Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-21

and Place de Chartres; and you may fin,
any day hundreds more like them as helper
there. They are indescribably ugly, witt
Short puffy bodies, tremendous head
and short, huge necks, lump,
| cheeks and square jaws, nos
trils fattened back almost in line with tn
facial angle; and lips like a pair of ebon
ised conch shells. Their haiks are alwav
of the blue and white checked variety, in
tensifying the luster and depth of color o
their coal black skins. Some of them ar
ve1led, giving them an air of monumental
coyishness and sklttishness.
Beside the haik and veil, little should b,
said about their costume. Below the hail
are cascades and cataracts of garmentary
all-sorts Two wear the bright red cast-of
trousers of the French Zouaves. A pair O
cavalry boots ornament the feet and legs ot
third. The rest are barefooted, and theil
feet are like huge claws. But the pool
creatures were born In the iungles below
Sahara. They have not been free long
| They are sunny tempered and brave. They
| clatter and jabber along with good deal Of
independence and dignity. You or 1, under
like conditions, might not make even SC
much out of life In Algiers.
THE FRENCH TROOPS.
Here come several detachmenis 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 a
small proportion are Arabs. One whole
company is composed of native soldiers,
even to the officers. And in this trif1ing ex-
hibition OF the soldiery one can read the
entire military policy of the French provin-
cial administration here. Algiers is one of
Frances 19 military regions" Each one
of these "regions" is supposititiously occu-
pied by an entire army corps. But the
Nineteenth Corps, that of Algiers, COM
prises between $4,000 and 10000 available
men.
In many French regiments each company
holds few natives, during our own Civil
War Wisconsin and Minnesota troops had a
few Chippewa Indians among them distrib-
uted through each company, or occasionally
comprising entire companies. Some regi-
ments have entire companies of Arabs, in
cluding officers. But the three regiments of
Tirailieurs indigenes, and three regiments
OF Spahis, are the only ones composed ex-
clusivelv OF native troops. The former are
called Turcos, and are similarly organized
to the native infantry in India, and the lat
ter are used for outpost service, each man
being provided with small piece of land
for cultivation, free of taxation. No native
soldier can rise above the rank of captain,
and the entire body of native volunteers is
so distributed, and so we'll treated, that dam
ger from uprising is almost wholly elm
mated. These fellows have a fine, manly
look, and their military bearing is given
all lal ,rt lr-+ +bair
eyes, closely-cropped black boards, and their
light and elastic step.
THE KEY TO AFRICA.
As one sees these splendidly drilled and
disciplined men disappear down the Rue de
la Lyre, and notices the CLEANS of exultation
in the ou-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 a reach of new territory nearly 1000
miles in 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 en-
pire whose stations, interests and activities
snail reach in an unbroken line from the
Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea.
Here is drove of weary donkeys with
bullying palmetto panniers on their backs.
and, chattering beside each one, is bare
headed, bare-armed and bare-legged black
man, with straight hair, fine, determined
features, and with splendid form and mus
cular development This is the scayenger
train of Algiers. Garbage from houses is
loaded into these panniers and the litter of
the streets is also conveyed away by the
same primitive means. The men so en-
ployed are the Biskris. They were the DO
lice, water carriers and all manner OF serv-
ing men under the Deys In old Algiers.
They are now scayengers, water carriers and
men servants at large. These Biskris bear
strikingly similar relation to Algiers that |
the Gall=gans of Spain do to Madrid and |
other cities of the South. They are the |
never resentful servants of all |
Spain outside Galicia, their one ambition |
being to earn and save enough to secure a |
little choza and patch of land where they |
may contentedly end their days in the glens
On the mountain slopes of the North.
GROUPS OF NATIVES.
So with the Biskris youth from the |
Algerian village. Sub /
sisting upon dates which he carries in his |
pocket he sets out on foot for the white
city, !" and suffers every fatigue and degree |
IL.
Gallegan, he will lead slaves life for the |
humblest earnings. His dream, and he will |
realize it, too, if he earns less than 10 sous |
per day, is to save as much as 5000 or $500, |
and with 1t return to his birth-land oasis
and buy date-palm grove, and from two to
six wives to care for himself and his planta-
ion.
Besides all these strange folks who will
pass you, the impish little bootblacks are
dancing about you, ready to per-
form any diabolical feat from blacking and
shining their faces to plumping an eye out |
and into its socket, Tor but sou for each
thousands of travellers from all |
nations will have trooped by you, displaying
he costume, manner and marked character
sites of each: trains of donkeys and camels
aden with merchandise for the far villages
will have fitted by, hundreds of Kabyles,
with leather aprons and shaven heads, their
strong wives, unveiled, with long chemises
'eaching to their feet and girdled at the
waist with bright sashes, who work with
heir husbands everywhere and anywhere,
laye provided an ample study of these Afri-
AN hillmen; while thousands of the native |
Arab men and women have swept by with
wish of robes and jingling jewels and
Lnklets, like weird and soitly-musical
yraiths in white. Most of these were plod-
ling toward some koubah, marabout or
mosque to worship. Leaving the strange
Genes of the street, we will follow those who
re on their way to Djamaa el-Kebir, the
Irand Mosque, to pray.
EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.