The features, language, and customs of these people bear unmistakable testimony to their classic origin. All the old writers who visited the outskirts of the country, describe in glowing terms the beauty of its women. Morgan, in his interesting history of Algeria, dated 1728, remarks: ‘What numbers have I seen, particularly females, who, for well-featured countenances, fair curling locks, and wholesome ruddy looks, might not vie with, or even be envied by, the proudest European dames.’ Shaw, who wrote a few years later, observes that they have quite a different mien and aspect from their neighbours, ‘for their complexions are so far from being swarthy that they are fair and ruddy, and their hair, which amongst other Kabyles is of a dark colour, is with them of a deep yellow.’
Bruce, as we have seen, bears testimony to the same fact, and it was unanimously our opinion that in no country within our knowledge is the average of female beauty so high as in the Aures Mountains. It is true that, owing to hard labour from earliest childhood, and constant exposure to the sun, they become old before their time, and even in infancy their skin becomes of a dark brown colour; but the classic regularity of features, which nothing can mar, occasionally combined with light hair and blue eyes, marks in an unmistakable manner their European origin. Their language is full of Latin words, and in their daily life they retain customs undoubtedly derived from their Christian ancestry.
They observe the 25th of December as a feast, under the name of Moolid (the birth), and keep three days’ festival at spring time and harvest; a garden they call orto (hortus), an elm olm (ulmus), and the ordinary New Year’s salutation is Bouiné (bonus annus). They use the solar instead of the Mohammedan lunar year, and the names of their months are the same as our own.
| Yenar | Maio | Istenbar |
| Fourar | Yunia | Aktobar |
| Mars | Yuliez | Ounbar |
| Yebrer | Ghusht | Jenbar |
For years after Algeria had become a French colony the tribes of the Aures refused to enter into any relations with the conquerors; their country was a safe refuge for all the malcontents of other districts, and amongst others, the ex-Bey of Constantine and the Khalifa of the Emir Abd-el-Kader retreated to these fastnesses, and kept up a constant agitation, which threatened the security of the great military road between Constantine and the desert. This became quite insupportable, and as soon as the insurrectionary movements in Algiers, which terminated in the defeat of Bou Mäaza at Ain Kebira, had been somewhat appeased, General Bedeau, who had been appointed Military Commander on the departure of the Duc d’Aumale, resolved to penetrate these difficult mountains, and force the tribes to acknowledge French authority.
The expedition left Batna on May 1, 1845, and proceeded eastward. The Chawia opposed it in great numbers, but they were quite unable to resist European arms and discipline. In three days the troops had reached Medina, a central position in the country, where a depôt of provisions was established. They then penetrated the country of the Oulad Abdi, defeated them in a smart combat at Aidoussa, and forced them to come to terms. The other tribes, dismayed at the rapidity and success of this attack, abandoned all resistance, agreed to accept chiefs appointed by the French, and consented to pay the war contribution imposed upon them. The column then traversed the Aures Mountains in every direction, and expelled the foreign recalcitrants who had fled there for safety, and since that time the tranquillity of the country has never been disturbed.
One can hardly ride a mile in the Aures Mountains without meeting Roman remains of considerable importance, such as the foundations of forts, agricultural establishments, tombs, &c., built in the most substantial manner of huge blocks of well-cut stone, all testifying to the high state of civilisation which existed wherever this great people founded colonies.
But it is not so much within the massif of the Aures itself as on its northern slopes, and on the plains at their base, that those splendid cities existed, the ruins of which now excite the wonder and admiration of modern travellers.
Commencing from Lambessa, a complete chain of these cities extended as far as Tebessa, their order from west to east being as follows: Lambæsis, Verecunda, Thamugas, Mascula, Baghaia, and Theveste. Thence, turning towards the south, the chain of military establishments, and towns of a less important character, continue to encircle the mountains, reaching as far as the desert and remounting to the original starting point.
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