ORIENTAL VIEWS IN ALGIERS
The party from the Guardian-Mother continued their walk towards the
upper town till they came to a large square, which was laid out with
lime and orange trees, and surrounded by the best buildings in the
town, which were in European style. Captain Ringgold found a hotel
there of considerable size, which he entered, and presently returned
with a guide who spoke English and Arabic.
"This is the Place Royale," replied this man in answer to a question.
"You have all sorts of people here," said the commander. "Are there
many English here?"
"Very few English and Americans; only once in a while one who comes to
look at the city."
"Most of the nations seem to be represented here."
"Arabs, Moors, Jews, French, Spaniards, Germans, Italians, Maltese,
and Turks," added the guide. "That street is Bab-el Ouad, and a little
farther is Bab-azoun, two of the best streets in the city; and they are
very fine."
"They are built like the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, with colonnades on
each side; but they are very narrow, like the streets of most
Spanish and Oriental cities. Bab means street, I take it," said the
captain, as the party stopped to look down the first of the two
streets. "When the sun is hot that would be a very comfortable place to
walk."
After the party had spent an hour in the Place Royale, with a short
walk in the Bab-el Ouad, the guide conducted them up a narrow and
irregular street to the upper town, where the scene became vastly more
interesting because it was novel and strange.
"I should think we were back in Mogadore," said Mrs. Belgrave, the only
Oriental city she or any of the other passengers had ever seen, and
every person and object commanded their attention.
The people of this section were nearly all Mohammedans, and the few
women they saw were veiled. Most of them were fat and dumpy, for
obesity is a chief attraction in an Oriental belle. The Nubians were
jet black, but they were as closely veiled as those who were whiter.
Many mosques were in sight all the time, and the commander spoke to the
guide about them.
"There are one hundred mosques and marabouts in the city," said he.
"What are marabouts?" asked the captain, and all the others were
gathered around him to hear what was said; and the natives gazed at
them as much in wonder as the tourists at the strange sight before
them.
"A marabout is a tomb, or the sanctuary of a saint, and some of them
are very elegant edifices."
"What is this in front of us?"
"That is a _mesjid_, which means a second-class mosque, as you
Americans would say. The principal ones are called _djamas_, and some
of them are very elegant. The tomb of a dey or a very rich pacha is
often exceedingly fine."
"The houses here are very queer, Mr. Belgrave," said Miss Blanche; "but
they are like those we saw in Mogadore, and not at all like those in
the lower town."
"That is a French town, and I saw two or three buildings five and six
stories high. They have earthquakes here, and I should rather be in
one of these Moorish houses than on the sixth floor of one of those
lofty structures," replied Louis, who had read up a little as soon as
he returned to the ship. "These dwellings all have flat roofs, Miss
Blanche. Do you know why that is so?"
"So that the rain can get into them, I should suppose," replied the
beautiful maiden; and not only the French but the Moors had paused to
get a second look at her.
"Hardly for that; but as soon as the sun has gone down, in the cool
of the evening, the people pass their time on the roof. I read some
stories by a French writer who had spent some time in Algeria, and he
speaks of passing his evenings on the roof of the house he had hired, a
Moorish house in Bougie, on the seashore."
"These houses have no windows, as we understand the word," said
Blanche, who was taking in all the strange sight before her. "They are
nothing but peek-holes, with iron bars, which make them look like so
many prisons."
"These houses would not suit us any better than ours would the people
who live in them. These narrow streets keep out much of the glare of
the hot sun, and make the place cooler than it would otherwise be. You
noticed the same thing in Cadiz and Seville, and it is an Oriental
idea."
"It looked very odd to see omnibuses in the Place Royale, just as we
see them in Paris."
"The French have introduced a great many improvements here; in
fact, they have everything here as they do in France, even to the
horse-racing, of which the Arabs are very fond, as well as the
Frenchmen."
"Where did you learn so much about Algiers, Mr. Belgrave?" asked Miss
Blanche, bestowing a pleasant smile upon him.
"I have not had time to look up much about this town; but the ship's
library contains books treating of all the cities in the world,"
replied Louis, who felt just as though he was floundering about in a
sugar-bowl all the time.
"Before we come to another place I want to learn something about it,
and I wish you would put me in the way of finding what I shall want."
"I will do so with the greatest pleasure if I happen to be on board
of the ship; but I shall probably continue to be a deck-hand on the
Maud for the next week," replied Louis; and he thought of the only
disadvantage that came to his mind in being in another craft than the
Guardian-Mother.
"You must have fine times on board of the Maud, Mr. Belgrave."
"We all have to do duty there as the officers and seamen do on board of
the ship."
"I should like to sail some of the time in the little steamer, Mr.
Belgrave," said Miss Blanche, looking her chaperon full in the face as
if to ascertain the possibility of such a change.
"I don't believe you would be as comfortable there as you are on board
of the ship," replied Louis, not a little moved by the suggestion of
the young lady.
"I know I couldn't live on her; but I mean to ask Captain Ringgold to
let me spend a day on board of her," persisted Blanche.
The young millionaire thought it would be absolutely delightful for him
to take his trick at the wheel with Miss Blanche standing on the lee
side, with the privilege of looking at her occasionally,--for he never
permitted himself to stare at any lady,--and the idea invested the Maud
with a new charm.
The sun had become very hot in the middle of the day, and they found
the shade of the narrow streets very agreeable as they descended the
rough thoroughfare to the lower town. The party were all complaining of
the heat, and the commander sent the guide to procure an omnibus for
them.
[Illustration: "THEY FOUND THE SHADE OF THE NARROW STREETS VERY
AGREEABLE."]
"The professor said the thermometer was only 63° here; but I should
say it was 90° now, Mr. Belgrave," said Miss Blanche while they were
waiting for the vehicle.
"He spoke of the average temperature for the whole of Algeria, and
there are snow and ice on some of the mountains. The professor only
meant to say that it was not so hot as it might be," replied Louis, as
the omnibus came for them. "To-day the south-west wind brings the hot
air of the desert to Algiers."
It was but a short ride to the custom-house, and the party embarked
in the Maud. The tourists were glad enough to get on board the
Guardian-Mother again, for it was comparatively cool under the awning
on deck. The passengers all said they had seen enough of Algiers; for
none of them were artists, antiquarians, or archæologists, and it would
have been a bore for them to stay there a week, though the student of
art or history would have found enough to occupy his time for a much
longer period.
A lighter was alongside the ship, filling up her bunkers with coal,
and another supplied those of the Maud in the afternoon. At lunch the
commander consulted the party in regard to their wishes. Something was
said about putting in at Tunis by the professor; but the captain shook
his head.
"It is more than thirty miles off our course, and then at the head of a
shallow lake nine miles farther," said he.
"But it is within three miles of the ruins of ancient Carthage,"
interposed the professor.
"_Delenda est Carthago_," replied the commander, laughing. "I believe
that means that Carthage must be destroyed, or, in other words, a war
of extermination; and I fear we must make that of Carthage in this
instance, for the navigation is difficult. I went there when I was a
boy during the war in the Crimea, and I can assure you that Tunis is a
dirty hole, though it has some fine mosques, well-supplied bazaars, and
the palace of the Bey is magnificent; but it hardly pays to go there.
The professor is a fine classical scholar, and he would enjoy it more
than any of the others. But if you wish to go there, I will take the
ship to Tunis with the greatest pleasure imaginable."
"Don't go there on my account, Captain Ringgold," protested Professor
Giroud.
"I will put it to vote, and the majority shall decide," replied the
commander, and he proceeded to do so.
No one, not even the professor, voted in favor of the visit, and the
question was decided in the negative. In the middle of the afternoon
the captain went on shore in the first cutter to attend to the
formality of clearing. On his return the order was given to heave up
the anchor, and the ship's company of the Maud was sent on board of
her. The officers took leave of the party that were to proceed in the
ship.
"I want to sail some day in the Maud, Captain Ringgold," interposed
Miss Blanche.
"Not now, I hope, for it will soon be night, and there are no
accommodations on board of her for you," replied the captain.
"No; I mean some day when the sea is not too rough," added the maiden.
"There will be no difficulty at all about it, Miss Woolridge; and I
thought of sending all my passengers on board of the Maud when we get
to the Archipelago, for then we shall be in sight of land all the time
among the islands. I can easily put you on board of her some morning
when it is pleasant, and you say the word."
Louis was satisfied that Miss Blanche would soon be a passenger on
board of the Maud for a day, and he went to his duties on board of the
little steamer. He had talked with the professor about his studies, and
he took his books with him. The pilot was on board the Guardian-Mother,
and the Maud was to follow her out of the harbor. The two steamers went
to sea that night, and the weather was delightful. The rough sea had
subsided, and the commander anticipated a prosperous voyage.
He was not mistaken in his prognostication; for in four days and
sixteen hours the steamers were off Cape Matapan, the southern point of
Greece. The professor became enthusiastic when the name was announced;
Dr. Hawkes and Uncle Moses, both of whom were graduates of colleges and
interested in classic lore, were not unmoved.
Off Cape Bon, which is within seventy-five miles of the island of
Sicily, and with the exception of Spain at the Strait of Gibraltar, is
the shortest distance between Europe and "The Dark Continent." At this
Cape Miss Blanche was put on board of the Maud, and remained there till
evening, greatly to the beatification of the millionaire deck-hand.
Two days later the visit was repeated, this time in company with
Mrs. Belgrave; and they were on board of the Maud when she made Cape
Matapan.