The Human Race Part 14

During harvest-time the Kabyles cover their heads with an immense straw hat of a pointed shape, with a huge brim, fourteen inches in width, shading their face. A shirt, leaving the arms and legs bare, and a leather ap.r.o.n, similar to that worn by our blacksmiths, const.i.tute their dress. They reap their corn and barley in small handfuls at a time, and very close to the ground, with a sickle. The thrashing and winnowing is roughly done by oxen. M. Duhousset, who witnessed the harvest and the grinding of the corn, gives the accompanying sketch (fig. 72) of the Kabyle flour-mills. Their olive-mill is very similar to that used in the south of France, only their grindstones are turned by women, who fill the part a.s.signed by us to horses or to a steam-engine.

In Kabylia particular care is bestowed on the cultivation of the fig, the princ.i.p.al article of food of the whole country. M. Duhousset took particular notice of the artificial fecundation of the fig-tree, a curious operation totally unknown in France.

The fig-tree, as well as the date-tree, is artificially fecundated in Kabylia; in the case of the latter the male flower is merely superimposed on the female blossoms to impregnate them; but with the former it is insects that carry the fertilizing dust. This process is termed _caprification_.

"Caprification," says M. Duhousset, "has been practised from time immemorial by all the inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast. This curious and important process seemed to me to deserve a special investigation. I have, therefore, collected a quant.i.ty of more or less plausible details and explanations of the manner in which it is carried out, and the advantages derived from this mode of cultivation.

"The _dokhar_ is the fruit of the wild fig-tree. It is small, flavourless, and bitter. It is not a very eatable species, and is not cultivated for the sake of food. It is precocious, and becomes ripe when the other figs, still green, have not yet attained their maturity. The tree which produces them--the caper fig-tree--yields two or three crops in the year; but it is only the first that is generally made use of.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 72.--GRINDING WHEAT IN THE KABYLIA.]

"When quite ripe, the dokhar is gathered, and arranged in small bunches (_moulak_) on a string. These strings are suspended to the boughs of the female fig-tree, towards the end of June in the plains, towards the end of July on the mountains. From the stem of each dokhar, when dry, issue a quant.i.ty of small winged insects, which introduce themselves into the fruit on the tree, instil a new life into it, and prevent it from falling.

"These insects, agents of this fecundation, are produced and developed in the fruit of the wild fig-tree, and leave it, as soon as arrived at maturity, to attach themselves to the female fig-tree. Their body is hairy, like that of the bee, which is known to fulfil an a.n.a.logous mission towards certain flowers.

"These insects are of two kinds, black and red. The first, smaller than the second, do not carry like the latter a sting in their abdomen. The natives a.s.sert that the black insect alone plays a useful part in the caprification of the fig--the part played by the wind, the bird, or the hand of man in the instance of the date. A long experience attributes to it the privilege of preserving the figs from perishing and falling before they have become ripe. This custom has given rise to the well-known Kabyle proverb, 'He who is without dokhar is without figs.'

The abundance of figs in every locality and under every difference of climate depends upon that of the dokhar. Sometimes, however, the latter, although plentiful, gives birth to but a small number of these preserving insects, as in 1863, when the crop was poor, the dokhar having produced but few insects.

"The Kabyles are convinced that one of these insects can preserve ninety-nine figs, but that the hundredth becomes its tomb. This is possibly only a popular prejudice; but it is as well to cite it. Truth among primitive people becomes sometimes crystallized in the shape of a superst.i.tion, and the inexplicable pervades everything.

"Caprification takes place at least once a year. When the dokhar is abundant it is prudent to repeat the process several times at short intervals, and it is most important that it should be performed at the proper moment, either in the autumn or in the spring, or the crop may become seriously endangered and partly lost.

"A rule generally observed in the villages where the dokhar flourishes, is, that no one may sell it, under a penalty of a fine of two pounds, to a stranger, or even to an ally, before the gardens of his own locality have been copiously provided with the precious preservative.

"Previous to our rule the Kabyle tribes were continually at enmity with one another, and the sale of the dokhar was then suspended and forbidden between them. As the fig is the princ.i.p.al and indispensable food of the inhabitants, this prohibitory measure was the surest means of starving the enemy, or at least of occasioning him serious inconvenience. It is, therefore, probable that the different tribes frequently came to open blows in order to procure by bloodshed what they were unable to obtain by purchase."

Copper and iron are rather abundantly found in Kabylia, and its inhabitants are expert in extracting these metals from their ores.

However, they are beginning to import metal goods from Europe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 73.--KABYLE JEWELLERS.]

With tools of their own manufacture, or with those of foreign importation, the Kabyles make a great many useful and important articles. Jewellers and armourers are frequently found in their villages.

Fig. 73, from a sketch by M. Duhousset, represents the workshop of a Kabyle jeweller. The lathe of the Kabyle workman is used to make the wooden vases and the numerous utensils sold by the Kabyles all along the African coast. It is sufficiently noteworthy that the Kabyle turner only uses the vertical lathe, and seems ignorant of the horizontal one so convenient and so generally used in Europe.

The _Sh.e.l.las_ dwell to the west of the Atlas, while the Kabyles are found to the east of these mountains. The former are tillers of the soil, laborious and poor. They are generally independent.

The _Touariks_ are a people distinct from the two preceding ones. They are nomadic. They wander in the desert of Sahara, and make continual raids into Egypt to carry off slaves. M. Henri Duveyrier, who has published a detailed account of the Touariks of the North, declares that they are hospitable and humane. They are generally considered to consist of rather formidable tribes, accustomed to scour the desert, stop caravans and plunder the laggards. At any rate, it is a known fact that an ill-starred traveller, Miss Tinne, who had courageously explored parts of Asia and Africa, was a.s.sa.s.sinated in the desert in 1869 by some Touariks.

In French Africa the generic name of Moor is given to the Mussulman population (the Turks excepted) inhabiting Barbary and Sahara; but in reality this name is only rightly applicable to two particular cla.s.ses.

The first of these is partly composed of the inhabitants of the towns, often supposed to be the descendants of the ancient natives of the country, that is to say of the Libyan family, but seeming on the contrary to be princ.i.p.ally of Arab origin. The second comprises the tribes, most of them nomadic, who dwell in the south-west of Sahara, and who belong to either the Berber or the Arab race.

The _Egyptians_. We now proceed to speak of the Egyptians, that unchanging race which seems to slumber on, embalmed on a conservative soil, a vast hypogeum, where, for thirty centuries, generations, both of human beings and of domestic animals, have succeeded generations without any perceptible alteration. The work of Herodotus, the dialogues of Lucian, and the writings of Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, teach us that the ancient Egyptians, similar in all respects to those of our own day, had a brown coloured skin. Two contracts of sale, dating back from the time of Ptolemy, give us particulars of the parties to it. The vendor is called e?a????? (dark brown), and the buyer e?????? (honey coloured).

From all the doc.u.ments and evidence we possess, it appears that several varieties in the colour of the skin existed among the ancient Egyptians, but that there was always one predominant hue. Paintings are found in the temples and the tombs, where the persons represented have a copper coloured, reddish, or light chocolate complexion. The faces of the women are sometimes of a yellower tint, merging into fawn colour.

Another faithful representation of the features of the ancient Egyptians is found in those of their paintings and sculptures that have descended to our own time. Their physiognomy shows a peculiar and remarkable type, as does also the shape of their bodies. According to Denon (Travels in Egypt), the ancient inhabitants of the kingdom of the Pharaohs had full but refined and voluptuous figures, calm and serene faces, soft and rounded features, long almond shaped eyes, half closed, languishing, and raised at the outer corner, as if the glare and heat of the sun habitually fatigued them. Round cheeks, thick and prominent lips, a large but smiling mouth, and a dark reddish copper tinted complexion, completed the peculiar expression of their countenance.

Blumenbach, after examining a large number of mummies, and comparing them with the productions of ancient art, established three leading types of ancient Egyptians, including, with more or less deviation, all individual casts of face; the Ethiopian, the Indian, and the Berber type. The first is distinguished by a prominent jaw and a thick lip, by a broad flat nose, and by protruding eyes. This type coincides with the description given by Herodotus and other Greek writers, who a.s.sign to the Egyptian a black complexion and woolly hair. The second type is widely different. The nose is long and narrow, the eyelids are thin, long, and slanting obliquely from the top of the nose towards the temples; the ears are set high in the head, the body is short and slight, and the legs are very long. This picture resembles the Hindoos from beyond the Ganges.

Such were the ancient people of Egypt. Its inhabitants of to-day are difficult to cla.s.s from an ethnographic point of view. They must not be confounded, as is often done, with the Arab race. The present Egyptians are the old indigenous or Berber race, modified by its fusion with new elements. This old indigenous race is still to be met with in the country, spa.r.s.ely strewn, but quite recognizable. It is this small part of the population which bears the name of Kopts.

The Kopts, a race preserved by their religion from miscegenation, but feebly represent the primitive Egyptians; for ancient Egypt was conquered and subjugated, first by the Arabs, then by the Persians, then by the Greeks and Romans, and lastly by the Mussulmans.

The Kopts (fig. 74) are generally above the middle height; they are robust in stature, and the colour of their skin is a dull red. They have a broad forehead, a rounded chin, full cheeks, a straight nose with strongly curved nostrils, large brown eyes, a narrow mouth with thick lips and white teeth, high projecting ears, and extremely black beards and eyebrows. The striking resemblance of the Kopts to ancient Egyptian sculpture is a sufficient proof that this group of mankind is really the remnant of the ancient stock of Egypt, slightly altered by mixture with the other races that have successively occupied their country.

The Kopts became Christians in the second century. In the seventh century, at the time of the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, the Kopts numbered 600,000. To-day they only amount to 150,000, of whom 10,000 reside in Cairo. They venerate St. Mark as their princ.i.p.al patron. They go to communion regularly every Friday, lead a very austere life, and allow their priests to marry.

The Kopts have black eyes, and, in general, curly hair. Morose, taciturn, and dissimulating, they cringe to their superiors, hate their equals, and are arrogant to their inferiors. They excel as accountants in all kinds of business. They carry on exclusively certain industries, such as the manufacture of mills, of apparatus for irrigation, and of jewellery.

The Koptic language is the ancient language of the Pharaohs, mixed with words from the Greek and other tongues. It is written in the Greek character. It is no longer grammatically taught, and is but little spoken. It is, however, still used in their form of worship.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 74.--KOPTS OF THE TEMPLE OF KRANAH.]

The Kopts enjoy rather a bad reputation in Egypt. Accomplices in the Arab invasion, and therefore tolerated by the followers of Mahomet, they were employed by the Mamelukes to collect the taxes. Thieves and mendicant monks abound amongst them. Fig. 74 represents Koptic priests before the temple of Kranah.

The most unfortunate portion of the Egyptian population, the peasants and the labourers, the same workmen who have been so useful in constructing the Suez Ca.n.a.l, are called Fellahs.

From an ethnographic point of view, the Fellahs are descended from the primitive indigenous inhabitants, modified by admixture with the Arabs.

Although they speak the Arab tongue, the coa.r.s.eness of their features keeps them distinct from the Arabs. The soil of Egypt thus supports a singular admixture of races, and it is impossible now-a-days to point out one single pure type. This is a result of the miserable political state of the country. From the very first, Egypt has always been the prey of alien conquerors, who have succeeded one another in one long roll, each in their turn adding some new feature to those of the original inhabitants of the country. In "Travels in Egypt," by Messrs.

Cammas and Lefevre, published in the "Tour du Monde," we read the following observations on the Fellahs:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: 75.--A FELLAH WOMAN AND CHILDREN.]

"The Fellahs have but a feeble conception of the dignity of man and of their own value; the only answer they give to blows is a complaint.

Sometimes, indeed, they rebel like a flock of sheep, but with a conviction that their effort will be of no avail. It is thus, at the times of conscription, they resist the soldiery; but after a few have been killed, the rest allow themselves to be huddled on board the man-of-war, in which they are taken down the Nile to Cairo, the women and the young girls following them for some miles along the banks with cries and lamentations. A Fellah's existence is not essentially more unhappy than that of our peasant hinds. His disposition is rather cheerful than melancholy; and every circ.u.mcision, every marriage, is the excuse for a holiday, shared by the whole village. Their songs and their dances are redolent of the spontaneous mirth instinctive in negroes. But with everything to render life agreeable, the consciousness of rights and obligations, that something that const.i.tutes the freeman and the citizen, is wanting in them. The Fellah is fond of his home and of his hamlet; but Egypt is for him neither a nation nor a fatherland.

It is astonishing at first sight to notice this degradation of the human species, so sad to behold; however, if the oppressive tyranny of the Mamelukes, the deep degradation of Egypt under the Greek and Roman dynasties, and the old caste law, condemning the ma.s.s of the population to the slavery of the soil, are remembered, it is easy to understand why the Fellah, ground down under the sway of the Pharaohs, stupefied under that of the Romans, and crushed by Mussulman fatalism, is slow to respond to the efforts and to the intellectual tendencies of the government of Sad Pacha. Since the Arab conquest, the soil has been legally the property of the sultans, the emirs, and the beys. The feudal system that once theoretically existed amongst us was rigorously carried into practice in Egypt. The whole of the crop harvested by the Fellahs pa.s.sed, with the exception of a modic.u.m necessary for their absolute existence, into the granaries of the land-owners. Now-a-days the Viceroy has abandoned the practice of monopoly; he is anxious to change arbitrary rights into regular taxes; he has yielded his just claims to the labourer, and a.s.sured to the peasant his right of succession to the fields he has watered with the sweat of his toil. But it takes a long interval to blot out the horrible stamp of their past slavery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 76.--A FELLAH DONKEY BOY.]

"The sailors of the Nile, sons and relations of the Fellahs, resemble them in their ignorance, in their humility, in their contempt for life, and in their natural disposition to laughter, to song, and to the dance.

But their wits are becoming sharpened by perpetual contact with strangers; and their minds are busy on many things undreamt of by the Fellah."

The same travellers tell us, in speaking of Egyptian marriages:--

"Marriage in Egypt is not a public act strictly registered by the law.

When the bridegroom and the bride's parents have come to an understanding, when the sum to be paid by the husband has been agreed upon (the wife brings no dower), the celebration of the union takes place before two witnesses. Sometimes the cadi is apprized; but this is a formality that is often neglected. In such a union, without any ulterior guarantee, the wife is but a purchased slave. When the husband tires of her he sends her back; she can only claim a divorce on one single ground, for a reason considered by us also as a serious injury.

No legal notice is taken of the birth of children, who are consequently placed in a precarious position until they are old enough to look after themselves. Their death is easily concealed; and they occasionally perish by the hand of one of the other wives, rivals of their mother. A common custom allows the Nile sailors to have two wives, one at Girgeh, for instance, and another at a.s.souan. The husband pa.s.ses a month with each of them in turns, as his business allows him. He brings with him a few piastres, a piece or two of blue cotton stuff, often some little seaman's venture, that the wife proceeds to dispose of on his departure.

He receives in exchange the products of the place, that in turn go to swell the trade of the other wife. We had on board a cargo of earthenware, salt, and pipes. The sailors disembarked them here and there as they went up the river, expecting to find on their return stores of tobacco, dates, and horse-trappings. Polygamy looked at in this light is productive; but it loses ground notwithstanding every day, not amongst the poor only, but amongst the rich, who have in most cases but one legitimate wife at a time. Besides, there is but one real cause for polygamy--the premature old age of the women. When the men give up the practice of marrying mere children, who become rapidly worn out by the fatigues of precocious maternity, polygamy will cease to exist."

Fig. 77 represents the dress of a Cairo lady.