Note 91b — Chapter III

Mr. Walter Harris, in his Tafilet, says the word Shillah = noble, but he has probably been informed by a Berber. He also, after the fashion of most European travellers, “finds out immediately how infinitely superior they are (the Berbers) in morals and character to Arabs. Their every word and look speak of greater honesty and truth than one finds in a month amongst the Arabs” (“Tafilet,” p. 62). Certainly Mr. Harris has every right to speak, as few men know the mountaineers better than he does, and dressed in their clothes, his head shaved, and a string of camel’s hair bound round his forehead, bare feet and legs, and wrapped in a brown djellaba, he could pass anywhere for one of those moral and honest folk. I wish, though, that he had stated plainly what he understands by Shillah honesty and morality, for, as in theological discussions, the greatest difficulty is to define terms.