Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/284

 indifference to all things. They are little disposed to mystic contemplation, and although superstitious, because ignorant, they give little play to the religious sentiment in their daily pursuits and social relations. Hence they lack the figured speech of the Semite, despising the graces of style, the subtle metaphor, and refined expression of the Arab poets. On the other hand, their life of toil inspires them with a feeling of pride and self-respect, combined with a high sense of individual worth. They demand above all things to be treated with justice, and those whose communal autonomy has been respected by the French, regard and treat each other in all respects as equals.

Although, thanks to their agricultural occupation, the Algerian Berbers have on the whole risen to a higher degree of civilisation than the Arabs, the latter still

in many respects exercise a preponderating influence over them. As descendants of a conquering race, they still preserve some of the prestige of past triumphs. By them the religion of Islam was also introduced, and-to them the Kabyles are indebted for a knowledge of letters and of the Koran. Notwithstanding their nomad existence, the Arabs of the plains enjoy to a larger extent the advantages derived from a greater relative degree of national cohesion. Although more numerous, the Berbers driven to the highlands nowhere form a compact nationality capable of resisting the pressure of the surrounding Arab populations; hence in every part of Algeria Berber tribes are found, which have become assimilated to the Arabs in speech, which have often lost their racial traditions, and which have even gone so far as to concoct false genealogical tables, tracing their descent to some conquering tribe from the Arabian peninsula. Even those that have