- 3. The Kabyles of Algiers and Tunis, and the Berber
Tribes in the central parts of Atlantica.
The Berbers of the Tunisian and Algerine territories are
termed by the inhabitants of. the cities Kabyles orQabâily :
they occupy all the hills' which form' the^lesser -Atlas, the
people „of particular hills having the names of Beni-Sala or
Beni-Meissera, &c. which mean Children of Sala or Meis-r.
igra. They speak the Berber language, which is termed by
them Showiah, and- in the interior of the .country are quite
unacquainted with the Arabic. They live in huts madë^of the
branches of trees and covered with clay, which resemble the
magalia of the old Numidians, spread in little groupes over
the sides of the mountains, and preserve, the grain, the
legumes, and other fruits which are ■ the.prod|ceç> of their
husbandry, in matmoures, or conical excavations 5, in the
gpund. They are the most industrious i inhabitantsliqf
the Barbary: States, and besides tillage, work the mines
contained in their mountains and obtain lead, iron, and.
copper.*
-5 Of the tribes in the interior behind Tunis in .the^country,
of the ancient Gaetuli we have some recent information from
Mr. Hodgson, whose memoir has already beemcited ;. and in
a late publication by M. d’Avezac who has translated-an
itinerary of Hhaggy Ebn-el-Dyn, which he has published
with notes and. illustrations.^
% According to Hodgson, whose information was obtained
from native travellers, and partly from Hhaggy Ebn-el-Dyn;
the Berber tribes of the Gætulian region are four, namely,
the Mozabies, Biscaries, Wadreagans, and Wurgelans. The
Mozabies inhabit an oasis of the-Sahara 300 miles to the
southward of Algiers : the Biscaries dwell about 200 miles to
the south-east of Algiers : Tuggurt, the capital of Wadreag, is
* Shaw’s Travels in Barbary. Voyage dans- la Régence d’Alger, par M.
Rozet, tom. ii.
+ Etudes de Géographie Critique sur une Partie de l’Afrique Septentrionale,
par M. d’ AveZac. Paris, 1836. .
about 100 miles to the south-east of the Biscaries and Wurgelah
•30 Teagues-to- the^sOuth-Wést of Tuggurt. The Berber language
is the native.idiom of the Mozabies, Wadreagans and
Wurgelans:5' The'^itc^r^esV’Hbohgh of Berber origin, now
speak the Arabic language.'*-’
The* MFëzabi ortpêbpte\pf the Wady-Moz&b, who* name
themselves Aith-Emzab, equivalent to Beni-Emz&b, are
separated b y - a traclife^ H^sér-t1 from the other two tribes
who speak the same Tan-gbage, and they.» are very distinct in
moral and physical'f®ïi'&titutió'm. Thèïr dialects are but
slightly different in prcmu3^ation;h>bi®feitheli Aith-Eihzêb are
remarkably whÜé* while Ithe other tlibfef 'black. The
people?’bf Wadreag,' or thé Aith-Erègaiah? and the Aith-
Wurgelah,* are black, and have woolly hair, flat noses,■ and
thick lips/ When Mr. Hodgson first saw a native of Wad-
TëAgf he was-quite_: surprised to hear him sj^eak Berber. In
tfoeibify of Tuggurt, the capital of? Wadrfeag,1 there is a sepa^
rate tribé* who speak only Arabic, and haVë>ftight hair and
a fair compJeSfoh.
4. Tuaryk.
I have now to remark a -fact of* greater importance in the
ethnography of'Africa than the origin of any particular tribe
of mountaineers* -1 allude to the extension of the same race
through all the lowlands’of Africa as far as the$> orders of
Sudan, or the great valley of the- Nigb|| The history of
the Tuaryk belongs, however, to the: next section of this
chapter.
Section III.-r-ATatfio»« of the Sahara, Tuaryk, and Tibbo.
Leo divides the north of Africa into four -regions, which,
as he says, ran parallel to each other from east to west, as
longitudinal bands* and extend from Egypt or the Nile to the
Mediterranean. These four regions are termed Barbaria,
Ouergelah, in the orthography of M. d’Avezac.