Morning journal and courier., 1890-03-22

entire members of an English family, [ round dozen altogether. They are travellers or are here for the benefit of the glorious winter climate; are dressed sensibly in hon est woolen stuff; and better than all, art walkers, every one of them. They learn something when they travel; for any one with brains enough to see the world on foot sees it from the proper level always. Behind them are score of negresses. They are on their way from the Arab markets, over in the Place de la Tyre and Place de Chartres
 and you may find any dsy hundreds more like them as helpers there. They are inds. scribably ugly, with short, puffy bodies, tre- rnendous heads and short, huge necks, lumpy cheeks and square jaws, nostrils aattened back almost in @ line with the facial angle
 and lips like pair of ebonized conch shells. Their haiks are always of the blue and white checked variety, intensifying the luster and depth of color of their coal black skins Some of them are yelled, giving them an ail of monumental coyisnness and skittishness Besides the haik and veil little should bt said about their costume. Below the hail are cascades and cataracts of garmentary all sorts. Two wear the bright red cast of trowsers of the French zouaves. A pair oi cavalry boots ornament the feet and legs of [ third. The rest are barefooted, and theil feet are like huge claws. But the poor crea' lures were born in tho jungles below Sahara They have not been free long. They are sunny tempered and brave. They clattel and jabber along with @ good deal of inde' pendenoe and dignity. You or I under like conditions might not make even so much out of life in Algiers. 1
 Here come several attachments of the military. They are shifting guards at the different forts for the sake of discipline. In advance is little squad of mounted officers. Following these come three or four small bodies of chasseurs, and then there are seen six companies, or parts of companies, of the infantry. In three of these companies 6 small proportion are Arabs. One whole company is composed of native soldiers, even to the officers. And in this triaing exhibi- tion of the soldiery one can read the entire military policy of the French provincial ad- nineteen military "regions." Each one ot these regions" is supposititiously occupied by an entire army corps. But the Nine- teenth corps, that of Algiers, comprises be- tween sixty and seventy thousand available men. In many French regiments each com. pany holds few natives, as, during our owr civil war Wisconsin and Minnesota troops had few Chippewa Indians among them distributed through each company, or occa- sionally comprising entire companies. Some regiments have entire companies of Arabs, including officers. But the three regiments of Tirailleurs indigenes, and three regiments of Spahis, are the only ones composed exclu- sively of native troops. The former are called Turcos, and are similarly organized to the native infantry in India, and the latter are used for outpost service, each man being provided with 8 small piece of land for cul- tivation, free of taxation. No native soldier can rise above the rank of captain, and the entire body of native volunteers is so dis- tributed, and so well treated, that danger from uprising is almost wholly eliminated. These fellows have fine, manly look, and their military bearing is given added interest cropped black boards and their light and elastic step. As one sees these splendidly drilled and disciplined men disappear down the Rue de la Tyre, and notices the gleams of exultation in the On looking Arabs eyes, the prophetic thought comes: After all France holds the key to Africa. Algiers alone is as great in area as France. That government has within five years acquired south and east of Senegal reach of new length. And it is no dream that while other European nations are bristling along each others frontiers, France will have meantime gained a vast African empire whose stations, interests and activities shall reach in an un- broken line from thu Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea.
 But here comes bevy of Jewish mer. chants on their way to the Messageries Mari. times at the harbor side, on some errand connected with importstions, and with the party are few Jewish women, young, state. ly and fair. Indeed there are exultation and stateliness in the manner of all which show that the Jews condition under French rule if one of prosperity, freedom and progress He may we'll enjoy his altered circumstances! for it was not so long ago that all manner of indiRnities were heaped upon him under the rule of the deys. Then no Jew could ride on horseback. He must perforce employ an ass. Nor could he come into the presence -oi an Arab man or woman without repeated sa- laams and kissing the hem of the Arabs burnous. There are ten thousand Jews in Algiers now. There is not poor one among them. They, with the Mozabites. monopo- lize nearly all commercial transactions, and are found in possession of the best shops and all the important retail trade. They were all, save two, dressed similar to the Arabs with long flowing white robes, tur- baned heads, richly embroidered waists and sashes, ample trowsers caught with jeweled bands below the knees, blue silk stockings, and low sandals upon their feet. The head dresses of two differed from the rest. They were the red tarboosh, with blue and black tassel, betokening that the wearers were Tu- nisian Jews, for in Tunis the Jews are pro- hibited from wearing the sacred green and white of the prophet, these colors being re- served for the use of the descendants of Mohammed only. The Jewish women in their company gave an excellent example not only of the beauty of the female members of this race ss they are found near and in the orient, but alse of the costumes of the better class of these in Algiers. Long, straight gowns, without drapery, and of the richest silk, green, orange or purple, encir- cled at the waist by cords of silk, gold and silk, or chains of pure gold, constitute the sole outer garment, strikingly different from the Arab womans. Their feet were encased in colored pointed slippers. Each woman were black silk scarf, bound tightly across ths forehead, gathered closely over the head, and falling in delicate folds behind, held in place at the back by great gold or jeweled ornaments. This, with Q plain band of spotless white linen drawn tightly across the chin, and magnificent India shawl carried upon the arm or thrown carelessly across the shoulders, completed the costume. The silk scarf upon the head hinted of the Spanish mantilla. The waite linen band suggested the nun. And the entire effect was simple, rich and classic. l have never seen more beautiful women than the younger Jewesses of Algiers.
 Here is a drove of weary donkeys with bulging palmetto panniers on their backa, and, chattering beside each one, Is a bare headed, bare armed and bare legged black man, with straight hair, fine, determined features, aud with splendid form and mus cular development. This is the scavenger train of Algiers. Garbage from houses is leaded into these panniers, and the litter of the streets is also conveyed away by the same primitive means. The men so em ployed are the Biakris. They were the DO. lice, water carriers and all manner of serv. ing men under the deys in old Algiers They are now scavengers. water carriers and men servants at large. These Biskris bear { strikingly similar relation to Algiers that the cities of the south. They are the ever pa outside GaIicia, their one ambition being tt earn and save enough to secure O little chozi and patch of land where they may content edly end their days in the glens on tht mountain slopes of the north. So with ths Biskris youth from the desert bordering Al gerian village. Subsisting upon dates whict he carries ia his pocket, he sets out on fool for the sswhite city," and suffers every fa- tieue and degree of starvation to reach it. Then, like the Gallegan, hs will lead slaves life for the humblest earnings. His dream, and he will realize it too if he earns less than ten sous per day, is to save as much as two or three hundred dollars, and with it return to his birth land oasis and buy date palm grove, and from two to six lusty wives to
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