Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
These two nations inhabit the deserts between Bornou, Fezzan, and
Lower Egypt. They were first made known to us with some exactness by
Hornemann’s and Lyon’s travels. The Tibbos or Tibbous roam through the
eastern, and the Tuaticks (Tueregs) through the western, parts of the
great desert. The first are called by the other tribes, from being in
continual movement, “birds.” The Tuaricks are distinguished into those
of Aghadez and those of Tagazi. They are often engaged as conductors
of caravans, and in trade. Their language is the same as that of the
Berbers; and they belong unquestionably to the number of the primitive
Lybian nations. The Tuaricks present a remarkable physiological
phenomenon. Different tribes among them are, according to the climate,
white, yellowish, and even almost black; but all are without woolly
hair or Negro features. (Exploration scientifique de l’Algérie, T. ii.
p. 343.)
[9] p. 4.--“_The Ship of the Desert._”
In oriental poems, the camel is called the land-ship, or the ship
of the Desert (Sefynet-el-badyet); Chardin, Voyages, nouv. éd. par
Langlès, 1811, T. iii. p. 376.
But the camel is not merely the carrier of the desert, and the link
which, rendering communication between different countries possible,
connects them with each other: he is also, as Carl Ritter has shewn
in his excellent memoir on the sphere of diffusion of these animals,
the principal and essential condition of the nomadic life of nations
in the patriarchal stage of national development, in the hot parts of
our planet where rain is either altogether wanting or very infrequent.
No animal’s life is so closely associated by natural bonds with a
particular stage of the developement of the life of man,--a connection
historically established for several thousand years,--as the life of
the camel among the Bedouin tribes (Asien, Bd. viii. Abth. i. 1847,
S. 610 und 758). “The camel was entirely unknown to the cultivated
Carthaginian nation through all the centuries of their flourishing
existence, until the destruction of their city. The Marusians first
brought it into military use, in the train of armies, in Western Lybia,
in the times of the Cæsars; perhaps in consequence of its employment
in commercial operations in the valley of the Nile by the Ptolemies.
The Guanches, the inhabitants of the Canary Islands and probably
related to the Berber race, were not acquainted with the camel before
the 15th century, when it was introduced by Norman conquerors and
settlers. In the probably very limited communication of the Guanches
with the Coast of Africa, the small size of the boats would prevent the
transport of large animals. The true Berber race, diffused throughout
the interior of Northern Africa, and to which the Tibbos and Tuaricks,
as already mentioned, belong, owes doubtless to the use of the camel
throughout the Lybian desert and its Oases, not only the advantages of
intercommunication, but also the preservation of its national existence
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