The fact of the matter is that Agades is not the capital of Air at all. As we have seen, the city is not the seat of the central government because there is no real central government, and the King who lives there is not really King at all. Agades is only the seat of an administration set up in the first instance to deal with exterior affairs, and more especially those connected with the Southland. These affairs were in the charge of a figure-head ruler unconnected, except to a very minor degree, with the internal problems of the Tuareg tribes. When this is once grasped, Agades assumes a different position in the perspective of history and it becomes apparent that the site is really suited to the purpose for which it was intended. The place where the city lies is neutral as far as the tribes of Air are concerned; it has easy access to the Sudan yet is removed from the main roads, which are considered the property of certain groups of clans. But it follows that the character of the city must inevitably partake rather of the south than of the Sahara.
Finally, there is the most conclusive evidence of all; during the early part of the Tuareg occupation of Air, there was no city of Agades at all; it fulfilled no need despite the caravan traffic. It was presumably not founded when Ibn Batutah travelled through Air, for he makes no mention of the name; although this is negative evidence, it is valuable in the case of so observant a traveller. By 1515, when Askia conquered the Tuareg of Air, Agades, however, was certainly in existence, since it is on record that he occupied the city for a year, “sitting down north of the town,” possibly at T’in Shaman. Marmol, moreover, is quite definite on the subject, saying that the city was founded 160 years before he wrote, a date which has been reckoned at 1460 A.D.[106] We know that the first Sultans of Air did not live at Agades, but by inference it may be supposed that they soon came to do so, so that the date suggested is probably correct. With the advent of a figure-head king there sprang up a figure-head capital. The story of Agades is the story of its kings: the explanation of both is similar.
What seems to have struck Barth most about Agades was that the people spoke Songhai and not Temajegh; it was, in fact, one of the few places left where the language of the greatest Empire of the Niger still survived. There is reason to believe that most of the Emagadezi are not of Tuareg race at all. The Songhai element is probably preponderant even now, four hundred years after the conquest of Agades by the Songhai king, Muhammad Askia, who planted a colony there. The face veil has been adopted universally, but the physical type of the inhabitants is much more akin to that of people of the south than to that of true Tuareg. The descendants of the Songhai conquerors are coarse, broad-featured people with dark skins and untidy hair, which is an abomination among the noble Tuareg. The same characteristics reappear among the inhabitants of certain points west of Agades on the south-western outskirts of Air, where the Songhai element is also known to have become established and to have survived. The people of Agades are hardly even considered as natives of the country by the rest of the inhabitants of Air. They are not classed as a group, like the inhabitants of other settlements in the mountains. It is rarer to hear the “Kel Agades” mentioned than it is to hear such exotic compositions as “Kel es Sudan” or “Kel Katchena.” The people of Agades are more usually spoken of as the “Emagadezi,” in much the same way as the Kanuri in the Air dialect are called “Izghan” and the Tebu “Ikaradan.”
The family of the Sultan is foreign in appearance. The physiognomy of Abd el Qader, who wore the white face veil usually associated in the north with servile caste, was not, as far as could be seen by Barth, that of a Tuareg. His corpulence was equally a foreign peculiarity, despite which Barth considered him “a man of great worth though devoid of energy.” The personality of the present Sultan, Omar, has already been described; his dark skin and coarse features betray a very mixed ancestry. These peculiarities are not unexpected in a family descended through slave women, who may, of course, be of any race.
The different races and languages of Agades would be interesting to study in greater detail. The name Terjeman, given to one quarter of the town, is evidence in the estimation of its inhabitants of the Babel which has occurred. Temajegh, Hausa, Kanuri, Songhai and Arabic are spoken; even the more exceptional Fulani, Wolof and Tebu are heard, while the advent of the French garrison with its negro troops has introduced further linguistic complications, and will, of course, in time accentuate the Sudanese element in the racial composition, for at no time do the morals of the ladies of Agades appear to have been beyond reproach. The consequences of city life are felt even here in the Sahara. The forwardness of the ladies so moved Barth to indignation that he discoursed at considerable length on the standards of conduct which should be observed by Europeans in these far countries towards native women. He no doubt owed much of his success to the respect in which he held the feelings of the people among whom he travelled. Rather than provoke criticism, he recommends explorers to take their own wives with them. A few pages further on, describing his journey through the Azawagh, he is again referring to advances of the Tuareg women of the Tegama. One appreciates his resentment at these importunities, but is inclined to speculate on the true inwardness of his thoughts. On one occasion at least his artistic feelings rather than his sense of propriety seem to have been offended, for he writes: “It could scarcely be taken as a joke. Some of the women were immensely fat, particularly in the hinder regions, for which the Tawarek have a peculiar and expressive name—‘tebulloden.’”
[75]Cf. Barth, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 523.
[76]Literally “a small river or torrent” in Temajegh.
[77]Cf. Barth, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 454.
[78]This generalisation is not intended to cover exceptional examples of stone construction such as those in Sokoto Province.
[79]For the houses of Air see [Chap. VIII,] where characteristic plans are given.