Algeria from Within/Chapter 10

by R. V. C. Bodley

Layout 2

CHAPTER X

LIFE AMONG THE ARABS

We must now turn our attention to the inner life. among the Arabs, to their customs, to their religious observances; and though it is always difficult for a foreigner, and especially a foreigner in a Mohammedan country, really to see the life as lived by its people, it is believed that sufficient intimacy has been developed between the author and the Arabs to give a very accurate picture of what goes on among them.

The word “Arab” will be used, as it is not intended in this chapter to touch again on the subject of the pure Berber, mentioned before; neither is it considered necessary to mention the Europeanized natives who have adapted themselves to a great extent to the life of the big commercial towns of the north and who are all in favor of the Young Turk Movement and the modernizing of the excellent systems handed down to them by their ancestors.

These pages will be devoted to the average Arab household living either in the native quarters of the smaller communes mixtes, in the farms or away in the southern oases and under the tent in the Sahara.

The first thing which strikes one very forcibly is the extraordinary respect shown to the head of the family. It is usual for a great many people of one family to live in the same house, but it is only the head who counts. Moreover, among the nomads the caïd of the tribe estimates his people by heads of families. In the home the father reigns supreme; he usually has his meals apart or with his eldest son. In some cases there are three groups of diners, the chief with the older men and the guests, the sons and their friends, and the retainers. The food is brought in and placed before the first group, who eat what they want, then it is passed to the second group, and finally to the third. After dinner the older men talk and laugh and smoke, but the younger men will either sit quiet or, if they want to talk and smoke, they will go outside. In the presence of the head of the family the younger generation show the utmost deference; it is unusual for them to sit down when in conversation with their father, and they never smoke in his presence.

If a dinner-party is being given and some light or inappropriate subject of conversation is brought up in the presence of the father and son, the son will endeavor to change the subject or even leave the room. Apart they will tell as good a story as any one, but together it is not considered respectful. Should a chief come into a café with friends, and a younger member of the family happen to be there, the latter will leave immediately so as to lay no restraint on the older man. Many is the time when Europeans, ignorant of all this etiquette, have asked a party of Arabs to dinner and have suddenly found that four or five of the party have not put in an appearance. The host may be hurt, he may be puzzled, but the solution of the riddle is easy-those four or five guests have found out that one of the party was a senior man with whom they could not sit down at table.

In return for all this the head of the family looks after the whole of the welfare of his descendants, and any relatives are welcome to eat and reside in his house or tent as long as they like.

By nature the Arab is very easy-going. Even the shopkeepers do not worry people to buy, and will often tell a customer that the article he requires is not stocked rather than interrupt a conversation with Their prices are usually a friend over the counter. rather vague, and bargaining is quite normal, the result of the deal depending a great deal on the mood of the shopkeeper. If the deal is not brought off there is no ill-feeling, and the customer will often be asked to come in and drink a cup of tea.

The very poor people, and there are a great many, live on charity and the wages of odd jobs, but it is amazing to see how body and soul hang together with practically no clothes or substantial nourishment.

Their occupations and pastimes are varied. They are either landowners in the northern districts, or sheep-farmers and date-growers in the south—all very profitable occupations and the source of great fortunes quite unsuspected by the visitor. In their leisure they ride and hunt with falcons, and shoot; they enjoy horceracing and everything to do with riding, and though a great many of them have motor-cars they consider them merely as conveniences, and the greatest ambition of a young Arab is to own a horse.

As in all Oriental countries, European vices become exaggerated, and once a native starts gambling or drinking he does little else.

Otherwise their existence is very simple, and the way they spend their days is adapted to nature and very healthy. An Arab gets up early and also quickly. This is due to two reasons. The first is th t he does not usually sleep in a bed, but on a rug on the floor with another rug over him; the second is that he does not wash on rising, and he often goes to sleep in his clothes. How many times have I been away in out-of-the-way places with Arab friends, either shooting or attending sheep-markets; coffee has been ordered for five A. M. They have somehow vaguely wakened me at four-forty-five, and at four-fifty-five my companions have appeared, all dressed, to ask why I wasn't ready! And my reply has always been the same:

"Because I have a strange and curious habit of undressing when I go to bed and of shaving when I rise." And it is considered a strange and curious habit. But that does not mean that these Arabs are dirty in their persons-far from it. Before and after meals they wash their hands and faces, before their prayers they do the same; sometimes they take a bath. Regularly once a week they go to the hammam, or steam bath, where there is an unlimited quantity of hot water, and where they wash from head to foot, and there is nothing cleaner than washing in a Turkish bath. Moreover, there are first-rate masseurs who for a moderate fee take pounds of fat off the patient in an hour.

What I have never been able to discover is how often the average Arab changes his underclothing. The exterior dress is often sent to the laundry and I have an idea that in many cases the change is made four times a year, at the various seasons. Speaking of clothes, it may perhaps interest the reader to know of what an Arab's garments consist:

Next to the skin there is a shirt; there are socks, there are sometimes drawers, a pair of baggy trousers and leather slippers, rather like unfinished pumps and not embroidered as may be supposed. Embroidery on shoes is considered effeminate and can only be worn on the long red boots used for riding. Over the shirt is usually a sweater and over that a jacket; it may be a smart embroidered affair with many buttons, or it may be a simple tunic, or it may be a European coat, but it does not matter much as it is entirely covered by the gandourah, which is like a long white nightgown with a low neck, made of wool or silk or cotton.

On the head is a turban which consists of three separate pieces—the gannoure, which is the high framework made of felt on which is placed the chech, which entirely covers it, surrounds the face, covers the neck, and is tucked away inside the coat. Round the chech is wound either a band of silk or else the camel's hair cords, known as khiete. The origin of the wearing of cords was for the purpose of always having a rope handy to attach to any receptacle to draw water from the wells in the Sahara.

Over the whole thing the Arab wears one or two burnouses. These are long cloaks with a hood and are made of wool, camel's hair, silk or cloth. The poor shepherd possesses only a woolen or camel's hair cloak, but the well-to-do chief has in addition to his rough burnous for country wear one made of silk over which he wears one of blue or green or maroon cloth embroidered with silver or gold. It is a most convenient garment, as in winter it keeps the wearer warm and the hood pulled over the turban protects him from rain. Moreover, when it gets hot one or both burnouses can be removed. At night they take the place of rugs or blankets.

During the morning the Arab will go about his business either in the town or out on the plain. If he is at home he will eat a light lunch at eleven-thirty, but this is not an important meal, and out on the Sahara he will content himself with a piece of bread and some milk. Time to an Arab is a very vague convention once he has got up. At first it exasperates the European who has been brought up to regular habits, but one realizes little by little that one's exasperation is a complete mystery to them, and one gives up worrying about punctuality. It is very

Photographs by Mr. Julian Sampson
A “Propriétaire”	Numidian Type: Musician of a Marabout

A Moorish Villa

annoying sometimes when one has made all one’s plans to begin a long excursion early in the morning to find the start fixed for noon, or to invite a lot of men for dinner at seven-thirty and find some arrive at six-thirty, some at eight-thirty, and some not at all!

That is another custom which it takes a long time to understand, and one is left hurt that people invited do not arrive, and often do not even make an excuse or consider that one is necessary. It comes from the fact that in all their houses dinner is always going for a dozen or so of people, and one more or less does not count. Every one sits down when the meal is ready, and no one troubles to count the guests. Of course this does not apply to a regular invitation to dinner made with the definite purpose of meeting some one or listening to music; in cases like that no one would dream of being discourteous. At the same time it is very rare for an Arab definitely to accept or refuse an invitation. To your request that he will take a meal with you to-morrow he will reply, ‘‘Inch Allah’’—‘If God wills it’’!

Against this, if you are on friendly terms with the Arabs, you can arrive about meal time—no surprise will be shown, and you will squat down and share the meal as if it were your daily habit. In the same way, if some man came in to see one about six-thirty in the evening he would expect to be asked to dine, which is often awkward in a European household.

If the Arab has eaten a midday meal he will probably sleep for an hour after, and then continue doing what he has to. About six-thirty comes the dinner, and this meal is important. There is always the highly spiced soup with pieces of meat floating about, usually another dish of meat and vegetables, and always the kous-kous, with more meat. They drink water or milk, for even those who are in the habit of taking wine and spirits rarely do so in their own houses if Europeans are not there. After dinner they drink their mint tea or coffee, and friends come in to see them, or they go out themselves and sit in the shops or cafés and drink more tea, and talk and laugh until it is time to go to bed.

Their meals are eaten on the floor. They keep a kind of narrow mattress on which they sit, and the dishes are placed on a small table about a foot high known as a maida. A common napkin some eight feet long is placed on their knees all round the circle. All the food, except the soup and sometimes the kous-kous, is eaten with the hand, and before the meal and after, soap and warm water are carried round and every person washes his hands and face. ablutions bring prosperity. It is said that these There are usually no glasses, and a common mug is handed round from which sips are taken.

Of course, when receiving guests of note, or Europeans, the meal is much more sumptuous, and among the Europeanized chiefs there is a gaudy dining-room kept for the friends from over the seas. Crockery of all kinds is produced, knives and forks, a jumble of wines and a general atmosphere of inconsequent confusion. But the meal is excellent, though sometimes a trifle long.

This is an average menu for a short dinner:

Chorba. Soup with vermicelli, highly spiced.

Bourak. Mutton minced with mint and sage, up in a light pastry—this is a kind of sausage roll.

Leham Lalou. A kind of mutton stew in a dark sauce, cooked with prunes and sweet almonds. The words mean sweetmeat.

Mechow. The lamb roasted and served whole. Even to Europeans no knives or forks are issued, and it must be torn to pieces with the hands.

Kous-kous. Looks like semolina and is made of hard wheat kneaded into tiny round balls and steamed. With it is served a kind of vegetable soup called marga, a highly spiced sauce, and often mutton or chicken. There are countless varieties of kous-kous varying according to localities.

Heloua. Sweets and cakes made of flour and honey and almond paste and orange water.

There are many other alternative dishes; game often appears, but as a general rule the chorba, the mechoui, and the kous-kous are de rigueur for the set dinner. In the place of the sheep there may occasionally appear a gazelle, and if an Arab wants to show his deepest respect for you he will serve a baby camel roasted whole. But this is very rare.

Generally speaking, therefore, the Arab’s life is very simple and peaceful. He is courteous and hospitable, a rather lazy country gentleman, not very intelligent, but wiser and more philosophical than many Europeans on problems of daily life. Men who lay tremendous stress on points of honor, and who rarely forgive an injustice or an insult, disliking any sort of encroachment by non Mohammedans, they have drifted into inertia behind the precepts of the Koran.

‘‘What Allah has destined will occur, so why worry?’’