RUE PORTE NEUVE. WINTERS IN ALGERIA Written anfc Illustrate?) BY FREDERICK ARTHUR BRIDGMAN NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE l 890 UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES Copyright, 1889, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All rights reserved. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. THE "WHITE DOVE" i II. THE STRANGERS' QUARTER 8 III. POPULAR ALGIERS 18 IV. THE PEOPLE 22 V.. COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS 28 VI. NEIGHBORS 36 VII. THE STREETS 45 VIII. INCIDENTAL CHARACTERIZATION 48 IX. WHERE I PITCHED MY EASEL 55 X. THE MOSQUES 62 XI. MOSLEM SHRINES AND LAW COURTS . 71 XII. A FESTIVAL 78 XIII. THE NEGRO COMMUNITY 91 XIV. To LA TRAPPE 100 XV. IN THE BATHS 105 XVI. A TRIP TO TLEMCEN 109 XVII. AT TLEMCEN 117 XVIII. WANDERINGS IN THE TOWN 125 XIX. ABOUT THE CHILDREN 128 XX. BOU-MEDINE 133 XXI. MILOUD 141 XXII. MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 143 XXIII. THE LEGEND OF AIN-EL-HOUTZ 15 2126017 vi CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE XXIV. RETURN AND FAREWELL TO ALGIERS 156 XXV. INTO KABYLIA 162 XXVI. TO AND FROM TUNIS 172 XXVII. FROM BON A TO CONST ANTINE i ... 183 XXVIII. ON THE WAY TO BISKRA 192 XXIX. ARRIVAL AT BISKRA 201 XXX. DUELS 210 XXXI. IN THE VILLAGES AROUND BISKRA 216 XXXII. A SIROCCO 223 XXXIII. SCENES FROM LIFE IN THE SAHARA 231 XXXIV. AN IMPORTANT OASIS 241 XXXV. EXCURSION INTO THE DESERT 244 XXXVI. TOLGA AND NEIGHBORING VILLAGES 249 XXXVII. EXPERIENCE IN A SAND-STORM 257 ILLUSTRATIONS. Rue Porte Neuve Frontispiece. The Harbor of Algiers by Night ... 5 Ball at the Governor's Palace .... 1 1 The Bay of Algiers 16 Walls of the Kasbah 17 The Nutshell ; or, Baia's House ... 20 Bala and the Queen of Sheba .... 23 Little Zohr 24 Badroulboudour 25 In a Garden at El-Biar, Algiers ... 27 Jewess of Algiers 29 Young Jewess at Home 31 The Missionary's Escort 35 Zohr's Cradle 37 Fountain of Abd-el-Rhaman 39 Old Fountain, Rue Bab-el-Oued, Al- giers 46 Rue du Diable, Algiers 49 Near the Kasbah, Algiers 51 Yamina of the Kasbah 54 The Greasy Fritter-shop 57 Jewish Calico-vender, Algiers .... 60 In the Cemetery of Sidi Abd-el-Rha- man 63 Women's Upper Room in the Mosque of Abd-el-Rhaman . . . 65 PACK Mosquee de la Pecherie and Kasbah 68 Court of the Khouba at Belcour ... 72 Court and Fountain of Djemaa-el- Kebir 74 Tomb of Sidi Abd-el-Rhaman .... 79 Negro Fete at Blidah 82 Fete at Oued-el-Kebir 85 Tombs at Sidi Abd-el-Rhaman ... 89 La Fete des Feves 94 On the Terraces 98 Interior of Moorish Bath 106 Negress Attendant going to the Bath 107 On the Roof cf Sidi Abd-el-Rhaman, Algiers 113 Door at Tlemgen 118 Washing -place without the Walls, Tlemgen 121 Onyx Column at Sidi-el-Halawi ... 123 Young Girl of Tlemgen 129 Cemetery of Sidi Abd-el-Rhaman, Algiers 134 Doors of the Mosque 137 Preparations for the Wedding, Al- giers 145 Musical Instruments 151 Neighbors on the Terrace, Algiers . . 1 57 Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS. Fatma 160 Little Garden, Algiers 163 At the Fountain of Birkadem, be- tween Algiers and Blidah 168 Jewish Silver-smith, Algiers 177 Entrance to a House 181 El-Kantara 193 The Desert near Biskra and the Aures 199 Biskra Barber 202 Masrouda, Girl of Biskra 205 Spahi, Algiers 212 Studio Friends at Biskra 219 Ouled-Nahil, Dancing Girl of Biskra 227 Camel and Young, Biskra . 235 The Masked Virtuose, Biskra 239 " Arab " 245 Mosque of Lichana 248 Covered Way at Tolga 250 Interior at Lichana 254 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. CHAPTER I. THE "WHITE DOVE." ETE in November, 1885, and at a late hour in the day, we left the harbor of Marseilles, made glorious by the reflections from a splendid sunset ; for the filthy water of the busy port assumed a very different aspect from what it wore in broad daylight. In a few minutes we had dis- tanced the black shipping, an inextricable net-work of rigging, the enormous floating wharves, and the light-house. Our fine steamer Ville de Madrid then turned her nose towards Al- giers at full speed, giving us but a few moments to look upon the island of Chateau -d'lf and to recall Monte-Cristo. On a high promontory Notre Dame de la Garde, the beacon for sailor devotees, rose and faded in the steel-blue sky, sug- gesting a diminutive Matterhorn. The Mediterranean "beautiful wretch " e*nticed us on through her smooth waters, which would have been, by sunlight, so blue at the ship's side as to make a piece of lapis-lazuli appear almost gray in comparison. " Beautiful " in her behavior until the following day at noon ; but by the time we had passed the islands of Majorca and Minorca, where white houses and win- 2 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. dows were glinting in the sun, she verified the appellation of " wretch." She is proverbially treacherous, and certainly, ac- cording to my own record of her conduct, I can say very little to her credit. Was it due to the fact of my having been born in Alabama, with sunlight in my bones, that I felt at home in Algeria when I first set foot on her genial soil in 1872? Or was my satisfac- tion the effect of the contrast to dark and dingy Brittany, where the interiors are black, and the mud floors absorb the sun's rays ; where the low gray clouds could serve as an appropriate frame and background to no other low-toned, sullen, and sombre figure than the Breton, and where white objects are not luminous, be- cause they are not supported and encouraged to shine by the reflections from their surroundings ? Certain it is that my first impressions of North Africa can never be dispelled. The near prospect of revisiting its sunny shores was to me one of those delightful anticipations in life which haunt the fancy ; and no sooner had I set foot on land than I began with joy to sniff the odors so peculiar to Oriental towns perfumes of musk, tobacco, orange-blossoms, coffee, hashish a subtle combination which impregnates Algerine clothing and hovers about the shops and bazaars. Algiers, seen from the sea, is a mass of white surrounded by the dark green of the olives : the Arabs compare it to a diamond set in an emerald frame. The city is also called " Alger la Blanche," and again Algiers has been compared to a white dove settling on the hill-side. The aspect of the old town which suggested to its author this comparison must have been similar to that presented to us on this ideal night; and how difficult it was to realize the change which had taken place in this hot-bed of corsairs and pirates during the nineteenth century! Only as far back as 1830 when the THE "WHITE DOVE." 3 French took possession of Algiers anything but "doves" had settled on this hill-side ; blood-thirsty and tyrannical deys gloated on murder, bondage, slavery, rapine, and on the ex- tortion from the rulers of surrounding countries of money, ships, cannon, munitions of war. Their formidable batteries would have made short work of any ship like ours, sailing quietly into their harbor to anchor for any purpose but that of affording them the opportunity to plunder its contents, to put the captain to languish and die in chains, and to stuff the crew into mortars and fire them off at the heads of any foreigners who dared to come to their rescue. But this was a horrid dream, which must be shaken off in the presence of the tranquil reality. Nothing could surpass the loveliness of the spectacle be- fore us ; the moon was almost full and shone nearly perpen- dicularly on the compact mass of white houses, with an occasional Jewish dwelling tinted pale blue ; here and there the faint red flame of a lamp was seen through the little apertures, rather than windows, from a cafe where the Arabs often indulge in late-hour gossip and in playing drafts, or from a mchacka, where hashish- smokers, stretched out on matting, were dreaming of their better world, the Paradise of Mohammed. All was motionless, and no sounds were heard from the shore, as we glided into the harbor, save the plashing of the oars of small boats coming to meet us. The " White Dove " lay asleep on the hill- side against the softest of blue skies clear, and yet having the appearance of a transparent enamel like the tender old Chinese blue one is so fond of. The calm and lucid surface of the water mirrored the whole scene, and the " great stars that globed themselves in heaven " were doubled in the profound stillness of the sea. 4 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. Something like forty years ago there were no modern well-built quay and boulevard running the whole length of the city; the Arab town came down to the water's edge, and boats were moored to rings in the very walls of the houses. What a picture! fishing -smacks, one mast raking forward, the other backward, with colored sails thrown over the boom to shelter sailors making their bouillabaisse, the blue smoke curling up through the rigging. Boats of this kind are still there to-day, and at sunset the smaller ones snugly pack them- selves side by side, and Frenchmen, Italians, Spaniards, Mal- tese, and Arabs crack their jokes and cook their supper under awnings and sails worthy of the reputation of dear old Venice. Nearly all the passengers were now on deck and prepared to go ashore, to avoid being awakened again at five o'clock in the morning by the unloading of cargo in the grip of that demon, the jerky, cranky, dislocated machine known as the donkey-engine ; so called in honor of the being who invented it. We landed in small boats, and paid according to a fixed tariff. Oh, delightful innovation ! to be fully appreciated only by the sleepy traveller who has set foot on some Oriental shore, and has had his coat and collar torn off by Arabs forty, we will say, to strike an average trying to get posses- sion of him and his baggage. " Here, you handsome big chap, take charge of my things hotel So-and-so. What's your name?" " Mohammed." " Yes, of course ; I know that much already. Mohammed ben what ?" " Ben Ai'ssa, mister. You Inglesy ?" "Not exactly." "Then you Melican ?" THE HARBOR OF ALGIERS BY NIGHT. THE "WHITE DOVE." 7 " I am a saouarr [artist], and I am going to paint your portrait. Where shall I find you?" His willingness to pose was not overwhelming, but we made an appointment which, of course, he never kept. This " appointment which, of course, he never kept," may almost be converted into a rule when dealing with Arabs. At any rate, I concluded that two o'clock in the morning was not the hour for engaging models. CHAPTER II. THE STRANGERS' QUARTER. ONCE I knew a little chap who always began reading the story of Aladdin thus : " Na town in Tartary there lived a tailor whose name was Mustapha," omitting the big ornamental " I," which made an intelligible begin- ning " In a town," etc. Just out of Algiers are suburbs called "Mustapha Superieur" and " Mustapha Inferieur," and I seldom hear the name of Mustapha without being reminded of the poor tailor ; and this reminiscence has always served me as a kind of connecting link between the old Arabian story of the " Wonderful Lamp " and anecdotes and legends of the people in the midst of whom I have spent a good deal of time. At Mustapha Superieur, then, let us pitch our tent for the winter season, in the midst of semi - tropical vegetation. The fuchsia, geranium, cactus, and many other plants which strug- gle for a stunted and diminutive existence in Northern climes, attain here remarkable size, especially the geranium, with twist- ed and snake -like stems and branches, growing to the height of six feet or more, and enlivening the surroundings with its vermilion flowers. On the pale green cactus grow bright yellow and red flowers, and the beautiful but treacherous prickly- pear, so well armed with its nettled down. Twisted fig-trees, with pale gray trunks and branches, aged cypresses, great swaying olives, pines moaning when fretted with the lightest wind of heaven THE STRANGERS' QUARTER. 9 (but they are here so surrounded by sunlight and flowers that their mournful influence must be subordinate), almond -trees, large-leaved vines, malachite aloes growing out of red earth, and forming impenetrable hedges on each side of steep and stony paths these are the most characteristic growths of this soil. The roads they border are sometimes old Roman ways, paved, and overshadowed by the luxuriant growth, and so dark ^tow- ards evening that coming from El-Biar one stumbles down a long and lonely lane that seems to have no end. At the back of our hotel, and starting at the governor's summer palace, perhaps two miles from the town, runs the most charming of roads, " le Chemin des Aqueducs," quite level, but twisting and turning round every old landslide, and retreating again to the depths of every ravine, bringing the traveller within a stone's -throw of his footsteps of ten minutes previous. At last, after fascinating glimpses and pictures ready- made, and framed in by olives and cacti, of the bay, the town, and harbor, he comes to the old citadel, the Kasbah, high above the town. Returning to our starting-point, we find ourselves in the midst of white villas, roses, and vegetation, and on the high- road and thoroughfare leading out of Algiers, the daily drive of the winter residents, the road for omnibuses, diligences, and for miserable Arabs coming and going, urging home their laden donkeys and others their camels, carrying immense loads of brushwood, straw in nets, or merchandise in well -stuffed tellis (enormous double bags), brushing against the garden walls and passers-by. This is the high-road to Blidah, passing through Birkadem and other villages. An important feature in the aspect of Algiers is the cita- del. Overlooking the town at the corner of the high fortified walls, which were built down to the sea, stands the old palace 10 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. of the deys, now used as a garrison for Zouaves. Within its walls are several interesting buildings in fact, a small city in itself a palace, garden, a mosque constructed in an unusual way, with four marble columns united to support each arch, and another curious building of immense vaults under one roof, re- sembling a round loaf of bread flattened on the top, and stand- ing separate from the surrounding buildings. This was .the treasury in the palmy days of piracy, when millions upon mill- ions in money and jewels seem to have puffed out its sides, although of masonry. It now serves as a powder-magazine. Built out from a balcony looking into the court is the " Pa- vilion de Coup d'Eventail," of historical interest. The French consul paid a visit to the Dey to demand certain accounts of financial affairs for which the Dey held himself responsible ; but this potentate answered by slapping the consul in the face with his fan, a moment of satisfaction which cost the Dey his dominion ; for the French landed not long after on the shores of Algiers, and the irascible ruler was sent to recuperate in for- eign atmosphere never to return.* "Alger la Blanche," seen from the roof of the palace, tumbles down and down, terrace after terrace of dazzling white under the noonday sun, and almost without shadows. Evening creeps on, and the sun, setting behind the hills of the Sahel, gilds at last only here and there a house-top and a minaret faced with glistening tiles ; the long blue shadows soon merge into one ; * This happened in 1830. Hussein Pacha, the Dey (Sir L. Playfair tells in his interesting work, " Hand-book for Travellers in Algeria and Tunis "), embarked with a suite of one hundred and ten persons, of whom fifty-five were women. After residing in Italy for a time he went to Egypt, where Moham- med AH Pacha received him with the consideration due to his rank and mis- fortunes. One day, after a private audience, Hussein retired to his private apartments and died a few hours afterwards, it is said, in violent convulsions. THE STRANGERS' QUARTER. 13 the sun still lingers on the sails of fishing - boats out in the bay; and lastly on Cape Matifou and Djurdjura. Many of the foreign residents on the heights are English, who spend successive winters in the beautiful villas, in which are combined the charms of Arab construction with the modi- fication of English detail. Here they exchange English hospi- talities under Algerine conditions, and a dinner party with Eu- ropean friends in the Moorish court, or patio, is certainly a novel and charming entertainment. An awning is stretched over- head, and in the centre of the court, paved with marble or col- ored tiles, stands a fountain, the water playing over roses and jasmines, and trickling down honeysuckle, lilies, and green palms, and splashing on the fish in the basin below; and all this in the winter months. The circular table, laden too with flowers, is placed within the columns and around the fountain. The governor and admiral give two or three official balls during the winter season one at the admiralty, situated on the ancient harbor, others at the governor's palaces at Mustapha Superieur and in the town. The reception, of which an illus- tration is given, took place in March, at the winter palace in town ; the guests were composed of the French residents, civil and military, English, a few other foreigners, a dozen Arab chiefs, and the Mufti. The latter dignitaries, with the native military officers, scattered among the Europeans in the Moor- ish interior, gave the local color to the reception^ The chiefs, notwithstanding the heat of the ball - rooms, wore their ample cloth pantaloons, red leather boots in black leather outer shoes, several burnooses, one over the other, scarlet, black, fawn-color, pale blue. They did not seem very much in their element. The English afternoon tea and tennis receptions are de- lightful, in gardens luxuriant with trees and bushes bearing fruit of all sorts. Besides oranges, bananas, grapes, lime, lemon, are 14 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. fruits less familiar to us : the Japanese medlar, of a bright yel- low, acid, and very refreshing, with four big brown seeds, re- sembling the kaki of Japan ; another (the name of which I do not recall) very much like the mango of India, in consistence more like a thick mass of very hard cream than anything else I can think of, and with very delicate flavor, the exterior symmet- rically ornamented with fish-scale design like the pineapple. The papyrus, so well known as the plant with which the ancient Egyptians made a tissue resembling paper, and upon which they wrote, grows in these patios in the basins of the fountains. The long, straight stem is three -sided like a bay- onet, and can be split into fine fibres and woven. There are a few comparatively wealthy Arab families who live in this quarter, and the women are pleased to receive European ladies, and occasionally make appointments to re- turn their calls, but with the understanding that the gentle- men of the house must keep themselves well out of the way, so that they may unveil themselves and take tea comfortably with the hostess. During my first visit to Algiers, I remember seeing a kind of conveyance which I have never noticed since. It was like a carry- all covered with a cage formed of close lattice -work, in which sat half a dozen young women, the well-guarded wives of some jealous lord, who only allowed them the privilege of a pleasure-drive under those conditions of privacy. The only similar contrivances that I know of are the small boats at Cairo with housings over them, used for conveying across the Nile the inmates of a harem on the Island of Rhoda. In the thorough cleaning and scraping of one of the finest villas of Mustapha, a stone embedded a little below the surface of the wall, near the ceiling, and bearing an inscrip- tion in English, was discovered ; it bore the name of an THE STRANGERS' QUARTER. 15 English captive and slave who had been employed in the building of the house. Another interesting incident is found in Vasari's " Life of Fra Filippo Lippi," the old Italian painter : " Finding himself in the March of Ancona, and being one day at sea in a boat with certain friends of his, they were all caught by the Moors who ranged about those coasts, and taken into Barbary and kept in slavery, each one being put into chains. There he remained with great distress during eighteen months. But one day, being much in the company of his master, he had a fancy for drawing his portrait. Hav- ing taken an extinguished charcoal from the fire, he drew him full length, with his Moorish costume, upon the surface of a white wall. This being told to the master by the other slaves, to whom it seemed a miracle -neither drawing nor painting being practised in those parts it was the cause of his liberation from the chains that had so long confined him. Truly it is a glory to this great power of art that one to whom belonged by law the right of punishing and condemn- ing should do precisely the contrary nay, should be per- suaded to give caresses instead of chastisement, and liberty instead of death. Having, then, done some work in painting for his master, he was taken in safety back to Naples." Mustapha Superieur is well named, as it is indeed supe- rior in every sense of the word to the lower part of the hill, which flattens out towards the bay. The houses are almost entirely of modern construction, and form quite a separate village. Close by is a very large open space the drilling- ground and race -course where every morning, from my bed even, I could see the manoeuvrings of the French cavalry. The horses at that distance looked like mosquitoes. The sun was my chronometer and barometer. The first cold, gray flush i6 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. of dawn in a cloudless sky, mirrored in the sea without a ripple, gave promise of a perfect day, and told me how much longer it was allowable to lie in bed and make calculations for the day's work. Djurdjura, covered with snow, and rising above and be- yond the long, dark blue mountains of the Atlas range, hung in space, with an unbroken band of mist dividing land and wa- ter. Now came the early morning train on its way to Blidah, leaving a trail of white smoke low and motionless along its track, which first rounds the bay, then makes a straight dash to Maison-Carree. The sky grew warmer and of a greenish tinge, then red and more golden over the sweep of the bay, hemmed in by an out-stretched promontory Cape Matifou away to the left, and to the right by the beautiful hills of THE BAY OF ALGIERS. Mustapha, black with olive-trees, and dotted with white Arab villas. I could hear the regular plashing of the waves on the sands, and the sound of each wave died away as it followed the beach, beginning at one end and running along like the lash of a whip. THE STRANGERS' QUARTER. Back of our elevated position Mustapha continues to rise to El-Biar (The Well), culminating at Bouzareah, which is about 1250 feet above the sea. From this point one enjoys a glorious view of the Med- iterranean and surrounding country. A sketch is given to show the relative positions of the environs. A stands for Al- giers, which slopes down away from us over the nose of the promontory to the harbor, H. Musta- pha Superieur is shown by two B'S, and Mustapha Infe- rieur by c's ; also the Champ de Ma- noeuvres and race- course; D, El-Biar; E, Bouzareah ; F, an unattractive suburb, St. Eugene, cold and damp in winter, for it faces north, hot and dusty and without shade in summer ; G, Cape Matifou ; i, Jar- din d'Essai ; j, Djurdjura ; K, the Kasbah, or citadel, which overlooks the town (an immense wall built of brick and stone, running down to the sea on either side of the ridge, protected the Algerines from inland incursions); L, Fort 1'Empereur, named after the emperor Charles V., whose camp was pitched there. The great walls of the fort and of the Kasbah are half hid- den in some places by tall eucalyptus -trees, which feed and thrive on miasma that is death to man. WALLS OF THE KASBAH. CHAPTER III. POPULAR ALGIERS. BELKASSEM marked me as a saouarr on my first re- turn to the town from Mustapha with the necessary paraphernalia for sketching, familiar nowadays to the natives of many an out-of-the-way place. He offered his serv- ices as model or guide ; and as I was seeking what I might devour in the way of a bit of useful background, and was particularly anxious to see interior life, and gain access to houses and their terraces, I took advantage of the offer of the Arab in his character of guide, and followed him up nar- row streets and through whitewashed tunnels to ramshackle doors hung in the most primitive manner, with big round- headed and ornamented nails in various designs, and furnished with elaborate brass knockers. These knockers must have been intended for foreign call- ers. The Arab's custom of knocking at the door is as prim- itive, as the hinges ; he pounds away with the fist until some one of the inmates answers. A man or boy may come to the door; but a woman either emits a decidedly audible scream from the inner court, or she pokes her head through a window just big enough, or peeps over a terrace wall (concealing her features, of course) to question the caller as to his name and object. The outer door is very frequently left wide open, but the houses, with few exceptions, are constructed with sufficient POPULAR ALGIERS. 19 ingenuity to prevent passers-by from seeing anything but a blank wall and a little vestibule turning at a right angle. Oc- casionally, however, one's curiosity is rewarded by a glimpse of the inner court, neatly paved with little six-sided red tiles, with here and there a valuable square of ancient marble or faience let into the door-sill or the "dado"; slender oleander boughs, or the tortuous branches of a fig-tree, throw shadows in delicate patterns across the pavement, and a thread of sunlight finds its way into an inner chamber. The artist is grateful for this blunder of the architect, or for the coquetry of the inhabitants who may intentionally leave this narrow vista, which is espe- cially probable in the case where the owner of the dwelling is a courtesan. But in no case whatsoever is an outsider ex- pected to enter without knocking. Should an Arab walk into a respectable neighbor's house he would run the greate'st risk of being stabbed ; but he would no more think of doing so than we would recognize the propriety of a gentleman walk- ing deliberately into a lady's, bedroom. "Baia! Ba'ia !" " Eh ! who's there ?" " Belkassem, with a sidi saouarr [gentleman artist]. Will you open the door 1 to us ?" Baia had ingenuity enough, as I afterwards learned, to con- ceal by the mattress of her divan a hole in the floor through which she could see visitors who knocked at the street door. The house was of the smallest possible dimensions, and ha4 been whitewashed and bluewashed so often that the original forms of the columns and masonry had become round, and all the details filled up. Beautiful tiles are often thus found com- pletely concealed, as well as marble columns with well-finished capitals and of good design. The bucket of lime and enor- mous brush on the end of a long pole go blindly to work 2O WINTERS IN ALGERIA. once a year at least, about the ist of May, and smear every surface alike, brick, plaster, tile, or wood. Ample proof of this much-to-be-regretted custom is found in. most of the charm- ing Arab villas which have been bought and restored by for- eign residents. There may be no two houses alike, but there THE NUTSHELL] OR, BAIA'S HOUSE. is so much resemblance in the general character of the build- ings huddled together in the old town that a description of Bai'a's will suffice to show the accommodations for families of the middle and poorer classes. And by these classes is really meant all Algiers within the fortified walls ; for the best an- cient houses of the wealthy Algerines, beginning with the Dey, have been converted into public museums, libraries, palaces for the governor and archbishop, dwellings for officers, and bar- racks for the soldiers. In fact, all the residences worth having, POPULAR ALGIERS. 21 both in the town and suburbs, were confiscated by the French on their taking possession of the country, and given to officials of the Government, most of whom sold them, not being able to keep up such expensive establishments and grounds. A few fine villas here and there in the environs have again fallen into the hands of wealthy natives. The "regulation" Arab house is always commenced in the same way ; whatever the shape of the lot of ground is, there must be a square court, sometimes with a fountain in the cen- tre and a colonnade surrounding the court; the smallest col- umns, one at each corner, with ornamented balustrade between them, support the upper story on horseshoe arches, with a rep- etition of the same number of columns and arches supporting the roof; then rooms, of every conceivable shape, to suit the convenience of the owner and to make the best of every inch of the lot, are built around the court, the doors and windows, with iron gratings, opening into it ; the outer wall forms a kind of fortress, with few and very small windows. The Arabs as well as the English can say that " a man's house is his castle." In the large country houses the same rule is observed on a larger scale and with more columns, with a very extensive outer court enclosed by a long colonnade and wall. Bai'a's house was of the most modest order, a mere nutshell; -a court seven feet by four was converted once a week into an extensive laundry, where Fatma, a jovial and good - natured negress, was in her element. Under the stair-way, just wide enough for one, was a well, next to which was a tiny room, which received light only from the court. The lame and lonely specimen of female humanity to whom this room was rented did all her cooking at the door, and when she was fortunate enough to afford to fry anything like a mutton-chop I was obliged to leave my easel for the time being. CHAPTER IV. THE PEOPLE. BAIA'S nutshell became my working headquarters for the winter. I was always so well received after my first visit that I made a pecuniary arrangement, which al- lowed me to reserve a corner for my canvases, box, etc. The necessity of such an understanding with the people with whom we are now dealing is well known, but every one is not ac- quainted with their traits of distrust, especially in their deal- ings with each other. Now, I thought that the conditions of my partial habitation were well established, but at the end of the week, while I was working on the terrace, Belkassem ap- peared on the scene below- stairs and began mumbling and grumbling about money matters. His object was to obtain from Ba'ia a percentage on the sums which I had stipulated to pay her for every day's work in her house, and he was way- laying me to get another percentage for having shown me the way. It was natural enough for him to expect a reward, and I was happy to acknowledge his aid ; but a new pretext every day to see how my " portraits " of the house \vere progressing, with the same object in view, became so tiresome that the woman of the house requested the wily Arab to let me alone and to keep away, which he wisely decided to do. He re- mained friendly nevertheless. While working on the terrace one afternoon (my favorite THE PEOPLE. 23 place, being unmolested in the shadow of the high house of a neighbor, completely surrounded and enveloped in whites- yellow, gray, blue, green, and pink whites delicious whites in shadow, of those refined tones so terrible to do justice to on canvas, and with which one must wrestle) I was attracted to BA1A AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. the parapet of the terrace to see the cause of the crush and noise of a crowd in our little street, which was a cul-de-sac. A number of people, some angry, some roaring with laughter, were following an Arab who was carrying his wife home in his arms, very much against her will ; she was so energetic in her resistance, and he so determined, that his turban and bur- WINTERS IN ALGERIA. noose, and her hai'k, veil, and long black hair were flying to the winds. He was calm of countenance and said nothing, but walked along firmly; she did all the gesticulating, struggling, and protesting, until they came to a door with a large knocker, to which, seeing a chance of escape, she clung, and he could not, with all his efforts, make her let go. The women of the house to which the door was the entrance were friends of hers, and hearing the unusual mode of tap- ping, rushed quickly to open. They took in the situation at a glance, and it now became the husband's turn to let go his hold. Her friends received the wife, and shut the door and locked it in the husband's face. They all then repaired to their ter- race opposite me, and after lengthy explanations they had a good laugh, drank coffee, and threw the dregs into the street in the direc- tion of the husband, who had got the worst of it. BaVa was a widow of about thirty years of age, and she had a daughter, Zohr, seven years old, who was as agile as a cat and as restless as a hyena in a cage not a beautiful com- parison, perhaps, for a very pretty child, but I can think of nothing more hopelessly " on the go " than the unsympathetic animal above mentioned I mean the hyena. At one moment Zohr was hanging over the balustrade of the court, now on the terrace of a neighbor throwing water on the boys in the street, then again putting her dolls with " Joli Coco," the parrot, to bed; the sluggish blood of a warm climate had not yet taken LITTLE ZOHR. THE PEOPLE. 25 possession of her veins. Baia's mother was a kind soul, who passed her time in cooking for a French family, and in em- broidering, between meals, either long strips for curtains or square covers for cushions and tables. Bai'a had posed for artists a good deal ; but since, with her youth on the wane, BADROULBOUDOUR. that lucrative occupation had become rarer, she gave her at- tention to weaving silk and woollen braid at three sous a yard. Women friends were continually " dropping in," and see- ing me there at work so often, they considered me as one of 26 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. the family, and raised the veils from their faces and made themselves at home generally. A certain tall and savage-look- ing beauty, laden with jewellery Queen of Sheba, we will call her was a frequent visitor; but on account of a tremendous mistake on her part, which raised my ire to a high pitch, she " dropped out " for several weeks. At any rate, she did not show herself during my working hours for that length of time, owing to a scolding which I gave vent to in the presence of the whole family, for I was not sure of the guilty one, though I had my suspicions. I had brought back a large and finished study, painted in the interior of a mosque, of a saint's tomb profusely ornamented and hung with flags and banners. I had protected the fresh canvas in the usual way by another one the length of which was the same as the breadth of the study with drawing-pins between, so that the two surfaces should not touch, and a strap to hold them together. During my absence at mid-day breakfast the Queen of Sheba had gazed upon the picture of the tomb of Sidi Abd-el-Rhaman, and had strapped the canvases together again without the necessary space left between them. Oh, agonizing moment ! When shall I recover from the pang of finding my sketch " retouched " in this manner? But the little storm in the nutshell subsided, I repaired the tomb, and the experience was not to be so much regretted after all, as it insured my peace of mind ever after, for my traps were never touched again. " Badroulboudour " was a charming and timid girl, known to me by that name as one who might, through my imagina- tion, impersonate Aladdin's Princess. Besides her portrait, she figures in the accompanying sketch of a garden at El-Biar. Bai'a was extremely neat, and once a week everything was turned out for a thorough house -cleaning; buckets of water deluged the tiled floors of the court and under the little col- o THE PEOPLE. 27 onnade, while a mop. was used for the bedrooms, which were also tiled. Wood is seldom employed in the construction of floors, as tiles are cooler in summer, do not warp, are more or- namental, and cheaper. Her old mother abominated shoes, and to see her assist in the general washing up on cold and rainy days, going barefooted about the house on the cheerless tiles, sent a chill to my very marrow. To acknowledge and TN A GARDEN AT EL-BIAR, ALGIERS. return my sympathy, she expressed her discomfort at seeing me at work in a big overcoat and thick-soled boots. When I went to see our friend Belkassem at home with his family, the rain was pouring into the open court of his dwelling, and his five children were standing about on their bare feet like for- lorn wet chickens ; the mother with a babe in her arms was afflicted, like all her little brood, with sore eyes. CHAPTER V. COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS. IT is a strange fact that many of the natives of hot coun- tries wear almost the same clothing winter and summer, and do not seem to suffer from cold, even in the severest weather, when the thermometer stands at a few degrees above the freezing-point. Arab women are always curious to see how European ladies are dressed, and examine attentively their clothes and jewellery. If the Europeans show the same inter- est, and inquire into the dressing of the natives, they often find, to their surprise, on cold days, on lifting the hai'k of a Moorish woman, nothing but a gauze chemise, and a thin cotton bodice covering the breasts and a very small part of the back, and, from the waist to the feet, cotton pantaloons ample, it is true, but not warm. The women's haiks are often made of hand-woven wool, very thick and warm, others of silk, while the poorer classes wear a few yards of thin white cot- ton stuff. The large hai'ks are about eighteen feet long by five feet wide. With one of these, with their veil to the eyes and falling about fourteen inches, and with pantaloons made up of seventeen yards of white cotton tied at the waist and ankles, the reader will have but little difficulty in understand- ing how they can conceal their figures and keep themselves warm. But such ample drapery is comparative luxury, and enjoyed by the wealthy only. On the other hand, one pities COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS. 2 9 them in hot weather for being obliged to wear the veil, and fol- low the fashion of burdening their frames with such a weight of apparel. Despite all this drapery the women's husbands and ac- quaintances readily recognize them by their bearing and gait- but one can form no idea, or a very inaccurate one, of a wom- an from what the exterior forms suggest. And what a damper to one's conjectures to discover that a lustrous pair of the deepest brown eyes, softened and enhanced by kohl-blackened lashes, belong to a coarse and vulgar face twenty years older than it ought to be. Happily the reverse is I will not say often, for beauty is rare some- times the case. An outward indi- cation of age with the women is the breadth of their pantaloons, which is much diminished as the wearers grow older. The street costume of the wom- en is always white, varying consid- erably in tone according to the material ; small stripes of blue or pink silk are occasionally seen in the hai'k. The ample pantaloons are put on over others of colored prints or silk brocades, which are worn at home and are much narrower. Large anklets filled with shot (khankhal) jingle as they move about. Their slippers are of pale yellow, white, brown, or black patent-leather, and. the height of fashion is to wear everything of the same color; for JEWESS OF ALGIERS. 30 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. instance, yellow head kerchief bordered with gold and silk fringe, yellow ribbons to ornament the thin chemise, yellow silk bodice, pantaloons of the same color, and yellow leather slippers. The rest of the costume is white. But these gala dresses were not those which we found most picturesque ; for too much European influence is felt in the colors and in the cut of the garments, in the same way that cheap, crude, and perishable dyes have found their way into modern carpets of Eastern make. The more ordinary kind of costume, worn every day, hanging in loose folds, and showing the lithe and lazy forms beneath, is more suited to an artist's brush. The same can be said of the Jewesses' costumes. Stretch- ing their clothes-lines on the house-tops, or lounging about the shops, they are handsome and charming (except when uncleanliness predominates too strongly); but when they walk on Saturdays with their shapeless India shawls, thin black head kerchief worn as if glued to the forehead in fact, gum is used to keep it in place and white veil tied under the chin and in a knot on the top of the head, they are not fine for all their finery. The colors they wear are sometimes lovely and the material is good black velvet gowns, jackets of stamped velvet, or brocade with gold or silver design ; but then again they will destroy your faith in their good taste by putting on- kerchiefs and braid of the crudest and most vivid colors, and consequently out of harmony with every- thing intermediate blues and greens that set one's teeth on edge. We say intermediate, for the two colors mentioned may be very beautiful, especially when pale or dark, or subtly toned, but they can assert themselves, when they are raw and salient, to a greater extent than any others, except, perhaps, their first cousin, magenta. The houses of the lower classes of Jews are generally COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS. filthy ; even the glazed tile floors and walls, which are so easily washed, disappear entirely under accumulated dirt, and the disorder in their living-rooms is impossible to describe. The compensation for this repulsive element is that strangers are politely received, and artists are allowed to make sketches in any part of their dwellings, which differ but little from Arab constructions. All their doors are left wide open, and * , several families live in different rooms looking into one common court. In many other towns Oran, Constantine, Tlem9en - there are streets and quar- ters entirely occupied by the Jews ; in Algiers they seem to be more scat- tered. Friday is the Ar- ab's Sunday, but it does not interfere much with his world- ly business unless he chooses. Then Sat- urday is the Jew's Sabbath ; and then comes our Sunday, t on which day the French workman continues to work, in order to take at least a half-holiday on Monday. Accordingly there are four days out of the seven when the visitor to Algiers runs the risk of finding a shop closed or a workman not at his post. The Beni-Mzab, or Mozabites, although Arabs and Mo- hammedans, form a class almost as distinctly separate as the YOUNG JEWESS AT HOME. 32 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. Jews. Like the latter, they are money-makers, and carry on commerce extensively throughout the whole colony, and are disliked for their thrift almost as much as the Jews by the Arabs, for each and every one of them, it is said, is indus- trious. Originally from Syria, they wear a costume which dif- fers from that of their Mussulman brethren, particularly in one garment, that is, the gandoura, which is square in shape, sleeveless, a little longer than broad, reaching to the knees, with large openings for the arms, and one for the head. The material is wool, thickly and tightly woven, and in a great va- riety of stripes, very large and very narrow, with lozenge, zig- zag, and comb-shaped ornamentation in the weaving. Joseph's coat of many colors was undoubtedly very like this garment. The Mozabite's ambition is to grow rich,%nd to retire to his native country, situated more than a hundred miles beyond El-Aghouat, which in itself is at the end of all things that is, at the limit of a hard journey of four or five days far into the Sahara. Now, this country, which he longs to reach, and where he hopes to end his days, is one of the strangest re- gions on the face of the earth, according to the account given by Commandant Coyne. The most arid and burning stretch of desert surrounds an oasis called by the Arabs Hammada (the scorched) and Chebka (the net), because it resembles an immense net of rocks and black grotto shell-work. It seems so far away, and the ambition of the Mzab so unaccountable, that one is reminded of the Arabian Nights' tales. " About in the centre of the Chebka," Commandant Coyne tells us, " is a kind of circus formed of a belt of shining cal- careous rock, with very steep slopes towards the interior. Two gaps at the north-west and south-east let the river the Oued-Mzab pass. This circus of about eighteen kilometres [eleven miles] in length by two kilometres broad, at most, en- COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS. 33 closes five cities (three of which, it is said, are as large as Al- giers) of the Mozabite confederation and their land, the whole of which the inhabitants of this valley have changed into highly cultivated gardens. Seen from the exterior and from the north and east, this belt of rocks presents the appearance of an ag- glomeration of khoubas [marabouts' tombs], in stories one above the other, without any kind of order, and looks like an immense Arab necropolis. Nature itself seems dead. No trace of vegetation reposes the eye ; even the birds of prey seem to fly from these desolate regions. The implacable sun alone throws his rays on these walls of rock of a whitish gray color, and produces by their shadows the most fantastic designs. But what is the astonishment I may say, the enthusiasm of the traveller when, having reached the summit of this line of rocks, he discovers in the interior of the circus five populous cities, surrounded by gardens of luxuriant vegetation, relieved in dark green against the reddish background of the river-bed of the Mzab. Around him the barren desert death ; at his feet, life and evident proof of an advanced civilization." Mzab is a republic, or rather a commune ; there are no poor nor beggars ; all the citizens belong to the police depart- ment, and they are so jealous of their country and suspicious of strangers that in some of the cities they will not allow a foreigner to stay overnight. There are schools everywhere, and they all know how to read and write, and every child is made to help in agriculture. In letters of Cardinal Lavigerie* we find the following account of the former religion of the Mozabites and of the Kabyles and Touaregs, tribes which we shall mention in the second part of this work : * "Lettre sur la Mission du Sahara." CEuvres choisies. Poussielgue, 1884. 34 WINTERS IN ALGERIA. " At the time of the Mussulman invasion in Africa, a great number of Christian families were transported by force into the depths of Arabia. All those who remained were obliged to sur- render their plains and valleys to their Mussulman vanquishers, and, in order to escape death, to take refuge in the wild and uncultivated ravines of the Atlas or beyond the hills of sand in the oases of the Sahara. " In the northern ranges these ancient masters of Africa took the name, little by -little, of Kabyles ; in the oases of the desert they called themselves Mozabites and Touaregs ; but they all preserved their national language [the Berber], their civil tradition, and for hundreds of years their ancient religion. " Fourteen times, so says the^Arab historian Ebn Khaldoun, these people were forced to apostasy ; fourteen times they re- turned to Christianity, until at last, the sacerdotal office having been gradually destroyed, Catholicism could no longer be main- tained. . . . After the XlVth century no mention is made of the existence of Christian communities in this country by any of the historians or Arab travellers who speak of Northern Africa." Monseigneur Lavigerie is actively engaged at the present moment in establishing missions and schools in Central Africa, with a view to calling these apostates back to Catholicism through persuasion, education, and charity. The Kabyles are possibly amenable, but scarcely the Toua- regs, the dreaded pirates of the desert, who live only by their evil deeds. The Director of the Museum and Library of Algiers showed me a photograph of a chief among them who a few years since had made himself notorious by committing a vile deed of treach- ery against an esteemed missionary. This worthy propagator of our faith had caused the chief to be imprisoned for some COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS. 35 misdemeanor and deprived him of his weapons spears, knives, and swords. The culprit did not seem to care how long he was detained in prison, but he mourned as if for a son the loss of his cherished damaskeened cimeter, a venerated heirloom handed down from generation to generation. He begged that