the, inured to toil and
cold, fonder far of the gun and sword than of the ploughshare, and
steady riders of an equally wiry race of mountain ponies. Their
dwellings are of stone and mud, often of two floors, flat-topped, with
rugged, projecting eaves, the roofs being made of poles covered with
the same material as the walls, stamped and smoothed. These houses are
seldom whitewashed, and present a ruinous appearance. Their ovens are
domes about three feet or less in height outside; they are heated by
a fire inside, then emptied, and the bread put in. Similar ovens are
employed in camp to bake for the Court.

Instead of that forced seclusion and concealment of the features to
which the followers of Islam elsewhere doom their women, in these
mountain homes they enjoy almost as perfect liberty as their sisters
in Europe. I have been greatly struck with their intelligence and
generally superior appearance to such Arab women as I have by chance
been able to see. Once, when supping with the son of a powerful
governor from above Fez, his mother, wife, and wife's sister sat
composedly to eat with us, which could never have occurred in the
dwelling of a Moor. No attempt at covering their faces was made,
though male attendants were present at times, but the little daughter
shrieked at the sight of a Nazarene. The grandmother, a fine,
buxom dame, could read and write--which would be an astonishing
accomplishment for a Moorish woman--and she could converse better than
many men who would in this country pass for educated.

The Berber dress has either borrowed from or lent much to the Moor,
but a few articles stamp it wherever worn. One of these is a large
black cloak of goat's-hair, impervious to rain, made of one piece,
with no arm-holes. At the point of the cowl hangs a black tassel,
and right across the back, about the level of the knees, runs an
assagai-shaped patch, often with a centre of red. It has been opined
that this remarkable feature represents the All-seeing Eye, so often
used as a charm, but from the scanty information I could gather from
the people themselves, I believe that they have lost sight of the
original idea, though some have told me that variations in the
pattern mark clan distinctions. I have ridden--when in the guise of a
native--for days together in one of these cloaks, during pelting rain
which never penetrated it. In more remote districts, seldom visited by
Europeans, the garments are ruder far, entirel