CHAPTER VI
THE MODE OF LIFE OF THE NOMADS
One of my first trips from Auderas was to the village of Towar,[175] which lies under the south-western spurs of Bagezan on the edge of the plain between this massif and Todra. Leaving Auderas by a very rough path over the hills on the south side of the valley, a narrow track with difficulty climbs up to the watershed of the basin where the central plain is reached. The northern part of the plain skirting Todra and Bagezan is covered with black basalt boulders all the way to Towar. The boulders are polished and range in size from a large water-melon to an orange. They were probably thrown out from Bagezan by some volcanic activity, which, in conjunction with later eruptions at Mount Dogam, also produced the basalt and cinerite formations in the Auderas valley. The plain is intersected by several valleys, the head-waters of the Buddei-Telwa system which drains the southern slopes of Todra. Further east is the Ara valley, which comes down from the south-east face of Mount Dogam between Todra and Bagezan. Several valleys descend from the south-western parts of Bagezan as tributaries to the Ara and Towar, which both flow into the Etaras, whose waters eventually find their way east of Taruaji into the River of Agades opposite Akaraq by the Turayet valley. The Ara valley is particularly important, for it divides Todra from Bagezan, which are distinct groups and not a single massif as the Cortier map implies.
The plain between Bagezan and Taruaji is dotted with small conical hills. There is no vegetation except along the watercourses: between the boulders a little grass finds a precarious existence. But there are many gazelle always roaming about. Of the two roads from Auderas to Towar village, I first tried the northern one, which is also the shortest. At the point where it crosses a col over a spur of Todra it proved precipitous and dangerous, but the alternative road, on the other hand, is more than half as long again, running south-east from Auderas and then turning north-east to rejoin the first track at the domed peak of Tegbeshi, some six miles east of Towar. At Tegbeshi the road to Towar crosses a track from Agades to Northern Air, running over the pass of the Upper Ara valley not far from the village of Dogam, which lies on the south slope of the peak. A branch leads up into the Bagezan mountains by a precipitous ravine north of Towar village.
After crossing several more tributaries of the Ara and Towar valleys the village itself is reached, on the east side of the stream bed. There are two older deserted stone-built settlements, respectively south and east of the present site, which consist of a group of straw huts. The dwellings are typical of the Tuareg mode of hut construction. The frame is made of palm-frond ribs planted in the ground and tied together at the top; the section of the huts is consequently nearly parabolic. This framework is covered with thatch of coarse grass on top and mats round the lower part. The dwelling is built in one piece; it does not, as in the Southland, consist of two separate portions, namely, the conical roof and the vertical wall.[176] The stone houses of the two older villages point to the former settlements having been more extensive than the present one. There are small palm groves and a group of gardens on the banks of the valley, which contains plenty of water in the sand. The site was deserted during the war and has only recently been occupied. The population is mixed, but principally servile, derived from several tribes. The present inhabitants owe allegiance to the Kel Bagezan (Kel Owi) but the plain all round belongs to the Kel Nugguru of the chief Khodi, whose camels were pasturing in the little watercourses of the plain. One of the first people I met on camping near the village on the east bank was a man from Ghat, Muhammad, who had left his native town many years ago in the course of a feud between the leading Tuareg of the city and some neighbouring villages. He had become completely Tuareg and had almost forgotten his Arabic. The man, however, I had come to see was working on his garden, and I sent a friend whom I had brought from Auderas, one Atagoom, of Ahodu’s group of Kel Tadek, to find him. Eventually the man returned, and I became aware that I had found the purest Tuareg type in Air.
PLATE 20
HUTS AT TOWAR SHOWING METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION
HUTS AT TIMIA