TBA StE RIS OF Tk DESERT 
slide through the hole which the water 
had made to the floor below! 
The fort of Murzuk is an enormous 
structure, not unlike a gigantic ant-heap, 
of hard mud pierced by dark passages 
leading to spacious rooms, which are lit 
by a few small windows. 
But it is the women of Murzuk who 
give all the vitality and color, and if the 
town, and with it the whole Fezzan, ever 
rises from its present miserable condi- 
tion, it will surely be mostly due to the 
spirit of these gay Fezzan ladies. Free 
from the restraining laws of the stricter 
people of the north coast, the Fezzani 
girls have no use for the veil and believe 
little in the sanctity of the harem. Their 
laughter, which resounds above all the 
more serious noises of a market, is like 
that of children, and if their jests some- 
times verge on the improper and their 
manners are not ruled by the laws of the 
Koran, they have most cheerful manners, 
in which the eternal feminine, the gaiety 
of the negro, and the ready tongue of the 
Tripolitan blend together, even as all the 
wit and humor of Kanuri, Hausa, Tar- 
ghi, and Arabic have been collected in 
their language. 
Their complexions, so refreshing after 
the veiled mummies of North Africa, are 
of all the shades, from ebony-black to 
light café au lait. The commonest type 
of face is like that of the Sphinx at 
Ghizeh, with straight nose, large mouth, 
and merry, thick lips, always ready to 
break into a smile. They are dressed in 
a sort of chemise, dyed with indigo and 
embroidered down the front, like those 
worn by Kanuri women. Over this they 
wear a long piece of blue cotton cloth 
slung round the body in all sorts of fash- 
ions and tucked in close under the arms. 
Over their heads and the greasy hair, 
falling in many small tresses on both 
sides of the face and slimy with rancid 
camel butter, they wear, like a mantilla, 
a square piece of woolen cloth, dyed a 
bright red. With their large silver ear- 
rings, heavy bangles and anklets, shrill 
but not unpleasant voices, henna-dyed 
hands, coal-black eyes, and shining white 
teeth, their whole appearance expresses 
a gay defiance of the melancholy desert 
which surrounds them. 
1059 
THE TUAREGS (SEE ALSO PAGE 1046) 
The Tuaregs, found in the vilayet of 
Tripoli, are descended from the Auxori- 
ani of old, who in the fourth century 
took Leptis from the Romans after eight 
days’ siege. Later they were driven west 
and lived with the Hoggar Tuaregs, who 
finally quarreled with them and forced 
them to migrate. They then settled 
around Ghat and devastated the country, 
according to their usual fashion. 
Amongst the Tuaregs it is man the 
brute who by all the laws of the country 
has to obey the women. Descent is traced 
through the mother; woman shows her 
proud face to all the world, while the 
man goes veiled. In the presence of a 
woman of noble birth, men cover their 
faces and heads altogether. The women 
give the children what little instruction 
they have and train them to respect and 
obey them. 
Bullied and worried by his women- 
folk, the Tuareg has no liberty at all. 
All the goods, tents, camels, and clothes 
are the women’s property. The stick he 
carries and the great wooden box into 
which he puts what his wife suffers him 
to have are all the man possesses and all 
he retains if for some reason his wife 
chooses to divorce him. 
In Ghat, when a man goes out after 
sunset he is usually followed by a negro 
servant, sent by his wife to dog his steps, 
and woe to him if he forgets himself or 
comes home too late! He will find the 
door shut and must count himself lucky 
if he is not put onto the street altogether. 
The young man who, in spite of all 
this, wants to marry must pay a heavy 
sum for the bride, to obtain which he is 
obliged to look for other means than his 
usual work of rearing camels or carrying 
goods for the Arab trader. ‘Thus he is 
forced into taking part in one of the 
annual rhagzias. 
The ladies decide when the right mo- 
ment has come, and the men sally forth 
against some luckless caravan or to the 
rich highlands of Tibesti. These sense- 
less raids have destroyed many a fertile 
oasis, and have accelerated the final 
disappearance of trans-Saharan trade. 
