This annual salt caravan is the largest enterprise of its sort in the world at the present time. It is called in Air the “Taghalam,” a word derived from “aghelam,” meaning a “prize camel,” but the French call it the “Azalai,” which means the “Parting” or the “Separation,” the name given to a similar caravan which annually leaves Timbuctoo to collect salt at Taodenit for sale along the Niger.
With the advent of European salt in Nigeria the trade has become somewhat less remunerative, as the Air “Taghalam” no longer enjoys its ancient monopoly in the Central Sudan, but the infinitesimal cost of production and the cheap transport in the hands of nomads will always enable it to compete with the imported European trade product to some extent. Bilma salt is of good quality; it is comparatively free from sand or medicinal chemicals and is preferred by the natives of the south to the purer European product. The loaves are made up in conical form and are pink in colour, standing some 18-24″ high by 9-12″ at the base.
The return journey of the “Taghalam” follows the same course as the outward one. The whole trip, which is extremely strenuous for men and camels alike, takes some three weeks. There are always a number of casualties among the camels from exhaustion, but so large are the profits that every Tuareg is ready to take the risk and send as many of his herd as he can possibly spare at least once a year, either in the autumn or on the smaller “Taghalam” which goes in the spring. After returning from Bilma the camels are rested and then proceed to Damergu and the south to sell their salt and their services. They are joined by any other camels fit to go, and when they have disposed of their merchandise engage in transport work between the cities of the Southland until about March or April. Then they begin to move north again before the rains set in in the Sudan. The proceeds of this work and of the sale of Bilma salt, or dates from Fashi and Air, are invested in grain and such trade goods as cotton cloth, tea, sugar, snuff and hardware, which are the only luxuries of Air. By the time they reach the mountains the summer rains have probably begun, and they have some three months in which to recuperate on the fresh pasture of the hills in preparation for the next year’s routine.
Transactions in salt and grain are measured by the camel load, which varies considerably from place to place. Metrology is not an exact science in Air, but recognised standards nevertheless exist. The actual measures are kept by the tribal chiefs, and it is, of course, common gossip to hear it said that a certain chief gives unduly short weight. The only truly Tuareg measure is a unit of capacity; in the first instance it is the handful, whether of grain or salt or other commodity. But the measure has been standardised by establishing that a handful shall be as much millet grain as an ordinary man can pick up in his hand with the fingers closed palm upwards.[209] Six such handfuls nominally make one “tefakint,” which is measured by heaping the grain in a small circular basket with sloping sides 1¾″ deep × 3⅝″ in diameter at the mouth × 2″ at the bottom. The next larger measure is the “muda,” a cylindrical wooden cup with a hemispherical bottom in a U section. As the handful and the “tefakint” are too small to measure bulky wares like dates, the “muda” has become the effectual standard in the country, but it varies in certain areas. At Auderas it is of five “tefakint,” but in Agades of ten. The T’imia and Kel Owi or Ighazar “muda” is different again, three of them being the same as two Auderas or one Agades “muda.” The three “mudas” are, however, generally recognised and are not the subject of bargaining in each transaction. The measure corresponding to the Air “tefakint” basket in Damergu is a round section cut from a large calabash; this slightly convex plate is held by a loop for the fingers fixed to the underside. All these grain measures are considered to be full when the grain is heaped up so that it runs over the edge.
For small weights the silver five-franc piece, or “sinko” as it is called, is now also used, especially in measuring the value of silver ornaments. The rate of exchange current in 1922 in Air at Agades was four silver shillings or five silver francs to the “sinko”; a general rate of five obtained elsewhere in Air, as silver francs and shillings were not distinguished from each other. The people of Air have the nomads’ dislike for paper currency in any form. Various coins, including the Maria Teresa dollar, are still in circulation, but French coinage is gradually replacing all others. Cowrie shells are no longer used and gold is now unknown. The mithkal of Agades dates from the time when the gold trade was still flourishing, and its form here is peculiar to this city. It seems to have been a unit of weight and not of currency; as a recognised amount of gold it was used as the basis for striking bargains, but the metal probably did not pass from hand to hand owing to the inconvenience of handling dust. With the decline of the gold trade the mithkal survived as a unit of weight, but its theoretical value changed considerably in the course of centuries. We find in Barth’s day the exchange was reckoned at 1 mithkal = 1000 cowries, and 2500 cowries = 1 Maria Teresa dollar; but whereas the Agades mithkal was only worth two-fifths of a dollar, the Timbuctoo mithkal was worth one-third of a dollar. It is interesting to arrive by a round-about method at a rough estimate of the change in value of the unit.
The mithkal as a simple unit of weight was a part of a larger unit in the following equation:[210] 100 mithkal = 3 small karruwe = 1 large karruwe = 6½ Arab rottls. The Arab rottl weight varies between 225 grammes in Persia and about 160 grammes in Cairo, several slightly different standard rottls being used in other parts of Egypt. Taking 160 grammes as the equivalent of 1 rottl, and assuming Barth’s equation to be correct, we get 10·4 grammes for the Agades mithkal. The unit of 10·4 grammes of gold dust in the fifteenth century A.D. was in the nineteenth century equal to two-fifths of a Maria Teresa dollar weighing 28·0668 grammes silver 0·833 fine, or in other words, 13·5 grammes of silver.
The only measures of length in Air are the “aghil” (plural “ighillan”)[211] and the “tedi” or “teddi.” The former is the universal dra’, ell or cubit measured from the inner elbow-point to the first joint of the middle finger on an average man, say 5 ft. 10 in. tall. Ten “ighillan” make one “amitral,” the two measures being only used for cloth, etc. The “tedi” is the fathom and is used for measuring the depth of wells or the length of rope, etc. There is no measure in Air for distance, which is invariably calculated by the parts of a day or the number of days taken to cover the ground.
The pack-saddle of Air is peculiar to the country. It is very simple, consisting of two sheaves of grass or straw, two semi-circular pieces of matting made of plaited dûm palm fronds, a skin filled with grain or stuffed with dry camel dung and a wooden arch terminating in flat boards. A bundle of grass, with the butt ends even and trimmed, is laid on the semi-circular mat, which is then rolled around it and sewn up with ribbands of palm frond by a long wooden or iron bodkin; the flowery ends of the grass project beyond the matting. One of these mat cylinders or cushions is fitted each side of the camel’s hump with the butts nearly touching one another over the withers. Over these pads is placed the arch of wood, the ends of which terminate in boards some 9″ × 3″ at the ends, resting on the pads, which are tied on with twisted dûm palm rope. A stuffed goatskin thrown transversely over the back of the camel behind the hump forms a rear pad. Its corners are tied to the two ends of the arch with adjustable cords to regulate the distance between them. The loads, which must be carefully balanced, are slung over the pack-saddle; two loops on each load are hitched to the other two on the other load with two short sticks. The weight of the load rests on the side pads and the ends of the back pad; the load cords bear on the latter and on the side pads just in front of the wooden arch, which prevents them slipping backwards. The load ropes rest on, and are not tied to, the saddle. No girths, crupper or breastband are used unless the loads are very bulky or need special steadying. Unloading is extraordinarily simple, for as soon as the camel has been knelt down the loops are disconnected by pulling out the short sticks and the loads fall down on either side.
The pack-saddle is simple and cheap, but is not efficient on steep slopes where the camel may stumble or lurch awkwardly. As these conditions prevail all over Air, the arrangement is really far from ideal, though in the plain land it is practical enough. The principal advantages are that every part of the saddle is easily adjustable to suit any particular camel, while the whole equipment weighs next to nothing. The goatskin used as the back pad on long journeys is filled with a provision of grain, saving an additional receptacle on each camel of the caravan. The resultant economy of space and bulk is unequalled in any other system.
The rest of the camel’s equipment consists of a head rope, a hobbling rope and the load ropes. In Air all rope is made of split dûm palm fronds soaked in water till they have fermented, or, if no time is available, from fresh material. The strips are twisted like ordinary two or three strand “cable laid” rope. It is a strong, serviceable material costing nothing and available everywhere where the dûm palm grows, which is all over Air and the Sudan. The scarcity of date palms precludes the use of the brown fibre which grows below the fronds, known to camel travellers in the north. The dûm palm rope does not wear so well as the latter but is easier to manufacture. Every camel-man in Air spends a certain part of the day making rope, twisting the fronds from split ribbands about ¼-½″ broad, bundles of which he carries about; he sits on the ground talking and twisting, using his big toe to hold the end of the rope he has made, and weaving in strand after strand with incredible speed. The rope is nearly all two-stranded cable, but the tightness of twist and the finish vary with the use. Load ropes are very closely twisted cable, passed twice round the package at each end and terminating in a loop adjusted by a running half-hitch to raise or lower the load on the side of the camel. Lashing rope and rough nets are made of loosely twisted strands. The camel head rope is a long piece with a slip knot at one end passed over the lower jaw of the camel and pulled tight behind its front teeth. Hobble ropes are stout lengths passed round one foreleg, then twisted and passed round the other, leaving about 18″ of movement between the limbs: the ends are secured by passing a knot through a small loop. Carefully made rope is beaten with a stone to make the strands pack tightly.