Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 243, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1916 — BUCCANEERS OF THE DESERT [ARTICLE]

BUCCANEERS OF THE DESERT

Maiked TuarSfg Acknowledge No Alter giance and Wage War With All Civilization. Back of the troubled areas of northern Africa, there lies a tmceless country, Inhabited by a people, the masked Tuaregs, fascinating for tbe mystery and exclusiveness with which they have surrounded their life- -These peopTe. natlves and rulera of the MiddJ* Desert, are the allies of no one, but wage a furtive guerrilla warfare with all who Invade the Inhospitable Sahara sands of their domain. They are the buccaneers of the trackless sand, forever at war with all civilisation and Its restraints, begins a war geography primer issued by the National Geographic society at Washington. Masked Tuaregs are Berber nomads, a white desert people, whoso country is probably the most lnacceo sihle on earth. Even before Egyptian civilization began to leave coherent records of Its history the Tuaregs, or Berbers, were long established along northern Africa. The great Arab invasion of the eleventh century din placed them from their possessions upon the seacoast and drove them into the savage area of the interior desert, where, with their hands raised against all who come into their pathless coonthey have—maintained— thftTPselvgft. through the intervening centuries, despite lack es water, sandstorms and lack of farming lands, requisitioning by force of arms from the Arabs and Egyptians, to the north and east, and from the blacks of the Sudan, in the south, such necessities and luxuries as their cheerless portion of mother earth cannot supply them. There are five main tribes in tbe Tuareg confederation and they inhabit the desert from Tuat to Timbuktu, and from Fezzan to Zinder. Their homes are reared in the heart of arid wastes, where vast solitudes, unnatural heats and unmarked distance® tery. They are masters of an are® half that of the United States in extent. Of this 1,500,000 square miles of territory, scarcely 3,000 acres, or less than the area of New York city, I® cultivated land. This scanty farmland is only maintained by an enduring struggle with the drifting sands. These fierce adventurers, who have forced the great desolation to yield them a support, number 300,000, or more, according to estimate, and they have made themselves feared by the natives from the Mediterranean to the jungles of Central Africa. The Tuaregs wear the end of their turban cloth drawn around the face, allowing nothing but the eyes to be seen. It is worn for the purpose of protecting the throat and lungs fro» the cutting blasts of fine daWfthand, and also probably as an element enhancing the mystery of their life, for they seldom or never remove the*® masks, whether roving over the desert or visiting la the cities on the coast. Due to theae cloths, they art- called Masked Tuaregs, while the Arab® call them People of the Veil. The masks -are -dark blue and white,- the former being worn by Tuareg nobles and the latter by the serfs and slaves. Some centers for trade. Tuareg towns, are situated In 4he Mlddl® Desert. These are Wargla, Timbuktu, Ghat, Ghadames, Murzuk and Insalah. However, the Tuareg has little care® for trade and industry. He is a fearless, enduring, hard-fighting adventurer along tbe merchandis'd frails that cross the desert. Two important trails leave Tripoli, on the coast, and traverse 3,000 miles of sand and barren wastes to the Sudan, where rich cargoes of skins, gold, ivory and other Interior .African products are loaded upon camdls and brought -northwardSometlmes a single caravan consist® of thousands of camels and merchandised the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. When passing through the Tuareg country the leaders of such caravans have had to pay a tribute to the chieftains by the way for safe escort or run the risk of lo *• ing an their goods. - ...