Moors and Canary Islanders on the Coast of the Western Sahara

Abstract

The coastal waters of the western Sahara, between the 19th and 24th parallels, are among the richest in the world in fish. Their abundance was catalogued in the course of Professor Gruvel's x mission in 1905, and it has been the subject of subsequent research. In spite of a life remote from seafaring ways, the Moors or Beydanes, the great camel-owning nomads of the region, have never been unaware of these resources; they have even been the issue at stake in frequent tribal squabbles. It is true that the ocean waters have never been exploited in person by the warriors of bedouin or hassane stock, the gun-bearing aristocrats, or by the holy men or zwaya, the marabouts called by Islamic law to a life of prayer and study. Both these classes have, however, claimed suzerainty over the small fishing clans, of Berber or negroid origin, called who have from time immemorial gathered the harvest of the coast. In addition, special mention should be made of the little tribe of Ahel Laghzel, an independent community which bears arms; these people fish for their own benefit certain stretches of the Baie du Levrier. Nowadays, the most important centres inhabited by the Imraguen fishers are, from south to north: Lemhayjerat, to the south of Cap Timiris (or Mirik), in? habited by the vassals of the Tendgha marabouts (Ahel Bouhoboyni); Memghar, in the immediate vicinity of Cap Mirik, inhabited by the former vassals of the warriors Oulad Seyid of the Trarza; R'Gueyba, at the tip of the Presqu'ile de Thila, inhabited by the vassals of the Barikallah marabouts (Habiballah); several areas (N'Teychott, N'Tesseut, Ajouer, Foum el Trig, Iwik) in the zone of runnels and mud-holes lying between Cap Iwik and the southern tip of lie Tidra and lie Serenni, inhabited off and on by fishermen most of whom are vassals of the Oulad Bou Sba, a tribe claiming to be chorfa or descended from the Prophet; Arkeys, near Cap el Freh, Al Zas (at the cape of the same name) and lie d'Arguin, occupied temporarily by the vassals of the Barikallah marabouts (Habiballah). Finally, the shores of the Baie de Pfitoile, Baie du Cansado and Baie de PArchimede, subdivisions of the great Baie du Levrier, were and still sometimes are exploited on their own behalf by members of the Ahel Laghzel tribe; while those of Dakhla, in the bay of Villa Cisneros, are the customary fishing grounds of the Oulad Tidrarin, vassals of the famous warrior tribe of the Oulad Delim. The fresh water essential for the maintenance of these settlements is carried in water skins on pack camels from the nearest wells, which are often many kilometres away. These same areas of the Baie du Levrier and of the Banc d'Arguin, apart perhaps from a stretch between Cap el Freh and Cap Mirik which is more or less unnavigable, have been frequented for a long time past by fishing fleets from the Canary Islands, and particularly by the seafaring people of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. For centuries, therefore, this Atlantic seaboard has been the meeting place of two peoples, two languages, two religions, two civilizations and finally of two quite distinct fishing techniques. The technique of the Canary Island fishermen resembles closely methods used on