Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
Mr Borrer, a geographer and antiquary, passed seventeen months in
Algeria; and during his residence there, in May 1846, a column of
eight thousand French troops, commanded by the Duke of Isly in
person, marched against the Kabyles, "that mysterious, bare-headed,
leathern-aproned race, whose chief accomplishment was said to
be that of being 'crack-shots,' their chief art that of neatly
roasting their prisoners alive, and their chief virtue that of
loving their homes." It may interest the reader to hear a rather
more explicit account of this singular people, who dwell in the
mountains that traverse Algeria from Tunis to Morocco--an irregular
domain, whose limits it is difficult exactly to define in words.
The Kabyles are, in fact, the highlanders of North Africa, and they
hold themselves aloof from the Arabs and Europeans that surround
them. Concerning them, we find some diversity in the statements
of Mr Borrer, and of an anonymous Colonist, twelve years resident
at Bougie, whose pamphlet is before us. Of the two, the Frenchman
gives them the best character, but both agree as to their industry
and intelligence, their frugality and skill in agriculture. They
are not nomadic like the Arabs, but live in villages, till the
land, and tend flocks. Dwelling in the mountains, they have few
horses, and fight chiefly on foot. Divided into many tribes, they
are constantly quarreling and fighting amongst themselves, but
they forget their feuds and quickly unite to repel a foreign foe.
"Predisposed by his character," says the Colonist, "to draw near
to civilisation, the Kabyle attaches himself sincerely to the
civilised man when circumstances establish a friendly connexion
between them. He is still inclined to certain vices inherent in
the savage: but of all the Africans, he is the best disposed to
live in friendship and harmony with us, which he will do when
he shall find himself in permanent contact with the European
population." This is not the general opinion, and it differs widely
from that expressed by Mr Borrer. But the Colonist had his own
views, perhaps his own interests, to further. He wrote some months
previous to the expedition which Mr Borrer accompanied, and which
was then not likely to take place, and he strongly advocated its
propriety--admitting, however, that public opinion in France was
greatly opposed to a military incursion into Kabylia. Himself
established at Bougie, of course in some description of commerce,
the necessity of roads connecting the coast and the interior was to
him quite evident. A good many of his countrymen, whose personal
benefit was not so likely to be promoted by causeway-cutting in
Algeria, strongly deprecated any sort of road-making that was likely
to bring on war with the Kabyles. France began to think she was
paying too dear for her whistle. She looked back to the early days
of the Orleans dynasty, when Marshal Clausel promised to found a
rich and powerful colony with only 10,000 men. She glanced at the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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