The French administration of Algeria is complex, but it achieves its end, as the traveler will realize if, on marvelous roads, he traverses this immense country unmolested by the masses of wild men who live there.
I repeat again it is not the duty of a foreigner to criticize the government of another country, but merely to examine it and judge of the results.
CHAPTER VIII
MARABOUTS
Standing alone and quite apart from the native officials just mentioned are the marabouts. The name is derived from the Arab word marabet, which originally meant one who served as a soldier in a rebat or fortress built on the frontier of Mohammedan countries as defense against the infidel, and which became a base of attack against Christian neighbors.
In the forts the moslem soldiers gave themselves over to acts of piety. When the days of holy war had passed the rebats were converted into religious buildings, and a marabet was, therefore, a holy man, an apostle of Mohammed.
Marabouts in North Africa are now holy men who claim direct descent from Mohammed. There are a few who by that virtue alone become marabouts, and it can be imagined, therefore, that there are a considerable number of these saints in Algeria. Any Arab village which respects itself has a marabout or two buried in the cemetery, and a great many have them living on the premises. They have no official position, and their influence depends entirely on their own personality. In some cases they are great figures wielding an enormous amount of power, which is utilized by the French Government for its own ends, and they are incidentally treated with much consideration.
On the other hand, as practically all the male children of marabouts inherit the title, there are many who are completely insignificant, I will even say unscrupulous and immoral, and who live on what they can make out of the poor and credulous followers of the Prophet. They are not always educated, and though they have probably studied the Koran their knowledge on other matters is very rudimentary. Many of them profess to be doctors, and though their methods are very primitive, wonderful cures have been known at their hands, chiefly owing to the faith of those treated.
They are almost all rich men, owning flocks in the sheep-breeding areas, date-palms in the far south, and extensive properties in the north. This wealth comes from the offerings of the faithful in return for blessings and prayers for their welfare.
This, of course, leads to a great deal of abuse, and there are very many of these holy men who reap in hoards of wealth which they spend on sumptuous living. Moreover, as it is supposed to be an act of grace to be in the following of a marabout their servants are not paid, and are practically slaves whose lives are in the hands of their master. They are beaten or punished at will with no redress, as it is rare that information leaks out officially to the French authorities, who prefer to interfere as little as possible with these holy men, whose religion seems, in their own eyes, to absolve them from all acts of unrighteousness.
They drink alcohol, they rape, they live in the utmost disorder, imposing unscrupulously on the believing faithful. If they find people who oppose them they cast spells on them or curse them into eternity, and the number of credulous folk who believe in this is extraordinary.