2-798-859 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Encounter of Kabyles with French troops, 1845. Colonial wars in North Africa. '...a group of Kabyles, drawn by M. Frederic Goupil...The Kabyles are a strong and courageous race of Algeria, inhabiting fixed dwellings, and employing themselves in agriculture, as well as in cattle breeding. They always fight on foot, armed with a yataghan and a long rifle. They rarely attack by night, for one of the precepts of the Koran is neither to wander nor to wage war by night, and this they pretty scrupulously obey. They are accustomed to greet the French with a torrent of friendly epithets, such as "hahluf" (swine), &c., which is accompanied by a shower of balls. He who falls into the hands of the Kabyles is born under no lucky planet - his head is instantly cut off and borne away as a trophy'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.