Chapter One: The Daoudi Tribes We only stayed there temporarily, and in order to suppress the raids of the shepherds, fifteen more men from the district guard, who were also responsible for guarding the well line extending from Baskouto to El Arf, were added to the garrison of twenty-five riflemen. However, Baskouto, a small village inhabited by Haratin and insignificant and completely isolated, was never prepared to become a center. If we consider the few animals grazing in its vicinity, it can be said that we only find the Oulad Allouch camels or cattle, who used to follow the districts of Neama or Sekou as their administrative centers. From a military point of view, there is also no justification for maintaining this command military center, given that supplies from Timbuktu were diverted to the road of Konb, Bouhemba, and later from Khay to Ineyoro. Furthermore, the possible routes for expeditions reveal that those that could move east of the ridge (which is the rocky barrier that cuts from north to south the district of Oulad-Neama) came either from Kidamo, by avoiding Oulad, or from the Afakin region, heading together. These, and those, towards the pond of Dandara, where the former conduct their operations outside the influence of Baskouto, while the latter took the road to El Arf, and sometimes pushed as far as the long Hasbi, heading directly in both cases towards the pond of Dandara, which is four days' march in barren land. Therefore, the two locations are very far from anyone who can think of acting and moving against the gangs, relying on the resources of the Baskouto center. All these reasons led to the evacuation of Baskouto, and the protection of the eastern nomads during the period of raids was undertaken by a detachment of camel riders supported by the Ansar forces. Or Allouch, and the people of Berderah, who usually pitch their tents at the pond of Dandara, and roam the area. Baskouto is currently inhabited by 51 families comprising 208 people, and the sheikh of the village is Soueidi ben Jowari, a very intelligent man, and like almost all his followers, black-skinned. (c) Tribal leadership, the chief of the Oulad Allouch camels is Henteh {15} ben Cheikh, who succeeded his aforementioned brother Sidi in April 1913, based on the election of the community, and then Sidi's appointment according to his written will, thus giving the last proof of the wisdom of a true leader by excluding his eldest son, Douchq, who is a young man still unable to lead this warrior tribe for at least several years. Henteh was born around 1878 and participated in all the raids of his father Cheikh and his brother Sidi. As the chief of the Oulad Allouch detachment, he joined the "Goum" Biyassin brigade, established by Lieutenant BOESWILWALD in 1903, and behaved admirably in various