Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/500

 I go Folklore of the Algerian Hills and Desert.

some verses of Koran or with the assistance of certain people, skilled in magic, who by touching the crown of the patient's head three times restore him to consciousness.

When once the individual has recovered his senses after his outburst it is believed that all the scars which he may have inflicted upon himself in the course of his ravings will have disappeared. This religious hysteria is not confined to a tribe or sect, such as the Aissawa who are renowned for their self-mutilation and who perform it for the edifica- tion of visitors in many a tourist centre of Algeria. It is said to overcome perfectly sane and rational persons at some of the zerdas or fetes at the tombs of well-known marabouts. Such a zerda is that held about the month of August in honour of Sidi Yahia, whose tomb is situated midway between the railway " halte " of Maafa and the western entrance to the ravine of the same name, the only ravine which penetrates the western boundary of the Aures massif and thus connects the high-lying valley of Bu Zina with the outer world. A vast concourse of natives of both Berber and Arab stock attend this zerda from the Aures, from the surrounding desert, and even from such distant centres as Constantine. At the tomb of the saint, which is situated within a modern building erected by the French Government, much music and dancing takes place and, in dry seasons, prayers are offered for rain. When the cere- monies at the tomb are completed, a large number of people of both sexes betake themselves to the slopes of the holy mountain, known as the Jebel Bus, which lies on the right bank of the Bu Zina river just above its confluence with the Wad Abdi, that is to say, some half a dozen miles as the crow flies to the south-east of Sidi Yahia's tomb. Bringing with them candles and incense, they burn these upon the rocky slopes of the mountain upon which they pass the night, thus illuminating the hill, while music is pro- vided by drum and hautboy, to the strains of which dance the men : very rarely, it is said, some women dance also.