Chapter XX: The Nomads

The nomads are the descendants of the original Arabs who invaded North Africa in the seventh and twelfth centuries. Here and there they have been slightly Berberized, but generally speaking they are quite a separate type from the inhabitants of the rest of Algeria. Tall, and tanned by the sun, they look fearlessly before them as they move with that easy gait of men born and bred in the open plain. Their feet and hands are shapely, and though not actually good-looking they have very fine faces, with an expression of great calm.

Their clothes are much scantier than those of their brethren of the towns. Usually there is just a _gandourah_ tied about the waist with a leather girdle, bare legs, the feet encased in untanned leather boots, a very rough turban on the head, and a threadbare burnous. Over the shoulder is slung an antique muzzle-loading gun, while in their hands is always a long staff.

Their womenfolk go about unveiled and have little pretention to beauty, which is probably due to the hard life which they lead. They wear simple frocks, sandals and a kind of turbaned head-dress made of many scarfs wound one above the other. Their hair is thick and plaited round the head, leaving two coils to hang out on either side.

The accent of a nomad is quite different from that of the other Arabs; it is deep and guttural, much softer than the tongues of the mountains and of the north.

The hardest thing to realize when one meets these people is the fact that none of them ever possessed a permanent home or actually resided in a house. They were born under the tent, they were brought up there, married there, and they will die and be buried under a little heap of stones. Their whole outlook on life has been the open plain, the sky, the storm, the rain, the fierce sun of the Sahara; even the visits to the market towns have been fleeting. The family, which means everything, has been centered round the group of tents.

These tents are not, as might be supposed, gorgeously decked residences or even the tents we associate with shooting expeditions in India. They consist of a kind of very large blanket made of coarse camel’s and goat’s hair. This blanket is placed on posts and pegged down on three sides leaving the fourth open. On the floor are placed rugs and carpets, and in the case of a rich nomad one may sometimes see colored hangings on the walls, but this is rare, as simplicity is preferred.

When the man is married the tent is divided into two by another blanket and the man lives on one side and his wife and children on the other. When the camp is struck the posts are removed, the blanket is rolled up with the carpets and the whole is placed on the back of a camel or donkey.

On some of the camels one may occasionally see what are known as _bassours_. They are a kind of palanquin consisting of a framework of wicker hoops covered over with drapery, and inside which travel the women and children. The men either walk or ride horses or donkeys.

In the old days, before motor-cars had come into being, the caravan of some southern chief moving to his summer quarters in the north was a very noble sight. It consisted of some hundred camels bearing all his family and his household goods. The _bassour_ of the important ladies was draped about with the brilliant trappings of his tribe and was surmounted by a banner above which shone a brass crescent. All the men rode beautiful horses richly saddled, and the flocks spread themselves about the caravan as far as the eye could reach.

Occasionally one sees this sight nowadays, but very rarely, and only in the far south where roads have not penetrated. To-day the Arab chief sends his family by rail or by car, and it is left to the shepherds to travel in their old-fashioned and picturesque style.

There are, however, real nomads of great wealth who own hundreds of flocks and whose caravans are necessarily very large, but they do not go in for any kind of pomp. It is a most astonishing thing to meet one of the old heads of families, dressed so simply that he might be a humble workman, and realize that he is the owner of thousands of sheep which represent a fortune not to be sneered at in Europe. Here he lives, however, all his life on the desert with his fifty tents or so, his family and retainers growing up about him, but without the least desire to better himself or live in a house.

Most of the _caïds_ of the south live this way, and those who inhabit the towns are exceptions, and are merely there for business reasons or because contact with Europe has made them soft.

The camp of my shepherds, which consists of eight tents, comprising some fifty persons, is a very typical example of the average group of nomads. It moves according to the pastures; that is to say, it remains in a place as long as there is enough grazing in that area and then it moves on to the next feeding ground. The camp forms the center or headquarters, and in it dwell all the women and children. At dawn the shepherds get up, count the sheep and disperse into the Sahara, where they remain with the flocks until the evening, when they return to the camp. The sheep are again counted, and the evening meal is taken in each separate home.

When I am there the head shepherd, and perhaps the head man of some neighboring camp, dine with me, and then all the other shepherds come and sit round my fire to smoke or tell stories till bed-time. The women, though unveiled, rarely appear and they are so silent that one hardly realizes they are there, but they prepare a very excellent meal and with apparently no materials weave all the tents and clothes for their menfolk.

In the winter we move only a few miles at a time, from pasture to pasture, but when it begins to get hot and the grazing scarce the whole camp is packed up and we set out for a long journey to the mountains in the north. It takes a fortnight or so to cover the two or three hundred miles to our summer quarters. Here the area is much more restricted, and the camp remains much longer in the same place until the time to move south comes round again in the autumn.

Market-day in the villages of the Tell during the summer months is a most interesting sight. All the tribes are there—Larbas, Chambas, Ouled Naïls—outnumbering the regular inhabitants, and one hears the deep voices of these people from the Sahara, and in the evening the southern pipe is played in all the cafés.

The rich chiefs who live in the oases usually have their country homes in the mountains, and those who have not are usually related to the local magnates and spend the summer with them.

There are, of course, a great many nomads who never leave the south at all, but wander about all the year in the Sahara. The pasture is very scarce, but there is just enough for the sheep and they get all the benefit of the first autumn rains. Nomads have prejudices about moving out of their own areas and prefer to remain in a country they know.

It is unfortunately difficult to get to know these people well. They are timid of strangers, and as they can not speak one word of French the visitor must have a very fluent knowledge of Arabic to make himself understood. They are suspicious of being exploited, very quick of temper, and where honor is concerned do not hesitate to use the knife or the gun. They are very childish in their jokes, and if they see that one means no ill they soon become attracted and friendly. Their women are, generally speaking, chaste, and though there are intrigues, which usually end in some one getting murdered, they are the exception.

A little story of an incident which occurred in a neighboring camp to mine will perhaps illustrate the mentality of these people.

A rich nomad possessed a good-looking wife who was much admired by a _sheik_ who, owing to business reasons, lived in an oasis. The _sheik_ owned flocks himself, and he often had to pass the night near the camp where dwelt the object of his affections. He courted her on the sly, and though the lady regularly rebuffed him he was in no way deterred. One night it so happened that he had to sleep in the camp of the rich nomad, and he lost not a moment to press the lady to grant him his requests. At first she refused, but after a while she seemed to relent, and told him to wait till she made a signal and then to creep under the blanket which divided the men’s section from the woman’s, and come to her. The young man was in his seventh heaven, and when all was quiet he was duly called, and crept toward his lady-love. When he was quite close she whispered to him to take off all his clothes. He complied with alacrity, and when he was in nature’s garments the woman turned to him and said:

“So this is how thou repayest the nomad’s hospitality!”

The young man gazed at her speechless.

“I am now going to wake up my husband,” she continued, turning to where the old man slept.

In a moment the young _sheik_ was on his knees imploring mercy, begging forgiveness, swearing fidelity, trembling at the thought of the fate which would surely await him if the threat were carried out. The woman watched him disdainfully for a moment.

“Coward!” she said at last. “Had I seen that thou wast prepared to meet thy fate like a man I should have respected thee and perhaps accorded thee a favor; as it is thou art not even worthy of the knife of my man; thou canst go!”

The lover made as if to take his clothes.

“Nay, nay,” she said, smiling, as she laid her hand on the bundle, “a craven needs no garments. Go; quick, quick, or I shall rouse the whole camp!”

The youth looked at her, and seeing the look of determination, slunk out on to the plain, found his horse, and was obliged to ride naked to the oasis; and there is no humiliation greater for an Arab than to be seen without any clothes on.