Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/320

 agricultural skill. Amongst them all labour is respected, even that of the blacksmith, which is regarded with such contempt by the Arabs. The various Kabyle tribes have each their special industry, so that at the fairs held successively in each village on different days during the week, buyers may obtain all manufactured articles of which they stand in need. In many Zwawa tribes the women excel in the production of beautiful vases; in others coarse earthenware is prepared; the Illiltens and Ilulas of the Jurjura uplands devote their attention to wood-carving; the Bu-Shaib and Ait-Ijer clans in the eastern highlands occupy themselves with weaving; the Ait-Fraucen with iron-work; the Fenaia and Ait Yenni with arms and the preparation of warlike supplies of all sorts. The last mentioned are also

jewellers and metal casters, melting down the Spanish douros and converting them into necklaces, rings, or diadems.

In the Kabyle districts the markets, supplied with objects of local industry and. foreign importation, are very animated. Usually held near the cemetery outside the town walls, they become in political times popular gatherings for the discussion of public topics. Here were formerly decided questions of peace and war; but since the French occupation politics have given place to the interests of peaceful intercourse.;

So dense is the population in Great Kabylia that the agricultural produce is insufficient for the local wants. Hence thousands yearly emigrate in search of a livelihood amongst strangers. Formerly many hired themselves out as mercenaries to fight for the Turk, and even still most of the Algerian "Zouaves" are recruited