The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-06


 arabesques and round horseshoe arch
 and lighted from above. It bears the
 date A. H. 530 corresponding tcr A. D
 ll36, which shows that it was built un-
 der the Almoravides. But 1t is the suc-
 cessor of a much more ancient mosque
 as walls in the rear will show found q
 A. D. 790 The courtyard is paved with
 Algerian onyx, and the basin of the
 fountain is of the same material The
 brick minaret was built by Char
 marasan, the first of the Abd- el-
 Ouadite Sultans, CA. D. 124S) and the
 great brass chandelier was the gift of
 the same monarch, who is himself
 buried here.
 The mosque of Sidi Ahmed Hassan
 el-Shomari, now an Arab school, stands close by, in the same park known as the Place d'Alger. It was supposed to
 be 'restored' by the French, by the
 application of extensively modern tiles
 to the exterior. Inside, however, some
 exquisite productions of Moorish art re-
 main, whose richness, variety and re- | finement are unsurpassed, even in the
 Alhambra of Grenada. The mosque is
 supported by six columns of Algerian | onyx and all the walls and arches are
 covered with arabesque decorations. 1 On the opposite side of the square was
 the college, now destroyed, where the | celebrated Ibu Khaldoun taught.
 The destruction of the Mechour or
 citadel, is complete. Built in 1145, for ] the governors residence it became the palace of the Abd -el- Qualities. Arab
 writers tell of its splendor, and the bril- liancy of the court held there; but time,
 the Turks and the soldiers have spared | nothing but the outer walls and the minaret of it's mosque. The most in- ! tel esting sights of Tlemcen lie outside of the present city limits At least three circles of ancient Notifications can be clearly traced. Little is left of the innermost circle, as the modern French wall follows it closely but of the two outer circles, walls and towers req standing in many places. They are built of enormous masses of concrete, which look like stone and are evidently as durable. The towers are rectangu- lar, and must have made the Tlemen of the Almoahades almost impregnable
 The mosque of Abou Abdulla esh- Shoudi-commonly known as Sidi El- Kalawi, the Candy maker-lies just outside the walls. You leave the town by the Abattoir gate; pass a group of native huts inhabited by negroes, who have their own mosque and minaret follow the angle of the wall-and pres ently see far below you the holy place of Sidi el-Kalawi amid a clump of olive Tor, f1o, ,;,,+ ished about the year 1926 Having been appointed tutor to the several hundred children of the Sutton Abou-Zian, he gave some offence to the grand vizar, who accused him of sorcery and brought about his death. Then fol- lowed a series of miracles which aston ished the sultan, who caused the wick ed grand yizar to be buried alive in a mass of elar, and honored the murdered | Saint with the mosque which bears his | name and is also his tomb. It is i hardly worth while climbing down to 1t ! under the broling African sun, | though the mosaics of it's minaret gilt ter like jewels and it's portal and col | are said to be very beautiful
 Go straight on down the hill by an easier path to the right. and in a few you will reach the minaret which is all that remains of the mosque of ancient Aghadir, the ''crade" of ] Tlemcen. Only the minaret of is standing, and walls which, by their immense extent bear witness to the splendors of the vanished city. It's tower, about one hundred and fifty feet high, is of square construction and in a wonderful state of preservation, -hough it has lost nearly all it's original ! coating of glazed tiles. Fncased in it's thick walls are monumental stones, rom the still older Roman city Pom 1aria. which occupied the same site as ghadir more than two thousand years ,go The stones are hewn; many are ,arved, inside and out, with Latin in now almost effaced, and on several may be traced the dim word The upper part of the min Jet is brick, probably of later date han A. D. 7S9, when the mosque was ected. A few yards lower down the fortifica- ions commence. The road passes trough the crumbling arch of a gate vay which was named after Sidi Daou- Ii, the patron saint of Aghadir, whose onb lies few feet below. Descend a title further, into the charming valley f Oued Kalia---Oued being the Arab rord for river, and Kalia the name of
 brawling little brook. fed by noun ( ain streams, a walk through groves nd gardens, under fig, olive, ash, elm ( nd walnut trees, leads you close under he second or outer line of the walls nd towers of vanished Aghadir; and | hence to a very old Arab burial ' round, with Marabouts of saints and ( me washed Koubbas glistening in the C un. The cemetery is so beautifully | ituated that one would suppose the T cad saints would arise from their d ombs to gaze at the scene, and is U naded by ash and elm trees of enor- | lous size. < On the way back you may wander f trough the dense olive groves which 1e French rulers of I1emcen have I, aristened the Boissie Boulogna A a right stream enters and sparkles at a le foot of gray old walls cuvered with imbing plants; fig trees and terebinth ,, row in the chinks and crannies of n lattered towers; deep is the shadow, h veet is the violet scented air: and you e nd it difficult to believe that this is e ally far off desert Africa! Q All travellers are astonished at the e ,ol fresh verdure of Tlemcen, which is e 1ubly refreshing after the many miles b