The Kabyles are not Arabs, but are descendants of the original African possessors of the soil, the Berbers. It is an interesting sight on a bright spring morning to watch the footpaths that lead to some popular Kabyle market. All along the roadside, under the foliage of the trees, or fording the shallow places in the rivers, swarms of these natives may be seen on their way to market.
The father of a family, with the younger children perched upon his shoulders, usually leads the way. His wife follows, leading the older children, while the mules, donkeys, and sheep with their drivers follow in a long procession.
Sometimes the wife, if young and easily fatigued, is allowed to ride upon the back of one of the donkeys. This is, however, a rare thoughtfulness on the part of the husband. Usually he thinks nothing of allowing his wife to find her way through streams where the water reaches above the knees even in the shallow places.
The Kabyle villages present a gay festive appearance, if viewed from a distance. A closer inspection is disenchanting, for it reveals the dirt, squalor, and disorder characteristic of the daily life of the natives, and which cannot fail to impress the traveler unpleasantly.
The houses are packed closely together on unpaved streets, so narrow that should two persons attempt to pass each other, one of them would be obliged to step to one side.
Small courts lead to the entrances of one or more of the squalid dwellings, which have but one room on the ground floor, with no opening other than the low doorway. The fireplace is merely a hole dug out in the floor. No chimney, however, is provided to carry off the smoke.
It is indeed hard to choose between the stifling, smoky atmosphere of one of these dwellings and that in the narrow streets impregnated with the vilest odors arising from all kinds of filth and rubbish lying about.
In some of the villages it is no uncommon thing to find nine or ten persons living in the one room of the house with the various domestic animals. In such a room the floor is of earth. It is unpaved, soiled with dirt, and littered with rubbish. A mat is rarely seen on such a floor, which has to serve as the only sleeping place for the members of the family. A bed is an unheard-of luxury.
The garments worn by the Kabyles are dirty, greasy, and ragged. Their food is coarse, and not always sufficient for the needs of the body.
When death enters the household, little change is made in the habits of the family. The body of the dead person is stretched out upon the dirty, bare floor. Sometimes a cloth or rug is thrown over it. The neighbors are then called into the house of mourning and crouch in a circle around the body, while the mild-eyed cattle, as they quietly chew their cud, look on in contemplative wonder.