Star.
London, England, 1830-05-10 00:00:00

ALGIERS.

The attention of the Et.:opean world being at this moment di.
rected towards that fortress, before which the soldiers of Napoleon
are called to prove they have not degenerated under the rule of the
Bourbons, we believe the following account of the kingdom and its
people will not prove unacceptable to our readers :—The kingdom of
Algiers is 480 miles is length, and about 100 miles broad in the widest
part. The inhabitants arc a mixture of many countries and their
d scendants, the most numerous being the Moors and the Ara-
bians, the principal portion of whom lead a wandering life,
residing in tents, and paying a tribute to the Dcy, according
to the number of the family in a camp. The family and all
the domestic animals lie promiscuously in the tent together, with the
exception of the dogs, who act outside as sentinels. Algiers itself,
however, although it looks beautiful from the sea, is a miserable
place, filled with a brutal soldiery, and surrounded by a barren and
almost impassable desert. Scorpions swarm even in the houses of
the most wealthy, and the locust occasionally consumes every ap-
pearance of vegetation. The people are probably the most cruel,
rapacious, and brutal, within the confines of civilized society—
pirates and thieves by their own confession, no oaths or ties
are able to bind them when their intorese interferes. Their
punishments: are of extreme cruelty, rebels being strangled
with a bow-string, or hanged on an iron hook; women de.
tected in adultery are fastened by their necks to a pole, and
held under water till they arc suffocated. Those who speak against
their Prophet and apostates their Faith, are either routed alive
or thrown from a high precipice, when the sufferer is caught
upon sbarp.pointed hooks, and remains several days in torture
before he expires ! Others are impaled, and a Christian slave
who attempts to escape, is hung naked upon • gibbet by two
hooks, one fastened :through the palm of his hand, and the other
through the sole of his opposite foot, in which situation he is left
till death puts an end to his sufferings ! Persons of distinction,
convicted for crimes against the State, are fastened between
two boards, and sawed asunder I In sickness, they allow only
persons of their own sex to attend them. People of opulence
pass most: of their time in their gardens with their women, who
lead a life of perfect indolence. They are allowed as many wives
as they please, and generally engage a female to procure them, with-
out giving themselves the trouble to see them first. Size is with the
Algerines, as well as the Hottentots, the perfection of beauty ; and
a lady of masculine stature, adorned with a due proportion of flesh,
will procure twice as much money in the market as one of more
slender and delicate proportions. The women are always veiled
when they go out, and, in consequence, are only known to the slaves
who attend them. They are excessively devoted to gallantry, and
notwithstanding the punishment Is so great, they run every hazard for
the gratification of their passion. The Christian slaves, who arc often
engaged in preferencl to eunuchs (the purchase of the latter being al.
ways more extensive), are generally the objects of their regard. The
little affection they bear to their husbands, who are, during the
greater portion of the year, at sea, may, in some degree, account for
this peculiarity, of which the slaves are ever found to take advan-
tage, revenging, thereby, in some degree, a portion of the ills which
they and their brethren suffer.
Necessity is universally allowed to be the parent of inventlon,and
the lovers of Algiers have invented a language of extreme interest,
and altogether peculiar to themselves. A slave who is enraptured with
and beloved by his mistress, contrives to explain his feelings by a
combination of flowers. A nosegay formed in a certain manner
contains an infinitude of tender and passionate ideas. The
orange flower denotes hope, the marigold despair, the amaranth
constancy, the tulip reproaches, and the rose is the most perfect
symbol of beatify. From the particular attributes ascribed to
flowers, an expressive language is thus constructed. The slaves
easily find an opportunity to communicate these billet,-doom to their
mistresses, there being always some secret place in the garden wherein
they are deposited. Answers are returned in the same manner; for
the way in which the flowers are gathered affords a reply, which is
altogether unnoticed by every one except the individual addressed.
Deviations in this language, of course, arc always agreed upon, in
order to prevent discovery.
The government of Algiers appears a most inconceivable anomaly
even to the Ottoman himself. The chief power is vested in an army
composed of Turkish outlaws, adventuress, and soldiers of fortune.
The head of this military republic may do what he pleases, his
superiors are only the Juw.string and the dagger. Having be-
come the chief by assassinatioo, the same means may disparate
him ; and often in the zenith or his power, the Janisaries will as..
semble at the palace gates, and far want of other employment shout
their hurts i This sound is instantly attended to by the Day ;he
knows he must abandon the palace ; his Guards have ordered it;
it is their pleasure, and he obeys it. When he is outside the palace
they cut off his head without scruple ; acting upon that great
political axiom which was so much in use during the Revolution ;
" that the sword should always be unsheathed to preserve the
country in peace." The soldiers then choose another commander,
who, in like manner, administers the laws, listens to the cries of
the populace, and then dies. " He was the Dey, and he must die r
such is their law. A poor schoolmaster, less fortunate than Dio.
nysius the tyrant, reigned over this extraordinary people the space
of eight days; they then dersed him, though he humbly sought
to conciliate ; finding intreauee ineffectual, he tried to obtain a safe
retreat by escaping over the roofs of the houses, but he was ob.
served, and a ball from a carbine laid him low. The system of
espionage is well ordered. Algiers is, what Venice was, when, if a
stranger inquired of one passing, the time of day ? The other,
before he replied, would look fearfully round him, and trembling
answer, "it is half past ten o'clock, Sir; but don't say that,! told
you."
Life is insupportable here in every grade except that of a soldier;
they are a particular sort of Deys who do not fear strangulation ;
• rich and free, they enjoy tie right, in times of peace, to turn Ca-
sein for their own and sole bleat. Their national history consists
of a train of hardy adventures, v tea oaths, ships burned, and
their crews kid or murdered. T Boliman Dey was accustomed
to declare with truly Ottoman . de, and a grace and modesty of
manner which his brigands h y vaunted : " The Algerines are
thieves, and lam their chief," slid If he had occasion of complaint
against a Frank, he would sew" You have not acted justly ; you
ought to overlook those thinpLin us, because we are pirates, and
considered such evate.wherer-blit in you the same cannot be passed i
ever, because you boast so midi of your good deeds."

FOREIGN FUN.
Brazil Bd., 5 pr Ct. 74
Do. Acc. 74
Colour. Bd.. 6 per Ct.
Do. Bds. 1824, 26
Ditto Acc. 26j
Do. 100, 29
Greek Bonds, 5 p Ct. 43
Do. Acc. 44
Do. B. 1825, 49
Do Account 48
Mex. Bd.. 5 per Ct.
Do.B. 1845.6 p Ct. 38i

AT TWO OCLuCK
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New Annuities
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