TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

234 IMPROVEMENT OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPIOAL RANGELANDS
small tent remains behind near the agricultural fields; the situation
is reversed among the Art Bougueman and the Ait Messaoud. The
herds and their keepers remain in the upland pastures through July
and August, albeit with occasional movement ofindividuals between
the mountains and the Moulouya Valley. In mid-September,~a increasingly
cool temperatures and the need to harvest the cereal crop
lead to a rapid movement of herds and population back along the way
they came, and hence into the upper Moulouya Valley by October.
The system described above is complex. Although the distances
covered are not excessive (the distance from the upper Moulouya
Valley to the Azaghar is only about 100 km in a straight line, but of
course is longer via the nomads' route), they are extensive enough to
make permanent housing impractical for the majority of the population.
In every instance, the direction ofmovement is perpendicular to
the mountain chain and utilizes streambeds and the passes between
them to move from valley to valley en route to the desired pasturage
zone. This gives the pattern of movement the highly constricted linear
appearance characteristic of mountain nomadism. Although the
Beni Mguild's pattern is more complicated than the usual oscillation
between highland and lowland pasture found in mountain areas,
this represents an adaptive utilization of an unusual juxtaposition of
mountains, plains, and plateaus, rather than an entirely new type of
pastoral exploitation.
NOTES
1. An excellen~ I~udy of an Ai~ AUa lec~ion il found in Fernand Joly, ·La
Ai~ Khebbache de Taoul (Maroc Sudorien~al),· 7hllIlIUZ de l'IrYtitute Recl&ercJau
Sahanennu VII:129-159 (1951).
2. D. G. Jongmanl and J. H. Jager Gerlinp, Lu Ail Atta: Lew SedcntGri­
,cation No. 115 (Aml~erdam: Inl~itu~e Royal del Tropiquel, 1956) and No. 50
(Aml~erdam: Depar~emen~ d'An~hropologie Cul~urelle e~ PhYlique, 1956). See
iloilO G. Marcy, ·Une ~ribu Berbere de b. Confederadon dee Ai~ Warain: I. Ait
Jellidaeen,- HClpe", IX:79-142 (1919), for a limilar lituadon among the Berber
tribel near fila.
3. Jean Dreech, Commcntairc de, carlel lUI' lu Ie",", de vie de mordClf'lll
dtJIV Ie ma.ui/ central du Grand Atllll, (Publicationl de I'Inltitut del Hautee Etudes
Marocainel; Tours: Arraul~, 1941), XXXV:18.22, Ihowl how intricate and involved
~heee upllope-downllope movements can be. See iloilO Dreech, "'Migration
pastorales danl Ie Haut Atlu calclloire (Regionl de Dennat et d'Ouaouilerth),·
Mclangel Icographiquel of/em ~ Ph. Arbo, (Clermont-Ferrand: G. de BUllae, 1953),
pp. 131-140.
4. Jules Blache, "'Model of Life in the Moroccllon Countrylide: Interpretationl
of Aerillol Pho~ogrllophl,· Geographical JUuiew XI:482 (1921). 5.Jean Celerier,
-La tranlhumllonce dllonl Ie Moyen-Atlu,· Hupc"" VII:64 (1927); Fernand Joly,