The beauty and grace of their bodies are the principal characteristics of the Tuareg. They are tall, more commonly in the neighbourhood of six feet than shorter. They look much taller owing to their flowing robes. When at rest they have little superficial muscular development; their bodies are not corrugated and knobbly like the powerfully built Latin: they are more like Nordic folk in that their limbs and backs are smooth until exerted, when the muscles stand up hard and tough. Their arms and legs are long and shapely and exceedingly graceful; they never have flaccid or cylindrical limbs like Abyssinians or certain Indian races. Their bones are small. They have wrists and ankles as slender as a woman’s; it is noteworthy that whatever the degree of negro admixture this sign of high breeding is the last to disappear. It is a most infallible mark of pure Tuareg parentage. With it, of course, go slenderness and refinement of hands and fingers. The men never grow fat: they are hard and fit and dry like the nerve of a bow, or a spring in tension. Of all their characteristics the one I have most vividly in mind is their grace of carriage. The men are born to walk and move as kings, they stride along swiftly and easily, like Princes of the Earth, fearing no man, cringing before none, and consciously superior to other people.
Grace and mystery are added to their appearance by the veil over the face and by their long black robes, which are called “takatkat.” They are of plain indigo black cotton stuff, and though some are embroidered on the breast, the old-fashioned men shun such ornament as ostentatious. More rarely their robes are white. Their dress, to be in good taste, must above all be simple. Silk is hardly known and not in great demand: plain native cloth made up of many narrow slips sewn together to the desired width is esteemed superior to the European sorts. Buchanan had brought for presents an indigo stuff of excellent quality, made in Lancashire and better than anything of the sort that could be bought in Kano. It was much appreciated, but as it had a thin white stripe in it, not a single man would wear it for a dress. They gave it to their women for skirts. Broad Moslem trousers called “takirbai” are worn beneath the robe; they are always of white cotton. Sometimes a tanned goat or sheep skin is worn around the loins below the trousers, more especially in bush country where burr grass is very prevalent.[158]
The best sandals used to be made in Agades only, but since the emigration of so many craftsmen from Air they can now also be procured in Kano, and more cheaply. They are of a shape peculiar to the Tuareg and are much in demand all over the Sahara. The form is pleasing: it is wide and round under the toes, slender under the instep, and at the heel, and just broad enough to carry the weight of the body. They are made of two thicknesses sewn together with neat white raw-hide stitching; the top piece is of red leather with a stained black border: the lower piece is of raw hide. Two red straps from the sides level with the instep join a thong, which passes under the top leather and is fastened between the two thicknesses of the sole in order to protect the sewing from wear on the ground. The thong is slipped between the big and second toes; the red straps pass over the breadth of the foot to the sides of the sandal. The heel is free. It is the ideal footwear in sandy country, as nothing can collect on the surface and rub the foot. I wore nothing else for nine months and can vouch for the comfort of these sandals. They are usually made in two sizes[159]; the correct pattern for all those who can afford them is 12 inches long and 6 inches broad across the toes. This great surface, leaving several inches all round the breadth of the foot, gives much support on loose sand, on which it rests like a platform. Many other forms of improvised sandals are made, covering the sole and sometimes the sides of the foot, but the most ingenious home-made type I saw was woven in a few minutes of green dûm-palm fronds. These sandals were really a sole of palm matting under the foot: they have the advantage of costing nothing and, when the fronds are still green, of being supple and springy in any weather, whereas the leather sandals become flaccid on wet ground. They are, however, not proof against long acacia thorns, as I learnt to my cost. During the rains I used to have a new pair made for me every day by Ahodu’s son, aged nine, at the grossly excessive rate of about 6d. a dozen. The best leather sandals cost as much as 6s. a pair at Agades nowadays.
Walking barefoot over loose sand in time produces severe cracks in the sole of the foot. The ball of the big toe and the inside part of the foot are particularly liable to be affected. In cold dry weather it is common to see men rubbing fat into the callous skin of their feet and warming them in front of a fire to soften the leather, for when a crack has begun to appear it is very difficult to induce healing. The skin of their feet is so insensible and thick that men often take a needle and thread and sew up their sole as one would mend a sandal. Some form of foot-wear is likewise desirable when there are many thorns about, and in the bush, where burrs find their way into the tender skin between the toes. As I often wore no foot-covering at all my feet became very hard, but I contrived on several occasions to pick up thorns, which went as much as three-quarters of an inch into the sole of my foot. I well remember how the extraction of these spikes used to cause a most peculiar form of pain; it produced almost physical sickness. Curiously enough, these wounds never seemed to get septic, and I have always wondered why. For several months I did have septic sores on my feet and legs whenever a rub or scratch occurred, but they were principally due to being run down after malaria and the rainy season. Acacia thorns or burrs in my feet never became infected.
With a veil, robe, trousers and sandals, the wardrobe of the Tuareg is complete. Some carry a white blanket of heavy native cotton stuff known in Nigeria as “Kano cloth,” woven in six-inch strips sewn together, with a blue border and fringe. But the article is a product of the Southland and almost seems to be considered a luxury in Air, where few men have any additional clothing or covering in cold weather. Some wear the conical hats of Kano basket-ware associated with the Hausa countries, but the practice is regarded as an affectation and is not very common.[160]
The scantiness of the clothing of the Tuareg in Air is very remarkable. Their robe is admirably suited for hot weather, since any covering which hangs in loose folds over the back is good protection against the sun. The garment consists of two large squares of stuff, forming the front and back, the height of a man’s shoulder, or say about 5 feet × 5 feet. The two lower corners of the squares are sewn together, the bottom and sides are left open. The top is sewn up except for a space of about 18 inches where the head is put through, and a slit with a pocket is cut on the breast. The sides of the upper part either fall down the arms or can be looped up over the shoulders to leave them clear. As the sides are open, the circulation of air under the robe is quite free. In cold weather the ample volume of the robe enables it to be wrapped well around the body, nevertheless it is very inadequate protection when the thermometer falls to freezing point. It speaks highly of the hardihood of these people that they wear this garment only throughout the year in spite of variations in temperature, such as in December I encountered on my way south through Azawagh, of as much as 60° F. in twenty-four hours. The three Tuareg with me had no sort of extra covering for the night until I gave them a ground sheet in which to wrap themselves near the fire. But they discarded it, because the canvas, as they said, “attracted the cold” more than did the sand. The dying embers of a fire warmed the soles of their feet, but the rest of their bodies must have been frozen.
The Tuareg woman wears a long piece of indigo cloth rolled round her body as a skirt and tucked in at the waist. Over her shoulders is a garment which resembles a sleeveless coat, but is really a small square of light indigo or black stuff with a hole for the head. The ends hang down in front and behind to the level of the waist, the sides are open. She never veils her face; the upper garment, or a dark cloth worn over the head like a nun’s hood, may be drawn across the face, but more often in coquetry, I think, than in prudery. This upper garment is sometimes embroidered with a simple cross-stitch pattern around the neck; usually it is a piece of plain native cloth made, like the robes of the men, of narrow bands sewn together. Women who can only afford one piece of stuff wear it wound round their bodies close under the armpits, though, as a general rule, it may be said that there is no feeling of immodesty involved in exposing the body above the waist.[161]
This ease of garb among the women and their unveiled countenances are in keeping with the perfect freedom which they enjoy. Irrespective of caste or circumstance, whether they be noble or slave, rich or poor, the women of the People of the Veil are respected by their men in a manner which has no parallel in my experience. It is the more significant in a Moslem people, inasmuch as Islam has not hitherto taught the men of the Eastern world to treat their women-folk as their equals, still less as their betters. In saying this much I write in no depreciatory spirit, for the Western world has happily long ceased to regard the followers of Muhammad’s teaching of the Faith of the One God as heathen or pagan. But the morals and ethical code of Islam differ most essentially from those of the north of Europe and America precisely in regard to women; and in this respect Islam has lagged behind. But even in European countries the complete emancipation of women is only a modern development which may perhaps have just begun in Islam. Yet judged by our Northern standards the Tuareg have much in common with ourselves. So strange in Africa seems their conduct to women, that early travellers called them the Knights-Errant of the Desert Roads. The extent to which they have earned this name is their justifiable pride.
Their women have position and prerogatives not yet achieved by their sisters in many of those countries which we term “civilised.” The Tuareg women are strong-minded, gifted and intelligent. They have their share in public life; their advice is proffered and sought in tribal councils. Contrary to Moslem practice and to that of many European societies, a Tuareg woman may own property in her own name, and, more than that, may continue to own and administer it after her marriage without interference by her husband, who has no rights over it whatsoever. At death a woman’s property, unless otherwise disposed of in satisfaction of her expressed wish, is divided in accordance with the Moslem laws of inheritance, but if her family has been provided for as custom demands, she may bequeath what is over as she pleases. There are many instances of Tuareg women of noble birth being heiresses or receiving a share of property which has become available, by conquest or the extinction of some group, for distribution generally among the community. Sometimes, if a tribe moves away from an old area, the community goes so far as to divide up and settle the free land on the chief women, who become, as Duveyrier has called them,[162] the “femmes douairières” of the Tuareg.
Their bravery is famous in Africa. Instances are not lacking where they have played great parts in war. In one engagement in Air the Kel Fadé women led their men into battle, covering them with their own bodies and those of their children to prevent the French firing.[163] When Musa ag Mastan, the Amenokal of Ahaggar, went to France in 1910 his sister ruled the people in his stead. Though no instances are recorded in Air itself of women becoming chiefs of tribes they rule several villages among the Kel Geres. By usage and by right their functions are more consultative than executive. They do not seek election to tribal councils. They enter them as of right and not in competition, but not even then do they order men about. Their function is to counsel and to charm. They make poetry and have their own way. In recent years there seems to have been only one example in Air of a woman playing a definitely masculine rôle. Barkasho, of the Ikazkazan, was already an old woman when, as a small boy, Musa, of the same tribe, who was with me at one time as a camel-man, knew her. Soon after she married, Barkasho told her husband that she was going about a man’s work and proceeded to don the robe, veil and sword of the other sex. She set off on a raid to the east to avenge some depredations on her people. As her courage grew and became famous she turned her attention to the west and led a raid, it is said, as far afield as the Tademekkat country. On one of these expeditions she lifted, single-handed, seven camels from a party of three men who were guarding them. The curious side of Barkasho’s personality was that when she returned from these excursions, she put off her male attire and quietly resumed her place and occupations in the household. Evidently, however, her husband must have become restive, for in the end she advised him to get rid of her, or at least to marry another woman as well, since she was useless to him as a wife. But history does not relate what the husband did. Musa last saw her as an old, old woman, sitting in front of her hut, looking into the sunset over the country where she used to raid, and dreaming. I failed in my endeavours to obtain other stories of women leaders. I found, therefore, nothing to bear out the Amazonian legend,[164] except the survival of the matriarchal system generally.