The Watchman's a children think the old Fortress at Nalut is a fine place to live in. They never tire of climbing about among the stone steps of the storage caves.
The Larder Fortress In The Jebel: Perched on the plateau of a Jebel mountain at Nalut, on the frontier between Tripolitania and Tunisia, the Berbers still store their meagre harvests of wheat, dates and olive oil in o~long shaped caves hollowed out of the inner walls and ramparts of a fortress built centuries ago for this purpose. Years ago the Jebel Berbers were constantly raided by other tribes who stole their women and animals. Leaving the plain they took refuge in the mountains building this gigantic fortress to house their shiekh and their food. Round the fortress they built a town of stone to house the 6,000 members of the tribe. During periods of peace they descended to the plain and while the men formed a defensive parimeter the women gathered food and sowed crops. Gradually the Berbers increased in numbers finally outnumbering their attackers enabling them to leave their fortress and re-settle in the plains. But the store is still used today guarded now by a watchman and his family who receives in payment for his duties a small percentage of the feet stored. Only bits of wire and wooden pegs keep the doors closed, to lock one's cave with a padlock would be an insult only erased by the shedding of blood.
Photo measures 10 x 8 inches.
Photo is dated 04-04-1952.
Photo back:
