CHAPTER VTHE TUAREGS

DISTRIBUTION OF PRESENTS TO THE TUAREGS AT BURÉ.

About 109 yards further down stream we doubled the point of the island of Ansongo.

The right arm of the river, which we could now see distinctly, was completely encumbered by rocks and rapids. Our barges could certainly not have got past them.

In front of us eddies and ripples showed that there were also rocks ahead of us. Our guides were brave fellows enough, but I did not believe they were much accustomed to the river, so I decided to make the two big boats anchor here. Baudry and I having removed the canvas sail which would have given purchase to the wind, and having pressed into the service every available oar, started to examine the channel, which, though very tortuous, turned out to be both wide and deep. We then returned on board, and without further incident we went on undaunted amongst the grass close to the left bank.

THE ‘DANTEC’ EXPLORING THE PASS.

TheAubehad leaked dreadfully since she struck, and four men with buckets could scarcely bale her out. Ourcarpenter, Abdulaye, dived beneath her, and discovered that one of the planks of her bottom had got loose, but we managed to patch it up somehow.

To wind up this day, which had been so full of unpleasant excitement, a storm presently overtook us, during which we were soaked to the skin, whilst from the banks rose an odour of musk so strong as to be positively sickening.

Every now and then there were ripples close to the boat, caused by an alligator plunging into the water. It would not do to fall overboard just there.

BURÉ.

A comparatively quiet reach brought us the next day to the northern point of the island of Buré, probably the Tiburanen of Barth, on the rugged rocks of which a village was picturesquely perched. Opposite to us on the left was a mound with slopes covered with tents, whilst on the summit was drawn up a squadron of Tuaregs ready to defend it, with foot soldiers in the front of the square and the cavalry in the centre. All remained motionless, watching the approach of our boats. We landed on the island, and the negroes, who at first seemed timid, came slowly towardsus. Then a canoe, in which were several Tuaregs, crossed the stream, whilst our guides with vehement gestures explained who we were, and what we wanted.

As soon as this was understood the battalion posted on the mound broke up in the twinkling of an eye, and canoes began to ply rapidly to and fro between the left bank of the river and the island, bringing over the Tuaregs, so that we were soon surrounded by a crowd of some three or four hundred men, some Ifoghas, others sheriffs. They had at first been afraid, they said, when they saw our boats, but now they were our best friends. We brought out our little presents, such as rings, bracelets, pipes, and knives, which evoked a perfect delirium of joy. In exchange we received eggs, butter, poultry, and some pretty little leather bags our visitors calledabelbodh. We resumed our voyage by the left arm of the stream, which was narrow, and much encumbered with rocks. On the banks were numerousflocks of sheep grazing on the grass and the succulent weeds.

CANOES AT BURÉ.

The whole population followed us as before at Gao, shouting, but now the cries were friendly and pacific. Every time we halted to distribute presents the enthusiasm increased, men, women, and children—the last-named merry little creatures, with wide-awake expressions—flung themselves into the water to fight for a ring or a bit of glass.

FLOCKS AND HERDS AT BURÉ.

Every now and then an important chief would receive what we called acomplet, the object of desire of every Tuareg—that is to say, a piece of Guinea or blue cotton cloth nine yards long—five to make thebubuor mantle, and four for the breeches. There is no doubt that our visit will long be remembered, and I hope that the first traveller to succeed us may have as much cause to thank Abd El Kader, as I called myself, as I had to bless the name of Abdul Kerim.

The island of Buré does not belong to the Tuaregs. Strange to say—for the fact is really unique on the Niger between Timbuktu and Sansan Hussa—a Songhay chief,Idris by name, is the real owner. He pays no tribute to Madidu, and though the flocks and herds of the sheriffs and Ifoghas are now grazing on his land, it is only by his permission, and because their owners are in dread of a raid of Kel Avis.

We halted at the village of Idris, and he came to see us. We made a league of friendship with him, leaving in his hands a document which was a kind of protectorate treaty, and a flag. He on his side lent us three of his subjects, one of them his own brother, to replace our Ansongo guides, who now returned to their village, having been well paid for their services.

GUIDES GIVEN TO US BY IDRIS.

These Songhay of Idris were splendid fellows, wearing veils, and carrying weapons similar to those of the Tuaregs; but their complexions were perfectly black, so that no one could mistake them for Arabs. They are, as a rule, very tall and of herculean strength.

It really was a pleasure to have to do once more with men of such a noble type as this, after being thrown for so long amongst the degraded negroes of the Niger districts; and it is easy to understand what this Songhay race must have been in the old days, when it dominated the Western Sudan under the Askia chiefs, and Gao was their capital.

In spite of all our efforts and all the skill of our guides we were not able to avoid running aground several times on the 11th, and our crafts again sustained a good deal of damage. We had hardly started before theAubestruck on a large flint shaped like the head of a man. There she stuck for three hours, with a current rushing by like that of the river of hell, and a reef on either side, on one of which it seemed as if she must be wrecked if we succeeded in getting her off.

Everybody rushed to the rescue. Our own men and our guides alike all flung themselves into the water, showing equal energy and devotion.

Every moment we expected to see the unlucky vessel part in two, the bow going one way and the stern another. At last, however, we did manage to fling a grappling-hook on to the left bank, and after many fruitless efforts, some of the men tugging at the part of the boat which had struck, whilst others hauled away from the stern at the grappling-hook, we succeeded in moving the vessel, which, taken in the rear by the current, was floated off. She joined theDavoustsoon afterwards, but not without touching bottom again by the way.

We started once more about two o’clock, great blocks of flint everywhere impeding progress. But our guides assured us that this was nothing. “Wait,” they said, “till you get to Labezenga, then you will see!” A charming prospect truly!

In the evening we reached Bentia, the Biting of Barth, where we halted for the night.

We pushed on early the next day to Fafa, arriving there about seven o’clock in the morning. Here the stream is divided into two arms by an island on which a village is hidden, with an approach presenting anything but a reassuring appearance. But we had other things to see to before exploring it.

Directly we anchored a Tuareg came to accost us. He turned out to be an envoy from Djamarata, the nephew of Madidu, who he said was at the village, specially accredited by that chief to complete the negotiations begun with us at Gao, and to give me the letter I had asked for.

The village of Fafa is occupied by Peuls or Fulahs, who, like all the rest of the sedentary races whom we met with who are face to face with the Tuaregs, were in a state of abject fear, wondering what would happen between the white visitors and the dreaded Arabs, both of superior race in the eyes of the negroes. Would they quarrel with each other? Would they come to blows? Not wishing to play the part of the iron between hammer and anvil, they were full of anxiety and trouble.

The old fellow who had come out as envoy climbed on to theDavoust. He did not wish me to land, Djamarata must come on board. As for him, he meant to stop where he was. Fortunately my Songhay from Idris were not quite such cowards, and they tried to reassure the poor old man, but when he still seemed terrified they gave him a good scolding. Djamarata was seated, meanwhile, some hundred yards from the river bank, surrounded by about a dozen Tuaregs. The brother of Idris finally took me by the arm, and we went together towards him. We saluted each other, we shook hands, neither of us looking in the least inclined to eat the other. But this peaceable greetingdid not reassure the silly old messenger, who, with a feeling which really did him honour, came and crouched almost between my legs to protect me.

Djamarata was a young man of about thirty years old, at least that was what I supposed from all I could see of his face, which was almost hidden by thetagelmustwrapped about the lower part. He was tall and of a commanding presence, whilst his great black eyes were lit up with intelligence. All Madidu’s boys being still under age, he was his uncle’s right hand, alike the confidant and the commander-in-chief of the Amenokal’s army.

PALAVER WITH DJAMARATA.

Our interview was very brief. I simply repeated what I had said at Gao, and Djamarata informed me that my statement tallied with what he had heard from the chief of the Awellimiden.

Now about the letter I had asked for. As he had nota marabout in his suite who knew how to write Arabic, he proved his confidence in Tierno by letting him indite it without hesitation, and the latter set about it at once. Here is a literal translation of his production:

Letter from Madidu and his nephew Djamarata to the Sultan of the French.

“The object of this letter is to inform you that we have come to an understanding with Commandant Hourst, known under the name of Abd el Kader, on the following points:—between us and him there shall be only good and peace; your traders shall come to us by land and by water, assured that no one in our country will molest them in any way. You will bring no trouble into our possessions, nor interfere with our civil and religious traditions. Be it also known unto you, that so soon as your envoys are returned, and you will have proved our truth, you will see us come and go alone and in parties by land and by water. This is the exact truth without reserve and without exaggeration. After you have given us the promises mentioned we shall be brothers; greeting!”

Djamarata asked me in my turn to leave behind me a written statement of the verbal arrangement we had made. This seemed only fair, and here is my reply:

Letter from Commandant Hourst, surnamed Abd el Kader, to Madidu, Amenokal of the Awellimiden, and to Djamarata his nephew.

“This is to certify, that having been sent by the Sultan of the French to you to establish eternal peace between us, and to inaugurate commercial and friendly relations, and having received from him full powers to speak in his name,I can assure you that our only desire is to act in the manner explained in your letter. We will not establish posts in your country, nor touch that which belongs to you, nor change your civil and religious traditions in any way.

“You can come to us in peace in numbers or alone, to trade or merely to visit us. Once in our territories, which are on the west of the dune of Ernessé, you will find nothing but good and peace.

“As for what you say on the subject of our religion, we are governed by the law of Sidna Issa (Jesus Christ); we know that there is but one God; we pray, we fast, we give alms. As a result we could not prevent these things amongst others without becoming unworthy of the protection of God.

“Know therefore that all this is the absolute and exact truth, that we are of noble race, that a lie is as much unknown amongst us as it is with you, who too are of noble race.

“Come to us, then, without fear either at Timbuktu or wherever we may be. The truth will then be proved.”

We spent the rest of the day chatting with the Tuaregs and distributing presents. Meanwhile Baudry went with Digui to reconnoitre the river below Fafa.

For the second time a treaty, or rather a written agreement, had been made between a Tuareg confederation and the French. The first was that which followed or resulted from the grand journey of Duveyrier in Southern Algeria and amongst the Azgueur Tuaregs, after which a mission, including the Prince de Polignac, made a convention with them at Rhâdames.

For the second time those who made these arrangements, and who dealt directly face to face and voice to voicewith the Tuareg chiefs, assert that they found them loyal and to some extent even conciliatory.

In speaking of the Tuaregs in general, I shall express myself very plainly on the subject of these treaties. I now beg leave to break off the narrative of our voyage for a moment to try and make better known this interesting race, which has perhaps been unjustly calumniated.

TUAREGS.

AN AMRI SHEPHERD.

AfterI got back to France I often came in contact with people who, as the expression goes, were interested in geographical and colonial questions, and sometimes I was subjected to a most extraordinary cross-examination. The following is a true account of a conversation I once had:—

“So you have really been amongst the Tuaregs? They are savages, are they not? Are they cannibals?”

I protested that even during the worst famines they had never tasted a scrap of the flesh of a fellow creature.

“But at least they are cruel? They thieve and plunder, do they not? They have neither religion nor laws?”

I really do not feel sure of having convinced a single person that even if the Tuaregs have their faults, that they are not wanting in good qualities, and that their social condition, different though it may be from ours, is nevertheless an established one, that it would be alike humaneand politic to turn to account the undoubtedly good qualities of the race, and to endeavour to develop those qualities. It would surely be better to extenuate their faults, and if possible correct them, than to propose—which, by the way, is of course impossible—the exterminationen masseof a great branch of the human race, occupying a district peculiarly suitable to it, and where, as a matter of fact, the Tuaregs alone can live.

So-called truisms and ready-made opinions are of course very convenient. By adopting them one is saved the trouble of thinking about, still more of going to see, a place for oneself. It is far less fatiguing, and within the power of everybody. It would certainly be perfectly safe to wager ten to one that the habit of taking things for granted is not likely to go out in France in a hurry, or indeed for that matter anywhere else.

Maybe I shall only in my turn be lifting up my voice in the desert. But I should like first to try and make those who are willing to eschew foregone conclusions better acquainted with the truth.

I will avoid exaggeration, and also too much generalization from isolated experiences. On the one hand, as I have already said, the Tuaregs have very serious faults—serious for us, because they are such as to make it difficult for them to accommodate themselves to European civilization, and as a result we in our turn find influencing them a very hard task.

Moreover, when I have proved that the Tuaregs have noble qualities, when I have shown them actuated by elevated motives, those who read what I say must beware of thinking that all members of the race are cut on the same pattern.

My idea is, that to begin with we have only to inquire whether in their natural condition the Tuaregs are or arenot inferior in morality to the other native races, such as the Ammanites of Cochin-China and the Kabyles of Algeria, with whom by hook or by crook the French have managed to find amodus vivendi?

To a question of that kind I can reply at once, “No, no, the Tuaregs are certainly not more barbarous than other native races!” and as proof I can quote our own journey. My readers will have seen how the Tuaregs behaved to us. I have described how they were won over from hostility to friendship; and the chapter succeeding this I shall tell how they protected—even saved us. And what happened to us might, it seems to me, very well happen to others.

Am I alone in my opinion? Did not Barth owe his very existence to the active protection of the Tademeket at Timbuktu and the Awellimiden at Tosaye?

Then, again, Duveyrier travelled for more than a year in the Tuareg districts, guided and protected by Ikhenuakhen, chief of the Azgueurs. Not only had he nothing to fear from them, but he was actually saved from insult even from the Senussis and the tribes which had risen against the French under the leadership of Mohammed ben Abdallah.

Our case was therefore no isolated one, and our experience would no doubt be repeated if it were decided to enter into more intimate relations with the Tuaregs. We should avoid the unreasonable fear of finding ourselves amongst traitors and assassins, but at the same time take such precautions as are needed in the Sudan, where there is at yet no police force.

There are indeed few if any races who can pride themselves on a more ancient lineage than the Tuaregs.

Speaking in their own dialect they say, “We are Imochar, Imuhar, Imazighen,” all which words come from the same Tamschenk root—aharmeaning free, independent, he who can take, who can pillage. (We shall see laterwhat the Tuaregs mean by pillage.) In the Tamschenk dialect the wordaharalso signifies lion.

If we go back to the days of antiquity, and read our Herodotus, we shall find that he speaks of the Mazique tribe as dwelling in Libya. There are Numidians of Jugurtha and of Maussinissa, and the last word is translated almost literally into the dialect now employed,mess n’esenmeaning their master, or the master of the people, whilst the word Mazique is evidently the Greek form, from which is derived the present name of Imazighen.

If this etymological proof is not sufficient, there exists another, this one absolutely irrefragable, viz. the Tuareg writing.

Here, there, and everywhere in their country, now cut with a knife on the trunks of trees, now engraved on the rocks, we meet with inscriptions in peculiar characters known as thetifinar; and at this very day every Tuareg who has to wait, or who suffers fromennuifor any reason, always wiles away the time, whether on the banks of the Niger, on the tablelands of Air, or on the summits of the volcanic Atakor n’Ahaggar, by writing according to the best of his skill his name and that of his sweetheart on a rock or on the trunk of some tree, now and then adding a sentence or two, or in rarer cases a complete poem.

Now the letters employed in thesetifinar, ancient or modern, are the same, or very nearly the same, and are therefore identical with those used in the celebrated Tugga inscription, dating from the time when Carthage was still a thriving city.

Imochar, of which the singular form is Amacher, is the name by which the Tuaregs of the Niger districts generally speak of themselves. They are, say the Arabs, Tuaregs (singular Targui); Surgu, say the Songhay; Burdane, say the Fulahs.

Now not one of these various appellations comes from a root signifying anything evil, and a Tuareg would be sure to use one or the other according to the dialect he speaks in referring to his people. Some have pretended that Tuareg means abandoned by God, for Arabs are very fond of explaining everything by puns and plays upon words. Yet another Arab root from which the word might possibly be derived is one signifying nomads or wanderers.

TUAREGS.

Without attempting to throw fresh light, or perhaps to add further obscurity to the question, I may remark here, that a certain Berber tribe (we shall see that the Tuaregs are Berbers) calls itself Tarka, whilst a small section of the Awellimiden is known as Tarkai-Tamut, whilst the great Berber conqueror of Spain was named Tarik.

It seems most reasonable to suppose that the Arabsgave to the whole race the name of one of its tribes, probably that with which they were brought into close contact. Does not the very name of Berber, characterizing the whole great race, including not only the Tuaregs, but the Kabyles, the Chambas, and others, itself come from that of but one fraction—the Berbers or Barbers of Morocco?

During the Roman decadence the Berbers, including the Tuaregs, joined the flocks of Saint Augustine and his successors as converts, very half-hearted ones probably, and then after a time of considerable obscurity in their history came the Mohammedan conquest. Rebellious at first, the Berbers ended by accepting the religion of Islam, without feeling any more enthusiasm for the new faith than they had done for the old. As for the Tuaregs, it is said it was not necessary to convert them more than fourteen times!

Now it was these tribes who so loathed a foreign yoke, and fled further and further into the desert before the invaders of their country, who were the forefathers of the present Imochars.

With regard to the Awellimiden, their very name indicates their origin; they are the descendants (uld lemta) of the Lemta or Lemtuma, a Sahara tribe which conquered and finally absorbed all its neighbours of the same stock.

All this may perhaps be called actual history. Now for some of the legends of which the Awellimiden Tuaregs are so fond. Great lovers of the marvellous, they account for their origin thus. I will translate as literally as possible what one of them actually told me:

“I say the ancestors of the Imochars were no other than genii.

“The women of a village called Alkori went one night to dance in the bush, and there they fell asleep.

“Presently they were surprised by some genii, who,surrounding them before they were fully awake, embraced them.

“In the morning the women returned to the village.

“When a few moons had risen and died (that is to say, when a few months had passed), the men of the village saw that the women were about to become mothers.

“The chief of the village therefore cried, ‘Seize them and put them to death!’

“But the cadi replied, ‘No, let us wait until the children are born.’

“So they waited until nine moons had risen and died, when each woman gave birth to a boy.

“Some men said, ‘Now let us kill the mothers and the children.’

“The cadi replied, ‘No, let us wait till they are older, none but God can create a soul.’

“So they waited.

“The boys grew, and as time went on fought with the other children of the village; and they made for themselves weapons of iron, swords and daggers, such as had hitherto been unknown in the country.

“The chiefs then said, ‘If we do not put them to death these boys will become our masters. Let us kill them at once, before they come to their full strength.’

“To which every one replied, ‘Yes, yes! you are right!’

“They then sent a messenger to call the uncles of the young fellows, and said to them, ‘What we wish is that you should kill your nephews, and if you do not we will kill you.’

“To this the uncles answered, ‘We have no wish but to comply with your demand, but we do not know how to put to death our nearest relations. You take our weapons and do with them what you will.’

“‘Very well,’ said the chief. ‘You had better leave the village now and return here to-morrow evening.’

“So they left; but one of them managed to warn his sister of what was in the wind, so that the sons of the genii knew what to expect.

“They therefore ran away, walking all night until the dawn, when they climbed a mountain.

“In the morning the chief of the village beat the war-drum, and the horses were saddled.

“The people followed the boys till they came to the mountain they had climbed, when they lost all traces of them.

“Meanwhile one of the children had said, ‘Shall we have to fight here?’

“‘Of course we shall,’ replied another; and they were just about to defy the enemy with shouts, inviting them to the combat, when a second boy said, ‘It would be better to go first to the village and fight those that are left behind there.’

“They therefore descended the mountain by the other slope, and returned to the village. When those who had remained there saw them coming they were afraid, and cried, ‘Alas! here are the boys coming back again. They have evidently defeated the party we sent out against them.’

“One man went out to parley with the children. They took him prisoner, obtained from him all the information they wanted, and then they drew their swords and killed him.

“They next advanced upon the village, entered it, and even went up to the hut of the chief, who was a very old man. He got up and came to meet them. They shouted, ‘Thou didst mean to kill us and our mothers with us, but now it is thou who art to die; thy children and thychildren’s children, and all thy nephews are dead. It is all over.’

“They flung their spears at him, and one of them pierced his heart, coming out at the other side. Then the boys shouted, ‘Death to thee, and to thy mother, thou son of a harlot!’ Next they burnt the village, and killed all the women and children. Only one man escaped. He ran out to the army and told the troops all that had happened, asking them, ‘Did you not meet the children?’ ‘No!’ ‘Did you not find any trace of them?’ ‘We did; but we lost their track!’

“‘Well,’ he went on; ‘go to the village, there is not a man left alive, not even a woman, not even a child. All, all are slain!’

“They put spurs to their horses and galloped back; they reached the village. The children of the genii came out and began the battle. They fought from ten o’clock in the morning till sunset. The boys were victorious, slew all their enemies, and took possession of the war-drum.

“Of the sons of the genii sixty were dead, but sixty survived, and became the fathers of the Tuaregs.”

In the fifteenth century they founded a great city, about 281 miles to the north of Gao, which they called Es Suk, or Tadamekka (now Tademeket), where they probably led a half-nomad, half-sedentary life, as do certain tribes or fractions of tribes at the present day at Rhat, Tintellust, and Sinder, or Gober. At the same period the Askia Empire of the Songhay negroes was at the zenith of its prosperity, with Gao, or Garo, as its capital.

An Askia went to attack Es-Suk, and destroyed it. Rather than submit to the yoke of the conqueror, the Tuaregs abandoned their capital, and fled to the Ahaggar heights or the plateaux of Air. According to a legend only one Es Suk escaped, a man named Mohamed benEddain, who founded a new tribe, that of the present Kel es Suk, by giving his daughters in marriage to Arabs, sheriffs of the tribe of El Abaker, descendants of the Ansars, or first companions of the Prophet.

This was how it came about that the Kel es Suk supplied the so-called Tuareg marabouts, and explains the fact that these marabouts have abandoned many of the characteristic customs of the true Tuaregs in favour of the strict observance of the Mussulman law.

A GROUP OF TUAREGS.

Then came the invasion from Morocco, when the Armas, or Romas, as the soldiers of the Sultan of Fez were called, thanks to their firearms, destroyed the armies and broke the power of the Songhay; but these Armas were not numerous enough to hold what they had taken, and in the course of a few generations they became merged in the negro race, and completely lost all their warlike qualities.

Protected against invasion by the arid and poverty-stricken nature of the districts they inhabit, the Tuaregs, on the other hand, inured to hardship, gradually became stronger, nobler, and more able to hold their own, developing all the virtues of the true warrior. They now in their turn conquered their old enemies the Songhay, who, though aided by the Armas, descended from the old invaders from Morocco, were powerless to resist them. The negroes were defeated and reduced to slavery. Since then the Tuaregs have been the dominant race on the banks of the Niger, from Timbuktu almost as far south as Say.

The history of the Tuaregs has been that of one long series of struggles between the various tribes, in which the Awellimiden finally gained the ascendency they still maintain. I have already related how they resisted the Fulah invasion, and later that of the Toucouleurs.

The taking of Timbuktu by the French resulted in the crushing of the semi-independent fraction of the Tuareg race known as the Tenguereguif, or the Kel Temulai, and what I have said about the Igwadaren, will be remembered. As for the Awellimiden, their power remained undisturbed, and I do not think I am far wrong in saying, that should they be threatened they could put 20,000 men, one-quarter of them mounted, in the field at once.

When we remember the courage of the Tuaregs, and take into account the immense difficulty French troops would have to contend with in crossing the districts belonging to the enemy, it is impossible to help realizing that these warriors are far from being a negligible quantity, and that the conquest of their land would cost the invader dear.

And would it be to the interest of France to possess the districts now inhabited by the Tuaregs? To this query I reply emphatically and without hesitation, No!

There are in the Sudan two totally different kinds of territory, which I shall characterize as those fitted for the occupation of sedentary settlers, and those suitable only to nomadic tribes.

The former are the banks of streams and rivers, such as the French Sudan between Kayes and Bamako, with the whole reach of the Niger district up to Timbuktu. In these lands gutta-percha and cotton can be readily grown. They are inhabited by negroes, and it is indispensable if we are to trade in security that we should have a preponderate if not exclusive territorial influence.

In what I call the nomad lands, on the other hand, on the right of the Senegal, on the Niger beyond Timbuktu (if we except the actual banks of the river), we shall find that the chief articles of export are gum and the products of flocks of sheep, which are indeed the only things the nomad tribes have to offer to our traders.

It is absolutely useless to attempt to impose on these people a yoke against which they would never cease to rebel, and which, moreover, they would have the power as well as the will to throw off. It is much better to give them what are calledenclaves, or reserves, such as the Americans assign to the Redskins. Of course we should always have to guard against pillaging raids from these enclaves; but I am quite convinced, that when the Tuaregs once realize that their liberty and their customs will be respected, they will willingly accept themodus vivendisuggested, especially if they find that they can sell their produce to our traders to advantage, thus gaining means for the amelioration of their present condition.

How much better would it be then, instead of condemning the Tuareg race as a whole, because of certain preconceived prejudices, if we were to set to work to study them, to gauge their real moral worth, and to make the bestarrangement possible with them for the benefit of all concerned. Faults, many faults, of course they all have. They are proud, they are fierce, they rob, and they beg. One of their peculiarities makes it very difficult to deal with them—they are very ready to take offence. They are, moreover, in constant dread of being subjected to servitude, and fear invasion above all things. All this of course leads them to listen eagerly to the calumnies our enemies especially the marabouts, are always ready to circulate.

TUAREGS.

Side by side with all this, however, many noble virtues must also be placed to the credit of the Tuaregs. Their courage is proverbial, the defence of a guest is with them as with the Arabs a positive religion, whilst their steadfastness of character is well known, and their powers of endurance are absolutely indispensable to their very existence. Lastly,—and here I know what I say is quitecontrary to the generally-received opinion,—the Tuareg is faithful to his promises and hates petty theft.

“Never promise more than half what you can perform,” says a Tuareg proverb, and even in the opinion of their enemies this is no idle boast. Our own adventures are a striking proof of this.

As for what I have said about thieving, I can testify that all the time we were amongst the Tuaregs not the very smallest larceny was committed by them, although all manner of very tempting articles, such as various stuffs, beads, looking-glasses, knives, etc., were lying about in our boats, on deck, and in our cabins. Nothing could have been easier than for our Tuareg visitors to run off with a few odds and ends, and if I had seen any one take anything I should probably have said nothing, for fear of a dispute leading to a rupture.

At the sight of these riches of ours, which surpassed anything they had ever seen before, the eyes of our guests would gleam with desire for their possession, and they would ask for things, keep on begging for them without ceasing, but they would not take anything without leave. I often had hard work to resist their importunity, but, for all that, not one of them ever appropriated a single object however small.

I said, it is true, a few pages back that the Tuaregs were pillagers, and the reader may very well ask how they could be pillagers yet not thieves. We must, however, judge people by their own consciences, not by the ideas current amongst ourselves. Now to pillage and to thieve are two essentially different things amongst the Tuaregs.

All nomads are pillagers, and as a matter of fact war with them is generally simply a pillaging expedition. Migrations are constantly taking place as a very necessity of their mode of life, and as a resultcasus bellias constantlyarise. We must, however, even in such cases as these, do the Tuaregs the justice to add that they generally first make an appeal to diplomacy. In meetings known amongst them asmyiad, the question at issue is discussed, chiefly by the most influential marabouts, and they have recourse to arms only if conciliation does not answer.

Even then it is all fair and open warfare. The warriors even challenge each other as in a tournament to single combat. There arerazzitoo, no doubt, when the Tuaregs make a descent on the enemy’s camp and pillage it, carrying off the flocks and herds if possible, and by thus depriving them of the means of subsistence, compelling them to sue for peace.

There is little foundation for the charge brought against the Tuaregs of pillaging caravans, they respect them when the right of passage has been paid for. This payment is a very just one, guaranteeing the protection of the tribe against the gentlemen of the road, for in the Sudan, as in Italy, there are brigands, but they are not Tuaregs.

On the other hand, if traders, thinking themselves strong enough to force a passage, refuse to pay the tribute demanded, the caravan becomes the lawful prize of any one who chooses to attack it.

Is this very different to what happens amongst Europeans? Suppose, for instance, that we refuse to pay custom andoctroidues, the officials will seize the contraband goods without hesitation, and we shall have to pay the legal fine, or even, perhaps, go to prison, and who will think us unfairly treated? Although they have no officers in uniform in their service, the Tuaregs are quite within their rights in demanding payment for right of way. But pillage merchandise when that payment has been made they never do. Did they do so, all trade would be simply impossible in the Sudan, and when they are reproached on the subjectthey reply—“Our irezz aodem akus wa der’itett(we do not break the bowl from which we eat).”

When he has to do with Christians, infidels, or, as he calls them, Kaffirs, the Tuareg is perhaps not quite so jealous of his promises and of keeping faith exactly; but this is really chiefly the fault of the marabouts, who tell them that they are not bound where infidels are concerned, and quote passages taken, or said to be taken, from the Koran to prove it.

Then, again, there is something spirited and noble about pillaging, for it often means to expose oneself to danger, and real courage is needed for that. It is not so very long since our ancestors went to do much the same thing in Sicily and in Palestine, and there was not much more excuse for them than for the Tuaregs.

Thieving and petty larceny are very different from pillaging, and of them the Tuareg has perhaps a greater horror than we Europeans.

A careful study of Tuareg society will reveal a very strong resemblance between it and that of Europe in the Middle Ages. Truth to tell, except that he has no strong isolated castles, a Tuareg surrounded by his tribe, or a fraction of that tribe, engaged in one long struggle to defend himself, or absorbed in attacking some chief, brutal and violent, but chivalrous, respecting the honour of women, and curbing his wild passions where they are concerned, his reverence for them inspiring his most courageous efforts, pillaging the traders who will not submit to the prescribed tribute, but protecting those who have paid their toll, has a soul not so very different, after all, from that of the Castellan de Coucy of the twelfth century, or of the heroes he celebrates in his poems.

As was the population in Europe in mediæval times, the Tuaregs are divided into two very distinct classes, theIhaggaren and theimrads, corresponding to the old feudal chiefs and vassals.

What originally caused this broad line of demarcation between the two? Many different things, no doubt. Certain conquered tribes became theimradsof those who had defeated them. Or again, some tribes may have submitted for the sake of being allowed to settle peacefully down on lands belonging to Ihaggaren. Whatever may have been the reason, however, as time went on the Ihaggaren[6]became the owners of flocks and herds, whilst theimradsnever possessed any property of their own, but looked after that of their masters.

The former had to fight and to protect theirimrads, ownership of property giving them the right to demand tribute; the latter could originally only hold their fiefs at the will of their suzerains, but after many generations had passed away their tenure became so established a thing that rent was all which could be demanded. At the present day it sometimes happens that theimradsare richer, better dressed, and even more influential than the Ihaggarens.

When a whole tribe is seriously threatened, and the nobles are not sufficiently strong to defend themselves, the tenants are armed just as they used to be in olden times in Europe, and these tenants fight marvellously well. At the same time, except in such emergencies, it is the business of the Ihaggarens to defend theimrads.

In the service of theimradsare a class of negro slaves known as the Belle or Bellates, who have as a rule been attached to the same family for many generations. The attachment these slaves have for their Tuareg masters is really wonderful, and a positive proof that they are well treated by them. In the struggle which took place roundabout Timbuktu between the French and the various tribes who resisted the foreign occupation, Bellates were often taken prisoners, but however kind our treatment of them, in spite of promises of complete liberty on the one condition that they would remain with us, we were not able to keep a single one. They all ran away to rejoin their old masters. In warlike expeditions they form a very useful supplement to the Tuareg infantry, and they are quite as brave as are the free soldiers.

One peculiar fact which speaks well for the Tuareg character is, that though these warriors own hereditary slaves they never sell or buy them. Before the French arrived at Timbuktu that town was the centre of the slave trade, whence captives were sent to Tripoli on the one hand and to Morocco on the other. The convoys with the melancholy processions of slaves were generally under the leadership of traders from Mosi, who brought the unhappy captives to the town and sold them to merchants from Morocco or Tuat.

We have already seen, and we shall have again occasion to remark, that the whole negro population of the Niger districts is in a similar state of servitude with regard to the Tuaregs, a fact which will explain how it is that no Songhay or Arma would dream of disputing the orders of the chiefs, or offering the very slightest resistance to their demands.

There would therefore be absolutely nothing to prevent a Tuareg who should chance to be in want of money or of clothes to go and seize one or more of the Gabibi, as the negroes of the villages are called, and sell him or them for slaves at Timbuktu. In fact, it would be quite as simple a matter as to choose an ox out of his own herds and send it to market. Yet never has a Tuareg been known to do such a thing. I have made sure of this by cross-questioningmany negroes, and their answers have always been the same.

At the very bottom rung of the social ladder we find the negroes of the riverside districts, the Songhay and the Armas. They cultivate millet, rice, and tobacco. When their masters are at daggers drawn with each other, as was the case when we were amongst the Igwadaren, they have a good deal to complain of, for they are, as it were, between two fires, and their position is anything but enviable. Amongst the Awellimiden, however, their condition seems to be much happier, and when they have once paid their dues they are left in peace, great chiefs such as Madidu protecting them against the exactions of the less powerful Tuaregs.

I confess I do not feel any very special pity for them. They are quite as numerous as the Tuaregs, quite as well armed, and all they need to recover their independence is a little courage. If, moreover, they cared to study the history of the past, they would not fail to remark that their Songhay ancestors brought their doom upon them when they destroyed Es Suk, and forced the Tuaregs to lead their present wandering life.

As for the project of pressing the negroes into the service for the suppression of the Tuaregs, it is but a Utopian idea, and that a very dangerous one, for the Songhay race is too debased by its three centuries of servitude to have any real stamina left.

I need scarcely point out the great mistake implied in the suggestion: We ought to favour the black at the expense of the Tuaregs, because the former are producers as tillers of the soil, and the latter are useless idlers, for the Tuareg is as hard a worker as the negro; he works in a different direction, that is all—breeding flocks and herds instead of growing cereals. When the means of transportare sufficient for it to be easy to get to and from Timbuktu, it will be the Tuareg, whose camels will carry the gum harvest into the town, it will be he who will sell skins and wool; in fact, he will turn out to be the greater producer of the two races after all.

The Tuaregs have been accused of being cruel, but this is another grave error. They alone perhaps of all African races do not kill their prisoners after a battle. One must have been present at the taking of a village by negroes to realize the awful butchery with which the victory ends. Everybody not fit to be sold as a slave is put to the sword. The throats of the old men are cut, and little children too young to walk have their heads smashed against stones. Tuaregs, on the other hand, are quite incapable of such atrocities. When we passed Sinder, Boker Wandieïdu, chief of the Logamaten, had more than two hundred Toucouleur prisoners in his camp, who had been taken in war two years before, and he was feeding and looking after them all. After the fatal battle with the Tacubaos, in which Colonel Bonnier was killed, the two officers who alone escaped from the scene of the combat, Captains Regard and Nigotte, fled in different directions. Nigotte reached Timbuktu, and was saved, but Regard went westwards, and was taken prisoner by the negroes of the Dongoi villages, who took him to the Tenguereguif Tuaregs. In spite, however, of the fact that the excitement of the battle had scarcely subsided, these Tuaregs would not themselves slay the unfortunate Frenchman. “Do with him what you will,” they said; and the negroes killed him.

Moreover, it has been said that the Tuaregs are fanatics, but I have never seen them prostrate themselves or fast. It is, however, unfortunately quite true that the marabouts exercise a great influence over them; but it is the kind of ascendency that clever people always obtain over bigchildren, such as the Tuaregs are, and such as sorcerers get over the superstitious. “You are Christians, and we ought not to have anything to do with infidels,” Yunes said to us at Tosaye. A good excuse, and one that he could not help laughing at himself. Yunes, I am glad to say, never really followed the precepts of Islam any more than did any of his fellow-countrymen.

How does it come about that, left to themselves, with scarcely any contact with more advanced civilizations, constantly exposed to the malevolent influence of Mahommedanism, and by their very nature peculiarly susceptible to the temptations which appeal to the violently disposed, the Tuaregs have yet managed to keep their high moral character. Once more we find a parallel for their position in the Middle Ages. It is the reverence they feel for women, to whose gentler influence they yield, which has been their salvation. Just as the lady of the feudal chief, brutal and hot-tempered, coarse and savage though he often was, knew how to soothe his worst passions, and to inspire him with an ambition to excel in those noble tasks of which she herself was to be the reward, so does the Tuareg woman in her tent, chanting praises of the mighty deeds of the lord of her heart, rouse in that lord all chivalrous instincts, and inspire him with a love for all that is best and highest in life on earth.

The Tuareg—and here he differs essentially from all Mahommedans—takes only one wife, but she is literally his better half. Moreover, a woman is free to choose her own husband. During our stay at Say, we were told that Reichala, daughter of Madidu, was about to marry the son of El-Yacin, one of the chiefs of the most powerful tribe of the Confederation. I sent some presents on this joyful occasion. A month later an envoy from the chief of the Awellimiden told us that the young lady, in spite of all herparents could do, had refused herfiance. Her will was respected, and even the Amenokal himself would not have forced her to comply.

Her future husband once chosen, a Tuareg girl has perfect liberty to see him when she likes, and will sometimes travel on her camel more than fifty miles to pay him a visit. The Tuaregs themselves say that no bad results ensue; but there are three words for bastard in the Tamschek language, and if it be true that the abundance of expressions for a thing in any tongue proves the prevalence of that thing, we shall know what to think. However, when a Tuareg woman is married, however free and easy she may have been beforehand,she is a model of discreet behaviour. The Tuaregs do not brook any tampering with their honour, and a deceived husband will never hesitate to wash out his shame in blood.

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