THE TUAREGS 201 not inferior in morality to the other native races, such as the Ammanites of Cochin-China and the Kabyles of Algeria, with whom by hook or by crook the French have managed to find a modus vivcndif To a question of that kind I can reply at once, " No, no, the Tuaregs are certainly not more barbarous than other native races ! " and as proof I can quote our own journey. My readers will have seen how the Tuaregs behaved to us.

I have described how they were won over from hostility to friendship ; and the chapter succeeding this I shall tell how they protected — even saved us. And what happened to us might, it seems to me, very well happen to others.

Am I alone in my opinion? Did not Barth owe his very existence to the active protection of the Tademeket at Timbuktu and the Awellimiden at Tosaye?

Then, again, Duveyricr travelled for more than a year in the Tuareg districts, guided and protected by Ikhenuakhen, chief of the Azgueurs. Not only had he nothing to fear from them, but he was actually saved from insult even from the Senussis and the tribes which had risen against the French under the leadership of Mohammed ben Abdallah.

Our case was therefore no isolated one, and our experience would no doubt be repeated if it were decided to enter into more intimate relations with the Tuaregs. We should avoid the unreasonable fear of finding ourselves amongst traitors and assassins, but at the same time take such precautions as are needed in the Sudan, where there is at yet no police force.

There are indeed few if any races who can pride themselves on a more ancient lineage than the Tuaregs.

Speaking in their own dialect they say, " We are I mochar, Imuhar, Imazighen," all which words come from the same Tamschenk root — ahar meaning free, independent, he who can take, who can pillage. (We shall see later