There are three tribes whose political relations give them greater importance, namely, the Kél-táfidet, the Kél-n-Néggaru, and the Kél-fares. The first of these three, to whom belongs the above-mentioned Háj ʿAbdúwa, live in Táfidet, a group of three villages lying at the foot of a considerable mountain chain thirty miles to the south-east of Tin-téllust, and at the distance of only five good days’ march from Bilma. The Kél-n-Néggaru form an important family originally settled in Néggaru, a district to the north of Selúfiet; but at present they live in Ásodi and in the village Eghellál, and some of them lead a nomadic life in the valleys of Tin-téggana and Ásada. On account of the present Sultan (who belongs to them) being called Astáfidet, they are now also named Aushi-n-Astáfidet (the tribe of Astáfidet). The Kél-fares, to whom belongs the great, mʿallem Azóri, who, on account of his learning, is respected as a prince in the whole country, live in Tin-téyyat, a village about thirty-five miles east-north-east from Tin-téllust.
The nominal chief of the Kél-owí is the amanókal residing in Asodi; but there is now another greater association or confederation, formed by the Kél-owí, the Kél-gerés, and the Itísan, and some other smaller tribes combined together; and the head of this confederation is the great amanókal residing in Ágades. This league, which at present hardly subsists (the Kél-gerés and Itísan having been driven by the Kél-owí from their original settlements, and being opposed to them almost constantly in open hostility), was evidently in former times very strong and close.
But before speaking of the Kél-gerés and their intimate friends the Itísan, I shall mention those small tribes which, though not regarded as belonging to the body of the Kél-owí and placed under the special and direct supremacy or government of the Sultan of Ágades, are nevertheless more intimately related to them than to the other great tribes. These are, besides the Ém-egédesen, or the inhabitants of Ágades or Agadez, of whom I shall speak in the account of my journey to that interesting place, the three tribes of the Kél-fadaye, the Kél-ferwán and the Izeráren.
As for the Kél-fadaye they are the original and real inhabitants of the district Fáde-ang, which lies round Tághajít; while the Éfadaye, who have been called after the same district, are rather a mixture of vagabonds flocking here from different quarters, and principally from that of the Azkár. But the Kél-fadaye, who, as well as their neighbours the Éfadaye, took part in the ghazzia against the expedition on the frontiers of Aïr, are a very turbulent set of people, being regarded in this light by the natives themselves, as appears from the letter of the Sultan of Ágades to the chiefs Ánnur and Lúsu, of which I brought back a copy, wherein they are called Mehárebín, or freebooters. Nevertheless they are of pure and noble Berber blood, and renowned for their valour; and I was greatly astonished to learn afterwards from my noble and intimate friend and protector the sheikh Sídi Ahmed el Bakáy, that he had married one of their daughters, and, had long resided amongst them. Even from the letter of the Sultan of Ágades it appears that they have some relations with the Awelímmiden. The name of their chief is Shúrwa.
The Kél-ferwán, though they are called after the fine and fertile place Iferwán, in one of the valleys to the east of Tintágh-odé, where a good deal of millet is sown, and where there are plenty of date-trees, do not all reside there at present, a numerous portion of them having settled in the neighbourhood of Ágades, whence they make continual marauding expeditions, or “égehen,” upon the Timbúktu road, and against the Awelímmiden. Nevertheless the Kél-ferwán, as the kinsmen of the Aurághen, and the Amanókalen (that is to say the clan to which, before the different tribes came to the decision of fetching their Sultan from Sókoto, the family of the Sultan belonged) are of nobler and purer blood than any of the rest. As an evidence of their former nobility, the custom still remains that when the Sultan of Ágades leaves the town for any length of time his deputy or lieutenant in the place is the chief of the Kél-ferwán.
The third tribe of those who are under the direct authority of the Sultan of Ágades, viz. the Izeráren, live between Ágades and Damerghú. But I did not come into contact with them.
The Kél-gerés and Itísan seem to have been originally situated in the fertile and partially beautiful districts round the Bághzen, or (as these southern tribes pronounce the name in their dialect) Mághzem, where, on our journey towards Damerghú, we found the well-built stone houses in which they had formerly dwelt.
On being driven out of their original seats by the Kél-owí, about twenty-five or thirty years ago, they settled towards the west and south-west of Ágades, in a territory which was probably given them by the Awelímmiden, with an intention hostile to the Kél-owí. From that time they have been alternately in bloody feud or on amicable terms with the Kél-owí; but a sanguinary war has recently (in 1854) broken out again between these tribes, which seems to have consumed the very sources of their strength, and cost the lives of many of my friends, and among them that of Hámma, the son-in-law of Ánnur. The principal dwelling-place of the Kél-gerés is Arar, while their chief market-place is said to be Jóbeli, on the road from Ágades to Sókoto.
The Kél-gerés and the Itísan together are equal in effective strength to the Kél-owí, though they are not so numerous, the latter being certainly able to collect a force of at least ten thousand armed men, all mounted, besides their slaves, while the former are scarcely able to furnish half as many. But the Kél-gerés and Itísan have the advantage of greater unity, while the interests of the various tribes of the Kél-owí are continually clashing, and very rarely allow the whole body to collect together, though exceptions occur, as in the expedition against the Welád Slimán, when they drove away all the camels (according to report, not less than fifty thousand), and took possession of the salt lakes near Bilma.
Moreover, the Kél-gerés and Itísan, having preserved their Berber character in a purer state, are much more warlike. Their force consists for the greater part of well-mounted cavalry, while the Kél-owí, with the exception of the Ikázkezan, can muster but few horses; and of course the advantage of the horseman over the camel-driver is very great either in open or close fight. The Kél-gerés have repeatedly fought with success even against the Awelímmiden, by whom they are called Aráuwen. They have even killed their last famous chief, Eʾ Nábegha. The Kél-gerés came under the notice of Clapperton, on account of the unfortunate expedition which they undertook against the territories of the Fulbe in the year 1823, though it seems that the expedition consisted chiefly of Tagáma, and that they were the principal sufferers in that wholesale destruction by Sultan Bello.