Tu is the Tibesti itself, the black volcanic massif at the centre of the range, and the word from which the people take their name, the Tubu or Toubou being understood as the folk of Tu, the people of the rock. More than a geographical term, it names the cherished and formidable homeland that gathers within it the whole sacred geography of the Teda, the healing solfatara, the smoking summits and the dreaded natron crater. In the reckoning that ties a people to their high country, Tu is at once the ground beneath the tents and the enduring rock-land against which Teda identity is measured.