Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/568

 468 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. oxen by their master. To the north of the gorge leading from the valley, a gloomy cirque of rocks is occupied by a famous msid, or place of prayer, a pre-eminently holy spot, founded to commemorate the conversion of the pagan Haussa people to the faith of Islam. The sacred enclosure consists of stones regularly disposed round a space about 65 feet long, within which a shady acacia marks the place where the imaum raises his hand in prayer. No good Mussulman coming from the north ever neglects to offer his thanks to Allah when passing by this msid or makara, which is known throughout the Sahara under the name of makam esh- S/ieikh ben Abd el Kerim, the " Shrine of Sheikh ben Abd the Gracious." Formerly the capital of Asben was Tiiishaman., a city of learned men and merchants, now mentioned only as a village in ruins. Its trade and population have been shifted some 24 miles farther south, to the famous town of Agades, the most populous in the whole of the Sahara. According to the local tradition, this place had formerly as many inhabitants as Tunis, and Earth's careful measure- ments have shown that the superficial area of the ancient city was large enough to contain as many as fifty thousand souls. The epoch of the great prosperity of Agades was about the beginning of the sixteenth century, at which time it was the chief mart of the Saharian border zone, trading directly with Timbuktu and all the principal towns of the Sudan. Destroyed by the Tuaregs at the end of the last century, it has again risen from its ruins, and at the time of Earth's visit contained from six hundred to seven hundred inhabited houses. The total population is at present about seven thousand, including the family chiefs and traders, and others visiting the place on business. Foreign merchants are also settled at Agades, especially natives of Twat, the most skilful dealers in the Sahara. They are engaged exclusively in the retail trade, and as brokers in connection with the importation of cereals from the Sudan. The diverse origin of its inhabitants and their varied commercial relations with all the surrounding lands have made Agades a polyglot city, where are currently spoken the Aurighiye (Berber), Haussa, and Songhai languages. Arabic is scarcely understood, except by the lettered classes, who form here a numerous corporation. Nearly three hundred children attend the mosques, where their instruction is mainly confined to the recitation of verses^ from the Koran. Agades lies at an altitude of about 25,000 feet, on the edge of a sandstone and granite plateau, whose waters, springing from great depths, yield a certain quantity of salt. In several quarters the town presents the aspect of a heap of ruins, mounds consisting exclusively of refuse and debris surrounding many of the inhabited houses. The only remarkable monument in the place is the " Tower," pre-eminently so-called, about 95 feet high, and serving the double purpose of a minaret and a watch-tower. The shaft bulges out towards the centre, like the trunk of a deleb palm-tree, and gradually tapers towards the summit, where it is not more than about 8 feet in width. Like most of the houses in Agades, it is built entirely of claVv and in order to strengthen a building so lofty and of so soft a material, its four walls are united by thirteen layers of boards of the dilm-tree, crossing the whol§ tower in its entire length and width, and projecting on each