Dr. Bertholon maintains that monogamy is usual amongst them, but my experience leads me to a different conclusion, since the men of rank with whom I came in contact had generally several wives.
The abduction of women was not uncommon in earlier times, when the armed inhabitants of the Ksar used to carry off their wives by force.
That they had to guard their women carefully is not strange, since these have the reputation of being light of morals.
One custom is universal amongst these people; it is that at the wedding the bridegroom shows his bride a heavy stick, of which one end that he holds to her nose is thoroughly and sweetly scented. The interpretation of this custom being that so long as she conducts herself properly, her life will be mild and pleasant like the scent; but, on the other hand, should she misbehave she may be sure of being well punished. I saw one of these sticks at Tatuin.
As I wished to form some idea of the manner in which a family lived and worked together in the small troglodyte communities, I took advantage of my stay with the Khalifa of Hadeij to procure information regarding his family and the life they led in common.
These inquiries I had to make with the greatest discretion, for I would not for the world have given them a chance of misjudging me, or of supposing that I had come amongst them to spy. By degrees I put together what I saw and heard till the whole picture is, I may venture to say, correct in the main, though some of the minor details may have been misunderstood by me, or have escaped my observation.
Sadi-ben Mansur-Fatush, as Khalifa of the mountains, exercises authority over the villages of the Matmata range. He is born of the tribe of Uled Sliman, of which his son is a tribal sheikh.
The Khalifa is between sixty and seventy years of age, and has three wives, Mena, Fatima, and Sasia. By the first he has two sons, Amar and Mansur. By the second, one son, Mohammed. He has probably daughters also; if so, they are married and live at a distance, and no longer interest either their family or tribe. I could not gain any information as to whether any had married within the tribe itself.
Sheikh Amar has two wives; the first is named Aisha, the second Meriam. He has two sons, Abderahman (by Aisha) and Mahmud (by Meriam).
Mansur, who bears the title of “Adel” (notary) of the Uled Sliman, has only one wife, named Uda, and no child.