People of the veil : $b being an account of the habits, organisation and history of the wandering Tuareg tribes which inhabit the mountains of Air or Asben in the central SaharaRennell of Rodd, Francis James Rennell Rodd, Baron
History
People of the veil : $b being an account of the habits, organisation and history of the wandering Tuareg tribes which inhabit the mountains of Air or Asben in the central Sahara
Rennell of Rodd, Francis James Rennell Rodd, Baron
Aïr (Niger); Tuaregs
The larger divisions of Tuareg have names by which they are known
to themselves and to their neighbours: these names designate the
historical or geographical groupings of tribes. In each group of
tribes the existence of nobles and serfs is recognised; there are
appropriate terms to describe these social distinctions. The nobles
are called Imajeghan;[14] the servile people, Imghad. But no name
other than Kel Tagilmus,[15] the “People of the Veil,” exists to
describe the society of nobles and serfs alike, irrespective of group
or caste. These details will require fuller examination in due course,
but it is important to realise immediately that the name Tuareg[16]
is unknown in their own language and is only used of them by Arabs
and other foreigners. It has, however, been so universally adopted
by everyone who has had to do with them or who has written of them
that, although not strictly accurate, it would be pedantic not to
continue using it. The Tuareg all speak the same language, called
Temajegh, which varies only dialectically from group to group. They
have a peculiar form of script, known as T’ifinagh, which also
is practically identical in all the divisions of the Tuareg, but is
apparently not used by other peoples. Lastly, the Tuareg are nomads
by instinct and, save where much intermarriage has taken place, of
the same racial type. The conquest of foreign elements in war and
their assimilation into servile tribes have, in the course of time,
led to some modification of physique and a growth of sedentarism
in certain areas. As a whole, however, the nation has survived in
a fairly pure state which is readily distinguishable. There is,
I think, no justification for considering the People of the Veil a
large tribal group of Berbers in North Africa; they are a separate
race with marked peculiarities, distinct from other sections of the
latter, and, as I believe, of a different origin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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