Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-02-13
A HOME In ALGIERS.
GLIMPSE or QUIET COUNTRY
LIFE AMONG THE MooHs.

English Travellers Entertained at a Pretty
yiiia-A Group Of Kabyie Peasants.
Flirting with Handsome Kabyle Girl.
Tea and Cake.
The road to Tikserian winds over tha
smiling green hills OF the Sahel amona
fel.ls and vineyards and white Arab
houses, and descends at last through
deep rocky ravine to an old Moorish aaue-
duct thrown boldly with gray arches
across the bottom of the valley We pass
under the aqueduct with its 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-
rnent to the gray Mo, sh village that
clings to the hillside with its tumble
down houses and it's open air cafe, where
Arabs lob 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 invsriable
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
\ tcFCid5c uiANci a CoO3 pOfllcO iue villa
| belongs, in fact, to a 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 it in force, to the evident sur
prise delight and amusement of its ami
able little horde of Kabyle caretakers
Nothing we have seen in Algiers 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 arehed doorway to the actual arcaded
court yard of the house Opening this
door. delicious native picture bursts at
once upon our sight Through the half
circle of the arch we see in front of us a
tiled floor. overshadowed by ancient
gnaried orange trees; a central marble
fountain, bubbling up and OVERLOOKING
with linpid water into q cool basin; an
Arab home of antique, fat rooted archi-
lecture, set on one side. with its open
colonnade of daintily seulptured pillars
occupying the other and in the midst of
all, lighting it up with their graceful
presence and free ease of movement, a
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 mother in
the prime of life, with her year old baby
in her brown arms, and one was a Young
girl Of extraordinary beauty, well built
and high stepping. round of arm and rich
of bosom as Greek statue. 1t was the
Orient at home; we patsed and looked and
admired it silently The men were absent;
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
u1,, fft1J L. -, - g.
ner. with tiny burnous thrown around
his fat, small body and miniature cowl
over his round little head. as quaint and
comic a 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 a
tiny little cabin of kitchen to prepare us
) a 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, cous- cous, a 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 her
own pretty lips, and then turned round to
} US those languid large eyes of hers as if
to demand our instant admiration; she
allowed the wind to rustic open the haik
that covered her full neck and then gath
cred it together coquettishly with u twist
E of her fingers, vet not so tight as quite to
prevent it from revealing to us every now
and again the statuesque perfection of her
lovely shoulder She was light as a
S Christian and almost blue eyed Gen
e seric and his Vandals, said the ethnolo
= gist of our party don't know myself; |
only know for certain she was well
favored and a bonny lass of whatever ex-
, traction, Aryan OF Semitic
= By and by the kettle boiled, and we sat
q down on the edge of the old tiled floor,
Z with the water gurgling at us in the
marble basin, and drank our four cups of
8 o'clock tea under archways that then,
q for the first time, no doubt, made &C
4 quaintance with the SAVIOR of our British
q beverage. Our kabyle baby friend tod
died up and eyed our cake askance with
curious and eager eyes; we gave him a
g piece and he ran back to the house
: with it, but, whether on religious or di-
= gestive grounds | know not, loud cry,
exceedingly western in note shortly an
, nounced that his cruel mother had taken
it away from him We appeased him
a 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
i the porch with its look out, where the
n Moorish women made sure they might
Y venture forth unveiled into the court. to
, the flat roof with its splendid view over
. hill and ravine and aged cluster Of waving
q palm trees.
n The pretty Kabyle girl followed us tim
Y idly up the stairs, but fled coquettish,
4 when we turned and looked at her, into
! dark side chambers. Even the staircase
u had its dado of rich titles, and the best
: bedroom was a miniature museum of
Il Oriental domestic architecture. We went
e down once more, and pressed five francs
. into our hostess dusky hand She took
- it with graceful outershow of reluctance,
g and signiied by pantomine her undying
e regret that we couldn't wait to taste their
d cous- eous. 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
Il 2-year old Kabyle in the cowl and hood
y stared after us long with inquiring eyes