Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/393

 chants, They even occupy themselves with some industries, such as weaving and embroidery, carried on by the women in their tents, Lastly, they have few rivals as marauders, One of their clans are the Hab-er-Rih, or "Breath of the Wind," and, after they have carried off any booty, to the victims of the razzia it is said, "Go, seek the wind." The Shaanbas will make a journey of six hundred miles acrogs the wilderness merely to avenge an insult, carrying off whole herds from their enemies, the Saharian Tuaregs. Although of Berber origin, they now speak Arabic exclusively, and pay the religious tax regularly to the Ulad Sidi-esh-Sheikh.

In Orania, or Western Algeria, the French have advanced far less southwards than in the provinces of Constantine and Algiers. West of the Jebel Amur and

of the military route, which runs from Teniet-el-Haad through the rising town of Shellala to Aflu, the chief station is the important strategic town of Geryville, formerly El-Biod, which stands at an altitude of 4,100 feet, in.a rich mineral district nine miles west of the native town of Stitten. Numerous megalithic remains are scattered over the surrounding heights.

Geryville has not prospered so much as some other towns less conveniently situated on the plateau, but more favoured by the new railway running south of Saida in the direction of the alfa region. This line terminates at present at Mesheria, but it is to be continued southwards in the direction of one of the numerous breaches in the southern ranges leading to the Sahara.