he violins,
Which are on the knees of painted women--
Arab women, who were not fed on sheep's milk;
There is but camel's milk in all their land.
More than one other has preceded thee and is widowed,
For that in Amded, long since,
My own heart was burned.
Since you were a young lad I suffered--
Since I wore the veil and wrapped
My head in the folds of the haik."[3]

[2] Masqueray, p. 220.

[3] Masqueray, p. 227.

War, and the struggle of faction against faction, of tribe against tribe,
of confederation against confederation, it is which, with love, above all,
has inspired the Berber men. With the Khabyles a string of love-songs is
called "Alamato," because this word occurs in the first couplet, always
with a belligerent inspiration:

"He has seized his banner for the fight
In honor of the Bey whose cause he maintains,
He guides the warriors with their gorgeous cloaks,
With their spurs unto their boots well fastened,
All that was hostile they destroyed with violence;
And brought the insurgents to reason."

This couplet is followed by a second, where allusion is made to the snow
which interrupts communication:

"Violently falls the snow,
In the mist that precedes the lightning;
It bends the branches to the earth,
And splits the tallest trees in twain.
Among the shepherds none can pasture his flock;
It closes to traffic all the roads to market.
Lovers then must trust the birds,
With messages to their loves--
Messages to express their passion.

"Gentle tame falcon of mine,
Rise in thy flight, spread out thy wings,
If thou art my friend do me this service;
To-morrow, ere ever the rise of the sun,
Fly toward her house; there alight
On the window of my gracious beauty."[4]

[4] Hanoteau, pp. 348-350.

With the Khabyles of the Jurgura the preceding love-songs are the
particular specialty of a whole list of poets who bear the Arab name of
_T'eballa_, or "tambourinists." Ordinarily they are accompanied in
their tours by a little troop of musicians who play the tambourine and the
haut-boy. Though they are held in small estimation, and are relegated to
the same level as the butchers and measurers of grain, they are none the
less desired, and their presence is considered indispensable at all
ceremonies--wedding fetes, and on the birth of a son, on the occasion of
circumcision, or for simple banquets.

Another class, composed of _Ameddah_, "panegyrists,