Great Sahara: wanderings south of the Atlas Mountains.

Front matter

PRINCETON, N. J. <^

Division

Section .

Preface

Vaeious circumstances had induced me to select Algiers as a winter residence, when compelled by ill health to quit my northern home. Egypt had been recommended, but the cost and distance forbade it. Malta and Malaga possessed but few attractions for one whose favourite recreation was natural history. Algiers presented the advantages of easy access from Marseilles, of French conveniences, and of a climate which, if inferior to that of Egypt, yet certainly is more equable in spring than any to be found on the northern shores of the Mediterranean.

With strength, by God's blessing, rapidly recruited, many excursions were made into the interior ; and as spring advanced, these on two occasions were pushed beyond the Atlas into the Northern Sahara. Here an atmosphere bright, dry, and invigorating convinced me that I had found the true sanatorium for any one sufficiently convalescent to dispense with the luxuries of city life.

From the officers of the French outposts, among whom I would venture gratefully to name General Gastn, MM. le Capitaine Vinson and le Capitaine Dastugue, both " du Genie," I received unbounded hospitality, and- through them was enabled to acquire the friendship of several nomad chiefs ; while a very cursory survey promised abundant objects of interest in natural history to reward more patient investigation.

Being advised by my medical friends to pass another vi

PREFACE.

season in a warm climate, I formed the plan of spending my second winter altogether in the Sahara, and his Excellency le Marechal Eandon, Governor-General of Algeria, most kindly seconded the scheme, by offering me all the assistance and protection in his power throughout the vast regions tributary to, or in alliance with, the French.

In company therefore with a friend, also in quest of health, the Rev. James Peed, to whose society I owe many a happy hour, and to whose pencil this volume owes many of its illustrations, these wanderings were commenced in September, and continued until the following spring.

The hasty sketches taken on the spot, while they have lost none of their original truth, have gained both beauty and vigour from the graceful hand of my kind and skilful young friend, Miss Salvin ; who will, I am sure, pardon the insertion of her name among those to whom my gratitude is due.

The following pages are almost a literal transcript from my daily journal, composed at such spare minutes as could be snatched from the urgent labours of camping, cooking, horse-feeding, and preserving specimens ; and generally in that recumbent posture which is supposed to woo sleep rather than the Muses. • They can therefore have no claim upon the attention of the public, except in so far as they are a faithful reflection of occurrences and impressions in a country the greater portion of which had not been before traversed by any European, and where, as I believe, no English traveller but ourselves has ever wandered. The northern portion, or " Hauts Plateaux," of the

PREFACE.

vii

Sahara is well known to the French ; but of the country of the Beni M'zab and the districts south of it no account, I believe, has yet been published in any European language, beyond the meagre and often most inaccurate descriptions gathered by General Daumas from native travellers.

Geographical research appears at the present moment to be concentrated on the great continent of Africa ; and Livingstone, Barth, Petherick,,and Speke have been revealing to us countries but yesterday undreamt of. Still, in less mysterious regions there may be some scraps of interest left for tribes and oases hitherto known only by name, and which must soon fall more directly under European power. The policy of France up to the present time has been to follow the example of her Roman predecessors, to leave these friendly or neutral tribes in the enjoyment of selfgovernment, and to treat the Sahara as a natural frontier. That policy, we learn from the ' Moniteur,' is now about to be reversed. No natural frontier is to be acknowledged in Africa; and we are promised in the coming winter a regularly organized expedition, which is to push through the M'zab, Waregla, Touat, and the Touareg, to Timbuctoo, and so to unite French Algeria with French Senegambia.

How far such an advance is likely to result in anything beyond the destruction of the unhaj)py Corps d'Afrique engaged in it .may be conjectured by the difficulties which beset even in the first portion of the route a small party of travellers enjoying the assistance of the natives.

Against the suspicions of the inhabitants of the oases, and the Parthian attacks of the indomitable Touareg, it

PREFACE.

seeins scarcely possible that any armed force can achieve the march, or, if it should do so, that it can add aught but the most empty glory to the survivors and their country.

To the student of humanity the interest of the Sahara appears to centre in the M'zab and the other oases here described, whose inhabitants, the descendants of the ancient Kumidians, though generally confounded in European ideas with Arabs and Moors, have contrived for centuries to preserve their language and municipal independence, while surrounded by the fierce hordes of Arabian and Touareg intruders.

These islanders of the desert, utterly cut off from all intercourse with a higher civilization, have preserved a republican and federal government as perfect and complex as that of Switzerland ; and though unhappily fallen under the yoke of the false prophet, have remained uncontaminated by many of the grosser vices of Islamism.

Such races bespeak a noble ancestry, and under the benign influences of a pure and simple Christianity may yet prove themselves no unworthy offspring of that Numidia and Libya which even in decrepitude could produce an Augustine and a Cyprian.

Castle Eden, July, I860.

Chapter I

Steam from Marseilles — Motley assemblage — Struggle for berths — A Sunday at sea — American sceptic — Minorca — Migratory birds

— View of Algiers — Harbour — Old corsair — Grand Place — Statue of Duke of Orleans — Mosques — Costumes — Omnibuses — Governor's, return from Kabylie — Soldier's burial — Anecdotes of the war — General Yusuf — Description of the Djibbeb, or Dance of the Beni Yssou — Negro sacrifices — Missions — Mr. Weiss.

CHAPTER II. . Preparations for travel — Dragoman — Tents — Licence for arms

— Letters — Advice of the governor — A mulish baggage-horse

— Disastrous start — Fort I'Empereur — Orphelinat — Dely Ibrahim — Protestant institute ■ — Douera — Interesting prisoners — Bouffarick — Successful colonization — Beni Mered — A valiant guard —. Mausoleum of the kings of Mauritania — Lake Halloula — Blidah — Gorge of the ChifTa — Scenery — Monkeys — Arab Gourbis

— Making game of a naturalist — Meeting Bedouins — Dog lost

— Taking an inn by storm — Cheap lodgings — Mines of Mouza'fa — Medeah — Native review — A Sheik s farewell of his son — Eagerness for Parisian education 21

Chapter III

Sunday at Medeah — Protestants in Algeria — First night in a tent — Berrouaghuia — Spahis — Their organization — A strange pet — Open forests — Water forgotten and well dry — A chace after our horses — The Clieliff — Boghar — Panorama of the Sahara — Koman occupation of North Africa — Triple line of posts — Dependence of the Nomads on the Tell — Musitazana — French system of military government — Statistics — Taxation — Bokhari — Arab cafe — Gardens

— Botanical garden — Silos, or underground granaries .. .. 42

X

CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Departure from Boghar— Faineant farrier — Lock the door — Wayside cabaret — In the Sahara — Camels — Jacob's flocks — A mirage

— Paradise of waterfowl — Flamingoes — Plovers — The Sheik J >: >u Disah — Falconry — A bustard-hunt — The sandgrouse — Costly birds — Sunday in the desert — Natron deposits — Whirlwinds — Pillars of sand — Bedouin on the march — Camel-tents — Ain Oosera — Formation of the Steppes — Geologic record — The Zahrez

— Fast in the sand — Salt-rocks — Intelligent guide — Manufacture of saltpetre — Note on the salt-hills of Herodotus .. .. Page 59

Chapter V

Roman ruins — Djelfa — A countryman in the Sahara — A dilatory Dragoman — A cold sponge — Dr. Reboud — Botany of the Desert

— Saharan pool — A young wife — Ain el Ibel — Forced colonization — Sheep-farming — Rat a trompe — The general hoaxed — Bedouin shepherds — Large camp — The commander's tent — Hospitable cook — Commandant Marguerite — Battle of the horses — Hairbreadth escape — Touareg embassy — Puits Enez — Honest companions — Arrival at El Aghouat 78

Chapter VI

Laghouat — The view from its citadel — Carpeted roofs — Turkish bath — Storming of Laghouat — Native heroine — Manufacture of morocco leather — Value of pomegranate rind — Teeth to let — Gardens — Cultivation of the date-palm — Date-wine — A female saint's reward — Geological features — Primitive plough — Barley cultivation — Birds — Dayats — A wounded gazelle — An equine practical joke — Squadron of donkeys — A sportsman's dinner-party

— Kouskousou — Boat-launch at Laghouat — Daring exploit of the Commandant — Omar's rebellion — A new Dragoman — The Kadi of Berryan — Scarcity of water-skins — Farewell party . . 92

Chapter VII

Departure from Laghouat — Early rising — Arab cavaliers — The Dayats — Birds of prey — Unsuccessful gazelle-hunt — The terebinth — Deborah's oak — Night camp in the Sahara — Desert graves ■ — Achmed lost — Perils of the wastes — Vain search — A tipsy guard

— Tilghremt — Troop of ostrich — The ostrich-hunt — Ostrich-eggs

— Rocky Chebkha — A shower in the desert — Rivers from home — Sanguine hopes — A murdered caravan — Berryan 110

CONTENTS.

xi

CHAP TEE VIII.

Sudden view of Berryan — Strange contrast — Imposing procession — The reception by the Parliament — The Kadi in full dress — A state dinner — Hospitality by taxation — Early callers — A travelled Mozabite — Arab tribe — Primitive loom — An auction — Traditions of the M'zab — Moab and Amnion — Spanish traveller — Saharan sewerage — Dove-shooting — Cultivation of gardens — Novel wells

— Ploughs — Forbidden sweets — Degenerate kouskousou — An exigeant Dragoman — The Kadi's farewell Page 124

CHAPTER IX. A narrow escape : — A suspiciously-faithful guard — Omar on theology

— Future of Islam — Frost in the desert — A morning scene by our camp-fire — View of Ghardaia — Street scene — The guest-house

— Political system of the Beni M'zab — Unpaid officials — Zickar, or wedding-dance — A deserted city — The Wed M'zab — Gardens — Commemoration of founders — A funeral feast — Largesse — Spirit licence — Maine liquor-law — Value of coffee and tea — The lost found — Return of Achmed — My ratcatcher — Lizards and mice — Jewish jewellers — Markets — Manufactures — Tannin — Dyes — Caravans — M'zab toilet — Slavery 138

Chapter X

Mellika — The sacred city — Achmed's fame — Inquisitive maidens — The old Kadi — Wareglans — Smoking keef — Gorgeous sunset — Love of tobacco — Horse-borrowing — A lawsuit — Municipal duties of a Kadi — Beni Isguen — The city of soldiers — A travelled Mozabite— White camels — Novel mode of quarrying — House-building by subscription — Simple loom — Rifle volunteers — Ball-practice — Ideas of England — An unpopular chieftain — El At'f — Hospitality

— Bounoura — Metlili — The Chaamba — Our host — Parting gifts 159

Chapter XI

Departure from Ghardaia — The desert again — Wed N'cu — Vegetation in the wilderness — Effects of moisture — Ostriches — Antelope

— An assault — Achmed's opinion of his race — Guerrara — Full moon — Festivities — Intestine warfare — Use of the arch — Tombs of the saints — Weddings — Dress — Demands on a hakeem — A traveller from Timbuctoo — Gh'adames — Touat — Achmed's rebellion — Amusing trial — The oldest inhabitant — Farewell to the M'zab . . 175

Xll

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII, History and Institutions of the M'zab

History of the M'zab — Herodotus — Greek and Roman traditions and reports — GsBtnli and Melano-Gaetuli — Touareg — Distinctness of language — Arab tradition — Jewish tale — Legends among the M'zab

— Historical facts commence only with emigration from Oran — Temporary colony at Waregla — Berryan and Guerrara — Customs

— Religious peculiarities — Xo dervishes — French interference — Form of excommunication — Shame wiped out in blood — Poor-laws

— Public works — Taxation — Industry — Obstinacy — Freemasonry

Page 19*5

Chapter XIII

Stony desert — Wed X'ca — Xew plants — Caution in camping — Story of a midnight attack — Asleep on guard — Threatening clouds

— El Guentra — Landmarks — A homesick boy — Hardships of camel-drivers — Wed M'zab — A night alarm — Preparations for an encounter — Friends after all — A friendly chat — First sight of Waregla — Rumours of war — Descent to the oasis — A saint's revenge — Halt at the gate — Sidi Zobeir — An Arab aristocrat — A feast — Public toilet — Ride through the city — Ruined palace — A costly Sultan — History of Waregla — Jews — Old coins — Gardens — Attempt at colonization — Geological speculations . . 210

Chapter XIV

The Touareg — Embassy to Algiers — Dr. Barth — Touareg passport

— Djebel Hoggar — Hidden wells — Mahari, or white dromedaries

— Costume of the Touareg — Arms — Language — Troubles at Waregla — Marocain mountebanks — A tea-party with an agba — Report of a battle — Our host's brother slain — Hasty retreat — Preparation of a chieftain's letter — Ride to X'goussa — Singular tombs

— Arab hone .-ty — A X'goussa feast — Alarms of robbers — A watchful guard 234

Chapter XV

• An early start — Moonlight march — An active guide — Which is the route? The enemy's camp-fire — Recklessness of Arabs — Halt at daybreak — Skulkers detected — A cavalry charge and capture — The prisoner's story — Traces of a struggle — Dromedary-men — Camels give in — Weary march — Hadjira at last — A Mussulman saint — A quiet resting-place — Escape of a fugitive to the city of refuge — Visit of ceremony — State reception — Devout horsemen — Ain Bahrdad — Story of the Mekhasni's exploit — A vigilant shepherd— An unhealthy city — Blad et Amer — Xature and art in decay — Descent into the Wed R'hir .. .. .. .. 254

CONTEXTS.

xiii

Chapter XVI

Tuggurt — Confines of French dominion — Native troops — Hungarian sergeant — The palace of the Bsy — Miscellaneous inhabitants — Imperial furniture — An ancient throne — Visit of the Bey — Arrival of French column — Varied equipments — The camp pitched — Why do we travel? — Night-stroll in the camp — Christmas cheer — General Desvaux — African falcons — Cotton — Meeting with a countryman — Political ideas of a native soldier — Marshes and lake of Tuggurt — A new fish — Geological speculations Page 268

CHAPTER XVII History- and Description of Tuggurt

Doubtful Roman remains — Tuggurt the metropolis of the Wed R'hir

— Allusions of Shaw and Leo Africanus — Political constitution

— A fortunate shepherd — Wars with Constantine — Capture by General Desvaux — Deposition of the Sultan — Mussulman Jews — Jewellers — Massacre of the Beni M'zab — Ruined mosque — Horticulture— Trade and commerce — Ancient artesian wells — Pestilential miasma — The Dour, or " Turn-again " of invaders . . '27D

Chapter XVIII

Starved out of Tuggurt — A refractory Dragoman — Teniae, in — A Wed R'hir city — Busy market-scene — Zou'ia — Solitary French officers — A sublimated marabout — Royal and Imperial gifts — A misplaced cart — Warrior saint — A Bedouin dominie — Cheerful soldiers — Omar returns — The priest's steward a valuable guide — Weary desert ride — Solitary well — Breasting the sand-waves — Souf at last — The hospitable Khalifat — Magnificent reception — A night of plenty after a day of scarcity — Saharan's opinion of English and French religions — Dryness of Souf — Domed roofs — Female ornaments — Market — Purchases of silk — Gardening under difficulties— Birds and beasts — Shooting at Souf 291

Chapter XIX

The warrior Sheik of Souf — A desert foray — Tunis and France — Commercial politics of the Sahara — Reports of Roman cities in the interior — The prison of Souf — The wild ass of the Sahara — Arrival of a horseman from G'hadames — Capitaine Bonnemain — Trade — Dates — Fabrics — Caravans — Wonderful powers of sight — The Arabs of Souf — Our departure — Taibeit — A nocturnal inxiv

CONTENTS.

trader — Return to Tuggurt — Evening ride — Camp and villages

— Palm-trees by moonlight — A military mass — A warrior's sermon in a mosque — Tact of General Desvaux — Dinner with the commandant — The fennek or desert fox Page 313

Chapter XX

St. Martin's brigade — The return convoy — Strange medley — Sandstorm — First bivouac — A forced sale — Drunken troopers missing

— The Cure of Batna — Tamerna and its artesian well — St. Martin's mode of supplying the commissariat — Tribute-money — A post-courier in the desert — El Baadj — Solitary caravanserai — The Sheik's entertainment — Judge of assize — Cases civil and criminal

— Prompt decisions and speedy justice — First glimpse of the Atlas

— Oiunach — Mons Aurasius — Approach to Biskra — Captain Pigalle's mansion — Return to civilization 330

Chapter XXI

Biskra — Parisian tourists — Struggle of the desert and the Tell — Botanical garden — Farms and gardens — Omar's faithlessness — Formal trial and judicial separation — Our ex-warrior groom — Novel application of the trial by ordeal — Ingenuity7 of the detectives — Hot spring — Peculiar fish — Our last Sunday at Biskra, and common service — Departure — Col de Sfa — El Outaia — Saltmountain — Natural warm baths — Benighted on the plain — The last of the oases — Gorge of El Kantara — Roman bridge — Grandeur of the pass — Farewell to the Sahara 345

APPENDICES.

I. On the Physical Geography of the Sahara 359

II. On the Geological System of the Central Sahara of Algeria 368

III. On the History of the Sahara 377

IV. Catalogue of the Mammals of the Sahara 382

V. Birds of the Sahara 389

VI. Reptiles of the Sahara 405

VH. Catalogue of the Mollusca of the Sahara 408

VIH. Catalogue of Plants collected in the Algerian Sahara,

arranged after the Natural System 410

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Oasis of El Kantara, the Gate of the Sahara.. Frontispiece.

Marabout of Berryan Title-page.

Map of Xorthern Desert of Africa To face page 1

Koubber Roumeah — Mausoleum of the Mauritanian

Kings To face 30

M'zab Pottery on Graves 130

Semaar of Ghardaia 142

Gate of Ghardaia To face 143

Gateway and Guest-house, Ghardaia 143

City of Mellika 159

Semaur Tower, El At'f, Beni M'zab To face 170

Colossal Cairns 177

Tower on the Wall, Guerrara 179

Marabout south-west of Guerrara • • .. 181

Gateway of Guerrara To face 182

Marabout near Guerrara 192

Isolated Rock near Guerrara 210

Djebel Soultaun, near Waregla To face 218

Bab-el-Soultaun, the Sultan's Gate, Waregla.. To face 222 Main Street and Entrance to Mosque, Waregla .. .. 226

Tombs, jSI'goussa 250

Gate of Tuggurt To face 268

Mosque in the Wed R'hir To face 284

Mosque Tower, Temacin 293

Mosque Gate, Zouia 295

Marabout near Tuggurt, on the road to Souf 299

Well in the Wed R'hir To face 300

Entrance to El Oued Souf 307

Stream and Palm-Grove, Wed R'hir To face 333

Map of the Algerian Sahara At the end.

THE GREAT SAHARA.

CHAPTEE L

Steam from Marseilles — Motley assemblage — Struggle for berths — A Sunday at sea — American sceptic — Minorca — Migratory birds ■ — View of Algiers — Harbour — Old corsair — Grand Place — Statue of Duke of Orleans — Mosques — Costumes — Omnibuses'_ — Governors return from Kabylie — Soldier's burial — Anecdotes of the war — General Yusuf — Description of the Djibbeb, or Dance of the Beni Yssou — Negro sacrifices — Missions — Mr. Weiss.

Embaeked on the densely crammed "Louqsor," we encountered a motley crowd of passengers. Military officers, Government officials, Zouaves, soldier convicts, horned cattle, no near relatives of the Durham ox; greyhound-like sheep, larger in the horn than in any other limb ; German colonist families, generally comprising three generations ; dogs, a sprinkling of turbaned Moors, and a dozen dark-looking Jesuits in shovel hats and long cassocks, composed the medley assemblage. Government passengers having prior claim, we contented ourselves with fore sleeping-cabins, and the privilege of entering the saloon and promenading aft. Vain indulgence, with families bivouacking over the whole deck. Happily, the swell of the Gulf of Lyons, after leaving the fine headlands which encompass Marseilles, rendered our dinner-party select. "Not so the sleeping-berths at night. We found our dog-holes tenanted, and in vain sent the steward to eject the

B

SUNDAY AT SEA.

Chap. I

intruders ; at length the intervention of the lieutenant of the watch drew forth, after protracted discussion, one priestly occupant from P.'s berth, behind whom laysecreted a good-natured-looking burly monk, with moustache and flowing beard — a true Friar Tuck. Then it transpired that every one had got into the wrong berth, and a general action of ejectment was instituted. A young lady was nearly expelled from a mattrass on the floor of the ladies' cabin by a youthful Jesuit, who insisted upon priority of claim. I indignantly protested, and offered my cabin to the lady, whereupon the young disciple of Loyola quietly suggested that it was unnecessary to disturb her, and promptly ensconced himself in my niche. After a speedy expulsion of the ecclesiastic, I was permitted to remain unmolested; while under and on the tables, arranged like the cargo of a slave-ship, lay packed the majority of the passengers. The more fortunate of ourselves baked in our berths till morning, many, I trust, with consciences less troubled than their stomachs.

The rest of the voyage was on a calm sea and without incident. A Sunday on board a foreign ship realises the sensation of solitude in a crowd. Heated on the taffrail for quiet reading, I found myself by the side of an American, the correspondent of a New York paper, and a freethinker. Sceptics, it is to be hoped, are not more common in America than in France, but they are certainly more obtrusive. A Frenchman seems scarcely to take the trouble to think at all: the other appears uneasily anxious to confirm himself in unbelief by discussion, and is careless of offending the convictions of those whom he meets, by propounding his theories in their baldest form. My companion held universal redemption, and ridiculed the great doctrines of Christianity,

Chap. I.

VIEW OF ALGIERS.

a asserting Scripture to be a mere Jewish history, exaggerated by national prejudices. I attempted to meet him by metaphysical and a priori arguments, when P., joining in, silenced if lie did not convince him by Scriptural quotations. " Fools make a mock at sin."

The course of the steamer lay close by the island of Minorca, and we peered with our glasses into the magnificent harbour of Mahon, once an advanced post of England, and now eagerly coveted by our Gallic neighbours. Its acquisition will be one great step towards the realization of the French lake, lying as it does half way between Europe and Africa, and within 50 miles of the direct course of all vessels up the Mediterranean.

We were reminded that autumn was now setting in by the numerous flocks of migratory birds which passed lis on then' way southwards, chiefly familiar English summer visitants, whitethroats and warblers, and many short-toed larks and pipits.

Early next morning we dropped anchor in the port of Algiers, so familiar by description to every reader. The first glimpse vividly recals the tales of our childhood. That white triangular patch, cut as it were out of the mountain side, and fringed with the richest and darkest verdure, might be still the nest of corsairs and the hopeless prison of Christian captives. But on entering the harbour all such pictures of the imagination vanish before healthier realities. A stupendous breakwater and mole, the work of the French Government, now rapidly approaching completion, offers a safe refuge for the finest navy that ever floated on the Mediterranean ; and in lieu of the ensign of the pirate craft, the bright tricolor of France and the flags of many a peaceful trader flutter from a triple row of masts. One old corsair, carefully repaired from time to time, till her

b 2

ALGIERS.

Chap. I.

timbers are now probably not more original than those of the "Victory" at Portsmouth, alone remains in the inner harbour, supporting an imperial pennant ; an historic remnant of that extinct trade which provoked English chastisement, and palliated French conquest. The deep trenches and massive earthwork batteries, which form the modern enceinte, do not catch the eye, while the crumbling Moorish walls still mark the limit of the inhabited portion of the town. The French extensions have been only on the water's edge, where handsomely built fauxbourgs have spread themselves like wings on each side. In fact, the ground-plan of Algiers is not unlike a bird spread out, the old city representing the body, and the long mole which runs out to the Admiralty, once an island, forming the neck and head.

After much wrangling and deafening vociferations of the Moorish or Koulougli boatmen, we were landed on the Pecherie, our passport receipts having been handed to us as we descended the ship's side. We mounted the long steps leading to the grand square, flanked by the now neglected batteries, which once formed the defence of the city, and which shattered with terrific effect the fleet of Lord Exmouth ; and reaching the summit of the steps, found ourselves in the small square of the Place , Mahon, now merely the cab-stand of Algiers, but interesting as being exactly on the site of the ancient Christian slave-market. What strange untold romance of misery — hopeless misery — of crime, rapine, and lust, lies for ever buried beneath that spot ! Adjoining this is the grand square, now rejoicing in the appellation of " Place duGouvernement," but preserving, in the half-obliterated titles of "Place Eoyale," "Place Kepublicaine," a record of the political inspirations which Algiers has successively received from the centre of French civilization.

Chap. I.

STATUE OF DUKE OF ORLEANS.

When we arrived, a fair was being held preparatory to the annual " course," and the square was filled with booths crowded with showy and tinselly Parisian manufactures. French, Spaniards, and Jews jostled each other in gay holiday attire ; and Bedouins, shrouded in their white burnouses, flitted silent and majestic like ghosts amid the throng. The old palace of the Deys had just been demolished, and the opening afforded a splendid view of the upper or Moorish city, rising with its white and flat-roofed houses, tier above tier, over the plain, far as the eye could reach in the clear moonlight. In front, leaning over the parapet, we enjoyed a commanding view of the port and roadstead, with Cape Matifou at the further extremity of the bay. Almost in the centre of the square stands a colossal equestrian statue of the late Due d'Orleans, from the design of Marochetti, erected in 1842 by the civilians and army of Algeria, now only an historic monument of a dynasty which has passed from power and from memory. The revolutionary government of 1848 sent orders to have this statue destroyed, but the population of Algiers, and even the military, rose en masse, and by force prevented the officials from carrying out their intentions. On the pedestal are two spirited bas-reliefs, one representing the forcing of the pass of the Col de Mouzaia, the other the capture of the citadel of Anvers. On the opposite side of the steps of the Pecherie, on the site of the forum of the Roman city of Icosium, stands the Grand Mosque Djemmaa Djedid. It has a handsome minaret at the west end, and a crescent-surmounted dome over the centre. The story is told that the architect was an Italian captive, to whom the Dey promised freedom if he should succeed in erecting the most handsome mosque in El Djedzar. During its

ALGIERS.

Chap. L construction it was remarked to the Dey that the edifice was in the shape of a cross, upon which on the day of its completion he beheaded the unfortunate designer. Close to the entrance is a Mohammedan tribunal, where the kadij may be daily seen administering the justice of the Koran, and settling the disputes of the wrangling daughters of Moslem, who recount their grievances from veiled lips through a small lattice window.

Lower down the street is the Grand Mosque or Djemmaa Khebir, a very handsome edifice, with a row of light marble columns supporting the arcade of the street in front, but without the great dome which relieves the other mosque. The arches of the interior are partly Saracenic and partly semicircular. Europeans and even females are freely permitted to enter any of the mosques in Algiers on taking off their shoes at the entrance, where an attendant supplies them with slippers. The effect of the rows of light shafts and arches is fine, but the interior has a bare appearance, being without any other furniture than the lamps slung from the roof, a wooden pulpit near the centre, and the floor laid with matting and ragged Turkey carpets here and there. These . two mosques are the cathedrals of two different sects of Mussulmans — the Maleki, to which belong most of the Turks and Moors of Algiers ; and the Hanefi, which numbers amongst its adherents all the Algerian Arabs. They differ in their ritual, but not in their doctrines; and, unlike the other Mohammedan sects, do not anathematize each other. There are also small mosques belonging to the sect of Ali, and the "Khranisine" or fifth sect, who are looked upon as heretics, and are as bitterly hated as the Shafi and Wahabi of Arabia.