THE HOME OF THE TROGLODYTES. 431 
a tin lantern of Parisian manufacture, copper candlesticks, wax candles, 
white sugar, a bottle of ink from Dijon, a pair of spectacles with silver 
rims, knives from Chatellerault, knives and forks of ruolz, ete. Nothing 
of home manufacture remained in the surroundings of the good old 
man excepting the grey wool of the burnous, the rug from Oudref 
spread in our room, and the large dishes in basketwork and wood on 
which the abundant diffa was served to us. 
This is the case at Hadeje, as well as everywhere else. 
All that has not succumbed to European influence is distinetly Arab. 
Food, clothing, ornaments, arms, ete., suggest in appearance those of 
the nomads of the neighboring desert. 
Their social condition is very similar to that of the Arabs, whom the 
Matmatians imitate as closely as possible so long as it entails nothing 
contrary to their traditional legislation (Kanoun). They possess a 
Zaonia, who enjoys a great reputation in the mountains, and their 
religious rites follow closely those of the dissenting Ibbadites, whose 
beliefs they share. They bury their dead, according to Arabian custom, 
in shallow graves, so near the surface of the earth that a poet, in 
visiting the spot, has been able to say without exaggeration that in 
this strange land the dead occupy the place of the living, while the 
living “have for habitation true sepulchers.” ‘When you see them 
come forth,” the Arab poet goes on to say, “it seems as if they were 
rising for the day of judgment.” 
Beni-Zelten and Toujane mark the extreme eastern limit of the 
country of the Troglodytes. The Berber language is again heard when 
beyond the last inhabited cave the terraces of the dreary, gray houses 
of the Zanaitia re-appear, overlooking in the distance the steep cliff, the 
extended plain, and the sea. 
