The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-19

toothed arches. the faience painted
blue, the capitals gold; within you en-
ter through courtyard, long vistas
OF corridors, the arches again sub
arched, the columns grand and simple.
There is nothing on the floor beneath
save carpet and in the wall above
save innumerable pendant lamps of
crystal; no sign of desk, pulpit or seat,
yet quiet dignity reigns within. At
all hours there is some one or more
men at prayer. From the narrow
streets-away from his barterng, he
enters his house of worship. First to
the fountain-always present in every
mosk-he goes for his ablutions, chiefly
to wash his feet. Then he passes the
sacred threshold-let us follow him.
This we can do in Algiers, because the
French have compelled the Mosques to
be opened to strangers; in other places
it is worth ones life to enter We fol-
low, and are arrested at the door, '"En-
ter with our dirty giaour shoes upon
our feet? ah, mol" Then What?" An
old white-haired Moor appears and
puts a pair of red morocco slippers
over our shoes-then, we can enter and
tread upon the sacred carpet Softly
now, because behind every column
squats, not kneels. a devotee, apparent
ly absorbed in mediation, but a corner
of the eye turned towards the females
of the party; every few minutes he
bows his head three times to the
ground, towards the east, and spreads
out his hands as if supplicating divine
favor. This goes on until his aspirations
have been satisfied, when rising he re-
tires to the door, puts on his shoes and
departs. Cui bono? l don't know.
don't know what he has been thinking
about, whether his thoughts have trav-
| eled east to Mecca, to the home of the
! Great Prophet and to the all-powerful
ll1I1 yl,otIa 1,.,xr
ward to the Paradise of Ma
homet, where there will be
no more backsheesh. nor raising
dirty olive oil, nor beating hammered
| brass, but whatever his thoughts, he
| is always faithful to his church.
| About midday we went into the
smaller Mosque Djemaa-el-Djedid
| situated near the fish market. The
architect of this light and graceful
! building constructed 1T in the form OF
| a Greek cross; he had his pans for
/ his labor, and some other pains be-
| sides, for he was called into the pres
erce of the hey and was at once be-
! headed. AS you enter there is
fountain near the door, not in the
| courtyard, as is customary, and you
| could imagine yourself in II church
emptied of it's pews and other furni-
| ture. A half musical sound fills the
! church-it is the Mufti reading the
| Koran, and the White-robed figures
are coming in Misunderstanding their
feet, taking their places after a pro-
found obeisance to the East. This
sect differs from the frequenters of the
| Grand Mosque by the different way
in which they salute the Orient. No
music, no preaching, and yet they
crowd their temples daily, We no.
| ticed' that there were no women pres
! ent at either of the mosques, and we
| remembered the common interpreta-
! ton attributed TO the Koran that wo-
men have no souls. Knowing that
this was false, q mean d false in
| depreciation OF the Koran), we We're
I delighted few hours later to visit
| the tomb chapel of idi-Abderrahnlan
and to find only women present at
! tending to their devotions. This saint
| gained such respect from the holiness
| of his life, as well as from his learned
treatises on Mussulman theology and
Jurisprudence that his tomb and
mosque has ever since been visited by
crowds of neighboring Arabs from the
desert who hold his memory in the
greatest veneration. He died in ammo
S75 of the Hegira.
Farewell o Algiers, thou land of the
, strange and the weird We see the
armies of France crowding thee into
the nothingness of thine own dry des-
ert. But yet as we leave thee in the
twilight of setting day-not the rule
of France, not her sumptuous palaces.
not her grand Maisons lining the bay
not her great mole and battered walls
do we care for; but for thee, old A1ge-
rine city, shut in on every side by the
new order which forever expels the
old-for thee. in thine narrow twisted
streets and darkened cells of homes,
for thee in all the unchangeablenes