Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/369

 are several influential zawyas (religious communities), such as that of Khairan in the Jebel Sheshar, and Liana near the old Roman military post of Bades (Ad Badias).

West of the Tizugarin pass stretches the extensive plain which seems destined to become the centre of European colonisation in the Aures, but whose rich pastures are meantime held in common by all the branches of the Ulud-Daud tribe. Here begins the valley of the Wed-el-Abiad, which has a south-westerly course, losing itself in the Sahara below the Tranimin gorges. The nearly parallel Wed Abdi Valley is held by the brave Ulad-Abdi tribe, whose stronghold

of Nara was razed by the French in 1850. The present capital of the tribe is Menaa, which may be regarded as the central point of the Aures highlands.

Batna, commanding the northern districts of this region, is at once an important military station and the chief administrative centre in the southern portion of the province of Constantine. It occupies between the Aures and Tugueur uplands a position analogous to that of Khenshela, lying in a plain which affords direct communication in one direction with the Rummel, in another with the Hodna basin. Here converge all the more important natural routes south