Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/283

 INHABITANTS OF ALGERIA. 281 name. Nevertheless raciul differences are still at leant roughly indicated by the occupations of the inhabitants, the nomad jmstors being mostly Arabs, while the term Berber is usually applied in a collective sense to the settled peasantry. This old ethnical api)cllation of Berber is still borne in a sixHjial niunner by one of the Atlas tribes in Marocco. But as applied to an aggregate of peoples, whose diverse origins have been sought in Mauritania, West Eurojx?, and the Asiatic regions bordering on Egypt, it has lost all definite meaning, except in a linguistic sense. It now indicates in a general way all those peoples which speak, or which, during the historic period, are known to have spoken, languages belong- ing to the Libyan family. This form of speech, already current amongst the Tamahu figured on the Egyptian paintings, has been preserved under its old name for thousands of years. Amongst the Tuaregsand the various Sahara peoples, it is still called TamahSg, Tamahug, or Tamashek, and dialects akin to the Targui are spoken by a large number of other communities from the western oases of Egypt to the Atlantic seaboard. The Berber linguistic family shows some affinity with the Semitic, not in its vocabulary so much as in its guttural sounds, its grammar, and syntax. Although constituting, with Coptic, the group of so-called Ilamitic languages, it presents all the characteristics of an Eastern origin. Relying mainly on these resemblances of speech, certain writers have in fact endeavoured, rightly or wrongly, to establish a common origin for all the indigenous races of North Africa and Western Asia. But great differences have been observed even among the two chief ethnical groups in Algeria itself. The true Semites represented by the Arabs present the most striking contrast to the various peoples previously settled in the country. The Kabyles of Jurjura, taken as typical Berbers, have a less oval head and face, broader and fuller features, less regular and less retreating forehead, less arched eyebrows than the Arabs. The nose is seldom aquiline and often short and thick, the chin firm, the mouth rather large, the lips strong or thick. The physiognomy usually lacks the delicacy noticed in the Arabs, although the expression is more frank, the eye mere animated, the muscular system more compact, the body less pliant, but more robust and more firmly planted on the giound. The Kabyles are also usually of a somewhat lighter complexion, which may be attributed to their more settled existence. On the whole, they differ but little from Southern Europeanf-, and by a mere change of costume thousands amongst them might bo taken for natives of Auvergne or Limoges. No less marked from the moral standpoint is the contrast between the two elements, although this may be more readily explained by differences of environ- ment and pursuits. Although comprising many essentially nomad tribes, such as the Saharian Tuaregs, the Berbers show a preference for a settled life wherever favoured by the physical conditions. Mostly upland agriculturists, they necessarily differ in habits, social and political institutions, from the restless nomads of the plains. The Kabyles are distinguished by their unflagging industry, enterprising spirit, and common sense. They are inquisitive, fond of discussion, eager for information, susceptible of admiration and wonder, while the Arab affects a passive