People of the veil

by Baron Francis James Rennell Rodd Rennell of Rodd

FUGDA (R.), CHIEF OF TIMIA AND HIS WAKIL

ATAGOOM

Kel Ahamellen, or the “White People,” is a descriptive and not a proper name, a circumstance which points to the view that such was not their original appellation. In the course of time the unit became divided into three tribes, the Kel Ahamellen proper, the Tegehe Aggali (dag Rali) and the Tegehe n’Esakkal. The “I name” of the original stock was lost, and so the group collectively bore the same label as the smaller Kel Ahamellen tribe. By the beginning of this century, when the French advance took place, the Ahaggaren were already organised under their own king Ahitagel. When their country was finally occupied, Musa Ag Mastan was reigning over them and contributed largely to the pacification. He continued as Amenokal of Ahaggar until his death in December 1916. Of the fourteen Ahaggar tribes, therefore, the three Kel Ahamellen are closely related to each other, and appear to constitute the Azger nucleus among them. There may, of course, be other Azger among the remaining eleven Ahaggaren tribes who are the Auriga element, but no other information seems at the moment available. The traditional connection of these two Tuareg divisions is so strongly associated with the three Kel Ahamellen that it is they who must be regarded as the most recent and perhaps as the primary or principal offshoot of the Azger among the Ahaggar people.

The presence of the Kel Ahamellen in the west would account for the traditional common origin of the Ahaggaren and Azger. The warlike qualities of the latter would inevitably tempt a vain people even though of different stock to associate themselves with so famous a division. The fact that both Ahaggar and the Azger were at one time under the domination of the Azger Imanen kings would, moreover, have the same effect. That some explanation of the sort which I have given is correct seems to be clear from the two different forms in which the traditional connection is recorded. Ibn Khaldun postulated the Hawarid origin of the Lemta, and adduced as proof the etymology of the name “Haggar.” Duveyrier, on the other hand, declared that his researches led him to believe that the Ahaggaren were originally Azger.[342]

The Azger, whom all are agreed to-day in regarding as a distinct group of Tuareg for all that they are connected with the Ahaggaren and the people of Air, range over the country between the eastern slopes of the Ahaggar mountains and Murzuk in the Fezzan. Whereas the Ahaggaren control the caravan roads between Algeria or Tuat and Ahaggar, and share with the Tuareg of Air the western tracks between their respective mountains, the Azger consider the roads from Ghat to the north and to the east as their own property. They share with the people of Air the main caravan track by way of Asiu or In Azawa to the latter country.

It is very difficult to say much of the present state of the Azger. Their movement away from contact with Europeans and their intractable characteristics have kept them from becoming known. This is all the more regrettable, since, owing to their association with the Fezzan, a knowledge of their history and peculiarities might throw light on the puzzling problem of the Garamantian and Tuareg civilisations. They seem also, in spite of their very reduced numbers, to be the purest of all the Tuareg. Duveyrier’s[343] account of them is the best one which exists. They have always enjoyed a most remarkable reputation for courage and even foolhardiness. It is said that it takes two Azger to raid a village out of which twenty Ahaggaren would be chased.

The Azger count six noble tribes, the Imanen, Auraghen, Imettrilalen, Kel Ishaban, Ihadanaren, Imanghassaten. The last-named tribe is of Arab origin descended from a Bedawi stock of the Wadi el Shati in the Fezzan. Its members are the fighting troops of the Imanen and have come to be regarded as Noble Tuareg. Though the People of the Veil recognise nobility or servility of other races, I know of no other instance where a foreign stock has achieved complete recognition among these people as Imajegh or Noble. In all other cases foreign stocks, even of noble caste according to the standards of the Tuareg, technically become servile when conquered or absorbed. In the case of the Imanghassaten, their assimilation to the nobility must have been due to the fact that they lived side by side with the Azger and were never conquered by them. In other instances of Arabs associated with Tuareg the racial distinction remains clear and is recognised. Among the Taitoq of Ahnet the Arab Mazil and Sokakna tribes supply the camels for the caravans crossing the desert to Timbuctoo, where the Arab Meshagra, who dress like the Tuareg, used to be associated with the veiled Kunta tribe until they were evicted by the Igdalen Tuareg from their homes and took refuge with the Aulimmiden.[344] But though associated with them, none of these three Arab tribes have ever been counted as Tuareg nobles.

Parallel to the Azger Kel Ahamellen among the Ahaggaren are the Auraghen and Imanen in the Azger group, for they belong to the Auriga family. Other Azger tribes may also have been Auriga, but there are no records on the subject.