262 



B A R B A R Y. 



Brb>ry. 



Arab* 



Berebbers. 



but he waits in patient hope for an amelioration of 

 his condition. The character of this people, in short, 

 is a very inconsistent combination of the savage and 

 civilized state ; ajid may be attributed, in a great de- 

 gree, to the united influence of their education, go- 

 vernment, and religion. 



The Arabs of Barbary are partly the descendants 

 of those, who at first over-ran the country, under 

 their Mahommedan leaders, and who have still kept 

 themselves distinct from the other inhabitants ; and 

 partly emigrants from Sahara, who advance into the 

 more northern districts, whenever the depopulations 

 of the plague, or other calamities, afford admission 

 to a new colony. They are divided into an infinite 

 number of tribes, which never mingle by intermar- 

 riages, and which are almost continually at war with 

 each other. If united among themselves, they would 

 be more than a match for any of the Barbary states, 

 to which they are tributary ; and in order to keep 

 them more easily in subjection, it is the practice of 

 these states to encourage mutual acts of hostility 

 among their Arab subjects. They live in tents ; and 



fenerally form their encampments at a considerable 

 istance from any town or village. Their occupa- 

 tion consists in taking care of their flocks and herds, 

 and in raising a little wheat or barley. When the 

 land, around their residence, has become less produc- 

 tive, and their cattle have consumed all the pasture ; 

 they strike their tents, and remove to a more fertile 

 spot. They are generally obliged to procure per- 

 mission, from the bashaw of the province, to settle in 

 any particular place, in return for which indulgence 

 they engage to pay a certain portion of their pro- 

 duce. The Arabs bear a great resemblance to 

 the Moors, in their general character ; but they are 

 a more meagre, indigent race, frequently covered 

 with rags and filth. Those among them, who live 

 nearest the coast, are more hospitable and inoffensive ; 

 but it often requires blows to excite their respect, or 

 to procure from them any accommodation. Those, 

 again, who reside in the interior of the country, and 

 especially on the borders of the desert, are lewd, 

 cruel, and treacherous ; habitual robbers, and coward- 

 ly assassins; who will indeed consider the person of 

 a stranger as sacred, while he remains within their 

 tent, but who will not scruple to murder their last 

 night's guest, before he has well passed the bounds of 

 their encampment. 



The Brebes, or Berebbers, inhabit the mountains 

 of North Atlas ; and are supposed to be the offspring 

 of the original inhabitants of Barbary, who retired 

 thither upon the conquest of their country, and who 

 have still in a great measure preserved their independ- 

 ence. They are of a fairer complexion than the 

 Arabs, of an active and industrious disposition, of a 

 robust and athletic frame of body. In the higher 

 grounds, they dwell in caves ; but, in the valleys, 

 they occupy tents, or huts of earth. They seldom 

 change their place of residence; and employ them- 

 selves in cultivating the soil, tending cattle, rearing 

 bees, and pursuing wild beasts. They are very in- 

 trepid hunters, dexterous marksmen, and capable of 

 enduring the greatest fatigue. They entertain a 

 strong dislike of the Moors and Arabs, whom they 

 regard as usurpers ; and, as many of their tribes are 



extremely powerful, they pay or refuse tribute ac- Barhary. 

 cording to their own inclination. They have, indeed, v "V~"-~ 

 gradually adopted the religion and customs of the 

 Moors ; but have still a distinct language of their own, 

 which is supposed to be a dialect of the old Cartha- 

 ginian. They arc probably, however, a more ancient 

 people in Africa, than either the Romans or Carthagi- 

 nians; and, from the circumstance of their living in 

 caves, it has been conjectured, that they may have form- 

 ed a remote branch of the great nation of the Troglo- 

 dytes. Mr Bruce describes a very savage and indepen- 

 dent tribe called Ncardic (perhaps the same, whom 

 Abbe Poiret terms Nadcs, and of whom he gives a si- 

 milar description), residing near Jebbel Aurez, and 

 dwelling in huts of mud- and straw. They occupy a 

 very rugged and inaccessible tract of country ; and the 

 great hazard of attacking them was expressed by one 

 of their Maraboots by the strong figure of " eating 

 fire." They have a fair complexion, red hair, and 

 blue eyes. They have the figure of a Greek cross 

 marked with antimony on their foreheads ; and af- 

 firm, that their ancestors were Christians. They 

 seemed to rejoice more in that relation, than in any 

 connection with the Moors; and Mr Bruce conceived 

 them to be a remnant of the Vandals. 



The Shelluhs inhabit the mountains of South At- Sheiluhf. 

 las, and are often confounded with the Berebbers; 

 but they are ascertained to be a distinct race, and to 

 speak a different language. They live generally in 

 towns and villages, are chiefly employed in husban- 

 dry, and are very simple and peaceful in their man- 

 ners. They are a very meagre people, and remark- 

 ably abstemious in their diet; subsisting almost en- 

 tirely upon barley-bread and honey. Many families 

 among them are supposed to be descended from the 

 Portuguese, who formerly occupied many of the sea- 

 ports of West Barbary. 



Negroes are very numerous in Barbary, especially Negroes, 

 in the empire of Morocco, where about 30,000 of 

 them were embodied as troops, in the year 1780, by 

 the emperor Muley Ishmael. They are to be found 

 also in every part of the country, and almost in every 

 family, in the 6tate of slaves. Their condition, how- 

 ever, in this respect, is very different from that of 

 their countrymen who are transported to the West 

 India islands; and they experience a treatment much 

 more humane, than the general character of their 

 Moorish masters would warrant us to expect. Some- 

 times, indeed, they are kept, like a stock of cattle, 

 to propagate for the supply of the market ; but in 

 general they are regarded as members of the fa- 

 mily, into which they have been purchased; arc care- 

 fully instructed in the principles of the Mahommedan 

 faith ; and usually obtain their freedom, after a ser- 

 vitude of eight or ten years. The more intelligent 

 among them are taught to read and write ; and, a8 

 soon as they are able to understand a chapter of the 

 Koran, are immediately emancipated. These libe- 

 rated negroes soon adopt the sentiments and manner* 

 of the natives ; and many of the most able officers 

 and industrious cultivators are of this class. They 

 are in general better formed than the Moors, more 

 lively and active, but if possible more capricious and 

 blood-thirsty in their dispositions. 



The Jews of Barbary, whose ancestors were ex- Jews. 



