KABYXES OP NORTH AFRICA — LISSAUER. 533 



as articles of trade. Wine and oil especially are exported in large 

 quantities. 



The women also perform all the domestic labor, as cooking and 

 weaving, in the well-known primitive manner (pi. 11, fig. 2, and pi. 

 12, fig. 2). Pottery making is also the special task of the women. 

 The vessels are burnt and often handsomely painted in yellow and 

 red colors. 



The men make the filigree ornaments of silver, the agricultural 

 implements, and all the things required for house building. 



The food consists principally of bread, butter, oranges, figs, dates, 

 and rarely meat. Peculiar is the kuskus (in Kabyle, soksa), the 

 preparation of which is somewhat complicated. Into a large dish 

 are put meat, a great deal of pepper, salt, . some vegetables, and 

 water. Over this is a second dish with a sieve-like bottom, into which 

 flour — mostly barley flour — is placed. The whole is then closed 

 with a cover and put on the fire. The steam from the lower dish 

 pervading the flour effects the formation of small balls (pi. 12, fig. 1), 

 which are then served in a separate plate from the meat soup, but 

 which for a European palate is too strongly peppered. 



Many men and children loaf all day in the streets and coffeehouses, 

 the children, in particular, begging. But this will soon change. The 

 Government has, besides the building of excellent roads, undertaken 

 a second most important civilizing work in educational lines which 

 has already produced good results. Beginning in 1893 primary 

 schools have been established in which French and Kabyle children 

 are commonly instructed. Each school has two classes and two 

 teachers, a Kabyle and a Frenchman, who are trained in a large semi- 

 nary at Bouzaria, near Algiers, in both languages. As the Kabyle 

 children are very docile they soon learn to read and write French, 

 arithmetic, and also the elements of the natural sciences in order to 

 combat the widely spread superstition. The Government grants each 

 school a subsidy of 80 per cent, the rest is borne by the municipality. 

 Up to the present, 80 such schools have been established, which 

 are obviously too few for such a dense population ; but the children, 

 who in some cases have to walk three kilometers to school, come gladly 

 and by their mannered behavior and knowledge of languages dis- 

 tinguish themselves very notably from those who have grown up 

 wildly. There are also said to be in the larger places Kabyle physi- 

 cians and lawyers who have studied alongside the French. One can 

 observe the rapid progress of the beneficent influence that French 

 civilization has exercised in this country. At the same time the 

 Kabyle language is spared and at present as far as possible preserved. 

 Under the leadership of a well-known authority on the Kabyles, 

 Prof. Basset, the Government sends out scientific missions for the 

 study of the various dialects. They have no literature, nor historical 



