The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-04-06
FROM ALGERIA
TO SICILY
"A Parting Peep at the Arab
Quarter of Algiers.
Tbs Moorish Bazaars snd Their Strange oc-
cupants-The Remarkable Fertility
Of the Colony.
Special to THE SUNDAY CALL.

Special to THE SUNDAY CALL.
@yATANIA, Sicily, March 3, 1S9O.-One
NgSx does not require a weeks time in Al
~ geria, or to go with his eyes open
more than 200 miles from the city of AL
giers in any direction in the interior, TO dis
cover, aside from the human interest which
is absorbing on every hand, aud the scenic
beauties and splendors which are unex-
pected and surprising, that here the French
have found new empire whose posi-
bilities as garden spot for en-
ioyment and material development sur
pass all ordinary calculation. The ma
tive interior population and their
strange manners and customs have been
well and fully described. The beauty OF
topography, the implessiyeness Of military
and civil roads, the winsomeness of shaded
lanes and ways, the wondrous beauty and
luxuriousness of the fora, the enchantment
of valley scenes, the depth and beauty of
ravines, gOrges and inter mountain vistas,
the 1oaming of cascades and torrents, the
almost Norman or Eng lish sweetness
of flashing streams, the picturesque
ness Of countless vineyards, and noun
tains ide herds, with their white-Tobed
shepherds, and the grandeur of the
Atlas peaks, SO lofty that their caps
of snow often Withstand the assaults of
the summer siroceo until July, have all been
well told by travellers who have come before
me. But have seen presented no refer
ences 70 those things on which the future
Of any country must depend. In what re-
spect may France be vastly benefited by
its Algerian possession at such stupendOus
original cost of life and treasure? is the
constant query OF the earnest reader and
earnest observer The answer is every
where given in such stupendous proofs of
rich rewards that the visitor is constantly
forced away from the contemplation Of the
native people, customs and archaeology to
the liVeliest most exciting speculationS
upon Commercial and agricultural possibili-
ties under the new and enlightened regime.
CLIMATE AND RESOURCES.
AS to climate. one is reminded constantly
OF the vast variety accessible in Mexico.
Every possible degree Of heat or cold can
be definitely secured during nine months of
the year. So, 700, every form Of vegetation
known to torrid, temperate or frigid zone is
here discoYeIable by the botanist.
- Tratficable and always profitable products
Of the soil, but twenty-five hours distance
by steamer from European entrepots, are
and variety. Algiers is but twenty-five
hours from Cadiz, Barcelona, Marseilles,
Rome and Venice, forty-eight hours from
Madrid and Paris and but eighty hours
the same time as Jacksonville, Fla, is from
New York and Chcago-from Vienna, Ber-
in ana London. Any morningyvu may eu-
ter the market in Place de la Tyre or in
Place de Charities, in a lgeTs and the
exhibition oil eggs, potatoes, peas,
beans. asparagus, mushrooms, artichOkes,
eauiitiower, lettuce, and all known
northern and tropical vegetables roses and
branches OF buds, blooms and blossoms such
as all Cuba cannot surpaSs; and apples,
plums, pears, cherries, dates, figs, bananas,
tamarlnds, pOmegranates, melons and every
known delicious fruit OF every land and
CLINE, Is something your eyes can seldom
elsewhere behold. And yet all this is but
hint of what another quarter of century of
French husbaudry in Algiefs will disclose.
France, then, has found what is practically
A NEW AMERICA,
Twenty-Five hours from home, wherein she
may remove the oYerplus power Of her
splendid industrial activities; with the
added advantage OF a soil and cline capable
of intellectually diversified employment.
Even the date, that precious almost mama
OF the Arab, the feet of whose tree are in
''Jhe water and It's branches in the flames of
heaven" Is transforming the northern edge
OF Sahara into garden, through French
irrigation. Two crops Of potatoes are an
nually yielded Beetro0t for sugar manu-
facture is already successfully cultivated.
The fig Is everywhere, forms an immense
food supply when fresh, is exported for
spirits dlstiilation, and no American need
be told OF its universal foreign
consumption when cured. Nearly all
the guaya jellies which come by
way OF France are made from the Algerian
fruit Algerian bananas and oranges OF
the most delicious flavor are now riYaliug in
The European markets the same fruit from
the Azores. Canaries and the West Indies.
Wheat, barley, rye and corn as fine as pro-
duced anywhere in America, and already to
a yield of nearly 400,000,O00 bushels are
grown. Cotton Is still III an experimental
status; but specimens Of extraordinary
yield and texture are secured. The vast
tobacco plantations OF Mascara and else
where are now producing leaf the equal,
II not the superior, OF the moSt-pTiZed prod
uct Of the sunny valleys behind Havana.
But more than all this, if you have loitered
in the noblest vineyards Of France, Spain
and Italy, you viii ind that thUse Of
Algeria now surpass the most splendid
Plantations either of those countries ever
knew.
THE ARAB QUARTER.
A parting peep at Algiers was taken in
the old Arab quarter of the city. One
ceases to wonder over the rhapsodies Of
artists upon this bit of Moresque holding
progress. Its outlines still very clearly de-
hne those of the ancient city. Down here
harboIward are the grand bouleyards,
plazas, palaces and shops of the new Paris
the French have made. The two great gen
eTal markets, the fsh-market OF the port,
AID two stately mosques occupy a line of
common ground upon which all natlonali-
ties seem to meet. From this line, as a
broad base of nearly a mile in length, con-
Yerging gradually as you ascend TO the
h.
rows the old Arab quarter, dense mass
OF Moorish structures from 100 to 1000
years Old. No one ever gave, no one can
ever give an adequate description. of
this almost trackless labyrinth. Nothing
exists III Europe or America TO which team
be likened. l have attempted its eXplora-
ton on eighteen different occasions. On
each but one l was rescued and conveyed
back TO recognizable precincts and locations
only alter an excellent exhibition OF panto-
mime and coin. There is but one street or
way, which starts at somewhere and finally
reaches anywhere. That is the Rue de la
Kasbah. This at one time led from the
quays to the pirates stronghold on the
heights. What is left of it rises a step in
every two yards, and 500 crumbling stone
steps still remain, To the right and left of
this there are, | am told, upward of 400 dis
tinct streets, thOrCughfares, courts, alleys
and lanes. No two are at right angles.
Every curve or sinuosity Imaginable is de-
seribed. 1t is
A MAZE OF sHADowY BURRow.
Where fit aud loiter swarthy beings
sheeted IN gh0stly white. In not a half
dozen Of these Arab streets can one catch
glimpse of more than a tiny blue thread of
sky above. The widest streets are not up
w ard Of twelve feet in width; the average
one does not exceed eight; and in very
many one can touch the opposite walls with
outstretched lAhds. -4he habitations of
rich and poor are joined. None are de-
tached. A corner may impede progress
here; iumpy angle may obtrude there; a
pOnderOus facade may cut into the street
beyond; but an endless, Irregular, wall
broken only by depth in lowly, or height in
more ponderous structure, By massive pro-
truding doorways, abutnents of yauted
arches, and huge stone holdings and ba-