The Human Race Part 13

"This admixture of which the Athenian population is composed is a curious study.

"On the Sunday, everybody leaves the cross roads in front of the _Beautiful Greece_ to frequent the esplanade of Patissia (a corruption from Pachiscliah); the men stroll about talking together, and the women, abandoning their household G.o.ds for this day only, follow a few paces behind them. The crowd walks round and round a kiosk till a military band placed there has finished playing, and then goes home; not into the house, however, but into the streets, for during the warm summer nights nearly everybody sleeps _al fresco_. These sleepers advertise their presence by a continual hum, which is a kind of internal monologue, an echo of the day's conversation, for the Greeks still remain the wittiest and the most eloquent chatterers in the world."

We place side by side with the Greeks the Albanians, whose language has some relation to Greek. Concentrated in the mountains of their country, they appear to be the lineal representatives of the ancient inhabitants of these districts. They are the descendants of the ancient Illyrians, mixed up with the Greeks and the Slavonians. Restricting themselves almost exclusively to the profession of arms, the Albanians const.i.tute the best soldiers of the Ottoman army. Their numbers scarcely reach two millions, although Albania is of great extent and contains several rather important towns.

Albania, part of Turkey in Europe, bounded on the north by Montenegro, Bosnia, and Servia, on the east by Macedon and Thessaly, on the south by the kingdom of Greece, on the west by the Adriatic and Ionian seas, const.i.tutes the pachaliks of Janina, Ilbessan and Scutari. It possesses three seaports, Durazzo, Avlona, and Parga. The most important towns are Scutari, Akhissar, Berat, and Arta.

Semi-barbarians, partaking more of the pirate and the brigand than of the cultivator and the labourer, the Albanians pa.s.s their lives in a state of petty warfare among themselves.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Pet.i.ts Hotels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

GEORGEAN

ARAB

WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE]

They professed Christianity up to the fifteenth century, but after having under Scanderbeg gloriously resisted the Turkish invasion, they were forced to submit to the victorious Ottomans, who compelled the Albanians to embrace the religion of Mahomet. In some parts of Albania the Greek church still survives. In the north, between the sea and the black Drin, the courageous tribe of the Mirdites practise the Roman Catholic religion and enjoy liberty.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 70.--ALBANIAN WOMAN.]

Fig. 70 represents the Albanian costume.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN.]

CHAPTER II.

ARAMEAN BRANCH.

Cuvier has thought fit to give the name of Aramean (derived from the ancient appellation of Syria) to the race of people who inhabit the south-west of Asia and the north of Africa. Since primeval historic times, the Aramaic race developed itself in the south-west of Asia and the north of Africa, and it has remained there up to our own day. It also extended its settlements to the south of Europe, where it became a.s.similated to the inhabitants of that part of the world.

At a period when Europeans were immersed in the depths of ignorance, the Arameans successfully cultivated science and art. But later, whilst progress was making rapid strides amongst the Westerns, the Arameans on the contrary came to a halt; so that the civilization of these Asiatic races is still pretty much the same as it was two thousand years ago.

Christianity sprang up amidst the Arameans, but it made few converts.

Mahometanism and Buddhism attracted nearly the whole of this numerous race.

Four leading divisions are recognised among the Arameans: the Libyans, the Semitics, the Persians, and the Georgians and Circa.s.sians.

THE LIBYAN FAMILY.

The _Libyan Family_ is composed of the _Berbers_ and the _Egyptians_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 71.--MOORISH COFFEE-HOUSE AT SIDI-BOW-SAID, NEAR TUNIS.]

The _Berbers_.--The Berbers are the race which from very ancient times inhabited the mountains of the Atlas chain, or wandered amidst the deserts of the Sahara. The Berbers are split up into a great number of tribes, of whom the four princ.i.p.al are, the Kabyles, the Sh.e.l.las, the Touariks and the Tibbous.

The traveller in Kabylia is struck with admiration, for its lofty mountains, the gentle and pleasing undulations of its plains, and its valleys interlaced with the windings of countless streams. Its inhabitants are pastoral, agricultural, and laborious. The headdress of their women is fas.h.i.+oned to suit their habit of carrying on their head jars of great weight. They balance these by rigidly straightening their waists, round which they wind, some score of times, a girdle of coa.r.s.e woollen cords. Their garment is simply a piece of woollen cloth fastened together by a couple of pins over the bosom.

The Kaybles are not, like the real Arabs, nomadic. They remain, on the contrary, faithful to one spot. Whilst the Arab inhabits a tent, removable at will, and in accordance with the requirements of his family, the Kabyle lives in a stone dwelling, and his homestead is a regular village. In truth, the Kabyle is not an Arab; he is of African origin, a Berber, somewhat modified by the different races that have in turn settled on the African sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean, but whose customs and physical characteristics have always remained the same.

The Roman armies subdued the Kabyles dwelling on the Mediterranean coasts, and drove them into the mountains. The princ.i.p.al aim of the successive Roman governors in Africa, was to drain the country of its resources to supply the insatiable requirements of Rome, and the extravagant liberality continually lavished on its citizens by the Emperors of this capital of the world. Rome thus accepted from Africa but slaves and labourers. Those of the conquered, who were unwilling to pa.s.s under the heavy yoke of the Roman governors, abandoned the plains and retired to the mountains, inaccessible retreats, whose ravines and forests offered innumerable obstacles to the cruelty of centurions, and the rapacity of praetors. At a future period, led by enterprising chieftains, they sallied forth from these natural fortresses to a.s.sail and ultimately to definitively repulse the Roman power.

To give an idea of the Kabylia of to-day, and of its organization, we will quote a few details from "An Excursion to great Kabylia," published in 1867, in "Le Tour du Monde," from the pen of Commandant Duhousset, an officer in the French army.

"In Kabylia," he says, "the household composed of the members of one family is termed _kharouba_; each kharouba forming part of the village or _dehera_, elects one of its members as a _dhaman_ to represent it at the munic.i.p.al council, and to defend its interests: in a word, to be responsible for it.

"The different deheras are further united together under the name of _arch_.

"In each village authority is administered by an _amin_, elected by turns from each kharouba. It is the duty of this official to watch over the execution of the written laws, drawn up under the name of _khanoun_, and which are merely the recital of the customs handed down from time immemorial in Kabylia.

"The amin can p.r.o.nounce no judgment, inflict no fine, without consulting the a.s.sembly (_djemaa_) of his a.s.sistants or dhamans, always chosen from the notabilities of the village. This tribunal chooses a secretary (_khodja_) intrusted with the duty of keeping a public register of its deliberations, and of carrying on all correspondence with the French authorities. The labours of the khodja are remunerated with perquisites of figs, olives, &c.

"The supreme command of the tribe is delegated by the French to an _amin-el-oumena_, whose princ.i.p.al duty is the superintendence of his tribe in all matters concerning public order. He is not allowed to interfere in the internal policy of the villages, which govern themselves, each according to its own interpretation of the khanoun.

"The djemaa possesses a munic.i.p.al fund, kept in the hands of an _ouhil_ (manager). This fund is supplied by the fines inflicted by the munic.i.p.al council and the native officials, and by the rates levied on marriages, births, and deaths.

"Each village is divided into two factions, or _soff_, generally hereditary foes. It is easy to imagine the serious nature of the outrages on public tranquillity, committed by these irreconcilable neighbours, when their mutual interests are at stake."

The elections are a constant source of disturbance in the Kabyle villages.

The way in which these villages are laid out, their dwellings overlooking one another, makes these struggles very sanguinary ones.

Some of the more lofty houses have crenelated parapets, the remainder are loopholed, and the _djama_ (mosque) becomes, on account of the military importance of its upper storey, a regular fortress, a.s.suring the victory to its fortunate possessors.

Everybody knows that the French conquered Kabylia in 1857. What most contributed to the submission of the Kabyles, was the promise made to them to respect their customs and their communal elections. This promise was kept, and the respect shown to their local usages not a little contributed to consolidate the French conquest.

The Kabyle villages, seen from a distance, look picturesque, but on mixing with their inhabitants and entering their houses, the charm vanishes. The question immediately suggests itself how it is possible for any human beings to dwell in the midst of such universal neglect, and of such hideous filth.

"Every Kabyle," says M. Duhousset, "is revoltingly dirty: there are no baths to be found in the whole of Kabylia of the Djujina. The children receive no care. The result of this neglect is frequent ophthalmia, sometimes complete blindness; they are also often subject to cutaneous diseases, or worse hereditary affections, which these mountaineers hand down from generation to generation, continuing to exist in spite of them ..... the women, good mothers who suckle their children up to three or four years of age ... . the men, industrious workmen and good agriculturists."

The Kabyles are independent in disposition, observant by nature, and fond of labour: but they are inclined to be avaricious, revengeful, and quarrelsome. Some of their villages, as we have shown, are divided into two hostile camps, and in many cases, part of the communal land is set apart for warlike encounters, where all differences are settled by the yataghan and the matchlock. Divorce is one of the sores of Kabyle society.

It is well known that Kabylia is a rich, tranquil country, addicted to industry, and possessing a numerous population. But a few statistics will here have a peculiar interest.

There are in France eight departments with a smaller population than Kabylia; these are, according to M. Duhousset, the Ba.s.ses-Alpes, the Hautes-Alpes, the Cantal, Corsica, Lozere, the Ba.s.ses-Pyrenees, the Hautes-Pyrenees, and Tarn-et-Garonne. Three departments are smaller in extent; the Rhone, the Seine, and Vaucluse.

The average population of France is 67-963/1000 inhabitants to every square kilometre; that of Kabylia is 67-723/1000. Looking, however, at the average population to every kilometre in each separate department, it appears that twenty-eight have a larger average than Kabylia, one an equal, and fifty-seven a smaller one. The agricultural productions of Kabylia are the ordinary fruits of African culture, especially the fig and the olive, to which must be added large crops of wheat. Figs are the princ.i.p.al article of food of the inhabitants, and olives the staple of their agricultural industry.