In concluding these imperfect general observations on the state of Aheer or Asben, I will only add that the country extends from north to south eleven days' journey, or about two hundred and twenty miles (twenty miles to the day); and east and west, eight days, or one hundred and sixty miles. Aghadez, the largest town or city, stands, as has been seen, alone; and may be considered as a kind of connecting link, politically and otherwise, with the black countries to the south. I have already endeavoured to explain the singular constitution of society in this large but thinly-peopled tract. We observe there a curious combination of the monarchical and patriarchal states, with a dash of democracy into the bargain. Several times I have been reminded of Homer's heroic age. The princes and the people seem alternately to appear on the scene, exercising sovereign sway. The great Sultan is elected from out of the country; but he is compelled to seek the ratification of the chiefs, the elders, and the populace within. Then there is the great chief of the Kailouees, whose town or camp is at Asoudee; with Sultan Lousou, a most influential man; not to speak of the great En-Noor himself, who has, perhaps, personally, the greatest political weight of them all. Each of these great men is perpetually surrounded by an army of retainers, dependants, and slaves; and public affairs are transacted, partly according to some old routine, difficult for a stranger to understand, partly after the fashion of "Arabian Nights," kings meeting casually at the head of great armies in some poetical wilderness. All these chieftains are both pastors and merchants. One of their chief articles of traffic is, I am sorry to say, their unfortunate fellow-creatures. They are the greatest slave-dealers in the Sahara; two-thirds of the whole commerce is in the hands of the Kailouees. The Sultans levy duties likewise on the caravans that pass through their territory—duties which, to our cost, we know to be neither regular nor moderate; but they have no right to apply taxation to their quasi-subjects. Sometimes, when they are "hungry," they make a razzia on a distant tribe, and find both slaves and cattle at their disposal.
As might have been expected, the Kailouees—princes and people—are not very refined in their ideas or luxurious in their habits. Their food consists principally of the grains ghaseb and ghafouley, or guinea-corn. They have also flocks and herds of sheep, camels, and bullocks; but the bullocks are used chiefly for draft, and to carry goods from Aheer to Soudan. Asses are exceedingly numerous, and likewise go to Soudan to fetch guinea-corn. The population of Aheer, being scattered about in small towns and villages, a few hours journey apart, these animals are found very useful for the transport of the persons and effects of the poor. The richer people have camels of the maharee species, like all the Tuaricks; and in some respects it is the possession of this splendid animal which distinguishes the Kailouee population from the people to the south. For example, all their sports and pastimes would be exactly Soudanese, were it not for the introduction of the maharee. On the celebration of a wedding, the Kailouees ride round the groups of guests on their silent-treading camels, which measure their movements to the sound of a big rude drum. Such scenes would otherwise be perfectly Nigritian. The men dance, flourishing their lances; and the slaves both dance and sing. But I have already noted down all that I observed remarkable in manners, and need not here repeat myself.
The great natural features of Asben, also, are doubtless by this time impressed on the mind of the reader. They consist of a series of naked granite rocks or mountains, some of them rising to upwards of three or four thousand feet, ranging in every direction, with many isolated peaks; and of picturesque valleys winding along between steep precipices—threads of green, in which the tholukh and all species of mimosa and acacia, with the souag and other trees, flourish in immense growth, sometimes adorned by garlands and festoons of luxuriant parasitical plants. Wild animals of various kinds range at will in unfrequented places, but do not seem to excite much terror. There are gardens and cornfields in the neighbourhood of some of the towns and villages, the cultivation being kept up during the dry months by irrigation; but only a few of the inhabitants, mostly slaves, cultivate the soil. Besides the grains I have mentioned, a few vegetables, principally onions, are produced. Date-palms bear fruit, which is good, but will not keep.
I have already mentioned the chief manufactures of Aheer. They flourish to the greatest extent in Aghadez; but Tintalous also has its artizans. Working in leather was very popular during our stay, in consequence of the presence of a noted charm-writer—bags being necessary. A good many cunning blacksmiths ply their trade in various places.
[6] See the papers read before the Geographical Society, in January and March 1851. It appears to me that Mr. A. Petermann slightly depresses the importance of the part played by Mr. Richardson in this mission. However, this may arise from the fact that the communications on which his paper was founded were all from his German friends. It is not necessary to be grudging of notice to any of the three enterprising gentlemen who undertook this arduous journey; but we must always remember who planned the Mission, and who directed it with consummate prudence as long as life and strength lasted. In Mr. Richardson's MS. an outline is given of Dr. Barth's journey, and I therefore insert it, with corrections and additions, from the papers just alluded to.—Ed.
[7] This is Dr. Barth's statement, which I have introduced from his own account. It will have been seen that Mr. Richardson (see vol. i. "Note on the Territorial Division of Aheer,") makes a much lower estimate. I may here remind the reader, that even when in his diary Mr. Richardson inserts two different and contradictory statements, I do not undertake to select one and suppress the other, except in the case of an obvious slip of the pen. Nor have I thought it necessary to burden the page by indications of slightly different assertions. A diary must necessarily abound with imperfect observations, which correct or complete one another; and perhaps the general impression left on the mind of the reader—who accompanies, as it were, the writer in receiving its various elements—is more like truth than it would be after the perusal of one absolute dogmatic statement.—Ed.
[8] As an illustration of the previous note, I will observe that this word is spelt in several different ways in the MS., and I do not know which is the correct one.—Ed.
[9] The three tribes of Ghât are called Azgher, in contradiction to the Hagar. A Tanelkum explained the meaning of this last word (which I have usually written Haghar) to mean "wandering" or "wanderers." The word is sometimes written Hogar.