[14] Some Suppose That _Amayeegh_ Means "Great," And The Tribes Thus Distinguished Themselves, As Our Neighbours Are Wont To Do By The Phrase "La Grande Nation." The Shoulah Are Vulgarly Considered To Be Descended From The Philistines, And To Have Fled Before Joshua On The Conquest Of Palestine.

In his translation of the Description of Spain, by the Shereef El-Edris (Madrid, 1799), Don Josef Antonio Conde speaks of the Berbers in a note -

"Masmuda, one of the five principal tribes of Barbaria; the others are Zeneta, called Zenetes in our novels and histories, Sanhagha which we name Zenagas; Gomesa is spelt in our histories Gomares and Gomeles. Huroara, some of these were originally from Arabia; there were others, but not so distinguished. La de Ketama was, according to tradition, African, one of the most ancient, for having come with Afrikio.

"Ben Kis Ben Taifi Ben Teba, the younger, who came from the king of the Assyrians, to the land of the west.

"None of these primitive tribes appear to have been known to the Romans, their historians, however, have transmitted to us many names of other aboriginal tribes, some of which resemble fractions now existing, as the Getules are probably the present Geudala or Geuzoula. But the present Berbers do not correspond with the names of the five original people just mentioned. In Morocco, there are Amayeegh and Shelouh, in Algeria the Kabyles, in Tunis the Aoures, sometimes the Shouwiah, and in Sahara the Touarichs. There are, besides, numerous subdivisions and admixtures of these tribes."

[15] Monsieur Balbi is decidedly the most recent, as well as the best authority to apply to for a short and definite description of this most celebrated mountain system, called by him "Systeme Atlantique," and I shall therefore annex what he says on this interesting subject, "Orographie." He says - "Of the 'Systeme Atlantique,' which derives its name from the Mount Atlas, renowned for so many centuries, and still so little known; we include in this vast system, all the heights of the region of Maghreb - we mean the mountain of the Barbary States - as well as the elevations scattered in the immense Sahara or Desert.

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