# Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 2/Chapter 9

Contents
CHAPTER IX.
ALGERIA.
HE central portion of Mauritania, this "Island of the West," which by its geology, as well as its climate and products, formerly belonged to the European continent, has been again politically detached from Africa, and connected with the opposite shores of the Mediterranean. Even from the beginning of history, the relations of this country, whether peaceful or warlike, have always been, not so much with the African lands from which it is separated by the Sahara, as with regions lying to the north or west beyond the sea. Archæology reveals even in prehistoric times, the builders of the dolmens migrating from Gaul across Spain to Mauritania; then, at the very dawn of history, we find the Sidonians and Tyrians founding their marts on the coast of Mauritania. To the influence of the Phœnicians succeeded that of the Romans and Greeks; even during the interregnum caused by the migrations of the barbaric peoples from the north, the conquering Vandals, advancing frɔm the shores of the Baltic, penetrated to these southern regions, where they finally became extinct without leaving any distinct traces of their presence amongst the North African nations. Then the Arabs, mixed with Syrians and Egyptians, spread rapidly throughout Mauritania, followed in their turn by the Turks, who here established a chief seat of their maritime power.
Historic Retrospect.
But even when the shores of Maghreb were being overrun by invaders from the east, its relations, mostly of a hostile character, were still mainly with the opposite side of the Mediterranean. south, at first known as Moors or Saracens, afterwards as Barbary corsairs, maintained a state of continual warfare against commercial Europe, and even extended their depredations beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. In order to escape these sudden attacks, the towns and villages along the Mediterranean seaboard were built on hills, at some distance from the shore, and surrounded by walls. In the warfare which continued from century to century between the Mussulmans and Christians, the former at first had the upper hand; they seized Spain and Sicily, For over ten centuries pirates from the ​198 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. and even for a considerable time occupied the "Moorish" mountains on the French coast, while their expeditions penetrated into the valleys of the Garonne, the Loire, and the Rhone, to the very heart of the Alps. Yet in the Middle Ages the war had already been transferred to Africa during the Crusade of St. Louis, and although it ended in disaster, the Spaniards followed up the conquest of Grenada by seizing Gran, Bougie, Mostaganem, and Algiers; the inland town of Tlemcen even became tributary to them, and it seemed as if Spain, after being so long in the power of the Arabs and Berbers, were about to vanquish them in its turn. But the tide of victory was again arrested, and notwithstanding his assumed title of Africanus, Charles V. proved less successful in Mauritania than his ancestor Fcrdinaud. His fleet was destroyed by a tempest, and from that time most of the European powers paid a tax to the Turks of Algiers to protect their trade ; and when they refused this shameful tribute, they found it necessary to blockade and bombard the coastland towns of Algeria, or else to pay heavy ransoms to liberate the captives of their respective nations. The war was continued between the Barbary states, and Europe and its outport of Malta, under a thousand different forms. In the end the advantage remained in the hands of the European nations, for the Turks failed to acquire any footing on the northern shores, whilst on the coast of Africa many a trading place, such as Tabarka and Calle, fell into the hands of the Christians, and several islets and fortified peninsulas, such as the presidios of the coast of Marocco, and even the town of Gran, were occupied by Spanish garrisons till the year 1791. The decisive blow was delivered in 1830. The town of Algiers, in which were amassed all the treasures of the corsairs, fell into the power of the French ; then other places on the coast were successively occupied and, by the very force of circumstances, in spite of the uncertain plans, political changes, and temporary checks, the conquest of the interior was gradually accomplished. The whole of Algeria, which is much larger than France, has been annexed as far as the border land between the settled districts and the domain of the nomad tribes. Tunisia has experienced the same fate ; and if Marocco, separated from the province of Gran by a badly defined frontier, has not yet become European territory, the cause is due to the jealousy of the rival Powers. However Spain, after a long period of inaction, has again assumed an aggressive attitude, occupying a strip of territory on the Atlantic seaboard ; while the French troops have often crossed, at Uja, the Shott Tigri and Figuig, the conventional line of the Moorish frontier, in order to curb the hostile border tribes. Marocco may already perhaps be considered as politically annexed to Europe, and the people themselves are the first to recognise their inevitable destiny. Henceforth connected with Europe, Northern Africa has acquired considerable importance in contemporaneous history, and Algeria especially participates in the intense life which now animates civilised society. After Egypt, Algeria of all other African regions has been the theatre of events whose influence has been most far-reaching. Next to Cape Colony, Algeria is the largest centre of Euro- pean populations, and in spite of thirty years of almost incessant wars, it has. ​relatively speaking, even been more rapidly peopled by European immigrants than the English possessions in South Africa. It is not an industrial field or an immense farm like Java, or British India, which are often wrongly spoken of as "colonies," and too often also held up as examples to the military powers of Europe. Like Canada, although under other political conditions, it has become a second France beyond the seas. Taken altogether, the work of the conquering nation, mixed with good and ill and very complicated in its effects, like all human works, has not had the general result of diminishing and debasing the natives. There are doubtless men who demand that the historical law of an eye for an eye
should be meted out to the Arabs, and that they should be "driven" towards the desert, as they formerly drove the Berbers towards the mountains. In many parts of the Tell and the outskirts of the towns these processes have already been even put in practice, in an indirect but legal way, "by means of expropriation for the public benefit." But most of the Arabs are still in possession of their lands, and what remains to them would be quite sufficient to support them if it belonged to the peasantry themselves, and not to great chiefs who really own it in the name of the tribe. In spite of the injustice and cruelties which accompany every act of ​200 NORTH- WEST AFRICA. sudden invasion, the situation of the Arabs has not grown worse, while that of the Kubyles, Biskri, and Mzabites has even improved, thanks to the stimulus given to their trade industries. Algeria has received much more from France than she has returned, and the people of the country, though not treated as equals, have in many resjxjcts gained more liberty since the period of Turkish rule. Many of the Euroixjan settlers themselves have endeavoured to vindicate their right to fellow- citizenship with the Arabs and Kabyles by their industrious habits and perseverance in founding new homes under the most adverse circumstances, in the midst of fanatical and hostile populations. Thanks to their indomitable energy and patience, the land may be said to have been subdued far more by the plough than by the sword. In this peaceful, though none the less arduous, conquest of the soil, the non- French colonists took at first the largest share, and even still scarcely yield to the French settlers in agricultaial enterprise. With the Provencals, and others from the south of France, they have helped to solve the vexed question of the acclimatisa- tion of Europeans in the Barbary States. Immigrants from the north of France and Central Europe are less capable of resisting the unfavourable climatic influences, and amongst them the mortality is normally higher than the birth-rate. If the settlements were recruited exclusively from those sources, the work of colonisation would have to be incessantly renewed. But the Catalonians, Pro- vencals, Genoese, and other southern peoples find little inconvenience in migrating to the regions south of the Mediterranean, where they still meet the same flora and fauna, and in some respects even the same ethnical elements, as in their native land. As in the time of the Iberians and Ligurians, kindred races continue to settle on the north coast of Africa, where the difference of latitude is largely compensated by the greater elevation of the land. The work of assimilation is thus being effected by the Mediterranean races, and to them will mainly be due the development of the New Algeria, with its cities, highways, industries, and general European culture. At the same time the work of civilisation has hitherto been carried out in a desultory and perfunctory manner. The country might even have been aban- doned altogether, if the monarchy, threatened in the streets of Paris by the Republicans, had not found it convenient to get rid of its enemies by banishing them to the Algerian border-lands. Even before the July revolution, the conquest of Algeria seemed to offer a career for these unruly elements, and in the year 1831, the Government succeeded in enlisting as "volunteers" for this service some four thousand five hundred Parisian malcontents. Thus the new conquest became a place of exile before it developed into a colonial settlement. The conquest itself continued to tax the resources of the mother country, and its settlement has already cost at least £240,000,000, besides the lives of several hundred thousand soldiers and colonists. It may even be asked whether this constant drain of men and treasure may not have been the primary cause of the late disastrous war with Germany, followed by a rectification of frontier to the
The expressions " New France " and " African France," often applied to Algeria, are in many re«i)ects fully justified. The French have undoubtedly already acquired a firm footing in this part of the continent, where they have introduced their language and their culture. French towns and villages have sprung up, not only along the seaboard, but in every part of the country, which is now intersected in all directions by highways running to the verge of the desert. The work accomplished by the French in half a century may be compared with that which resulted from seven centuries of Roman occupation. Thanks to the railway, telegraph, and other appliances of modern science, they have rapidly spread over the whole land, penetrating southwards to the oasis of El-Golea, 180 miles beyond Jelfa, apparently the last outpost of the Romans towards the Sahara. The political annexation of the country to Europe may already be regarded as an accomplished fact. The native elements, broken into fragments, differing in sixjech and origin, and separated by great distances, have ceased to be a serious menace to the European population, which, if still inferior in numbers, forms a more compact defensive body, commanding all the large towns, arsenals, strategical points, and resources cff modem industry. From the geographical standpoint, the annexation of Algeria to the known world has already made considerable progress. AVorks of all kindb relating to the colony are reckoned by the thousand, and amongst them are many of great scientific value. The great topographical atlas, of which several sheets have already appcarwl, may be compared with similar works issued by the European states. Geographical exploration is being continually supplemented by a scientific study of the soil, and the provisional geological charts will soon be replaced by more exhaustive sheets, depicting the series of stratified formations in the fullest detail. Some blank spaces are still visible on the maps, especially about the Mzab district. But even here the itineraries are beginning to intersect each other in varit)us directions, and the work of exploration, begun by Duveyrier, Soleillet, Largeau, Flatters, and others, will soon be systematically continued in the direction of tlie Sudan. The ancient history of the country is also being restored by a study of the local inscri|)- tions and other monuments that have escaped the ravages of time. Physical Fe.tures. The relief of Algeria is characterised by a remarkable simplicity of outline. Forming a nearly equilateral four-sided figure, it contrasts even with the conter- minous regions of Marocco and Tunis in the almost rhythmical harmony of its undulations. Between Nemours and Algiers the normal directi«m of the coast is south-west and north-east, and the same direction is followed by all the mountain ranges, valleys, and plateaux occupying the whole space, 180 miles broad, between the Mediterranean and the Sahara. At the time of the conquest it was supposed that this space was traversed by two main ranges, the Great Atlas in the south, and the Little Atlas in the north. But this double orographic system has no existence, 45 — AF ​202 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. the surface of the land being characterised not by continuous well-defined chains, but by parallel ridges frequently interrupted by intervening depressions. In the west a coast range running close to the sea is broken at intervals by semicircular inlets excavated by the waves. Farther east the work of erosion has been still more extensive, and here the coastline runs almost uniformly west and cant, so that the parallel ranges running south-west and north-east develop a regular series of headlands, all of which project in a north-easterly direction seawards, and shelter from the north and north-west winds several seaports, such as Dellys, Bougie, Collo, Stora, Bona, and others. These highlands contract gradually towards the east, from a breadth of 210 miles under the meridian of Oran, to 135 under that of Constantine. The Suhel, as the western coast ranges were formerly collectively known, is separated from the other uplands by a broad depression disposed parallel with the ^lediterranean, and stretching with little interruption from the heights ofran to the foot of the Miliana hills. The escarpments of the plateau, which on the west follow in uniform parallel lines south of this depression, and which on the east terminate in a series of headlands along the coast, arc skirted southwards by numerous dricd-up lacustrine basins, such as Eghris south of Mascara, lieni-Sliman between Medea and Aumale, and Wed Sahel south of Jurjura. Increasing in altitude as they recede from the coast, these plains form the outer terraces of the upland plateaux of Central Algeria. The Jebol, a term applied collectively to the border ranges, nowhere exceeding 0,000 feet, except in the Jurjura district, constitutes, with the maritime zone, the so-called " Tell," or " hilly country ; " but in these uplands are situated all the fertile valleys and grassy slopes, whence the absurd identification of the word toU with the Latin tclhis, as if this region were the productive land in a pre- eminent sense. At the same time, such is the fertility of its soil, and the abundance of the rainfall, that a population of some fifteen millions might easily be supported on the thirty-eight million acres of the Tell. Towards the ill- defined frontier of Marocco, the plain enclosed between the northern highlands and those skirting the Sahara is at least 120 miles broad, with a mean elevation of about 3,500 feet. Perfectly level in appearance, it really forms a slightly depressed cavity, where are collected the spring and rain waters, replaced in the dry season by extensive saline tracts. Farther east, the gradually contracting upland plain is divided by central ridges into several distinct basins, and towards the Tunis frontier it loses altogether the character of a zpne of separation between the northern and southern highlands. In this part of Algeria the surface is almost exclusively occupied with a succession of ridges all disposed in the normal direction from south-west to north-east. From Marocco to the neighbourhood of Batna the system of southern border chains retains its distinctive character throughout the greater part of its course, and it was to these ranges between the upland plateau and the depression of the Sahara that was formerly applied the title of the " Great Atlas." Yet their mean altitude does not exceed that of the northern highlands, although one of their summits in
of regard for the prior claims of Marocco. The frontier in this direction is far from clearly marked, no natural line of demarcation having been followed in determining the political confines, which by the treaty of Tangier, in 1844, were laid down at haphazard across mountains, valleys, and tribal districts.
In the western province of Oran the prevailing formations are Jurassic, which also form the chief strata throughout the plateau. In the east especially, these rocks underlie the chalk, which in its turn is overlaid in the north by Miocene and Pliocene formations. Alluvia of various epochs, and of vast depth, occupy the river valleys, and in a great part of the plateau cover both the Jurassic and cretaceous rocks. The Triassic and older schists are represented by a few isolated ​204 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. masses, while in the neighbourhood of the coast granitic peaks crop out above the surrounding Miocene layers. Gneiss prevails on the northern slopes of the Jurjura, and the headlands projecting seaward consist largely of trachytes and basalts. Minerals, marbles, gypsum, salt, and thermal springs occur in many places, constituting for Algeria a considerable reserve of future wealth. According to M. Bourdon the coast near the mouth of the Shelif shows signs of upheaval. Thus the cliffs near Karuba and at other points are disposed in distinct terraces or beaches, strewn with shells of the same species as those of the surrounding waters. The coastlands are also subject to frequent earthquakes, the offects of which have been felt in Oran, Tenes, Algiers, and other towns. Many of the headlands consist of eruptive rocks, and it seems probable that the whole seaboard, like that of Tuscany and Naples, follows a line of fault in the terrestrial crust. In few regions are the traces of former erosion more evident than in Algeria ; but it is difficult to say whether they are to be attributed to the action of running waters or of snows and glaciers ; for there can be no doubt that Algeria also had its glacial period, of which clear indications are still visible on the northern slope of the Jurjura range. The work of erosion is still going on incessantly, especially in the Dahre district, where the hills are formed of a compact mass of very argil- laceous white clay, without any appearance of stratification. Similar phenomena are also very active south of the Shelif Valley, in the argillaceous and marly hills skirting the plateau. But the crests are here crowned with sandstone laj'ers from 30 to 130 feet thick, which resist atmospheric influences much longer than the underlying strata. North of the Sahara the great Algerian quadrilateral, consisting almost exclusively of plateaux and highlands, nowhere presents any conspicuous heights dominating the surrounding masses. The four chief groups of the Warsenis and Jurjura in the north, and the Amur and Aures in the south, are grouped in a sort of symmetrical order, none of them constituting a central nucleus distributing the running waters in well-defined basins. Thus no river valley is found which, by its exceptional fertility or favourable position for intercourse, might have become a natural centre of attraction for the whole country. Hence Algeria is divided into as many distinct territories as there are isolated upland regions and river basins, and it is this disposition of the land that has at all times rendered its conquest so difficult. At present a centre of attraction denied it by nature is being gradually created by artificial means at the city of Algiers, with its new harbour, routes, and railways radiating in all directions. The Coast Range.s. In the extreme north-west the Trara coast range, whose gorges afford an outlet to the Tafna river, has a mean altitude of less than 1,650 feet, culminating in the limestone peak of Mount Filhausen (3,860 feet), to the south-east of Nemours. From this, as well as from several other summits between Oran and the jyjarocco ​frontier, a view is commanded in clear weather of the crests of the sierras on the opposite coast of Spain, at a distance of no less than 168 miles. It thus became possible to connect the network of Algerian triangulation with that of the Iberian peninsula without passing through Marocco. The four points chosen for the connecting quadrilateral were Mulhacen in the Sierra Nevada, Tetica in the Sierra de los Filabres, at the south-cast angle of the peninsula, Filhausen in the Trara
range, and Msabiha in the neighbouring Oran group. The chain of triangles is now continuous from the northernmost islet in Shetland to the 34th parallel of latitude in Algeria, and will soon be extended far into the Sahara, forming the largest are of the meridian that has hitherto been astronomically measured on the surface of the globe. ​206 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. South of the Great Sebkha, at the foot of the Oran coast range/stretches the cretaceous Tessale range, terminating in the Jebel Tafarawi (3,540 feet), which is skirted north and south by the railway between Oran and Sidi-Bel- Abbes. Farther east the coast chain, interrupted by the extensive bay sweeping round from Arzen to Mostao-anem, reappears east of the Shelif river in the hilly Dahra plateau, with a mean elevation of 1,600 to 2,000 feet. The Dahra system, rising gradually east- wards, culminates in the two Mounts Zakkar (5,000 and 5,200 feet.) Farther on, these uplands fall abruptly towards the Mitija valley, but are continued east of the Shenua headland (3,000 feet) by a narrow ridge, which is separated eastwards by the winding ;Mazafran river valley from the Sahel, or terminal heights of the Algerian coast range. The Southern Ranges. South of the coast range, the first important heights on the Marocco frontier are those of Tlemcen, one of the most regular orographic systems in Algeria. Here the highest point is Mount Tenushfi (6,120 feet) ; but several other crests exceed 5,000 feet, and the route from Tlemcen to Sebdu, although following the lowest level, maintains an elevation of 4,800 feet. Fur to the south rise the crests of the Arisha chain, dominated by the pyramidal limestone peak of the Mekaidu, 4,900 feet high. The valley of the Sig, east of the Sidi-Bel- Abbes, is limited southwards by the IJcui-Shugrau mountains, forming a prolongation of the Tlemcen Atlas, and cul- minating in the Daya and Beguira peaks, 4,630 and 4,660 feet respectively. This system is continued eastwards by the Warsenis (Wansherish, Warensenis), one of the loftiest ranges in Algeria, whose chief crest, terminating in a double peak, rises to a height of 6,600 feet. These highlands, which arc pierced by streams flowing northwards, and skirted on the east by the deep valley of the Shelif, present a less symmetrical outline than the western groups. Abd-el-Kader had established his chief strongholds amid their inaccessible recesses, and in their turn the French have erected fortresses to command the lofty plateaux and passes leading to the Tell. Still less unifonnity of relief is presented by the border ranges of the " Little Atlas " stretching south of the Mitija Valley. These uplands are broken by ravines, plains, and broad transverse fissures into several 'distinct groups, all dis- posed in a line with the main axis of the Atlas system. Here the Gontas, Muzaia, Zima, Bu-Zegza and other rugged masses are approached by military routes winding through narrow gorges like those of the Shiffa, or ascending their steep slopes in /igzHg lines, like those of the highway between Algiers and Aumale, which attains a height of 3,300 feet at the culminating point of the road leading to the territory of the Bcni-Muca tribe. The famous Tenia, or " Pass " in a pre-eminent sense, which was the scene of so many conflicts in the early years of the conquest, traverses the Muzaia hills at an altitude of 3,470 feet. For the whole of this orographic system M. Niox has proposed the collective name of the ".Titteri ​Mountains," the old province of which they form a part having been so called before the French occupation.
One of the best-defined ranges in Algeria is that of Jurjura, the Mons Terratus of the Romans, which runs east and north-east of the Titteri hills. Although its highest point is only 7,680 feet, or somewhat less than the Sheliya of Aures, it rises to a greater relative height above the plains than any other range in the country. Seen from the north it presents an imposing appearance, being hero skirted throughout its whole length by a deep wooded and cultivated valley, which forms a pleasant foreground to its rugged and snowy peaks. In this direction the snows are more abundant than on the opposite slope, and in the depressions traces
are even seen of avalanches. At some former geological epoch glaciers filled the gorges of the Haizer and Lalla-Khedrija slopes, and a large terminal moraine is still visible in the upper valley of the Wed Aissi. Elsewhere also are seen indications of the lakes which once flooded the depressions, but which have since run dry. Of all the Algerian uplands the Jurjura highlands abound most in running waters, rich vegetation, cool and healthy valleys sheltered at once from parching southern and cold northern winds.
The mountains of Upper Kabylia are disposed in such a way as to form a regular semicircle round the border of this region. Coast ranges, such as the ​basaltic promontory of Jinet, the limestone Dellys chain, and the crests of Azeffun, complete this extensive orographic system, which is broken only by difficult passes and the route opened in the north-west between the Lower Seban and Isser river valleys. While Great Kabylia from Bougie to Menerville is completely encircled
by a good road, which will soon be supplemented by a railway, the heart of the country is pierced only by a single carriage route, constructed in the year 1885.
East of the Sahel Valley begins the partly volcanic Babor range, a continuation of the Jurjura system, over 180 miles in length, with peaks covered with snow till ​the beginning of summer. Such are the Tubabor (6,550), the Great Babor (6,560
feet), and farther north the Jebel Adrar (6,740). Immediately to the west of the ​210 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. last named lies the deep gorge of Shabet-el-Akra, excavated by the waters of the "NVcd Agriun to a depth of many hundred feet, and utilised by one of two carriage routes which cross the Babor range in the direction of the coast. The hilly region fltretchino" thence northwards to Jijeli and Collo is one of the least accessible in Algeria. South of the Jurjura and Babor systems, the Jebel Dira is continued by the Biban, or " Gates," a name due to the breaks through which, during the rainy season, the surface waters of the plateau find an outlet to the plains. Amongst these breaks noteworthy are the " Iron Gates," known respectively as the Great and the Little Gate, the former of which is now traversed by the route and the railway between Algiers and Constantine. The Little Gate, lying nearly 3 miles farther east, also forms an easy roadway, and here the geologist may conveni- ently study the black limestone rocks, which assume the appearance of colossal organs, buttresses, ramparts, and other fantastic shapes. East of the Gates rises the Jelwl Sattcra, an extinct volcano, whose crater is still strewn with scorioB and pumice. The highlands lying south of the Biban range have been broken by erosive action into numerous distinct groups encircled by almost horizontal depressions. Here the loftiest summit is the Jebel Maadhid (1,630 feet), beyond which point the heights gradually fall, while the intervening depressions merge in plains extending towards Constantine. In the neighbourhood of this town the hills reappear, but SL'ldom attain an elevation of much over 3,000 feet. Towards the north-east the northern border ranges terminate in the bold headland of Edugh (3,350 feet), on whose last spur stands the citadel of Bona. Cape Garde, which encloses the road- stead, takes the normal direction from south-west to north-east, while the Cape de Fer headland projects farther west in the contrary direction. But like the Collo hills, this bluff is of volcanic origin, forming no part of the general orographic system. The ranges skirting the upland plateaux on the south begin on the Marocco frontier, some 20;) miles from the coast. North of Figuig, the highlands separating the plateaux from the Sahara form a series of small groups falling gradually towards the north-east, and collectively known as the Ksur range, from the now partly destroyed strongholds guarding their passes. But each group, called by the Arabs Kimi ("Fort"), or KeJaa ("Castle"), has its special designation, and in fact several present the appearance of fortification". The chief summits are the Maiz (0,170 feet), north-west of Figuig; Beni-Smir (0,600) north of the same oasis; Jebel Mzi (7,320) south of Ain-Sfissifa, all commanding a view of the sandy wastes of the Sahara. Beyond the Ksur groups several parallel ridges, such as the Bu-Derga, Ksel, and Tarf, form the westcu-n section of the Jebel Amur, or " Mountain " in a pre- eminent sense, both terms having the same sense, the first in Arabic, the second in Berber. Viewed as a whole, the Amur forms a plateau cut up by torrents flowing some to the Algerian shotts, others to those of the Sahara. It thus constitutes a true waterparting between the Mediterranean basin and those of the Jeddi and ​Igharghar. Its central division is occupied by the so-called gada, large stono tables with steep vertical cliffs flanked by long taluses. Round these great chalk masses wind deep gorges communicating with each other by fissures in the plateau. The Tuila Makna, their culminating point, connecting the Amur with the Geryville highlands, has an elevation of 6,330 feet. But, if not the highest, the most imposing crests are those rising in the south above the terminal spur known as the Kef-Guebli.
East of the Amur system the highlands fall gradually in elevation and contract in width, being reduced north-west of Biskra to a narrow ridge, which scarcely separates the Hodna depression on the north from that of Ziban on the south. Here
the railway from Batna to Biskra is uble to cross the hills without tunnelling, by following the gorge of the Wed-el-Kantara down to the southern plains. But this line has to describe a great bend round the western extremity of the Jebel Aures, the loftiest range in Algeria. This system, however, lacks the symmetry of outline characteristic of most other Algerian uplands. The highest northern crests deviate somewhat from the normal direction, being gradually inclined from west to east, and on the whole presenting the form of a slightly opened fan. In the northern range towers Mount Sheliya, the giant of the Algerian highlands, whose supreme peak, the Kelthum (7,760 feet) exceeds by some yards the Lalla-Khedija, in the ​212 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. Jurjura range. From it8 easily ascended summit a vast prospect is commanded of the northern plateaux and shotts between Batna and Ain-Beida, while on the southern horizon is visible a long blue streak marking the skirt of the Sahara. Eastward the Aures system is continued by the Jebel Sheshar and the Nememsha mountains, which, like the isolated ridges of the Tebessa plateau and Tunisian frontier, are noted for their natural fastnesses, often transformed into places of refuge by the natives. These south-eastern highlands of Algeria have a mean elevation of from 4,000 to 4,o00 feet, the Sheshar range culminating in the Ali- en-Nas, 6,2o0 feet high. South of the Algerian border chains the uplands terminate abruptly in extensive plains covered with (iuuternary alluvia, and forming a sort of strait between Mauritania and the Sahara highlands. Southwards the ground rises almost imperceptibly towards the Ras Shaab heights, which run south-west and north-east, parallel with the xVthis system, and which in their highest peak attain an elevation of '2,M0 feet above the Laghwat oasis. Beyond this point stretches the Sahara, which here consists mainly of Pliocene formations, originally deposited as alluvia by the running waters, and afterwards, doubtlessj distributed by the winds, like the yellow earth of North China. In some places the beds of this friable soil have a thickness, according to M. Holland, of 1,000 feet. Nevertheless, they are here and there broken by isolated masses of cretaceous rocks, some of which occupy a considerable space. The most extensive is the so-called Mzab plateau, which, although separated from the Algerian uplands by a tract of Quaternary alluvia, may be regarded as a sort of isthmus connecting the Mauritanian highlands with the Devonian plateaux of the interior of the Sahara, and with the crystalline rocks of the Jebel Ahaggar. Rivers of Algeria. Although it receives from the rain-bearing clouds a quantity of water at least equal to that carried off by such a river as the Nile, Algeria does not possess a single navigable stream. Its internal navigation is limited to a few skiffs and rowing-boats on the Seybouse. The development of large fluvial basins is prevented by the very relief of the land, the coastlands forming a narrow strip between the j)lateaux and the Mediterranean, while towards the south most of the streams flowing to the Sahara have their source on the inlfind slopes of the border chains. The total area of Mediterranean drainage may be approximately estimated at 80,000 square miles. All the rest of Algeria is distributed over closed basins, where the water either evaporates in saline lagoons, or else runs out even befot^ reaching the central depression. In fact, nearly all the Algerian streams are dry for a great part of the year, their beds presenting in the uplands nothing but bare rock or pebbly channels, in the lowlands strips of sand lashed by every breeze into whirlwinds of dust. The rivers, which retain a little moisture in summer, are closed at their mouths by compact sandbars, which present a solid path.to pedes​RIVERS OF ALGERIA. 218 trians and riders. Nevertheless, the weds are not so completely exhausted as they seem to be, for below the dry surface there is often un underground bed, in which the water oozes through the sand and develops small pools above such obstacles aa rocky ledges or artificial dams. In the extreme north-west, the Muroceo frontier is marked by the little Wed Ajerud. But the tirst important stream is the Tafna, which receives some atiluents from Marocco, but whose farthest source is in the Tlemcen hills, within the Algerian frontier. Although not more than 90 miles long, the Tafna has suc- ceeded in excavating a channel through a scries of gorges, through the Tlemcen, the Traras, and some intervening ridges. The Isser, its chief tributary, pursues a similar course from its rise on the southern slope of the Tlemcen range to the confluence. Formerly the extensive low-lying plain skirted northwards by the Oran coast ranges was flooded, and of this old lacustrine basin there still remains the great sebkha of Misserghin, or Oran, besides some other saline depressions and marshy tracts fed by the Sig and the Habra. These two streams, jointly forming the Macta, which flows to Arzen Bay, rise on the northern scarp of the Central Algerian plateau, and reach the plain through a series of abrupt windings in the transverse fissures of the intervening hills. The longest river in Algeria is the Shelif, whose farthest headstream, the Wed Namus, rises in the Jebel Amur, beyond the whole region of central plateaux. After its junction with the Nahr Wassal from Tiaret, it pierces the northern border chains through the Boghar defile, and flows thence between the Warsenis and Dahra ranges to the coast a little to the north of Mostaganera. But although it has a total course of at least 420 miles, the Shelif has a smaller discharge at low water than many Pyrenean torrents flowing to the Garonne. The Mazafran, with its famous afiluents the Shiffa, the Harrash, and the Hamiz, which water the Mitija district, are all mere streamlets, indebted for their celebrity to their proximity to Algiers, to the battles fought on their banks, the towns and fertile tracts occupying their basins. More voluminous arc the Isser, whose lower course forms the western limit of Great Kabylia, and the Seban, fed by the snows of the Jurjura highlands. The Wed Sahel, or Summan, which has a longer course but smaller discharge than the Seban, rises to the south of the same moun- tains, flowing thence north-east to the Bay of Bougie. In spite of its name, the Wed-el-Kebir, or " Great River," which reaches the coast between the Jijeli and Collo headlands, is great only relatively to the small coast streams. One of its aflluents, the Bu-Merzug, or Ampsagas of the ancients, for a long period formed under the Romans the frontier line between the province of Africa and Mauritania. We.st of this Wed-el-Kebir of Constantine, two other rivers bear the same name, one rising in the Guelma hills, and flowing to the Mediterranean south of Cape de Fer, the other descending from the Khumirian highlands in Tunisia. Between these two eastern kebirs flows the far more important Sey bouse, which falls into the Gulf of Bona with a more constant discharge than any other ​Algerian river. The sources of the Sherf, its chief headstream, are intermingled on the Aïn-Beide plateau with those of the Tunisian Mejerda and its affluent, the Wed Meleg. At a former geological epoch the plain now traversed by the lower Seybouse formed a marine inlet, of which the shallow Lake Fetzara is a remnant. Between the sea and the eastern Wed-el-Kebir, at its mouth known as the Mafrag, the town of La Calle is encircled by a girdle of three lakes — the Guera-(Guraa)-el-Melah, or "Salt Lagoon;" the freshwater Guera-el-Ubeïra draining during the floods to the El-Kebir; and the Guera-el-Hat, or "Fish Lagoon," which reaches the sea through the sluggish and sedgy El-Mesida.
Except the narrow strips drained by the Upper Shelif and the Mejerda, with
its tributary, the Meleg, the whole of the Algerian plateau region is comprised within the region of closed basins, which were formerly united, and which would again be connected in one system with a more abundant rainfall and less elevated temperature. The larger basins take the name of shofts, less extensive freshwater or brackish depressions being known as dhayas, while the term ghedir is applied to muddy swamps or meres. Most of the shotts are encircled by rocky banks or cliffs 50 or 60 feet high in some places, but now separated from the lacustrine waters by intervening saline beaches or strips of crumbling gypsum mixed with sand. Such is the aspect of the Shott Gharbi, or "Western Shott," on the Maroceo frontier. The Shott Shergin ("Eastern") has a total length of nearly ​RIVEB8 OF ALGERIA. S16 120 miles in the central port of the plateau. It is divided by the Kheider isthmus into two basins, of whirh the western has an extreme breadth of 15 miles. East of the Shelif the plateau region presents nothing but small basins, such as the Dhaya Dakhla, north of the Ukait range, and south of that range the eastern and western Zahrez, which according to one estimate contain some six hundred million tons of suit. North-east of Bu-S&da stretches the extensive Shott-el-Ilodna, which at a former geological epoch was certainly an Alpine lake. Farther east are some smaller scbkhas, the most important of which is the Tarf, whose waters attain the highest possible degree of saturation, or twenty-seven per cent. Most of the streams flowing from the southern border chains towards the Sahara are absorbed by irrigation works soon after leaving the mountain gorges. Some, however, flow from oasis to oasis for a long distance from the hills. In the west these wadies take a southerly course ; but near the Tunisian frontier the vast basin of the now-dried-up Igharghar is inclined in the opposite direction towards the Shott Mclghigh depression. Lofty uplands lying in the Sahara far to the south of Algeria give to the whole of the intervening region a northerly tilt, and this is a point of primary imix)rtance in the physical geography of the desert. While the running waters formerly flowed in the east, either towards an " inland sea," or towards the Gulf of Cabes, they drained in the west in a southerly direction either to the Niger, or even directly to the Atlantic by trending round to the west. Although the problem is not j-et solved, the reports of recent explorers render the former hyix)thesi8 the most probable. "Within the present limits of Algeria, all the other streams rising on the escarpments of the plateau run dry in the sandy dunes which lie some 60 miles forther south. Such are the Wed Nemus, which rises in the neighbourhood of Tiut ; the "Wcd-el-Gharbi ; the "NVed-cs-Segguer, flowing from Brezina, south of Geryville ; the Wed Zergoun, fed by the torrents of the Jebel Amur ; the Wed Lua, skirting the east side of the Mzab plateau. The other streams of this region flow to the Wed Mzi, the chief branch of the Wed Jeddi, which forms a geological limit between the cretaceous plateaux and the sands of the Quaternary plains. After a course of about 300 miles, the Jeddi merges in the vast depression of the Shott Melghigh. Like other rivers of the Sahara flowing over rocky beds, it is subject to sudden and formidable freshets, the dry channel at the confluence of the Wed Biskra being sometimes flooded to an extent of 6 or 7 miles from bank to bank in a few hours. The Wed Msif, also in the Ilodna district, suddenly assumes the proportions of a river nearly 2 miles wide, sweeping away escarpments and whole flocks of sheep in its impetuous course. Other wadies coming from the gorges in the Aures and Shcshar mountains, or rising in the desert itself at the foot of the rocky escarpments, converge towards the depression of the shotts, without always reaching it. By far the largest of these dried-up watercourses is the Igharghar, which has its farthest headstreams in the Jebel Ahaggar, and which develops a vast chonnel 1 to 6 miles wide, and large enough to contain the waters of a Nile or a Mississippi. In some places it is completely obliterated and choked with shifting dunes to such an extent that the ​general slope of its bed can no longer be recognised. But its old course is still
preserved by tradition and indicated by the natives, who now utilise it us a caravan ​route. Its chief affluent, the Wed Miya, resembles the main stream in its general appearance, presenting a series of small basins, depressions, and shotts, interrupted by shifting sands. But the waters still flowing below the surface continually increase in abundance towards the confluence, where a well-marked depression begins, in which a succession of shotts, wells, pools, and springs, preserves the character of a watercourse. Such is the valley now known as the Wed Righ (Rhir). The confluence itself is indicated by a number of perennially flooded sebkhas, fringed by the palm groves of Temacin.
The Shotts — Artesian Wells.
The Shott Meruan, which forms the natural basin of all these old streams from the south, is connected with the Shott Melghigh proper only by a narrow channel,
and ramifies eastwards in secondary sebkhas, which rise and fall according to the rainfall and greater or less evaporation. The Shott Melghigh, forming the northern division of the depression, terminates eastwards in the Shott Sellem, beyond which follow several others disposed north and south, and separated by a tongue of land from the Tunisian Shott Gharsa. This basin itself is separated only by Jerid from the vast sebkhas which stretch eastwards to the Isthmus of Cabes. At first sight it seemed natural enough to regard the whole of this lacustrine system as the remains of an ancient inlet, into which the mighty Igharghar discharged its waters, and this view was generally accepted before the ​true relief of the land had been determined by cureful surveys. It has now been made evident that neither in historic times, nor even in the present geological epoch, did the Igharghar reach the Tunisian shotts, which are separated from each other and from the sea by two rocky sills, showing no trace of ever having been subject to the action of water. The general slope of the land is aleo opposed to such a view, being inclined not seawards, but in the opposite direction, towards the inland lakes. The salts of the shotts are of diverse composition, differing from those of sea-water, and in certain places containing more sulphate of soda than
marine salt. Nevertheless saline incrustations are found in some of these basins, especially the Shott-el-Gharsa, which yields salt of a very fine quality.
The great Algerian shott and surrounding saline depressions lie below sealevel, whence the hasty conclusion that by connecting them with the Gulf of Cabes, the Sahara itself might be converted into a vast inland sea. Recent measurements have shown that the area of the whole region lying at a lower level than the Mediterranean scarcely exceeds 8,300 miles. Hence the idea of flooding the Suhara, advocated especially by Rudaire, can never be realised in our days. ​A more practical project, already begun with the happiest results, aims at recovering the reservoirs of water accumulated below the surface, and utilising them for the extension of the old, or creation of new, oases. Although from the remotest times the natives have carefully husbanded their supplies, many sources
have completely dried up, and numerous places are known as Ain-Mita, or "Dead Springs," indicating the victory of the sands over the fecundating waters of the oases. In the everlasting struggle between the elements, incessantly modifying the surface of the earth, the wilderness has continued to steadily encroach on the arable lands, and in many districts depressions formerly flooded are now destitute of all visible moisture. The local fauna itself shows that the climate has ​become drier, and the gradual desiccation of the land is attested by the remains of organisms unable to survive under the changed conditions of their environment.
Nevertheless the local populations, accepting the struggle against nature, have Fig. 76. — Barrage of the Hamiz. constantly endeavoured to preserve their plantations, and "artesian" wells were sunk in North Africa long before the practice was introduced in Europe. But none of these wells "lived" long, some "dying" in five years, while a few prolonged their existence, under favourable conditions, for eighty or even a hundred years. Since 1856, however, scientific methods have replaced the rude processes of the inhabitants everywhere except in the regions still subject to the influence of the marabuts of Temacin. At a depth of 100 feet the engineer, Jus, reached the Bahr Tahtani, or "Lower Sea," which flows beneath the dried-up bed of the Wed Righ, and the inhabitants of the Tamerna oasis, north of Tugurt, beheld with surprise and delight a spring suddenly welling up and yielding over thirty gallons per second. This source received from the marabuts the name of "Well of Peace," to commemorate the treaty of friendship henceforth cemented between the Saharians and the French creators of living waters.
Since this first essay, over a hundred Artesian wells have been sunk in the hydrological basin of the Melghigh, and fresh sources are being constantly developed. One of the most copious is that of the Sidi Amran oasis, in the Wed Righ, north of Tugurt, which yields nearly fifty gallons per second. The wells have an average depth of 230 feet, with a temperature varying from 65° to 78° F. Sudden changes and even a total ​CLIMATE OF ALGEIUA. 221 Stoppage of the supplies sometimes occur, as in the Hodna district, in 1862, when un underground shock suppressed two wells and reduced the volume of a third by one-half. Thanks to this increase of irrigating waters, the oases have been largely extended, and M. Holland alone has planted as many as forty thousand palms in reclaimwl districts. Other fruit trees have been doubletl ; the crops have increased in pn>- jwrtion, and new plants have been introduced in the gardens. New villages have sprung up amid the {Milm groves ; the jwpulation of the lluaras has been doubled, and the tents of many nomad tribes have been converted into fixed habitations grouped round about some newly created oasis. The siime i)roccss may also be applied in many places to the development of thermal and mineral springs, thua increasing the already abundant supply of medicinal waters in Algeria. It might even be possible to utilise the subterranean sources for pisciculture, the wells of TJrlana, Mazer, and Sidi Amran having revealed the presence of several varieties of fishes, crustaceans, and freshwater molluscs. Efforts are also being made to prevent the waste of the surface waters, which are lost by evaiwration or infiltration in the sands and crevices of the rocks. 80 early as the year 1801, a first barrage was constructed in the gorges of the Meurad, above Marengo in the west Mitija plain. Since then large dykes have been raisetl in the Macta basin, and for many years an extensive barrage has been in progress, which is intended to intercept the waters of the Wed Ilamiz south-east of Algiers. Similar works are being erected in the Shalif basin or its affluents, as well as on other rivers of Algeria. On the completion of the schemes already projected, all the streams rising in the uplands will be arrested at their entrance on the plains by means of dams diverting the current to lateral channels. But these works, some of which are stupendous monuments of human enterprise, are not unattended with danger. The two great reservoirs of the Sig and the Habra have already burst through their barriers, the tumultuous waters overflowing on the surrounding plains, wasting the cultivated tracts and sweeping away houses and villages. IJut the havoc caused by these disasters is partly compensated by the fresh supply of alluvial matter thus spread over the exhausted soil. Climate of Algeria. The diflFerences of climate correspond to those of the relief, aspect, and latitude of the land. Each of the several zones — maritime strip, coast range, central plateau, southern slope, and desert — has its special climate, variously modifying the shifting curves of temperature, moisture, and other meteorological pheno- mena. Algiers, lying about the middle of the north coast over against Provence, may be taken as typical of the maritime region. On the whole, its climate may be described as mild and temperate, although very variable, owing to the sudden changes of the atmospheric currents. According to M. Bulard's observations, it«  mean temperature is about G0° F., fulling ia January to O-i^, and in August, the ​hottest month, rising to 78°, thus showing an extreme deviation of not more than 24°.
The usual division of the year into four seasons is scarcely applicable to Algeria, which has really not more than two well-defined periods — moist and temperate from September to the end of May, hot and dry for the remaining three months of the year. The position of Algeria on a coast completely exposed to the sea breezes gives to the anemometric régime a paramount influence in the distribution of heat, moisture, and atmospheric pressure. Here the winds have free play from all quarters, even from the interior, where the Sahel uplands retard their progress without perceptibly modifying their direction. The sirocco, or hot wind from the south, is tempered by the vicinity of the sea, while
the cold breezes from the north acquire a certain degree of heat during their passage across the Mediterranean. Algeria lies beyond the zone of regular trade winds; but during the fine season light and pleasant land and sea breezes succeed cach other regularly along the coast, the former prevailing at night, the latter during the day.
Elsewhere, owing to the radiation, the changes of temperature from night to day are very considerable, the thermometer under the solar rays rising in some places to 166° F., and falling in the hottest nights to 68° or 69° F., a discrepancy of 98° within the twenty-four hours. The result is a great condensation of aqueous vapour, with abundant dews and frequent fogs during the night and early morning, especially along the maritime districts. The rainfall itself is more ​FLORA. OF ALGERIA. 298 copious than ia commonly 8upi)<)secl, tho winds from every quarter being charged with some degree of moisture. But tho heaviest downpours and meet violent storms are brought by the north-west currents, which form a continuation of the fierce Provencal mistral. On the east coast tho annual rainfall varies from 24 to 60 inches, while the average, as recorded by tho observatory of Algiers for the years 1862 — 73, was found to be about 37 inches, a proportion much higher than the mean for the whole of France. But for the whole of the hill region north of the Sahara it would appear to be not more than 22 inches. On the central plateaux, which for vast spaces present no obstacle to the free play of the atmospheric currents, and where the geological structure of the soil is everywhere the same, a great uniformity of climate prevails, although the oscilla- tions of temperature between winter and summer are much greater than on the coast. In winter the cold is very severe, and vast spaces are often covered with snow, which in the depressions lies to a depth of many feet. But the summer heats, although also very intense, are more endurable, owing to the dryness of the atmosphere. Even in the Sahara, the solar radiation causes a fall of the tempera- ture during the night from 150° down to 38° F. Here also dews are abundant, but rain extremely rare, several years sometimes passing without a single shower, at least according to the reports of the natives. But their statements can now be rectified by the observations of meteorologists, who have recorded a mean rain- fall of over 3 inches at Biskra during the period from 1878 to 1883, and six times that quantity in the exceptional year 1884. Flora of Algeria. Although differing little from that of Western Tunis between Cape Bona and the frontier, the Algerian flora presents more sharply defined divisions in its several provinces, divisions due to the obstacles presented by mountain ranges and plateaux to the diffusion of plants. The greatest variety of species is found in the maritime zone and on the northern slopes of the coast ranges. Notwithstanding the destructive action of fires and a reckless system of exploitation, veritable forests still exist in this more favoured region. In the low-lying tracts and along the riverain districts, poplar, ash, and aspen trees are matted together in dense thickets by a network of creepers, while on the slopes the j)revailing species are the Halep pine, juniper, and other conifers. Thesuber, zcen (f/unrus Mirbeckii) and other varieties of the oak also cover extensive spaces, especially on the eastern seaboard. The crests of the hills are often crowned with cedars differing little from those of Lebanon, but approaching still nearer to the Cyprus variety. On the moist and wooded slopes of Tleracen the botanist Krcmer has discovered a species of poplar {jiopulm Enphratica) found elsewhere only in Marocco and on the banks of the Jordan and Euphrates. A variety of the oak also {querent castaneofolia) hitherto met only in Caucasia, is found spread over the Babor heights between La Calle and Bougie ; while other species, such as the Australian eucalyptus, have been more recently introduced by man from distant regions. ​But most of the Algerian forests, already wasted in the time of the Romans, and again destroyed by the charcoal-burners, have been replaced by extensive tracts of brushwood and of smaller growths, such as the myrtle, arbutus, and bu-nafa, or thapsia garginica, formerly so famous in Cyrenaica under the name of silphium, and still highly prized in Algeria.
Above the maritime region and beyond the coast ranges, the changes in the character of the vegetation are due less to altitude than to the aspect of the land, and the proportion of moisture contained in the atmosphere. The olive, the characteristic tree of the scaboard and of the slopes facing the Mediterranean, scarcely reaches the upland plateaux, although it is still met on the Jebel Aures and in the oases at their foot. The cork-tree and Halep pine disappear at the same altitude as the olive, and no evergreen oaks are seen at a higher elevation
than 5,000 feet. In the Jurjura cedar forests flourish at between 3,300 and 4,000 feet, and this plant attains a higher altitude than any other species. The only tree that has adapted itself to the breezy and dry climate of the central plateaux, with their great extremes of temperature, is the betum (pistacia atlantica), which at a distance looks like an oak-tree. Here are also met a few tamarisks and arborescent species growing in the hollows, but no other trees or shrubs except those planted by the colonists round about the civil and military stations. The characteristic vegetation of the plateaux are coarse grasses, especially of the stipa family, which cover a space of about ten million acres altogether. Conspicuous amongst them are the well-known alfa, or rather halfa (stipa tenacissima), and the shi (artemisia herba alba), which occupies extensive tracts between the Marocco and the Nile deserts, and the dried leaf of which is used as a substitute for tobacco by the Arabs. ​On the upland eastern plateaux, and especially in the districts frequented by the Mememsha and Haracta tribes, the prevailing plant is theguethaf (atriplex halimus), which supplies an excellent fodder for the camel, A common species on the plateaux is also the dis (ampelodesmus tenax), which resembles the halfa grass, and which is used by the Arabs for thatching their huts and for making cordage, The terfas, or white truffle (tuber niveum), is widely diffused throughout the Oran uplands and in the Hodna districts, Together with the parmelia esculenta, a species of edible lichen known as "munna," it serves as a staple of food amongst the natives.
Nor is the Sahara itself so destitute of vegetation as is commonly supposed. Besides the palms and undergrowth of the oases, such as fruit-trees, herbs, and
vegetables, hundreds of plants grow on the clayey, rocky, sandy, and marshy tracts of the desert. But there is an absence of European species, and the chief affinities are with the flora of Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, and Southern Persia. Altogether the Sabarian flora comprises 560 species, of which about a hundred are indigenous. But the number might be easily increased, and several useful varieties have already been introduced by Europeans in districts where water is available. The sands themselves might be clothed with vegetation, and several species growing spontaneously on the dunes, help to. bind the shifting masses and convert them into solid hills. Amongst them is the drin (arthratherum pungens), the grain of which in times of scarcity serves as a substitute for barley. ​226 NOETH-WEST AFEIOA. Fauna of Algeria. The Algerian fauna, like its flora, forms part of the Mediterranean zone, thus still attesting the former connection of Mauritania with Europe. Nearly all the species are, or at least were at one time, common to the two regions now separated by the Strait of Gibraltar. But as we advance southwards the analogy gradually disappears, first for mammals, and then for birds. In the southern districts a con- tinually increasing resemblance is observed, on the other hand, between the Algerian species and those of Nubia, Abyssinia, and Senaar. The intervening desert was certainly in former times less extensive and more fertile than at present, so that manv animals may have migrated from Central Africa to Mauritania. But for shells, which move more slowly and with greater difficulty across unfavourable tracts, the normal distribution has been maintained. Hence the contrast in this respect between the Algerian and Sudanese faunas is complete. According to Bourguignat, six parallel faunas follow successively from north to south, in Algeria — those of the seaboard, of the coast ranges, of the central plateaux, of the southern ranges, of a now-dricd-up maritime zone, and lastly, of the Sahara. Since the separation of the European and North African areas, both have become modified, less, however, by the development of new varieties than through the disappearance of old forms. The loss has been greatest in Europe, where civilisation was earlier diffused ; but Mauritania also has lost some of its species even within the historic period. There can be no doubt that the elephant was cap- tured in the Nuraidian forests two thousand years ago ; but it has now disappeared, together with the bear, which from numerous local traditions and legends appears to have survived in the wooded heights of the Upper Seybouse down to the period of the conquest. Shaw speaks of the bear as still living in the Algerian forests ; Horace Vernet saw a freshly dressed bearskin ; and hunters are mentioned who are said to have recently pursued this animal. The deer is also disappearing, while the ape family is represented only by a single species, the pithecus inniius, found also on the rock of Gibraltar. On the other hand, many wild beasts long extinct in Europe still hold their ground in North Africa. Such are the lion, panther, wild boar, hyaena, jackal, and Barbary wild cat, the two first being numerous especially in the dense thickets of the province of Constantino, and in the hilly and wooded districts south of the Shelif river, near the Tunisian frontier. But the ostrich, bustard, and mouflon, till recently abundant on the central plateaux, have everywhere become very rare since the French conquest. The gazelle, of which there are three varieties, is also retiring towards the Sahara, although occasionally compelled by want of water to return to the southern highlands. But although the upland plateauix have thus ceased to be a great hunting- ground, the local feudal families still keep their falcons as of old, and also preserve a famous breed of greyhounds, M'hich are highly esteemed, while other dogs have remained in a semi-savage state, prowling about the camping-grounds and Justly ​INHABITANTS OF ALGERIA. M7 feared by the traveller. But of all the companions of the Aljj^rian hunter, none are held in such estimation as the horse, a breed distinguished by its beauty, elegance, high spirit, combined with great gentleness, sobriety, and endurance under fatigue and changes of temiKjrature. In the Algerian Sahara several reptiles occur of the same species as those of Nubia and Upper Egypt. Such are the homed viper, and the large waran, or Egyptian monitor, some of which are over 3 feet long and look like small crocodiles. They are much feared on account of the magic power attributed to them, and like the chameleon, they are supposed to be the deadly enemies of the homed viper. Another remarkable saurian is the dobb, a lizard frequenting the palm groves, whose delicate flesh is eaten by the natives and its skin used for making pouches and boxes. The crocodile, supposed to have entirely disappeared from Mauritania since the historic period, still survives in the running and stagnant waters of the desert. It was first discovered by Aucapitaine in the Wed Jeddi, and has since been found in the upper affluents of the Igharghar. Insectivorous birds exist in vast numbers, and to this circumstance must be attributed the comparative rareness of grubs and butterflies. The locust [onUpoda crucia(n), which was one of the chief causes of the terrible famine of 1867, swarms in myriads only in exceptional years. In ordinary times their numbers are kept down by the stork, " the agriculturists' providence." On the Sctif plateaux the curious spectacle has presented itself of thousands of storks drawn up in line of battle and attacking a living wall of locusts. Inhabitants of Algeria. The changes that have taken place since historic times amongst the human population of Algeria, are even still greater than those affecting the animal and vegetable species. But the question at once presents itself, do they, like these forms, constitute a common domain comprising both the northern and southern seaboards of the West Mediterranean ? Is the character of unity observed in the organic world throughout this region, retained at least in the fundamental elements of its present inhabitants ? Although no positive answer can yet be given, there can be no doubt that numerous migrations have taken place and frequent relations been maintained between the opposite coastlands. At some epoch before the dawn of history, the whole region was certainly occupied by peoples enjoying a common civilisation, whether they were all of one or diverse origin. Throughout Mauritania, and especially in the province of Constantino towards the Tunisian frontier, megalithic monuments are met with similar to those existing in the West of Europe. Tens of thousands of such remains have already been found, and others are constantly discoveretl, although they are too often destroyed to procure materials for the house-builder and road-maker. In the Mejana plain, west of Setif, M. Payen estimates at ten thousand the number of menhirs scattered singly or in groups over the steppe. They look like a multitude changed into stone, the mean height of the blocks being that of a man of low stature. The so​228 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. culled kbur-el-juhala, or "pagan graves," are mostly of smaller size than the dolmens of like origin still existing in Brittany and La Vendee, from which it has been inferred that the megalithic industry of Algeria was either just beginning or already declining. But the officers engaged in the triangulation of the district between La Calle and Suk-Ahras have discovered sepulchral slabs of enormous size, scarcely inferior to those of Gavr'innis and Lockmariaker in Brittany. Besides the slabs and raised stones, there occur all sorts of megalithic structures : the cromlech or circle of stones, the cairn, the barrow crowned with a dolmen, terraces encircled by flights of steps, underground chambers hewn in the live rock, cupped stones, sacrificial altars ; rows of /lauufs, or subterranean cells ; kushas, or tombs in the form of cylindrical ovens topped with a large slab ; basinas, or mounds composed of concentric layers rising in the form of step pyramids. In the Algerian Sahara largo sepulchral urns have been found placed mouth to mouth, the head and body occupying one, the legs the other. The remains of resinous wood associated with earthenware, and still more the worked flints scattered here and there, not only on the heights skirting the Wed Ili<>-h, but even on the hamadas and in the desert between Tugurt and Ghadames, are amongst the facts regarded by geologists as undoubted indications of recent changes in the climate of Africa. Near Hammam-el-Meskhutin, the Roknia graves, belonging partly to the bronze age, contain thousands of molluscs disposed in hori- zontal hners. According to Bourguignat, many species then living in the country have ceased to exist, or have become very rare ; one species even became gradually modified during the period of the Roknia tombs. Since that epoch of worked flints and polished hatchets, used by peoples living in a more humid climate, the mega- lithic industry has been continued throughout the historic period down to recent times. In many burial-places the rude stone implements of the natives have been found associated with Roman stela?, shafts of columns, slabs co^red with Libyan or bilingual inscriptions. Under the kbur-el-juhalas and kushas, numerous skeletons have been found, nearly always resting on the left side and with the knees bent up to the breast. The mode of intermient is always the same, whatever be the objects deposited with the dead — coarse earthenware, flint instruments, silver, copper, bronze, or iron rings and armlets. Not many skulls have been collected ; but those already measured suffice to show that at this prehistoric epoch, before the arrival of Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, or Arabs, there existed amongst those now collectively grouped as aborigines two perfectly distinct cranial types. Both were dolichocephalic, or long-headed ; but one was a tall, the other a short race, the former being further distinguished by the posterior position of the crown and of the diameter of greatest breadth, as well as by more prominent zygomatic arches, nasal apophyses, and frontal ridges. The same cranial conformation still charac- terises most of the Biskri and of the nomads surrounding the oases. These men also differ from their neighbours in the structure of the skeleton, which when leaning against a wall prevents them from applying the outstretched arms close to the surface, a considerable space being always left behind the humerus. ​
The teoond t3rpG found in the old graves resembles that of the present inhabi- tants of the oases. These have a well-bahmced cranium, straight features, and arms disposed like those of Europeans ; but they are otherwise very slim, and of low stature. People of the same type are found in the more elevated parts of the Jurjura range, where they would seem to have taken refuge, together with the monkey tribes, that have also retired from the plains to these inaccessible uplands. During the first years of the French occupation, all the natives were confounded under the common designation of Arabs ; nor is the distinction between Arabs and Berbers even now always observed. On the other hand, those who clearly recog- nise the great contrast between the two races, might easily fall into the opposite error of regarding all the non-Arab elements as forming a single ethnical group usuall}' known by the name of Berbers. But these also present different types, and a closer inspection soon shows that many peoples of diverse origin have con- tributed to form the so-called Berber population. Besides the contrast presented by groups differing in stature, disposition of the limbs, and cranial formation, there is also that of the complexion and colour of the hair. Although the prevailing colour is brown, in all the tribes men are found with light hair, and some even with blue eyes. This fair element, first described by Shaw, is numerously represented in the Aures district, and especially near Khenshela and in the Jebel Sheshar. According to Faidherbe, it constitutes about a tenth of the whole population in the province of Constantine. The Denhajas, who occupy a tributary valley of the Safsaf south-east of Philippeville, claim to be sprung of fair ancestors, although from subsequent cross- ings with their neighbours most of them have acquired dark hair and eyes. They call themselves Ulad-el- Juhala, " Sons of Pagans," and until recently they still raised on their graves huge blocks (snob), round which religious rites were cele- brated. This circumstance lends some support to the hypothesis attributing the Algerian megalitbic structures to a fair race, which came from the north through the Iberian peninsula and across the Strait of Gibraltar. But this race has also been identified with the Gaulish descendants of the mercenaries charged by the Romans with the defence of the southern frontiers, as well as with the Vandals driven by Belisarius to the Aures highlands in the year 533. Even the Romans themselves do not appear to be entirely extinct. The remains of their towns and military stations are met by the hundretl ; many thousands of their inscriptions have been collected, and on the plateaux of Constantine they seem to be still more present in their works than the French colonists themselves. Here their ruined cities are more numerous and far more extensive than the European towns of recent foundation. Even in this direction they had occupied all the highlands of Aurasius, and penetrated beyond them far into the desert. South of the province of Algiers, their monuments are also met on the verge of the Sahara ; and farther west they had built many cities, at least on the Mediterranean slo|x? of the Toll. Their colonists, settled mostly on the upland plateaux of Numidia and the 3Iauritaniau Sitifis, that is, in the regions where the climate was most suited for the preservation of their race, must certainly have left ​
descendants in Algeria. The Roman type is even said to be well preserved. amongst the Ulad-el-Asker, or "Sons of Soldiers," in eastern Kabylie. Although good Mussulmans, the inhabitants of Tebessa still call themselves "Romans;" nor in their mouths is the term "Rumi" confused with that of "Christian," as amongst the other Mohammedans of Algeria. Roman coins were still current in Algiers when that town was taken by the French in 1842. Of the ten sections of the Amamra tribe, in the northern districts of Aures, two are supposed to be of Roman and three of Shawïa (Berber) descent, while the others were formed under murabut influences since the Mussulman invasion.
But whatever proportion of the indigenous population may be of Roman or European origin, the local traditions, as well as certain historic evidences, point to the East as the home of most of the immigrants. From Asia came the ancient Libou (Libyans), who gave their name to the whole continent, and who have been identified with the Luâta, or Liuâta, one of the powerful tribes of Barbary at the
time of the Arab conquest. After reducing the peoples of Mauritania and driving the aborigines from the plains to the upland valleys, the Mohammedan invaders continued to follow the general westward movement of migration. At the same time the changes of soil and climate, combined with the shiftings of population caused by these events, naturally tended to modify the habits of the peoples, in one place softening in another accentuating their mutual contrasts. At their first arrival the Berber intruders can have differed little from their Arab successors. But while wars, invasions, and marauding expeditions fostered a nomad existence, defeat and the imposition of regular tribute compelled many wandering communities to adopt a settled life. Thus their daily pursuits are not always a certain proof of their ethnical affinities. Many ages before the Arab invasion the Numidians, from whom the present so-called "Berber" population is partly descended, were themselves "nomads," as is probably indicated by their very ​INHABITANTS OF ALGERIA. 281 name. Nevertheless raciul differences are still at leant roughly indicated by the occupations of the inhabitants, the nomad jmstors being mostly Arabs, while the term Berber is usually applied in a collective sense to the settled peasantry. This old ethnical api)cllation of Berber is still borne in a sixHjial niunner by one of the Atlas tribes in Marocco. But as applied to an aggregate of peoples, whose diverse origins have been sought in Mauritania, West Eurojx?, and the Asiatic regions bordering on Egypt, it has lost all definite meaning, except in a linguistic sense. It now indicates in a general way all those peoples which speak, or which, during the historic period, are known to have spoken, languages belong- ing to the Libyan family. This form of speech, already current amongst the Tamahu figured on the Egyptian paintings, has been preserved under its old name for thousands of years. Amongst the Tuaregsand the various Sahara peoples, it is still called TamahSg, Tamahug, or Tamashek, and dialects akin to the Targui are spoken by a large number of other communities from the western oases of Egypt to the Atlantic seaboard. The Berber linguistic family shows some affinity with the Semitic, not in its vocabulary so much as in its guttural sounds, its grammar, and syntax. Although constituting, with Coptic, the group of so-called Ilamitic languages, it presents all the characteristics of an Eastern origin. Relying mainly on these resemblances of speech, certain writers have in fact endeavoured, rightly or wrongly, to establish a common origin for all the indigenous races of North Africa and Western Asia. But great differences have been observed even among the two chief ethnical groups in Algeria itself. The true Semites represented by the Arabs present the most striking contrast to the various peoples previously settled in the country. The Kabyles of Jurjura, taken as typical Berbers, have a less oval head and face, broader and fuller features, less regular and less retreating forehead, less arched eyebrows than the Arabs. The nose is seldom aquiline and often short and thick, the chin firm, the mouth rather large, the lips strong or thick. The physiognomy usually lacks the delicacy noticed in the Arabs, although the expression is more frank, the eye mere animated, the muscular system more compact, the body less pliant, but more robust and more firmly planted on the giound. The Kabyles are also usually of a somewhat lighter complexion, which may be attributed to their more settled existence. On the whole, they differ but little from Southern Europeanf-, and by a mere change of costume thousands amongst them might bo taken for natives of Auvergne or Limoges. No less marked from the moral standpoint is the contrast between the two elements, although this may be more readily explained by differences of environ- ment and pursuits. Although comprising many essentially nomad tribes, such as the Saharian Tuaregs, the Berbers show a preference for a settled life wherever favoured by the physical conditions. Mostly upland agriculturists, they necessarily differ in habits, social and political institutions, from the restless nomads of the plains. The Kabyles are distinguished by their unflagging industry, enterprising spirit, and common sense. They are inquisitive, fond of discussion, eager for information, susceptible of admiration and wonder, while the Arab affects a passive ​indifference to all things. They are little disposed to mystic contemplation, and although superstitious, because ignorant, they give little play to the religious sentiment in their daily pursuits and social relations. Hence they lack the figured speech of the Semite, despising the graces of style, the subtle metaphor, and refined expression of the Arab poets. On the other hand, their life of toil inspires them with a feeling of pride and self-respect, combined with a high sense of individual worth. They demand above all things to be treated with justice, and those whose communal autonomy has been respected by the French, regard and treat each other in all respects as equals.
Although, thanks to their agricultural occupation, the Algerian Berbers have on the whole risen to a higher degree of civilisation than the Arabs, the latter still
in many respects exercise a preponderating influence over them. As descendants of a conquering race, they still preserve some of the prestige of past triumphs. By them the religion of Islam was also introduced, and-to them the Kabyles are indebted for a knowledge of letters and of the Koran. Notwithstanding their nomad existence, the Arabs of the plains enjoy to a larger extent the advantages derived from a greater relative degree of national cohesion. Although more numerous, the Berbers driven to the highlands nowhere form a compact nationality capable of resisting the pressure of the surrounding Arab populations; hence in every part of Algeria Berber tribes are found, which have become assimilated to the Arabs in speech, which have often lost their racial traditions, and which have even gone so far as to concoct false genealogical tables, tracing their descent to some conquering tribe from the Arabian peninsula. Even those that have ​
The patronymic aït (in South Marocco, Ida) is applied exclusively to the Berbers, many of whose tribes have also adopted the Arabic Beni, indicating family relationship; while the term Aulâd, or more commonly Ulâd, Uled, is restricted inUlâd, Uled Algeria almost exclusively to communities of Arab descent. But there is no
absolute rule for the use of these terms, and the Ulâd Abdi of Aures are undoubtedly Berbers. Hence great uncertainty prevails regarding the classification of the Algerian races, and while some writers estimate the Berber population at upwards of two millions, of whom nearly nine hundred thousand still speak a Libyan dialect, others, with Pimel, reduce the whole number to no more than a million, The diversities and contrasts caused by language and pursuits, by voluntary or forced displacements, render any general description impossible, so that each lowland or highland group must be studied apart. Of the thousand or eleven hundred tribes enumerated in Algeria, some comprise distinct racial elements; and even amongst the minor groups of Dwars, Dusheras, Arsh, or Ferkas, ​284 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. crepancies may be found within the same Kbaila, or federal league. Many communities are a mere confused aggregate of families of diverse colour and origin, and such heterogeneous groups are found in the suburbs of all the large towns. The Algerian Arabs. The bulk of the Arab tribes are concentrated in the western district, where Mascara may be regarded as their natural capital. Abd-el-Kader, himself a perfect specimen of the Arab type, selected this place as the seat of his empire, and here all the natives of pure Arab descent still live under the tent. According to Faidherbe, the Arab population, including the Moors of the towns, numbers altogether not more than one-fifth, or about six hundred thousand souls. But this estimate would be too low if it comprised all those who possess genealogies tracing their descent from the Prophet's family, or from some noted hero of Islam. The Algerian Arabs have generally a dull or brown complexion, black hair, scant beard, fine teeth, aquiline nose, broad movable nostrils, black eyes, prominent superciliary arches, high skull, open rounded brow. . The legs and neck are disproportionately long, and the chest too narrow, while the women are all com-aratively undersized. In public the Arabs are grave, dignified, and impassible ; but within the social circle they readily lay aside their assumed air of solemnity, converse and gesticulate with great vehemence. They are indifferent agriculturists, to whom a settled existence is always repugnant, who still love the free life of the steppe, with its boundless horizon, shifting mirage, and ever-changing camping- grounds. To understand and sympathise with them, here they must be seen and studied, for here alone they are happy, hospitable, and genial; here alone they become confidential, and relate with glowing enthusiasm the great deeds of their forefathers. Descendants of warriors who overran all North Africa, from Egypt to Marocco, they naturally despise the degraded races dwelling in fixed abodes, and their ideas regarding property are far from harmonising with the niceties of the code introduced by the new masters of the land. Hence frequent wrangling and strife, aggravated at times by the instinctive hatreds of race. In any case, the Arabs seldom become landed proprietors. The ground, which has no definite limits, belongs in common to the whole tribe ; but the social organisation being always feudal, the tribe itself is represented by its chief, who thus becomes the virtual master of the land. "As soon as there are three of you," says the Prophet, "elect a chief." Religious fanaticism also tends to foster discussion among the Arab tribes, who are much more inclined to mysticism than their Kabyle neighbours. Most of them are sincere believers, obeying the precepts of Mohammed, and muttering in a low voice the passages from the Koran which command the extermination of the Infidel. Thus it happens that bj'^ his manner" of thought and sentiments, as well as his habits and traditions, the tribal Arab feels little inclined to adapt himself to the changed conditions developed round about him by the settlement of the land, the ​foundation of towns and villages, the construction of roads and railways. He gradually becomes an alien in the land conquered by his forefathers, and in many districts he pines and perishes, making room for men of other races. It may be stated in a general way that the Arabs resist these adverse influences best on the boundless upland plateaux, where but few French civil and military stations have yet been founded. But in the towns and urban districts they tend gradually to
disappear, killed off by vice, misery, lack of confidence m the future, and the exactions of their chiefs.
The same fate is overtaking the so-called Moors, or "Hadri," that is, the more civilised Mussulmans dwelling in the coast towns, under the very eyes of their foreign masters. But their rapid disappearance may be partly due to the instability of a heterogeneous race comprising the most diverse elements introduced ​286 NOETH-WEST AFEICA. bv former wars, piracy, slavery, polygamy. Thus have been thrown together Berbers, Syrians, Circassians, Albanians, Spaniards, Balearic Islanders, Italians, Provencals, Haussas, Bambaras, Fulahs, and even groups of Gipsies (Gsani, Guezz&ni), who arrived contemporaneously with the Andalusian Moors expelled from Spain. The Kulugli (Kur-Ogli), the offspring of Turks and native women, were also formerly very numerous in the coast towns and in certain inland villages; but these half-castes have already been almost entirely absorbed in the general Mussulman population of the towns. The Negroes, Jews, and Europeans. A large strain of Negro blood may everywhere be recognised among the inhabitants of Algeria, and whole tribes even among the highland Kabyles betray clear proofs of crossing between the aborigines of the seaboard and the Sudanese Negroes. Perhaps more than one-half of the Algerians who pass for Arabs or Berbers are of mixed descent ; but pure Negroes are now rarely met, owing to the almost complete interruption of direct intercourse across the Sahara between the Mediterranean seaboard and Western Sudan. Hence, since the suppression of the slave trade in 1848, the local Nigritian elements are gradually disappearing, while the children of free immigrants from Sudan seldom survive. The Negroes settled in Algeria are all distinguished by their love of work, finding employ- ment chiefly as agricultural labourers, stone-breakers, watchmen, or domestic servants. The Jews, far less numerous in Algeria than in Marocco, form nevertheless an important element of the population, owing to their spirit of solidarity, their money-making instincts, and the part they take as French citizens in the political administration of the country. The European immigrants, constituting a seventh part of the whole population, have already become the predominant race in Algeria. Thanks to their higher culture, combined with the exercise of political power, they naturally occupy all the chief civil and military positions, and hence- forth control the destinies of the country. The French have resumed the work of the old Roman rulers, but under conditions greatly modified by the progress of events. Except in Western Europe and in Mauritania, where it reached the ocean, the Roman world was hemmed in on all sides by unknown regions and hostile populations ; foreign pressure was constantly felt on the frontiers, and the political equilibriimi was at last overthrown by the migration of the barbarians. Now the conditions are changed, and the modern European world, instead of being surrounded, everywhere encircles the less cultured populations, incessantly en- croaching on their domain, and transforming them by the introduction of new industries and new usages. If they do not become entirely assimilated, they must at least share in the same culture, and especially to the French colonists on the Mediterranean seaboard falls the lot of carrying on this conscious or unconscious work oi civilisation throughout the regions of North Africa. The results already
becomes m(xUfio<l by the foundution of new towns, the spread of agriculture, the development of the network of roads and railways. Although the European element is still in the minority, its influence is already everywhere visible from the seaboard to the upland plateaux and the verge of the desert. Topography. The traveller visiting Algeria is surprised at the slight contrast presented by its towns and those of the mother country, liut for the palms and bamboos adorning the public gardens, the Moors and Arabs mingling with the crowd on the quays and in the streets, he might find it difficult to believe that he had really crossed the Mediterranean. The quarters built by the French architects seem to have been modelled on those of Marseilles; almost everywhere the picturesque Arab houses are masked by streets with regular and commonplace facades ; and the stranger may reside for a long time in a modern Algerian town without having ever to penetrate into those labyrinths of dwellings which recall an already antiquated epoch. But extensive tracts may still be traversed for hours together without meeting a single human habitation. Such on the eastern plateai'x is the district drained by the Mejerda and its affluent the Wed Melleg, and comjmsing a total area of about 4,000 square miles. Standing at a mean elevation of over 3,500 feet, endowed with a healthy climate and fertile soil, and forming the converging point of the trade routes between the coast and the desert, this at present almost uninhabited region presents one of the most promising fields for future colonisation. Here the remains of Roman settlements are scarcely less numerous than in the neighbouring territory of Tunis, and since their complete reduction about the middle of the century, European immigrants have again begun to find their way to these breezy uplands. They are at present occupied by three distinct tribal groups — the Nememshas in the south, the Ulad Sidi Yahia-ben-Thaleb in rhe centre, and in the north the Ilanenshas — all of Berber stock, more or less mingled with Arab blood since the invasion of the eleventh century. The town of ICa/aa-es-Senam, standing on an isolated table of the plateau, is a stronghold of the Hanenshas, who since their final reduction in 1871, have maintained a peaceful bearing towards the new French settlers. But the most important place in this region is Tebessa, the ancient Tecesfe, whose many natural advantages seem to ensure it a brilliant future. Although dating only from the time of Vespasian, its favourable strategic and commercial position soon rendered Teveste a flourishing town of some forty thousand inhabitants. Notwithstanding its destruction by the Vandals and many subsequent vicissitv.des, it still preserves some imposing Roman or Byzantine remains, such as the ramparts with thirteen flanking towers, a magnificent triumphal arch, an aqueduct restored by the French, numerous tombs, and a temple of Minerva (?) now converted into a Christian church. The French citadel is entirely built of blocks taken from the old struc- tures, and the routes converging on Tebessa are still the old Roman roads, one of ​which, running through Mascula and Diana towards Sitifis, presents the appearance of an "Appian Way" with its temples, porticoes, and other monuments.
North of Tebessa there are no centres of colonisation until we reach the Mejerda basin. In the intervening tract, where the vestiges occur of no less than a hundred and fifty Roman towns or hamlets, the only French stations are the so-called borj, constructed at considerable expense along the Tunisian frontier, and rendered nearly useless since the line of military defences has been advanced to Kef, in the territory of the regency. In the upper Melleg valley the chief station on the route between Tebessa and Constantine is the village of Meskiana, in a district covered with prehistoric and Roman ruins. Formerly the whole of this
region was covered with olive groves, as is evident from the oil-presses, remains of which occur in every Roman farmstead. Suk-Ahras, the chief place on the frontier plateau, occupies the site of the ancient Thagaste, the birthplace of the famous Austin, bishop of Hippo. Until 1852 a mere military station threatened by the powerful Hanensha tribe, Suk-Ahras has since become a flourishing town, as the chief centre of trade and intercourse between the two ports of Bona and Tunis. Here large tracts have already been brought under cultivation, and the slopes of the hills, recently overgrown with scrub, are now under crops or planted with vineyards. Of Roman antiquities ​nothing survives except a few inscriptions and shapeless blocks; but the line of railway, here constructed through a series of deep cuttings and the Fej-el-Moktha tunnel, across the hills and down the winding Seybouse Valley, is a remarkable monument of modern engineering skill.
The southern plateaux beyond the gorges of the Mejerda river abound in Roman remains, such as those of Tagura, now Taura, near Ain-Guettar; Mdaurush, the ancient Madaura, birthplace of the rhetorician Apulæus; Tifesh, the Roman Tipasa; and near the sources of the Mejerda, Khemissa, identified with Thubursicum Numidarum.
The northern slope of the mountains running north of Suk-Ahras to the Khumirian highlands give birth to several copious streams collected in the Mafrag
basin, which, although at present almost uninhabited, seems destined to become one of the most populous districts in Algeria. At present the only town in this region is La Calle, which lies beyond the Mafrag basin on a creek flowing to the Mediterranean, and separated from the interior by an amphitheatre of steep hills. This seaport, which is connected by a difficult route with Bona, was long a nest of corsairs; but a hundred and fifty years before the conquest, the rocky headland on which stood the old town had already become French territory. The trading station founded here in 1560 by Marseilles merchants was removed in 1694 to Mers-el-Kherraz, which became the port of La Calle, where a small colony, recruited chiefly from the French prisons, held its ground till the close of the eighteenth ​240 NOETH-WEST AFEICA. century. During the wars of the Empire the English purchased this station from the natives, but restored it to France in 1816. Although the oldest French settle- ment in Algeria, La Calle is still the least French in its European population, three-fourths of whom are Italians, chiefly from Naples and Sicily. The coral fishery, the chief industry on this coast, has suffered much by the introduction of modern dredging gear, and is now largely replaced by the trade in sardines, large quantities of which are here cured and exported to Naples and the south of Italy. In rough weather the harbour of La Calle is almost inaccessible to shipping ; but works have been undertaken or projected which, when carried out, will afford complete shelter from the winds and surf. Some six miles east of La Calle, the Tunisian frontier is guarded by the fortified station of Uni-et- Tcbul, which occupies the lower slope of a mountain abounding in argentiferous lead deposits, at present worked by about three hundred miners, mostly from Piedmont. From 2,500 to 3,000 tons of ore are yearly forwarded by a small local railway to Mesida, and there shipped for Europe. In the district between La Calle and the Tunisian frontier have been found the largest dolmens and the most numerous Latin and Berber bilingual inscriptions. At the mouth of the extensive Seybouse Valley stands the famous city of Bona, and at the source of the Sherf, its chief headstream, the modern town of Ain Boida ("White Spring*'), which dates only from the year 1848. North-west of this place, which lies midway between Constantino and Tebessa, is situated the important mart of Uin-cl-Bamji, much frequented by the powerful Haracta Berber tribe. In the Zenati river valley, usually called Haradan, forming with the Sherf the muin stream of the Ssy bouse, the chief centre of population is the commune and town of Wed Zenati. The whole of this district, including Aiii-er-Regnda and Ain-el-Abid, has been conceded to a financial company, and constitutes a vast domain of sora? 250,000 acres, of which 185,000 are leased to a single tenant. On the Wed Ilamdan, a short distance above its junction with the Sherf, are the houses and railway station of Haminam-el-Meskhuthin, or " Bath of the Accursed." At this point the bed of a streamlet is occupied by a "petrified cascade," or mass of calcareous concretions over thirty feet high, formed by a number of tiny falls charged with lime, which have here deposited incrustations in diverse colours — red, violet, blue, or grey, and here and there sparkling like fresh- fallen snow. These copious springs discharge nearly four hundred gallons per second, at a mean temperature of from 220° to 230° F. The concretions, which are of a somewhat coarse texture, are so rapidly precipitated that the position of the cascade is continually advancing, and fresh rills have constantly to be formed for the service of the ponds established along its sides. The saline and ferruginous thermal waters of Hammam-el-Meskhuthin are utilised by a military and a civil hospital, the latter frequented especially by the Jews, and this station is destined sooner or later to become one of the chief therapeutic establishments in Algeria. It takes its Roman name of Aqu(t TibilitaiKc from the town of Tibili or Anmma, whose ruins lie some 6 miles to the ​south-west, on the route connecting the villages of Clauzel and Wed Zenati. The
neighbouring cliff of Hajar-el-Khenga is covered with curious sculptures, amongst ​242 NORTH- WEST AFRICA. which may be recognised figures of men, dogs, cattle, and an ostrich. Farther north was the site of lioktiia, in a district strewn with dolmens and other pre- historic monuments, including over three thousand graves, to which the natives apply the term hanut, or " shop." From these have been recovered some skeletons of great interest for the study of the various Algerian races. A hill on the right bank of the Seybouse, below the confluence of the Sherf and Zenati, is occupied by the town of Guelma, heir to the name, if not the site, of the Iloman Ca/ania, where Punic was still spoken in the fifth century. Enclosed bv a verdant belt of vineyards and olive groves, Guelma, which stands on the border of the Arab and Berber territories, is one of the pleasantest places in Algeria. Over its valley are dotted the picturesque hamlets of Ain-Tufa, Heliopo.ls, Petit, and Millesimo, and in the neighbourhood are the copious mineral springs of Hammam- el-Bei(l(t, in a basin surrounded with Roman ruins embowered in foliage. The charming village of Ducicier commands the right bank of the Seybouse opposite the junction of the two railways from Algiers and Tunis. Thanks to the facilities of communication and the fertility of the soil, numerous European settlements have sprung up in the Lower Seybouse Valley. Such are Jiarral, Moudoii, noted for its tobacco, Duzervilk, Wed Beshes, Merdes or Combes, Zerizer, Handon, Monis, and Blaiidan, and in the neighbouring Mebuja valley the town of Penthierre. Bona — Heruillon. These stations become more numerous as we approach the city of Bona, which, although preserving the name of the Roman Hippon {Hippo), the Uhha of the Carthaginians, does not occupy the actual site of that ancient city. Hippo Regius, where the famous Bishop Augustine resided for thirty-five years, and which was overthrown by the Vandals in 431, the year after his death, stood over a mile from the present town, on a hill commanding a fine prospect of the blue Mediterra- nean waters and surrounding district. A few ruins of the Glisia Rumi, or " Church of the Romans," are still scattered on the side of the hill, and near its base is the bridge over the Bujema (Bu-Jemaa) stiU resting on its old foundations. Owing to the constant encroachments of the alluvial plain formed by the Seybouse, the city has had to be rebuilt at some distance north of the ruins of Hippo. The port, which two thousand years ago opened at the foot of the hill, has been gradually shifted to the north ; and the shipping, instead of penetrating into the natural harbour at the river's mouth, has to anchor off the coast, under the precarious shelter of the headland on which now stands the kasbah or citadel of Bona. The Arab quarter stood on the slopes of this eminence; but since the French conquest it has spread beyond the enclosures over the low-lying plain which stretches in the direction of the Seybouse. Between the old and new quarters a handsome boulevard runs from the sea to a wooded height, beyond which it is to be continued farther inland. Thanks to its well-kept streets, shady walks, and pleasure-grounds, Bona is one of the most agreeable places in AJgeria, and as ​
As a seaport Bona enjoys great advantages. Its roadstead, well sheltered from the west and north-west winds by Cape Garde, was much frequented during
Mediæval times by European mariners, who were protected from oppressive exactions by special conventions. On two occasions, in 1152 and 1535, it even fell into the hands of the Christians, and after its final occupation by the French in ​1832, it became one of the chief naval stations on this coast. The present harbour, from 18 to 20 feet deep inshore, occupies an area of about 30 acres; while the outer port, protected from the surf by a pier 2,600 feet long, encloses an additional space of 175 acres. But its growing trade, especially with Algiers, Marseilles, and Tunis, requires further accommodation, and it is now proposed to convert a large portion of the outer harbour into a second basin, lined with quays reclaimed from the sea.
About one-third of the motley population of Bona are French, after whom the most numerous elements are the Italians and Maltese. There are about one thousand Kabyles and Mzabites, employed chiefly as porters and labourers, within the city proper, while several thousand natives reside in the outskirts grouped in the picturesque but squalid village of Beni-Ramasses. On the neighbouring Mount Edugh is a pleasant health-resort, whose advantages have hitherto been
somewhat neglected. From the crest of this eminence an extensive view is commanded of the surrounding hills falling northwards in terraces down to the coast, and in the opposite direction down to the depression of Lake Fetzara. On the northern slope, between Capes Garde and De Fer, the only group of habitations is the little fishing village of Herbillon (Takush); but the southern is more thickly inhabited, thanks to the iron-mines of Mokta-el-Iadid, which yield an excellent ore, almost as highly appreciated as that of Dalecarlia, and containing 62 per cent. of pure metal. Over a thousand workmen are employed in these mines, which yield about four hundred thousand tons annually, valued at £280,000, and exported to France, England, and even the New World. But the rich deposits of copper and zine found at Ain-Barbar, in the very heart of the Edugh district, are no longer worked, owing to the extreme difficulty of cartage. ​CX)NSTANTINE. 246 Less than half a mile south of the Mokta-cl-Hadid works, lies the important station of Ain Mokhrn, which is unfortunately exposed to the exhalations from Jjake Fetzara. This lagoon or morass, which has a mean depth of little over 6 feet, is evidently the remains of an old inlet forming a continuation of the present Gulf of Bona across the now-dried-up plains of the Mafreg and Mebuja rivers. The question of its drainage has frequently been discussed, and should this project be carried out, over 30,000 acres of rich alluvial soil will be brought under cultiva- tion. In summer the basin is nearly dry, and it might be easily diverted to the lower Seybouse by reducing the bed of the Mebuja to a lower level than the present level of the lake. The railway connecting Ain Mokhra with Bona is soon to be continued west- wards in the direction of the station of Saint-Charles, on the Constantine-Philippe- ville line. Were it also extended to the coast by skirting the Filfila headland, the works might be resumed in the famous marble mines of this district, interrupted since the time of the Romans. In the Wed-el-Kebir basin, which flows to the gulf sheltered by Cape de Fer, the only important European town is Jemviapes, situated in a rich and well- watered district. The local Berber tribe of the Sanhejas has preserved the name formerly borne by the powerful Zenaga nation. The name of the Zenaga or Senegal River, over 2,000 miles from this place, also attests the former extension of the Berber race dispersed by the Arab invaders. CONSTANTINE. Constantine, capital of the eastern department, is one of the famous cities of Africa. From the dawn of Mauritanian history this great natural stronghold appears under the name of Cirta, that is, the * fortress," as the word is commonly interpreted. The title of Constantine, preserved by the Arabs under the form of K'sant/iiiia, was conferred on it at the beginning of the fourth century, in honour of the Emperor Constantine. The extensive ruins scattered over the district attest the important position of this ancient capital of Kumidia and centre of the Roman dominion in North Africa. But its very strength necessarily exposed it to frequent attack, and according to the local tradition, it was taken no less than eighty times. By its capture in 1837 the French secured a solid footing in the interior of the eastern Tell, and easily crushed all local risings, henceforth deprived of a common rallying-point. The city proper occupies a gently inclined rocky table, whose northern head- land rises to a height of 2,100 feet, or 360 feet higher than the opiX)sitc point. The whole terrace forms a somewhat regular trapeze, with a circuit of nearly 2 miles, and detached by deep ravines from the rest of the plateau on all sides except towards the south-west. The steep escarpments facing south-east and north-east rise precipitously above the bed of the Rummel, which plunges into these gloomy gorges soon after its confluence with the Bu-Merzug. Of the five bridges formerly connecting the two sides of the abyss, four have almost entirely ​disappeared; but the fifth, at the eastern angle of the cliff, has always been rebuilt. The iron arch constructed by the French engineers, at a height of 350 feet above the stream, stands on fragments of masonry of every epoch from the time of Antoninus Pius. Immediately below this bridge the Rummel disappears beneath a rocky arcade, beyond which the cliffs again fall vertically to the bed of the stream, leaving only a solitary pointed arch of remarkably symmetrical shape,
forming a natural bridge over the chasm. Farther down the current ramifies — into three turbulent branches, and at the issue of the gorge plunges in three successive falls into the lower valley. Unfortunately it is impossible to penetrate far into this romantic ravine, owing to the mephitic exhalations rising from the Rummel, which serves as an open sewer to the town. ​On the rocky table above the gorge houses and buildings are packed close
together. In the north are grouped the barracks, hospital, arsenal, and kasbah, ​south of which run the regular streets of the European quarter. The Jews are grouped in the east, the Mzabites in the centre, and in the south the Arabs occupy a labyrinth of courts and alleys, into which few Europeans venture without a guide. Whole streets are devoted to the leather trade, which is the staple industry of Constantine, giving constant employment to hundreds of tanners, saddlers, and shoemakers.
tablets. The roost interesting building is the Moorish palace of the lost Bey, Ahmed, now occupied by the French staff. Near this structure are grouped the new municijml buildings, the Geographical Society, and the other learned institutes established since the French occupation. In order to make room for the continual growth of the city, it is proi^sed to level the Cudial-Ati hill, the site of the old necropolis at the south-west corner, and lay out the space thus acquired beyond the walls as a new quarter. Amongst the extensive remains scattered over the lower valley of the Rummel are the ruins of the fortified town of Tiddi, near which the right bank of the Smendu, a tributary of the same river, is occupied by the tomb of the Lollius family, one of the finest Roman monuments in Algeria. The Alsatian colonists settled in the surrounding villages of Rujfash, Aiu-Kerma, Belfort, Altkirch, and others, have in several places been allowed to utilise these remains for the con- struction of their dwellings. The rapidly increasing local and export trade of Constantine is furthered by several railways, all of which, however, have not stations in the city itself. Thus the junction of the Guclma-Tunis line is at Khrub {Khornb), the largest cattle market in East Algeria, while the two lines between Setif and the Sahara branch off at El'Guerra. East of this point the Algiers line approaches the Uj)per Rummel Valley, where are several centres of European colonisation, such as Aiii- iSmara, Wed Atmenin, C/tdfeaudun, Coit/mierts, Saiiit-Donat (a curious corruption of Saaduna), Paladines, and Saint Ariiaud. Here the Abd-en-Nur nomads have mostly acquired sedentary habits, and their habitations are now everywhere inter- mingled with those of the European settlers. Since the middle of. the century these Berber communities have ceased to speak their native tongue ; and many of them are noted for their light hair and blue eyes. The railway connecting Constantine with the coast winds along the slopes of the El-Kantur hills down to the plains of the Safsaf, which, till the French occupa- tion, were almost uninhabited. Near the line follow in succession the villages of Ji'zot and Conde- Smendu, and the little town of El-Hnrrush, surrounded by gardens and olive groves watered by the Safsaf. The neighbouring hamlets of Saint- Charles, Saint- Autoine, Damrimont, and Valee, have all become flourishing centres of viniculture. Philippeville — JiJiLi — Setif. P/iilippri/le, the seaport of Constantine, is not such a mo<lern place as its name might suggest. It occupies the site of the old Phoenician lius-Licar, the limicada of the Romans, modified to Itan-Skikda by the Arabs, and to Tasikda by the Tierbcrs. But since its occupation by the French in 1838, most of its monuments have disapjKjared, having been utilised for the erection of the extensive fortifi- cations which follow the crest of the hills from east to west, enclasing the whole town and large open spaces. There still remain, however, the ruins of a theatre 48— AF ​partly excavated in the cliff, numerous cisterns, and some fine mosques, besides the statues, busts, urns, and inscriptions preserved in the museum.
The town occupies a ravine between the two ridges of Bu-Jala and Jebel Addun, east and west. The main thoroughfare, running along the old bed of a stream, terminates seawards in an elevated terrace, whence a view is commanded of the esplanade and of the inner and outer harbour, the former covering an area of 50 acres, and enclosed by jetties, the latter much more extensive, but insufficiently
protected from the surf. Before the construction of the present harbour works the shipping was obliged to seek refuge at Stora, the old "Genoese port," which lies 21/2 miles north-west of Philippeville, at a point sufficiently protected from the west and north winds.
A somewhat analogous position is occupied by Collo, the Chaullu of the Romans, and Kullu of the natives, which is also sheltered by a headland from the west and ​north-west winds. The Romans had some purple dye-works at this port, which during the Middle Ages was much frequented by Italian and French traders, Since its occupation by the French in 1845, Collo has again become a flourishing seaport, doing a considerable export trade in minerals, cork, sardines, and other local produce.
About midway between Collo and Bougie stands the ancient seaport of Jijili, which still preserves in a slightly modified form its Libyan name of Igilgili, handed down by inscriptions from the very dawn of history. The tombs excavated in the cliffs along the coast are the work of Phœnician colonists, as shown by their perfect
resemblance to those of the old Syrian necropoli. During Roman, Byzantine, and Mediæval times, Jijili continued to enjoy a considerable degree of commercial prosperity; but after its capture by the Turks in 1514 it fell into decay, and at the French occupation in 1839 was little more than a fishing village. Since 1871, when the surrounding tribes were finally reduced, it has recovered some of its former trade, and the new town, laid out in regular shady streets, has spread within the fortifications from the old town to Fort Duquesne, erected on a rocky headland towards the south-east. Jijili, which is one of the healthiest places on the Algerian coast, is encircled by a fertile tract cultivated by Spanish and Maltese colonists. ​252 • NORTH-WEST AFRICA. The port, already sheltered from the west, might be easily protected from the north by filling up the gaps in a coral reef, which stretches from the old town eastwards to an islet, on which a lighthouse has already been constructed. The neighbouring villages of Ditquesne and Strasbourg, on the route to Constantino, have become independent centres of European colonisation. In the Wed Sahel basin the chief place is Sefif, the Roman Siti/is, which, thanks to its central position at the converging point of several routes across the plateau, became in the fourth century the capital of one of the Mauri tanias. But for some time after the French occupation it was a mere military station, affording protection to a small European settlement. Since then it has increased rapidly, and is now an important agricultural centre, surrounded by several large rural communities. Some of these places owe their origin to a colonising society of Geneva, which has acquired 50,000 acres of rich land from the French Government. Next to Setif, the largest commune in this district is Ain-Abessa, which lies on the slope of the Maghris, between the two routes over the hills connecting Setif with the port of Bougie. One of these routes runs through Takititnt, Kerrata, and the gorges of the Tubabor, the other through Ain-Rua and the Wed Guergur. Both are remarkable monuments of engineering skill, presenting in their descent from the plateaux to the coast some aspects of imposing grandeur. The modern town of Bu-Arrerij, the chief place in the fertile Mejana Valley, stands at an elevation of over 3,000 feet, near the waterparting between the Wed- Sahel and Ilodna basins, and midway between Constantino and Algiers, on the railway connecting those cities. Before the conquest, Bu-Arrerij held a position of great strategic importance near the gorges of the Biban range leading from the plateaux to the Sahel Valley. About 15 miles north-west of this point, on a bluff in the same range, stands the chief stronghold of the country, the Kalaa (Gala, Guela), or " Castle " in a pre-eminent sense. This citadel of the powerful Beni- Abbes tribe also served as a place of refuge for those flying from the wrath of the Deys and their vassals. Here are woven burnouses highly prized in every part of Algeria. AuMALE — Bougie. In the western part of the Wed-Sahel basin, Aumak, the Roman Auzia, occupies a strategic position similar to that of Setif and Bu-Arrerij farther east. After the French occupation in 1846, its defensive works were restored, and it soon became one of the chief bulwarks of their power in the interior of Algeria. It has also become the centre of a large trade in cereals, wool, leather, dates, alfa, live stock, and other produce of the Tell. But lying beyond the network of railways, Aumale is a very quiet place, except on market-days. Here have been found numerous sculptured fragments and inscriptions, the remains of the ancient Auzia. In the neighbourhood are the populous villages of Bir-Rabaln and Ain-Bessem, and lower down the Sahel Valley the fortalice of Beni-Mansur. Of the numerous agricultural settlements founded in this district, the most important is Ak-bu, officially known ​by the name of Metz. It lies at the issue of the route descending from Great Kabylia over the Shellata Pass. The whole valley is strewn with Roman remains, and here stood the city of Tubusuctus, whose site is still unoccupied by any modern town.
Bougie, the Saldæ of the Romans, is a decayed place, although since the middle of the century it has recovered most of its former population. It was twice a royal capital, first under the Vandals before the capture of Carthage, and again under the Beni-Hammads at the close of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century, when it is said to have contained no less than twenty thousand houses. Even after ceasing to be a political centre, Bejaïa, so named from one of the
neighbouring hill tribes, continued to enjoy considerable commercial prosperity, thanks to the advantages of its port, one of the most sheltered on the Algerian coast. At this point Mount Lalla Guraïa, over 2,300 feet high, advances seawards in the direction from west to east, the bay thus enclosed being completely protected from the dangerous west, north-west, and north winds. Its relations with Europe became so frequent that, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, Bougie placed itself under the protection of the kings of Aragon, in order to contend successfully against the other seaboard towns. But the period of legitimate trade was followed by one of piracy, during which Bougie became a nest of daring corsairs. Reduced in 1509 by Pedro of Navarre, it was retaken by the Turks in 1555, after which it ​254 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. lost all its trade until its recent revival under tbe French. But it is still far less extensive than in its prosperous days, of which its most interesting monument is the Bab-el-Bahr, or "Sea Gate," a Moorish archway forming part of the old ramparts. Bougie, which lies at the natural issue of the vast basin stretching from Sctif to Aumale, is connected by a regular service of steamers with Marseilles, and will soon enjoy the advantages of railway communication with Algiers through Beni-Mansur, and with the interior by a line nmning through the Babor and Bihkn hills to Setif. Kabylia. The section of the Jurjura highlands enclosed by the rivers Sahel and Isser usually takes the name of " Great Kabylia," in contradistinction to the " Little Kabylia," which comprises the rugged Biban and Babor uplands. The terra Kabylia itself has no ethnical value, being simply the Arabic kabila, or " tribe," applied in different districts to populations of the most diverse origin. In Mauri- tania it was applied by the Mussulman invaders to all the non-Arab peoples driven by them from the plains to the uplands. It thus gradually acquired a degrading sense, and the Algerian Arabs now more usually designate their own tribes by the equivalent word ar-sh. On the other hand, the Berber Kabyles of the Jurjura highlands, descendants of the ancient Sanheja confederation, call themselves Imazighen, or Amzigh, that is, " Freemen," a word identical with the Maxyes of Herodotus. The great bulk of the Kabyles, whatever their origin, certainly seem entitled to this name, for to preserve their freedom they took refuge in the mountains, where they successively resisted the Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Arab, and French invaders. The Bled-el-Adua, or " Hostile Land," as the Arabs call these moun- tains of Kabylia, although now one of the most densely peopled regions in North Africa, appears during the early historic epoch to have been but sparsely inhabited. Every fresh wave of conquest contributed a fresh contingent of fugitives, who gradually took their place side by side with the previous occupants. Thus is explained the great diversity of types, ranging from the Negro to the Caucasic, represented by the present inhabitants of the Jurjura highlands and valleys. Of more or less mixed Negro blood are the Abid, or ** Slaves," of the Boghni district in the south-west ; while a Jewish origin is claimed for the Ait Bu-Yussef, dwelling on the northern slope of the main range south of Fort National. The Ait Fraucen, probably owing to the resemblance of their name, have been affiliated to the French, and the Ait Ijermenen for the same reason to the Germans. Amongst the latter, however, who are settled in the district between Bougie and Azeffun, many are found of a fair or ruddy complexion, and in their features bearing a marked resemblance to the Germans. Nevertheless the Jurjura tribes may be said on the whole to represent the old Berber population, and amongst them are probably to be sought the purest descen- dants of the primitive Mauritanians. According to a national legend, they are " sprung of the soil," although in other traditions allusion is made to peoples ​KABYLIA. 255 anterior even to the present Kubyles. These are designated by the term Juhalu, applied also both to llomaus and " pagans." In many places occur circular holes tilled with refuse, which apjicur to have served as human habitations. A looal legend, similar to that current in the Altai region regarding the mysterious " Chudes," relates how a denizen of these half-Hubterranean dwellings, <m falling seriously ill and feeling his end approach, sawed asunder the post supporting the roof, then with a last effort pushing the post aside, buried himself beneath the ruins. At present the population of Great Eabylia, with an area of 2,200 square miles, may be estimated at about half a million, or over two hundred to the square mile. Were this proportion maintained throughout the whole country, from the Mediter- ranean to the verge of the desert, Algeria would have a population of some forty millions. But before the French occupation, incessant intertribal warfare pre- vented the natural growth of the people. The Kabyles, who are grouped in at least a hundred tribes and over a hundred secondary clans, are also divided into »o/f«, or political factions, which are constantly uniting, breaking asunder, and reconstituting themselves, according to the shifting interests and passions of the several groups. Warfare was their destiny, said the natives themselves, a curse of Lalla Khedija having condemned them to everlasting discord. The confederations formed from time to time against a common enemy seldom lasted long, after the passing danger the league being dissolved and each fraction resuming its autonomy. Nevertheless the Kabyles were conscious of the ties of kinship connecting all their tribes, and the memory of their conmion origin was perpetuated by ethnical names common to the whole nation. The term Ait is used to indicate a federal union, not community of origin, like the Arab word U/dd, which is reserved for tribes of Semitic descent ; while Beni, also an Arab word, is applied to both races, but especially to the Kabyles. The chief tribal group is that of the Zwawa (Igawawen), whose name has been frequently used in a collective sense for all the Kabyles. In Tunis it was still recently applied to the Berber highlanders, and during the early days of the French occupation it served, under the form of " Zouave," to designate contingents of native troops recruited chiefly amongst the Kabyles. The Zwawas, numbering about one hundred and fifty thousand, occupy on the northern slope of the Jurjura nearly the whole Upper Scbau basin, nearly to its confluence with the Wed Aissi. To this family belong the Ait-Yahias, whose central village of Kuku or Kuko, occupying the site of an old Roman station, was formerly regarded as a sort of capital for the whole of Kabylia, although containing scarcely more than sixteen hundred inhabitants. The Ait-Fmucen are also Zwawas. and in their territory is situated the formerly imjjortant town of Jeinao'ea-Suhnj, or " Collection of Basins," so named from the numerous reservoirs constructed in this district during the Roman epoch. In the same group are classed the Ait-Batrun, settled west of the Wed Aissi, and the brave Ait-Iraten, whose village of Inheraiircn has been replaced by Fort Nntiona/, the chief French stronghold in Great Kabylia. In the upper Wed-Bu-Gdura basin, towards the south-west angle of these ​256 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. uplands, dwell the Gueshtula or Igueshdulen, who arc usually identified with the ancient Getulians, and who differ in many respects from the other inhabitants of the Jurjura district. They are a small " bullet-headed " people, less cultured than the Zwawas, living in wretched hovels, and occupied chiefly in t^jnding the herds of their more jxjwerful neighbours. Near them are the Abids, descended of emancipated Negro slaves, and farther north the formerly powerful Mahacta tribe. The West Kabyle highlands are occupied by the Flissa-ura-el-Lil, or Flissa of the Night, called also Flissa of the Woods, descended of the warlike Issaflenses, who maintained a long struggle against the Romans. The Flissa of the Sea, another branch of this group, separated from their brethren by the Isser, the Ait- AVaguonnun, and other communities, were formerly noted armourers, whose swords, inodellod on the Roman gladium, and worn by most of the natives, still take the name of " flissa." Amongst the other Kabyle groups, the most important are the Zarfawa of the Azeft'un district, the Bu-Daud at the north-east extremity of Kabylia, and the Ait-Gobri cast of the Zwawas. On the outer flanks of the Jurjura are also some powerful tribes, such as the Ait-Ughli, between Akbu and Bougie ; the Illula Assjimor, or Illulas of the Sun, so named in contradistinction to the Illula Umalu, or Illulas of the Shade, residing on the northern slope of the Upper Jurjura; and the Ait-Mlikesh, bordering on the Beni-Mansur marabuts, who occupy several villages south of the Wed Sahel. Lastly, in the Lower Sebau Valley are settled the Amarawa people, who comprise the most diverse elements, and who long constituted u makhzon, or military tribe, in constant feud with its neighbours. Li Groat Kabylia ethnologists recognise two predominant types, one distin- guished by round features, prominent cheek-bones, pointed lower jaw, probably representing the aborigines ; the other with flat, oval face, small bright eyes, nose <lepressed at the root, projecting upper incisors. In general the Kabyles are of middle size, strong and muscular, but mostly tainted with syphilitic diseases. But however different in physical appearance, all the Kabyles of the Jurjura and eastern ranges are one in speech, speaking Zwawia, a Berber dialect affected by Arab elements in the proportion of about one-third. From Arabic are usually borrowed terms relating to mental or moral subjects, to religion, law, the arts and sciences, and to such plants, animals, and other objects as have been introduced since the Mussulman conquest. In the same language are composed the few works read by the cultured Kabyles, whose mother tongue is no' longer written ; in fact, the only literature it possesses are some theological tractates and a few songs, differing from the ordinary language of conversation by a larger infusion of Semitic elements. Thus the Kabyle gradually acquires a knowledge of Arabic, and wherever the rival tongues meet on common ground, the more useful tends to prevail. The essential difference between the .two races lies in the greater love of a nomad life shown by the Arab, the Berber everywhere preferring a fixed abode
some cases a single olive-tree is shared among several owners. Hence the soil has acquired an excessive value in the more densely peopled tracts, the average price being from twenty to a hundred times higher in the Kabyle than in the Arab districts,
Nor are the Berbers less distinguished for their industrial than for their ​agricultural skill. Amongst them all labour is respected, even that of the blacksmith, which is regarded with such contempt by the Arabs. The various Kabyle tribes have each their special industry, so that at the fairs held successively in each village on different days during the week, buyers may obtain all manufactured articles of which they stand in need. In many Zwawa tribes the women excel in the production of beautiful vases; in others coarse earthenware is prepared; the Illiltens and Ilulas of the Jurjura uplands devote their attention to wood-carving; the Bu-Shaib and Ait-Ijer clans in the eastern highlands occupy themselves with weaving; the Ait-Fraucen with iron-work; the Fenaia and Ait Yenni with arms and the preparation of warlike supplies of all sorts. The last mentioned are also
jewellers and metal casters, melting down the Spanish douros and converting them into necklaces, rings, or diadems.
In the Kabyle districts the markets, supplied with objects of local industry and. foreign importation, are very animated. Usually held near the cemetery outside the town walls, they become in political times popular gatherings for the discussion of public topics. Here were formerly decided questions of peace and war; but since the French occupation politics have given place to the interests of peaceful intercourse.;
So dense is the population in Great Kabylia that the agricultural produce is insufficient for the local wants. Hence thousands yearly emigrate in search of a livelihood amongst strangers. Formerly many hired themselves out as mercenaries to fight for the Turk, and even still most of the Algerian "Zouaves" are recruited ​KABTLIA. 269 amongst the Zwawa tribes. The Ait-Iraton and Bcni-Abboa have settled in Algiers as bakers and bankers. But most of the emigrants become jwrters in the coast towns, or else pedlars and hawkers in the rural districtrt. Wh<»le colonies become associated with the Arab tribes on the plaiuK, where they gradually acquire jmssession of the land. In this way several Kabyle villuges have sprung up in the vicinity of Guelma, Shershell, Aumale and other towns. Since the cessation of tribal warfare, the rapid increase of population even obliges the Kabyles constantly to widen the field of migration, and they have already begun to invade Tunisia, the oases of the desert, and Marocco. The number of temporary or permanent emigrants has thus risen from about twelve thousand in the middle of the century to some forty thousand at the present time. The Kabyles have all the sterling qualities of true peasants — patience, frugality and thrift. Extremely honest and incapable of deception, they exact from others the same probity in their mutual dealings. But notwithstanding their careful habits and strict attention to the main chance, they can at times unbend, and willingly indulge in social amusements, songs, and merry-makings. However conservative of the old usiiges, they are less slaves to routine than the French peasantry. They gladly introduced the potato into their gardens, and have recently taken to cultivating the vine in a large way on the outer slopes of the Jurjura highlands. They are above all distinguished by their excessive love of personal independence. All want to be " sultans at home ; " all speak of their honour, and have constantly on their tongue the Arabic word ;///, which properly means "nose," but which symbolises personal dignity and sensitiveness. But their self-respect is not shown in any love of fine clothes. The gandura is worn till it fulls to pieces, nor is it always easy to detect the original colour of the national sheshia. The houses also, in which oxen, goats and poultry have their share, are often unspeakably foul. " The Kabyle never dreams of sweeping his dwelling until the time comes for manuring his vegetable garden."* The Kabyle marriage is a strictly business transaction, the wife being purchased of her parents for from £8 to £40, according to their rank and influence, or her personal charms. " The father eats his daughter," says the local expression,
master of the bride, the husband may send her buck at pleasure, in which case the parents may again offer her for sale, on condition of returning the whole or part of the purchace-money to the first husband. Nothing is simpler than the form of divorce, a single word thrice repeated sufficing to dissolve the union. The husband's authority is absolute, and in several tribes he fonnerly placed a stick by the side of his bride, a formality needing no verbal interpretation. Infidelity on her part is severely punished ; before the French occupation she was usually condemned to be stoned, and even still most of the murders committed in Kabylia are due to the secret observance of the old law. Nevertheless, the wife enjoys great freedom in domestic affairs, and when badly used by her husband may even take refuge with her parents. She also goes abroad unveiled, but never alone.
Numerous cases have been recorded of women acquiring a predominant influence in the tribe, cither as heroines or prophetesses, and their shrines are no less venerated than those of the marabut saints. The widow enjoys equal rights with man before the law, and like him may purchase, sell, or bequeath property. Already in some of the tribes a certain evolution has begun in the direction of a new constitution for the family, and, acting under the advice of their French friends, several communities have decided that girls shall no longer be given in marriage before the age of fourteen. The establishment of French schools, in which the native women give proof of great zeal and intelligence, has also greatly contributed to their emancipation. All these social changes will easily be accomplished, because, unlike the Arabs, the Kabylcs are not bound by the letter of the Koran. They have their own laws, or rather their traditional usages, designated by the name of kanun, or ** canons," a term obviously borrowed from their former Byzantine rulers. According to the local traditions, they were at one time Christians, and the old religion would seem to be still symbolised in the crosses tattooed on the women's faces, and even on some of the men, and in some of the tribes sculptured on the doors of the houses and of the very mosques. But however this be, their Christianity does not appear to have greatly modified their habits and ideas. After calling themselves Christians, thoy called themselves ^Mussulmans, adopting a few rites from Islam, but seldom showing any zeal for the faith. They neglect the prescribed praj^ers, and are far from strict observers of the Ramadan fast. The echo of the mountain, they sa}^ when consulted to know whether they might eat, replied " Eat ! " Scarcely a himdrcd Kabylcs make the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, and then more in the character of traders than of devotees. Most of their ceremonies seem inherited from pre-^Iussulman and pre-Christian times; they still worship the divinities of nature, who control the winds and the rain, who give fertility to the soil and to the cattle. On certain days processions are formed in honour of the ancient goddess, " Bride of the Waters," represented by a dressed-up doll. These are the " Rogation days," which in the course of ages have already been adapted to three successive cults. The descendants of the Arab conquerors still reside in Kabylia without mixing with the surrounding populations. Such are the so-called " Marabut families," sometimes numerous enough to form veritable clans. Those of the Jurjura district claim to have come from the west, and some local names jvould seem to show that the Andalusian Moors are largely represented amongst them. They are confined to special villages, usually situated below those of the tribe, whose liberty is thus secured from attack. The Marabuts act as advisers, and teach the children to recite verses from the Koran. But depending for their support partly on voluntary contributions, they have acquired indolent habits, and their villages, even when situated in fertile districts, are mere collections of wretched hovels. In recent times the Mussulman confraternities have made great progress amongst the Kabyle populations. Some of their monasteries established in the midst of the tribes are encircled by a neutral zone interdicted to all belligerents. ​The most influential of these religious communities is that of Ben Ali Sherif, at Shollata, on the outer slope of the eastern Jurjura uplands. The head of this zawya has become a sort of prince, one of the most distinguished natives in Algeria.
Although greatly modified by the French conquest, Kabyle society still preserves in its political constitution distinct features, rendering it one of the most original and remarkable of human associations. Carette, Féraud, Hanoteau, Sabatier, and other observers speak of it with amazement, and assure us that even the most cultured nations might learn much from these hitherto despised high landers.
Wherever military regulations or the civil administration have not arrested the free play of the old usages, every taddert, or village, constitutes a little self-governed commonwealth, in which rich and poor, young and old, have all alike their share. At the age of fifteen the youth becomes a citizen, and, if strong enough to shoulder his musket, has a right to vote; only he is expected to show to his elders the respect due to age. The jemâa, or assembly, composed of all the citizens of the several kharubas, meets once a week, oftener in cases of emergency, delivers sentence, and appoints those who have to give it effect. In the assembly are centred all powers, political, administrative, and judicial. It hears charges ​202 NOETH-WEST AFEICA. against persons accused of dishonourable acts, or of offences against the rites of hospitality, and its sentences usually take the form of fines, which go to replenish the communal coffers. But whoever brings disgrace on his tribe must leave it, the sentence of banishment being followed by the demolition of his house. Imprisonment is never inflicted on any one, freedom being too precious a treasure to be forfeited even by criminals. The bastinado and blows of any sort are also considered as degrading offender and executioner alike. Death was restricted tp cases of high treason, but every citizen retained the right of inflicting personal vengeance on his enemy. " Murder is a loan which must be repaid," says the local proverb. To administer the commune in the name of the jemaa, an amiti is chosen, usually amongst the wealthier classes, because no salary is attached to the office, lie is often even obliged to incur heavy expenses, and if he accepts the position of a public servant, he does so on the condition of acquiring nothing but a certain honourable distinction for himself and his family. He holds office so long as he performs his duty ; but the moment he ceases to give satisfaction to his fellow- citizens, he sees in their attitude of disapproval that the time has come for him to resi'i-n. without waiting for a formal vote of censure. Measures have also been devised to prevent him from favouring the interests of the xoff (majority) to the detriment of the minority. He is elected by the soff, but the minority always nominates the treasurer, who disposes of the revenues, and thus all interests are consulted. Moreover, each soff constitutes a sort of commune within the commune, and in alliance with the corresponding soffs of the neighbouring districts, and even of distant confederations. Associations of all sorts assume a thousand forms in Kabylia, at one time restricted to a particular branch of industry, at another embracing several family groups, and constituting one large family analogous to the Servian zadruga. But in all cases the responsibility of the associated members is of a joint character, the ** limited liability " principle of European companies being unknown amongst the Kabyles. Thanks to this spirit of republican solidarity, abject poverty is of rare occur- rence. Without sacrificing their personal dignity, those in temporary distress receive from the commune such aid as they stand in need of. Occasionally public repasts are held, in which rich and poor must all alike take part. The builder of a house claims by right the assistance of the whole village ; those engaged in manual labour, or in harvesting their crops, may also rely on their neighbours' help ; while a general corcee is instituted to till the land of those no longer able to work for themselves. Thus all claim and return mutual aid to all. Even towards the distressed stranger the Kabyle is bound to show friendship, guiding him through the storm, and giving hira food when pressed by hunger. During the terrible winter of 1867-8, when thousands of natives perished in the French settlements, mendicants flocked from all quarters towards the Jurjura highlands, where none were allowed to starve. It might be supposed that a nation divided into as many little democracies as there are villages, would be powerless against foreign aggression. On the contrary, ​KABYLIA. 268 it displayed greater strength than the little centralised Arab states, in which the subjects, following one letider, were vanquished or surrendered with him. In the presence of a common danger confederacies were formed between the different tribes, and young men hu8t<»ned from all j)arts, vowing to sacrifice their lives for the common weal. Before the battle the prayer for the dead was read over them by the marabuts, and they in truth seldom cared to survive defeat. All recognised the virtue of the anat/a, an Arabic word meaning " protection," but also used in the sense of " honour," sjKiken of as " the beneficent king of the Knbyles, who levies no taxes." Should war break out between the septs, the women were forth- ^ath placed under the joint anaya of the contending factions ; in the same way certain roads, districts, or days were reserved by being placed under the same collective guarantee, answering to the " truce of God," which in Europe afforded some respite from the everlasting feuds of Mediteval times. And now that the French in their turn have proclaimed the universal unaya amongst the tribes, they already feel themselves half assimilated to their new masters, and religiously observe the peace. Many are even proud of the pri^•ilege of naturalisation, and but for the fear of being rejected, whole tribes would ask to be enrolled as French citizens. Primary instruction daily spreading, and already obligatory and gratuitous in some communities, will soon raise the whole nation to the same level as many so-called " Aryan " peoples. Assuredly a bright future may be predicted for this brave and industrious race, which, under the name of " Arabs," has already rendered an immense service to mankind by preserving and developing in Spain the knowledge bequeathed by the Hellenic world, at a time when all science was threatened elsewhere with extinction under the night of the Middle Ages. Over the heights, terraces and headlands of Great Kabylia are scattered some fourteen hundred villages, some containing from two thousand to two thousand four hundred inhabitants. Although mostly forming a mere aggregate of huts pressed close together, a certain order may still be detected in the distribution of the different quarters. All persons belonging to the same family group constitute a kharuha, whose dwellings form a distinct district, while the streets or lanes of all the kharubas converge in the jem&a, or place of public assembly. In the centre of this open space an arcade between two houses serves to shelter the benches on which are seated the elders presiding over the popular gatherings. But even in the densely peopled Jurjura district there are no towns properly so called. Fort National, the military capital, is a mere collection of barracks, magazines, taverns, and a few private houses, with promenades and gardens, surrounded by an irregular enclosure, which follows the crest of the hill and falls from terrace to terrace down the steep slopes, whence a ^ iew is commanded of a vast horizon. The present fort was built in 1857, nearly in the geographical centre of Great Kabylia, in the midst of the powerful confederation of the Ait-Iraten tribe, whose black villages crown all the surrounding heights. The great elevation of Fort National (3,050 feet above the sea), giving it the military command of the whole country, prevents it from becoming a large centre of trade and population. ​An eminence in the Beni-Yenni territory, towards the south-west, is occupied by Beni-Yahsen (the Arab Beni-el Hassen), the largest Kabyle village in the whole of the Jurjura country. Here are four mosques and some sixty workshops, where arms and jewellery are manufactured.
Tizi-Uzu — Dellys — Menerville.
In the valleys of the Sebau and its tributaries, the European settlers have already founded several villages, such as Azuzga, Freha, Mekla, and Temda, which _
Besides the railway which will soon connect Tizi-Uzu with Algiers, another line is intended to ascend the valley of the Wed Bu-Gdura, towards the flourishing
village of Borj-Boghni, lying at the foot of a fortified hill. About 10 miles farther west lies the town of Dra-el-Mizan, which although no longer classed as a military post, occupies an important strategical position commanding the southern approach to Great Kabylia.
Tn the Lower Sebau Valley, some thriving places have recently sprung up, ​including Rebrval, Uled-Keddash, and Bois-SarréBois-Sarré. But Dellys or Deilis, the outport of the district, lies not at the mouth of the river, but more to the east, under a headland sheltering it from the north-west winds. It consists of one long street and a few lanes on the slope of a hill terminating at Dellys Point, where a breakwater,
intended to protect the roadstead from the north and east winds, has already been carried some 300 feet into the bay. A school of arts and industries, one of the chief institutions of the department of Algiers, has been founded in Dellys for the benefit of the surrounding Kabyle population. On the exposed coast, running ​eastwards, the only European stations are Tikzirt, near the little port of Taksebt, and Azefun (Zeffun), called also Port Guedon.
Near the waterparting between the sources of the Teser and the eastern slope of the Shelif stands the rising town of Berwagha, an important agricultural centre, where the French have established a model farm, a school of agriculture, and a rural convict station containing over a thousand criminals. Below the abrupt bend of the Isser round the hills of Great Kabylia lies Palestro, a flourishing place founded since the opening of the road which penetrates through the gorges of the river, and which is now accompanied by a railway. Since the massacre of some
fifty Europeans during a revolt of the natives in 1871, Palestro has been strengthened by a strong citadel commanding the surrounding district.
The plain opening north of the gorges is one of the most densely peopled in Algeria. Beni-Amran, on the slopes of the hills, is followed lower down by Blad-Guitun on the left, and Isserville near the right bank of the Isser, in the centre of the plain. Near this place is held the great market of the Isser tribe, formerly a rendezvous for all the inhabitants of Kabylia. But the French conquest has modified the economic conditions of the country, while the importance of this market has been further diminished by the foundation of Berj-Menaiel in the ​268 NORTH- WEST AFRICA. neighbourhood, and especially of the Alsatian colony of Azib-Zamun, officially known as Ilamsonvillers, some 6 miles farther down. Beyond this point the Isser winds through its broad valley to the coast near Cape Jinet, a bold basaltic headland not far from the site of the Roman station of CiHHi. About 4 miles west of the Isser market lies the broad Beni-Aisha Pass, at present occupied by the busy little town of Menerville. At this point the Tizi- Uzu branch effects a junction with the main line of railway between Constantine and Algiers. Algiers. Algiers, capital of the " African France," still bears its Arabic name of El- Jezair, or " the Islets," derived from four reefs now connected with the mainland. It was founded in the tenth century, on the ruins of the Roman Icosium, in the territory of the Beni-Mczghanna tribe, and already in the beginning of the sixteenth century it had become powerful enough to attract the attention of the Spaniards, whose occupation of the place, however, lasted only nineteen years. The pier, constructed by the famous Kheir-ed-Din by connecting the reefs with the mainland, created a sheltered and commodious harbour, which henceforth secured for Algiers the first rank amongst the towns on the exposed Mauritanian coast between Bougie and Mers-le-Kebir. For three centuries it bid defiance to Europe, thanks partly to the pusillanimity of some and the jealousy of others. Eleven times besieged or threatened in vain, it was for the first time compelled to lower tlie crescent to the British fleet under Lord Exmouth in 1816, and was definitely occupied by the French in 1830. At present Algiers holds the foremost position in Africa, not for its population, in which it is second to Cairo and probably also to Tunis, but as a centre for the diffusion of European culture throughout the continent. It is also unrivalled for its picturesque and imposing aspect, presenting a marvellous seaward view which leaves an indelible impression on the memory. Towards the crest of the hill crowned by the citadel is seen all that remains of the old town, which from a distance looks like a quarry of white marble strewn with irregular and rough-hewn blocks. But the native quarter, which formerly descended quite to the sea, now stops half-way, being arrested by the regular masses of European houses, which develop an extensive facade above the quays. South of the Arab town another quarter has sprung up along the slopes, consisting exclusively of modern dwellings, whose grey walls and red roofs contrast everywhere with the deep verdure of the surrounding gardens. Farther on the buildings are again abruptly interrupted by a green zone of grassy ramparts and wooded mounds. But at Mustapha, beyond the enclosures, the city is continued by the new and more open suburbs crowning every height, and affording a pleasant retreat to the English and other visitors who come to pass the winter season in the mild climate of Algiers. The narrow space enclosed between the cliffs and the sea has compelled the rising city to develop itself along the coast-line on both sides of the old town,
Southwards also the city is continued by the districts of Agha, Mustapha, and Belcourt, stretching away beyond the Bab-Azun, the gate where criminals were crucified, dead or alive. The united communes of Algiers, Saint-Eugène, and Mustapha have a total length of some 6 miles, although, at many points hemmed in between the hills and the sea, the city is scarcely more than 200 yards broad.
Notwithstanding this rapid expansion, the "Place du Gouvernement," forming the largest open space, has remained the chief centre of life and traffic, as it was ​during the first period of the French occupation. Round it are grouped the "New" Mosque, with its town clock, the principal market, the Great Mosque, the Catholic cathedral, the Governor's palace, the Hôtel de Ville, and most other
public buildings. Here also converge all the busiest thoroughfares, and from this point radiate nearly all the highways for the outskirts and the inland towns.
In the city the population has grouped itself in separate zones according to its origin. The French occupy all the new quarters, while the Neapolitans, ​Spaniards, and Maltese gravitate towards the lower parts in the neighbourhood of the port and the fisheries. The Jews, who own about half of the shops in the French districts, reside chiefly half-way down the slope between the Christians
and the Mussulmans, the latter being still mainly confined to the labyrinth of slums stretching thence upwards to the kasbah. This Mussulman quarter, which has undergone no change since the conquest, is inhabited, as in the time of the Deys, by a motley gathering of Kabyles, members of the Mzab tribe, immigrants ​from the Tugurt, Wargla, and Sûf oases, and Bambara, Haussa, and other Negroes from Sudan. An ethnographic survey of the upper town may thus be compared to a journey in the interior as far as Timbuktu.
Notwithstanding the lofty and somewhat imposing structures erected under the French administration, the most interesting monuments are undoubtedly those
that date from the Mohammedan period. But of these but few have survived. Of the mosques, numbering over one hundred and sixty, not more than twenty now remain, including the graceful mosque of Abd-er-Rahman Et-Tsalbi, whose elegant minaret rises above the foliage of the Marengo gardens near the ​Beb-el-Wed. Some fine Moorish houses, all constructed on a uniform plan, have been preserved in the lower part of the Arab quarter; but even these have in some cases lost their characteristic features, being now arranged and fitted up European fashion. One of the most picturesque Moorish buildings is the public monument containing the library of thirty thousand volumes, and the valuable collections of the arcæological and historical museum. Amongst these are a Venus, a Neptune from Shershell, and the gruesome plaster casting of a prisoner immured alive in the walls of a fortress.
From the material standpoint, Algiers, which has already undergone so many changes, urgently calls for still further modifications, such as the removal of the coast batteries preventing its natural development north and south, and the
military lines, forming a zone of over 370 acres, which hem it in on all sides, As a military stronghold, Algiers has lost most of its importance under the altered conditions of modern warfare. The proper site of forts intended to defend the city is clearly indicated by the crests of the hills on the coast. There is further need of an abundant supply of good water; the streets also require to be properly paved in order to abate the dust nuisance, and the drainage works should forthwith be completed, in order to get rid of a still more offensive and dangerous nuisance.
The port itself remains to be finished, in its present state being inferior to many artificial harbours in the Mediterranean, although the piers already ​constructed enclose a basin some 230 acres in extent. This space, however, is not yet sufficiently sheltered from the north-east winds, during the prevalence of which large vessels occasionally break from their moorings. To obviate this danger it is proposed to divide the basin into two parts by means of another pier connecting the islet of Algefna with the mainland.
As a port of call, Algiers is much frequented by the French navy, and periodically by a large number of steamers plying in the Mediterranean waters, although a daily service has not yet been established with any of the French seaports. The local fisheries are very productive, but owing to the defective communications with
the interior the coasting trade is less developed than that of Bougie or Philippeville. The approaches from the west are guarded by the fortified headland of Sidi-Ferrush (Sidi-Fejej)), where the French troops disembarked on June 14, 1830, and where the first skirmishes with the Dey's forces were followed five days after by the battle of Staweli, which opened the road to Algiers. In the neighbourhood of Staweli are some megalithic remains, and here a flourishing Trappist establishment has brought under cultivation some 3,000 acres of land.
The Sahel, or coast district south and south-west of Algiers, has also been ​largely reclaimed. On its highest point stands the health-resort of La Bouzaréa (Bu-Zarea), whence is commanded un extensive view of land and water. South and south-west stretches the crest of the Sahel, crowned with villas and hamlets. Near El-Biur stands the massive Fort de l'Empereur, and farther south lies Dwéra, the chief town of the Sahel.
South-east of Algiers, on tho route skirting the Sahel, the line of coast villages between Belcourt and Hussein-dey is interrupted by the Hamma plantations, some 200 acres in extent, which were laid out in 1832 for the purpose of studying the
acclimatisation of useful plants. The experiment has proved most successful, and few other cities, even in tropical climates, can show finer avenues of palms, magnolias, bamboos, and banyans. But an ostrich farm attached to the gardens has not succeeded. Near Hamma the Negroes of Algiers celebrate their annual "bean-feast," at which is sacrificed an ox crowned with chaplets and decked with gay ribbons.
South and west of the capital stretches the vast semicircular plain of the Mitija for a distance of 60 miles, and varying in breadth from 10 to 12 miles. This ​276 NOETU-WEST AFRICA. lying and unhealthy swampy tract has been gradually reclaimed with great labour and risk by the European settlers, and although still partly under scrub, is now on the whole the best cultivated district in Algeria. Beyond Menerville, on the route between Great Kabylia and the Mitija, the first large town is Alma, and in the neighbouring Ilamiz Valley the chief place is Fonduk, formerly an important station on the route to the Upper Isser. Fonduk lies 4 miles below the vast barrage which dams up for irrigation purposes some 500,000,000 cubic feet of water, and beyond it the Hamiz enters the district of Ruiba, another large village with a departmental school of agriculture. Between the mouth of the river and Cape Matifu are the ruins of the Roman city of RusguHia, which have supplied the materials for many buildings in Algiers. In the southern district of the Wed Harrash basin the chief places are Roviyo and Sidi-Mussa. In a gorge of the Upper Harrash, 5 miles south of Rovigo, are the saline thermal springs of Ilammam Melwan, frequented by the surrounding Arabs, and even by the Jews and Moors of Algiers. The Maison-Carree, so named from a Turkish barracks now used as a prison, has become the centre of a rapidly increasing population in the same basin, at the point where the railway from Algiers branches off eastwards to Constantine, and westwards to Oran. Like nusnein-dci/, it may be regarded as an industrial suburb of the capital, from which it is distant about 6 miles. A slight eminence in the centre of the Mitija plain is occupied by Bnforik, whose market has from remote times been frequented by the surrounding Arab tribes. Its fairs are still visited by thousands of natives, with whom are now associated the European settlers, whose patient industry has gradually converted this malarious swampy district into a fertile garden. A few miles to the east is Shcbli, noted for its excellent tobacco. B I.I HA KOLE A TiPAZA. Blida, the chief town in the ALitija basin, although an ancient place, is first mentioned in Mediaeval times, when it appears to have borne the name of Mitija, like the plain whose southern section it commands. Under the Turkish rule it became a retreat for the wealthy inhabitants of Algiers ; but in the earthquake of 1825 its buildings were overthrown, and half the population buried, under the ruins. Then came the sieges and assaults attending the French conquest, reducing it to a heap of ruins when finally occupied in 1839. Hence the new town presents a thoroughly Euroix;an aspect, preserving scarcely a single mosque and a few Arab houses of the former epoch. Of all Algerian towns it abounds most in orange groves, the mandarine variety of which is famous throughout the world. Thanks to the abundant waters of the Wed-el-Kebir, flowing -from the Beni-Salah hills, it also possesses some mills and factories. Blida will soon become the starting-point of a railway, which penetrates southwards into the Shiffa valley in the direction of
gardens and plantations, stands in the neighbourhood of the springs, at an altitude of 2,000 feet above sea-level.
North of the Mitija, the Lower Mazafran basin is commanded by the town of Kolea, which during the first period of the conquest possessed great strategical importance as an advanced outpost beyond the Algerian Sahel. The Moors of Kolea, at present far less numerous than the French and other foreign settlers, are of Andalusian origin, having founded this place about the middle of the sixteenth century. On the highest point of the neighbouring hills stands the ancient tomb of Kobr-er-Rumia, or "Tomb of the Christian Lady," a cylindrical mass with a ​peristyle of sixty columns, and surrounded by a graded cone over 100 feet high, which was probably surmounted by a statue. This monument has been identified with that mentioned by Pomponius Mela as the common mausoleum of a royal family, probably that of Scylax.
At the western extremity of the Mitija stands the picturesque village of Marengo, one of the chief agricultural centres of the whole district. Its fertile fields and gardens are irrigated by an artificial lake on the Wed Meurad, formed by a dam which retains about 70,000,000 cubic feet, with a discharge of nearly 100 gallons per second. Below Marengo the Wed Meurad, after its junction with the Wed Burkika, is known as the Nador, which penetrates a gorge overlooked by the escarpments of the Shenwa, and reaches the coast near the little port of Tipaza.
This place has succeeded an ancient Roman city, which has been partly submerged either by subsidence of the ground, or by some phenomenon of local erosion. Burkika itself is a name of fatal memory, this district having proved the grave of many unhappy exiles banished during the first years of the Second Empire. The true name of the river, written Wed Meurad in the French official nomenclature, would appear to be Wed-el-Merdh, or the "River of Maladies."
Shershell — Tenes — Boghari.
The almost isolated Dahra uplands, skirted on the south by the valley of the Shelif, and connected with the rest of the northern highlands by the low sill under ​which passes the Algiers-Oran railway, contain only four towns, two of which, Shershell and Tenes, lie on the coast, and a third, Miliana, on a headland overlooking the Shelif Valley. Nor are there many French settlements in a district from which the colonists are repelled by the rugged character of the soil and the deficient supply of water.
Shershell, lying west of the Shenwa heights, is one of the old cities of Algeria. Twice restored, by the Andalusian Moors and again by the French, it appears at the dawn of history under the Punic appellation of Iol. But its fame dates from
the Roman epoch, when Juba the Younger made it the capital of his kingdom, and gave it the name of Cæsarea, which it still retains under the greatly modified form of Shershell. This "most splendid colony of Cæsarea" has left numerous monuments, notably the thermal baths, where was found the beautiful statue known as the "Venus of Shershell," now removed to the museum of Algiers. In 1840, when the modern French town was built on the old ruins, a perfectly preserved hippodrome was discovered, which has since become a mere depression in the ground, the materials having been carried off for building purposes. ​Standing between two columns on the route to Zurich are still visible the superb remains of a triple-arched aqueduct, which supplied several extensive cisterns, and which is the only monument of the Roman epoch that has been restored. Shershell also possesses a small museum, the most interesting object in which is the fragment of an Egyptian statue. The port, about 5 acres in extent, is formed by a cirque protected from the north-west winds by the islet of Joinville. But it is exposed to the dangerous north winds, during the prevalence of which it is inaccessible to shipping.
West of Shershell follow the modern settlements of Novi and Guraia, and the ruins of the ancient Gunugis, the latter occupying near the mouth of the Wed Dahmus a much better position as a seaport than the neighbouring Tenes. This place, lying almost in the centre of the Dahra coast between Tipaza and Mostaganem, owes its relative importance rather to the iron, copper, lead, and silver mines of the surrounding district. Successor of the Roman Cartennæ (or "Car Tenne", that is "Cape Tennæ," in Berber), it consists of two quarters, the old town ​probably occupying the site of the old Phœnician settlement, and Tenes, properly so called, standing half a mile farther down at the mouth of the Wed Allula. Ite port, lying to the north-east, forms an artificial basin 60 acres in extent, well sheltered, but inaccessible in rough weather.
The inhabitants of the Dahra uplands are mostly of Berber origin, and some of the tribes, such us the Zeriffas and Ashashas, who live near the coast to the south-west of Tenes, till recently spoke a dialect akin to that of the Kabyles, But elsewhere the speech and customs of the Arabs have long prevailed, and most of ​the tribes live in tents, their love of trees alone betraying their Berber blood. In the centre of the district is the pleasant little town of Masuna, which lies in a charming valley watered by streams flowing to the Shelif. Mazuna is the birthplace of Mohammed Ben Ali-es-Senûsi, founder of the powerful order which everywhere preaches a return to the pure teachings of Islam, and hatred of Turk and Christian alike. Farther west, the heights of Nekmaria are crowned with an
old fort, beneath which are the stalactite caves of unhappy memory, where, in 1845, Pélissier caused the Uled-Riah tribe to be smoked to death.
Medea — Mostaganem — Matamore.
Medea, the Midia or Lemdia of the Arabs, occupies in the Shelif basin one of
the highest points of the highlands skirting the northern side of the Mitija plain. It stands at an altitude of over 3,000 feet, near the southern foot of Mount Nador (3,470 feet), whence are visible the crests of all the surrounding heights from the Warsenis to the Jurjura highlands. Medea, former capital of the Titteri district, ​was one of the most fiercely contested towns in Algeria during the first period of the conquest. Here is a remarkable two-arched aqueduct; but few other remains have been found of the Roman city which has been replaced by the modern town. The district yields excellent corn, wine, and vegetables.
After receiving the streams flowing from the Medea and Jendel hills, the Shelif sweeps by the eminence occupied by Amura, the "Fortunate," successor of the Roman Sufasar. Beyond this point it trends westwards, and near Lavarande enters the broud low-lying plain traversed by the railway between Algiers and Oran. North-east of Lavarande the nearly horizontal terrace of Zakkar-el-Gharbi is
occupied by the town of Miliana, at an altitude of 2,460 feet. From this commanding position a view is afforded of the vast amphitheatre of blue hills stretching beyond the sharp peaks of the Warsenis. The present town, rebuilt by the French, preserves no remains of the Roman Malliana, and very few of the more recent Arab buildings. The neighbouring vineyards yield a highly esteemed wine.
West of Affreville and Lavarande in the Shelif Valley follow several populous villages, such as Duperré and Saint-Cyprien des Attaf, the latter noteworthy as the only Arab community converted to Catholicism. Its members, however, are exclusively orphans or foundlings rescued during the famine of 1867, and brought ​up aloof from their kindred. Farther on the railway passes by Wed Fodda, some miles below which Orléansville, capital of the Lower Shelif Valley, was founded in 1843 on the site of El-Asnam. Here stood the church of the Oppidum Tingitei, dating from the fourth century, of which a crypt and mosaic pavement still remain.
Near the confluence of the Shelif and Wed Riu stands the large village of Inkermann, while the neighbouring Mount Guezzul (3,580 feet) is occupied by Tiaret (Tiharet, Tihert), which in 1843 succeeded as capital of the district to Takdemt, or New Tiaret, chosen by Abd-el-Kader in 1886 as the central stronghold
of his kingdom, and destroyed by the French in 1841. South-west of the two Tiarets, and in the same basin of the Mina, lies the Berber town of Frenda, east of which three northern spurs of the Jebel Akhdar, or "Green Hills," are surmounted by the so-called jedars, quadrangular structures some 60 feet high, terminating above in step pyramids. On the neighbouring cliffs are some prehistoric sculptures and colossal dolmens, one of whose blocks is said to be no less than 150 feet long.
Tiaret will coon be connected, by a railway already in progress, with the ancient town of Mostaganem, which stands near the coast on a cliff over 300 feet high, divided by a ravine into two quarters. To the east is the military town of ​286 NOETH-WEST AFEICA. Matamore, to the west Mostaganem proper, which has been almost entirely rebuilt in the European style. During the sway of Kheired-Din in the sixteenth century Mostaganem was one of the great cities of Algeria, and before the opening of the Algiers-Oran railway it formed the commercial centre of the Shelif basin. At present it has fallen to the position of a secondary town with an exposed roadstead, and without railway communication with the interior. South and west are some populous villages, of which the largest is Abukir, and the most celebrated Mazagran, memorable for the gallant defence of its small French garrison in 1840. Near the source of the river Makta lies the modern town of Sau/a, which is the central station of the railway running from Arzeu across the plateaux, beyond the region of the shotts, in the direction of the southern wastes. Some six miles farther south is the large village of Ain-el-IIajar, a centre of the alfa industry, peopled almost exclusively by Spaniards. On a southern terrace of the Beni- Shugran uplands stands Mascara, or the " permanent camp," a former capital of Algeria, and at present one of the chief towns of an arrondissement in the province of Oran. As a commercial and agricultural centre Mascara still enjoys consider- able importance. About 12 miles to the south-west are the mineral waters of Bu-IIancfia, known to the Romans under the name of Aqiice. Sirenses. In the Mascara district prehistoric monuments, as well as the remains of large extinct animal sj^ecies, are numerous. Here were found the skeletons of the elephas ntlanticus, and of a variety of the camel, showing that this animal, which was not found in Mauritania during the early historic period, formed part of the local fauna at an older geological epoch. Perr^gaux, wjiich marks the spot where the Algiers-Oran and Arzeu-Saida railways cross each other, enjoys some importance as a depot for agricultural produce. The district is watered by canals derived from the Habra, in whose valley has been constructed the largest artificial lake in Algeria, containing at times some 1,400,000,000 cubic feet of water. Its barrage, which is 1,480 feet long and 110 feet high, and which has occasionally given way, was constructed by a financial company which farms a domain of 65,000 acres in the Macta valley below the Ilabra and Sig confluence. The centre of this estate is Debrousseville, which is surrounded by extensive vineyards. Arzeu — Oran. Notwithstanding its Arab name, Sidi bel Abbes, on the banks of the Mekerra (Sig), is quite a modem place, dating only from the year 1845. It is the capital of an arrondissement and one of the most charming and flourishing towns in Algeria. North of it and on the same river lies the new town of Saint- Denis, in the centre of a rich and well-cultivated district. Beyond this point the Macta, formed by the junction of the Sig and Ilabra, reaches the coast near the little harbour of Port anx Ponies, north-west of which is the flourishing seaport of Arzeti, one of the best havens on the exposed Algerian seaboard. Occupying the site of ​the Roman Portus Magnus, Arzeu has of late ycurs acquired fresh importance os the terminus of tho railway which taps the alfa districts of the upland plateaux. Besides alfa, it exports salt, chlorine, soda, and other chemicals, either collected or
manufactured on the banks of the saline Lake El-Melah, in which basin about two million tons of salt are yearly deposited. Some Roman ruins are scattered along the beach, at one spot numerous enough to take the name of "Old Arzeu." In ​the neighbourhood the largest places are Saint-Leu and Saint-Cloud, the latter forming the intermediate station between Arzeu and Oran.
Oran, the Wahran or Guharan of the Arabs and Turks, is the first commercial mart in Algeria, and for a time rivalled Algiers itself in wealth and population. Founded at the beginning of the tenth century by the Andalusian Moors, it soon acquired importance, thanks to the neighbouring harbour of Mers-el-Kebir, or the "Great Port," sheltered by the Jebel Santon headland from the dangerous north and north-west winds. This harbour of refuge, the Portus Divinus of the Romans,
is encircled by steep cliffs, affording no space for a large town. Hence Oran lies at the extremity of the bay, where the hills disappear, leaving a wide opening landwards. From the strategic point of view this breach also offers great advantages, being defended by a natural fortress, adding greatly to the strength of the enclosures.
towards the centre of the town, on the intermediate terrace separating the marina from the railway station.
In Oran the French, including the naturalised Jews, are still exceeded in number by the Spaniards, who monopolise some of the local industries. The Mussulmans, who form a very small minority of diverse origin, are mostly confined to the southern district of Jahli, commonly known as the "Black Village." But whatever their nationality or religion, the inhabitants are almost exclusively occupied with trade, although science and letters are represented by the most important geographical and archeological society in Algeria, besides a library and small museum occupying a part of the town hall. Here alfa grass, mineral ​290 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. ores, and com are shipped in exchange for European wares. A pier over half a mile long, which springs from the foot of Fort Laraoune (La Moune, Mona), advances to depths of Go feet, enclosing a space of about 60 acres, divided by secondary piers into secondary basins, which afford sufficient accommodation for the largest vessels. The great advantage of the port of Oran is its proximity to Spain, being only 120 miles, or eight hours by steam from Carthagena. Its total yearly trade, which has doubled during the last ten years, now exceeds 1,230,000 tons, exclusive of the local fisheries, valued kt about £30,000. West of the Jebel Santon stretches the so-called Plain of the Andalusians, si triano-ular tract terminating northwards at Cape Falcon, and laid out in vineyards dotted over with pleasant liamlets. It takes its name from the Andalusian Moors, who after their expulsion from Spain settled here in large numbers. Four miles south of this point the unfinished railway branching off from the main line to Alo-iors in the direction of Marocco passes by MiHserghin, one of the chief agri- cultural centres of the department. Near the neighbouring sebkha, which has already been partly drained, follow at short intervals the towns of Bu-TkHs, Lurtnel and Ef-Rahel, and beyond the Rio Salado, but still in the same basin, Ain-Tcmusheut, the Timici of the Romans, on a high cliff in a rich mineral district. South of this place are the famous onyx mines of Ain-Tckbaiek, already known to the Romans, and still the richest in the province. Tlemcen — Nemours. In the basin of the Upper Isser, an eastern branch of the Tafna, the chief commune is that of Lamoriciere, a future station of the railway intended to connect Oran with Tlemcen through Sidi-bel- Abbes. Tlemcen, on a small affluent of the Isser, at the northern foot of a rocky eminence over 2,600 feet high, ranks fifth for population and first for historic memories of all the Algerian towns. It is pleasantly situated on a terrace planted with fruit-trees of all sorts, whence the Roman colony took the name of Pomaria. But the Roman settlement lay more to the south-east, where are still visible the remains of Agadir, or the " Ramparts." Its materials served as a quarry to build the western towij of Tagrart, now known as Tlemcen, which became the metropolis of the great Zenata Berber confederation. Frequently besieged, stormed, wasted with hunger and the sword, if nevertheless rose to great power during the fifteenth century, when it was said to contain twenty- five thousand families. At that flourishing epoch it rivalled the great European cities as a centre of trade, the industries, wealth, the arts and sciences; like Cordova, Seville, and Grenada, it furnished a fresh proof of the high degree of culture to which the Berber race is capable of attaining. The minarets and cupolas of its mosques, its carvings and mural arabesques perpetuate the renown of the Zenata artists, while the chronicles record the artistic marvels displayed at the Court of Tlemcen, ​Here long resided Ibn-Khaldun, the famous author of the "History of the Berbers."
Tlemcen passed from the Spaniards to the Turks in 1553, when most of the inhabitants emigrated to Marocco; and after its occupation by the French in 1842
it was mostly rebuilt in the European style, with regular streets and squares, uniform military and municipal buildings. But what remains of the old town is still distinguished for its picturesque appearance, quaint Moorish houses, and ​handsome Berber mosques, Amongst its architectural curiosities are the nave of
the Great Mosque, supported on seventy-two columns, and especially that of Abu-'l-Hasean, disposed in three sections supported on onyx columns. One of the ​inscriptions collected in the museum is the epitaph on the tomb of Boabdil, last king of Grenada, who died here, and not, as traditionally supposed, in Marocco.
At El-Eubbad, over a mile to the south-east of Tlemcen, stands the famous kubba
of Sidi Bu-Medin, the learned Andalusian Moor, who taught at Bagdad and in Spain during the twelfth century. Other historic monuments of some interest are ​found at Mansura, 2 miles to the south-west, including a graceful minaret over 130 feet high, half of which, built, according to the local legend, by Christian hands, has become detached longitudinally, leaving the portion erected by the faithful intact.
The European settlement of Remchi, conveniently situated below the confluence of the Isser and Tafna, forms the chief station between Tlemcen and its natural outport, Beni-Saf, which, notwithstanding a badly protected harbour, does an active
export trade, especially in the excellent iron ores worked by over one thousand miners in the neighbouring metalliferous district. Over a mile from the mouth of the Tafna lies the island of Rashgun, the Arshgul of the Arabs, which affords a shelter to the approaches of the river. Near the lighthouse at the north end of the island are the ruins of an Arab town, and other remains are strewn over the whole seaboard. North-east of Beni-Saf stand the vestiges of the Roman port of ​Camarata. South of Rashgun are the scattered stones of Takebrit, or the "Vaults," occupying the site of the ancient Siga, and to the west the fragments of an ancient enclosure not far from Cape Honein, a name transformed by seafarers into that of Noah, At this point, overlooked by the escarpments of the Jebel Tajara, stood the important Arab town of Honein, one of the outports of Tlemcen before the conquest of Oran by the Spaniards.
Between the Tafna and the Murocco frontier the modern French seaport of Nemours occupies the site of the Arab town of Jemâa-el-Ghazawat (Rasaat), the
Roman Ad Fratres. This Latin name is explained by the two rocks, still known as the "Two Brothers," which lie off the coast to the west; while the Arabic appellation of the "Corsairs' Mosque" recalls the time when this creek was a nest of pirates. East of the city rises the bluff on which stood the corsairs' stronghold and mosque. The port is not sufficiently sheltered to give access at all times to the steamers and sailing-vessels which place Nemours in direct communication with Oran and with the Spanish ports of Melilla on the Marocco coast, and Almeria and Malaga on the opposite Andalusian seaboard. Like the Berber town of Nedroma, lying 14 miles to the south, it is surrounded by hills, which abound in rich iron, manganese, and other mineral ores. Near the kubba of Sidi-Brahim, to the ​296 NORTH- WEST AFEICA. south-west, the Arab war of independence was brought to a close by the surrender of Abd-el-Kader in 1847. Compared with the coastlands and uplands of the Tell, the southern plateaux and regions draining to the Sahara are very sparsely peopled, the Arab and Berber tribes here occupying vast spaces out of all proportion to their numbers, while the French settlers, exclusive of the naturalised Jews, numbered scarcely five thousand altogether in 1881. Yet the ruins of Roman towns and farmsteads in the upland valleys of the Aures and other districts show that many of these extensive tracts enjoy a soil and climate highly favourable to European civilisation. Aures — Batna. The Aures, or Auras, properly so called — that is, the "Cedar Mountains," accord- ing to some etymologists — is comprised between the course of the Wed-el-Kantara and that of the Wed-el-Arab, and is inhabited exclusively by peoples of Berber speech, but of diverse origin. Although there has evidently been much displace- ment of populations since the Roman epoch, the country was never occupied by the Turks nor reduced by the French till the year 1845. Yet the latter are already regarded as the descendants of the " Ruman," or old Roman colonists, and the inscriptions and other local monuments constitute in the eyes of the natives their most legitimate title to the possession of Algeria. "The Rumi, sons of the Rumsln, have only resumed the patrimony of their fathers." To these are attributed all the ruins of the land, and especially the circular graves still scattered in hundreds over the uplands of the Mons Aurasius. Roman blood probably betrays itself in the prevalent fair type, and some of the most important tribes even as far south as the Saharian oases still bear the name of Rumaniya. The current Berber dialect retains many Latin terms, such as the names of the months, hignu (from pinm P), the cedar-tree, bu ini {bonus annus^, the salutation at the New Year, and others. Although traditionally converted to Islam by a certain " Saint " Sidi Abdullah, before the French occupation most of the natives were Mohammedans only in name. But Arabic having been adopted as the official language, both the Arab speech and religion have since been widely diflPused amongst these Berber high- landers. The indigenous dialects, Zenatia in the eastern, Tmazirt (Tem&zirha) in the western districts, often take the general name of Teshawit (vulgarly Shawia), from the Arabic Shawi, " Shepherds," and this term is even collectively applied to all the Algerian Berbers, except the Kabyles. The rising French settlement of Khemhela^ conveniently situated at the con- verging point of several fertile valleys, commands the north-eastern Aures district. It occupies the site of the Roman M'lacula, and numerous ruins are found, especially towards the north in the direction of the old Roman town of Bagai. Megalithic monuments, such as graves surrounded by a circle of stones, are also scattered in thousands over this region. Sidi-Nnji, at the south-eastern extremity of the Aures, in the Wed-el-Arab basin, is noted for its handsome mosque, and in the district ​are several influential zawyas (religious communities), such as that of Khairan in the Jebel Sheshar, and Liana near the old Roman military post of Bades (Ad Badias).
West of the Tizugarin pass stretches the extensive plain which seems destined to become the centre of European colonisation in the Aures, but whose rich pastures are meantime held in common by all the branches of the Ulud-Daud tribe. Here begins the valley of the Wed-el-Abiad, which has a south-westerly course, losing itself in the Sahara below the Tranimin gorges. The nearly parallel Wed Abdi Valley is held by the brave Ulad-Abdi tribe, whose stronghold
of Nara was razed by the French in 1850. The present capital of the tribe is Menaa, which may be regarded as the central point of the Aures highlands.
Batna, commanding the northern districts of this region, is at once an important military station and the chief administrative centre in the southern portion of the province of Constantine. It occupies between the Aures and Tugueur uplands a position analogous to that of Khenshela, lying in a plain which affords direct communication in one direction with the Rummel, in another with the Hodna basin. Here converge all the more important natural routes south ​of Constantine ; hence the neighbouring Lambæsis (Lambessa), had been chosen by
the Romans as the head-quarters of the famous Tertia Augusta legion, and the centre of Numidia Miliciana. ​
Lambessa.
The New Lambæsis (Nouvelle Lambèse), as Batna was at first officially called, cannot pretend to rival the spleadours of the old Lambæsis, the Tuzzut of the
Berbers, which covered an area of several square miles, and whose remarkable ruins are still far from having been thoroughly explored. Here Léon Rénier ​alone deciphered over one thousand inscriptions, and the great collection of "Algerian Inscriptions" already contains over fifteen hundred from this place, including some of great historic value. The sites have been determined of two camps, one that of the Third Legion, the best preserved of all in the Roman world. In its centre still stands a large portion of the Prætorium, now converted into a museum. Of the forty triumphal arches seen by Peyssonnel in the last century, when the city was still almost entire, four only are now standing. Most of the other buildings, except the tombs lining the Roman way, have also been demolished _ to supply materials for the construction of barracks, houses, and prisons.
The present capital of the extensive Hodna basin is Bu-Sâda, the "Happy Abode," a picturesque place perched on the brow of a hill in the midst of gardens and palm-groves. Since the French occupation in 1849 its trade has been considerably developed, and its commercial relations now extend northwards to the coast towns, southwards to the oases of the Sahara. South of this place the powerful confederation of the Nail Arabs occupies a vast territory, stretching westwards to the Jebel Amur, eastwards to the Zibân district. These Arabs, ​enclosing his tomb has become the religious metropolis of the whole country, and one of the famous schools of Mussulman law in Algeria.
The capital of the archipelago is Tolga, a great religious centre, with some fifteen mosques and a zawya even more powerful than that of Sidi Okba, attracting to its school of Arab jurisprudence as many as one thousand students. Its political influence also, always conciliatory towards the French, makes itself felt as far as the Tunisian frontier. In the Lishana oasis, north-west of Tolga, a few ruins mark
the site of Zaacha, which after its heroic defence and destruction by the French in 1849, has never been rebuilt.
Wed Righ — Tugurt.
The Ruagha (Rurha, Ruara), or inhabitants of the Righ, numbering about thirteen thousand, belong to the Zenata Berber family ; but their dark colour and Negroid features betray a large intermixture
Fig. 134. — The Wed Righ Oasis.
of black blood. Of late years their material condition has greatly improved. They now raise large crops of barley; most of them have become independent proprietors of palm groves, and fac have paid off the claims of the usurers, by whom they had formerly been reduced almost to the condition of serfs.
Tugurt, with its hundred and seventy thousand palm-trees, is the natural capital of the Wed Righ, and the oldest oasis in this region. It lies below the under- ground confluence of the Wed Miya and Igharghar, 230 feet above the sea, at the eastern foot of a plateau rising several hundred fect higher. Its form is that of an oval enclosed by a broad but now dricd-up ditch, beyond which it is protected by a mound from the ever-encroaching sands. Since the French occupation, in 1854 the population has doubled, and many of the old earthen or adobe houses have been replaced by dwellings constructed with blocks of gypsum, with galleries and upper stories. Suburbs have sprung up beyond the enclosures, and its trade and industries have been greatly developed. About 8 miles to the south is the religious metropolis of Temassin, containing the zawya of Tamelhat, a branch of the Ain-Mahdi confraternity, but now enjoying more authority than the mother-house, its influence being felt as far as Senegal.
Sûf, the most isolated of all the Algerian oases, lies about 60 miles east of Tugurt, on the route to Jerid. Here the Wed Sûf, whose waters are nowhere visible on the surface, maintains a group of ten oases, with a hundred and eighty ​thousand palms, yielding dates of an excellent quality, besides other fruit-trees, such as the orange, apricot, fig, and in the shade, vegetables and tobacco. But like most of the Suharian oases, these gardens belong not to the cultivators, but to the warlike nomads, who claim the larger share of the crops. Grouped under the general name of Trûd, and associated with the Rebaïas, Ferjans, and other marauders, these Arab pastors, who aro said to have arrived in the district towards the end of the fourteenth century, pitch their tents in the neighbourhood of the oases, leaving the cultivation of the land entirely in the hands of the industrious Adwans.
El-Wed, the chief of the Sûf oases, comprises a group of about one thousand
houses, and like others in the neighbourhood, is the seat of a religious confraternity, which maintains commercial and friendly relations with all the brotherhoods of North Africa. Guemar and Kwinin are also populous communities; but most of the inhabitants of Kwinin are nearly blind, from the action of the fine sand with which the air is frequently charged. The Sûf is the only part of the Sahara in which recent marine shells, a buccinum and a balanus, have hitherto been found. But most geologists are of opinion that these isolated shells are not now in situ, but have been brought from a distance by natural agencies.
Like the oases of the Wed Righ, those of the Wed Jeddi belong also to the ​basin of the "inland sea," if this term can be any longer applied to the saline depression of the Shott Melghigh. More than half of Southern Algeria draining towards the Sahara, from the Jebel Amur to the Tunisian frontier, forms part of this basin, the central reservoir of which is at present almost dry.
Laghwat — Mzab.
The watercourse flowing from the rising village of Aflu, capital of the Amur
regions in the province of Algeria. Already connected with Algiers by a carriage road, Ijaghwut (El-Aghwat) seems destined to become the starting-point of the future railway projected in the direction of the Twat oasis. Although standing at an altitude of 2,470 feet, it lies beyond the border ranges of the Algerian plateau, from which it is separated by the valley of. the Mzi, which a few miles farther down takes the name of Je<ldi. An irrigation canal derivinl from this stream circulates through the oasis, winding away between two hills to the plains beyond. On these hills are perched the houses of Laghwat, disposed in amphitheatrical form along the slopes. Like those of other Berber towns, the inhabitants were formerly grouped in two distinct quarters, according to their origin. In the public assembly were etjually represented the Ulad-Serghins of the west, the eastern Ahlafs, and the southern Ulad-el-Haj-Aissa, or "Sons of the Pilgrim Aissa." One of the present Laghwat confraternities belongs to the famous Senfisiya brotherhood. The fifteen thousand palms of Laghwat, which yield dates of indifferent quality, occupy a part of the oasis, the rest of the land being planted with European fruits, such as peaches, pears, apricots, figs, pomegranates, and vegetables, especially onions, besides some olive, lemon, and orange trees. These varied products are largely exported by caravans, mostly under the escort of members of the Larbaa Arab confederacy, who are nearly all affiliated to the Tij&niya confraternity. Below Laghwat the Jeddi traverses districts which in many cases might be brought under cultivation. If properly irrigated, the rich alluvial soil in the depressions, several hundred feet thick, would yield abundant crops. After receiving the waters of the Demraed, flowing from the mountain gorges near the picturesque hamlets of MessAd and Demmed, belonging to the Ulad-Nail tribe, the Jeddi continues its intermittent course across an extensive steppe region frequented by nomad pastors. The oases, projierly so-called, reaj)pear in its lower valley south of the Zab Dahri. Here the most populous settlement is that of the Ulad- Jellals, which comprises no less than fourteen hundred houses, each surrounded by its palms and garden-plot, and possessing its own well sunk to the underground reservoir. The Ulad-Jellals are separated by a feud of long standing from their western neighbours, the inhabitants of the Sidi KhaUd oasis. Ghardaya. South of the sandy and steppe regions frequented by the Ulad-Nail, Larba&, Hajej, and Harazlia tribes, the Beni-Mzab confederation occupies the eastern slopes of the cretaceous plateaux travers(»d by the Wed if zab and other surface and underground streams, which flow eastwards in the direction of the Wed Miya. Lying nearly 1*20 miles south of the advanced French station of Laghwat, the religious and trading Mzabite republic endeavoured long to maintain its political independence; but it was fain, in 1H50, to recognise the suzerainty of France. Its capital, Ghardaya, was seized seven years afterwards by a French ​310 NORTH-WEST APRICA. detachment ; lastly, in 1882, its annexation was formally proclaimed, a fort erected above Gliardaya receiving the small garrison which was here stationed to represent the new Government. Th^ Mzabites. Although of undoubted Berber descent, and speaking the language of the Kabyles and Tuaregs, the Mzabites are allied in dogma and rites with the AVahabites of Arabia. Like these, they trace the origin of their sect to the teachings of Abd-Allah ben Ibadh, who flourished towards the close of the seventh century. The Ibadhite doctrines were diffused throughout Oman and other parts of Arabia, and thence reached Irak, Khorassan, Turkestan, and India ; but they became extinct everywhere in Asia, except in the Arabian peninsula, where they were revived under a new form by the modern reformer, Wahab. In Africa the Ibadhite propaganda produced more lasting results, but only amongst the Berbers, the Nefusa highlanders in Tripolitana, the Tunisian Jarabas, and the Beni-Mzab of Algeria. Fundamentally the Ibadhite teachings represent an older religious evolution than those of the other Mohammedan sects, and in opposition to them allows some scope for the action of free will. Frequently persecuted for their theories and practices, the Mzabites have become " the most reticent of men," so that it is difficult to obtain from them any information regarding their doctrines. By dint of much perseverance and tact, M. Masqueray has, nevertheless, succeeded in getting possession of all their religious writings and historic records, and many of these valuable Arab manuscripts have already been published. Oi)pressed by the true believers, the Mzabites have been often compelled to shift from place to place. Forming a branch of the Zenata Berbers, they had founded Tiaret on the upland plateau, about the middle of the eighth century, and for nearly two hundred jears they held their ground in this region of northern ^lauritania. Vanquished by the Sanhcjas, they were thence driven to take refuge in the Sahara, whore they occupied the Ziban,'Wed Righ, andSuf districts, sinking wells and with patient industry bringing much land under cultivation. But they were again compelled to quit their new homes, and withdraw to the cirques and higher mountain gorges about the headstreams of the Maj^a. With every exodus their numbers were reduced, but the survivors became banded all the more closely together, displaying an ever-increasing zeal in the obs'M'vance of their religious practices and national usages. Their to/bas, at once judges, priests, and censors of the public morals, armed also with the powers of absolution, purification, and anathema, constitute a true priesthood, in which Masqueray recognises the hierarchy of the Roman Church — possibly a remnant of the religion professed by the Berbers before the spread of Islam. But beneath this Christian element traces are said to be detected of a still older worship, that of the goddess Thanit, " Mother of the Rain." Most of the Mzabites are clearly Berbers, as shown in their small stature, well- knit frames, broad and even flat features, thick lips, high forehead, deep-sdt eyes, ​and bushy eyebrows. Besides many Negroes, still virtually slaves, some four hundred Jews dwell amongst them, but cannot hold any land in the oasis, Naturally of a peaceful disposition, the Mzabites have allied themselves with some Arab clans, who pitch their tents near the settlements, and who in former times served as mercenaries. Amongst these Arabs are some descendants of the old occupiers of the land, a few even still possessing gardens and houses in the oasis.
Before the annexation, each Mzab village formed a small independent republic, administered by an assembly which was chosen from the heads of families with a stake in the community. On important occasions a general assembly, formed by delegates from the different urban bodies, consulted for the common interests
of the confederacy. Quarrels often broke out amongst the various factions, and, as at Ghadames, the combatants fought with the heavy iron or wooden keys of their doors, always worn at the girdle. The head of the family is absolute master, the children being incapable of holding any property without his sanction. The women, who nearly always marry in their native place, are not permitted to emigrate; but they are well protected from insult, any one accosting them in public being banished for the offence. They are chiefly occupied with weaving, entirely a house industry, while the men do all the field and garden work.
According to the census of 1882, the whole group of oases comprise about 193,000 palms, with a population of over thirty thousand. Nearly all are owners ​of a small plot, so that there are no mendicants in the confederation. Those
reduced to want are supported by their respective communities. But however ​well cultivated, the land is insufficient for the needs of all the inhabitants, about one-third of whom reside abroad, chiefly in Algiers, Tunis, and other coast towns. The emigrants leave their families in the commune, recognising as their own all children born during their absence, however long they may be from home. On the other hand, most of them set up temporary establishments in the towns where
they are settled, and on their return get themselves purified by the priests from the stains contracted during their residence amongst the ungodly. The absentees are still liable to pay the yearly tax, and in this way are said to contribute at the rate of more than one-third towards the expenditure of the mother-country. Owing to their residence in North Algeria, most of them speak French and Arabic as well as â ​314 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. their local Berber dialect ; they are also otherwise relatively well instructed, all being able at least to read and write. Five of the seven Mzabite towns are grouped in an elongated cirque, which is traversed for a distance of 11 miles by the Wed Mzab, in the direction from north- west to south-east. Ghanhi/a [Tayhardeik), the capital, covers the slopes of an eminence, which is crowned by a mosque with a minaret resembling an obelisk. It is divided into three distinct quarters, each with its separate interests, and all jointly comprising a fourth of the whole population. The fort of Shcbka, erected to the south of Ghardaya, overawes this place as well as the two neighbouring towns of Melika and Beni-Isguen. Melika the " Royal," lying east of Ghardaya, was formerly the holy city of the Mzabites, and in the vaults of its mosque were deposited the treasures of the confederation. Beni- Isguen, situated a little south of Melika, ranks second for population, and is also the best built, the most commercial, and wealthiest place in the oasis. In the extreme east of the cirque lies EUAltcf, the first place founded in the district by the Mzabites. ' GUERARA MeTIJLI. Near it is Bu-Mtira, while Berrian and Guevara, completing the Heptapolis, lie beyond the cirque, and even outside the Wed Mzab basin. Berrian, on the route from Laghwat to Ghardaya, occupies a small vaUey, watered by an afiluent of the Wed Usa, which feeds some thirty-five thousand palms. Guerar (El-Guerara), with still more extensive palm groves, lies over 50 miles north-east of Ghardaya on another tributary of the Wed Usa. The town of Mctlili, 20 miles south of the capital, on the route to El-Golea, forms no part of the Mzabite confederacy. Its oasis is held by a branch of the nomad Sbaanba tribe, which affords protection to the peasantry while appro- priating the largest share of their labour. The AHclepias gigantca, one of the characteristic plants of the Sudan, flourishes in the Metlili Valley, which also grows enormous cucumbers, about a yard in length. Warqla. The Wargia oasis, which lies along the course of the Wed Miya, above the underground confluence of the Mzab affluents, alone possesses more palms than the whole group of Mzabite settlements. The town is surrounded by a dense forest of some six hundred thousand plants stretching in a vast semicircle beyond the swampy tracts to the south-east. Wargia, which was formerly far more populous than at pre- sent, comprises within the ramparts a number of separate quarters occupied by the Beni-Sissin, Beni-Waggin, and Beni-Brahim comnmnities, all half-caste Berbers and Negroes of dark complexion. The well-cultivated oasis of Ngu9a, situated farther north on the route to Tugurt, is peopled by the Haratins, also* a dark​coloured Berber community, who, notwithstanding their fewer numbers, have often contended for the supremacy with their more powerful neighbours.
A zone of artesian wells, analogous to that of tho Wed Righ, occupies the depressions in Wargla and the surrounding oases. The total eupply, of about 35 cubic feet per second, has been greatly increased by numerous fresh borings
since 1882. Till recently the wells were "dying" at the rate of one every year, each representing a loss of from fifteen hundred to two thousand palms.
The Wed Maya.
Beyond Wargla and Nguga a few palm thickets are scattered over the hollows of the Wed Maya. But the whole population is as nothing: to what it must have been at a time when the ruins occurring at so many points were flourishing towns, surrounded by cultivated lands. Towards the north, the plain of El-Hajira, about midway between Wargla and Tugurt, was covered with villages, while the town of Bagdad stood on the margin of a now dried-up shott. The most remarkable place in the district was Sedrata (Cedrata, Ceddrata), which has been somewhat too grandiloquently called the "Saharian Pompeii." Under the dunes rolling away ​816 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. to the south-west of Wargla are still discovered its houses, with their sculptures, wood carvings, ornaments of all sorts, even their very wells. According to the local tradition, the epoch of the Arab invasion coincided with, the abandonment of this city, which, to judge from its buildings, was evidently a Berber settlement, and is still claimed as their property by the Mzabites. But vestiges even of an older period are also numerous at the foot of the plateaux. Along the edge of the escarpments skirting the "Wed Maya are seen villages of the Stone Age, with work- shops of chipped flint implements, and many other objects bearing witness to the relations maintained between the Saharians of that epoch and the populations dwelling on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Not far from Sedrata rises the old natural stronghold of Khrima, which might have served as a refuge for the Ibadhites when driven from Wargla. From this citadel they may have again retreated towards the valley of the Wed Mzab, whence their present appellation of Mzabites. According to an Arabic manuscript, com- municated to M. Terry by a descendant of the old sultans of the country, as many as 125 towns existed in the thirteenth century in a region where are now found two only, Wargla and Ngu9a. El-Golea — Geryville. Although lying south of the o2nd parallel and five degrees of latitude from the Mediterranean seaboard, Wargla is not the most advanced French station in this direction. El-Golea, over 540 miles nearly due south of Algiers by the Laghwat-Mzab route, was first visited in 1859 by Duveyrier, who was here insulted and threatened with death. In 1873 a French column penetrated to this place, which, although no longer held by a French garrison, recognises by a tribute the authority of the Algerian Government. El-Golea lies beyond the basin of the Wed Maya, and from the mound crowned by its castle is visible the dried-up bed of the Wed Seggwer, which is followed by caravans proceeding to Twat and Timbuktu. A little to the west begins a zone of large dunes, which correspond to the eastern arega between Ghadames and the Ighargar basin. The gardens of the oasis, comprising about sixteen thousand palms, occupy the edge of this zone, and are watered by wells and ^/b^^ro^s, or underground channels. But the sands are constantly threatening the cultivated tracts, whose Berber inhabitants are mere serfs in the hands of the nomad Shaanba-Mwadhi, and of the Ulad Sidi-esh-Sheikh marabuts. Wargla, El-Golea, and Metlili are the three towns round which gravitate the Sbaanba (Shaamba, Shamba) pastoral tribes, who own houses and gardens in these places, and never fail to pay them two yearly visits during the shearing and date- harvest seasons. While the bulk of the clan roam over the steppe with their flocks, a few remain in the oases to look after the tribal interests. Thus the Shaanbas enjoy at once the produce both of their live stock and of their gardens. They also engage in trade, and act as carriers and escorts to the Mzabite mer​chants, They even occupy themselves with some industries, such as weaving and embroidery, carried on by the women in their tents, Lastly, they have few rivals as marauders, One of their clans are the Hab-er-Rih, or "Breath of the Wind," and, after they have carried off any booty, to the victims of the razzia it is said, "Go, seek the wind." The Shaanbas will make a journey of six hundred miles acrogs the wilderness merely to avenge an insult, carrying off whole herds from their enemies, the Saharian Tuaregs. Although of Berber origin, they now speak Arabic exclusively, and pay the religious tax regularly to the Ulad Sidi-esh-Sheikh.
In Orania, or Western Algeria, the French have advanced far less southwards than in the provinces of Constantine and Algiers. West of the Jebel Amur and
of the military route, which runs from Teniet-el-Haad through the rising town of Shellala to Aflu, the chief station is the important strategic town of Geryville, formerly El-Biod, which stands at an altitude of 4,100 feet, in.a rich mineral district nine miles west of the native town of Stitten. Numerous megalithic remains are scattered over the surrounding heights.
Geryville has not prospered so much as some other towns less conveniently situated on the plateau, but more favoured by the new railway running south of Saida in the direction of the alfa region. This line terminates at present at Mesheria, but it is to be continued southwards in the direction of one of the numerous breaches in the southern ranges leading to the Sahara. ​Of these openings the most important is Ain-Sefra, or the "Yellow Spring," which, although 3,570 feet high, already lies on the Saharian slope. Its oasis is watered by a perennial stream, flowing in the direction of the Wed Namus, or "Mosquito River." East of Ain-Sefra, which is the health resort for the troops of South Orania, the somewhat less elevated settlement of Tiut is surrounded by palm groves and orchards. On a neighbouring rock are seen some rude representations of men armed with bows and arrows, women, and animals, including an elephant,
engraved perhaps at a time when these pachyderms may have still survived in the district. Similar rock-carvings also occur near the Mogher Tahteni oases, on the upper course of the Wed Namus.
All the settlements in this region form so many petty republics, administered by the local assemblies, but recognising the political suzerainty of the Hamian Gharba Arabs, Those lying farther east, in the direction of Geryville — Asla, Shellalar Dehrani, Shellala Guebli, Bu Semghum, Upper and Lower Arba — also recognise the authority of an Arab tribe, the powerful Ulad Sidi-esh-Sheikh family, ​SOCIAL CONDITION OF ALOEEIA. 819 which claims descent from the first caliph, Abu Bekr. The haughty members of this tribe are all marabuts, and held in high estimation by the surrounding popu- lations, who are fond of claiming kinship with them. They trace their origin to a saint who lived in the seventeenth century, and whose tomb is shown on the Saharian slope south of Arba. This shrine, surrounded by five villages, is held in great veneration, and was fonnerly a great centre of sedition and fanaticism. In 1881 it was razed to the ground, but afterwards rebuilt, the policy of the French Government being to control the tribes through the great feudal chiefs. The whole region of the Sahara, from the Marocco frontier to Tripolitana, has already been placed under the absolute authority of the chief of the powerful Sidi Sheikh confederacy. Breznia, on the Wed Seggwer, is the chief granary of the tribe. Social Condition of Algeria. In spite of the omissions and contradictions of the official returns, a general increase of population in Algeria may be accepted as certain. Before the first summary census it was usually estimated at about three millions, although an approximate return in 1851 gave scarcely more than two and a half millions. In 1872, after the terrible famine, which had at least decimated the population, the total scarcely exceeded two millions four hundred thousand. But since that period the two successive censuses of 1876 and 1881 have shown a ibpid annual increase of about ninety thousand a year, a rate much higher than that of France. At present the Algerians exceed three and a half millions, and should this rate of progress continue, they will number five millions before the end of the century. In the returns, the native element is not distinguished according to its Arab or Berber origin. Hence it may be possible, as some assert, that the Arab race is really diminishing, and the Berber increasing. In the towns of Algiers, Constan- tine, and Oran the mortality is considerably in excess of the births among the Moors, who are chiefly Arabs. But in the rural districts, where the Berber element prevails, the births greatly exceed the deaths. Hence it is evident that the so-called " indigenous " population will long maintain its numerical supe- riority, although not augmenting so rapidly as the foreign settlers, except in the Kabyle districts. In 1885 the Arabs and Berbers appear to have been six times more numerous than the European immigrants, the Berbers alone representing probably one-half of the total population. They also receive some increase through immigration, the labourers from Marocco being for the most part of Kabyle or Shellala race. By crossing with the natives, the Negroes also contribute to strengthen the Berber element, for they are settled chiefly amongst the Ruaghas of the Saharian districts. But since the suppression of the slave trade the blacks are diminishing in Algeria, partly through absorption, partly through excess of mortality. Since the conquest the Europeans have augmente<l according to a regular rate of accelerated progression. Beginning with a yearly increase of a few hundreds, ​it gradually rose to some thousands, and may now be estimated at over ten thousand. For the first. twenty-five years of the occupation the increase was due exclusively to immigration, for at that time the mortality, owing to various causes, was much higher than the births. But the race has now struck root, so to say, in Algerian soil, and the theory denying the possibility of acclimatisation has been negatived by the results. European marriages are both more frequent and more fruitful than in the mother country, and of the present annual increase about one-fifth is due to excess of births over deaths.
In the European colony the French have a numerical superiority over all others since the year 1851, although the difference is slight, regard being had to
and Germans have thus already changed their nationality; while the immigrants
from Alsace-Lorraine, officially returned as Germans, claim their right to the title of Frenchmen.
The Algerian Jews, descended for the most part from Andalusian exiles, wore all naturalised in 1870, to the great disgust of the Arab and Berber Mussulmans, who could not understand why this honour should be conferred on such a despised race, while the children of the soil were treated as a subject people. But although now nominally "French," most of the native Jews are still regarded as forming a distinct nationality. At the same time a slow process of assimilation in dress, usages, speech, and ideas is evidently going on, in this respect the second generation of Jewish settlers showing a marked advance.
On the other hand, the Arab Mussulmans could claim naturalisation only under exceptional circumstances, and on the condition of abandoning the precepts of the Koran. So merged is their law with their religion, that the mere application for French citizenship is looked upon by their fellow-countrymen as a sort of apostacy. But this is not the case with the Kabyles, who have never conformed their jurisprudence with the teachings of Islam. Hence whole tribes of Berbers have already applied for naturalisation, and but for certain administrative formalities and the opposition of many functionaries, the half-million inhabitants of Kabylia would gladly ask for incorporation in French society.
One of the chief causes of the rapid assimilation of the various European elements is the adoption of French as the common language of intercourse. Those
who can already speak it more or less fluently may be estimated at over a million. Till recently the so-called Sabir served as a sort of lingua franca amongst the various inhabitants of the country. But this was altogether a formless jargon of a rudimentary character, composed of about two hundred words, verbs in the infinitive, nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, used without inflexions and somewhat incoherently, the sense being eked out by a lively display of pantomime and facial expression. Half of the words were Arabic, a fourth French or Provencal, the rest Spanish, Italian, or Maltese; but it is everywhere disappearing under the combined influences of commercial intercourse and the Franco-Arab schools.
A certain national uniformity is also promoted by mixed marriages, although such unions are still rare between the Europeans and the natives. Their offspring are seldom admitted into French society; yet it is impossible any longer to overlook the presence of these half-castes, who remain nominal Arabs, but who become Franco-Arab in speech and usages. To this class belong the so-called "Beni-Ramasses," people of all professions, known in the Algerian jargon as Ulad-Blaça, or "Children of the Piazza," because their homes are mainly the open spaces in the towns.
Forests—Agriculture.
Of the vast but still scantily peopled productive lands in Algeria, only a very small portion has hitherto been turned to any account. Most of the occupied ​districts are either grazing-grounds left in a state of nature, or subjected to a rudimentary system of tillage. Even in the Tell vast tracts are absolutely barren, while on the plateaux argillaceous or saline wastes cover boundless spaces. Most of the now treeless northern parts might, however, be clothed with a forest vegetation, and thus play an important part in modifying the climate and developing the economic conditions of the land.
According to the official returns, of the 35,000,000 acres representing the surface of the Tell, nearly 2,000,000 are under forests. The intermediate region of the plateaux and shotts, with the approaches to the Sahara, comprise a further wooded area of 220,000 acres, at least if public documents issued in 1885 can be trusted. But most of these so-called "forests," or "woods," are mere thickets and
scrub, and in some places little more than open spaces dotted over here and there with a few clumps of stunted shrubs. The 2,000,000 acres of forest placed, in 1884, under Government agents yielded only £20,000, or little more than fivepence per acre. The only well-preserved woods are those of East Algeria, of some parts of Kabylia, and of Teniet-el-Haad in the uplands stretching east of the Warsenis district.
These woods, consisting chiefly of cedars, cover a space of 7,500 acres, at altitudes"
varying from 4,000 to 5,600 feet. In general, forest-trees may be said to diminish from east to west, in the same proportion as the rainfall. In the province of Constantine they are still numerous, and in that of Algiers already thinly scattered, while in Orania they have almost disappeared.
The chief agent in the destruction of the woodlands is fire. In order to enlarge ​FORESTS— AGRICULTURE. 823 their |)a8turo8, sometimes also to protect themselves from the wild beasts, the Arab shepherds tire the dry herbage without taking the necessary precautions to limit the action of the flames. Hence, when the wind blows, the woods are kindled, and the conflagration spreads far and wide. In the month of August, 1865, a vast sheet of flame, fomented b}' the sirocco, couKumed in five days most of the forest zone stretching for a breadth of from 25 to 50 miles over the Bona uplands. A space of over 250,000 acres was laid waste on this occasion. In 1881 the forests about Bougie were similarly ravaged, and in 1885 Oranm lost the finest remains of its old forests. To prevent the recurrence of such disasters the severe measure has been taken to hold the whole tribe responsible in whose district fires break out, and confiscate their lands. But this barbarous process is useless to prevent the evil, because the real culprit generally belongs to a different community from that where the fire breaks out. A more efficacious remedy will be found in the syste- matic efforts now being made to replant the wasted lands. If the plans elaborated by the Government in 1885 are carried out, several tracts, comprising altogether about 270,000 acres, will again be clothed with timber at an outlay of under £700,000. The new settlers also find themselves obliged to plant as well as sow. Every village and hamlet has now its clump of trees, and on the plains the farmsteads are indicated at a distance by clusters of eucalyptus and other large trees. Many Algerian villages already possess avenues as fine as those of the towns in the mother country. In some places these plantations are necessary to dry up the fever-breathing swamps and render the district inhabitable. Thus Bufarik, where " the atmosphere poisoned the very birds of passage," has been rendered healthy, and the whole of the Mitija Valley covered with gardens and orchards. Nursery- grounds have been established at intervals along the railway routes and about the stations, and in 1884 as many as 470,000 trees were counted on the Algiers-Oran line. Of the exotics introduced by Europeans, the most widespread is the eucalyptus, of which over a hundred varieties have made their appearance since the first speci- men was planted at Hararaa in 1861. In the Garden of Acclimatisation at Algiers as many as 4,500 foreign species are now flourishing. No other Mediterranean region is more suited for the production of olive-oil ; but, except in EabyHa and some parts of the province of Constantine, the olive groves are neglected, and yield only an indiflferent oil, used in Marseilles in the preparation of soap. The table oils consumed in Algeria are nearly all imported from France. On the eastern plateaux, and even in the valleys of the Jebel Aures, where the remains have been found oi so many Roman oil-presses, nothing is now seen beyond a few clusters of olive-trees, which, however, yield, with those of the Bougie district, the most highly esteemed oil in the whole of North Africa. In the northern regions the most widely diffused fruit-tree is the fig, which thrives well in stony places, and which in Kabylia is almost as useful as is the date on the verge of the desert. But here a still more useful plant is the cork-tree, the bark of which, although less prized than that of Catalonia, fonns an important article of export. If properly administered, the cork forests of Algeria should yield ​824 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. an annual income of about £600,000, which is about four times more than the present revenue derived from this source. In the Algerian Sahara the date-palm forms the great resource of the inhabi- tants. But for this wonderful plant, which yields them half their nutriment and enables them to procure the other half, the Saharian populations could not exist in this sand-encircled region. Every tree is tended like a member of the family : watered, cleansed, regarded as a being endowed with soul and sentiment, showing its gratitude for fostering care by an abundant crop of fruit, its anger at neglect by a scanty harvest. •' When a living palm is felled," says the legend, " it cries like a child, and its murderers are moved to pity." Till recently throughout all Mussulman lands, as still in I^farocco, international rigTit, which tolerated homicide, never allowed a palm to be touched. In southern Algeria the palm groves comprise altogether about three million plants, yielding a revenue of considerably over £2,000,000. In some of the oases, and especially in the Mzab Valley, a single plant is sometimes valued as high as £32. As in the Roman period, the chief crops in the Tell are still cereals, such as hard wheat, barley, beshna or millet, maize, and, since the French occupation, rye, oats, and soft wheat. In good seasons the yield suffices for the supply of men and animals, leaving some barley, oats, and hard wheat for exportation. In ordinary years the cereals represent one-fifth of all the exports from Algeria. The gardens along the seaboard also forward considerable quantities of oranges, lemons, bananas, and other fruits ; and this trade in fruit, which might be greatly developed, already supports a large commercial movement with the mother country. Of economic plants, tobacco is much favoured by the new settlers, although many planters have in recent years exchanged it for viniculture. Cotton also came into favour during the American war, but is now seen only in a few districts of the Tell and in the Wed Righ, where some Sudanese varieties are grown, whose fibre resembles that of the United States " long silk." Alfa and Viniculture — Stock Farming. Far more important than all these cultivated plants is the alfa, or half a, grass, which grows wild on the plateaux, and of which a financial company has acquired the monopoly over a space of some 750,000 acres south of Saida. The fibre of the alfa, which yields a yearly revenue of from £600,000 to £800,000, is employed chiefly in the manufacture of paper. The esparto grass of the Spanish province of Murcia having become almost completely exhausted, the English dealers, who are the chief purchasers of these fibres, turned their attention to the Algerian alfa. Since the first cargo shipped at the port of Oran in 1862, the trade has acquired an enormous development throughout the plateaux. But extensive tracts have already lK?en exhausted, and speculators have now begun to replace the alfa by the dis, another fibrous plant long employed by the Arabs for making canvas sacks and cordage. • ​THE EUBOPEAN SETTLERS. 82S In recent years the vine ba« chiffl y engaged the attention of the pcawntry. Vineyards have been laid out throughout the Tell and even on the u])land plateaux, and this industry has even been taken in hand by tho Mohammedans, notwith- standing tlie precepts of the Koran. In 1885 the vintage exceeded fortv-five million gallons, so that after tho great wine-growing countries, such &h P'ranoe, S|Miin, Italy, and Hungary, Algeria ranks amongst those in which viniculture has acquired the greatest development. Some of the vintages, amongst others thoae of Miliana, are highly esteemed, and even in the last century Shaw compared the flavour of the wine gn>wn in the Algiers district to that of Hermitage. I^rge companies have been formed to clear the land and create vineyards many thousand acres in extent. But alarm has been caused by the appearance of phylloxera, in 1885, at Mansura, near Tlemccn, and afterwards in the Sidi-bel-Abbes district. A more formidable scourge of long standing are the locusts, which are hatched in countless myriads on the steppes, where they are salted down and consumed as food by the nomads. A flight of moderate size observed in the Medea district in 1874, formed a compact mass 15 by 2^ miles, or 40 square miles in extent, comprising at least fifty billions of these winged pests. The invasion of 1866, which caused a direct loss of about £2,000,000, was followed next year by a frightful famine, during which probably five hundred thousand natives ]X'rished of hunger and want. Since then successful attempts have been made to localise the evil by means of metallic plates disposed in such a way as to present an effective barrier to the advance of the migratory species (ncrif/wm migraionam). The winged variety does little harm, being mostly blown seawards, as happened in 1865, when the dead bodies washed ashore lined the beach to a depth of from 10 to 12 feet. Of domestic animals, the most noteworthy is the famous Barbary horse, bred in the nomad encampments on the upland plateaux. According to the census of 1881, about five-sixths of the Algerian horses were still owned by the natives, who possess even a larger share of the mules and asses, and almost all the camels. To the Arabs further belong most of the homed cattle, sheep, and goats ; and Tiaret, the chief market for live stock in Algeria, lies in Arab territorv'. On the other hand, nearly all the swine are owned by the European settlers, although some of the Kabylcs breed this animal, regarded as •' impure " by all true believers. The live stock was greatly reduced by the scarcity of fodder in 1882, when the Arabs lost over a million of animals. The European Settlers. Like most other European colonies, Algeria can scarcely be said to have any peasant closs, properly so called. The European rural population, which represents about half of the immigrants, is mainly of urban origin ; hence is produced a phenomenon the very reverse of what is observeil in France. In the mother country the towns are inhabito<l by people from tho country ; in Algeria the country is settled by townsfolk. Relatively speaking, the Algerian farms are ​better stocked than those of France, and in many places even the natives possess improved ploughs.
The French are naturally the most numerous element in the rural districts. After the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, over one thousand expatriated families were provided with land, thanks to the contributions raised by the "ladies of France," and fifty-six villages were founded or enlarged for their reception. Most of these concessions, however, have already changed hands. The settlers become proprietors only on condition of residing five years on the plot assigned them by the
State. But during the decade which follows the distribution of land to the colonists, about half of them sell their share to others.
There still remain to be appropriated vast tracts, which belong to the Government under various titles, one of which, unfortunately, is that of sequestration pronounced against the tribes. But the process of concession hitherto adopted not only burdens the finances with a considerable yearly outlay, but also generally Proves more expensive to the colonists than if the concession had been purchased ​INDUSTRIES— TRADE. 827 ut u fair vuluution. Nor can this method of coloiiisation fail to be affected by the taint of official favouritism. In such cases personal recommendations are all- powerful, for the concessions can never be claimed as a right, and always retain the character of a favour. The concessions generally range from fifty to seventy- five acres, far too much to be projx^rly tilled by one settler ; hence the land is, to a large extent, cultivated by the aid of native hands. The same evil prevails amongst the Arab proprietors, who employ as day labourers the wretched khummes, or " tenants at fifth hand." The direct purchase of State lands is of rare occurrence ; but a general move- ment of exchanges is going on, tending to enlarge the estates of the settlers at the expense of the natives, whose ignorance often places them at the mercy of unscrupulous speculators. Men skilled in legal quibbles take advantage of their superior knowledge to get unfair possession of the territory of whole tribes. To prevent these and other abuses, aiising out of the uncertainty of titles, it would be desirable to accurately survey the Arab lands, determine the limits of each holding, and secure its full possession to the occupant. Such a survey was begun in 1873 ; but at the end of 1884 only 1,750,000 acres, or about a twentieth part of the Tell, had been dealt with — a rate of progress which would require two centuries to com- plete the work. The delay appears to be caused by the influence of a large section of Algerian society, which has a direct interest in leaving questions of proprietor- ship and titles in a general state of muddle. Industries — Trade. European industry is limited in Algiers to the supply of a few local wants, while that of the natives has been paralysed by the introduction of foreign wares. There is an almost total absence of mineral coal, and the reserves of wood and other fuel require to be managed with the greatest economy, while the apparatus introduced to utilise solar heat have hitherto yielded no results of any consequence. Hence it is not likely that Algeria can ever become a great manufacturing country. Its hides, wool, and other animal products supply the workshops of Marseilles ; alfa finds its way to England to be converted into paper ; cork is utilised in the French wine trade ; the Beni-Safi and Ain-Mokhra mineral ores are exported to the foundries of Europe and the New World ; the salines on the coast cannot competo with those of France, while the vast salt deposits in the shotts of the plateaux are used only by the surrounding tribes. The mineral and thermal springs, which are scattered abundantly over the whole region, offer efficacious remedies for the most diverse maladies, but hitherto a few only have been frequented by Eurojieim invalids. The annual movement of trade between Algeria and other countries, France included, already exceeds £20,000,000. Since the year of the conquest, the mean price of its produce has increased threefold, and its exchanges nearly a hundred- fold. But the imports have always exceeded the exports, and this relation must continue as long as Algeria is occupied by a large army supplied from the mother ​country, and the colonists take months and years to pay for their European wares by the products of their plantations, At the same time, the relative increase in the exports keeps pace with that of the imports, and Algeria already takes the eighth place in the extent of its commerce with France. The ports of Bona, Philippeville, Bougie, Algiers, Arzeu, and Oran are amongst the most frequented in the Western Mediterranean waters, and the annexation of Tunis has given a great stimulus to the commercial movement with the interior. Some trade is also done across the frontier with Marocco; but it is mainly of a contraband character, and almost entirely in the hands of the Jews. But south of Wargla and Sûf all intercourse with the Saharian oases is for the present nearly suspended. Nevertheless, after four years of total interruption, a caravan, comprising one thousand persons and three thousand camels, proceeded in 1884 from the Ben-Khelil wells, in South
Orania to the Gurara oases, returning in company with the Dui-Menias of Marocco.
Nearly all the trade of Algeria being sea-borne, navigation has necessarily increased in the same proportion as the movement of exchanges. But steamers, either independent or subsidised by the Government; have entirely replaced sailing vessels, except in the fisheries and the coasting trade. The general movement of navigation is represented by over ten thousand ships of all sizes, with a total tonnage of about four millions. Of this France possesses about two-thirds, thanks to the steamships plying regularly between the French and Algerian coasts. Next to France come England, which exports most of the alfa, and Spain, which has the advantage of position, but which mainly employs small craft.
A regular service of steamers is maintained between the Algerian seaports and those of the Western Mediterranean basin, About thirty trips are made on the average every month across the intervening waters; but in this growing traffic ​a very small part has hitherto been taken by Algeria itself. The land communications in the interior are also well developed, and in proportion to its population Algeria has more carriage roads than France. The stranger visiting the outskirts of Algiers and the other large towns, is surprised to find so many broad, well-kept
highways on the African continent, and the mental comparison which he makes with many European countries is to the advantage of the French colony
Roads and Railways.
In 1830 the only roads in the regency were the tracks of shepherds and their flocks, and the beaten paths of caravans along the streams and through the mountain gorges. But during the first years of the French occupation, one of the chief ​works of the army was that of road-making, and Algeria may be said to have been reduced far more by the construction of strategical routes than by force of arms. Even still thousands of military convicts are employed on these works, jointly with Calabrian, native, and other navvies, yet the system of main highways has not yet been completed. Between Tunisia and Marocco a single route, running through Suk-Ahras, Guelma, Setif, the Mitija and Shelif valleys, and Tlemcen, serves to connect the lateral roads branching off towards the interior, or northwards to the coast. The coast route, intended to connect La Calle with Nemours, is still interrupted by numerous gaps, representing over one-half of the whole distance.
Several important communes also are still accessible only on foot or on horseback, and the important town of Jijelli still remains completely isolated for want of any carriage roads.
Railway operations began in 1860, and the first section was opened in 1862. At present the total development, exclusive of the single lines used for carrying alfa, is nearly 1,200 miles. But the great central artery, between Tunis and Marocco, is not yet completed, a break occurring (1885) south of Kabylia, between El-Ashir and Palestro, in the direction of Marocvo, while the locomotive stops at Ain-Temushent, within 60 miles of the frontier. Several seaports, such as Nemours, ​Beni-Saf, Mostaganem, Tenes, Shershell, Dellys, Bougie, Cello, and La Calle, still await the branches that are to connect them with the trunk line. These, however, have all been either begun or at least projected. All the companies have received Government aid by advances and concession of land. Yet in certain places, especially between Algiers and Blida, and on the Philippeville-Constantine section, the local traffic has already begun to yield ample returns on the capital originally invested. The tariff is everywhere very high, sufficient interest on the outlay being guaranteed by the Government to render the companies independent of the
public favour. Hence along all the lines ordinary coaches are able to compete successfully with the locomotives.
South of the great central artery, three lines already penetrate to the plateaux in the direction of the Sahara. One of these runs from Constantine to Batna, another from Saida to Mesheria, and the third from Sidi-bel-Abbes to Ras-el-Ma, Thanks to these new means of communication, colonisation may now be diffused throughout the plateaux better than in the regions lying between Aumale and Laghwat.
The great continental line across the desert to the Niger, first proposed by MacCarthy, will probably run from Algiers through Blida and the Upper Isser Valley to the upland plateaux, and so on by Laghwat and the Wed Jeddi Valley to the Sahara and Timbuktu. But several alternative projects have been suggested, and several important expeditions have been undertaken to survey the ground ​882 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. Nevertheless the construction of a trans-Saharian line can hardly be seriously taken in hand until the great Algerian railways are farther advanced towards completion. The xVlgerian system itself has to be farther developed in the direction of Twat, which lies about midway between Algiers and Timbuktu. When the almost unknown desert region beyond this point has been sufficiently surveyed, the trans-Saharian line may be pushed forward in the direction of the Niger. Other schemes have been advanced, which are intended to connect the Igharghar Valley with the Tsad basin across Central Sahara. Administration — Tribal Organisation. The administration of Algeria, which is attached to the Ministry of the Interior, is directed by a civil governor-general, commander in chief of the land and sea forces, assisted by a director-general and a Government council. But the action of this central power is brought to bear through different channels on the natives and the European settlers. The latter enjoy the same rights as in France, whereas the Arabs and Kabylcs are practically at the mercy of the administration. The Arab tribal organisation is nearly always of an aristocratic character. Comprising a group of families which believe themselves sprung of a common stock, the clan recognises a chief at once military and religious. The dwar, or encampment established on the steppe or near the arable lands, is the original unit, out of which is developed the group of tribes. In each dwar the authority is vested in the heads of families, and especially those who can boast of the noblest birth. Several dwars, united in a ferka, are administered by a sheikh or "elder," or even a kaid, when the group is large enough to constitute a whole arsh, or rija, that is, a number of persons which may vary from five hundred to as many as fifty thousand. The kaid is subordinate to an agha, and the latter to a bash-agha or a khalifa, who are all so many absolute kinglets in their respective spheres, uncontrolled by any elected body of advisers. Nevertheless, a certain democratic spirit has been fostered in the dwars, thanks to the jemaa, or assembly, constituted by the heads of families, or by the kobars alone, that is, by the *' grandees," con- sulted by the sheikh of the ferka on all weighty matters. Very different is the assembly of the Berber communes, in which the old customs are still respected. Amongst them the whole people form the assembly, whose authority is limited only by traditional usages. In all Arab communities, questions of genealogy are of paramount importance. At first the French governors adopted the policy of relying on the chiefs of the warlike tribes, in order to secure the pacification of the country, neglecting no devices to attract them by titles, honours, the grant of fiefs and domains. But the aristocratic tastes and traditions of the Arab people have the fatal consequence of engendering fierce rivalries in the struggle for power. Three distinct orders of nobility contend for the ascendancy amongst the tribes : the juads, or sons of chiefs, who by right or usurpation claim to be sprung from the companions of ​SOCIAL CHANGES. S88 Miihuinmcd or the conquerors of Miiuritania ; the »horf.i, who roj^fonl m their common mother P'utima, wife of Mohammed, and who coniMxjuently belong to the Prophet's family ; Uistly those whose ancestor is some reputed suint or roarabut, and who have thus ac(iu!red u sort of nobility not less respected than the others. All those men stand higher thun the common uiuhh of the faithful, and when favoured by circumstances, such um triljul feuds, wars, commotions, or family occurrences, are ever ready to enforce their pretensions. The tribal groupings also are not unfrequently modified, the followers of con> tending parties passing from one side to the other, according to the vicissitudes of these ambitious rivalries. Fragments of a single tribe have thus occositmally become scattered throughout the whole of the IJarbary States. Hence by purchasing the friendship of one chief or another, the French Government has vainly hoped to secure the loyalty of the whole tribe, the official proteg^ being simply replaced by some more popular rival in public favour. The policy pursued by the French has also at times simply resulted in the creation of formidable opjwnents by founding real Arab monarchies. It was hoped that the work of pacification would be made easy by dealing with a single chief instead of with the several heads of countless tribes. Thus it was that under Fi-ench patronage Abd-el-Kader became a sultan, and the chief of the Ulad-Sidi sheikhs received as a fief the whole of the Algerian Sahara, while Mokhrain assumed almost supreme power in southern Kabylia. The lands hitherto reserved for the commune, the widow, the orphan, and the poor, thus passed into the possession of the great feudal lords. Nevertheless the vassal chiefs continued still powerful enough to revolt, and even since the French occupa- tion have waged war with their suzerain. Social Changes. But this regime of the great Arab fiefs is drawing to a close. The virtually independent chiefs are being gradually replaced by French administrators, or by Mohammedan kadis, entrusted with the administration of justice, in accordance with the Moslem jurisprudence accepted by the French tribunals. Sheikhs, kaids, aghas, and bash-aghas, receive their investiture from the French authority, and yield direct obedience to it« orders. Their judicial functions are strictly limited ; but they have not yet been deprived of the traditional prerogative of indemnifying themselves from the proceeds of fines imposed on criminals — a prerogative which has always proved a source of the most crying acta of injustice. The dwars no longer enjoy the some facilities for migrating from the uplands to the plains, and according as the country becomes settled, the nomad tribes find their freedom of action more and more restricted A continually increasing number of natives are also abandoning the primitive tribal orgimisution, and attaching themselves to the French communes, in which they constitute the proletariat class. The old habits disappear, customs change, a settled life takes the place of the nomad state, the jMitriarchal yields to the communal system, ​polygamy to monogamy. The last census for the city of Algiers returned five
polygamous Mussulman families, and that of Oran not more than three, so that in ​ADMINLSTRATIYE DIVISIONS. 8M this respect also the Mohammedan poi)ulutionH appear to be gradually cutifonning to the usages of European civi limit ion. The social transformation now going on creates a hope that all the ethnical elements may ultimately become fused in one nutionulity, and that the prophets of evil may thus be belied. " All those native populations," said one of them, " must die out ; those who escape one disaster will perish by another, or b(H»me infected by the contagion of our blighting civilisation. Where we pass, everj'thing decays." The extermination of the natives might have seemed inevitable during the first decades of the occupation, when the country was wasted by razzias, when the Arab " rebels " had neither corn nor cattle ; when their women, held as hostages, were bartered for live stock, or sold by auction like beasts of burden ; when a price waa set on heads, and human ears paid for at the rate of two douros a pair. In those days Arab prisoners acquitted by the courts were nevertheless executed, because " it was necessary to make an example ; " nor were there wanting philosophers to justify any acts of injustice or cruelty against the natives. " Without violating the moral law," said Bodichon, "we can fight our African enemies with jxjwder and the sword combined with famine, intestine feuds, brandy, corruption, and disorgani- sation." No one would now repeat such sentiments in Algeria, although many acts of injustice are still committed, and the conquerors continue to abuse their power against the weak. If the natives are being crowded out in many places, the Mohammedan population still goes on increasing, slavery exists only on the verge of the desert, and the wretched Khammes peasantry have almost everywhere ceased to be true serfs, such as they were till recently on all the estates of the great feudatory chiefs. The Arab has no longer the power of life and death over his wife, whom he fears even to maltreat, lest her cries should reach the ears of some " accursed Rumi." Administrative Divisions. For administrative purposes, Algeria is divided into two sections — the civil and military territory. In the former, which comprises a portion of the Tell, the officials are dependent on the Minister of the Interior, while in the latter they all belong to the military class. In the one, affairs are administered with the same routine as in France ; in the other, the tribes are governed by a form of martial law. In the civil territory the three great divisions of Algiers, Constantine, and Oran are designated by the name of "departments," like the modem circumscriptions in France; in the military districts (*' Territoire do Comraandement ") the old appellation of " provinces " has been preserved. As in the mother country, the department is divided into arrondissements administered by sub-prefects. The arrondissements are again subdivided into districts, and these into communes, which for the most part are "depleinexercice," that is, fully privileged, their organisation being about the same as that of the French communes. ​The mixed communes, less numerous than the others, are those in which the native element still prevails, and where the Europeans only form small groups, too weak to constitute a municipality. They are under the control of a civil administrator, who is required to speak Arabic or Berber. In the military districts, certain circumscriptions are also called mixed communes; but here Europeans and natives alike are governed exclusively by military authority, the functions of mayor being exercised by the commander-in-chief. Lastly, in the same districts a number of purely native communes, comprising dwars, ferkas, tribes, and even isolated towns, are controlled by officers of the regular army.
In 1881, there were altogether two hundred and nine communes enjoying full privileges, and this number is gradually increasing by a process of subdivision, the section demanding a municipal constitution as soon as it feels strong enough to support a separate administration. In 1884 there were seventy-five mixed communes in
the civil, and six in the military districts, besides sitet native communes created by the military bureaux. But these so-called native communes are sometimes vast regions, several square miles in extent. Such are those of Ghardaya, comprising the whole of the Mzab, Metlili, and Chaanba territories, with a total area of 26,700 square miles, and of Biskra, which is nearly as large again, stretching from El Kantara for 150 miles to and beyond Tugurt and Temassin, with an area approxjmately estimated at about 45,000 square miles. But as a rule, the larger the commune the smaller the population: that of Algiers, scarcely two square miles in extent, having at once the smallest area and the largest number of inhabitants.
In the European communes the municipal councils are elected by the suffrage of the French citizens, while each of the three Algerian departments is represented in Parliament by one senator and two deputies, elected according to the electoral ​laws of the mother-country. The departments also possess a separate general council, elected in the same way as those of the French circumscriptions, and like them occupied mostly with local affairs, such as the roads and forests, public buildings, education and communal rates, Each delegates six of its members, eighteen altogether, to the Superior Council of Algeria, which also comprises the three prefects, the three generals in command of the divisions, and the twelve members of the special council appointed to assist the governor-general. This assembly, one half of whose members are thus nominated by the Government, and the other half by the citizens indirectly, meets once a year for a session of about twenty days, to settle the current budget and the incidence of taxation. The yearly expenditure is estimated at about £1,600,000, besides over £2,000,000
required for the maintenance of the army. The yearly income about balances the civil expenditure, representing nearly half of the whole outlay, including the military budget.
Religion — The Marabuts.
In Algeria the chief cause of disunion and the greatest obstacle to the fusion of all sections of the population in one nationality is religion. Before the conquest the natives had no official religious hierarchy; but after the occupation the union of Church and State was one of the very first measures introduced by the French. Immediately after the capture of Algiers the prayers read in the mosques for the head of the State were required to be modified by the imams, who henceforth pray for the "auspicious Government of France." Formerly the civil power never ​intervened in the appointment of religious ministers; now the mufti, the secondary imams, and some subordinate religious agents, are selected by the governors from amongst men of letters well disposed towards the French. Not only does the administration interfere in the religious affairs of the Mussulmans by these appointments, but it also violates the constant practice of all Mohammedan societies, according to which it is forbidden to pray and teach the Koran "for wages." Hence strict Mussulmans hold in small account the salaried official set preferring to the French imams the free marabuts who pray by the
shrines of the saints, or the shorfa of the religious orders, who perpetuate the "chain" of teachers from the time of the Prophet.
Although unofficially connected with the French Government, the marabuts (marâbot) are a source of little danger to the new régime. Belonging for the most part to old families, whose genealogies go back to a remote past, accustomed to live on regular alms of the faithful, residing always in the vicinity of the holy places of pilgrimage, the marabuts are all well known to the French officials, with whom it is to their interest to live on the best of terms. Many even accept service under the Government, allowing themselves to be appointed aghas or kaids, and even intriguing for honours and decorations. Amongst the marabut tribes, one ​TUE MOIlAMifEDAN BIKyTIIERUOODS. 889 especially, thot of the Ulud-Sidi Sheikhs, was formerly nearly always hostile to France ; and this tribe, rcHiding in South Oraniu, fur from the seaboard, naturally looked with the greatest displeuMurc on the advance of oonqueroni to whom they would have to surrender the |x)liticul jx)wcr and the right of levying taxes. But on the whole, the niurubutM represent primarily the conservative clement in reli- gion ; hence they tend to lean on the civil authorities in order to prevent the development of the religious orders, which eclipse their sanctity and diminish their income. They UH)k on the independent associutioDs in the same light that the Koman Catholic secular clergy formerly did the reguhir clergy. Cases occur of marabuts who close the doors of their schools to all students affiliated to a religious order. Thk Mohammedan Brotiierikwds. These orders, which have nearly all their origin in Marocco, communicating with that region through Tlcmcen and Lallu Mughnia, are very numerous in the French pos.sessions, and their influence has increased precisely in proportion to the favour shown by the Government to the imams and marabuts. The oldest is that of Sidi Abd-el-Kader el-Jelani of Bagdad, whose zawyas are scattered from the shores of Malaysia to those of Marocco. The Tijaniyas, whose chief centres are Ain-Mahdi and Temassin, were till recently the most powerful, and their khwans extend to the banks of the Senegal. But their influence has been impaired by the rise of the Scnusiya and some other foundations. There can be no doubt that since the French occupation the number of khwans, a term corresponding to those of fakir and derwish in Turkey and the far East, has considerably increased throughout North ^Vfrica. It could scarcely be other- wise, for wherever men are deprived either of political freedom or of national autonomy, they endeavour to create for themselves some sphere of action impene> trable to the outer world. Here they become absorbed in religious thought, fostering their hatred against the infidel, and in the ecstasy of fanatical zeal at times breaking into o]>en insurrection. The Ilahmaniya of Kabyliu and the Shadelya-Derkawa of different provinces, although most frequently persecuted by Government because of their lawless spirit, ore nevertheless the two orders which have been most rapidly developed since the complete conquest of Algeria. Nor is it possible even now to ascertain their actual strength, severe military supervision having converted them into so many partly secret societies. According to Kinn, they comprised in 1881 altogether 170,000 members, of whom 96,000 belonged to the Rahmaniya confraternity. All these khwans, grouped round 3oo zawyas, have nearly 2,000 mkaddems, under the orders of some twenty ciiiefs. About one-fifth of the native population would appear to belong to one or other of the sixteen great Algerian brotherhoods. A number of Kabyle women are also said to have joined the religious societies in the quality of "sisters." There are, moreover, some other associations which affect a religious air, but which are merely strolling corporations of singers, dancers, snake-charmers, acrobats, and fortune-tellers. ​840 NORTH-WEST AFEICA. At first sight the religious organisation of such a large section of the Mussul- man population might seem to constitute a real danger for the French supremacy. A number of writers even regard these institutions as so many societies of con- spirators banded together both by a common faith and hatred of their rulers. At night in the Moorish coffee-houses, after the story-tolling and recitation of poetry is concludc<l, the khwans are said to draw near, and to utter in bated breath the prophecies foretelling the approaching advent of the Mul-el-Sad, or " Lord of the Hour." They speak of the day when the Mussulman soil shall be cleansed from the presence of the detested Rumi, and mutually excite each other to hatred of the foreigner. Doubtless gatherings of this sort are of frequent occurrence ; but the religious brotherhoods lack the unity necessary to give consistency to these conspiracies. Certainly the various orders profess the purest orthodoxy, differing little from each other except in their formulas, genuflexions, and other outward observances. It is also true that the members of each association are mutually connected by the strictest obligations of the confraternities. But the various groups are still far from considering themselves as united in a compact body. Each order is itself split up into distinct sections, with nothing in common except the spiritual rule, and differing from each other in the conflicting interests of their several sheikhs and mkaddcms. Like the marabuts, most of the latter have chiefly at heart the accumulation of wealth and increase of their personal influence. They seek to stand well with the constituted authorities, and will even occasionally favour Christians with letters of protection and diplomas of "honorary associates," entitling them to the support of the community like ordinary members. Insurrections are seldom caused by religious motives, nor have the orders ever plunged bodily into a " holy war." All the khwans seera to bear in mind the Sufi principle forbidding them " to risk death in undertakings above their strength." " Fear the French ! The fear of the French is the fear of God ! " said a religious sheikh to his disciples in the Khenga oasis. Thus, however great their hatred of the invader, they have lost the warlike spirit necessary to contend with him. Compelled to absolute submission towards their chiefs, " as towards God himself," bound to dismiss from their mind " all argument good or bad, lest meditation lead them into error," their sole ambition being to impart to their limbs, their voice, and expression,, the mechanical forms of the ritual, the khwans become gradually transformed to helpless imbeciles incapable of will or understanding. In reciting certain prayers the face has to be turned to the right shoulder while uttering hi, then to the left saying hu, then bent down with a ha. The omission of these mutterings and attitudes renders the prayer inefficacious. The history of Algeria shows that insurrectionary movements have never acquired any real importance amongst these degraded devotees, but only amongst the manly tribes which have preserved the full consciousness of their political life. ​EDUCATION. 841 Education. Tho French Government has endcuvourod to secure the supiwrt of Inlam by endowing tho Mus-sulniun priesthood ; but it has hitherto done little to raiio the natives to tho level of Euroi)eun8 by education. Tho French HchooU specially ojK^nwl for tlie Arab and Ik'rbt>r childn'ii are few in number and for the njost part badly 8Ui)i)orte(l. The European schools are doubtless also open to the Mussulmans, and are frequented by a few hundred natives. But the proportion of those receiving regular instruction is very low in a population of nearly three millions. The zawyas, of which nearly one thousand are sup])osed to exist in Algeria, are sometimes spoken of as real schools ; but they have little claim to the title, the children who frequent them, to the numlK'r of abfjut thirty thousand, being taught little except to recite verses from the Koran. Girls are seldom admitted, nor do they enter the schools of European foundation, except in very rare cases. It could scarcely be otherwise, so long as custom requires them to marry at an age when European children are still playing with their dolls. Amongst the Kabyles, instruction is more highly prized than amongst the Arabs, and all schools opened for them by the administration or by the Catholic and Protestant missionaries are eagerly frequented by both sexes. All the tribal assemblies have petitioned for French schools to be established in their communes, readily accepting the condition of gratuitous and obligatory instruction. Education is also held in great honour by the Berbers of the Saharian oases, and in several towns, notably Biskra, all the children already s{x^ak and write French. Of the whole population, over a million now speak French, either as their mother tongue or as an acquired language. Arabic, notwithstanding the wealth of its former literature, no longer lends itself readily, at least in Algeria, to the requirements of UKxlern culture. With the exception of an official journal and a few legal and administrative documents, all tho local periodical literature is European, and mostly French. The only Arab works printed are translations made by Europeans, or else historical records published by the learned societies ; nor has any revival of native letters made itself felt after half a century of French occupation. Amongst the Euroixuin settlers, instruction is relatively more widely diffused than in the home country. At present education is somewhat less general amongst the Jews than amongst the French, a circumstance due to the state of degradation in which the race was long held by its Mohammedan ojjpressors. But on tho other hand, the Jews pay more attention to the instruction of their children than any other section of tho community. Public instruction, en which the Algerian communes spend on an average 17 per cent, of thrtr income, is organised on tho same model as in France. According to a law of 188U, every commune is bound to maintain one or more primary schools, open gratuitously to European and native children. A school for girls must also be established in all communes with over
Administration of Justice. — The Army.
In virtue of the capitulation of Algiers, the French Government is bound to permit the free exercise of the native laws and usages. Nevertheless, the local French magistrates have naturally endeavoured gradually to restrict the jurisdiction of the Mussulman courts. The kadis soon felt the rivalry of the French tribunals, to which appeal could always be made. At present the kadis, to the
number of about one hundred and fifty, constitute with the adels, or assistant judges, a mahakma, or court of justice, which in every circumscription is attached to the tribunals of first instance. Their forensic practice, while regulated by the Koran, must still adapt itself to the exigencies of the French law. The instruction given in the Medersa, or law school of Algiers, becomes daily more assimilated to that of the French legal schools; while Mussulman society is itself brought more within the reach of the French courts by the appointment of justices of the peace with a wide jurisdiction over Europeans and natives alike. Assize courts are held in the four cities of Algiers, Oran, Constantine, and Bona; and in Algiers is, seated court of appeal, the highest tribunal in Algeria. ​The army of occupation, forming the nineteenth corps, comprises soldiers of all arms sent from France, besides a considerable proportion of local recruits. To these must be added three regiments of Turcos, or Algerian rifles, and one for Tunis, all native volunteers, mainly Kabyles and Saharians. Two regiments of the Foreign Legion are formed of Swiss, Belgians, Germans, und other Europeans, driven by want or the spirit of adventure to take service abroad. Four regiments of zouaves, including many volunteers, have been created in Algeria, besides three of spahis, or cavalry, and four of "Chasseurs d'Afrique." In the army are also
included the gendarmerie, about a thousand strong, and the Arab gûms, or contingents of horse equipped by the tribal chiefs.
The old Arab and Turkish fortificatious have almost everywhere disappeared. The kasbahs or citadels of the strongholds have either been razed to the ground or so modified that their original form can no longer be recognised; the square bastions, with their graceful flanking towers, the imposing gateways on which were spiked "the gory heads of traitors," have left little but a name, like that of the Bab-Azun at Algiers, which the army of Charles V. failed to capture. Even the ramparts raised by Abd-el-Kader have been destroyed, and the explorer finds near Tiaret scarcely a vestige of Tagdemt, at one time the central stronghold of his empire.
On the Saharian slope, where no European attack is to be dreaded, the French militaty posts, such as those of Biskra and Laghwat, are mere fortified barracks, or else ancient kasbahs adapted to the requirements of a French garrison. The ​844 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. Saharians are the natural allies of the Europeans against the Arabs of the plateaux and of the steppes draining southwards. On the plateaux what are needed are not fortresses but carriage roads, by means of which the swiftest nomad marauders mav be overtaken and dispersed. After the fall of Tagdemt and the construction of good highways from the coast to the central plateaux, the conquest of Algeria was virtually completed. The limits of the military divisions coincide with those of the three departments of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine ; but there are some differences in the adminis- trative and military subdivisions. In each division are seated two councils of war, besides inferior courts which deal with minor offences against discipline. The Arab tribunals, wliicb formerly depended on the military administration, have now been placed under the direct control of the governor-general. In the Appendix will be found a table of all the administrative divisions and subdivisions of Algeria, with their chief towns and communes.