HERE AND THERE IN NORTHERN AFRICA 



49 



"A lion of the Sahara, the king of 

 beasts, said to himself, 'An-cha- Allah, to- 

 morrow night I will kill a buffalo with a 

 stroke of my paw and carry it to my 

 cubs. The next day, 'God willing,' I will 

 slay a horse and carry it back. The third 

 day I will kill a calf, 'God willing;' then 

 I will kill a sheep;" but, despising so 

 small a creature as a sheep, the lion 

 omitted to say "An-cha- Allah," and when 

 he killed the sheep, to punish him, God 

 made him drag it on the ground. 



And the king of beasts does so even 

 today, so say those hunters of the Great 

 Sahara, and there is no reason to doubt 

 their word. 



WHY THE TROGLODYTES LIVE IN CAVES 



Many letters have been written me 

 since the publication of my article on 

 "The Molemen" in the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine of October, 191 1, in- 

 quiring why the Troglodytes live in caves 

 and do not build houses, asking details 

 of their life and habits, and laying stress 

 on birth, death, and burial. 



One man wrote : "If they have no 

 wood or stones to build houses with, why 

 do they not use bricks?" How can they 

 make bricks without mud, or mud with- 

 out water, and of what use are bricks 

 without cement? 



Were we Americans to be suddenly 

 placed in a country like theirs, without 

 wood or water, and so far away from 

 the world that importation of these com- 

 modities was impossible, we would have 

 to follow the example of the Troglo- 

 dytes or die of exposure. On these 

 mountain table-lands climatic changes 

 are great, and some sort of dwelling is 

 needed. 



The Troglodytes of extreme southern 

 Tunisia speak Berber-Arabic and have 

 adopted the Mohammedan religion. 



At an unknown period the ancestors 

 of these Troglodytes of today were all 

 mountain Troglodytes, living on the tops 

 of high table-lands overlooking the sur- 

 rounding country, usually on sugar-loaf 

 peaks with precipitous sides, so that an 

 enemy could be killed by stones being 

 rolled down upon them. 



Driven out of their mountain abodes 

 by the scarcity of food and water, the 



inhabitants of some of these villages 

 came down to the plains, where they 

 have lived ever since. But, having been 

 accustomed to their cave-dwellings, they 

 preferred them to any other kind, so 

 they built artificial caves, such as we see 

 in Medenine, Metmetemur, and other 

 towns farther south. These caves not 

 only serve as homes, but also for the 

 purpose of huge storehouses for their 

 food, guns, gourbis (tents made of 

 camels' and goats' hair), harnesses, ex- 

 tra ammunition, plows, and other agri- 

 cultural implements. 



A SEMI-NOMADIC PEOPLE 



These people are pastoral, and most 

 of the tribes are nomadic during nine 

 months of the year. Their towns are 

 built in ovals, or small horseshoes, only 

 one entrance for each tribe, so that a few 

 brave men, armed to the teeth, can easily 

 protect their strongholds from thieves. 

 One might say that these Troglodyte 

 towns were the safe-deposit vaults of 

 the cave-dwellers (see the illustrations in 

 the National Geographic Magazine, 

 October, 191 1). 



Each man has his individual key, 

 which he never forgets to take with him 

 wherever he goes, for if he did, on re- 

 turning, he would find his cave empty. 

 These keys look something like a banjo 

 handle made of wood. Each key has 

 plugs that fit in it, and no two designs 

 are alike ; so that, unless the plugs fit the 

 holes, it would be impossible to unlock 

 the front door. 



On the return of a wanderer, he takes 

 his key from one of his saddle-bags and 

 screws or fastens it into a stick that he 

 leaves behind. He then inserts it through 

 a hole to the right of the door and 

 thrusts in his arm, turning the stick at 

 right angles, and scratches the door with 

 the key until he finds the lock. The 

 plugs of the key finally catch into the 

 holes of the lock and, on pulling, the 

 door opens. 



TROGLODYTES THAT BURROW LIKE THE 

 MOLES 



The tribes of the Houaia Mountains, 

 comprising the villages of Matmata, 

 Benioussa, Benizelten, and Hadidiji, 



