xxviii INTRODUCTION. 



fited the treafures of thofe kings. A drawing of this monu- 

 ment is flill unpublifhed in my collection. Advancing ftill 

 to the S. E. through broken ground and fome very barren 

 valleys, which produced nothing but game, I came to Jib- 

 bel Aurez, the Aurafius Mons of the middle age. This is 

 not one mountain, but an affemblage of many of the moft 

 craggy fteeps in Africa. 



Here I met, to my great aftonifhment, a tribe, who, if I 

 cannot fay they were fair like Englifh, were of a made 

 lighter than that of the inhabitants of any country to the 

 fouthward of Britain. Their hair alfo was red, and their 

 eyes blue. They are a favage and independent people ; it 

 required addrefs to approach them with fafety, which, how- 

 ever, I accomplifhed,, (the particulars would take too much 

 room for this place), was well received, and at perfect li- 

 berty to do whatever I pleafed. This tribe is called Neardie- 

 Each of the tribe, in the middle between their eyes, has a; 

 Greek crofs marked with antimony. They are Kabyles. 

 Though living in tribes, they have among the mountains 

 huts, built with mud and ftraw, which they call Dafhkras, 

 whereas the Arabs live in tents on the plains. I imagine 

 thefe to be a remnant of Vandals, Procopius* mentions a. 

 defeat of an army of this nation here, after a defperate re- 

 finance, a remnant of which may be fuppofed to have main- 

 tained themfelves in thefe mountains. They with greats 

 pleafure confeffed their anceflors had been Chriftians, and; 

 feemed to rejoice much more in that relation than in any 

 connection with the Moors, with whom -they live in perpe- 

 tual 



* Proccp. Bell. Varid. lib. il. cap. 13, 



