Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1918-08-02
BUCCANEERS OF The DESERT

Masked Tuareqs Acknowledge No Alles
glance and Wage War With
All Civilization.
Back Of the troubled areas of north"
ern Africa, there lies a truceless coun-
try, inhabited by people, the masked
Tuaregs, fascinating for the mystery
and exclusiveness with which they
have surrounded their life. These peo-
pie, natives and rulers Of the Middle
Desert, are the allies of no one, but
wage furtive guerrilla warfare with
all who invade the inhospitable Sa-
hara sands of their domain. They are
the buccaneers of the trackless sand,
forever at war with all civilization and
it's restraints, begins a war geography
primer issued by the National Geo
graphic society at Washington.
Masked Tuaregs are Berber no.
MAIDS, a white desert people, whose
country is probably the most inacces-
sible on earth. Even before Egyptian
civilization began to leave coherent
records Of it's history the Tuaregs, or
Berbers, were long established along
northern Africa. The great Arab in
vasion of the eleventh century dis.
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 painless coun-
try, they have maintained themselves
through the intervening centuries, de-
spite lack of water, sandstorms and
lack of farming lands, requisitioning
by force of arms from the Arabs and
Egyptians, to the north and east, and
from tho blacks of the Sudan, in the
south, such necessities and luxur1es
as their eheerless portion Of mother
earth cannot supply them.
There are five main tribes in the
Tuareg confederation and they inhab"
it the desert from Tuat to Timbuktu,
and from Fezzan to Finder. Their
homes are reared in the heart Of arid
wastes, where vast solitudes, unnat-
ural heats and unmarked distances
shroud everything in uncanny mys-
terry. They are masters Of an area
half that of the United States in ex-
tent. OF this 100000 square miles of
territory, scarcely 5000 acres, or less
than the area of New York city, is
cultivated land. This scanty farm
land is only maintained by an en-
during struggle with the drifting
sands. These fierce adventures, who
have forced the great desolation to
yield them support, number 100000,
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 from
the cutting blasts Of fine desert sand,
and also probably as an element en-"
HANGING the mystery of their life, for
they seldom or never remove these
masks, whether rowing over the desert
or visiting In tho cities on the coast.
Due to these cloths, they are called
Masked Tuaregs, while the Arabs
call them People of the Veil. The
masks are dark blue and white. the
former being worn by Tuareg mobiles
and the latter by the serfs and slaves.
Some centers for trade, Tuareg
towns, are situated tn the Middle
Desert. These are Wargla, Timbuktu.
Chat, Ghadames, Murzuk and Insalah.
However, the Tuareg has little cares
for trade and industry. He is q fear.
less, enduring, hard-fghting adven.
turer along the merchandise trails
that cross the desert. Two important
trails leave Tripoi, on the coast, and
traverse 5000 miles of sand and bar.
rem wastes to the Sudan, where rich
cargoes of skins, gold, ivory and other
interior African products are loaded
upon camels and brought northward.
Sometimes single caravan consists
of thousands of canals and merchan.
disc to the value of hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. When passing
through the Tuareg country the lead
ers Of such caravans have had to pay
q tribute to the chfeftains by the way
Tor safe escort or run the risk Of los
ing all their goods