Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/174

138 WEST AFEICA. passerine family is very numerously represented in Senegal, and several of its varieties, such as the cardinal, the widow-bird, and senagali, have become familiar ornaments of the European aviaries. The local variety of the parrakeet, much dreaded by the growers of millet, is in great request amongst the bird-dealers of Saint-Louis. A more useful bird is the dohine, or black stork, which preys freely on all kinds of reptiles, lizards, venomous snakes, the green adder, and even small boas. In the rivers and lagoons are found the electric fish and two species of crocodile, '* one that eats man, and the other eaten by man." Inhabitants of the Senegal Basin. In its ethnology as well as its flora and fauna, French Senegambia is a land of transition, where a sharp contrast is presented between the Arabised Berbers from the Mediterranean seaboard and the Nigritians from the heart of Africa. The Senegalese " Moors," although of northern origin and calling themselves former vassals of the Emperor of Marocco, have nothing but their name, language and religion in common with the Mauri tanian Moors. So far from being civilised members of settled communities, most of them live in the nomad state, wandering with their herds from camping- ground to camping- ground, and pursuing men and animals on the open plains. Descended from the Zenaga Berbers, who gave their name to the Senegal river, they have largely intermingled both with the Arabs and wdth the subjected Negro population. Hence amongst them is found the w^hole series of types, from the swarthy southern European with broad brow, regular nose, and thin lips, to the flat features, pouting lips, and crisp hair of the Negro. The lighter element is represented chiefly by the Hassans, or horsemen, and the Marabouts, or religious class. As nobles, conquerors, and Mussulmans of the old stock, both of these look upon themselves as superior to the lower castes, whom they speak of contemptuously as lahme, or food. The Hassans plunder their subjects by brute force ; the Marabouts swindle them by medical jugglery and magic arts. " Remember that the Marabout must always take and never give," said one of these men of God to Hene Caillie. " Gratitude is the virtue of vassals and captives, unworthy of superior beings," is another of their edifying axioms. The subjects, who are the true nobles, being descended from the first owners, constitute the bulk of the primitive Zenaga population, beneath whom are the captives, nearly all blacks obtained by conquest or purchase from every part of Sudan. The fair element is said to form about a twentieth, the blacks one-half, and the half-caste Berbers and Arabs the rest of the Senegalese Moors. The numerous geographical terms in the western districts north of the Lower Senegal attest the long persistence of the Berber dialects amongst the Zenagas. One of these dialects alone survives amongst a few groups of the Trarza people, amongst the Marabouts, and the Lamtuna branch of the great Dwaish confederation. Elsewhere the Beidan Arabic dialect has everywhere supplanted the Berber speech. But whatever be their origin, the Moors have a proud spirit and noble courage. They are inured to the hardships of long expeditions, and surprisingly frugal when not living at the expense of others. As in so many parts of Africa, the young