The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-02-23

continue to entangle their long gar
ments in the pedals OF their machines
and break their necks braVely ana 10y
ally until some member of the royal
FAMILY sees MT to set a more sensible
Fashion. But In France one is Fancy
tree as to costume, and that IL perhaps
why the Englishman who at home is
not permitted to discard his high stand
ing collar and stiff white shirt when
wheeling, is so often to be met on the
roads of France, where he may indulge
in relaxation and a sweater. The roads
OF France are the best in the world
They are so we'll kept that the poorest
of them makes the heart of the Ameri-
can bicyclist leap with joy. So we'll are
they provided with guide posts, giving
directions and distances, that one could
travel from one end of the country to
the other without a map If necessary.
The Touring club of France has done
much to promote wheeling in that coun-
try. 1t is an organization numbering
already over 10000 members, and has its
delegates in every town OF the republic,
whose duty and pleasure it is to give
information or aid to any member in
| difficulty. BY means of his membership
card the tourist belonging to this club
can cross the frontier into Italy, Swift
zerland, Belgium and Germany without
paying duty on his wheel, and any one
who has experienced the annoyance of
these formalities will appreciate the ad
vantage, Each member is Furthermore
provided with a book containing list
OF hotels throughout France and Alge-
ria, where may be found good accom-
modations for man and wheel at re-
duced prices, stated in the book And
woe to the unlucky landlord who at
tempts to overcharge, At the sight of
the T. G. #. badge he grows pale and
trembles and comes down one-half on
his bill. For the Touring club is pow
er in the land. No landlord, however
| grasping, can afford to lose it's patron
age. The advantages of membership
may be enjoyed for five francs a year
| by foreigners as we'll as Frenchmen,
and the American wheeling in Europe
could not find better investment for
dollar. Perhaps it was the excellence
of the French roads that suggested to
US one day to try wheeling in that 9TH
er France that lies across the Mediter-
ranean and Is known as Algeria.
Somehow had always thought of AL
geria as consisting Of the town of AL
giers with its white Moorish houses and
palms on the edge of the sea and back
of it a waste of sand stretching to the
equator What then was my surprise
on approaching Bone, one of its sea-
Iports, to behold rocky coast backed
by mountains whose sides were covered
with woods. Such woods as T had not
|seen before on this side the Atlantic.
Walking one day in these forests, /
found such flowers as / have often
lgathered in the woods of Northford,
Conn, and have never found in Europe.
And we said. Is this Africa! Where are
the camels and the palm trees! And
can it be possible that the desert of Sa-
hara Is only one hundred and fifty
miles away. There is nothing in the
modern town of Bone to suggest it un-
less it be a group of palm trees care
fully planted on the public square and
the Arabs in white burnous and turban
who sit all day in the French cafes and
forget the teachings Of Mohammed in
regard to strong drink. So we mounted
our wheels directly and started inland
toward Biskra, an oasis of the desert
Murray's handbook (Which I warn
all travellers against as a guide) tells us
that Algeria has an area of one hun
dred and fifty thousand square miles.
Mr.. Murray is not always reliable, but
we know from seeing it that Algeria is
a great, rich fertile country like our
America, and if ours, would be quickly
populated. But the French do not colo
nize. 1t Is exile for them to be twenty
four hours from Paris. The govern
ment has converted a marshy, I'M
healthy land, filled with robbers in the
interior and pirates ON the sea coast.
into a well drained healthy, civilized
country, built magnificent roads and
fortified and garrisoned the coast, and
all Algeria lacks now is plenty of people
to enjoy its fine climate and fruitful
soil, but although the government Of
fers all sorts of inducements to those
who will cross the Mediterranean and
settle in this second France, there are
not many who will take the long jour
rey and go so far away, almost as far
as from New York to Chicago The
| (Coptin11e5 on Fifth papa