For the second time those who made these arrangements, and who dealt directly face to face and voice to voice with the Tuareg chiefs, assert that they found them loyal and to some extent even conciliatory.
In speaking of the Tuaregs in general, I shall express myself very plainly on the subject of these treaties. I now beg leave to break off the narrative of our voyage for a moment to try and make better known this interesting race, which has perhaps been unjustly calumniated.
TUAREGS.
AN AMRI SHEPHERD.
CHAPTER V
THE TUAREGS
After I got back to France I often came in contact with people who, as the expression goes, were interested in geographical and colonial questions, and sometimes I was subjected to a most extraordinary cross-examination. The following is a true account of a conversation I once had:—
“So you have really been amongst the Tuaregs? They are savages, are they not? Are they cannibals?”