When I arrived, I found the place to be, to say the least, exotic. Siyasa, according to the historians of our day, descends from Berber stock, the kilab tribe, to be exact; they are considered fiercely tribal. These people, it is said, were so clannish and jealous of their lineage that they only married within their tribe or immediate family. Generations of coupling has meant that it is very difficult to tell Siyasans apart; you could even forgive yourself for thinking each a brother, sister, mother and father. Their eyes are very large, their heads unusually small, their frames robust. Every Siyasan is somehow related to each other and often a Siyasan mother will find that it is not her son that is eating at the table, but her grandfather’s brother’s sister’s cousin. The spectacle is rath
