3 86 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



to Lake Chad; but its members roam 

 over the eastern desert, and have settle- 

 ments in Fezzan on the north and in 

 Borku and Kanem to the south. 



According to Denham's account, the 

 Tibbus of Gando are "never above the 

 middle size, slim, well made, with sharp, 

 intelligent, copper-coloured faces, large 

 prominent eyes, flat noses, large mouths, 

 and teeth regular but stained a deep red 

 from the immoderate use of tobacco. 

 The forehead is high." The combination 

 of a flat nose with long crisp hair, a fairly 

 full beard, and high forehead suggests 

 that the race is mixed. Most of it is 

 probably Hamitic. But the language 

 belongs to a group spoken by the Negro 

 peoples of the Soudan, and the tribe has 

 many customs in common with the Nilotic 

 Negroes; thus it uses the same pattern of 

 scar-tattooing, a series of lines across the 

 temples, as do the Shilluk, and, like the 

 Masai, it holds iron-workers in supreme 

 contempt. The Tibbus enforce the prohi- 

 bition of communication between a man 

 and his mother-in-law, which is widely 

 spread among Negro tribes. On the 

 other hand, they practise female circum- 

 cision, like the Somali and the Negroes 



of the Slave Coast, which appears to be rather a Hamitic rite. 



The men cover their faces with the Arab veil, but the women go half or more than half 



naked. The main ornaments of the Tibbus consist of a series of charms. Their weapons are 



spears and a knife shaped like a bill-hook. They ride camels, and the camel harness shows 



Arab influence. 



The Tibbus dwell mainly in rock-shelters, caves, or rough huts made by resting roofs of 



twigs and palm thatch on boulders. Their staple food is dates, flour of dhurra, the stringy 



innutritious fruit of the dum-palm, and goats' milk. But the food-supply is generally 



insufficient. 



THE TUAREGS. 



The western tribes, which form the group of the Tuareg, belong to the Berber race, like 

 the Kabyles of Algeria, of which they are the purest representatives. They are intellectually 

 and numerically greatly superior to the Tibbus. The Tuaregs range westward from the Bilma 

 salt-pans on the Fezzan-Chad caravan road, between Twat on the north and the Niger on the 

 south, to the border of the Arab belt that runs south along the Atlantic coast from Morocco 

 to Senegal. The tribe is divided into three main groups: the Asgars, the most important 

 section, in the east; the Haggars, in the west; and the Kelowais of Air, who have been altered 

 by Negro intermixture, in the south-east. 



The Tuaregs suffer from a bad reputation, owing to the massacre of the Flatters Expedition 

 and of some French missionaries who were thought to have completely won their confidence. 

 Some travellers, however, have found them friendly and honourable. Lieutenant Hourst, their 

 latest champion, remarks that "faults, many faults, of course they have. They are proud, 



Photo by Leroux] 



{Algiers. 



A TUAREG WOMAN. 



