This region, occupying so large a portion of the African continent, "is a vast archipelago of oases, of which each presents an animated group of towns and villages. Around each is a large enclosure of fruit trees. The palm is the king of these plantations, not only from the elevation of its trunk, but from the value of its product, yet it does not exclude other species. The fig, the apricot, the peach and the vine mingle their foliage with the palm."
The Algerine Sahara has lately been the object of a special work of Col. Daumas who intends completing the researches begun by Gen. Marey and the members of the scientific commission. He has made an excursion to the borders of the desert, and has collected much that is new and interesting in ethnology, particularly relating to the Tuarycks, a great division of the Berber race whose numerous tribes occupy all the western part of the great desert.[36]
Among the interesting Ethnological facts which the late expeditions in this region have brought to light, is that of the existence of a white race, inhabiting the Aures mountains, (mons Aurarius) in the province of Constantine.[37] Dr. Guyon, of the French army of Africa, took advantage of an expedition sent out by General Bedeau to the Aures, to collect information about this people, to whom other travellers had referred. He describes them as having a white skin, blue eyes and flaxen hair. They are not found by themselves, but predominate more or less among various tribes. They hold a middle rank, and go but rarely with the Kabyles and the Arabs. They are lukewarm in observances of the Koran, on which account the Arabs esteem them less than the Kabyles. They are more numerous in the tribe of the Mouchaïas, who speak a language in which words of Teutonic origin have been recognized. In Constantine where they are numerous, they exercise the trades of butcher and baker. Late writers believe that they are the remains of the Vandals driven from the country by Belisarius.
M. Bory de Saint Vincent in making some observations to the Academy of Sciences, on the paper of Dr. Guyon, exhibited portraits of individuals of this white race, which had been engraved for the Scientific Commission, and stated his belief that they were evidently of the northern Gothic and Vandal type.[38]
In Northern Africa, an important discovery has lately been made of the ancient Libyan alphabet, by Mr. F. de Saulcy, member of the French Institute. This curious result has been produced, by a study of the bilingual inscription on the monument of Thugga, which is published in the first volume of the Transactions of the Ethnological Society of New York. The reading of the Phœnician part of this bilingual inscription having been established, the value of the Libyan or Numidian letters of the counter part, has been as clearly proved, as the hieroglyphic part of the Rosetta stone has been established, from a comparison with the Greek text of that bilingual inscription.
By this discovery, a vast progress has been made in the ethnography and history of ancient Africa. Two facts of the greatest consequence have been established by it:—That the Libyan language was that of Numidia, at the early period of its history, when the Phœnicians were settled there; that the Numidians of that early day, used their own peculiar letters for writing their own language. To these facts, may be added another of no less ethnographic value; that the present Numidian or Berber race of the great Sahara, who are called Tuarycks, make use of these identical letters at this day.
For this recent and valuable acquisition to science, we are again indebted to Mr. de Saulcy,[39] who has published a Tuaryck alphabet as communicated to him by Mr. Boisonnet, Captain of Artillery at Algiers. It was furnished to him by an educated native of the Oasis of Touat, in the great Sahara, and is called by him Kalem-i-Tefinag.[40] What the writing of Tefinag means, it would be curious to know. This Touatee, Abd-el-Kader, has promised more extended information, in relation to the writing of the Tuarycks, than which, no more valuable contribution to African ethnography can be imagined. He asserts that, the Tuarycks engrave or scratch on the rocks of the Sahara, numerous inscriptions, either historic or erotic. This subject has been alluded to by Mr. Hodgson, in his "Notes on Africa" in which he mentions the Tuaryck letters copied by Denham and Clapperton.
The impulse first given by our countryman Mr. Wm. B. Hodgson, in his researches into the Berber language, and the ethnographic facts which were the results of his elucidations, has extended to England, France and Germany, and the last two years have been productive of several valuable and important works, including grammars and dictionaries of the Berber language. These have added greatly to our previous knowledge of the ancient and primitive people, who at a remote period, coeval with that of the ancient Egyptians occupied the northern part of Africa.
Mr. de Saulcy has already unravelled the intricacy of the demotic writing of Egypt and the popular characters of ancient Libya. He is thus working at both ends of the Libyan chain. He will find the Berber thread at the Oasis of Ammon, and at Meröe. We shall thus probably find, that the Berber language was the original tongue of that part of Ethiopia. Dr. Lepsius found in that region, numerous inscriptions in the Egyptian demotic, and in Greek characters, but written in an unknown language. He strongly suspects, that the old Ethiopian blood will be found in the Berber veins; and that the Nubian language has strong affinities with the Berber. When these inscriptions in an unknown language are decyphered, it will be known how far the interpretation of Egyptian mythology and the local names, heretofore proposed by Mr. Hodgson, is to be received as plausible. He has proposed the Berber etymologies of Aman or Ammon as water; Themis as fire or purity; Thot as an eye; Edfou and Tadis as the sun.
Books on Algiers.
Algeria and Tunis in 1845. An account of a journey made through the two Regencies, by Viscount Fielding and Capt. Kennedy. 2 vols, post 8vo. London, 1846.
Le Maroc et ses Caravanes, ou Relations de la France avec cet Empire, par R. Thomassy. 8vo. Paris 1845.
Exploration Scientifique de l'Algeria pendant les années 1840, 1841, 1842. Publié par l'ordre du gouvernment et avec le concours d'une commission Académique. 4 vols, folio. (now in the course of publication.)
Recherches sur la constitution de la propriété territoriale dans le pays mussulmans et subsidiairement en Algeria; par M. Worms. 8vo. Paris, 1846.
A visit to the French possessions in Algiers in 1845. By Count St. Marie. Post 8vo. London, 1846.
Afrique (l') française, l'empire du Maroc et les déserts de Sahara. Histoire nationale des conquêtes, victoires et nouvelles découvertes des Français depuis la prise d'Alger jusqu'à nos jours; par P. Christian. 8vo.
Algeria en 1846; par J. Desjobert. 8vo. Paris, 1846.
Guide du voyageur en Algeria. Itinéraire du savant, de l'artiste, de l'homme du monde et du colon; par Quetin. 18mo. Paris, 1846.
Le Sahara Algerien. Etude geographiques, statistiques et historiques sur la region au sud des établissements Françaises en Algérie; par Col. Daumas 8vo. Paris, 1845.
L'Afrique Française l'Empire de Maroc et les deserts de Sahara, conquêtes et découvértes des Français. Royal 8vo.
Dictionnaire de Géographie économique, politique et historique de l'Algérie. Avec une carte. 12mo. Paris, 1846.
Géographie populaire de l'Algérie, avec cartes. 12mo. 1846.
Histoire de nos Colonies Françaises de l'Algérie et du Maroc; par M. Christian. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1846.
The following list embraces the latest publications on Africa generally.
Voyage dans l'Afrique Occidentale, comprenant l'exploration du Senegal depuis St. Louis jusqu'à la Félemé jusqu'à Sansandig; des mines d'or de Keniéba, dans le Bambouk; des pays de Galam, Boudou et Wooli; et de la Gambia; par A. Raffenel. 8vo. and folio atlas. Paris, 1846.
Viaggi nell' Africa Occidentale, di Toto Omboni, gia medico di consiglié nel regno d'Angola e sue dispendenze, 8vo. Milan, 1845.
A visit to the Portuguese possessions in South Western Africa. By Dr. Tams. 2 vols. 8vo.
Life in the Wilderness; or, Wanderings in South Africa. By Henry W. Methuen. Post 8vo. London, 1846.
Voyage au Darfour par le Cheykh Mohammed Ebn-Omar El-Tounsy; traduit de l'Arabe par Dr. Perron; publié par les soins de M. Jomard. Royal 8vo. Maps. Paris, 1845.
Observations sur le Voyage au Darfour suivies d'un Vocabulaire de la langue des habitans et de remarques sur le Nil Blanc Supérieur; par M. Jomard. 1846.
Essai historique sur les races anciennes et modernes de l'Afrique Septentrionale, leurs origines, leurs mouvements et leurs transformations depuis l'antiquité jusqu'à nos jours; par Pascal Duprat. 8vo. Paris, 1845.