Abdulla’s raid was shortly followed by other military expeditions. Eighteen years later Sidi Okba, having established a permanent government, pursued his course through what is now Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. In order to complete the downfall of Christianity, a special tax was imposed on Christians, a leaf out of the book of Constantine the Great, who, in order to ensure its spread through the Roman world, had ingeniously enacted that no pagan master should own a Christian slave. The tax had the effect desired, and the whole population embraced the faith and rule of Islam.
Four hundred years later a great Arab immigration took place. The brigand tribes of Hillal and Soleim being driven from Arabia into Egypt, speedily found their way thence into Northern Africa, which they overran like a flight of locusts. From these nomad hordes are descended in the main the Arabs of to-day.
If the true Arabs only represent a fraction of the total Mohammedan population, variously estimated at a third and a sixth, they have imposed on the remainder their language, their religion, their institutions, and their customs, with the result that in a sense all are Arabs, though not of race. The pure-bred Arab is of an aristocratic type—tall, thin, muscular, and of dignified carriage. His narrow and retreating forehead indicates no great brain power; this feature is sometimes so marked as to give an aspect of semi-idiocy.
A rigorous childhood ensures the survival of the fittest; the Arab children are left to themselves, naked in heat and cold, in sun and rain and frost, and only the hardiest reach manhood. The result is seen in the finely tempered physique of the race, in the Arab’s extraordinary powers of endurance, and in his disregard of hardship and suffering. Whole tribes are infected with what are called the diseases of civilization; typhus and smallpox sometimes blaze like a flame among them; the Arab scorns precaution or cure, and lives or dies with indifference.
As becomes his aristocratic traditions, he prefers war to peace, and plunder to work. His nomad life, which accords with these tastes, is probably an accident forced upon him by the climatic conditions of the country. His wealth depends on his flocks and herds, his very existence is tied to the necessity of finding pasture for them. New ground has ever to be sought, different altitudes being visited according to the season and the period of rainfall. For a people of filthy habits a nomad life has many advantages; the constant change of camping-ground counteracts in some degree the want of sanitary conditions.
ALGIERS: MOORISH DOORWAY, RUE PORTE NEUVE
According to European ideas the Arab is a barbarian, sans foi ni loi. With some limitations, as in his hospitality, although he will not scruple to rob his guest next day, he has no sense of honour, and aims not at telling the truth, but at telling a lie adroitly. His women are mere beasts of burden, absolutely at the mercy of their lord. A whole world of progress lies between the Frenchman who works his fingers to the bone to give his daughter a dower, and the Arab who sells his to the highest bidder. And in love as in life the Arab is often a nomad, as the desert towns bear witness. But as he stalks haughtily through the streets of Algiers, he is an attractive and interesting figure. And who may measure his disgust at the triumph of the infidel?
It is impossible to contemplate this strange being, moving among a medley of races, without wondering what the future has in store. Will the Arab live apart, as the Jew has often lived apart, or can he be brought to assimilate the ideas and methods of his conquerors? At present he seems dazed; his civilization founded on war has failed him in war. It is useless to think of France converting him to Christianity; you cannot convert a man to a faith you have abandoned yourself. And his religion, absolute and absorbing—not of his life a thing apart, but his whole existence—seems to oppose an impassable barrier to European influences. You cannot reason with a man under a spell. Yet it is impossible to suppose that the present situation can continue indefinitely, and this is fully recognized by the French themselves. The only solution so far attempted is in some kind of education for Arab children. Our problem in India and Egypt is a less urgent one; we have not colonized either country as the French have colonized Algeria.
The sang pur of the original inhabitants, called Berbers by the Arabs, is most fully represented by the Khabyles, who inhabit the mountainous tracts of the littoral, both east and west of Algiers. They were Christian under the later Roman rule, but adopted the religion of Islam after the Arab invasions. Otherwise they have little in common with the later comers; physically they are more nearly allied to the races of Southern Europe. Living in their mountain fastnesses they have retained their own customs and institutions, some of which are said to show a trace of Roman influence. Their women are not veiled, and occupy a much more independent position than is usual in Mohammedan countries. Their men, to be seen in the streets of Algiers, may frequently be distinguished from the Arabs by their fair complexions, blue eyes and reddish hair. They have no inclination to a nomad life, and are naturally industrious, freely offering their labour to the French colonists. They would seem to present a more likely field for the spread of social progress according to European ideas than does the lazy indifference of the Arab; but in their case, too, religion is a bar.