People of the veil

by Baron Francis James Rennell Rodd Rennell of Rodd

Of the three villages at Towar, the modern one is a collection of mud huts; the older site on the same bank is a group of single-roomed “B type” houses, while the oldest of the three settlements is on the west bank and is called the Itesan village. Among the twenty ruined houses which I examined there I found three very good examples of the “A type,” correctly oriented north and south, in addition to several others of the single-roomed variety, the better ones being similar to those at Agejir. The 100 odd houses on this site were in too ruinous a condition to be readily identifiable.

The houses in Northern and North-eastern Air will be described in a succeeding chapter, but the subject cannot here be left without reference to certain dwellings which I encountered at Faodet at the head of the Ighazar basin. Here, side by side with some ordinary “B type” dwellings, were a few straw and thatch huts of about the same size constructed on a rectangular plan in obvious imitation of the neighbouring masonry dwellings. They were correctly oriented and had flat thatched roofs. Their inhabitants, though using an unsuitable material, had evidently tried to construct that type of dwelling which they felt was more correct for permanent occupation than the temporary round huts, a more suitable shape, of course, for brushwood, grass and matting construction. This example of innate sense of formality is most significant.

It is possible to draw certain conclusions on the style of Tuareg house construction in Air, even without the material evidence necessary for a more detailed study or comparative dating. Could excavation be undertaken, information would not be lacking, for pottery and stratified débris abound, only, unfortunately, time was not available for such investigations in the course of my journey.

The “A type” houses, according to the unanimous tradition of the present inhabitants, were built by the Itesan. Their vicarious distribution in Air suggests that all the Tuareg of the first wave used this style of dwelling. That fewer have survived in areas from which they were dispossessed by the Kel Geres and Kel Owi is natural. It is not, therefore, fortuitous that the present Tuareg call the houses Itesan rather than Kel Geres, despite the later association of the two groups of people; whatever claim has been put forward on behalf of the latter for a share in the earlier architectural development I am inclined to regard as simply due to their comparatively recent historical association. The later immigrants do not appear to have been so troubled by traditions of the formality which imbued their predecessors. In the essentially Kel Geres areas west of the Iferuan-Auderas-Agades road, other than the part which the Itesan occupied astride the line in the Auderas area, the “A type” houses occur, but are rare. The “B” and transitional “C types,” predominate. Nevertheless these Kel Geres “B type” houses are larger and better in technical execution than the late “B type,” which are known to have been made and used by the Kel Owi. The latter in their dwellings display a more formal conception than the Kel Geres; many of the old characteristics, like orientation, arrangements of the doors, ritual niches and proportion come out more strongly in North-eastern Air than, for instance, in the Agellal and Sidawet areas. The formless quadrangular buildings of Assode with very few of the old peculiarities are apparently Kel Geres work. The influence of the first or Itesan immigrants was, however, still sufficiently powerful to render their technique of construction in many respects superior to that of the Kel Owi.

The persistence of the characteristics of the Itesan period among the later Kel Owi, in fact its existence till quite recently among all the Air Tuareg in one form or another, is proof that we are not concerned with any fortuitous manifestation. Both the sentiments held by the people to-day and the occurrence of rectangular straw huts on the “B type” plan at Faodet, substantiate this conclusion. But if I am right in my feeling that the characteristics in question were more strongly present among the first Itesan or Kel Innek wave and among the third or Kel Owi wave than among the Kel Geres, then the explanation is tenable that the features are derived from the civilisation of the Lemta or Fezzanian branch of the Tuareg, who, we shall see, are the original stock from which the first and last wave of immigrants into Air were probably derived, the former by way of the Chad countries, the latter also from the north or north-west, but perhaps by way of the Adghar of the Ifoghas and Tademekka.[223] This line of reasoning, which is put forward very tentatively, indicates that the Fezzan requires to be examined in some detail before an advance in the solution of the problem surrounding the cultural origin of the Air house can be made. Even if the evidence of their houses were all, I should be satisfied that the culture of the Air Tuareg was a shadowy memory of some higher civilisation. I will hazard no guess regarding its first cradle, but only suggest that some clues may be found in the Fezzan.

Another aspect of Tuareg architecture in Air remains to be examined. It concerns the style of their mosques. These buildings are comparatively numerous and all on much the same plan. The simplest form is a long, narrow construction running north and south with a “Qibla” in the centre of the east side. It is noteworthy that in several cases the “Qibla” gives the impression of having been added to the building, after the main walls had been erected, but this may only be an illusion due to defective workmanship. The larger mosques have one or more “aisles,” the wall or walls between them being pierced at many points to give the illusion of columns supporting the low roof. With the exception of one at Agejir, the head room of all the mosques I examined never exceeded 6 feet. Even the mosque at Assode, which was the largest in Air, had so low a ceiling that it was scarcely possible to stand upright anywhere inside. In one or two examples which I saw there was a separate construction, consisting of a single or double “aisle,” standing some feet away, west of the mosque proper. These buildings were of the same dimensions from north to south as the latter and served as alms-houses or “khans” for the distribution of food to the poor, who were also allowed to sleep there when travelling from village to village. In the mosque of Assode and in that of Tasawat in the Tabello group of villages certain portions of the sacred building were reserved for the worship of women, or as schools. In the Tasawat mosque the windows of the “harim” enclosure looked into the main part of the mosque, but had lattice gratings of split palm fronds crossing one another diagonally. This mosque was certainly later than any of the “A type” houses in the vicinity. Its construction was indifferent, but noteworthy for the elaboration of the holes pierced in the partition walls, every alternate one being shaped like the ogive niches in the partition walls of the “A type” houses with the same recess cut out of the base. Neither in these openings nor in the niches of the houses has the principle of the true arch been applied: the ogives were built up by a wooden cantilever framing set in the thickness of the walls. With the exception of the great mosque at Agades, which is of the same type as the other holy buildings in Air, Assode is the only example which possessed a minaret. It is curious that the early houses of the Tuareg should be so noteworthy for the height of the roof, while the mosques should be equally remarkable for the lowness; the feature is one associated with a late period of building.

It is very difficult to date any of the mosques, or indeed any of the other buildings or graves in Air, absolutely, in the absence of archæological field evidence. Jean[224] has collected a tradition to the effect that the mosque of Tefis is the oldest in Air, and this accords with my information. He dates it, however, at 1150 years ago, and states that it was built by the Kel Geres, who, according to him, were the first Tuareg to reach Air. Though I cannot agree with the last part of this conclusion, I concur in finding that the Kel Geres were the first Tuareg to enter Air by the north, and that they were, therefore, perhaps responsible for the introduction of Islam into the country. If this should prove to be the case, it is indeed probable that they built the first mosques. But Jean’s acceptance of the traditional dating of the mosques is closely connected with the dates which he assigns to the advent of the Tuareg, namely, the eighth century A.D., a period which for reasons given elsewhere I am inclined to consider too early.

The traditional date for the founding of the mosque at Tefis in the eighth century A.D. is hardly admissible, for it is more than doubtful whether Islam had spread so far south by that time. It is alternatively uncertain whether a Christian Church then existed in the land. By the year 800 A.D. Islam had only penetrated Tripolitania and Tunisia to a limited extent and in the face of much opposition which persisted for long. Jean’s dates must be regarded, not as absolute, but only as indicating a chronological sequence. The second mosque according to him was founded at T’intaghoda fifty years after the one at Tefis. The building, he states, was made by the Kel Owi, but if they were responsible for its construction the date must be set down as much later. My information agrees with its having been the second mosque in Air to be built; and this much of Jean’s information I accept, but discard its Kel Owi origin.[225] The third mosque was built at Assode about 100 years later than Tefis. The one at Agades followed after an interval of 40 years, 980 years ago, and is said to have been offered to the second Sultan of Agades as a present from the tribes. Chudeau adds to this information the additional detail that the minaret of the mosque of Assode, which, according to him, was 1000 years old, fell four centuries ago, but as the débris has not been cleared away to this day, the accuracy of the statement seems doubtful. Both Chudeau’s and Jean’s dates are all too remote. Undue importance must not be attached to the round figures in which the Tuareg are prone to reckon their traditional history.

PLATE 31

MOSQUES.