The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-06-20

around, you wonder how in the world
he ever gets in and out of the fragrant
prison. Like the sprite in pantomime,
he enters by tiny trap door, on which
he stands all day long, with true Orien-
tai patience, easily reaching everything
contained in the drawers and shelves
and swung from the ceiling of his four
foot square booth, without moving
leg.
There are no bazaars in the Arab
quarter, like those which are so attrac-
| tive in the modern part of Algiers; but
in their stead are old curiosity shops
emblazoned outside with the magic
names of such old acquaintance as
Ben Ali, Ben Hassen, Hudi Ahmed,
and Yusef Bey. In them you find every
imaginable article that may be, picked
up between Tunis and Morocco, Yatag-
hans, Mekanlas, kabyle, ornaments
worn by women, round Arab looking
glasses, Biskra hats, Of the form and
height of a sugar-loaf with brim wide
as a parasol, haiks, bernouses-what
! not.
| To the uninitiated, the narrow, irregu
lar, complicated streets of the Upper
Town are like Chinese puzzle. 1t is
almost impossible to avoid losing ones
way. Having advanced few steps YOU
see before you three or four openings
into small lanes; you enter one of them
and soon find that it is again and again
intercrossed like the meshes of net.
If you cannot speak enough Arabic to
ask the way, you wander on, getting
more and more hopelessly muddled-
and probably find yourself presently in
a blind alley, which is private property,
where an Arab family is enjoying its
couscouss in the open air. Retreating
hastily, with apologies which are Of
course not understood, you follow the
miracles of some other little street
and perhaps blunder into court, start
ing bevy of yelled ladies, who scamp
er off with shrieks, through fear of the
evil eye, which all 'infidels'' are be-
lieved to carry about with them equip
ped with baleful power to turn on true
believers; or else you risk your precious
life in violating the sanctity of some
wayside temple, by ignorantly placing
a sacreligious foot upon the sacred mat.
Of one thing you may be sure-and
that is that wherever abides the Moor
there also is spotless cleanliness; for it
is strictly enjoined by his religious be-
lief that once week he cleanse his
house and wash it down with water
from roof to foundation. Hence to
every habitation, the tank cistern is a
necessary appendage. STOPPING under
low doorway, usually surmounted by
a crescent, painted blue, you stumble
up a dark flight of stairs to large
court, open to the sky and surrounded
by covered gallery, into which a great
many doors lead, as into an ordinary
street. Each door opens into room,
the abode OF single family. The ground
floor apartments are dim indeed: but
the next tier, to which you ascend by a
winding back stair, is considerably
lighter. Above that, another flight of
steps, also in the rear, leads to another
floor; and maybe to another and an
other; the upper ones of course being
most desirable, as the doors and Win
dows open out ON balconies. Above
all ia terrace as it is called, or the
flat roof, Is a very important part of the
domicile, for here the operations of
washing and drying are carried on, and
frequently the family ablutioDs. In the
old stormy days of Algerian history,
when its citizens were notorious cor
sairs, Christian slaves often escaped bv
night from the fortress which crowns
the topmost point, by leaping down
from roof to roof of the houses. set one
above another on terraces which are
excavated in the mountain side, like
gigantic steps to the sea.
FANNIE B. WARD.