, as after
the election the ratification of En-Noor and Lousou is required.
En-Noor, especially, is greatly respected by the people of Aghadez, as
the grand supporter of authority in Asben. The new Sultan is usually
brought from Sakkatou in state by the tribes Iteesan and Kilgris. A vast
crowd of them, with their families and flocks, had marched up and
occupied a camp near the town; but they departed on the same day that
Dr. Barth arrived--even before he entered.
Early in the morning, Dr. Barth paid his respects to the Sultan. He was
a stout man, about fifty-five years of age--benevolent-looking, as far
as could be judged in spite of his face-wrappers. He sat in a large
room, supported by two massive columns, and received his visitors
kindly. The presents pleased him, and were acknowledged by the
counter-present of a fat ram, and by meals sent every day.
The ceremony of investiture took place on the 16th of October, and seems
to have been an imposing spectacle. Certain intricate forms are used to
express the combination of various Tuarick tribes in choosing this
foreign sultan. Succeeding it was the great festival, on which a
procession took place, in which the new chief, wearing the burnouse
which I had sent him, took part, with a great number of Tuaricks in
their best array. Immediately afterwards a razzia (of which both we and
Dr. Barth heard various conflicting reports) was agreed upon against the
tribes of the north, especially those who had molested our
expedition--the Fadeea. It was highly successful, and may perhaps be
useful in procuring respect for future travellers. Two thousand men went
out upon this foray, in which Abd-el-Kader was accompanied by
Astakeelee, the Sultan of the Kailouees. Some, indeed, say that the
latter only acted. Very little resistance was made, and I hear of only
one man being killed. The fellow who stole Barth's maharee was compelled
to restore him. Dr. Barth, however, though well-pleased on the whole
with his reception, did not venture to present the treaty. He obtained
some letters of recommendation to Soudan. Many of the distinguished
persons of Aghadez visited Dr. Barth during his stay, and altogether his
reception was satisfactory.
I have already mentioned that the Sultan of Aghadez, though elected and
controlled by a kind of aristocracy of sheikhs of various tribes, is
invested with the power of life and death. He is said to have a
frightful dungeon, into which guilty persons are thrown upon swords
sticking upright in the ground. In his warlike expeditions he is
regarded, however, as chief of some tribes only. The Kailouees have a
sultan of their own, and encamp apart. The Sakonteroua, or Sheikh of
Aghadez, exercises considerable influence. He is obliged annually to
accompany the great salt-caravan, which sometimes numbers ten thousand
camels--Saharan statistics--to Sakkatou.
The town of Aghadez was formerly divided into a variety of quarters, the
names of which still remain, although the space they occupied--three
miles in circuit--is now principally filled with ruins. With the
exception of five or six rubbish-hills, the whole space is level. The
houses are spacious, with large rooms and court-yards. They are of mud,
whitewashed, and furnished with flat terraces. Doves, children, and
young ostriches, enliven the streets. There are some mosques, but none
of imposing architecture. One, however, has a lofty tower, almost
pyramidal in shape, supported on a basement of pillars, and rising to
the height of about ninety feet. There is a kind of ladder inside; but
Dr. Barth was not allowed to ascend, being told that the entrance was
walled up.
The land around the town is slightly undulating, and covered in the
depressions with the _Acacia Arabica_. Herbage and good water abound.
There are no orchards near, except in Wady Ameluli; but El-Hakhsas,
three hours distant, produces melons, cucumbers, and melochiyeh, and
supplies the whole town.
The women of Aghadez are reported to be free and easy in character, and
let loose tremendously as soon as the Sultan had departed on his razzia.
Dr. Barth had some difficulty in keeping them at a distance. There are
more children, however, to be observed in Aghadez than in most Aheer
towns.
This journey of Dr. Barth's has considerably extended our acquaintance,
both with the geography and the political state of Asben or Aheer. We
see now that it is strictly a portion of the Sahara, intersected with
fertile valleys, that towards the south begin to assume quite a tropical
character. The inhabitants are various in origin and in name; but it is
difficult to describe their subdivisions with any accuracy. According to
the natives, there are only two great tribes--the Kailouees, which
division includes the Kailouees proper, the Kaltadak, and the Kalfadai;
and, secondly, the Kilgris, including the Kilgris proper, the Iteesan,
and the Ashraf. But, in questions of detail, numerous other names appear
which it is difficult to arrange under any proper head. The Kailouees
are, I think, of genuine Targhee origin, although, as I have already
mentioned, with a mixture of the Soudan races. The Kaltadak and the
Kalfadai seem to be identical with the borderers who attacked us on our
first entrance into this country. The Kilgris are located southward,
beyond Aghadez, along the Sakkatou route, and even far into Soudan,
where the influence of the Targhee races seems to be rapidly on the
increase.
According to some of the Tanelkum Sheikhs, the following are the names
of the principal Targhee tribes scattered over the desert of Sahara,
excluding the inhabitants of Aheer:--
1. Ouraghen family of Shafou.
2. Emanghasatan " of Hateetah.
3. Amana " of Jabour.
These are Ghat Tuaricks--Azghers.[9]
4. Aheethanaran, the tribe of Janet.
5. Hagar (Ahagar), pure Hagars and Maghatah, who stand to them somewhat
in the relation of the Kourglouss of Algiers to the Turks. They occupy
the tract between Ghat, Tuat, and Timbuctoo.
6. Sagamaram; located on the route from Aisou to Tuat.
7. Oulimad; tribes surrounding Timbuctoo in great numbers. In
conjunction with the Berebisheers, a tribe of Arabs, they shut up the
road between Aghadez and Timbuctoo by their predatory character.
8. Tanelkum, located in Fezzan.
[9] The three tribes of Ghat are called Azgher, in
contradiction to the Hagar. A Tanelkum explained the
meaning of this last word (which I have usually written
Haghar) to mean "wandering" or "wanderers." The word is
sometimes written Hogar.
We have been making inquiries of the Tanelkums about the population of
Ghat and its deserts. The Tanelkums say, that ten or twelve years ago
Khanouhen brought up about ten thousand maharees against the then
masters of Mourzuk, the Walad Suleiman, headed by Abd-el-Galeel. The ten
thousand maharees were the whole force and strength of the Azgher,
Khanouhen having called out every male; for every man of the Azgher is a
warrior. The Arabs, seeing the number of the Tuaricks, deemed it
expedient to make peace. From this circumstance, it would be supposed
that the Azgher may number from five to ten thousand families, nearly
all located west of the Soudan route, along the lines of the Ghadamez
and Tuat routes; where, it is said, there are fertile valleys, in which
dates and corn are cultivated. But at Ghat I could never learn anything
of these wadys. During my last visit I had no time, and the people there
had no inclination to give me information about this fertile portion of
the Azgher desert. On the former occasion, I learned from Haj Ahmed that
there was a running stream, on the banks of which corn was cultivated,
at about four days west of Ghat. This is probably the locality of Janet.
For myself, I do not believe the Azgher Tuaricks number more than two
thousand families.
Of the population of Aheer I have been able to learn nothing definite;
that is to say, nothing which I can absolutely depend upon. Some make it
reach above fifty thousand souls. There are, however, only forty towns,
exclusive of Aghadez; and about twenty places where people live in
tents. I wrote down a second list of them, with their directions, and
some guess at the number of male inhabitants. The son of the Tanelkum
Sheikh considers the Kailouee warriors to amount to about fourteen
thousand; which, indeed, will make the whole population above sixty
thousand. The accounts I have received, therefore, seem to be
sufficiently exact for general purposes.
The Tanelkum Sheikh says there are no other tribes of Tuaricks but those
enumerated above. The largest and most powerful tribe is that in the
neighbourhood of Timbuctoo, the Oulimad, answering, perhaps, to the
Sorghou of Caillie; and the smallest and weakest, the Tanelkum. But the
Tanelkums, if small in number, are great in pride, and consider
themselves a race of marabouts. They certainly make long prayers, and
several of them can write a little. The Turks treat the Tanelkums with
great consideration, and every year the Pasha of Mourzuk gives their
Sheikh a fine burnouse and other presents. They pay no impost, though
living in the Fezzan valleys. They are devoted to peaceful pursuits, and
are camel-drivers and small merchants. Formerly they were powerful; and
gave a sultan to the town of Ghat. About a century ago, their Sheikhs
and the greater part of the Tanelkums were destroyed by a razzia of the
Tibboos. They had then a town, which was situate in the Wady Esaiyen,
where there are still ruins to be seen, and which we passed near Berkat.
Of the Oulimad I know but little, except that they are exceedingly
turbulent, even ferocious, in the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo. They also
extend their razzias from Timbuctoo to the south-western frontiers of
the Asbenouee territories. A very short time ago they made a foray on
the Soudan route, between this and Damerghou. The Ghat Tuaricks I have
pretty well described.
The tribe of Janet has been mentioned frequently in this journal, from
the circumstance of their attempting to get up a razzia against the
expedition.
The Haghar are well known, even in Europe, for their freebooting
propensities. They lie between the Oulimad and the Azgher tribes
surrounding Tuat, and are some of them engaged in commerce.
The Sagamaram (or Sgamara) are an interesting small tribe, located in
the rocky valleys, along the line of the route from Aisou to Tuat. They
are mostly dressed in leathern clothes, and trade with Tuat, taking
their cloths and a fragrant herb called _debau_, which they exchange
against dates, &c. They likewise come to Aheer and Soudan, and fetch
slaves and goods for the souks of Tuat. They are a very pacific tribe,
not unlike the Tanelkums, but carrying on more commerce.
The Maghatah (or Maratah) are a thievish race, and have the vices of
their mothers, those peculiar to Soudan, as well as the more ferocious
traits of Berber bandits. Several of these people are in Janet.
In concluding these imperfect general observations on the state of Aheer
or Asben, I will only add that the country extends from north to south
eleven days' journey, or about two hundred and twenty miles (twenty
miles to the day); and east and west, eight days, or one hundred and
sixty miles. Aghadez, the largest town or city, stands, as has been
seen, alone; and may be considered as a kind of connecting link,
politically and otherwise, with the black countries to the south. I have
already endeavoured to explain the singular constitution of society in
this large but thinly-peopled tract. We observe there a curious
combination of the monarchical and patriarchal states, with a dash of
democracy into the bargain. Several times I have been reminded of
Homer's heroic age. The princes and the people seem alternately to
appear on the scene, exercising sovereign sway. The great Sultan is
elected from out of the country; but he is compelled to seek the
ratification of the chiefs, the elders, and the populace within. Then
there is the great chief of the Kailouees, whose town or camp is at
Asoudee; with Sultan Lousou, a most influential man; not to speak of the
great En-Noor himself, who has, perhaps, personally, the greatest
political weight of them all. Each of these great men is perpetually
surrounded by an army of retainers, dependants, and slaves; and public
affairs are transacted, partly according to some old routine, difficult
for a stranger to understand, partly after the fashion of "Arabian
Nights," kings meeting casually at the head of great armies in some
poetical wilderness. All these chieftains are both pastors and
merchants. One of their chief articles of traffic is, I am sorry to say,
their unfortunate fellow-creatures. They are the greatest slave-dealers
in the Sahara; two-thirds of the whole commerce is in the hands of the
Kailouees. The Sultans levy duties likewise on the caravans that pass
through their territory--duties which, to our cost, we know to be
neither regular nor moderate; but they have no right to apply taxation
to their quasi-subjects. Sometimes, when they are "hungry," they make a
razzia on a distant tribe, and find both slaves and cattle at their
disposal.
As might have been expected, the Kailouees--princes and people--are not
very refined in their ideas or luxurious in their habits. Their food
consists principally of the grains ghaseb and ghafouley, or guinea-corn.
They have also flocks and herds of sheep, camels, and bullocks; but the
bullocks are used chiefly for draft, and to carry goods from Aheer to
Soudan. Asses are exceedingly numerous, and likewise go to Soudan to
fetch guinea-corn. The population of Aheer, being scattered about in
small towns and villages, a few hours journey apart, these animals are
found very useful for the transport of the persons and effects of the
poor. The richer people have camels of the maharee species, like all the
Tuaricks; and in some respects it is the possession of this splendid
animal which distinguishes the Kailouee population from the people to
the south. For example, all their sports and pastimes would be exactly
Soudanese, were it not for the introduction of the maharee. On the
celebration of a wedding, the Kailouees ride round the groups of guests
on their silent-treading camels, which measure their movements to the
sound of a big rude drum. Such scenes would otherwise be perfectly
Nigritian. The men dance, flourishing their lances; and the slaves both
dance and sing. But I have already noted down all that I observed
remarkable in manners, and need not here repeat myself.
The great natural features of Asben, also, are doubtless by this time
impressed on the mind of the reader. They consist of a series of naked
granite rocks or mountains, some of them rising to upwards of three or
four thousand feet, ranging in every direction, with many isolated
peaks; and of picturesque valleys winding along between steep
precipices--threads of green, in which the tholukh and all species of
mimosa and acacia, with the souag and other trees, flourish in immense
growth, sometimes adorned by garlands and festoons of luxuriant
parasitical plants. Wild animals of various kinds range at will in
unfrequented places, but do not seem to excite much terror. There are
gardens and cornfields in the neighbourhood of some of the towns and
villages, the cultivation being kept up during the dry months by
irrigation; but only a few of the inhabitants, mostly slaves, cultivate
the soil. Besides the grains I have mentioned, a few vegetables,
principally onions, are produced. Date-palms bear fruit, which is good,
but will not keep.
I have already mentioned the chief manufactures of Aheer. They flourish
to the greatest extent in Aghadez; but Tintalous also has its artizans.
Working in leather was very popular during our stay, in consequence of
the presence of a noted charm-writer--bags being necessary. A good many
cunning blacksmiths ply their trade in various places.