Barbary, from Cape Bon to Cape Nun, is everywhere peopled by a mixture of races, who differ from each other in origin, customs, and character.
In the fruitful valleys of the northern coast dwells an agricultural race, whilst the high lands are chiefly peopled by nomads; and one again finds the agriculturist in the southern mountains and in the oases. All these different races have settled in those spots where, according to their circumstances and their temperaments, they were most likely to find the means of existence.
The Berbers were the aborigines, and, although they comprise more than two-thirds of the present number of inhabitants, these peaceful agriculturists—who have always been heavy in their movements and slow at assembling—invariably succumbed to the warlike Arabs from the high-lying plains.
The Arabs, when they left Arabia, moved from the east towards the west.
A great number of negroes are also to be found in Tunisia, brought principally from the Sudan as slaves. They are everywhere closely intermingled with the native population.
Lastly, in the towns are found Jews and Moors. The latter are generally typical of a mixed race; although the type in the different towns is composed of many races intermingled, it assumes in general a common resemblance. Their mode of life, habits, hygiene, and surroundings have produced a hybrid race. In Tunis there are numbers of Moors, and also in several other Berber towns.
In accordance with the results of the latest researches, I will endeavour to give a short descriptive sketch of the different peoples who at the present time inhabit the Regency of Tunisia.
The Berbers.
The indigenous population comprised in the races of Tunisia, and known generally as Berbers, may be computed at about one million. They are a hybrid people, the descendants of the “Libyans” of Herodotus and Scylax, of the Mauri or Maurusii, of the Gætulians, of the Romans, and of the Numidians. All these races have nothing in common with the Phœnicians. Herodotus already knew this, and remarks that whereas the Libyans and Ethiopians were the original inhabitants of North Africa, the Phœnicians and Greeks were immigrants.
It was long before any distinction was made between the various racial groups of Berbers; it was only observed that there were amongst them both fair and dark types. It was not until men such as the archæologist Tissot and the well-known Duveyrier had broken the ground, and in later years the famous anthropologists, Doctors Collignon and Bertholon, had succeeded in throwing light on the native languages, that a way was opened which led to a correct solution of the origin of the Berber peoples, and their division into groups.