The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-05-26

FRENCH AND ARAB LIFE IN ALGIERs.-A
correspondent Of the London News writes as
follows:
Perhaps their is no place in the world where
modern civilization and ancient Eastern life
and manners come into such close contact. ane
therefore stand out in so striking a contrast
as they do in Algiers The whole of that por-
ton of the town which faces the sea, and Dor
ders the quays and haTbors, is as thoroughly
French AS Marseilles or Toulon. The hand
some Place du Commencement, with its fine
bronze statue ofthe Duke of Orleans, its shops.
cafes, colonnades, and public buildings, would
be just like that of any French provincial town
were it not for the magnificent palm trees
which overshadow the marble fountain IN one
corner, and for the dazzling white walls OF the
great mosque, with its elegant minaret, which
forms one side of the square. The quays,
crowded with sailors, and lined by large ware
houses, and the vast harbor, protected by piers,
forts, and breakwaters, and filed with large
steamers and merchant shipping, has an en-
tirely French appearance, as has also the broad
and handsome Boulevard de Flmperatrice,
with its long range of new white buildings.
Behind this boulevard and the Place du Cow
ernement are several straight. streets, mostly
at right angles to each other, all arcaded and
full of excellent shops; but even here one sees
something of Arab life Arab boys perpetually
accost one, Offering to black ones boots, or
selling cigar lights, while stately men, wrap
ped up in white drapery every now and then
are met with, or half naked black beggars
When, however, we reach, by broad fight Of
steps, the Place du Charities, where the daily
market is held, we come upon one of the most
animated and picturesque scenes it is possible
to see in any city in the world. Here French
g - nd
in the most striking contrast. The whole
place is one moving mass of human life, and
displays every shade and hue of every color
under the sun. Fruit, vegetables, butter,
eggs, poultry alive and dead, meat, bread,
-four, in short every necessary of life, are here
offered for sale by both French and Arab deal
ers: it would be difficult to say which are the
more noisy of the two. The purchasers, also,
are of both races, and the CHATTER kept up by
the constant bargaining going on, by the cries
of the vendors, the caekle of the poultry, the
shrill shrieks of Arab boys, and barking Of
dogs, is positively deafening. There cannot
be place, / should think, better supplied with
provisions than Algiers; the butchers shops
in the arcades round this market-place, priuei-
pally kept by very picturesque Arabs, offer
meat of every kind; the vegetables here dis
played are most abundant and varied, salads
and cabbages of the brightest green, peas,
beans vans, enormous potatoes, the yellowest
carrots, the pinkest radishes and the most
crimson tomatoes. The fruit is specially temp
ting, and of every possible sort; the grapes are
in size larger than the largest hot-house grapes
we see in England, figs are large and plentiful,
oranges and lemons abound; olives, pears and
apples can almost be had for the asking, while
pomegranates, bananas, and the priekly figs
which grow on the cactus plant. all of which
are thoroughly African, are to be purchased
for the smallest of coins at every stall. In the
centre of this market, and shaded by a spread
ing willow, is large marble fountain, forming
the most picturesque point in this lively scene.
Round it lie sleepy Arabs in graceful attitudes,
while swathy children dabble in its waters,
and the cleaner vendors wash their hands and
faces in its streams. Above the market, we
begin at once to ascend the steep hillside on
whidh Algiers is built, and penetrate directly
into the purely Arab portion of the town.
Here nothing European meets our view; narrow
streets, or rather lanes, mostly consisting of
steps and roughly paved. formed by white
washed, overhanging houses, with arched
doorways and small grated windows; shops
open TO the street, in which squatting Arabs,
not overburdened with clothing, sitting cross
legged, are hard at work at some trade-shoe-
making, tailoring, or embroidery. Here and
there some beautiful bit of Moorish architecture
is disclosed in an old doorway or window, and
the groups in the streets, whether beggar
children with dark, almost black, skins, and
the brightest of eyes, or the bare-legged men
toiling up with large water pichers or some
other heavy load on their heads or shoulders,
or yelled women, waddling mass of white
garments, huge baggy trousers, tight awk-
ward slippers, with their dark eyes only to be
seen peering out of this abundance of white
drapery, are everywhere novel and picturesque.