At present the Azkár form but a small part of the population of the country which they rule, namely, the region enclosed between the desert bordered by Wady Talíya in the east, the valleys Zerzúwa and Áfara in the west, the well of Asïu towards the south, and Nijbertín towards the north, and are not able to furnish more than about five hundred armed men. In fact, they form a warlike aristocracy of five families, divided into thirty divisions or fayas, each of which has an independent chief. The names of the five families are Urághen, Ímanang, Ífogas, Hadánarang, and Manghássatang. The Urághen or Aurághen, meaning the “Yellows,” or “golden” (in colour), who seemed to have once formed a very powerful family, and have given their name to one of the principal dialects of the Tarkíye or Temáshight, are at present much dispersed, many of them living among the Awelímmiden, on the northern shore of the Isa or Niger, where I shall have more to say about them. Even among the Azkár they still form the most important division, and count at least a hundred and fifty full-grown men. A large body of them is settled in and about the valley of Arikím, on the direct road from Múrzuk to Sudán, and about fifty miles to the south of Ghát. Their original abode is said to have been at a place called Asáwa, to the south of Irálghawen. But the tribe that formerly possessed the greatest authority, and which on this account is still called Amanókalen, or the Sultan tribe, is that of the Ímanang, who are at present reduced to extreme poverty, and to a very small number, said not even to reach ten families. But they have still a very large number of Imghád under their command. Their women are celebrated for their beauty. They are most of them settled in the valley of Díder. The third division of the Azkár, to which Hatíta, the friend of the English, belongs, are the Manghássatang, or Imaghássaten, whose leather tents are generally pitched in the valley of Zerzúwa, on the road from Ghát to Tawát, about six days’ journey from the former.
The three clans, or “Tiyúsi,” which I have mentioned, constitute at present, strictly speaking, the family of the Azkár, the other two divisions, viz. the Ífogas and the Hadánarang, having separated from the rest, and broken in some way the national bond which formerly united them with the others. One of them, the Ífogas, are scattered over the whole desert, some having settled among the Kél-owí at a place called Tórit, on the road to Damerghú; another section dwells in the more favoured valleys to the east of Mabrúk; while a small portion of this tribe remains in the territory of the Azkár, where they have their abode in the valley of Áfara, about half-way between Ghát and Tawát. The second of these tribes, viz. the Hadánarang, is settled in a place called Ádemar, not far from the southern frontier of the territory of the Azkár, in the midst of the Imghád. They are, to some extent at least, migratory freebooters; and to them belonged those robbers who, soon after we had fortunately got out of their clutches, murdered two Tébu merchants on the road from Aïr to Ghát, carrying away their whole caravan, with no less than thirty-three slaves.
I was assured by Hatíta that there were not less than thirty subdivisions of the larger clans, called “faya,” in Temáshight; but I could only ascertain the names of four of them; viz. the Izóban and the Okéren, living in the Wady Irárarén, and probably belonging to one and the same family (I believe the Ímanang); the Degárrab, probably a section of the Hadánarang, living in a place called Tárat, together with some Imghád; and finally the Ihiyáwen or Ihéwan, a portion of whom dwell in Titarsén, while another section has settled near Tasáwa in Fezzán, forming the last link of the chain which connects the Imghád and the Azkár. Another link is formed by the Makéresang, who, like the former, submit to the authority of the chief Nakhnúkhen; then follows the Ifélelen, who are settled in Tasíl with the Imghád. The least degenerate of these half-caste tribes, who hold a middle place between the Imóshagh and the Imghád, or between the free and the servile, is said to be the section of the Mateghílelen, now settled in the Wady el Gharbi, in Fezzán, while their kindred certainly belong to the Imghád. This is the best proof that the name Ámghi does not express national descent, but social condition. Another section or tribe loosely connected with the Azkár, but not regarded as noble, although as strict ascetics they are much respected, and are enabled to carry on almost undisturbed the commerce between Fezzán and Negroland, are the Tinýlkum, of whom I have already had occasion to speak repeatedly. At present they are settled partly in the valley Tigger-odé, where their chief the Háj ʿAli resides, partly in Wady el Gharbi and around Tasáwa; but their ancient seats were to the south of Ghát, and even in the town of Ghát itself, they having been called in to decide the quarrel between the former inhabitants of that place, the Kél-tellek and the Makamúmmasen.
As I said above, the ruling class of the Azkár constitutes by far the smaller part of the population of the country, while the great mass of the population of these regions consists of a subject or degraded tribe called Imghád, or, in the Arabic form, Merátha, or even Metáthra. This I formerly considered to be a Gentile name; but I found afterwards that it is a general epithet, used by all the different tribes of the Imóshagh to denote degraded tribes. The singular form of the name is Ámghi, which is the counterpart of Amóshagh, as it means “servile,” while the latter means “free.” The Imghád of the Azkár differ a great deal from the ruling tribe, particularly the women; for while the Imóshagh are tolerably fair, a great many of the former are almost black, but nevertheless well made, and not only without negro features, but generally with a very regular physiognomy, while the women, at least in their forms, approach more to the type of the negro races. But as for their language, I must confess that I am not able to decide with confidence whether it sprang originally from a Berber dialect or the Háusa language:[7] many of the people, indeed, seem to be bilingual; but by far the greater part of the men do not even understand the Háusa language. I am persuaded that they were originally Berbers who have become degraded by intermixture with the black natives.
The Imghád of the Azkár, who altogether form a numerous body, being able to furnish about five thousand armed men, are divided into four sections—the Batánatang or Ibétnaten, the Fárkana or Aférkenén, Segígatang, and Wárwaren, which latter name, I think, very naturally calls to mind the Latin “Barbari,” a name which, according to some ancient authors, belonged to certain tribes of Northern Africa, and may fairly explain the origin of the name Berber, though it is to be remarked that “war,” a syllable with which a great number of Berber names begin, seems to signify “man.” Of these four divisions the last three seem to live principally in and around the small town of Bárakat, a few miles south of Ghát, and in and around Jánet or Yánet, about thirty miles south-south-west from Égeri. Neither the population of the town of Ghát nor that of the town of Bárakat is at present formed by these Imghád; but I should suppose that in former times they were also the privileged inhabitants of Ghát itself, which at present is occupied by a very mixed race, so well described by the late Mr. Richardson. These two favoured spots of the desert seem to be left entirely to these people as tenants, on condition that they take care of the plantations and of the gardens, and gather the fruit, of which they are bound to give a portion to their masters. Some of the noble Imóshagh, indeed, seem to have a great many of these people at their disposal. The Batánatang or Ibétnaten reside principally in a valley called Tesíli, while another section of them have their abode amongst the Hogár, in a district called Tehellahóhet, on the road from Asïu to Tawát. A portion of the last tribe (viz. the Fárkana or Aférkenén) dwell in a valley called Tarát, about a day’s journey north-west from Nghákeli.
Besides these four great divisions, there are many other sections of the Imghád. The names of these, as far as they became known to me, are as follows: the Dik-Surki, settled in the territory of the Azkár, in a place called Édehi; the Kél-n-tunín, living in Aderár; the Amatghílelen, who have their abode in the same spot; the Kél-áhenet, living in Hágara; the Akeshemáden, in the valley called Atúl; the Íkelan, who have their dwelling-places in Zerzer; the Kélghafsa, in Ífak; the Kél-ífis, in Temághaset; and finally, the Ijrán.
The ruling race of the Imóshagh subsist entirely on the labour of this depressed class, but still more upon the tribute or gheráma which, as I mentioned above, they raise from the caravans—a custom already mentioned by Leo Africanus. Without some such revenue they could not trick themselves out so well as they do, though when at home in their “tekábber” they live at a very little expense, particularly as they are not polygamists. The Imghád are not allowed to carry an iron spear nor to wear a sword, which is the distinction of the free man, nor any very showy dress. Most of them may be regarded as settled, or as “Kél,” that is to say as the constant, or at least as the ordinary, inhabitants of a given place; and this indeed, it seems, is even to be said of a great many of the Azkár themselves, who seem to hold a middle place between the nomadic and the settled tribes. The consequence is that many of them do not live in leather tents, or “éhe,” but in round conical huts called tekábber, made of bushes and dry grass.
The town of Ghát (the favoured locality of which might be presumed to have attracted a settlement at a very early age) is not mentioned by any Arabic author except the traveller Ebn Batúta, in the fourteenth century, and seems never to have been a large place. Even now it is a small town of about two hundred and fifty houses, but nevertheless of considerable commercial importance, which would become infinitely greater if the jealousy of the Tawáti would allow the opening of the direct road from Timbúktu, which seems to be under the special protection of the powerful chief Gemáma.
The view from the rocky hill which reaches its greatest elevation just over the town, and, together with a cistern, offers a few Berber and Arabic inscriptions to the curious traveller, proved far less extensive and picturesque than that from a sand-hill a little distance westward from the house of Háj Ahmed. I ascended this little hill in the afternoon of the 22nd, and, screened by an ethel-bush, sketched the whole oasis—the separate strips of palm-trees, the wide desolate valley, bordered by the steep slope of the Akakús-range, with its regular strata of marly slate and its pinnacled crest of sandstone; the little town on the left, at the foot of the rocky hill, contrasting with the few and frail huts of palm-branches scattered about here and there; the noble and spacious mansion of the industrious Háj Ahmed in the foreground, on the northern side of which was the flat dwelling assigned to us. When descending from this hill towards the south, I was greatly pleased with the new improvements added by Háj Ahmed to his plantation. The example of this man shows how much may be achieved by a little industry in these favoured spots, where cultivation might be infinitely increased. In the southernmost and most recent part of the plantation a large basin, about 100 feet long and 60 feet broad, had been formed, receiving a full supply of water from the northern side of the sand-hills, and irrigating kitchen-gardens of considerable extent. Thus the wealthy Governor makes some advance every year; but, unfortunately, he seems not to find many imitators.