Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/322

 260 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. Numerous cases have been recorded of women acquiring a predominant influence in the tribe, cither as heroines or prophetesses, and their shrines are no less venerated than those of the marabut saints. The widow enjoys equal rights with man before the law, and like him may purchase, sell, or bequeath property. Already in some of the tribes a certain evolution has begun in the direction of a new constitution for the family, and, acting under the advice of their French friends, several communities have decided that girls shall no longer be given in marriage before the age of fourteen. The establishment of French schools, in which the native women give proof of great zeal and intelligence, has also greatly contributed to their emancipation. All these social changes will easily be accomplished, because, unlike the Arabs, the Kabylcs are not bound by the letter of the Koran. They have their own laws, or rather their traditional usages, designated by the name of kanun, or ** canons," a term obviously borrowed from their former Byzantine rulers. According to the local traditions, they were at one time Christians, and the old religion would seem to be still symbolised in the crosses tattooed on the women's faces, and even on some of the men, and in some of the tribes sculptured on the doors of the houses and of the very mosques. But however this be, their Christianity does not appear to have greatly modified their habits and ideas. After calling themselves Christians, thoy called themselves ^Mussulmans, adopting a few rites from Islam, but seldom showing any zeal for the faith. They neglect the prescribed praj^ers, and are far from strict observers of the Ramadan fast. The echo of the mountain, they sa}^ when consulted to know whether they might eat, replied " Eat ! " Scarcely a himdrcd Kabylcs make the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, and then more in the character of traders than of devotees. Most of their ceremonies seem inherited from pre-^Iussulman and pre-Christian times; they still worship the divinities of nature, who control the winds and the rain, who give fertility to the soil and to the cattle. On certain days processions are formed in honour of the ancient goddess, " Bride of the Waters," represented by a dressed-up doll. These are the " Rogation days," which in the course of ages have already been adapted to three successive cults. The descendants of the Arab conquerors still reside in Kabylia without mixing with the surrounding populations. Such are the so-called " Marabut families," sometimes numerous enough to form veritable clans. Those of the Jurjura district claim to have come from the west, and some local names jvould seem to show that the Andalusian Moors are largely represented amongst them. They are confined to special villages, usually situated below those of the tribe, whose liberty is thus secured from attack. The Marabuts act as advisers, and teach the children to recite verses from the Koran. But depending for their support partly on voluntary contributions, they have acquired indolent habits, and their villages, even when situated in fertile districts, are mere collections of wretched hovels. In recent times the Mussulman confraternities have made great progress amongst the Kabyle populations. Some of their monasteries established in the midst of the tribes are encircled by a neutral zone interdicted to all belligerents.