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KABYLIE

The Kabyle country lies to the northeastern extremity of the department of Algiers, with a small portion lapping over into the department of Constantine as far as Bougie. It begins at Palestro, runs down to the sea, and is bounded on the south by the road from El Kseur to Bouira. It seems curious to speak of a country in the middle of a French department, and yet its physical boundaries are as defined as its people. Like the wild men of the Aurès, the Kabyles are hardy mountaineers of the same race — the Berbers. Perhaps a little purer than the people of the Aurés, who undoubtedly intermarried with Roman soldiers when the Empire fell, whereas their cousins of the north have remained intact since the days when the foreigner had not set foot in Africa.

The actual area of the country is about thirty-eight hundred square miles, and is composed of great mountains running up at some points to an altitude of six thousand feet, and deep in snow from December to March.

Unlike the people of the Mzab, the Kabyle types

tall, vary considerably, and though the majority are blond men, one notices many who are small and dark. They have the same spirit of independence as the Berbers Ghardaïa, with the great difference that they are all warriors and brook no interference. There is no are in Algeria which has cause so much trouble