Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/323

 The most influential of these religious communities is that of Ben Ali Sherif, at Shollata, on the outer slope of the eastern Jurjura uplands. The head of this zawya has become a sort of prince, one of the most distinguished natives in Algeria.

Although greatly modified by the French conquest, Kabyle society still preserves in its political constitution distinct features, rendering it one of the most original and remarkable of human associations. Carette, Féraud, Hanoteau, Sabatier, and other observers speak of it with amazement, and assure us that even the most cultured nations might learn much from these hitherto despised high landers.

Wherever military regulations or the civil administration have not arrested the free play of the old usages, every taddert, or village, constitutes a little self-governed commonwealth, in which rich and poor, young and old, have all alike their share. At the age of fifteen the youth becomes a citizen, and, if strong enough to shoulder his musket, has a right to vote; only he is expected to show to his elders the respect due to age. The jemâa, or assembly, composed of all the citizens of the several kharubas, meets once a week, oftener in cases of emergency, delivers sentence, and appoints those who have to give it effect. In the assembly are centred all powers, political, administrative, and judicial. It hears charges