Phenicia, one of the smallest yet most illustrious states of antiquity, was, as
already hinted, an Arabian nation of the Chaldean stock. They roved upon the
ocean as the cognate tribes did upon the land; their very name signifies a wanderer
by sea, an appropriate appellation when we reflect on their fearless voyages to
every part of the world then known, and their successful doubling of the Cape of
Good Hope six hundred years before the Christian era. Tyre an4 Sidon were
their principal cities in Phenicia proper. They joined the Mauri and built
Carthage, and on the destruction of this city by the » Romans, the two nations
were blended in a common family.* This again became mixed with the Arab
immigrations of various epochs, and partially with the Berbers, whom we have
next to mention.t
5. TH E LIBYAN FAMILY.
It is proposed in this name to include the various tribes of aboriginal Africans
who have long been designated by the Arabic term of Berbers. I adopt the
former designation from Prichard and Heeren, who consider these people to he
the descendants of the ancient Libyans. They are found both to the north and
south of Mount Atlas, extending their wanderings into Morocco and Barbary:
on the east they inhabit as far as the Gulf of Cabes, or the Little Syrtis, while on
the west they reach the Atlantic. They call themselves by the collective or
national name of Amazirgh.
The various communities of this family are characterised by handsome
Caucasian features, but in complexion they present all the shades from white to
nearly black.
The Tuariks are perhaps the best known of all the Berber tribes, Captain
Lyon describes them as the finest men he ever saw ; tall, straight and handsome,
* Chenier, Resch. sur les Maures, I, p. 19.
t The teim Semitic has been applied to the Syrian nations between the Mediterranean sea and
western Persia, “ from Shem, the son óf Noah, from whom, fir the table.of nations in the book of
Genesis, entitled Toldoth Beni Noach, many of them are declared to have descended.” The principal
Semitic communities are or were the following:
1 . Elam, to the northward of the Persian Gulf.
2. Ashar, or the people of Assyria.
3. The Chasdim or Chaldeans, from whom are descended the Hebrews and Arabs.
4. The Lydians.
5. Aram, or the proper Syrians.
See Prichard, Res. II, p. 208.
with an imposing air of pride and independence. Their features resemble those
of southern Europeans; their natural complexion is nearly white, much darkened,
however, by exposure to a hot sun, and their hair is long, black and glossy. They
are said to be less treacherous than the Arabs, yet passionate, cruel and revengeful.
They are fond of war, and plunder both their Arab and Negro neighbors, and
reduce the latter to slavery. They are chiefly pastoral in their mode oi life; and
although they have horses, they mostly travel and fight on foot.
The Shilloohs inhabit south of the Tuariks, are less robust and have darker
complexions: they are also said to be more industrious, peaceful, civilised and
humane, having some manufactures, and being more husbandmen than shepherds.
They occupy the western valleys of Mount Atlas, in the province of Temsna,
but are still more numerous south of the city of Morocco.
The Adem inhabit the oasis of Ghadamis, south of Tripoli, and are said to
be divided into two hostile tribes which are at constant war with each other.
To this family also belong the Beni-Mozab, and other tribes of Belad-el-gerid,
south of Atlas, the Zuaves of the Tunisian territory, the Kolluvians n the neighborhood
of Soudan, the Tagama near Tombuctoo, who are white, and the Hagara
and Matkara, who are yellowish.*
“ The Kabyles,” says Dr. Prichard, “ who appear to he intimately connected
with the Berbers, inhabit the higher part of the Algerine and Tunisian territories,
living in mountain villages composed of huts, which resemble the magalia of the
old Numidians. The Kabyles, as we learn from Dr. Shaw, are in general of a
swarthy color, with dark hair; but those who inhabit the mountains of Auress,
though they speak the same idiom, are of a fair and ruddy complexion, and their
hair is of a deep yellow.”f
It is probably a tribe of Berbers to whom M. Arago alludes when he informs
us, that, “in going from Bougia to Algiers in 1808, by land, he saw women of all
ages in the different villages, who were white, had blue eyes and fair hair; but
that the nature of his journey did not permit him to stop and ask if they came
from any particular tribe.”
The Guanches of the Canary Islands appear to have been a colony of
Berbers, as is inferred from the remains of their language, their features and their
customs. The singular perfection with which they practised the art of embalm-
* Prichard, I, p. 246, &c.—'The best account of the Berbers I have any where seen is contained
under that article in the Penny Cyclopaedia, a learned and elaborate work with a very humble title,
t Idem. p. 243.