But, In Tripoli, I
Found Whole Villages Inhabited By Arabs, And These I Thought Might Be
Distinguished As Town Arabs.
Then the mountains of Tripoli are covered
with Arab villages, and some few considerable towns are inhabited by
people who are _bona-fide_ Arabs.
Finally, the capitals of North Africa
are filled with every class of people found in the country.
The question is then where shall we draw the line of distinction in the
case of nationalities? or can we, with any degree of precision, define
the limits which distinguish the various races in North Africa? With
regard to the Blacks or negro tribes, there can be no great difficulty.
The Jews are also easily distinguished from the rest of the people as
well by their national features as by their dress and habits or customs
of living. But, when we come to the Berbers, Arabs, Moors and Turks, we
can only distinguish them in their usual and ordinary occupations and
manners of life. Whenever they are intermixed, or whenever they change
their position, that is to say, whenever the Arab or Berber comes to
dwell in a town, or a Moor or a Turk goes to reside in the country,
adopting the Arab or Berber dress and mode of living, it is no longer
possible to distinguish the one from the other, or mark the limitation
of races.
And since it is seen that the aborigines of Northern Africa consisted,
with the exception of the Negro tribes, of the Asiatics of the Caucasian
race or variety, many of whom, like the Phoenicians, have peopled
various cities and provinces of Europe, it is therefore not astonishing
we should find all the large towns and cities of North Africa, where the
human being becomes _policed_, refined and civilized sooner than in
remote and thinly-inhabited districts, teeming with a population, which
at once challenges an European type, and a corresponding origin with the
great European family of nations.
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