The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-04-12
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. CD

Society, washington, ID. CD
THE long, sweeping curve of a
crescent bay-the stored Bay of
i Algiers-here fringed with yell
low sand, there, at one end,
edged with cleaning black rocks, and
everywhere backed by the steep slopes
of semi-circulaE chain of low hills
rising abruptly from the waters edge
and crowned with white villas in ver-
dant gardens flaming with Bougain-
villea and poinsettia.
Behind the hills lies the narrow, fer
tile plain of the Mitidja, in spring
time blazing with the varied hues of
wild flowers, the yellow of oranges,
the green Of cornfields and vineyard.
Towering above the plain in rugged
grandeur the mighty chain of the At
las mountains, seeming to support the
heavens on their snow-clad shoulders.
And the clouds gather round their
peaks and leave the sky clear and
blue. almost as blue as the waters of
the Mediterranean below.
| At one end of the bay are the spa
cious harbor, the busy wharves, and
the terraced houses of a white city
climbing to the hilltop.
Algiers. the White Cityl Its story
runs from Hercules and the Golden
Apples to the Hesperides through the
| forgotten chronicles of Numidian,
Roman. Vandal, Byzantine, Arab and
Turk to the last of the Bourbon kings,
to Napoleon III, and the French re-
public. Not century ago it was the
haunt and headquarters of the cruel
est, most bloodthirsty pirates that the
| world has ever seen; today it is
bright and beautiful city of modern
| France.
! Alongside its quays lie great steam
lrs being loaded with the produce of
a bountiful land; its wharves are piled
high with cask and case. Immediate
| ly over them rises a high, cliff
like wall pierced with caves-mer-
chants warehouses and offices in.
vaults.
Two Contrasting Quarters.
Along the summit of this wall
stretches the beautiful Boulevard de
la Republique. the beginning of a
| quarter that might rival the best bit
| of Paris between the Opera and the
Seine, quarter Of well-built streets,
under arcades, of shady squares
where white mosques front busy cafes
| and palm trees wave before the cleo
trio trans that link the town with the
suburbs stretching around the curving
bay.
This is the quarter of theaters, no.
tells, and commercial Offices, of attrac-
tive shops. of crowded streets where
automobile and electric tram dispute
the right-of-way with fye-horsed
carts. Well-dressed European men
and sh0rt-skirted, silk-stockinged
French girls pass yelled women and
stately Arabs in flowing burnooses.
But short distance back from the
seward wall the level ceases and the
gayly colored, crowded houses climb
on each others shoulders up the steep
hillside, as if striving to look over
their neighbors' heads out to sea.
Here is the native quarter, and in
it dwelt the pirate population that
lived by bloody crime on the face of
the waters. Every being In it-man.
woman and child, Moorish pasha and
Christian slave-had a personal I'm
terest in watching each sail that lift
ed above the distant horizon. It might
be an Algerine rover loaded with
plumber and chained captives. 1t
might be the herald Of Frankish
fleet coming to batter down the pirate
stronghold and set free the slaves.
Upward and still upward, house
tops house, until one comes to the
Kasba, once the palace fortress of
the Dey. the tyrant of Algiers, who
claimed his share of the booty that
each murderous seawolf brought home,
whether it were plumber from sacked
towns on European shores, or weep
ing women from Italy, France or
Spain.
Houses of the Natives.
The houses hemming the streets
thrust out their upper stories, sup
ported on inclined wooden struts, un-
til they are not yard apart Often
they are built completely across, so
that the narrow lane must pass under