Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/70

 peaceful tribes, such as the Kedadifas, Aulad Bu-Seifs, Sfradnas, Aulad Yusefs, Hamadats, and Tar-hônas. Of all these kindred clans, the most respected are the Bu-Seifs, who reside chiefly about the Wady Sufejin and its tributaries. In order to preserve intact their social usages, the Bu-Seifs allow no strangers to remain overnight in their encampments, but assign them a separate tent in the vicinity, where, however, they are entertained with perfect hospitality. This tribe breeds the finest camels in the whole of Tripolitana, and in all their tents the younglings are treated like the children of the family.

West of Tripoli, towards the Tunisian frontier, the chief tribes are the Wershefanas,

Ben-Ajelas, and Nuails. Till recently conflicts were frequent in the border lands between the two states, and the victorious or defeated clans were continually displacing their camping grounds according to the vicissitudes of battle.

Although the art of writing has been lost among the Berbers of Tripolitana, most of these communities are designated on the ground or the face of the cliffs by complicated marks or signs, which must be regarded either as abbreviated names, or symbolic marks, analogous to the totems of the North American Indians.

There are also some Arab tribes held in great veneration, not on account of their pure morals or any special merit, but in consequence of the pretended sanctity