Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-09

they were friendly, and we drank our cof-
fee together. The coffee was brought In
smoking. 1t was as black as ink, finely
powdered and very sweet. The price was
one cent a cup.
The Ruined City Of Mansoura.
next drove to the ruins Of Mansoura, or
the other side Of Tlemcen. That city was
built when Tlemcen was great and when ii
had a population of 125 600 souls. Tlemcen
was then noted as city Of light and genius
Its kings were lovers Of art, science and lit
erature. They had their own armies of dis
ciplined soldiers. and they had a police
force, judges and courts. They coined their
own money, and had schools and colleges
This was several hundred years before
America was discovered.
1t was just about that same time that
Mansoura sprang up almost In night on
the plains. An Arab general, Abou Yakoub
had besieged Tlemcen and had encamped
with his army about three miles from the
city. The siege lasted seven years, and
Mansoura was constructed during the in
tervals of fighting by Yakoub. For many
years 1t was a rival of Tlemcen. Its walls
and forts inclosed a space Of something
like three hundred acres. and 1t had a mag
nificent mosque, with a minaret tower
125 feet high. This tower was decorated
with green porcelain tiles, and it was a
wonder of beautiful workmanship. The
ruins Of it still stand. the most of the
tower being intact, but the mosque has
long since crumbled to dust.
: The great walls of Mansoura are still to
be seen in some places as solid as when
first built. and in others broken down and
crumbled. The whole space covered by
the city Is now a rich vineyard, the vines
growing close up to the walls and hugging
the foot of the great tower A crowd Of
Berbers were picking the large white
grapes into baskets as 1 drove through
the ruins and tried to people them with
the great army and the gay throng of
imDOSSiDle amid
such surroundings to rebuild, even in mag
ination. the immense edifices, the mag
nificent palaces. the great houses and tine
gardens traversed by Streamlets as de-
scribed by the historians; but the scenes
recalled to me some of the verses Of Omar
Khayyam. the great Persian poet, about
the evanescence of all things earthly. va
koubs soldiers finally conquered Tlemcen
but he himself was assassinated just before
It's surrender. After that the city of Man.
soura began to decline and its greatness
was soon swallowed by Tlcmcen.
Among the Natives.
But let me describe the Tlemcen of today.
A live dog is better than dead lion and the
Algeria of the present is more interesting
than that Of the dead centuries of the past.
like the swing and go Of this French col
ony. the jaunty air Of the soldiers as they
strut about In their fat red pantaloons and
short jackets and their tall caps of blood
red; the stately walk Of the Arabs as they
go on slippered feet through the streets;
and above all the long gowns and tall hats
Of some of the native gentlemen Of ITEM
cen. We think s. much to pay for a derby
and s. big price for black silk tile, but
these Tlemcen natives pay quite as much
for straw hats. Their hats are, however,
gorgeous beyond description, and they stand
from twelve to eighteen inches above the
crown of the head. They are made of straw
as finely woven as a Panama and of sew
eral different colors. The brims are covered
V1tf C{l 1hp1f 0n1 kl4ry N~rx1 o.
six inches out all around the hat These
hats are large enough to be worn over tur-
bans, SO big that was able to put one over
my cork helmet. while my photograph was
taken with my guide Mustapha standing be-
side me.
Many House Industries.
One OF the industries Of Tlemcen is maxi