“Very well, tell them I am a stranger from a distant country, who has come here to see whether my people may not be of the same origin as theirs. Tell them I should be glad if I could take their costume with me to show to my countrymen. I will pay for them more than their value, or, if they will not take money for them, I will undertake to send them corn by caravan from Gabés, for I know that they have been unable to buy any here.”
The interpreter then began the lengthy and tough transaction.
It then transpired that one of the two, Akhemed-uld-Bai, spoke Arabic, but not so his compatriot, Mohammed-ben-Mohammed. The conversation therefore took time.
First I addressed the interpreter in French, he then translated what I had said into Arabic for Akhemed, who again repeated it in the Berber language to Mohammed.
After the matter had been thoroughly discussed by the pair, the reply was returned in the same way.
They informed us that they belonged to the “Foghass” section of the Azgu tribe of Tuareg. But though the name of Akhemed-uld-Bai had the true Tuareg ring, as much could hardly be said for his companion’s patronymic. Their proper home was on the farther side of Rhadamés.
When they learnt that I was anxious to become the possessor of their property, both of them stared at me long and fixedly, after which they consulted together for a while. Then Akhemed began to divest himself of his white “Tuat” burnous, for which we bargained. As I gave him what he asked, his other garments soon followed, and bit by bit he stripped himself, until he was actually clothed in nothing but a scanty shirt, or under-tunic, and the black veil, of which the lower part concealed his mouth.
A Tuareg never exposes his mouth before others so long as he can avoid doing so; it would be a breach of propriety.
But in the presence of foreigners they had evidently less regard for decorum than they would have had before their own people. Now and then Akhemed, as he talked, dragged the kerchief away from the lower part of his face, and I saw the handsome well-formed beardless mouth and white teeth. Whether he were shaved I know not; but it is said that the Tuareg do not care for beards, and therefore shave.
When he rose to take off his clothes, his fine muscular form towered above all those present; a truly herculean specimen, he was some six feet high, sparely but splendidly built.