Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/555

 THE OURARA AND TDUMUX OASia 4«7 the Tuaregs, as is still attested by the names of the different species of dates, which are all in the Temahug language. Like the highlanders of the Aures and Ahaggar regions, thenc Tuarogs had becm brought under the influence of Uonian and Byzantine civilisation, judging at leant from the local names of the months, which are all the same uh those of the Imtin calendar. In Twat there are, mon«over, still found some Tuareg communities of pure stock, speaking the national Herber language exclusively, and dwelling in palm huts or under the tent. Even among the natives who call themselves Arabs, s<ime are undoubtedly Berbers. Such are the Kel-Mellels, who are settled in Insulah, and who through a sentiment of vanity claim to be descended from the family of the Prophet. Other Berbers, who like most of those living in Munn-co belong to the Shluh branch of the race, constitute the substratum of the {)opulation in the various oases, and still speak a dialect differing little from the Berber language current throughout Western Mauritania. • The Arabs also are represented in Twat by various marabut and other tribes. But Arabs and Berbers have all alike a strong strain of Negro bhjod. Few persons are met with fair or even swarthy complexion, nearly all being very durk or black, with broad features, but pleasant smile and soft expression. The women, who do not go veiled, like their Mussulman sisters in the Tell districts, are very graceful and converse freely with the men. The people of Twat have the kindly disposition of the Negro, and are generally esteemed for their commercial probity, respect for strangers, love of peace, and other good qualities of the heart. But they are fanatics of an extremely narrow type, their religious zeal exceeding that of all other Mohamme<lan populations in North Africa. NotwithsUinding the poverty of the country, as much as i**2,000 is said to be yearly collected as pious offerings for the emissaries of the Sherif of Wezzan, besides considerable sums contributed to other marabuts for religious purposes. The Senftsiya onler has recently established settlements in several of the Twat oases. This region is, on the other hand, closetl for the present to the French, not only on political grounds, but also because they belong to the hated Christian sect. The Gurara and Timimix Oasis. Gurara, in Berber Tigururin or Tijurariu, comprises the northern division of Twat, consequently the district which in commercial matters deiomU most on the neighbouring colony of Algeria. In a geographical sense, it forms even a direct southern extension of that region, for the waters of its oases are derived by under- ground channels from the Oeryville uplands. The various rivers flowing in the direction of the desert, stub as the Wed-en-Nnmus, the Wed-el-Gharbi, the W«l Seggwer, the Wed Zergun, and all the intermediate affluent*, disapiK^ar beneath the sands of the Erg desert ; but the streams continue to flow in subterranean bed*, again coming to the surface south of that region of shifting dunes. The gazelle- hunters and Shaanba marauders, studying the direction taken by these river vaUey^ 61 -A.F