. The gateway to the Sahara; observations and experiences in Tripoli. someunsuspecting douar [village]. Sunrise finds themmiles away, red-handed with their loot. Lastlyare the Bellates, or Black slaves, who becomemuch attached to their masters, often refusingtheir freedom when offered, preferring to retaintheir Tuareg citizenship rather than seek theirhomes in the Sudan. The Tuaregs resort to thesame method of branding their slaves as do theArabs—slashing out strips of flesh from thecalves, cheeks, or temples. One stifling morning in mid-July a surpriseawaited me. Only the noise of a disconsol
. The gateway to the Sahara; observations and experiences in Tripoli. someunsuspecting douar [village]. Sunrise finds themmiles away, red-handed with their loot. Lastlyare the Bellates, or Black slaves, who becomemuch attached to their masters, often refusingtheir freedom when offered, preferring to retaintheir Tuareg citizenship rather than seek theirhomes in the Sudan. The Tuaregs resort to thesame method of branding their slaves as do theArabs—slashing out strips of flesh from thecalves, cheeks, or temples. One stifling morning in mid-July a surpriseawaited me. Only the noise of a disconsolatecamel or the drone of some drowsy insect amongthe courtyard plants of my lokanda drifted onthe heated air. I paused a moment on the thresh-old, as we are wont to do, perhaps throughprimeval instinct, then stepped out into the nar-row, sun-baked street. Just ahead of me anothercrossed it, cleaving its way between the white-walled Arab houses. My ear caught the softscuff of sandalled feet, a white garment flappedout from beyond a corner stone, then two tall [88]. THE MASKED TUAREGS figures swung suddenly around the ! There was no doubting it, for theirfaces were masked behind the dark litham [veilmask], through whose open slit two pairs of eyeslooked catlike and fixedly at me—then we passed. Giving them barely time to get beyond mylokanda, I ran for my camera and into the streetagain, but the Tuaregs had disappeared. Theycould not have gone far, and being strangers inthe town, would not have entered any Arabhouse. My surmise that they had turned downa street leading to the bazaar quarter of the townproved true and I was soon following in their wake. Draped gracefully over their lean, supplefigures, in a way which a Roman pretor mighthave envied, was a light haik or kheiki, fromwhich protruded the white sleeves of a gray Su-danese tunic. White kortebbas [trousers] reachedto their feet, on which were lashed their ghatemin^sandals of tooled leather, secured by c
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