Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-06-30
URBArTA. OHIO, WEDNESDAY. JUNE. 80, 1869,

val. They celebrate BelaI, a sainted
black female slave, who had been IN
Mahomet's family. They pray and gorge
with food. An OK, covered with flowers
and gay foulards, is sacrificed. They
dance around it seven times before they
give the death stroke. As the OK dies,
whether soon or not, in agony or not so
is the prOgnOsticatiOn of good or evil
Then begins the negro dancing. Dan
Bryant might learn new fantastic les
sons in the art. Then the prophetic ne
crosses, retiring under tent near the
sea, are waited upon by the crowd to
learn their futures. The crowd bring
chickens to the prophecies. She wrings
off their heads and throws the body in
to the waves. If the 'headless rooster
swims and stTUggles-sO; if otherwise
not. That is clear. Then begin more
dancing and chanting and a wild sort of
music called Derbada. 1t should be
Diabelric, for it is a jolly row. Thus,
these black deVOtees of MahOmet out
strip all the rest of the cO-religiOnists,
except the Dervishes. To beat them l
defy all the powers on or under the
earth. Justice, however, to the better
class of white MahOmetans demands
that I should say that they disapprOve
of these mumbO-jumbO orgies. Especl-
ally have they endeavOred to crush out
these negro eXtTavaganZas.
TIE NEGROES.
are here pretty much as elsewhere-not
of much account. | say this not from
American prejudice; for where you see
such mixtures as here you forget all
about color and caste. 1t is the testi-
mOny of others. a volume have OPEN
ed says, in speaking of the races here,
that the Kabyle is a good worker of the
soil; the wishri Il fair bOatman and pOr-
ter, the NIZabi is busy as Il baker, butch
er, grocer and small merchant; the
LaghOnati is Il labOriOUs bearer of oil
but &c RCgrc 6ldRcht les mdiSORs, on Cr
cree QWelquC grOsSicrC iHdustriC.' He
white-washes, or does worse, or nothing.
That is about all of him here.
THE MOORISH LADIES.
Forgetting these matters, it would be
more grateful to follow the ladies of our
party in some calls they were permitted
to make upon the Moorish ladies. They
were treated with singular kindness and
franlIness. If had the time to extract
from the journal of Madame, it would
be something for your lady readers. If
L MIllC d2tlil L W III uO So 1 IdNG llO
leisure even in this to write of our visit
to the Museum here. One object worthy
Of note there is
TIE CAST OF THE RODY OF THE CHRISTIAN
MARTYR SLAVE.
Refusing to abiure his religion, he was
cast, not into a dungeon, but in plaster;
not pounded, but fixed alive in the NOR
tar, smOtheTed in q horrible way. Ru-
mOrs of this tragedy ran over Europe at
the time, for it was done by one of the
piraticaI Deys of the last century. But
it was only verified the other day, when
the body was found removing the wall
of the old fort. The body was, of course,
dust, but the mould was there, showing
how the skin, lips and brow, the very
bones and ATTITUDE, took the form and
agony under the terrible torture.
But our time is growing brief at AL
gieTs. We must move to the west and
south. The Desert is before us, and Oran
is beyond. A splendid stopping point is
THE CITY OF MILIANAH,
from which my letter dates. How to get
here. We have thirty miles of railroad
out of Algiers to Blidah. We start at
noon, and intend to remain there all
night. The railroad runs eastward for
Il space along the sea. A strange phe-
nOmenOn appears on the waves for 4
half mile out. The sea is fncardine, >
with a vegetable fungus. The effect is
peculiar, striking and tropical. Soon
we turn to the south and pass over the
plain of Mitidii. Tt is not so well cUlti-
waited as its rich soil would demand.-
The fact is, it is malaTiOus; and, al
though it has buried a generation, it has
vet to bury more before the old fruitful
ness comes out of its soil.
A PEN PICTURE.
wish l could give you photograph
of ATilianah. Make to your mind the
imagery of a plain, out of which, rising
through several miles of gardens, there
winds, as it rises, the road up to the gate
i'll the rear of the city; and before you
get there picture the limestone rocks
grOttOed, hOneycOmbed and irregular at
places, but all decorated with vines and
leaf and cascade, and surrounded by a
staUnch wall, within whose fortified es-
carpmentS Il luXuTianCe of vegetation
seems tO-SurrOund Il city Of elegant pro-
portions, with tower of church and
dome of mosque, and all flashing white
and clean as one of the cascades under
the African sun-then you have Milan
ah. 1t is the glory of Algiers. Enter
within its gates! Walk around its plaza!
Here we find embOWeTed in foliage, in
the center of the large square, a Vene-
tan Campanella. 1t stands alone and
sounds the horns for MOslem and Chris
tan. Go down the wide avenue to the
south side-yOu find yourself looking
from the precipitOus walls upon the
grand views beneath and afar! You see
no frOwning beetled brow of rocky fort,
fortified by art and nature. That is vis-
iblc only from below. You gaze down
amidst the wild byrOny, creeping about
the rocky sides, making hanging gar
dens of these walls, creeping about
where the cactus, the rocks, the pOme-
the waterfalls in prOmiscuOus IuXuriance
form a foreground. While over the
long plain, at the end of twenty miles,
the mountains stand, one range above
the other, and the second above the
third long intervals between, for seven
ty miles and more, until the eye from
Milianah SeiZes, as upon its last outpost
of vision, the ultimate mountain range
from which the beginnings of the Great
Desert appear. Our way lies there!
THE OUTER WALL OF ATLAS.
What Il leap from 1Iillianah to yonder
outer wall of Atlas Yet we must par
TALLY 90 over it. Not however, until
we exhaust NTillianah-Visited its mar
ket, where the venders stand with their
donkeys loaded with charcoal; visited
its plaza by evening, where we saw the
fat woman, weighing four hundred
pounds, painted on the booth larger than
life, and heard her speak in French of
the immensity Of her obesity, and show
ing her jambes and arms, prove to the
Arab and European that She was all
their fancy and the artist had painted
L. =,
gathered cTOmatella roses as big as your
hat-a small round hat; talked among
the booths with intelligent jews, some
of whom had been TO England, and one
old man had Il son in America; seen
from our window the JewCsscs deckcd
out in gay cOlOrs, and the Jews in their
dark dresses; admired the easy air of the
latter and the beautiful eyes Of the for
mer, for hath not jew eyes aud jew
esses too?