Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/531

 sands and rocks. Immediately to the east stretches a rocky ridge parallel with the oasis, and in some places rising to a height of 330 feet. Perhaps from this ridge Kawar takes its Teda name of Enneri Tugheh, or the "Valley of Rocks." Most of the twelve hamlets dotted over the depression belong to the Tibbus, They stand at the foot of a sandstone block with vertical walls, which serves as a place of refuge in case of sudden attack, The stronghold is pierced with galleries and underground chambers used as stores for provisions. Cisterns are also excavated in the live rock, and a sort of stairs or inclined plane formed with trunks of palms gives access on the outside to the summit of the citadel.

The villages, inhabited chiefly by Kanuri immigrants, are built in the same manner as the towns of Huaussa, being regularly laid out with houses lining the straight streets, and the whole surrounded by a common enclosure. Thus was constructed, probably in the eleventh century, the town of Dirki or Dirko, capital of the entire oasis. Garu, a more populous place at the southern extremity of Kawar, is also built in the style of the Sudanese towns, and most of its inhabitants are of Kanuri origin.

The beauty of the Teda type has not been impaired by crossings. In the Kawar oasis the women are distinguished by the same regular features and well-balanced forms as their Tibesti sisters; but they have over and above a graceful carriage, soft expression, and charming smile. The feasts are more cheerfully celebrated, the processions und cavalcades more sumptuous than in the eastern highlands, Nor are the customs the same along this great caravan route as in the more sterile and secluded Native hills of the race. The dardai, who more frequently takes the title of mai, or "king," exercises real authority over his subjects, But he finds a rival power in the person of the mkaddem of the Senûsiyas, who resides at the convent of Shimedru, not far from the capital.