Morris tribune., 1888-07-18
A HOME IN ALGIERS.
A GLIMPSE or QUIET COUNTRY
LIFE AMONG THE MooRS.


Flirting with Handsome Kabyle Girl.
Tea and Cake.
The road to Tkscrian winds over the
smiling green hills of the Sahel, among
fields and vineyards and white Arab
houses, and descends at last through O
deep rocky ravine to an old Moorish aque-
duct, thrown boldly with gray arches
across the bottom of the valley We pass
under the aqueduct with it's moldering
round arches, on one of whose grim stones
some Spanish Christian slave carved long
ago the dim and half obliterated inscrip-
ton, '.Ano 1885," we turn aside for mo-
ment to the gray Moorish village that
clings to the hillside. with Its tumble
down houses and its open air cafe where
Arabs loll at ease In picturesque attitudes,
propped on bare elbows, and discuss our
personal appearance with evident frank
ness: We drink from the cool water Of the
ancient marble fountain. that invariable
accompaniment of all North African ham,
let's; and then we continue our way on
foot by rocky path, bordered with as
phodel and the tiny blue Sicilian iris, to
the Arab house itself. In whose hospitable
courtyard we mean to drink the national
beverage under cool portico. The villa
belongs, in fact. to rich old native gen.
tleman In Algiers, who comes out here
only for his summer villeggiatura, and
we have obtained his leave today to de-
scend upon 1t In force. to the evident sur
prise, delight and amusement of its ami
able little horde of Kabyle caretakers.
Nothing we have seen In Agiers has
been quite SO genuinely native as this,
and nothing at first sight has so unre.
servedly charmed us We enter the villa
through an outer farm yard. which leads
by an arched doorway to the actual arcaded
court yard Of the house, Opening this
door, a delicious native picture bursts at
once upon our sight Through the half.
circle Of the arch we see in front of US O
tiled floor, .overshadowed by ancient,
gnarled orange trees; central marble
fountain, bubbling up and overhowing
with limpid water into cool basin; an
Arab home of antique. fiat rooted archi.
lecture, set on one side. with it's open
colonnade Of daintily sculptured pillars
occupying the other. and in the midst OF
all. lighting it up with their graceful
presence and free ease Of movement, q
pretty group of FIVE assorted Kabyle peas.
ants Two were old women, still 1.-THE
and active, with uncovered faces and
tattooed foreheads. One was a mother in
the prime Of life. with her 2-year- old baby
In her brown arms, and one was young
girl of extraordinary beauty, well built
and high stepping, round Of arm and rich
Of bosom as Greek statue. It was the
Orient at home; we paused and looked and
admired it silently. The men were absent;
I cannot honestly say we missed them.
That Kabyle baby. in particular, was a
perfect little model He toddled about
the court yard in his naked feet, he had
shutf1ed off his wee slippers in far cor
ner, with tiny burnous thrown around
his fat, small body and miniature cowl
over his round little head. as quaint and
comic human figure as ever have seen
in the course Of many wanderings. We
asked leave by pantomime to light our
etna and make our tea under the shade of
the colonnade, and our Kabyle hostess,
catching readily at our meaning, accorded
her permission with friendly smile. The
handsome girl, going out into the front
yard, lighted fire of sticks hastily with
her beautiful hands, and set to work in q
tiny little cabin of kitchen to prepare us
sort of griddle cake in a round pan,
while the baby stood by with his big,
grave eyes, and seemed no more afraid OF
the Christian intruders than Of his own
friends in the court yard close by. Mean
while the old women also busted them
selves to make US bowl of the national
dish, CONSCIOUS, sort of porridge pounded
from the semolina of hard wheat.
The Kabyle women do not veil their
faces, like the Arabs, nor are they afraid
of strangers; on the contrary, our beauti-
full friend who was making the griddle
cake seemed distinctly to understand the
civilized European art Of flirting. She
blew the fire from time to time with hen
own pretty lips, and then turned round to
us those languid large eyes. of hers as il
to demand our instant admiration; she
allowed the wind to rustic open the haik
that covered her full neck, and then gath
cred 1t together coquettishly with twist
Of her fingers, yet not so tight as quite to
prevent it from revealing to us every now
and again the statuesque perfection of hel
lovely shoulder. She was light as O
Christian and almost blue eyed. "Gen.
seric and his Vandals," said the ethnolo.
gist of our party. don't know myself;
only know for certain she was well
favored and bonny lass of whatever ex.
traction, Aryan or Semitic. a.
By and by the kettle boiled, and we sat
down on the edge Of the old tiled floor,
with the water gurgling at us in the
marble basin, and drank our four cups OF
o'clock tea under archways that then,
for the first time, no doubt, made &C.
quaintance with the SAVIOR of our British
beverage. Our Kabyle baby friend tod.
died up and eyed our cake askance with
curious and eager eyes: we gave him q
piece and he ran back to the house
with it, but, whether on religious or di.
gestive grounds l know not, loud cry,
exceedingly western in note, shortly an.
nounced that his cruel mother had taken
IL sway from him. We appeased him
with small bit Of bread and ham, which
no rule of the Prophet seemed to forbid.
After tea we held high palaver at the
door; the Kabyle women displayed their
jewelry, and took us over their house, from
the porch with It's look out, where the
Moorish women made sure they might
venture forth unveiled into the court, to
the fat roof with Its splendid view over
hill and ravine and aged cluster of waving
palm trees.
The pretty Kabyle girl followed us tim
idly up the stairs, but fed coquettish,
when we turned and looked at her, into
dark side chambers. Even the staircase
had It's dado of rich titles, and the best
bedroom was o miniature museum of
Oriental domestic architecture. We went
down once more, and pressed five francs
into our hostess dusky hand. She took
It with agraceful outer show of reluctance,
and signifed by pantoinine her undying
regret that we couldn't wait to taste their
CONSCIOUS. But we had seen It pounded,
and we fed that ordeal. Time excused
us The pretty girl peeped out at us
archly from a doorway as we left, and the
2-year-old Kabyle in the cowl and hood
stared after us long with inquiring eyes
till Don Quixote and the cake basket faded
away forever from his horizon in the dis
tance.-Pall Mall Gazette.
According to insurance statistics more
fires are extinguished by the use OF pals
Of water than by all other means.
The Emperor OF RraziL
Dom Pedro. besides being q wise and
LIBERAL monarch. an accomplished musician
and an experienced traveller has been 8
profound student Of languages and IL
well versed In Hebrew, Arabic and San
scrit. New York Evening World