KABYLES OF NORTH AFRICA LISSAUER. 529 



pie "a thorn in the eye of the Kabylia." Modern cities are un- 

 known to the Kabyles, who live only in villages of varying size. 

 The French started establishing cities in the neighborhood of the 

 larger village settlements in order to create appropriate residences 

 "for the military and civil officials, thus in Tizi-Ouzon, Fort National, 

 Michelet and others. 



The Kabyle villages consist merely of low, stablelike huts, whose 

 walls were originally constructed of poles of about the thickness of 

 an arm, and rude branches of olive trees, eucalyptus, and ash were 

 then intertwined with their ramage, plastered and made tight with 

 clay, all being erected without any rule or system. The walls sup- 

 port a slanting roof with coping made of branches and straw, with 

 no outlet for the smoke (pi. 5, fig. 1). A wooden door opening into 

 the dwelling does service likewise for window and chimney. These 

 "brushwood huts" are low and small, about 3 meters in breadth and 

 length and 2 to 2.5 meters high, and are commonly designated by the 

 French as "gurbi," while in Kab}de they are called "acham." 



In the interior the floor of clay is without covering. More or less 

 in the center is the fireplace, a small depression of about 0.5 meter 

 in diameter, on whose edge lay three stones on which rest the pots 

 for cooking. 



Within the hut, usually at the entrance, are stalls for the cattle 

 (mule or sheep). At the opposite side of the room is a kind of clay 

 bench, which serves as a sleeping place (in Kabyle, " tirarrard ") for 

 the family, being covered for the night with any suitable material. 

 Above the bed for the cattle agricultural implements and tools are 

 stored, and on the other walls are places for holding household uten- 

 sils, clothing, ornaments, and other objects. 



This primitive style of architecture has been steadily disappearing 

 since the French occupation. But there are still many villages that 

 consist only of such " brushwood " huts. The walls of the houses are 

 now generally constructed of stones (pi. 5, fig. 2; pi. 6, fig. 1), the 

 roof is covered with tiles, and in single rare cases supplied with a 

 chimney. In the interior of the houses, however, the arrangement 

 and furnishings have not changed. 



So also the barns for drying of hay and straw are still built like 

 the old achams (pi. 6, fig. 2), only that they are round, the roof um- 

 brella-shaped, and the walls not so carefully made tight as in the 

 dwellings. 



The homes of the richest Kabyles, like those of the French, are now 

 constructed in Moorish style, so that it may be expected that by 

 another generation the primitive brush huts will entirely disappear. 



Coffee houses are very numerous and are built in the same manner 

 as the private dwellings, only of larger size. 



38734°— sm 1911 34 



