OP THE BERBERS. 449 



of a Sheik in the npia;hhourhood of Saliara, who is indepen- 

 dent of this government. This personau;e is expected to vi- 

 si' Oran this ensuing spiiii";, and through my Jewish friend, 

 I have taken measures to ohtain all the information that can 

 be procured relative to this interesting fact, which may lead 

 to the most imjwrtant discoveries. I really wish that our 

 government would determine to educate a youtii here, 

 througli whom, when well instructed, and under al)le direc- 

 tion, we might take our share in the honourable task of un- 

 rolling the records of time. He miglit, througli such re- 

 commendations as the government might command, learn 

 the rudiments of the Hebrew and Arabic in the Oriental 

 School of Paris, and then come here and acquire a perfect 

 familiarity with the dialects of this country. With such an 

 instrument, if he should happen to be of the right stuff, there 

 can be no conjecture as to what could he olMained. 



noth April. I herewith transmit a continuation of the lists 

 of words of the Kaliylc language by the same persons. On 

 examining in the works of Chernin and of .^/i Fiefj, their vo- 

 cabularii's of the languages spoken by the inhabitants of 

 Mount Atlas, to which they give the dcnominatioti of lirebe^ 

 I liiid that theie can be no d()ul)t of their identity with this, 

 1 shall, therefore, in future, consider this fact as established. 

 If the same idmtity with the Sirrahf/n and the Tunnick were 

 as well proved, the cotK-lusion would be iriesistible Miat this 

 is one of the diah'cts of ancient Libya. You will of course 

 remark the discrepancies between the two lists, and of both, 

 in many instances, wi!h the vocabulary of Shaw. Whether 

 this arises fi om the ignorance of the persons qiiestiotied. who 

 are common jieasants, from there being seveial dialects oi" 

 the same latiguage, or from its own abundance, I cannot yet 

 deteitnine : for instance, the different words expressing .N??, 

 which may possibly express different degrees of ne«iation. 

 I will endeavour to obtain all the information that is possible 

 upon tliis subject. 



There is a people inlial)iling the Sahara. «nuth of the roim- 

 try of the Ijiscurics. known by the name ol the Mozabis, who 



