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National Geographic : 1979 Aug
Contents
that their roots were among Middle East ern blacksmiths. The Inadan themselves, though Muslim, claim to be sons of Our Lord David, possibly linking them to Jews of the central Sahara. Adding to the riddle is their darker complexion, which sets them apart from the often honey-skinned Tuareg nobles, who are descendants of the Cauca sian Berbers of North Africa. My wife, Aubine, who is French, and I first came upon the Inadan in 1974. Their intricate culture, little known outside the Sahara, challenged our curiosity. With training in graphics and the arts-I as a pho tographer, Aubine with a doctorate in art history-we felt an instant bond to these craftsmen and artisans. Dainty as snowflakes-and almost as varied-two-inch ornaments, here made of stone instead of the usual silver, adorn necklaces throughout the Air region. All Tuareg collect Inadan silverwork (facing page), hammered or cast in the lost-wax process. Selling jewelry helped some families to buy food duringthe recent droughtin the Sahel. On four annual visits to the Air, we have come to feel at home in that stark region. We have struggled along the dry riverbeds that stitch rolling dunes to black, sky-stabbing peaks. We have gossiped and drunk tea in the Inadan's domed huts. These frugal homes, walled by palm-leaf mats which can be lifted to admit the breeze, often cluster beside springs among scattered acacia trees. Feudal System Withstands Drought During the punishing Sahel drought of 1968-73, the people of the Air were hard hit, but they suffered less than the Tuareg in Mali.* Still, I saw Tuareg nobles laying brick in Agadez, chief city of the region, and found Inadan trying to set up businesses in faraway Niamey. The drought wiped out much of the Tua reg wealth-herds of goats and camels. Many of the nomads are now poorer than their underlings, the sedentary Inadan and the slave-descended field hands. The Tua reg nobles have fallen into a seminomadic life-style more similar to these neighbors. Recently the government of Niger helped the stricken Tuareg by importing live stock-including hundreds of camels-for distribution among the nomads. This re stored Tuareg pride and mobility-and also put Inadan shopkeepers back to work mak ing saddles, camel bags, and other finery of caravanning. We traveled, on one of our early Niger vis its, to Abardokh, a village in the southern Air region. As we drove northeast from Aga dez, a faint breeze raised a golden haze around the rusty hills. Finally, like an ap parition, Abardokh appeared. Here we hoped to hire a renowned craftsman named Ahoudan to guide us on a trek into the rugged Bagzane Mountains. "You'll be lucky to find him," a friend had told us. "He has two homes and two wives, in Abardokh and Tabelot." As we drove up to Ahoudan's hut, chil dren, chickens, and goats scurried away. From within came a loud burst of rock mu sic. Hearing our vehicle, Ahoudan had turned up his portable cassette player nearly to the distortion level. His foreign *Victor Englebert wrote of the Sahel disaster in "Drought Threatens the Tuareg World," NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, April 1974. NationalGeographic,August 1979 286
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