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TAMA-SPEAKING PEOPLES 747
Masalit by offering to make a separate peace. The same occurred in the period
1910-1912, when the Masalit fought the French conquerors of Wadai, and in
1918, when the British prepared to occupy Dar Masalit. All these attempts ended
in failure. The Anglo-Egyptian colonial government ruled Dar Erenga and Dar
Jebel as sections of the Masalit sultanate until its demise in 1956. The Asungor
became part of French Equatorial Africa in 1923.
The social organization of the different groups is very similar. Extended
families form lineages which, in turn, constitute strongly localized clans. Today,
members of different clans co-reside, and the main function of the clans is
payment of diyya (blood money). The Mileri consist of seven clans, while the
Asungor and Erenga have several dozen. In fact, the two populations are one
and the same, calling themselves Birrung; Erenga is probably the name given
to them by the Fur. Their largest clans are the Girga, Awra, Asungor, Shali,
Daromi and Dula. There is no data on Mararit and Abu Sharib clans. Internally,
all groups are ruled by village chiefs who answer to larger territorial chiefs who,
in turn, answer to a high official or even the ruler of the polity to which they
belong.
There is little difference in natural resources and climate. All groups inhabit
sandy, hilly regions at altitudes varying between 3,000 and 4,000 feet. The
eastern Sudanese part is drier during the rainy seasons and has poorer underground
water resources, and, as a result of natural and human causes, its vegetation is
rather poor. Crops sown are identical: sorghum, maize, peanuts, sesame, watermelons,
cucumbers and okra. Where irrigation is practiced, farmers grow tomatoes,
onions and chili peppers. The Abu Sharib and Mararit yields appear to
be highest. These groups own the most livestock and therefore have the most
manure.
Nearly all people in this area live in compounds composed of cylindrical
houses 15 to 20 feet in diameter. They use coarsely made, rope-tied reed mats
for walls and a conical thatched roof, also from reed.
Tama
The Tama live in the mountainous region of eastern Chad, close to the Sudan
border. Their territory, called Dar ("home of") Tama, is bounded by the Mimi
and Zaghawa peoples in the north, the Abu Sharib and the Mararit in the west,
the Asungor and Masalit in the south and the Gimr in the east. Except for the
pastoral Ereigat Arabs, who transhume on Tama territory for part of the year,
Dar Tama does not host other ethnic groups. The Tama intermarry with the
Gimr, Zaghawa, Asungor, Maba and Ereigat Arabs, but not with the Masalit.
Those Tama who inhabit the northwestern part of Dar Tama intermarry only
with the Abu Sharib. Tama immigrants in western Sudan intermarry with their
hosts, including the Masalit (see Arabs; Beri; Maba; Mima-Mimi).
Although their languages are not mutually intelligible and despite their wide
geographical separation, members of both the Tama and Daju-Sila acknowledge