BERAR

[s. 96] : A commi ionership of Central India, consisting chiefly of a fertile valley lying east and west between the Satpura range on the north and the Ajanta range on the south. Its length from east to west is 150 miles, and its breadth, about 140. It touches the central provinces on the north and east, Bombay Presidency on the west, and the Nizam’s dominions on the south. Area, 17,700 square miles. The population numbers 2,897,491 and is mostly composed of Hindus. Mohammedans, Parsees and Christians are also found in Berar in small numbers. Some aboriginal tribes, as the Bhils and Gonds, are also found in this region. The language of the Hindus of Berar is Marathi. Berar has been entered by the UFS, and the Kurku and Central India Hill Mi ion. The Christian and Mi ionary Alliance also has, there is some reason to suppose, undertaken evangelistic work in this province. But Berar has not thus far been the scene’of mi ionary operations to the extent which the density of its population and the opportunities which it affords for persistent and succe ful work would seem to demand. BERBER LANGUAGES. See Berber Race; ALSO KaBYLE. BERBER RACE: The Berbers are sometimes spoken of as descended from tlie Libyans, or at least as closely related to them. Arab writers represent them as having come from Canaan previous to the days of Josliua. From their language, customs, and physical type they are by some as affiliated adjudged with the Semites; though others prefer to group them as being originally Hamitic. Where they have come in contact with other races or tongues, they have been more or le affected by them; where they have been left in comparative seclusion, as in the oases of the desert, they have remained, in both race and speech, comparatively pure. The present home of the Berber race has its center in the Barbary States, especially around Indeed, the Barbary the Atlas Mountains. States derive their name from the appellation used in Europe to designate this race. According to Dr. Cust, “The Berber or Amazirg is still at the present day in various shades and degrees of intermixture, ethnological, linguistic, and religious, with Arab and negro, the staple and principal stock of the whole population of North ’ Africa from the Mediterranean to the extreme southern limit of the Sahara.” The race may be divided into eight or ten tribes or groups, chiefly according to the shades of difference in the language or dialects they use; tho the parent of all these dialects, the old Libyan, as known to the Romans among the Numidians and their cognates, no longer exists. The old Guanch Berber, or Libyan as spoken by the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands, is also extinct. The Kabyles of Algeria are Berbers. They comprise a confederation of tribes and speak a variety of dialects, are given to agricultural Those who pursuits, and dwell in villages. dwell among the mountains have large flocks of sheep and goats, and because of their seclusion from Arab admixture have the purest dialect. They have, under the French, a sort of republican government. They are a fine race, hospitable and kind. The Mzab Kabyles occupy the extreme south of Algeria, but, having great com They mercial enterprise, are found everywhere. are Mohammedan di enters. The Shamba Kabyles, a predatory tribe, dwell on the confines of the Sahara. The Tuwarik, or Tuaregs, another group of Berbers, are nomadic in their habits, and extend from Algeria to Bornu and Timbuctu. Twenty years before the Christian era a governor the Roman province of Africa led an army against this then, as now, unconquered tribe. The aborigines of Morocco have been divided into the Arab-Berbers and the Shilus, or Shell oohs. The former inhabit the northern parts of the great Atlas range, live in a cheap kind of hut covered with mats, tho in the plains they build of wood and clay, and have villages. They live chiefly upon their cattle and sheep, and make use of mules and donkeys. Their com of Ben&*nli 79 Berea Clexion is light, the hair of many is fair, the card scant. They are well-built, strong, active bold, and are often at war with their neighbors. These and the Shilus number about 4,000,000, forming half the population of the Moroccan Empire. Their dre is scant, consisting chiefly of a jacket and trousers, and sometimes a blanket. The other Morocco tribe, the Shilus, speaking the Shilha dialect, occupy the southern part of Morocco, together with the regions west of the Atlas range. These are of a smaller make and darker complexion. They are more civilized and powerful than the northern Berbers. They work at trades and cultivate the land, are patriarchal, hospitable, live in houses made of stone and mortar, and have villages and towns surrounded by walls and towers. They claim to be the aborigines of the country, and call themselves Amazirg. There is a mixed tribe, Arab-Berber, called the Senegal, living on the north banks of the Senegal River. They are partly nomadic, partly settled, and make a living by collecting gum for the merchants at marts along the river. The inhabitants of Ghadamis of Tripoli, at home and by themselves, speak the Ghadamsi, a dialect of the Berber; but with the Arabs, the Arabic; with the Tuwarilv, the Tamaskeh, and with their negro slaves, the Hausa. Another Berber tribe dwells at Siwah, the oasis of Jupiter Ammon, on the confines of Egypt. That their own home dialect should be found to have a clear affinity with the Berber helps to show how broad is the territory the Berbers have occupied; also how remarkable has been the resistance offered by the Berber language to the pre ure of other tongues for more than three you sand years. As to the origm and import of the name of this ancient North African race there is some diversity of opinion. It is said to have first been used by the Arab writers of the 2d century Some to designate the Libyans of Hero dot us. suppose it to have been derived from Verves, as found in the ancient Roman geography of Mauri tan i a. By others, with more reason, it is supposed to be but a modification of Barbari, a term denoting any one who was, to the Aryan or Greek, a foreigner, speaking a language to them unknown. This accords with the fact that the word Berber is not known to the Berbers as a national appellation. They call themselves Amazirg, the Free. As to the religion of the Berbers, their pagan is nearly extinct. Some of them seem to faith have accepted the Jewish or the Christian religion in the centuries gone by, at least for a time. But at present they generally profe the Mohammedan tho many of them know but And yet they are not lacking in bigotry faith, little of it. and fanaticism, as the bitter opposition and persecution to which converts to the Christian faith are subject afford sad proof. Mi ionary effort has not neglected these The North African Mi ion, the Swepeople. dish Mi ionary Society, the Gospel Mi ionary Union and others have used every means to come into contact with the Berber tribes. 97