CHAPTER V

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE AIR TUAREGNote.—The scheme is largely theoretical, as the Amenokal has rarely had much authority over any tribes except the People of the King. His authority over a part of the Aulimmiden has been even more nominal and has varied considerably from time to time.In addition to the social distinctions between nobles and serfs, the Tuareg attach great importance to tribal classification. Among the inhabitants of the mountains a man will describe himself as, say, “Mokhammad of the Kel Such-and-such of the Kel Owi,” or of the other category, which is called the “People of the King,” as the case might be. These two great tribal divisions (there were three before the departure of the Kel Geres for the Southland) will be referred to in detail when the history of the migrations of the Air Tuareg is considered. The divisions are absolute; a tribe either is of the Kel Owi or is not of the Kel Owi. There is usually never any doubt; the erroneous attribution of a man’s tribe to the Kel Owi confederation wouldprovoke the indignant rejoinder that his clan were “People of the King” and did not “belong (sic) to the Añastafidet.” The distinction means all that the difference between an ancient landed nobility and aparvenucommercial aristocracy denotes. Many of the older men of the “People of the King” go so far as to say that there are no nobles among the Kel Owi at all.[134]Apart from their slightly different ethnic origin, the principal reason why the Kel Owi have stood apart from the other tribes is that they possess an administrative leader of their own who represents the whole confederation; as they say, “hespeaksfor them to the Amenokal at Agades.” He is called the Añastafidet, the Child of Tafidet. The non-Kel Owi tribes, on the other hand, have no single leader other than the king; in their case each tribal chieftain transacts the business of his own tribe with the former independently of the other chiefs.For them the Amenokal of Air assumes the dual function of nominal ruler of the whole country and of direct overlord of certain tribes.In accordance with the democratic traditions of the Tuareg, the Añastafidet,[135]like the Sultan, is elected. He must be a noble, but need not always be chosen from the same family. He is elected for a period of three years, but his tenure of office is really dependent upon a yearly revision by the Kel Owi tribes when they concentrate in the autumn to go with the salt caravan to Bilma. The tribal groups mainly responsible for the choice are the Kel Tafidet and Kel Azañieres; the Ikazkazan, being the junior group of the confederation, have little voice. The Añastafidet’s badge of office[136]is a drum; he retains no authority on leaving office, though it entitles him to a certain degree of respect, and leads to his being consulted on State matters. In practice if the Añastafidet is reasonably capable he is confirmed in power for a succession of three-year periods. During the last fifty years there have been in all about six Añastafidets; one, I think the last holder of the office, is at present living at Zawzawa in Damergu. The Añastafidet’s official place of residence was at Assode in Central Air, but since the evacuation of the north he has been living at Agades in direct touch with the Amenokal. His principal duties are to represent the confederation at the Court of the Sultan and maintain the freedom of transit through Air and Damergu for caravans, on which the prosperity of the tribes depends. Trade with the north and the position of the Kel Owi in Air astride the great caravan road which passes from north to south, east of the Central massifs, have in effect combined to place the foreign relations of all the Air people with Ghat and the Fezzan in the hands of the Añastafidet, business with the potentates of the south, on the other hand, being, as has already been stated, in the hands of the Amenokal at Agades. Thebreakdown of the trans-desert traffic during the war deprived the Kel Owi of most of their prosperity and the Añastafidet of his work.The Añastafidet was assisted in his duties by four agents, two of whom dealt with local business, while the other two lived in the Southland to assist the Kel Owi tribes in their transactions there. Neither the Añastafidet nor his agents ever seem to have received a salary, and the former at least was expected to give munificent presents, but no doubt their official positions brought perquisites which compensated for any outlay. As in the case of the Sultan, the importance of the Añastafidet’s office depends entirely on the personality of the holder. When von Bary visited the country, Belkho, chief of the Igermaden tribe, living at Ajiru in Eastern Air, thanks to his military prowess and political wisdom, was thede factoruler of the whole country. His relations with the Amenokal were strained, even though he had him more or less under his influence; the Añastafidet had become of so little moment that he is only once mentioned by this traveller.[137]In Barth’s day, when Air was under the domination of Annur, another Kel Owi chief of the same type, the Añastafidet was a mere shadow in the land.The Añastafidet doubtless represents the surviving functions of a Kel Owi Amenokal. The restriction of his duties was probably the result of a compromise arrived at when the Kel Owi entered Air and found an Amenokal already established in the country, supported by the Kel Geres and the various tribes known as the “People of the King.” The more intimate inter-tribal relations between the various units of the Kel Owi confederation and the organisation of the “People of the King” will be referred to hereafter in detail.The system by which the Kel Owi have an administrative leader who seems to have practically no warlike or judicial functions has in no way modified the tribal or social organisationof the confederation. As in the case of all the Tuareg tribes, other than those which have become entirely sedentary, the government of each unit, large and small, is patriarchal and similar to that of Bedawin tribes. The chief of a noble tribe is the leader in war and the dispenser of justice in peace. The functions are not necessarily hereditary. In council with the heads of families he exercises authority over the Imghad tribes associated with his clan, through the chiefs of these servile groups in the manner already described. The council of the heads of families is of great importance, but plays an advisory rather than an executive part. The heads of families rule their own households, including their slaves.Within ill-defined limits, certain tribes are grouped together under a common leader known as the “agoalla” or “agwalla.” This usually occurs in the case of tribes which are nearly related to each other. Three groups in the Kel Owi division have already been mentioned; in two of these, the Kel Tafidet and Kel Azañieres, the office of “agoalla” is said[138]to be hereditary, but I have been unable to find any confirmation of this except in so far as the son of a man who, by his personal ascendancy, has secured control over more than one tribe, would probably more easily step into his father’s shoes than another person. The grouping of tribes may also occur for military reasons, but in such cases it has a tendency to be of a temporary character. It is best to assume that the tribe is the unit of Tuareg society and that the tribal chiefs are the elements of which their Government is constructed. “Agoallas” are an exotic form principally due to individual personality or temporary conditions prevailing over long-standing customs.Tribes sometimes group themselves into temporary or permanent alliances. The former probably spring from military exigencies, the latter may be due to common origins in the recent past. Such aggregations as the KelAzañieres and Kel Tafidet in the Kel Owi tribes are so obviously due to common tribal origins that they require no further examination. But the Kel Owi confederation in Air plays a far larger rôle than do mere tribal alliances. Here is no mere question of relationship or community of origin, but a more strict bond, which, however, cannot be defined. Such groups as these have been termed confederations, though the term is a little misleading, as no unity of government is implied. The origin of the confederation, which carries with it more moral than material obligations, is to be explained by the entry of the Kel Owi tribes into Air as a mass of people confronted by an already established hostile or at least jealous population of the same race as themselves. It followed that the new arrivals would tend to hold together and act with one another. The conditions of the confederation nevertheless have been such that the representative is only an administrative head and not a ruler. He is there to embody a common policy and to dictate one. Loose as these bonds have been they have served the Kel Owi in good stead, for their commerce has gained by co-operation at the expense of their rivals, the “People of the King,” who in the absence of any organisation have been forced to rely on the fickle ties of common jealousy. How far there are groups or confederations like the Kel Owi within the larger northern division of Azger or Ahaggar I cannot say, but the former are a confederation as the people of Air generally never have been.Much has already been said of the status of the Tuareg men and their tribal organisation, but before it is possible to consider their family life, the method they follow in tracing their descent must be described. A man’s status, in Air, as elsewhere among the Tuareg, is determined by the caste and allegiance of his mother. Survivals of a matriarchal state of society are numerous among the People of the Veil. They colour the whole life of the race. A woman, they say, carries her children before they are born,and so they belong to her and not to the father. “After all,” as one of them said to me when we had been discussing this question for some time, “when you buy a cow camel in calf, the calf is yours and not the property of the man who sold the camel to you. It is the same with women,” he added; and he seemed to me to have some show of logic. Our medieval (and perhaps modern) lawyers would have said instead, “partus sequitur ventrem,” but he would have meant the same as my Tuareg friend. If a woman marries a man in her own tribe the children, of course, belong to that tribe, but if she marries away from her people they belong to her own, and not to her husband’s clan. In this case, were the husband to predecease his wife, the children and their mother would return to live with her tribe. If the father survives, the children usually go on living with him for a time, but as they belong to their mother’s tribe in any event, they eventually return there. Should inter-tribal hostilities break out they must leave their father and fight for their mother’s tribe, even against their own parent if need so be. Until this is understood the relationships of the Tuareg appear very puzzling to the traveller. When I first met Ahodu he informed me that he was of the Kel Tadek people, who are Kel Amenokal, but he had a half-brother and a paternal cousin who belonged to the Añastafidet. It appears that the fathers of Ahodu and Efale, the famous eastern guide, were brothers of a man in the noble Kel Fares of the Kel Owi confederation. Ahodu’s father took a wife from the Kel Tadek, so the son became a member of the latter tribe, whereas Efale’s father married within the confederation. The maternal allegiance is so strong that, though proud of his father’s repute as a holy man and representative of the fifth generation of keepers of the mosque of Tefgun near Iferuan, Ahodu used to speak of the Kel Owi in disparaging terms when comparing their recent origin with the antiquity of the Kel Tadek and the other “People of the Amenokal.”The following examples of definite cases may assist in understanding the position:1. A man of the noble Kel Tadek marries a woman of the noble Kel Ferwan. The children are Kel Ferwan, but will live with the father until his death or the divorce of the mother, when they return with her to her own tribe.2. A man of the noble Kel Tadek married a woman of the Imghad of the Kel Ferwan. The children will normally be Imghad of the Kel Ferwan.3. If a man marries a slave woman of another tribe, this woman has become the property of the husband’s tribe by his purchase or payment of the marriage portion, and the children belong to the father. This occurred in Ahodu’s case. One day the Kel Gharus came over and stole eight slaves belonging to the Kel Tadek, who proceeded to retake them. The slaves in question were Kanuri people of Damagerim. The Kel Gharus appealed to the religious court at Agades, which awarded four slaves to each tribe. Later two of those allotted to the Kel Gharus ran away to the Kel Tadek, who were allowed to keep them on the ground that they had been ill-treated by their former masters. One of these two women Ahodu married, and his son is considered to belong to his own clan and not to his wife’s former tribe. In this case Ahodu nevertheless had to pay some compensation to the former masters of his wife.The derivation of tribal allegiance through the female line has carried in its train the consequence that a man or woman’s social status is always determined by that of the mother. But the restricted number of noble women, the deference and respect paid to them, and the impossibility of taking them as concubines have combined to diminish the numbers of Imajeghan as compared with the Imghad. The hard-and-fast rule among all the Tuareg, that nobles can only be born of a noble mother irrespective of the caste of the father, has done much to preserve the type and characteristics of the race. In recent years the custom has tended to break down, for where a noble father,who has taken unto himself a servile wife, is sufficiently powerful to assert himself he will often succeed in passing off his sons and daughters as Imajeghan. Ahodu has done so with his boy; but had this been impossible the child would have been accounted of the Irejanaten or mixed people. The old laws of succession are said by von Bary to have become especially slack among the Kel Owi, but even here the status of noble women has remained so unassailable that it would still be impossible to-day for them to marry outside their own class.The laws of inheritance and succession also show the strength of the matriarchal tradition. Although hereditary office is rare among the Tuareg nowadays, it seems to have been more frequent in the past.[139]Ibn Batutah states that the heir of the Sultan of Tekadda was the son of the ruler’s sister.[140]Similarly of the Mesufa who were Tuareg, he records that descent is traced through the maternal uncle, while inherited property passes from a deceased man to the children of his sister to the exclusion of his own family.[141]The traveller adds that nowhere except among the infidel Indians of Malabar did he observe a similar state of things.[142]Bates thinks that Egyptian records tend to show that the succession of the chieftainship of the Meshwesh Libyans passed in the female line. The genealogy of many of the kings of Agades is recorded by their female parentage. The Tuareg of Ghat not only treat their women-folk in much the same way as their brethren further south, but Richardson specifically states that the succession of the chiefs and Sultans of those parts is similar to the practice of the Tekadda house and at Agades. It is the son of thesister of the Sultan who succeeds.[143]It seems clear that before the advent of Islam, which has tended to modify the system, the Tuareg had a completely matriarchal organisation. In this earlier state of society may perhaps be found the explanation of the reputed Amazons of the west of North Africa, recorded by Diodorus Siculus in a grossly exaggerated version of some story which he had probably heard concerning the status of certain Libyan women.[144]I know of no reason to suppose that these matriarchal customs were derived from association with the negro people; the reverse is quite as likely to have occurred, as the culture contacts of North Africa, following the trend of migration, seem to have taken a course from north to south and not the opposite direction.[145]The matter is one of great interest,[146]for the matriarchate is found in a highly developed state in Ashanti, and it would be of interest in connection with the origin of this people to learn if the system can be traced to a common origin.[147]I cannot agree with Barth’s[148]conclusion that the descent of the Sultan of Tekadda “is certain proof that it was not a pure Berber State, but rather a Berber dominion ingrafted upon a negro population, exactly as was the case in Walata,” where he cites the case of the Mesufa. Moreover, this remark is in contradiction with his previous assumption,[149]to wit: “With respect to the custom that the hereditary power does not descend from the father to the son but to the sister’s son . . . it may be supposed to have belonged originally to the Berber race; for the Askar (Azger), who have preserved their original manners tolerably pure, have the same custom. . . . It may therefore seem doubtful whether . . . this custom belonged to the black native,” with which statement I am decidedly inclined to agree. The problem, however, is one which I prefer on the whole to leave to qualified anthropologists.[107]Not to be confused with Tanut in Damergu. The word “tanut” means a shallow well; there are consequently many places of this name.[108]Just north of Auderas.[109]Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 385.[110]Jean,op. cit., pp. 148-9.[111]Von Bary’s Diary (French edition), p. 183, etc.[112]The available data are in the hands of the author, if some more fortunate traveller can check and examine the place.[113]The “El Hakhsas,” Barth:op. cit., Vol. I. p. 416.[114]The extremes in variation, for the first rains of sufficient volume to fill stream beds of a certain size with flood water, are recorded by von Bary east of Bagezan on 3rd June, 1877, and by Barth in Northern Air on 1st September, 1850. Both these dates seem to be exceptional.[115]This, and not T’efira, is presumably the point south of Auderas where Barth saw “natron” encrustations on the ground (see Vol. I. p. 389). Salt or “ara” is collected at T’efira further east, but Barth would not have described “entering” the Buddei valley after seeing the “natron,” for the road past Auderas to T’efira winds down the Buddei valley.[116]This is the vowel which in English words “often,” “anon,” “until,” may be written aso,e,a, oru.[117]Cf. Barth, Vol. I. p. 350, and von Bary, p. 169, on the Kel Ataram of Auderas. The people of this village were simply “People of the West” for the inhabitants of Ajiru in Eastern Air, where von Bary was living.[118]As Barth would have it:op. cit., Vol. I. p. 339.[119]Cf. Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 339 and 347.[120]The Cortier 1/500,000 map shows a large affluent to the right bank joining the Auderas valley below the village. This is incorrect: a small affluent called the Mafinet joins at the point shown, but the valley purporting to be the upper part of the Mafinet valley is the Tagharit valley, which falls into the Ben Guten, and not into the Auderas basin. The Cortier map is generally somewhat incorrect in this area, especially in regard to the position of Mount Dogam.[121]I am indebted to Sir J. Currie of the Empire Cotton-growing Corporation for these reports.[122]For fear of appearing to misinform people who are always ready to mind other people’s business before looking after their own, I hasten to add that the legal practice of slavery has, of course, been abolished in Air since the advent of the French. The psychology and habit of slavery, nevertheless, still remain as strong as ever, and master and slave continue to regard each other bymutual consentin the light of their former relationship. I therefore propose to refer to slaves and the custom of slavery as if they were still sanctioned by law.[123]Respectively “Akel” and “Irawel” in the singular.[124]Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 344sq.[125]Cf.infra, Chaps.XI.andXII.[126]Bates,op. cit., p. 115.[127]Vide infra,Chap. XI.,et apudBarth,op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 235 and 239.[128]When von Bary (op. cit., p. 184) says that Imajeghan were never enslaved, he is wrong. Although the Air Tuareg, when they raided the Aulimmiden, often used to lift their cattle but spare the men because they were of the same race, some of the latter division nevertheless, became Imghad of the Air Kel Ferwan, for instance, in the course of these raids.[129]This is, of course, not an absolute rule, for the “I name” might have been forgotten, as previously explained. The supposition that “Kel names” represent Imghad and the “I names” Imajeghan is, of course, quite untenable.[130]The singular form of Imghad.[131]There are several instances of this among the Northern Tuareg, as will be seen from the data contained inChap. XI.[132]Cf. Schirmer’s note in von Bary,op. cit., p. 184.[133]Barth’s statement,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 237, that the Imghad are not allowed to carry arms is not substantiated: he seems at this point to have confused the Imghad with slaves.[134]Cf.supra,p. 134.Von Bary,op. cit., p. 181, notes that the distinction between Imghad and Imajeghan among the Kel Owi seemed to have broken down. This is perhaps exaggerated, but interesting, as this division in a sense is the most modern in development in Air.[135]Barth erroneously calls him the Astafidet.[136]Cf. Badges of Office among Libyan rulers given by Bates,op. cit., p. 116.[137]Von Bary,op. cit., pp. 172 and 188-9.[138]By Jean,op. cit., p. 106.[139]Cf. Bates,op. cit., pp. 112, 114-15.[140]Ibn Batutah (ed. Soc. Asiatique), Vol. IV. pp. 388 and 443. Cf. alsoAppendix IV.[141]The Mesufa are a surviving section of the Sanhaja, and are specifically described by Ibn Batutah and Ibn Khaldun as a part of the People of the Veil,i.e.not negroes or negroids (vide infra,Chap. XI.).[142]This statement is made in spite of the reference a little later to the succession of the Sultan of Tekadda, who, though a Tuareg, does not seem to have been of the Mesufa. This little inaccuracy is, however, of no importance.[143]Richardson:Travels, etc., Vol. II. pp. 65-6.[144]Diod. Sic., iii. 53sq.See also Silius Italicus, ii. 80. Bates,op. cit., pp. 112-13 and 148, agrees that the existence of matriarchal society would be a reasonable explanation of the Amazon story.[145]Nevertheless the matriarchate is known to have existed in classical times as far south as Æthiopia, in the Meroitic kingdom as well as in early Egypt.[146]Perry (The Children of the Sun) would doubtless suggest that it came from Egypt.[147]See Rattray,Ashanti, 1924. This authority thinks that the Ashanti people themselves came from the north. Many of the details of their matriarchal system accord closely with that of the Tuareg.[148]Barth, Vol. I. p. 388.[149]Ibid., p. 341. On page 342 he says the Aulimmiden, who have the same custom, consider the practice shameful, “as exhibiting only the man’s distrust of his wife’s fidelity; for such is certainly its foundation.” I don’t agree with this conclusion; the origins of matriarchy are certainly not as simple as this.CHAPTER VSOCIAL CONDITIONSByconstantly seeing the same people for nearly three months at Auderas and in the neighbourhood, I was able to dissipate much of the innate diffidence which the Tuareg display in their relations with Europeans. Language always remained a source of difficulty. An interpreter is never satisfactory, more especially if he belongs to a people whom the Tuareg at heart really despise, while real proficiency in a language cannot be attained in so short a time as I had at my disposal. By the end of my stay in Air I had acquired a sufficient knowledge of Temajegh to be able to travel comfortably with a guide speaking only that language, and to collect a considerable amount of vicarious information, but never at any time was I able to discuss really abstruse questions. At Auderas I was lucky enough to find that Ahodu, the chief of the village, had a working knowledge of Arabic which was almost as indifferent as my own; but we both made up for lack of grammar by volubility. The local “inisilm,” or holy man, named El Mintaka, was a Ghati who had been settled for fifteen years in Air, where he had taken a Tuareg wife. He, of course, spoke Arabic in addition to Temajegh, and acted as scribe to Ahodu, who could neither read nor write. With these two men in the village, with my servant Amadu, a Fulani soldier who had served with distinction in the West African Frontier Force during the war, and had a working knowledge of English and Hausa, which most of the Air Tuareg speak, and with my interpreter Ali, a man from Ghat, I found myself quite at my ease.This Ali ibn Tama el Ghati had lived for some years in Kano and had travelled all over the Central Sudan. Hewas small and very black, but constantly cheerful and as clever as a tribe of monkeys. Somewhat of a rogue unless watched, he was tireless and devoted, and proved to be one of only two natives who, after I had been obliged to return home, completed the whole journey with Buchanan. He was one of the original race of Ghat, now called the Atara, who were there before the Tuareg and Berbers came. Ali spoke no English, but was loquacious in Hausa, Temajegh and Kanuri; he also spoke some Tebu and Fulani, in addition, of course, to Arabic. His especial joy was to wear many different combinations of gay clothes for periods of about ten days at a time. He would then change his apparel and adopt another disguise until the novelty of appearing as a Tuareg or a Hausa or an Arab in turn had worn off.PLATE 16AUDERAS: HUTSAUDERAS: TENT-HUT AND SHELTEROn reaching Auderas I took up my residence in some huts which Ahodu had prepared on the edge of a diminutive plateau between the main bed of the valley and a secondary affluent. The area between the valleys and ravines which intersected the little plain was bare, but the sides of the valleys were covered with vegetation. About a hundred yards away across a steep gully was Teda Inisilman, the House of the Holy Men, the smallest of the three hamlets which together make up Auderas. On the other side of the main stream bed, where the water-holes of the village were dug in the sand, lay the larger hamlet called Karnuka, containing the house of El Mintaka. The third settlement was a few hundred yards further down-stream. These hamlets were all built of reeds and palm fronds, but the little plain was covered with what proved to be the ruins of stone houses, many of which were inhabited until 1915. Teda Inisilman is the village of the nobles where Ahodu and the only other three Imajeghan families of the place lived, together with their own dependent Irawellan and Ikelan, and the Enad or smith, a most important person in Tuareg society. Down-stream of Teda Inisilman and Karnuka lay the date-palm groves and most of the gardens;there were a few above our camp also, in a side valley and in the main bed under a huge mass of overhanging rock resembling the keep of a fortress rising high above the sheer side of the stream. To the south were only dûm palms and the rugged hills, called Tidrak,[150]which formed the further edge of the valley. Elsewhere the ground was more open. Down-stream to the west were the low Mafinet and T’ilimsawin hills, joining on to the T’inien peaks north of the point where my road had emerged from among them on the way from Agades. To the north the ground rose over a low ridge to the Erarar (plain) n’Dendemu, the Taghist plateau[151]and the distant peak of Dogam.[152]The glistening black domes of the Abattul and Efaken peaks were rather nearer, on the far edge of the Auderas valley itself. A few miles north and north-east, this basin reached to the foot of the mountain group of Todra, which towers 3000 feet and more above the valley to a total height of about 5500 feet above the sea. The rounded sides rose out of a bed of green and yellow to a crest of bare red rock at the top. The mountain used to change colour all day, a whitish gleam off the rocks at high noon giving place to blue-black shadows under storm clouds and in the evening. At sunset it seemed to glow vivid red from within. It is one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. The Tuareg regard Todra and Dogam as one group, but separate from the Bagezan Mountains, and this is certainly the case. They are reckoned among the five principal massifs of Air, the others being Taruaji inthe south, Bila or Bilet north-west of Todra, and Tamgak which includes the Azañieres, Tafidet and Taghmeurt ranges in the north.The advent of Europeans in Auderas caused a certain amount of excitement, but the novelty soon wore off as the routine of life was resumed. I was welcomed by Ahodu’s wife and other persons with a present of fresh dates, which were then ripening,[153]and newly-made cheese, known as T’ikammar, which is excellent food. The Tuareg live very simply and take so little trouble about their food that for Europeans it is almost uneatable. The staple diet is milk and cheese, but the more sedentary people eat locally grown or imported grain. The millet is pounded in a mortar as in the south and cooked with water, making a sort of porridge; but whereas in the Hausa countries this “pura,” or “fura” as it is called, can be quite palatable when seasoned or eaten with meat, the Tuareg in Air are too poor and too lackadaisical to dress it in any way. They often even forget to add salt, and without it the mess is peculiarly nasty on account of a certain glutinous consistency which it acquires. The finer flour obtained from the millet after it is pounded is also mixed with water and dry powdered cheese and drunk uncooked as very thin gruel; the dry cheese gives it a sour taste to which in time one gets used, and then it becomes really rather refreshing if one is thirsty. It is much better on the march for the stomach than large quantities of plain water. The drink is called “ghussub” in the south; it is often the sole means of sustenance of a Tuareg travelling quickly without baggage or when a scarcity of fuel makes it impossible to light fires. In the place of millet, guinea corn is also eaten; it is pounded and baked in embers into a heavy tasteless cake which is slightly more edible than millet porridge. The best food in Air is undoubtedly the wheat “kus-kus” of the Arabs and Berbers in the north: it is made in the same way by grinding wheatinto rough flour, and then steaming and rubbing it until it forms grains about the size of small barley. It is carried dry and can be prepared by boiling in water or stock for a short time. It has the great advantage of requiring very little fuel to cook it. With no other adjunct than a little salt it is very good indeed. During the latter part of my stay I lived almost exclusively on kus-kus and rice, with hardly any meat, but as many vegetables as I could procure. When neither millet, guinea corn nor wheat is available, the Tuareg collect the seeds of various grasses and grind them, notably of the grass called Afaza and of the prickly burr grass. The former is a tall grass with stems of such strength that they are used when dry with a weft of thin leather strips for making the stiff mats which are spread upon their Tuareg beds. The stalks grow as much as five feet high; the grass is dark grey-green when fresh, or yellow when dry. The burr grass is fortunately rare in Air. One can only be thankful that Nature has found some useful purpose in this damnable plant as food for the Tuareg.Of all the Tuareg food their cheese is best. It is usually made of equal parts of sheep’s or goat’s and camel’s milk, but any of them alone will do. The rennet is obtained from the entrails of the goat; the curds are pressed in matting made of dûm-palm fronds and formed into cakes about 4 in. × 5 in. × ¾ in. thick. The fresh cheese is pure white and soft, but nevertheless crisp; it is delicious with dates or with any other form of food, for it has no sour or “cheesy” flavour. It dries yellow and hard and is carried about by all Tuareg as a staple commodity, but in this state requires soaking or crumbling before use, and acquires rather an unpleasant sour smell. Butter is made of goat’s or sheep’s milk, churned in bottle-shaped gourds or in small skins. It is not bad mixed with kus-kus or rice or in cooking, but indifferent on bread or biscuits. Meat is very little eaten, for it is a luxury. But even when an animal is slaughtered and divided up the Tuareg do notseem capable of turning it into a very edible dish. They neither roast nor fry; they either stew their meat in a pot with vegetables or with millet porridge, or on the march broil it in the hot sand under the embers of a fire until it becomes shredded. If ever there is a surplus supply of meat, it is preserved by soaking in brine and drying in the sun strung on cords.The preparation of food in the villages is done by the women, on the march by the “buzu,” or, where there is no slave present, by the youngest member of the party, whatever his caste or status, so long as he has not reached his majority. When there are no minors or slaves an Amghid does the work, but where all are of the same caste, the duty reverts once more to the youngest member of the party. The most arduous function is preparing the millet flour. Nowadays the millet is almost invariably pounded in a mortar with a long pestle, and the meal is then graded and separated from the husk and other impurities by shaking it with a circular motion on a flat tray. The mortar and long pestle, which is used by men and women standing up and working alone or pounding rhythmically with one or more companions, is certainly a southern invention; the wooden pestle is double-headed and some 3 feet long; the mortar is cut out of one piece of wood and stands about 12 inches high. The indigenous and more primitive fashion is to grind grain on the rudimentary saddle-stone quern, a form which has been preserved unchanged since prehistoric times. A large flat stone is placed on the ground, and the person grinding the wheat or millet kneels by it with a basket under the opposite lip of the stone to catch the flour as it is made. The wheat or other grain is poured on to the flat stone and crushed by rubbing it with a saddle-stone or rounded river pebble about the size of a baby’s head, held in both hands and worked forwards and backwards. As the grain is crushed the flour is automatically sorted out and pushed forward into the basket in front, the heavier meal remaining on the flat stone. These quernsmay be seen lying about all over Air on all the deserted sites; the lower stones can readily be recognised by the broad channel which is worn along their length. Except for wheat, which is too hard to be pounded, they have largely been discarded in favour of the handier mortar and pestle. I do not think a more widespread use of the quern necessarily indicates that wheat was more extensively eaten than millet in olden days nor yet that agriculture was formerly more pursued than nowadays. The explanation of the fact is merely that pounding grain in a mortar was found a simpler method in a country where millet was the staple cereal and the consumption of wheat a luxury. Moreover, the Northern Tuareg when they came to Air were probably less familiar with millet than with wheat, and only modified their habits and utensils after they had settled down.Though certain wild herbs are employed for medicinal purposes, I know of none which is used in cooking. Besides Afaza and the burr grass, several other seeds or berries are used by the more nomadic Tuareg for food; there are said to be some twenty odd varieties in Air which ripen at various times of the year. The Abisgi (Capparis sodata) leaf has a biting taste and is sometimes used as a condiment; the tamarind does not grow so far north; limes are found only in Bagezan, and are rare. Dates are eaten fresh, or are preserved by soaking them for a short time in boiling water, and pressing them into air-tight leather receptacles, which are then sewn up. The practice of drying dates and threading them on a string is resorted to in Fashi and Bilma but not in Air.Food is cooked in pear-shaped earthenware pots of red clay. The vessels are only half baked when they are manufactured, principally in the Agades neighbourhood, and have to be fired before they can be used. They are plain and unornamented, with a lip or rim round the mouth, which is bound with a cord to prevent cracking. More elaborate pitchers with a blue design are used forliquids, since the universal calabash of the south is comparatively rare in Air.[154]These pots are also made near Agades. The designs appear to be of local origin. The Sudanese jars and pots with bands of geometric design in straw-coloured slip and blue pigment are not used in Air. Many small pots for inks, spices and condiments are found in the houses of Northern Air: black and red pottery is used for such vessels and for saucers and little bowls. With the exception of what may be termed the “grape design” (Plate 22), none of the pottery is very remarkable. The pots used in the urn cemetery at Marandet seem to have been shaped like the common cooking-pot or with a slightly more round appearance: they are reported to have stood in saucers or plates. None of the pottery is wheel-turned.Auderas being essentially a sedentary and servile community, did not contain many characteristic noble Tuareg. Neither Ahodu nor his wife represents the fine physical type of the race, for he is of somewhat mixed parentage, having, according to his own tradition, some Arab blood in his veins, while she is a Kanuri woman. Among the Tuareg, as in all races, it is hard to find the absolutely pure type. I came across one or two examples, and must count myself lucky to have seen so many. I was never able to confirm the story one had so often heard of Tuareg with blue eyes, but such accurate observers have recorded this feature that its occurrence must be admitted. In Air it must certainly be most uncommon; nowhere is it the rule; light brown and grey eyes, however, are not unusual, nor is it rare to see hair which is not so much black as dark brown and wavy; it is never crinkled or “fuzzy” unless there has been an obvious infusion of negro blood. Very fair skins, as fair as among the people of Southern Europe, are comparatively frequent, but the transparent white skin of the North is not known: no deduction can be drawn from this, as skin pigmentation is notoriouslyunreliable. Fair skins are held by the Tuareg to represent the purest type: a range of every shade to the black of the negro occurs. The Tuareg of Air differentiate the colouring of people somewhat arbitrarily: they call the pure negro “blue,”[155]but the dark-brown Hausa, “black”; the Arab is always “white,” whatever shade of bronze he happens to be; the Tuareg himself is “red,”[156]which is the most complimentary epithet he can apply to others. Fairness of complexion is much prized and is a social distinction, though when carried to such extremes as among Europeans it is apt to be regarded as strange and odd. Certain tribes in Air are reputed, even among the Tuareg, to be more than usually fair. When von Bary was in Air his acquaintances seem to have chaffed him about his celibacy; they offered to find him a woman of the Iwarwaren tribe, for, they said, she would match his own complexion.[157]Once on a time in Auderas I dressed completely as a Tuareg, a disguise which was not difficult, for I had grown a full dark beard and was very deeply sunburnt all up my arms and legs from wearing a sleeveless tunic, diminutive shorts and no shoes or stockings—the ideal garb for hot weather and an active life. I rode into the village on a great white camel by a circuitous path: the people were puzzled about my identity, and some, as I was later told, decided from the colour of my limbs that I came from the Igdalen tribe. It was typical of the Tuareg that they eventually recognised not me, but my camel, and so guessed who I was.

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE AIR TUAREG

Note.—The scheme is largely theoretical, as the Amenokal has rarely had much authority over any tribes except the People of the King. His authority over a part of the Aulimmiden has been even more nominal and has varied considerably from time to time.

In addition to the social distinctions between nobles and serfs, the Tuareg attach great importance to tribal classification. Among the inhabitants of the mountains a man will describe himself as, say, “Mokhammad of the Kel Such-and-such of the Kel Owi,” or of the other category, which is called the “People of the King,” as the case might be. These two great tribal divisions (there were three before the departure of the Kel Geres for the Southland) will be referred to in detail when the history of the migrations of the Air Tuareg is considered. The divisions are absolute; a tribe either is of the Kel Owi or is not of the Kel Owi. There is usually never any doubt; the erroneous attribution of a man’s tribe to the Kel Owi confederation wouldprovoke the indignant rejoinder that his clan were “People of the King” and did not “belong (sic) to the Añastafidet.” The distinction means all that the difference between an ancient landed nobility and aparvenucommercial aristocracy denotes. Many of the older men of the “People of the King” go so far as to say that there are no nobles among the Kel Owi at all.[134]Apart from their slightly different ethnic origin, the principal reason why the Kel Owi have stood apart from the other tribes is that they possess an administrative leader of their own who represents the whole confederation; as they say, “hespeaksfor them to the Amenokal at Agades.” He is called the Añastafidet, the Child of Tafidet. The non-Kel Owi tribes, on the other hand, have no single leader other than the king; in their case each tribal chieftain transacts the business of his own tribe with the former independently of the other chiefs.For them the Amenokal of Air assumes the dual function of nominal ruler of the whole country and of direct overlord of certain tribes.

In accordance with the democratic traditions of the Tuareg, the Añastafidet,[135]like the Sultan, is elected. He must be a noble, but need not always be chosen from the same family. He is elected for a period of three years, but his tenure of office is really dependent upon a yearly revision by the Kel Owi tribes when they concentrate in the autumn to go with the salt caravan to Bilma. The tribal groups mainly responsible for the choice are the Kel Tafidet and Kel Azañieres; the Ikazkazan, being the junior group of the confederation, have little voice. The Añastafidet’s badge of office[136]is a drum; he retains no authority on leaving office, though it entitles him to a certain degree of respect, and leads to his being consulted on State matters. In practice if the Añastafidet is reasonably capable he is confirmed in power for a succession of three-year periods. During the last fifty years there have been in all about six Añastafidets; one, I think the last holder of the office, is at present living at Zawzawa in Damergu. The Añastafidet’s official place of residence was at Assode in Central Air, but since the evacuation of the north he has been living at Agades in direct touch with the Amenokal. His principal duties are to represent the confederation at the Court of the Sultan and maintain the freedom of transit through Air and Damergu for caravans, on which the prosperity of the tribes depends. Trade with the north and the position of the Kel Owi in Air astride the great caravan road which passes from north to south, east of the Central massifs, have in effect combined to place the foreign relations of all the Air people with Ghat and the Fezzan in the hands of the Añastafidet, business with the potentates of the south, on the other hand, being, as has already been stated, in the hands of the Amenokal at Agades. Thebreakdown of the trans-desert traffic during the war deprived the Kel Owi of most of their prosperity and the Añastafidet of his work.

The Añastafidet was assisted in his duties by four agents, two of whom dealt with local business, while the other two lived in the Southland to assist the Kel Owi tribes in their transactions there. Neither the Añastafidet nor his agents ever seem to have received a salary, and the former at least was expected to give munificent presents, but no doubt their official positions brought perquisites which compensated for any outlay. As in the case of the Sultan, the importance of the Añastafidet’s office depends entirely on the personality of the holder. When von Bary visited the country, Belkho, chief of the Igermaden tribe, living at Ajiru in Eastern Air, thanks to his military prowess and political wisdom, was thede factoruler of the whole country. His relations with the Amenokal were strained, even though he had him more or less under his influence; the Añastafidet had become of so little moment that he is only once mentioned by this traveller.[137]In Barth’s day, when Air was under the domination of Annur, another Kel Owi chief of the same type, the Añastafidet was a mere shadow in the land.

The Añastafidet doubtless represents the surviving functions of a Kel Owi Amenokal. The restriction of his duties was probably the result of a compromise arrived at when the Kel Owi entered Air and found an Amenokal already established in the country, supported by the Kel Geres and the various tribes known as the “People of the King.” The more intimate inter-tribal relations between the various units of the Kel Owi confederation and the organisation of the “People of the King” will be referred to hereafter in detail.

The system by which the Kel Owi have an administrative leader who seems to have practically no warlike or judicial functions has in no way modified the tribal or social organisationof the confederation. As in the case of all the Tuareg tribes, other than those which have become entirely sedentary, the government of each unit, large and small, is patriarchal and similar to that of Bedawin tribes. The chief of a noble tribe is the leader in war and the dispenser of justice in peace. The functions are not necessarily hereditary. In council with the heads of families he exercises authority over the Imghad tribes associated with his clan, through the chiefs of these servile groups in the manner already described. The council of the heads of families is of great importance, but plays an advisory rather than an executive part. The heads of families rule their own households, including their slaves.

Within ill-defined limits, certain tribes are grouped together under a common leader known as the “agoalla” or “agwalla.” This usually occurs in the case of tribes which are nearly related to each other. Three groups in the Kel Owi division have already been mentioned; in two of these, the Kel Tafidet and Kel Azañieres, the office of “agoalla” is said[138]to be hereditary, but I have been unable to find any confirmation of this except in so far as the son of a man who, by his personal ascendancy, has secured control over more than one tribe, would probably more easily step into his father’s shoes than another person. The grouping of tribes may also occur for military reasons, but in such cases it has a tendency to be of a temporary character. It is best to assume that the tribe is the unit of Tuareg society and that the tribal chiefs are the elements of which their Government is constructed. “Agoallas” are an exotic form principally due to individual personality or temporary conditions prevailing over long-standing customs.

Tribes sometimes group themselves into temporary or permanent alliances. The former probably spring from military exigencies, the latter may be due to common origins in the recent past. Such aggregations as the KelAzañieres and Kel Tafidet in the Kel Owi tribes are so obviously due to common tribal origins that they require no further examination. But the Kel Owi confederation in Air plays a far larger rôle than do mere tribal alliances. Here is no mere question of relationship or community of origin, but a more strict bond, which, however, cannot be defined. Such groups as these have been termed confederations, though the term is a little misleading, as no unity of government is implied. The origin of the confederation, which carries with it more moral than material obligations, is to be explained by the entry of the Kel Owi tribes into Air as a mass of people confronted by an already established hostile or at least jealous population of the same race as themselves. It followed that the new arrivals would tend to hold together and act with one another. The conditions of the confederation nevertheless have been such that the representative is only an administrative head and not a ruler. He is there to embody a common policy and to dictate one. Loose as these bonds have been they have served the Kel Owi in good stead, for their commerce has gained by co-operation at the expense of their rivals, the “People of the King,” who in the absence of any organisation have been forced to rely on the fickle ties of common jealousy. How far there are groups or confederations like the Kel Owi within the larger northern division of Azger or Ahaggar I cannot say, but the former are a confederation as the people of Air generally never have been.

Much has already been said of the status of the Tuareg men and their tribal organisation, but before it is possible to consider their family life, the method they follow in tracing their descent must be described. A man’s status, in Air, as elsewhere among the Tuareg, is determined by the caste and allegiance of his mother. Survivals of a matriarchal state of society are numerous among the People of the Veil. They colour the whole life of the race. A woman, they say, carries her children before they are born,and so they belong to her and not to the father. “After all,” as one of them said to me when we had been discussing this question for some time, “when you buy a cow camel in calf, the calf is yours and not the property of the man who sold the camel to you. It is the same with women,” he added; and he seemed to me to have some show of logic. Our medieval (and perhaps modern) lawyers would have said instead, “partus sequitur ventrem,” but he would have meant the same as my Tuareg friend. If a woman marries a man in her own tribe the children, of course, belong to that tribe, but if she marries away from her people they belong to her own, and not to her husband’s clan. In this case, were the husband to predecease his wife, the children and their mother would return to live with her tribe. If the father survives, the children usually go on living with him for a time, but as they belong to their mother’s tribe in any event, they eventually return there. Should inter-tribal hostilities break out they must leave their father and fight for their mother’s tribe, even against their own parent if need so be. Until this is understood the relationships of the Tuareg appear very puzzling to the traveller. When I first met Ahodu he informed me that he was of the Kel Tadek people, who are Kel Amenokal, but he had a half-brother and a paternal cousin who belonged to the Añastafidet. It appears that the fathers of Ahodu and Efale, the famous eastern guide, were brothers of a man in the noble Kel Fares of the Kel Owi confederation. Ahodu’s father took a wife from the Kel Tadek, so the son became a member of the latter tribe, whereas Efale’s father married within the confederation. The maternal allegiance is so strong that, though proud of his father’s repute as a holy man and representative of the fifth generation of keepers of the mosque of Tefgun near Iferuan, Ahodu used to speak of the Kel Owi in disparaging terms when comparing their recent origin with the antiquity of the Kel Tadek and the other “People of the Amenokal.”

The following examples of definite cases may assist in understanding the position:

1. A man of the noble Kel Tadek marries a woman of the noble Kel Ferwan. The children are Kel Ferwan, but will live with the father until his death or the divorce of the mother, when they return with her to her own tribe.

2. A man of the noble Kel Tadek married a woman of the Imghad of the Kel Ferwan. The children will normally be Imghad of the Kel Ferwan.

3. If a man marries a slave woman of another tribe, this woman has become the property of the husband’s tribe by his purchase or payment of the marriage portion, and the children belong to the father. This occurred in Ahodu’s case. One day the Kel Gharus came over and stole eight slaves belonging to the Kel Tadek, who proceeded to retake them. The slaves in question were Kanuri people of Damagerim. The Kel Gharus appealed to the religious court at Agades, which awarded four slaves to each tribe. Later two of those allotted to the Kel Gharus ran away to the Kel Tadek, who were allowed to keep them on the ground that they had been ill-treated by their former masters. One of these two women Ahodu married, and his son is considered to belong to his own clan and not to his wife’s former tribe. In this case Ahodu nevertheless had to pay some compensation to the former masters of his wife.

The derivation of tribal allegiance through the female line has carried in its train the consequence that a man or woman’s social status is always determined by that of the mother. But the restricted number of noble women, the deference and respect paid to them, and the impossibility of taking them as concubines have combined to diminish the numbers of Imajeghan as compared with the Imghad. The hard-and-fast rule among all the Tuareg, that nobles can only be born of a noble mother irrespective of the caste of the father, has done much to preserve the type and characteristics of the race. In recent years the custom has tended to break down, for where a noble father,who has taken unto himself a servile wife, is sufficiently powerful to assert himself he will often succeed in passing off his sons and daughters as Imajeghan. Ahodu has done so with his boy; but had this been impossible the child would have been accounted of the Irejanaten or mixed people. The old laws of succession are said by von Bary to have become especially slack among the Kel Owi, but even here the status of noble women has remained so unassailable that it would still be impossible to-day for them to marry outside their own class.

The laws of inheritance and succession also show the strength of the matriarchal tradition. Although hereditary office is rare among the Tuareg nowadays, it seems to have been more frequent in the past.[139]Ibn Batutah states that the heir of the Sultan of Tekadda was the son of the ruler’s sister.[140]Similarly of the Mesufa who were Tuareg, he records that descent is traced through the maternal uncle, while inherited property passes from a deceased man to the children of his sister to the exclusion of his own family.[141]The traveller adds that nowhere except among the infidel Indians of Malabar did he observe a similar state of things.[142]Bates thinks that Egyptian records tend to show that the succession of the chieftainship of the Meshwesh Libyans passed in the female line. The genealogy of many of the kings of Agades is recorded by their female parentage. The Tuareg of Ghat not only treat their women-folk in much the same way as their brethren further south, but Richardson specifically states that the succession of the chiefs and Sultans of those parts is similar to the practice of the Tekadda house and at Agades. It is the son of thesister of the Sultan who succeeds.[143]It seems clear that before the advent of Islam, which has tended to modify the system, the Tuareg had a completely matriarchal organisation. In this earlier state of society may perhaps be found the explanation of the reputed Amazons of the west of North Africa, recorded by Diodorus Siculus in a grossly exaggerated version of some story which he had probably heard concerning the status of certain Libyan women.[144]

I know of no reason to suppose that these matriarchal customs were derived from association with the negro people; the reverse is quite as likely to have occurred, as the culture contacts of North Africa, following the trend of migration, seem to have taken a course from north to south and not the opposite direction.[145]The matter is one of great interest,[146]for the matriarchate is found in a highly developed state in Ashanti, and it would be of interest in connection with the origin of this people to learn if the system can be traced to a common origin.[147]I cannot agree with Barth’s[148]conclusion that the descent of the Sultan of Tekadda “is certain proof that it was not a pure Berber State, but rather a Berber dominion ingrafted upon a negro population, exactly as was the case in Walata,” where he cites the case of the Mesufa. Moreover, this remark is in contradiction with his previous assumption,[149]to wit: “With respect to the custom that the hereditary power does not descend from the father to the son but to the sister’s son . . . it may be supposed to have belonged originally to the Berber race; for the Askar (Azger), who have preserved their original manners tolerably pure, have the same custom. . . . It may therefore seem doubtful whether . . . this custom belonged to the black native,” with which statement I am decidedly inclined to agree. The problem, however, is one which I prefer on the whole to leave to qualified anthropologists.

[107]Not to be confused with Tanut in Damergu. The word “tanut” means a shallow well; there are consequently many places of this name.[108]Just north of Auderas.[109]Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 385.[110]Jean,op. cit., pp. 148-9.[111]Von Bary’s Diary (French edition), p. 183, etc.[112]The available data are in the hands of the author, if some more fortunate traveller can check and examine the place.[113]The “El Hakhsas,” Barth:op. cit., Vol. I. p. 416.[114]The extremes in variation, for the first rains of sufficient volume to fill stream beds of a certain size with flood water, are recorded by von Bary east of Bagezan on 3rd June, 1877, and by Barth in Northern Air on 1st September, 1850. Both these dates seem to be exceptional.[115]This, and not T’efira, is presumably the point south of Auderas where Barth saw “natron” encrustations on the ground (see Vol. I. p. 389). Salt or “ara” is collected at T’efira further east, but Barth would not have described “entering” the Buddei valley after seeing the “natron,” for the road past Auderas to T’efira winds down the Buddei valley.[116]This is the vowel which in English words “often,” “anon,” “until,” may be written aso,e,a, oru.[117]Cf. Barth, Vol. I. p. 350, and von Bary, p. 169, on the Kel Ataram of Auderas. The people of this village were simply “People of the West” for the inhabitants of Ajiru in Eastern Air, where von Bary was living.[118]As Barth would have it:op. cit., Vol. I. p. 339.[119]Cf. Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 339 and 347.[120]The Cortier 1/500,000 map shows a large affluent to the right bank joining the Auderas valley below the village. This is incorrect: a small affluent called the Mafinet joins at the point shown, but the valley purporting to be the upper part of the Mafinet valley is the Tagharit valley, which falls into the Ben Guten, and not into the Auderas basin. The Cortier map is generally somewhat incorrect in this area, especially in regard to the position of Mount Dogam.[121]I am indebted to Sir J. Currie of the Empire Cotton-growing Corporation for these reports.[122]For fear of appearing to misinform people who are always ready to mind other people’s business before looking after their own, I hasten to add that the legal practice of slavery has, of course, been abolished in Air since the advent of the French. The psychology and habit of slavery, nevertheless, still remain as strong as ever, and master and slave continue to regard each other bymutual consentin the light of their former relationship. I therefore propose to refer to slaves and the custom of slavery as if they were still sanctioned by law.[123]Respectively “Akel” and “Irawel” in the singular.[124]Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 344sq.[125]Cf.infra, Chaps.XI.andXII.[126]Bates,op. cit., p. 115.[127]Vide infra,Chap. XI.,et apudBarth,op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 235 and 239.[128]When von Bary (op. cit., p. 184) says that Imajeghan were never enslaved, he is wrong. Although the Air Tuareg, when they raided the Aulimmiden, often used to lift their cattle but spare the men because they were of the same race, some of the latter division nevertheless, became Imghad of the Air Kel Ferwan, for instance, in the course of these raids.[129]This is, of course, not an absolute rule, for the “I name” might have been forgotten, as previously explained. The supposition that “Kel names” represent Imghad and the “I names” Imajeghan is, of course, quite untenable.[130]The singular form of Imghad.[131]There are several instances of this among the Northern Tuareg, as will be seen from the data contained inChap. XI.[132]Cf. Schirmer’s note in von Bary,op. cit., p. 184.[133]Barth’s statement,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 237, that the Imghad are not allowed to carry arms is not substantiated: he seems at this point to have confused the Imghad with slaves.[134]Cf.supra,p. 134.Von Bary,op. cit., p. 181, notes that the distinction between Imghad and Imajeghan among the Kel Owi seemed to have broken down. This is perhaps exaggerated, but interesting, as this division in a sense is the most modern in development in Air.[135]Barth erroneously calls him the Astafidet.[136]Cf. Badges of Office among Libyan rulers given by Bates,op. cit., p. 116.[137]Von Bary,op. cit., pp. 172 and 188-9.[138]By Jean,op. cit., p. 106.[139]Cf. Bates,op. cit., pp. 112, 114-15.[140]Ibn Batutah (ed. Soc. Asiatique), Vol. IV. pp. 388 and 443. Cf. alsoAppendix IV.[141]The Mesufa are a surviving section of the Sanhaja, and are specifically described by Ibn Batutah and Ibn Khaldun as a part of the People of the Veil,i.e.not negroes or negroids (vide infra,Chap. XI.).[142]This statement is made in spite of the reference a little later to the succession of the Sultan of Tekadda, who, though a Tuareg, does not seem to have been of the Mesufa. This little inaccuracy is, however, of no importance.[143]Richardson:Travels, etc., Vol. II. pp. 65-6.[144]Diod. Sic., iii. 53sq.See also Silius Italicus, ii. 80. Bates,op. cit., pp. 112-13 and 148, agrees that the existence of matriarchal society would be a reasonable explanation of the Amazon story.[145]Nevertheless the matriarchate is known to have existed in classical times as far south as Æthiopia, in the Meroitic kingdom as well as in early Egypt.[146]Perry (The Children of the Sun) would doubtless suggest that it came from Egypt.[147]See Rattray,Ashanti, 1924. This authority thinks that the Ashanti people themselves came from the north. Many of the details of their matriarchal system accord closely with that of the Tuareg.[148]Barth, Vol. I. p. 388.[149]Ibid., p. 341. On page 342 he says the Aulimmiden, who have the same custom, consider the practice shameful, “as exhibiting only the man’s distrust of his wife’s fidelity; for such is certainly its foundation.” I don’t agree with this conclusion; the origins of matriarchy are certainly not as simple as this.

[107]Not to be confused with Tanut in Damergu. The word “tanut” means a shallow well; there are consequently many places of this name.

[108]Just north of Auderas.

[109]Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 385.

[110]Jean,op. cit., pp. 148-9.

[111]Von Bary’s Diary (French edition), p. 183, etc.

[112]The available data are in the hands of the author, if some more fortunate traveller can check and examine the place.

[113]The “El Hakhsas,” Barth:op. cit., Vol. I. p. 416.

[114]The extremes in variation, for the first rains of sufficient volume to fill stream beds of a certain size with flood water, are recorded by von Bary east of Bagezan on 3rd June, 1877, and by Barth in Northern Air on 1st September, 1850. Both these dates seem to be exceptional.

[115]This, and not T’efira, is presumably the point south of Auderas where Barth saw “natron” encrustations on the ground (see Vol. I. p. 389). Salt or “ara” is collected at T’efira further east, but Barth would not have described “entering” the Buddei valley after seeing the “natron,” for the road past Auderas to T’efira winds down the Buddei valley.

[116]This is the vowel which in English words “often,” “anon,” “until,” may be written aso,e,a, oru.

[117]Cf. Barth, Vol. I. p. 350, and von Bary, p. 169, on the Kel Ataram of Auderas. The people of this village were simply “People of the West” for the inhabitants of Ajiru in Eastern Air, where von Bary was living.

[118]As Barth would have it:op. cit., Vol. I. p. 339.

[119]Cf. Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 339 and 347.

[120]The Cortier 1/500,000 map shows a large affluent to the right bank joining the Auderas valley below the village. This is incorrect: a small affluent called the Mafinet joins at the point shown, but the valley purporting to be the upper part of the Mafinet valley is the Tagharit valley, which falls into the Ben Guten, and not into the Auderas basin. The Cortier map is generally somewhat incorrect in this area, especially in regard to the position of Mount Dogam.

[121]I am indebted to Sir J. Currie of the Empire Cotton-growing Corporation for these reports.

[122]For fear of appearing to misinform people who are always ready to mind other people’s business before looking after their own, I hasten to add that the legal practice of slavery has, of course, been abolished in Air since the advent of the French. The psychology and habit of slavery, nevertheless, still remain as strong as ever, and master and slave continue to regard each other bymutual consentin the light of their former relationship. I therefore propose to refer to slaves and the custom of slavery as if they were still sanctioned by law.

[123]Respectively “Akel” and “Irawel” in the singular.

[124]Barth,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 344sq.

[125]Cf.infra, Chaps.XI.andXII.

[126]Bates,op. cit., p. 115.

[127]Vide infra,Chap. XI.,et apudBarth,op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 235 and 239.

[128]When von Bary (op. cit., p. 184) says that Imajeghan were never enslaved, he is wrong. Although the Air Tuareg, when they raided the Aulimmiden, often used to lift their cattle but spare the men because they were of the same race, some of the latter division nevertheless, became Imghad of the Air Kel Ferwan, for instance, in the course of these raids.

[129]This is, of course, not an absolute rule, for the “I name” might have been forgotten, as previously explained. The supposition that “Kel names” represent Imghad and the “I names” Imajeghan is, of course, quite untenable.

[130]The singular form of Imghad.

[131]There are several instances of this among the Northern Tuareg, as will be seen from the data contained inChap. XI.

[132]Cf. Schirmer’s note in von Bary,op. cit., p. 184.

[133]Barth’s statement,op. cit., Vol. I. p. 237, that the Imghad are not allowed to carry arms is not substantiated: he seems at this point to have confused the Imghad with slaves.

[134]Cf.supra,p. 134.Von Bary,op. cit., p. 181, notes that the distinction between Imghad and Imajeghan among the Kel Owi seemed to have broken down. This is perhaps exaggerated, but interesting, as this division in a sense is the most modern in development in Air.

[135]Barth erroneously calls him the Astafidet.

[136]Cf. Badges of Office among Libyan rulers given by Bates,op. cit., p. 116.

[137]Von Bary,op. cit., pp. 172 and 188-9.

[138]By Jean,op. cit., p. 106.

[139]Cf. Bates,op. cit., pp. 112, 114-15.

[140]Ibn Batutah (ed. Soc. Asiatique), Vol. IV. pp. 388 and 443. Cf. alsoAppendix IV.

[141]The Mesufa are a surviving section of the Sanhaja, and are specifically described by Ibn Batutah and Ibn Khaldun as a part of the People of the Veil,i.e.not negroes or negroids (vide infra,Chap. XI.).

[142]This statement is made in spite of the reference a little later to the succession of the Sultan of Tekadda, who, though a Tuareg, does not seem to have been of the Mesufa. This little inaccuracy is, however, of no importance.

[143]Richardson:Travels, etc., Vol. II. pp. 65-6.

[144]Diod. Sic., iii. 53sq.See also Silius Italicus, ii. 80. Bates,op. cit., pp. 112-13 and 148, agrees that the existence of matriarchal society would be a reasonable explanation of the Amazon story.

[145]Nevertheless the matriarchate is known to have existed in classical times as far south as Æthiopia, in the Meroitic kingdom as well as in early Egypt.

[146]Perry (The Children of the Sun) would doubtless suggest that it came from Egypt.

[147]See Rattray,Ashanti, 1924. This authority thinks that the Ashanti people themselves came from the north. Many of the details of their matriarchal system accord closely with that of the Tuareg.

[148]Barth, Vol. I. p. 388.

[149]Ibid., p. 341. On page 342 he says the Aulimmiden, who have the same custom, consider the practice shameful, “as exhibiting only the man’s distrust of his wife’s fidelity; for such is certainly its foundation.” I don’t agree with this conclusion; the origins of matriarchy are certainly not as simple as this.

SOCIAL CONDITIONS

Byconstantly seeing the same people for nearly three months at Auderas and in the neighbourhood, I was able to dissipate much of the innate diffidence which the Tuareg display in their relations with Europeans. Language always remained a source of difficulty. An interpreter is never satisfactory, more especially if he belongs to a people whom the Tuareg at heart really despise, while real proficiency in a language cannot be attained in so short a time as I had at my disposal. By the end of my stay in Air I had acquired a sufficient knowledge of Temajegh to be able to travel comfortably with a guide speaking only that language, and to collect a considerable amount of vicarious information, but never at any time was I able to discuss really abstruse questions. At Auderas I was lucky enough to find that Ahodu, the chief of the village, had a working knowledge of Arabic which was almost as indifferent as my own; but we both made up for lack of grammar by volubility. The local “inisilm,” or holy man, named El Mintaka, was a Ghati who had been settled for fifteen years in Air, where he had taken a Tuareg wife. He, of course, spoke Arabic in addition to Temajegh, and acted as scribe to Ahodu, who could neither read nor write. With these two men in the village, with my servant Amadu, a Fulani soldier who had served with distinction in the West African Frontier Force during the war, and had a working knowledge of English and Hausa, which most of the Air Tuareg speak, and with my interpreter Ali, a man from Ghat, I found myself quite at my ease.

This Ali ibn Tama el Ghati had lived for some years in Kano and had travelled all over the Central Sudan. Hewas small and very black, but constantly cheerful and as clever as a tribe of monkeys. Somewhat of a rogue unless watched, he was tireless and devoted, and proved to be one of only two natives who, after I had been obliged to return home, completed the whole journey with Buchanan. He was one of the original race of Ghat, now called the Atara, who were there before the Tuareg and Berbers came. Ali spoke no English, but was loquacious in Hausa, Temajegh and Kanuri; he also spoke some Tebu and Fulani, in addition, of course, to Arabic. His especial joy was to wear many different combinations of gay clothes for periods of about ten days at a time. He would then change his apparel and adopt another disguise until the novelty of appearing as a Tuareg or a Hausa or an Arab in turn had worn off.

PLATE 16AUDERAS: HUTSAUDERAS: TENT-HUT AND SHELTER

PLATE 16

AUDERAS: HUTS

AUDERAS: TENT-HUT AND SHELTER

On reaching Auderas I took up my residence in some huts which Ahodu had prepared on the edge of a diminutive plateau between the main bed of the valley and a secondary affluent. The area between the valleys and ravines which intersected the little plain was bare, but the sides of the valleys were covered with vegetation. About a hundred yards away across a steep gully was Teda Inisilman, the House of the Holy Men, the smallest of the three hamlets which together make up Auderas. On the other side of the main stream bed, where the water-holes of the village were dug in the sand, lay the larger hamlet called Karnuka, containing the house of El Mintaka. The third settlement was a few hundred yards further down-stream. These hamlets were all built of reeds and palm fronds, but the little plain was covered with what proved to be the ruins of stone houses, many of which were inhabited until 1915. Teda Inisilman is the village of the nobles where Ahodu and the only other three Imajeghan families of the place lived, together with their own dependent Irawellan and Ikelan, and the Enad or smith, a most important person in Tuareg society. Down-stream of Teda Inisilman and Karnuka lay the date-palm groves and most of the gardens;there were a few above our camp also, in a side valley and in the main bed under a huge mass of overhanging rock resembling the keep of a fortress rising high above the sheer side of the stream. To the south were only dûm palms and the rugged hills, called Tidrak,[150]which formed the further edge of the valley. Elsewhere the ground was more open. Down-stream to the west were the low Mafinet and T’ilimsawin hills, joining on to the T’inien peaks north of the point where my road had emerged from among them on the way from Agades. To the north the ground rose over a low ridge to the Erarar (plain) n’Dendemu, the Taghist plateau[151]and the distant peak of Dogam.[152]The glistening black domes of the Abattul and Efaken peaks were rather nearer, on the far edge of the Auderas valley itself. A few miles north and north-east, this basin reached to the foot of the mountain group of Todra, which towers 3000 feet and more above the valley to a total height of about 5500 feet above the sea. The rounded sides rose out of a bed of green and yellow to a crest of bare red rock at the top. The mountain used to change colour all day, a whitish gleam off the rocks at high noon giving place to blue-black shadows under storm clouds and in the evening. At sunset it seemed to glow vivid red from within. It is one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. The Tuareg regard Todra and Dogam as one group, but separate from the Bagezan Mountains, and this is certainly the case. They are reckoned among the five principal massifs of Air, the others being Taruaji inthe south, Bila or Bilet north-west of Todra, and Tamgak which includes the Azañieres, Tafidet and Taghmeurt ranges in the north.

The advent of Europeans in Auderas caused a certain amount of excitement, but the novelty soon wore off as the routine of life was resumed. I was welcomed by Ahodu’s wife and other persons with a present of fresh dates, which were then ripening,[153]and newly-made cheese, known as T’ikammar, which is excellent food. The Tuareg live very simply and take so little trouble about their food that for Europeans it is almost uneatable. The staple diet is milk and cheese, but the more sedentary people eat locally grown or imported grain. The millet is pounded in a mortar as in the south and cooked with water, making a sort of porridge; but whereas in the Hausa countries this “pura,” or “fura” as it is called, can be quite palatable when seasoned or eaten with meat, the Tuareg in Air are too poor and too lackadaisical to dress it in any way. They often even forget to add salt, and without it the mess is peculiarly nasty on account of a certain glutinous consistency which it acquires. The finer flour obtained from the millet after it is pounded is also mixed with water and dry powdered cheese and drunk uncooked as very thin gruel; the dry cheese gives it a sour taste to which in time one gets used, and then it becomes really rather refreshing if one is thirsty. It is much better on the march for the stomach than large quantities of plain water. The drink is called “ghussub” in the south; it is often the sole means of sustenance of a Tuareg travelling quickly without baggage or when a scarcity of fuel makes it impossible to light fires. In the place of millet, guinea corn is also eaten; it is pounded and baked in embers into a heavy tasteless cake which is slightly more edible than millet porridge. The best food in Air is undoubtedly the wheat “kus-kus” of the Arabs and Berbers in the north: it is made in the same way by grinding wheatinto rough flour, and then steaming and rubbing it until it forms grains about the size of small barley. It is carried dry and can be prepared by boiling in water or stock for a short time. It has the great advantage of requiring very little fuel to cook it. With no other adjunct than a little salt it is very good indeed. During the latter part of my stay I lived almost exclusively on kus-kus and rice, with hardly any meat, but as many vegetables as I could procure. When neither millet, guinea corn nor wheat is available, the Tuareg collect the seeds of various grasses and grind them, notably of the grass called Afaza and of the prickly burr grass. The former is a tall grass with stems of such strength that they are used when dry with a weft of thin leather strips for making the stiff mats which are spread upon their Tuareg beds. The stalks grow as much as five feet high; the grass is dark grey-green when fresh, or yellow when dry. The burr grass is fortunately rare in Air. One can only be thankful that Nature has found some useful purpose in this damnable plant as food for the Tuareg.

Of all the Tuareg food their cheese is best. It is usually made of equal parts of sheep’s or goat’s and camel’s milk, but any of them alone will do. The rennet is obtained from the entrails of the goat; the curds are pressed in matting made of dûm-palm fronds and formed into cakes about 4 in. × 5 in. × ¾ in. thick. The fresh cheese is pure white and soft, but nevertheless crisp; it is delicious with dates or with any other form of food, for it has no sour or “cheesy” flavour. It dries yellow and hard and is carried about by all Tuareg as a staple commodity, but in this state requires soaking or crumbling before use, and acquires rather an unpleasant sour smell. Butter is made of goat’s or sheep’s milk, churned in bottle-shaped gourds or in small skins. It is not bad mixed with kus-kus or rice or in cooking, but indifferent on bread or biscuits. Meat is very little eaten, for it is a luxury. But even when an animal is slaughtered and divided up the Tuareg do notseem capable of turning it into a very edible dish. They neither roast nor fry; they either stew their meat in a pot with vegetables or with millet porridge, or on the march broil it in the hot sand under the embers of a fire until it becomes shredded. If ever there is a surplus supply of meat, it is preserved by soaking in brine and drying in the sun strung on cords.

The preparation of food in the villages is done by the women, on the march by the “buzu,” or, where there is no slave present, by the youngest member of the party, whatever his caste or status, so long as he has not reached his majority. When there are no minors or slaves an Amghid does the work, but where all are of the same caste, the duty reverts once more to the youngest member of the party. The most arduous function is preparing the millet flour. Nowadays the millet is almost invariably pounded in a mortar with a long pestle, and the meal is then graded and separated from the husk and other impurities by shaking it with a circular motion on a flat tray. The mortar and long pestle, which is used by men and women standing up and working alone or pounding rhythmically with one or more companions, is certainly a southern invention; the wooden pestle is double-headed and some 3 feet long; the mortar is cut out of one piece of wood and stands about 12 inches high. The indigenous and more primitive fashion is to grind grain on the rudimentary saddle-stone quern, a form which has been preserved unchanged since prehistoric times. A large flat stone is placed on the ground, and the person grinding the wheat or millet kneels by it with a basket under the opposite lip of the stone to catch the flour as it is made. The wheat or other grain is poured on to the flat stone and crushed by rubbing it with a saddle-stone or rounded river pebble about the size of a baby’s head, held in both hands and worked forwards and backwards. As the grain is crushed the flour is automatically sorted out and pushed forward into the basket in front, the heavier meal remaining on the flat stone. These quernsmay be seen lying about all over Air on all the deserted sites; the lower stones can readily be recognised by the broad channel which is worn along their length. Except for wheat, which is too hard to be pounded, they have largely been discarded in favour of the handier mortar and pestle. I do not think a more widespread use of the quern necessarily indicates that wheat was more extensively eaten than millet in olden days nor yet that agriculture was formerly more pursued than nowadays. The explanation of the fact is merely that pounding grain in a mortar was found a simpler method in a country where millet was the staple cereal and the consumption of wheat a luxury. Moreover, the Northern Tuareg when they came to Air were probably less familiar with millet than with wheat, and only modified their habits and utensils after they had settled down.

Though certain wild herbs are employed for medicinal purposes, I know of none which is used in cooking. Besides Afaza and the burr grass, several other seeds or berries are used by the more nomadic Tuareg for food; there are said to be some twenty odd varieties in Air which ripen at various times of the year. The Abisgi (Capparis sodata) leaf has a biting taste and is sometimes used as a condiment; the tamarind does not grow so far north; limes are found only in Bagezan, and are rare. Dates are eaten fresh, or are preserved by soaking them for a short time in boiling water, and pressing them into air-tight leather receptacles, which are then sewn up. The practice of drying dates and threading them on a string is resorted to in Fashi and Bilma but not in Air.

Food is cooked in pear-shaped earthenware pots of red clay. The vessels are only half baked when they are manufactured, principally in the Agades neighbourhood, and have to be fired before they can be used. They are plain and unornamented, with a lip or rim round the mouth, which is bound with a cord to prevent cracking. More elaborate pitchers with a blue design are used forliquids, since the universal calabash of the south is comparatively rare in Air.[154]These pots are also made near Agades. The designs appear to be of local origin. The Sudanese jars and pots with bands of geometric design in straw-coloured slip and blue pigment are not used in Air. Many small pots for inks, spices and condiments are found in the houses of Northern Air: black and red pottery is used for such vessels and for saucers and little bowls. With the exception of what may be termed the “grape design” (Plate 22), none of the pottery is very remarkable. The pots used in the urn cemetery at Marandet seem to have been shaped like the common cooking-pot or with a slightly more round appearance: they are reported to have stood in saucers or plates. None of the pottery is wheel-turned.

Auderas being essentially a sedentary and servile community, did not contain many characteristic noble Tuareg. Neither Ahodu nor his wife represents the fine physical type of the race, for he is of somewhat mixed parentage, having, according to his own tradition, some Arab blood in his veins, while she is a Kanuri woman. Among the Tuareg, as in all races, it is hard to find the absolutely pure type. I came across one or two examples, and must count myself lucky to have seen so many. I was never able to confirm the story one had so often heard of Tuareg with blue eyes, but such accurate observers have recorded this feature that its occurrence must be admitted. In Air it must certainly be most uncommon; nowhere is it the rule; light brown and grey eyes, however, are not unusual, nor is it rare to see hair which is not so much black as dark brown and wavy; it is never crinkled or “fuzzy” unless there has been an obvious infusion of negro blood. Very fair skins, as fair as among the people of Southern Europe, are comparatively frequent, but the transparent white skin of the North is not known: no deduction can be drawn from this, as skin pigmentation is notoriouslyunreliable. Fair skins are held by the Tuareg to represent the purest type: a range of every shade to the black of the negro occurs. The Tuareg of Air differentiate the colouring of people somewhat arbitrarily: they call the pure negro “blue,”[155]but the dark-brown Hausa, “black”; the Arab is always “white,” whatever shade of bronze he happens to be; the Tuareg himself is “red,”[156]which is the most complimentary epithet he can apply to others. Fairness of complexion is much prized and is a social distinction, though when carried to such extremes as among Europeans it is apt to be regarded as strange and odd. Certain tribes in Air are reputed, even among the Tuareg, to be more than usually fair. When von Bary was in Air his acquaintances seem to have chaffed him about his celibacy; they offered to find him a woman of the Iwarwaren tribe, for, they said, she would match his own complexion.[157]Once on a time in Auderas I dressed completely as a Tuareg, a disguise which was not difficult, for I had grown a full dark beard and was very deeply sunburnt all up my arms and legs from wearing a sleeveless tunic, diminutive shorts and no shoes or stockings—the ideal garb for hot weather and an active life. I rode into the village on a great white camel by a circuitous path: the people were puzzled about my identity, and some, as I was later told, decided from the colour of my limbs that I came from the Igdalen tribe. It was typical of the Tuareg that they eventually recognised not me, but my camel, and so guessed who I was.

Back to Index Next