Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/98

 78 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. The Tuiiregs of this rcpfic/n, a smaller and feebler race than those of the Jebel Ahagj^ar, in the south of Algeria, roam for the most part in the south-eastern districts between Murzuk and Rhat. These belong to the Tizilkum group, free men, who despise the Arab, base " payer of tribute," They are members of the brotherhood of !^Iolianimod-el->Iadnni, whose mother-house is at Misrata, and they generally speak Arabic. According to llichardson, they number altogether about a thousand. Slavery, which has so largely contributed to cross the original population of the country, has scarcely diminished, notwithstanding the formal edicts against the traffic issued in Fczzan by order of the Osmanli authorities. The exportation has doubtless fallen oft ; but the slaves, no longer forwarded to the seaports of Trijwlitana, or through the Aujila and Siwah oases to Egypt, tend only to increase the local enslaved class. According to Nachtigal, from five to eight thousand slaves passed every year through Fezzan towards the middle of the present century ; but in. 1870 the gangs had been reduced to about one- third of that number. The blacks who remain in the country have seldom occasion to regret their lot. Here they are absolutely regarded as members of the family into which they have entered, and those amongst them who return to their native homes usually do so not as fugitives, but as commercial agents in the interest of their late masters. The Fezzanese are altogether of a remarkably mild disposition ; but morality is at a very low ebb, and many children perish abandoned on the threshold of the mosques and convents. Whoever chooses to pick up one of these foundlings becomes its adopted father, and never fails to treat it as one of his own children. The traffic in slaves has hitherto been replaced by no other more legitimate trade. The only important article of export is soda from the " Natron lakes," a few tons of which arc yearly sold in the Tripoli market. The time has gone by when gold dust, ivory, and ostrich feathers contributed, with slaves, to enrich the Fezzan traders ; who, however, were never able to compete successfully with their commercial rivals of Ghadames, Jofra, and Aujila. Although the produce for- warded from Sudan to the coast passes through their territory, they derive little profit from this transit trade. Even in Murzuk itself the chief merghants are the Mojabras of the Jalo oasis. The vast distances required to be traversed between the scattered oases oblige the Fezzanese to rely mainly on their local resources. The regular commercial relations established in Mauritania between the inhabitants of the Tell and those of the oases, the former exchanging their cereals for the wool and dates of the latter, scarcely exist between the tribes of the Tripolitan oases and the people of Fezzan. Nevertheless a few palm groves in the Wady Shiati, south of the Black Mountains, belong to the Arabs of Tripoli, who yearly cross the hills and plateaux to collect their crop of dates. In general the land is distributed in fair proportion amongst the inhabitants, each of whom has his plot of ground and palm-grove ; but they are weighed down with heavy taxes. Being unable to breed live-stock owing to the dryness of the climate, and the industries being scarcely sufficient for the local wants, they have no means of procuring any supplies fr(Jm abroad.