The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-02-24

taurant or cafe, with little, round iron
tables on the street outside It, about
which a motley crowd sits drinking
coffee. vine. absinthe or some other.
liquor as they gossip and chat, playa
cards or dominoes, or read the news-rI
,apers At the same time there are
little Arab bootblacks moving about
begging custom. and Arab newsboys
VINO will give you the latest Oran daily
for one or two sous. The city has
number OF daillcs, and they publish
kilograms from all over the world
There are parks here and there
throughout the town, under the trees?
Of which one sees French peasant
girls sitting ard knitting; there ara
many bare-headed French women NOV
Ing about and now and then French
man in a blouse pushing q cart Just
as in France.
The Village Naigre.
II one would see the African side Of.
4 this French town he must go back Of
) this modern section, to the hills above 1t.
There Is what Is known as the Village
q Naigre, which may mean Black Village
or Negro Village, as one wishes to tram
slate 1t. The houses in this quarter are
E Of only one story; they are fat-roofed
and Of African style. There Arabs sit
on the streets chatting. Many lie at full
length upon mats on the payements,
wrapped up in their gowns. There are
Moorish coffee-houses. where Arabs and
Berbers are drinking together as they sit
cross-legged on the floor and there are
a Arab women moving about, each finding
her way only through a peep-hole about
as big around as a wedding ring, when
she has made In the white, sheetllke
gown which she wraps tightly about her.
There are also Berber girls with Bis
, earrings, their cheeks and chlns blue
. with tattooing. I'LL
In addition to these characters there are
: juggers and storytellers, with crowds o.
\ Arab men and boys watching their antics
: and listening to the tales; there are shoe
makers and tailors working out on tht
: streets, wnter-carriers and peddlers ant
Il allBtheSother features OF the life OF thu
. native. Such black villages or native
: quarters are found connected with al
\ Algerian towns. Tho French quarter
! aret almost altogether French. but on
9 ! has only to so to the outskirts to nm!
q MI the motley characters who inhabi
. North Africa. @5
In Old Oran.
Il have spent some time here, lookin
l. for the old Oran, The French hay
y wiped out all vestIge of It. It was prob
y ably port In the days Of the koman'
70 and 1t must have had long hlstor!
81 we know that tho Mohammedans founc
~ ed q town here Thousand years az
., and along about fifty or sixty years DC
y fore Columbus was moving about throug
III the West Indies. trying to find ne
III way to the Orient, spaniard wro'
z, that Gran then had six thousand mouse
"a one hundred and forty MOSQUES an
Us schools equal to tho colleges Of CordoY
ne Grenadn and Seville. Some time, art
~ this Oran was taken by Spain, put
II, was later recaptured by the Moors ~
nd finally acquired by the French IN 1881,
W. A Land of Rich Farms.
ty, During my stay In the province Of pr
as 7 have gone over u great part OF It
"a rail- Tho country is wonderfully rio
az and much OF 1t is covered with gre
fields devoted to grain. 1t Is now winte
OF and only the stubDle is to be seen, b
Of there are straw stacks standing ever
six where on the landscape, and the trat
ed \ are loaded with wheat and other cerea
.ey The wheat is handled In four-bhshel bas
nd which are piled high upon freight ca
ost and then covered with tarpnullns. T
rt- grain Is brought to the railroad on b
os I, wheeled carts with beds fifteen or nc