Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-01-21
Hammam Aesk0utine, the Baths OF
the Cursed" in the Heart of
Algeria.
A Magnificent HOt-Water Fall Which
POurs Forth Streams in Great
Abundance.
The Cones and Springs, and Some
Stories Related in Connection
With Them.

Hammam Meskoutine, or the Baths of
the Cursed" is lovely little resort in the
heart of Algeria, within easy reach of Al
g1ers, Bone, or Constantine, says Cham
bers' Journal. 1t is rather too far from
Alglers to be got at in single day. Rut
by travelling all day to Constantine and
sleeping there one may take the o'clock
train In the morning, which reaches Mes
Routine at $50
Forests of olives and thickets of shrubs
gladden. the eyes and tell of the game
which is here plentiful enough to make
Meskoutine worth visiting for the guns
sake alone.
And so, having passed through two or
three defles, we finally draw up in a more
open country, with hills in the distance on
all sides, and with green meadows and
dark woods over the plateau.
1t Is previously hot; but then no wonder,
for the very streams in the gullies are of
warm water; and if you are near one or
other of the many springs which here
burst from the ground they may be warm
enough to scald you.
The writer, when he left the train at
Meskoutine on a fine May morning, did
so In company with two or three rich
Arabs in gay apparel and a family of
Jews and Jewesses with enough gold about
their persons to keep them for years.
These were some of the clients of the baths
of the cursed.
By and by we saw one of the ladies in
one of the baths, draped in a sheet, there
was look of pain in her eyes. Here at
station, however, though it is fashion
able resort for Europeans as we'll as Afri-
cans, was none of the tumult of welcome
with which perters and domestics assail
the visitor at other bath cities.
Two or three tawny individuls lounged
against the paling of the little flower gar
den of the station, but offered no aid to
any one. Jews, Arabs. and Europeans
were left to look after themselves as best
they could.
1t is a walk of but three or four minutes
to the bath establishment and some of the
various wonders of Meskoutine Won
ders? you ask. Why, yes; there's no
doubt the word Is applicable here.
For, ere you have walked quarter of a
mile, you come face to face with a superb
waterfall, hot-water fall, which makes
you hold your breath from admiration and
the plentitude of its steam. Yet it is not
all of water, For the most part it is
mainly petrifaction.
above has incrusted the rocks, so that they
have the corrugated appearance and some.
thing of the color OF barley sugar Here
and there, over and between the still
masses, there is an ooze or tricRle of
warm water, adding to thu work already
done.
Grass and flowers grow well by the
sides of this nutritious waterfall; though
the whitened soil in the neighborhood
does not seem adapted for vegetation of
any kind.
You climb to the level Of the top of the
cascade, and then see, close by, number
of odd-looking cones and columns standing
up from tie blanched surface of the
ground. The soil is hot to the hand, and
you tread with an echo.
The springs either were or still are un-
der foot, making for the vents by the cas-,
cade. There they bubble up merriIy with
temperature of more than 200 degrees
Fahrenheit.
A litter of eggshells and fowls feathers
by the edge Of them tells of the purpose
they serve to the residents at Meskoutine
What is the use of lighting domestic fires
when nature offers her kitchen for human
service, night or day, all the year round !?
And so here the dinner is cooked and
the clothes are washed in one or other of
the little basins by which the springs eddy
up to the daylight. Though the Arabs
various weird tales about them, they love
them we'll.
You see two or ,hree of them, wrapped
in their burnouses, laying all white save
their faces near the foot of the cascade,
fast asleep in the shade.
But the cones? We'll, to borrow the fig
urative explanation of French authority,
they look like procession of gigantic
phantoms suddenly petriied. Some are
six or seven feet in height, and some are
fourteen or fifteen feet.
They mark the site of ancient springs
now subsidized. At some time each of these
| cones was but the mere rim or lip of a
basin in which the hot water dubbed as
we see it the top of the cascade.
| Thus the water continued to boil up
ward in jets, like the geysers, for centur-
les, gradually-by the deposit of lime
which fell from it-raising the height of
its lip. Anon the subterranean force
which impelled it vertically weakened.
| The cone had attained it's full stature.
| The springs one by one found other exits,
and the cones themselves closed their orr
| fees. Such is the matter of-fact story of
these eccentric rock mas ses.
| The Arabs, however, have their own
| thcery about the things. King Solomon,
they say, here created baths for all the
world, and put them in charge Of a
number of genii who were deaf dumb,
and blind
The cones are these genii. And the
worthy guardians, who still think that
King Soloman il alive, continue to keep
the baths warm, as they did at first, for
the use of the kings subjects.
1t is supposed to be a matter of great
difficulty to announce to these afflicted
genii the fact that that their master is
dead. The fact is, therefore, that they
will continue to warm the baths until the
end of time.
There is also another tale which is less
pleasant. A certain rich Arab had two
children. boy and girl, both of remark
aoie beauty. These children loved each
other with exceeding affection.
When they grew up their love remained
UNCHANGED, indeed increased until it be-
cane uncomfortable, and so they resolved
to marry each other. The caai Of the tribe.
after protest, agreed to sanction the mar
riage ttev were so rich and so lovely a
couple that i seemed to him AMI his
nejghbors that even heaven W uId forgive
such crime in their c5se
The maFriags day arrived. The con
course of visitors was immense 1t was a
calm, brighs morning, and all the auguries
were hopeful
The preliminaries Of the marriage were
soon settled, and then Teasing and dane
ing began. The married couple were