United States or Equatorial Guinea ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The silence that reigned, I know not why, introduced ideas of terror into our minds, and we began to gaze anxiously to the right and to the left. We remembered that this region, likewise, was inhabited by Tuaricks, though not of the Haghar tribe. They might be inhospitable, perhaps hostile.
News of Sidi Jafel Disputes with Wataitee His violent Conduct and strange Language The Desert Scarcity of Money Proceed through a rocky Country Soudan Weather Approach the Frontiers of Aheer Storm Hard Day's Travelling The Seven Wells of Aisou "The Haghar are coming" Suspicious Characters Alarm The Three Strangers Our Hospitality Heat of the Weather Hard Travelling Account of the Kailouee Guides Women of the Caravan Their Treatment Youthful Concubines Another long Day A Rock-Altar Demonstrations of the Haghar Wells of Jeenanee Marks of Rain Sprightly Blacks New Climate Change in the Vegetation and the Atmosphere.
He is not a sheikh, but a spirited old man; and, from what I can understand, is a Haghar belonging to Ghemama, and not an Azgher of Ghât. They now assure us that he had never any intention of attacking us; but as there is rarely smoke without a fire, it is possible he may have indulged in a little threatening talk, just to impress an idea of his importance on the people of Janet.
The Sorghou is the Timbuctoo name which is given to them by Caillié, and probably this is not a distinct section from that of the Haghar . There are some lofty ranges of mountains between Ghat and Touat called also Haghar, the nucleus of these tribes, and whose Sultan is the Gigantic Bassa.
In the desert we shall escape that danger; for disease comes only in the moist depression of the plateau on which Mourzuk stands. We hear talk, by the way, of a fine new route only forty days just opened, from Ghât to Timbuctoo, across the deserts of Haghar. The present Sultan of the Haghar Tuaricks is called Ghamama.
All the inhabitants of Ghanet are Maghata, or descendants of the children of the Tuaricks, Haghar and Azgher, which were born to them by their slaves. It is these Maghata who were said to be in pursuit of us under Sidi Jafel. There are many of the same people in the open desert, for the most part bandits, or at least inclined to that way of life.
Some of our servants have begun to feel uneasy, and are becoming troublesome, in consequence of these constant alarms of Haghar. To do the free blacks justice, they behave well. Yusuf is getting out of temper, and somewhat changed in manner. He is annoyed at seeing me not place so much confidence in him as at first; I have reason to be dissatisfied with his carelessness.
Azgher is the name of the tribe or nation, and Tuarick is a generic title, which scarcely implies even community of origin, assumed by nearly all the wandering people of the Sahara. There are the Haghar Tuaricks, to the west of Ghât and south-west towards Timbuctoo; and the corresponding people of Aheer are called the Kailouee Tuaricks. At Timbuctoo itself are found the Sorghau Tuaricks.
But, speaking of giants, Bassa, Sultan of the Haghar Touaricks, is the real Giant of The Desert. Some of the people report this Giant Desert Prince to have six fingers on each hand, and to be several heads taller than he of Ghat. His spear, they describe, in the true spirit of the marvellous, to be, "higher than the tallest palm."
To us, naked rocks, and treeless valleys, and bare stony plains, are objects without interest, except in a geological point of view. But it is very different with the Haghar and Azgher.
Word Of The Day