While the distribution of “argem” seems then to coincide with, and be due to the Tuareg, the “Berbères” to whom Gautier refers arrived in North Africa and spread into the interior before the advent of the metal ages. The last word has certainly not been said regarding the age of these monuments, and in spite of this difficulty of dates I have little hesitation in finding in them evidence of the individuality and racial detachment of the Tuareg stock from that of the other Libyans, who do not seem to have used this funerary apparatus. After all, the late neolithic and early metal ages in inner Libya were hardly separate from one another, and in the south, where we know the Tuareg are only fairly recent arrivals, the lateness of the “argem” is readily understandable. But if we believe them to be due to the Tuareg, the earliest remains in the north must be far older than Gautier supposes.

Although certain remains of a presumed funerary or religious nature in Air have been described as “argem,” it has apparently escaped notice that both the pre-Moslem as well as the later graves of the country are all linear descendants of the older and more pretentious monuments. Yet if the term has any significance at all, there has been a tendency perhaps to describe rather too many enclosures as “argem.” Certain examples illustrated by Gautier are probably devoid of any spiritual significance. There are in Air, for instance, especially in the north of the country near Agwau, a number of groups of concentric stone circles, which were simply enclosures round temporary huts or tents. The old hut circles of the T’imia village ([Plate 29]) show clearly how an isolated example might be assumed to have been a prayer or religious enclosure. Again, the circular heaps of stones at Elazzas resemble the “argem” illustrated by Bates[231] so much that one might be tempted to conclude that they were such, if it did not happen to be known that they were the raised plinths on which huts used to be constructed. A deduction drawn from the occurrence of the latter might indicate that the origin of the true “argem” was derived from a desire to commemorate in death the only permanent part of a man’s hut dwelling in life. Such an explanation is not only permissible but even probable; it is even possible that in some cases tombs were actually made in the very floor of the hut or side of the pedestal where the deceased had lived.

In the lower Turayet valley in Southern Air I passed a number of graves which seemed to suggest an intermediate type between the large prehistoric “rigm” and the later small enclosure of stones covered with white pebbles. The Turayet graves were small circular platforms like the hut foundations at Elazzas, but not more than 10 ft. in diameter with vertical sides a few inches above the ground level and flat tops covered with white stones. The occurrence of these tombs on the Turayet valley, not far from the mouth of the Akaraq valley, where also is perhaps a pre-Moslem place of worship, and the existence of what may prove a pre-Moslem urn burial cemetery at Marandet, all of which places are in the extreme south of Air, are interesting points when it is remembered that the first Tuareg inhabitants of Air came to the country from the south. It may nevertheless be pure coincidence that there seemed to be fewer obviously ancient monuments in Northern Air than in the southern part.

The absence of funerary inscriptions is in marked contrast with the profusion of rock writings in Air. Written literature is, however, almost non-existent, but traditional poetry takes its place. The esteem in which poetry is held and the popularity which it enjoys are proof of the intellectual capacity which is present in this people.

When it is realised that, alone among the ancient people of North Africa, the Tuareg have kept an individual script, it seems extraordinary that drawing, painting and sculpture should have remained in so primitive a state. Even if we are to admit that the earliest and therefore the best of the rock drawings of North Africa are the work of the ancestors of the Tuareg, it is hardly possible to qualify them as more than interesting or curious. Few of them are beautiful. Some of the “Early Period”[232] drawings were executed with precision and care, but even if full allowance is made for the possibility of their having been coloured there are hardly any artistic achievements of merit. They do not bear comparison with the bushman drawings of South Africa, still less with the magnificent cave paintings of the Reindeer Age in Europe. But while some doubt exists regarding the authorship of the early drawings, the later North African pictures can be ascribed to the Tuareg without any fear of controversy. The Tuareg are still engaged in making them, but this modern work is even more crude. The drawings have become conventionalised; the symbols do not necessarily bear any likeness to the objects which they purport to represent.

The rock drawings in Air display continuity from bad examples in the style of the early period down to the modern conventionalised glyphs. In most cases both the early and the late work is accompanied by T’ifinagh inscriptions. The earlier drawings represent animals which exist, or used to exist, in Air. The most carefully executed I saw were in the valley leading up from Agaragar to the pass into the Ighazar basin above Faodet. The place was near some watering-point, used by the northern Salt Caravan from Air to Bilma. The pictures were somewhat difficult to see as they had in part been covered by later drawings. The execution was rough, consisting of little more than an outline with a few markings on the bodies of some of the animals. As in the late petroglyphs there was no chiselling or cutting: the lines were made by hammering with a more or less suitable instrument and then by rubbing with a stone and sand. Among the animals thus represented, the giraffe and the ostrich in a wild state survive south of Air. An antelope with sloping quarters and large lyre-shaped horns, the ox, the camel, the donkey, a horse, a large bird, and the human figure, both male and female, could also be traced. The large antelope I cannot identify for certain, but the large bird is probably the Greater Arab Bustard.

In the later work the conventionalised symbols remain fairly constant. The ox is shown as a straight line with four vertical lines representing legs, a clear indication of the hump, and two short horns. The rectangular camel symbol had become so debased that for a long time I was at a loss to interpret it. The representations of the human figure are only curious inasmuch as they emphasise the long robe worn by the Tuareg and sometimes the cross bands over the breast, so typical of the Libyans in the Egyptian paintings. An interesting point in these rudimentary examples of the pictorial art is that even in the early period they portray a similar fauna and habit of life to those of to-day. A faint Egyptian influence may be detected in the human figures. I know of no drawings in Air to compare with the ones found by Barth at Telizzarhen, nor any which appeared to have a religious significance. The most interesting example is certainly that of the ox and cart referred to in the following chapter.

The necessity of pictorial expression was evidently less felt than that of poetry, a condition to which nomadism has undoubtedly contributed. Yet even in ornament and draughtsmanship the Tuareg seem once to have reached a higher plane of civilisation in the past than that which they now possess and which their life has led them progressively to abandon.

They have little knowledge of history outside their own tribal or group lore with the exception of that modicum of knowledge derived from a superficial study of the Quran. At the same time, men like Ahodu have heard and remembered stories of the past such as those of Kahena, Queen of the Aures, and of her fighting against the Arabs. Their knowledge of local geography is enormous, of the general form or shape of North Africa small. They know of the Mediterranean and their language has a word for the sea. They have heard of the Nile, of Egypt, of the Niger and of Lake Chad, but they have only very vague inklings of the existence of Arabia or of the whereabouts of Istambul, where the Defender of the Faith lived. They can draw rough maps of local features on the sand and understand perfectly the conception of European maps on a wider scale. When I showed them an atlas with a map of the world and laboriously explained that it was a flat representation of a spherical object, Ahodu and Sidi surprised me by saying that they knew that the world was round, and that if you went in by a hole you would eventually come out on the other side. Duveyrier and others have been surprised at the knowledge of European countries and politics which they have found in the Sahara. The communication of news between distant parts of Africa is highly developed and at times astounding.

PLATE 33