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

hand of their ancestors
ON the second day in this camp we tested
the athletic powers of these superbly mag
nifcent physical specimens. We had running
and jumping and javelin throwing-a sort Of
Olympic games of the Saharal We had heard
so much of their physical prowess that we
were in some measure prepared for the startling
results OF our games. Several-not one
cleared the bar at feet, running straight at
the jump What they could do if well trained
Is impossible to forecast, but certain it is that
many college coaches would glow with enthu-
siaSm at the prospect of having one of these
Tuareg youths on his track team.
1t must be remembered that the Tuareg never
removes his veil in the presence of others, and
no man, even blood brother, ever looks on
his face. Should the veil come loose, or be
torn from his face by some unhappy accident,
the Tuareg would hurry for the secusion of
sheltering rock duck behind his camel,
where he could readjust this highly important
piece of wearing apparel
wondered, as I watched them wrestling,
what would happen if one of them should have
the i'll fortune to lose his VEIL / feel certain
that his antagonist would instantly cease all
efforts until the embarrassed one could return
to the game more suitably clothedl
Interesting were all their games and sur
priSing as were the results, the one mental
picture that shall always retain Is the memory
of their Greeklike torsos when, stripped to
the waist and ready for their sports, they stood
like so many classic statues, silhouetted on 1.-THE
roof Of the Sahara"
Tuareg endurance Is the subject of many
q desert campfire tale, and it Is common
knowledge that he completes many q journey
after his camel has fallen by the way His
camels are his main possession, and they are
his faithful companions through life. He Is
born by the camel's side; he remains by him
until death. The Hoggar camel IS a magnificent
beast, with thick, shaggy coat. and is far
taller than the ordinary camel. He is truly
ut companion for the Tuareg.
It Is uncertain when the camel was first in
troduced into the Sahara. Some historians put
1t as late as the fourth century, AID, but
feel that 1t was much earlier than this In
deed, cannot imagine the Tuareg ever having
existed without his useful and inseparable COM
panion, the Hoggar camel. Herodotus says that
ancient desert transportation was carried
by means Of oxen. The oxen of the ancient
Garamantians are depicted on several Of the
rock sculptures of the Sahara, crude drawings
which were first seen by Barth on the rocks
Of Telizzarhen, in the heart of the desert. But
today the Tuareg travels by camel-or foot
II disaster places him in such predicament.
With q little water in a skin, bag of dates
for food, he is on!-ready for hundreds of
miles.
The chief pastime of the yelled ones Is the
sport of raiding AS soon as the Tuareg is old
enough to ride a camel his one ambition Is to
raid, and he finds ready teachers to assist him
in the realization of his dreams. Distances are
nothing to these pirates Of the sands. They
have been known to ride, when forced, a hum
dred miles in day. but q rule they do about
40 miles, and this, considering the nature of
the terrain is indeed a good average.
THE early training of the Tuareg youth is
Spartanlike in its severity. From the day
a Tuareg boy takes the veil Cat about the age
Of $50 he Is considered to have come into
mans estate. Then, proceeding on the theory
that he is made of iron, his elders no longer
make the way easy for him. He can 60 four
or five days without water, and can go without
food for more than week. Such denial, to
all appearances, in no way lessons his physical
stamina, and it is certain that it places no
drain upon his reSolute spirit. Perhaps this
can be accounted for in some measure by the
fact that he is generally half starved is all
muscle and Drawn, and has not the slightest
chance to become obese. He Is always dieting
Involuntary.
A Tuareg has been known to travel a
thousand kilometers lover 600 miles) ON foot
carrying his water and food on his back! It
Is due to their unequaled endurance and stoical
indifference to hardship and suffering that
they have been dreaded since time immemorial
by all the other races Of Africa.
Their raids are swift and sudden As a rule
they attack camp at dawn; there follows q
hand-to-hand fight Of unbelievable intensity
and vigor-and they are gone, rapidly diminish
ing specks the boundless horizon They
will raid an oasis camp or caravan a thousand
miles from the scene of the planning, and then
retire into their mountain fastness, where they
will lie low" for months.
Many are the caves hidden in the great
Hoggar Mountains still filled with the fruits
of raids conducted hundreds of years ago. and
that Is why every now and then come