Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/314

 254 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. lost all its trade until its recent revival under tbe French. But it is still far less extensive than in its prosperous days, of which its most interesting monument is the Bab-el-Bahr, or "Sea Gate," a Moorish archway forming part of the old ramparts. Bougie, which lies at the natural issue of the vast basin stretching from Sctif to Aumale, is connected by a regular service of steamers with Marseilles, and will soon enjoy the advantages of railway communication with Algiers through Beni-Mansur, and with the interior by a line nmning through the Babor and Bihkn hills to Setif. Kabylia. The section of the Jurjura highlands enclosed by the rivers Sahel and Isser usually takes the name of " Great Kabylia," in contradistinction to the " Little Kabylia," which comprises the rugged Biban and Babor uplands. The terra Kabylia itself has no ethnical value, being simply the Arabic kabila, or " tribe," applied in different districts to populations of the most diverse origin. In Mauri- tania it was applied by the Mussulman invaders to all the non-Arab peoples driven by them from the plains to the uplands. It thus gradually acquired a degrading sense, and the Algerian Arabs now more usually designate their own tribes by the equivalent word ar-sh. On the other hand, the Berber Kabyles of the Jurjura highlands, descendants of the ancient Sanheja confederation, call themselves Imazighen, or Amzigh, that is, " Freemen," a word identical with the Maxyes of Herodotus. The great bulk of the Kabyles, whatever their origin, certainly seem entitled to this name, for to preserve their freedom they took refuge in the mountains, where they successively resisted the Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Arab, and French invaders. The Bled-el-Adua, or " Hostile Land," as the Arabs call these moun- tains of Kabylia, although now one of the most densely peopled regions in North Africa, appears during the early historic epoch to have been but sparsely inhabited. Every fresh wave of conquest contributed a fresh contingent of fugitives, who gradually took their place side by side with the previous occupants. Thus is explained the great diversity of types, ranging from the Negro to the Caucasic, represented by the present inhabitants of the Jurjura highlands and valleys. Of more or less mixed Negro blood are the Abid, or ** Slaves," of the Boghni district in the south-west ; while a Jewish origin is claimed for the Ait Bu-Yussef, dwelling on the northern slope of the main range south of Fort National. The Ait Fraucen, probably owing to the resemblance of their name, have been affiliated to the French, and the Ait Ijermenen for the same reason to the Germans. Amongst the latter, however, who are settled in the district between Bougie and Azeffun, many are found of a fair or ruddy complexion, and in their features bearing a marked resemblance to the Germans. Nevertheless the Jurjura tribes may be said on the whole to represent the old Berber population, and amongst them are probably to be sought the purest descen- dants of the primitive Mauritanians. According to a national legend, they are " sprung of the soil," although in other traditions allusion is made to peoples