Fougha

Fougha (Beni-Fughal), a large Kabyle (Berber) tribe of the province of Constantine, Algeria, some sixteen miles south-west of Jijelli. They occupy the densely-wooded slopes enclosing the Wed Missia Valley, and formerly enjoyed special privileges as owners of the surrounding oak and cedar forests, whence the Algerian corsairs derived the materials for their fleets. Such was the value of these forests that, in return for the right of working them, the Government granted to the Foughas concessions of vast arable and pastoral lands in the district extending as far as the neighbourhood of Guelma, which still bears the name of Beni-Fughal. Most of the peasantry in this region belong to the Fougha tribe, which at present numbers altogether nearly 20,000 souls.