AIR, or ASBEN  , a country of West Africa, lying between 15° and 19° N. and 6° and 1o° E . It is within the Sahara, of which it forms one of the most fertile regions . The northern portion of the country is mountainous, some of the peaks rising to a height of 5000 ft . Richly wooded hollows and extensive plains are interspersed between the hills . The mimosa, the dum palm and the date are abundant . Some of the plains afford good pasturage for camels, asses, goats and cattle; others are desert tablelands . In the less frequented districts wild animals abound, notably the lion and the gazelle . The country generally is of sandstone or granite formation, with occasional trachyte and basaltic ranges . There are no permanent rivers; but during the rainy season, from August to October, heavy floods convert the water-courses in the hollows of the mountains into broad and rapid streams . Numerous wells supply the wants of the people and their cattle . To the south of this variegated region lies a desert plateau, 2000 ft. above sea-level, destitute of water, and tenanted only by the wild ox, the ostrich and the giraffe . Still farther south is the fairly fertile district of Damerghu, of which Zinder is the chief town .

Little of the

soil is under cultivation except in the neighbourhood of the villages . Millet, dates, indigo and senna are the principal productions . The great bulk of the food supplies is brought from Damerghu, and the materials'for clothing are also imported . A great caravan annually passes through Air, consisting of several thousand camels, carrying salt from Bilma to the Hausa states . Air was called Asben by the native tribes until they were conquered by the Berbers . The present inhabitants are for the most part of a mixed race, combining the finer traits of the Berbers with negro characteristics . The sultan of Air is to a great extent dependent on the chiefs of the Tuareg tribes inhabiting a vast tract of the Sahara to the north-west . A large part of his revenue is derived from tribute exacted from 'the salt caravans . Since 1890 Air has been included in the French sphere of influence in West Africa . Agades, the capital of the country, 'which has a circuit of 3z m., is built on the edge of a plateau 2500 ft. high, and is supposed to have been founded by the Berbers to serve as a secure magazine for their extensive trade with the Songhoi empire . The language of the people is a dialect of Songhoi . In former times Agades was a place of great traffic, and had a population of about 50,000 .

Since the beginning of the 16th

century the prosperity of the town has, however, gradually declined . F . Foureau, who visited Agades in 1899, stated that more than half the total area was deserted and ruinous . The houses, which are built of clay, are low and flat-roofed; and the only buildings of importance are the chief mosque, which is surmounted by a tower 95 ft. high, and the sultan's residence, a massive two-storied structure pierced with small' windows . The chief trade is grain . The great salt caravans pass through it, as well as pilgrims on their way to Mecca .