Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa : $b Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake ChadBarth, Heinrich
History
Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa : $b Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake Chad
Barth, Heinrich
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel
The most noble (that is to say, the most elevated, not by purity of
blood, but by authority and rank) of the subdivisions of this tribe at
the present time are the Irólangh, the Amanókalen or Sultan family, to
which belongs Ánnur, with no other title than that of Sheikh or Elder
(the original meaning of the word)—“sófo” in Háusa, “ámaghár” or “ámghár”
in Temáshight. The superiority of this section seems to date only from
the time of the present chief’s predecessor, the Kél-ferwán appearing to
have had the ascendency in earlier times. Though the head of this family
has no title but that of Sheikh, he has nevertheless far greater power
than the amanókal or titular Sultan of the Kél-owí, who resides in Ásodi,
and who is at present really nothing more than a prince in name. The next
in authority to Ánnur is Háj ʿAbdúwa, the son of Ánnur’s eldest sister,
and who resides in Táfidet.
The family or clan of the Irólangh, which, in the stricter sense of the
word, is called Kél-owí, is settled in ten or more villages lying to the
east and the south-east of Tin-téllust, the residence of Ánnur, and has
formed an alliance with two other influential and powerful families,
viz. the Kél-azanéres, or people of Azanéres, a village, as I shall have
occasion to explain further on, of great importance, on account of its
situation in connection with the salt lakes near Bilma, which constitute
the wealth and the vital principle of this community. On account of
this alliance, the section of the Kél-azanéres affected by it is called
Irólangh wuén Kél-azanéres; and to this section belongs the powerful
chief Lúsu, or, properly, el Úsu, who is in reality the second man in the
country on the score of influence.
On the other side, the Irólangh have formed alliance and relationship
with the powerful and numerous tribe of the Ikázkezan, or Ikéshkeshen,
who seem likewise to have sprung from the Aurághen; and on this account
the greater, or at least the more influential, part of the tribe,
including the powerful chief Mghás, is sometimes called Irólangh wuén
Ikázkezan, while, with regard to their dwelling-place, Támar, they bear
the name Kél-támar. But this is only one portion of the Ikázkezan.
Another very numerous section of them is partly scattered about Damerghú,
partly settled in a place called Elákwas (or, as it is generally
pronounced, Alákkos), a place between Damerghú and Múnio, together with a
mixed race called Kél-elákwas. The Ikázkezan of this latter section bear,
in their beautiful manly figure and fine complexion, much more evident
traces of the pure Berber blood than the Irólangh; but they lead a very
lawless life, and harass the districts on the borders of Háusa and Bórnu
with predatory incursions, especially those settled in Elákwas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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