INTO ALGERIA.
Striking off from the empire of Morocco, as we journey eastward into
Algeria we come to the town of Tlemcen. A passing glance at the town is,
at first, very pleasing. A triple row of fine trees, such as the white
poplar, the plane tree, the acacia, the nettle tree, and a species of
tree the foliage of which is so thick that no sunbeam can ever penetrate
it, lines the avenue of Mechonar, which leads to the gate of Bon Medina.
At the left can be seen the old walls of Mechonar, which was the citadel
of the town. At the right the eye beholds a scene strongly in contrast,
for the houses, with possibly a few exceptions, are squalid in the
extreme.
It is impossible to enter the town except from the southwest; as all
other approaches to it present steep and rugged sides. The district
about it abounds in fruit trees of all descriptions. The olive tree is
the most valuable among them. Much of the land is cultivated for the
production of cereals, tobacco, etc.
Tlemcen is the capital of the province of Oran. It is situated some
eighty miles from its chief town, Oran, and enjoys a delightful
situation in an undulating country under a thorough system of irrigation
and cultivation. A range of hills, some four thousand or more feet in
height, protects it from the south wind sweeping up from the desert
sections.
The climate of the town is somewhat remarkable for its sudden changes in
temperature, which are as distinct from day to day as are the changes
of our climate from season to season. Sometimes they come in rapid
succession, even in a single day, during the summer season.
Rain falls in abundance. The rainy season begins usually in October and
continues, with occasional periods of fine weather, until the following
May or June. The spring rains and the frequency of morning fogs render
the vegetation so luxuriant as to astonish the traveler, even in the
heat of the summer. After journeying through districts where the
vegetation is parched and withered by the heat of June, the freshness of
the verdure around Tlemcen cannot fail to delight as well as surprise
the stranger.
The town rarely feels the effect of the sirocco, or wind from the south,
and never longer than for two or three days in succession. Thunder is
occasionally heard in winter or in the spring, and sometimes at the
close of an unusually sultry day. When storms come they pass rapidly,
for strong currents of air draw them away, usually towards the
southeast.
Although apparently enjoying so many advantages, yet the town cannot be
said to be very beautiful, when once we are within its walls. The
quarters of the natives are hideous. Often they are scarcely more than
ruins. In fact, it is no uncommon thing to find the most wretched
buildings constructed out of the remnants of larger ones.
The interior of nearly all the native houses is squalid and destitute of
all comfort. Usually a mat serves the purpose of a bed. A painted wooden
chest, containing a few garments of wearing apparel and a scanty supply
of linen, serves the double purpose of a closet and a table or seat, as
may be needed. A few articles for the kitchen, a chafing dish of
earthenware, and some wooden plates made from the poplar tree, complete
the articles of household furniture.
The Jews, though much more crowded in their quarters than we should
think admitted of comfort for their families of numerous boys and girls,
furnish their homes much more comfortably than the natives do.
The natives are divided into two distinct classes very hostile to each
other. On account of this hostile spirit the French have been able to
maintain a strong hold upon the country.
Many of the people have Turkish fathers and Arab mothers, and constitute
an oppressed and despised class. The French have protected them from
direct persecution, and this has made them not only very grateful but
very loyal to these foreigners, whom they even aid by joining their
military forces in time of need.
They are generally tall in stature and vigorous in body, and are more
cleanly and careful in their dress than their rivals, and more
industrious. Through their labor the fine gardens of the town are kept
green. They keep the provision and butcher shops, and as they speak both
French and Spanish they easily compete with the foreign tradesmen.
Their rivals, the Haddans, are of pure Arab blood, and in their poverty
and indolence are far inferior to their ancestors, who were rather an
energetic race. Their bronze complexions and black hair offer a strong
contrast to the white complexions and usually fair hair of the despised
half-breeds.
The Israelites are very numerous in Tlemcen. During the persecution of
the Jews in the fifteenth century, many of them fled into Algeria and
took refuge mainly in the province of Oran.
About the middle of the present century the Kabyles, a sturdy race of
mountaineers descended from the ancient Numidians, broke out into
decided hostilities against the French. Although they displayed much of
the fierce, dauntless spirit of their ancestors, they were speedily
quelled.
The work of conquering, colonizing, and, in a measure, civilizing
Algeria, went on; while the French troops, penetrating into the remote
south, almost to the borders of the Sahara, soon subdued the desert
tribes, in spite of their bold resistance.
During the latter half of the present century the French government has
given a great deal of attention to Algeria. Unfortunately, the French
have not the reputation of making very good colonists.
The Kabyles, who occupy the mountainous section between Algiers and
Constantine, were originally strong and powerful tribes, numbering one
hundred and fifty thousand fighting men, all deadly foes of the French.
Most of them have been subdued, though not without a long, sanguinary
struggle.
The Kabyles are the most intelligent and the most industrious of all the
Algerian tribes. Not an inch of ground capable of cultivation is allowed
to go to waste. The carpets they manufacture are of superb beauty.
Their woolens almost equal those of the English manufacturers in their
excellence. Their gunpowder is of so superior a quality that the French
for a long time believed it to be of English manufacture.
With the exception of a few Kabyle districts that struggle to maintain
an independence of the French government, the whole of Algeria is now so
much in subjection that it is perfectly safe to travel through any part
of it without fear of being molested.
Among the benefits that have come through the colonization of Algeria,
the system of artesian well digging is, by far, the most important. By
means of irrigation, many barren and waste lands have been reclaimed and
made extremely fertile.
About the middle of the present century, boring was begun in an oasis of
the Sahara, within a desert section of the province of Constantine. A
splendid fountain of water, yielding at the rate of over four thousand
quarts a minute, at a temperature of seventy degrees, was the result.
The native priests blessed it, and named it "The Fountain of Peace."
Another of these artesian wells was called "The Fountain of
Benediction."
In the desert of Sidi-Rached, a region wholly unproductive, owing to
lack of water, a well was dug to a depth of a little more than
fifty-four meters, which yielded over four thousand quarts a minute.
This well is known as "The Fountain of Gratitude." The greatest
excitement was shown when it was opened. The Arabs ran in crowds to the
spot, and bathed themselves in the welcome stream; mothers dipped their
little ones in it, while the aged priest fell upon his knees, wept, and
in broken words of gratitude gave thanks to God, and to the French to
whom such knowledge and power had been given.
In some places these artesian wells have been made the centers of
settlements, by tribes which formerly were nomadic, or wandering. Around
what may be termed "wellsprings of joy," villages have been constructed,
and date trees have been planted in their vicinity.
Through so simple an agent as these artesian wells, the wandering habits
of the tribes have been changed, and obedience and allegiance to French
rule have in a measure been established. With feelings of gratitude
these tribes recognize the blessing of a plentiful supply of pure water,
and render thanks to those who have unlocked the storehouses of nature.
The oases, or fertile regions, which owe their existence to the digging
of artesian wells, are usually surrounded by walls, which serve the
purpose of fortifications. Such fortified places are used as storehouses
and magazines by wandering tribes, who leave their grain crops and other
goods in security, while they travel long distances in search of fresh
pasturage for their immense flocks.
The Kabyles are not Arabs, but are descendants of the original African
possessors of the soil, the Berbers. It is an interesting sight on a
bright spring morning to watch the footpaths that lead to some popular
Kabyle market. All along the roadside, under the foliage of the trees,
or fording the shallow places in the rivers, swarms of these natives may
be seen on their way to market.
The father of a family, with the younger children perched upon his
shoulders, usually leads the way. His wife follows, leading the older
children, while the mules, donkeys, and sheep with their drivers follow
in a long procession.
Sometimes the wife, if young and easily fatigued, is allowed to ride
upon the back of one of the donkeys. This is, however, a rare
thoughtfulness on the part of the husband. Usually he thinks nothing of
allowing his wife to find her way through streams where the water
reaches above the knees even in the shallow places.
The Kabyle villages present a gay festive appearance, if viewed from a
distance. A closer inspection is disenchanting, for it reveals the dirt,
squalor, and disorder characteristic of the daily life of the natives,
and which cannot fail to impress the traveler unpleasantly.
The houses are packed closely together on unpaved streets, so narrow
that should two persons attempt to pass each other, one of them would be
obliged to step to one side.
Small courts lead to the entrances of one or more of the squalid
dwellings, which have but one room on the ground floor, with no opening
other than the low doorway. The fireplace is merely a hole dug out in
the floor. No chimney, however, is provided to carry off the smoke.
It is indeed hard to choose between the stifling, smoky atmosphere of
one of these dwellings and that in the narrow streets impregnated with
the vilest odors arising from all kinds of filth and rubbish lying
about.
In some of the villages it is no uncommon thing to find nine or ten
persons living in the one room of the house with the various domestic
animals. In such a room the floor is of earth. It is unpaved, soiled
with dirt, and littered with rubbish. A mat is rarely seen on such a
floor, which has to serve as the only sleeping place for the members of
the family. A bed is an unheard-of luxury.
The garments worn by the Kabyles are dirty, greasy, and ragged. Their
food is coarse, and not always sufficient for the needs of the body.
When death enters the household, little change is made in the habits of
the family. The body of the dead person is stretched out upon the dirty,
bare floor. Sometimes a cloth or rug is thrown over it. The neighbors
are then called into the house of mourning and crouch in a circle around
the body, while the mild-eyed cattle, as they quietly chew their cud,
look on in contemplative wonder.
During the struggle with the French, many of these tribes of the
mountains were in the habit of seeking refuge with their flocks and
treasures in the caves of the vicinity. On one occasion, a tribe, when
hotly pursued by the French, took refuge in one of these immense caves.
The colonel of the French troops ordered the refugees to surrender their
firearms and horses, promising life and liberty. The offer was
scornfully rejected by the Kabyles, who set at work to collect fagots,
which they placed at the entrance of the cave and then ignited.
Three different times the French colonel sent a flag of truce and
begged the imprisoned natives to surrender and accept the terms offered,
but without avail. The last messenger was met by a discharge of firearms
by the dauntless mountaineers. The fire was then rekindled and the
intrepid Kabyles met their death in what had proved a prison rather than
a refuge.
Later, when the cave was examined, some six hundred dead bodies were
found. Counting those natives who, though alive, did not long survive,
and those who could not be reached, it has been roughly estimated that
about eight hundred must have perished. Some had been suffocated, others
trampled to death by the maddened cattle which had been confined in the
cave with their owners.
The capital of Algeria is Algiers. It was built some nine hundred years
before Christ. An Arab chief was its founder. It rises from the sea
coast up the sides of a bald, rugged hill.
Viewed from a distance the city is somewhat like a triangle in shape.
The apex of the triangle is occupied by an ancient fortress. It stands
five hundred feet above sea level and commands the whole city.
The modern part of the city is built lower down. On the side facing the
sea it has a strong fortification, which the French have improved at a
great expense.
It has been estimated that Algiers has a population of between fifty and
sixty thousand people.
Oran and Constantine are both situated upon the sea coast. The former is
a strongly fortified town upon the west. It is quite Europeanlike in
appearance. Its seaport, about five miles to the north, is said to have
one of the finest harbors on the northern coast of Africa.
[Illustration: STREET IN ALGIERS.]
Constantine has a strikingly picturesque situation in the east. It
stands on the summit of a gigantic mass of grayish white limestone, with
precipitous sides. To add to the grandeur of the picture, the foaming
waters of the Wed Rummel dash against three sides of this limestone
mass, as if seeking to overthrow it.
The town and the immediate neighborhood abound in the ruins of ancient
Roman structures. The very walls which surround and fortify the town
were built by the Arabs from stones sculptured by the Romans. On one
side is a fine old Roman bridge spanning a ravine.
In ancient times Constantine was one of the most important towns of
Numidia; for a long time it was a residence for the royalty.
About three hundred years before Christ it was destroyed in the wars of
Maxentius against Alexander. It was, however, soon rebuilt by
Constantine the Great, and derived its present name from him.
The palace of Constantine is the most interesting of all the public
monuments of Algeria, both on account of its antiquity and its special
architecture. It is not imposing in its character, nor has it any finely
finished details of very rare merit; neither can it be said to be
perfectly harmonious in its structure.
If we compare it with the other magnificent buildings of the Turkish
reign, we shall find that it is superior to them because of its elegant
and handsome proportions. Its interior decorations, too, display all
the beauty and luxuriance of the most modern productions of the
Algerines.
It was captured about 1830, and now constitutes the headquarters of the
commanding general of the province of Constantine. One of the most
striking apartments is known as the Saloon of Trophies, which is entered
from the grand reception saloon by means of a door at the side. The room
presents a delightful view. The rafters of the ceiling are supported by
three slender columns of marble, which are most beautifully carved, and
twisted into spirals. To add to the unique character of the ceiling,
various colored lanterns of handsome form, as well as two beautiful
glass chandeliers of ancient Italian style, are suspended from it.
About midway in the apartment is an alcove surrounded with luxurious
divans. At the right and left are panels, with magnificent mirrors
mounted in beautifully carved woodwork.
The side walls of the room are completely covered with rose work of the
most brilliant coloring. The floors, and the walls between the windows,
are finished with varnished tiles. The windows are protected by double
shutters. These are most attractive in appearance, being decorated with
mirrors on the interior, and beautiful rich carvings in cedar wood on
the exterior.
A most curious piece of ancient furniture is found in this room. It
consists of a candle stand in the form of an egg cup bearing an ostrich
egg. The stand is of gilded bronze. It has three branches, or arms, to
hold the candles. This stand is believed to have belonged to the
daughter of the Turkish ruler who constructed the palace. The Saloon of
Trophies is said to have been her apartment.
The room derives its present name from the large collection of flags and
arms, trophies of war, which decorate the walls. They serve to
commemorate the various expeditions and war feats of the conquerors in
the province of Constantine.
Here may be found guns, sabres, and pistols, of the most varied
descriptions. Many of them are surmounted by the curious red, yellow, or
green silk banners under which the Turks have fought against all
invaders of their territory or disturbers of their religious faith and
customs.
The court of the palace bears the name of the Court of the Genii,
suggestive of tales from the "Arabian Nights." It is surrounded by five
pointed arches on each side. It occupies a somewhat secluded space, and
in ancient times served as a great basin, or reservoir, in which the
women of the royal household were accustomed to bathe.
In this reservoir was a fountain, the waters of which fell back into a
tier of basins, varying in size. On the edges of these basins, beautiful
rose work and inter-twining foliage had been carved by a skillful
artist, who with the cunning of his art had closely imitated nature.
The waters of the reservoir were filled with fish, which were the
special care of the ladies of the royal household.
On one side of the court a staircase led down into a vaulted chamber
underneath the palace. Here were situated Moorish baths arranged
exclusively for the royal household.
It was the custom each day to transport to the palace immense water bags
made of oxhide. These were filled from the river, which flowed at the
foot of the hill, and transported to the palace upon the backs of mules.
The water was first poured into a sort of conduit. Pipes of pottery
extending from it conducted the stream into the interior of the palace.
Chambers in which the bathers could repose were built over the baths. In
one of these chambers was an immense bird cage in which nightingales,
finches, parrots, canaries, and various other species were kept for the
pleasure and amusement of the royal ladies.
When the French took possession of Algeria, the royal family fled from
their palatial residence, many escaping through a hole in the wall, and
these baths came into the possession of the conquerors.
Early in the present century, the name Algiers terrified every schoolboy
who read of the evil deeds of the pirates, whose business it was to roam
over the seas for plunder from foreign vessels.
Many a brave man lost his life trying to save his vessel from surrender,
while his crew was mercilessly cut down by the sabres of the infuriated
pirates, who were determined to capture the prize at any cost.
Sometimes, forced to surrender, the hapless captain and his crew were
conveyed in their vessel to Algiers, and thrust into dark and loathsome
dungeons, where life became one long torture.
The confiscated vessel was then employed as a decoy, or painted over so
as not to be recognized on the high seas by the crews of other vessels
sailing from the same country.
So desperate were these pirates that, if they saw no chance of securing
a vessel, they did not hesitate to scuttle it, and to leave the crew to
find a watery grave, as it sank beneath the waves.
Early in the present century, the English nation sent out a fleet to
bombard Algiers. Then the French nation, in turn, sent its fleets to
wage war against the Algerine pirates, whose name had become a terror,
and whose deeds were notorious throughout the commercial world.