TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

270 IMPROVEMENT OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL RANGELANDS
In traditional Tamuheq lOCiety, camel ownenhip tended to be restricted
to a hereditary cute of noblemen whoee herds were tended
by slaves. These slaves were of separate ethnic orisin (nesroid), like
the sharecropping vusala using land owned by the noblemen. Commoner
Tamasheq specialized in religiousllelVicee, in coat rearing, or
oasis cultivation, and paid tribute in kind to the camel owners in return
for protection. Bernus (1975) deecribM how, under the colonial
pu, this lIelVice offered by the camel-owning noblemen lost its meaning
and eroded, no longer giving n.e to cut. bued on qualitative
criteria of tyPes of wealth but instead to more clear-cut quantitative
inequalities. The Tamuheq noblemen were typical of a system in
which camel-owning sections of diveree ethnic sroUpl!l all over the
Saharan area were able to maintain control over reIItricted patches
of land of particular value--oues for cultivation, caravan centers,
permanent well fields, and depl'el8ions with good gruing. Some
of them, such 88 the Dasa of Borku (Johnson, 1969), maintained
outright ownenhip over 0&IeI or palm trees but did not themselves
cultivate, leaving this to vusala or ex-l1ave IfOUpI!l, and returning
only for the harvest. The Dasa and their northern neighbors in the
Tibesti, the Tecla, used to collect dates in early winter, and then use
their nomadic camps 88 bases for caravans to other more Mdentary
people in order to exchange these goods for grain.
Systems of vasaals and patrons are also found among the
Bedouins of Libya and the Arabian desert area. In these areas, one
can find dominant groupl!l of noble, camel-owning Arabe who control
land and are ucribed an elite status through reference to their
places in tribal genealogies. In north Arabia, a system of ranked
lineages is combined with a system of political control over vusal
groups of small-stock shepherds, cultivators, and hunters. This is
exercised through control over pastures and wells along the trekking
routes and over some oases (Sweet, 1965) from which the noblemen
extract dates and wheat yearly, either by force or &I shares from their
proprietary holdings.
It appears likely that such systems will erode under the influence
of modern commerce and &I a result of the growth of a centralised
state structure that favors members of groups that are more sedentary
and living in closer contact with the state representatives. Cole
(1975) notes a change in Saudi Arabia where now the most influential
herd owners are thoee with the largest sheep flocks, rather than thoee
who own camels.
Political influence through -Protection" diminishes in influence