“The amin can pronounce no judgment, inflict no fine, without consulting the assembly (djemaa) of his assistants or dhamans, always chosen from the notabilities of the village. This tribunal chooses a secretary (khodja) intrusted with the duty of keeping a public register of its deliberations, and of carrying on all correspondence with the French authorities. The labours of the khodja are remunerated with perquisites of figs, olives, &c.
“The supreme command of the tribe is delegated by the French to an amin-el-oumena, whose principal duty is the superintendence of his tribe in all matters concerning public order. He is not allowed to interfere in the internal policy of the villages, which govern themselves, each according to its own interpretation of the khanoun.
“The djemaa possesses a municipal fund, kept in the hands of an ouhil (manager). This fund is supplied by the fines inflicted by the municipal council and the native officials, and by the rates levied on marriages, births, and deaths.
“Each village is divided into two factions, or soff, generally hereditary foes. It is easy to imagine the serious nature of the outrages on public tranquillity, committed by these irreconcilable neighbours, when their mutual interests are at stake.”
The elections are a constant source of disturbance in the Kabyle villages.
The way in which these villages are laid out, their dwellings overlooking one another, makes these struggles very sanguinary ones. Some of the more lofty houses have crenelated parapets, the remainder are loopholed, and the djama (mosque) becomes, on account of the military importance of its upper storey, a regular fortress, assuring the victory to its fortunate possessors.
Everybody knows that the French conquered Kabylia in 1857. What most contributed to the submission of the Kabyles, was the promise made to them to respect their customs and their communal elections. This promise was kept, and the respect shown to their local usages not a little contributed to consolidate the French conquest.
The Kabyle villages, seen from a distance, look picturesque, but on mixing with their inhabitants and entering their houses, the charm vanishes. The question immediately suggests itself how it is possible for any human beings to dwell in the midst of such universal neglect, and of such hideous filth.
“Every Kabyle,” says M. Duhousset, “is revoltingly dirty: there are no baths to be found in the whole of Kabylia of the Djujina. The children receive no care. The result of this neglect is frequent ophthalmia, sometimes complete blindness; they are also often subject to cutaneous diseases, or worse hereditary affections, which these mountaineers hand down from generation to generation, continuing to exist in spite of them . . . . . the women, good mothers who suckle their children up to three or four years of age . . . . the men, industrious workmen and good agriculturists.”
The Kabyles are independent in disposition, observant by nature, and fond of labour: but they are inclined to be avaricious, revengeful, and quarrelsome. Some of their villages, as we have shown, are divided into two hostile camps, and in many cases, part of the communal land is set apart for warlike encounters, where all differences are settled by the yataghan and the matchlock. Divorce is one of the sores of Kabyle society.