TUAREG, also TAWAREK (sing. Tarqi), the name given by Arabs to the western and central Saharan Berber peoples in the desert from Tuat to Timbuktu and from Fezzan to Zinder, an area of about 1,500,00o sq.m. The Tuareg resort to the centres from which the trade routes radiate, Timbuktu, Ghat, Ghadames, Murzuk and Tuat. Their general colour is reddish yellow. Their hair is long, black and silky, beards black and thin, eyes generally black; noses small, hands delicate, and bodies muscular. They are tall and graceful.
The aristocratic section is called Tmajagh; Arabs call them muleth themin (veiled people). The men wear the veil day and night, the women never. The Tuareg, at any rate the noble class, are among the purest of the Berber stocks but have become largely Arabised. The script is known as T'ifinagh, consists of 4o to 5o symbols. They dress generally in a black tunic (some wear white), trousers of white cotton, and wear a cloth called litham or tagilmus, the end of which is drawn over the face, leaving visible only the eyes and the tip of the nose. These cloths are dark blue or white. To this difference of colour is due the terms "black" and
"white" Tuaregs.
Socially the Tuareg are divided into six classes, viz.: Imajeghan or nobles; Marabout or priests; Imghad or serfs; Irejanaten or mixed people, issue of noble and Imghad; lkelan negro slaves and Buzu outdoor slaves. The nobles are all pure blooded and provide the tribal chiefs. They do no manual work. Among the Imghad serfdom is hereditary, and they are bound collectively to a noble or group of tribes. The Tuareg weapons are a straight two edged sword about 4 ft. long, a dagger bound to the left forearm and spears and leathern shields.