DISCOVERY 



333 



recognised as the special protectors of holy places, 

 but this does not prevent their looting them when 

 funds run low ! The Ait ' Atta, for example, the most 

 redoubtable Beraber confederation, not long ago sacked 

 the " sacred city " of Tamgrut, on the Draa, which 

 was under their ?egis. 



The exceptions referred to above as to government 

 by kaids are the four great kaidates of the Atlas — 

 Glawa, Gundafa, Mtuga, and Menaba — with some others 

 on the western coast. These Atlas kaids remarkably 

 resemble mediaeval barons, and rule their peoples in 

 feudal style. The two first, who are much the most 

 important, dwell in crenellated fortresses of striking 

 architecture, unlike other buildings in Morocco, 

 possibly Phoenician in origin. They are only nominally 



antagonists for European troops, alike in their own 

 land and on the fields of France and Flanders. For 

 many years, in spite of attempts to stop them, they 

 have been smuggling in European arms (e.g. Gras 

 and Martini rifles) and gunpowder, to supplement or 

 supersede their native-made flintlocks and powder, 

 their primitive curved daggers and billhooks. Whole 

 villages or tribes have clubbed together to buy rifles, 

 and regular firing-practices are held. During the 

 Great War, to the discredit of Spanish neutrality, 

 German arms and military instructors were allowed 

 to pass freely through the Spanish zone — an action 

 which has recoiled on the heads of the ill-fated Spanish 

 troops in the late campaign. On several occasions 

 in the past, the tribesmen have only yielded to heavy 



i ... ^ .1-. i^i.IVE PRESS. 

 {By courtesy of tlic French Protectorate Government in Morocco.) 



viceroys of the Sultan, really independent, and all- 

 powerful in their part of Morocco. The heads of the 

 Glawa have been loyal allies of the French, and the 

 chief maintainers of order in the south in troubled 

 times. Among the other kaids having more than usual 

 power are those of the Abda and Ihahcn (Httha) 

 tribes ; the jealous rivalry between two kaids of 

 the latter involved their clans, not long since, in pro- 

 tracted warfare. 



Martial Prowess 



The Berbers make fine soldiers, daring, skilful, and 

 capable of endurance. They have proved formidable 



1 Ait is a Berber collective term, equivalent to the Arabic 

 Belli, or Ulad, i.e. children (or people) of . . . 



artillery, but some of them have apparently now cap- 

 tured and learnt to use this themselves. The Berbers 

 are skilled in cavalry tactics, and in sieges and am- 

 bushes ; thej' are good shots at short range, and have, 

 naturally, a great advantage in their intimate know- 

 ledge of the difficult country in which operations are 

 carried on. 



It must, unhappily, be recorded that, with all their 

 fierce courage, they are also cruel, treacherous, and 

 vindictive, and so greedy for loot that they will plunder 

 their own fallen comrades. Avarice is, indeed, some- 

 what surprisingly, one of the chief vices of the Berbers. 

 Inter-tribal or inter-divisional hostilities are frequent ; 

 the possession of coveted watering places is fought for, 

 or the hidden granaries [silos) of enemy tribes raided 

 and their villages destroyed. 



