Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27


This volcanic region resembles moth
ing so much as a lunar panorama.
Imagine land of towering mountains whose
peaks are needle-ponted, glistening black in the
clear mountain air and closely resembling
thousands of gigantic minarets or vast medieval
towers and battlementS. And they frown down
upon all those who are alien to the land. Far
back in the faStnesS of their impregnabe
heights are dark and gloomy canyons set with
. few trees and desert plants-and it is there
that you find the tents of the truly Abandoned
Of God!'
The silence is appalling; In the crystalline
mountain air sounds are magnifed as nowhere
else on earth. AS you approach q Tuareg camp
you are generally met not greeted, by one of
the tall, majestic mobiles. They are suspicious
Of strangers (they have a right to be) and like
the American Indian they wait for you to
speak first.
Quite naturally they resent being regarded
many animals in q zoo, for it must be
borne in mind that they are the knights and
MOBILES of the desert.
have often wondered how I would feel
toward strangers who came suddenly and un-
announced into my own home to begin
investigation into the mode and manner Of
my living. I might refrain from booting them
out, but am quite sure my resentment would
rise considerably should any such stranger be
graceless enough to display q humorous interest
In my customS!
HOWEVER, the Tuareg was quite hospitable
and We sat down to q cup of teal But the
social amenities ended there and we became
the focus of the great black, kohl-painted eyes
Of the yelled giants who wordless, gazed stead
Easily at us. Now, suddenly, the tables were
turned and we were the objects of interest.
There is no question but what one feels the
malgnity that envelops the hidden personality
of the Tuareg, and at such times it is sur
prisingly easy to recall the death dealing spear
that traversed Reygasse's tent one silent night,
or the tombs of Palat and DoulS and FlatterS,
far out in the sands, or, what is far more tragic
because Of its nearneSs to me, the passing of
some Of my own brave comrades, killed by
Tuareg in 1928. (Capts. Debenne Pasquet, Res
set and Gen. Clavery. They were massacred
on the road to Benz Abbes)
Behind the veil masking their faces is the
hate of ages and I confess that felt it ever
when in their presence. Whatever their out
ward actions, however gracious their manner
land they can be as courtly as any "parfit gen.
til knight) nevertheless could not put from
my mind the historical fact that the Sahara is
spotted by marked and unmarked graves-mute
teStiEAOny that the Tuareg holds the desert to
be his own and strikes hard and swift when
he feels that trespasSers violating his rights.
The Tuareg life is nomadic for they have
o superstition that it will bring misfortune if
they sleep under a real roof. The noble Tuareg
6 not an aSrlCulCuTISC. he QlSQa1nS the toll
of the soil-'it is the work of Negroes and
slaves" he says, and their camps, therefore,
are always on the trail. Their tents are never
grouped close together, but are situated several
hundred yards apart generally in the lee of
some wind-protected boulder.
shall never forget the Tuareg camp that
we found in the wild valley of the Giants"
The great rocks in this valley had been nodded
into fantastic forms by the winds of ages. The
continual wearing of their bases by the sand
laden winds had made monuments of stone,
lightly balanced at the bases, and many of
them took on the grotesque forms of prehis-
tOric monsters In the moonlight they are really
quite terrifying.
This Valley of the Giants" is inclosed by
towering volcanic peaks and is filed with these
strange rocky forms chiseled by natures hand.
Elephants, gigantic frogs, walruses and dino
sauria seem to appear in great troops. The
Tuareg firmly believe that they are the evil
apaE1ts Of enemies turned into stone as they