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ALGERIE, L'. 



ALGERIE, L'. 



200 



and of the treasury, where they found above 2,000,0002. sterling in 

 precious metals and stores. They garrisoned Algiers, and established 

 a sort of military government under the general-in-chief. 



The title of Dey, which in Turkish means ' Uncle,' was not used at 

 Algiers of late years : the sovereign was styled Pasha and Effendi ; 

 the Moors called him Baba, ' Father.' He was elected by the bashis, 

 or officers of the militia, assembled in dewaun, or rather by a faction 

 of them, and some other faction frequently shortened his reign by a 

 violent death. Few sovereigns of Algiers for the last two centuries 

 have died a natural death. Any common janizary might aspire to 

 the supreme rank. The sultan formerly used to appoint the pasha 

 of Algiers, who was at the same time commander of the forces, and 

 to send men and money for the service of the garrison, but the 

 Turkish militia obtained, in the 17th century, the right of choosing 

 their own commander, and paying themselves out of the revenue of 

 the Regency : still the sultan continued to send a pasha as civil 

 governor until the beginning of the last century, when Baba AH Dey, 

 chief of the militia, seized the then pasha, put him on board a ship, 

 and sent him back to Constantinople. He sent by the same vessel 

 envoys with rich presents to the vizier and other officers of the Porte, 

 representing to them that the expelled pasha had treacherous views, 

 and that in future the chief of the militia might aa well fultil the 

 duties of pasha alo, of course with the approbation of his highness. 

 The affair was winked at by the Porte, and from that time the jani- 

 zaries and the Dey of their choice were absolute marten at Algiers. 



The principal towns east of the capital are Conttantlne, the ancient 

 Cirta, with a population of about 30,000 inhabitants [COJTBTASTIXE], 

 and Buna, near the site of Hippona, the see of St. Augustine, with a 

 population of 4000 inhabitants, and a capacious harbour nearly choked 

 with mud. To the eastward of Bona were La Calle and Bastion de 

 France, two old French settlements which were destroyed in 1827. 

 This coast u frequented by the coral-fishing boats from France and 

 Italy. Phttippeville, a new town, on the Gulf of Stora, is the port of 

 Constantine ; westward of it is Jijel or Jiljili, a harbour and a fort. 

 The Kabyles of this mountainous coast were the most ferocious of 

 the whole country, and merciless plunderers of wrecks, but the French 

 have tamed them of late years. Bujtlult, on the gulf of the same 

 name, once a place of considerable importance, now much reduced, 

 with a good harbour, carries on some trade in oil and wax, the 

 produce of its territory. In the interior of the vast province of Con- 

 stantino are many remains of cities once famous, such as Seteef, once 

 the capital of the Mauritania Bitifensis, and now become again a place 

 of importance, with a garrison, and a considerable market ; Tebbessa, 

 once Thcbestis, in a very fertile plain, which extends towards the 

 Merjerdah or Bagradas River ; Tipsa, the ancient Tipasa, a frontier 

 town towards Tunis, with an Algerine garrison. In the same neigh- 

 bourhood is Qellah, also a frontier town, built on a mountain almost 

 inaccessible, a place of asylum for the outlaws of the two states, who 

 countenance one another, and live in a sort of wild freedom. Zainah, 

 in the southern part of the province, Dr. Shaw supposes to be the 

 ancient Zama, he having found no other vestiges answering to this 

 place. Remarkable antiquities are found near Tezzoute, in a valley 

 of the Jebel Aurms, about 60 miles south of Constantine, and which 

 appear to belong to the ancient Lambeeea; at Jedjilt, Kramica, 

 Belgrounn ; and at Ouelma, on the road from Bona to Conatantine. 

 The Jebel AuresH, Mons Aurasius, is an extensive and abrupt mase of 

 table-land, with fertile valleys intervening, embracing an area of above 

 70 miles in circumference, and inhabited by a number of clans of 

 Kabyles, whom neither Arabs nor Turks have ever subjugated. Some 

 of them tribes are much fairer than the generality of the Kabyles, and 

 have hair of a yellowish colour, which has led Dr. Shaw, and others, 

 to suppose them to be a remnant of the Vandals. The whole province 

 of Constantine is highly interesting, and full oT ancient remains, but 

 little explored by travellers : it in decidedly the finest as it is the 

 largest and most important division of Algeria. The interior has 

 been attentively investigated by General Duvivier, 'Recherches et 

 Notes sur la Portion de I'Alge'rie au Sud de Guelma, depuis la Fron- 

 ttfre de Tunis, jusqu'au Mont Auresg compris,' Paris, 1841. South of 

 Algiers is the town of Medeyah, in a fertile district in the midst of 

 the Little Atlas ; it reckoned above 10,000 inhabitants, but suffered 

 ererely in the several conflicts between the French and the Arabs 

 and Kabylea. Blidah, situated between Medeyah and Algiers, on the 

 borders of the fine plain called Metidja, is a thriving place, much 

 frequented by the inhabitant* of the capital, surrounded by beautiful 

 garden*, and yearly increasing in extent Boufarick, between Blidah 

 and Algiers, is a new town, with 2000 inhabitants, well supplied with 

 water, in a fertile territory, and has a weekly market. In the 

 neighbourhood are several villages, or colonies, constructed by the 

 French, such an Joinville, Montpensier, Ac. Coleah ig about 

 24 miles W. of Algiers, near the sea, in a most fertile district. 

 Farther went in Cherckttt, a seaport town near the rite of Jol, anciently 

 th residence of King Juba, of which there are remains. 



In the interior, towards the banks of the Shellif, is Mdianah, 

 ituated in an important agricultural though not very healthy 

 district. In the game district the French have built the new town of 

 OrUanviltf, which is intended to be the central market of the valley 

 of Ui.' lower Shellif. A carriage-road leads from Orlcanville to the 

 port of T(5ne ; population 2800, 



lu the province of Orau, or western division of Algeria, are the 

 towns of Mustigannim, containing between 5000 and 6000 inhabitants, 

 built on the slope of a hill near the sea ; Arzew, the ancient Arsenaria, 

 near which are valuable salt-pits which might be made more pro- 

 ductive ; and Oran, or more properly Warran, a coast town, of from 

 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, and the capital of the province. It is a 

 fortified place, and carries on some trade by sea. The Spaniards were 

 masters of it for near three centuries until 1792, as well as of the 

 neighbouring Marsa-el-Kebir, the Portus Magnus of the ancients, a 

 natural harbour, one of the best on the coast of Barimry. Farther to the 

 S. W., near the mouth of the river Tafna, are some remains of the ancient 

 Siga, or Sigeum, the metropolis of Syphax and other Mauritania!! 

 kings. About 80 miles from it, in the interior, is the city of Tlemsen, 

 once the capital of a province, built on a rising ground below a ridge 

 of rocky mountains, which form part of the Atlas, in a fine and fertile 

 country irrigated by a number of streams. The old Tlemsen, once 

 the capital of a kingdom, was much larger than the present town, but 

 was almost wholly destroyed in 1670 by Hassan, Dey of Algiers. 

 Tlemsen reckons still about 20,000 inhabitants. It enjoys a healthy 

 climate, and has rich plantations of olive-trees. There are manufac- 

 tures of carpets and blankets, and some trade carried on with the 

 interior. It is not far from the borders of the Little Sahara, which 

 here approaches very near the coast. Mascara, the ancient Victoria, 

 once the capital of Abd-el-Kader, and since very much improved by 

 the French, is situated about .30 miles inland from the Bay of Arzew. 

 Fifteen miles to the N.E. of Mascara is El Callah, a small town with 

 several villages around it, built in the Atlas Mountains, the population 

 of which are busily employed in the manufacture of carpets, bour- 

 uooses, and other woollens, for which El Callah is the chief mart iu 

 the whole Regency. In addition to the trade from the sea-ports, 

 which is constantly increasing, particularly with France, there is an 

 interchange of products with the French settlements of Senegal, on 

 the western coast, across the interior, by means of caravans. 



The Algerine Sahara, as the French call it, or southern division of 

 the territory of Algiers, extends along the southern slope of the 

 table-land of the Atlas, aa far as the Great Desert. The Algerine 

 Sahara has abundant pastures in the winter and spring, but they are 

 dried up in summer. Corn is very scarce. Dates constitute the chief 

 article of food. On the slopes of the Atlas are fir-trees, tuyas, ever- 

 green oaks, and cork-trees ; lower down are juniper and carob-trees. 

 Under a layer of flue sand, probably brought by the southern winds, 

 is a stratum of good vegetable mould. The rivers flow southward ; 

 they are subject to overflowing, but become dry, or nearly so, in 

 summer, and are lost in the sands. The principal river in the western 

 part of the Algerine Sahara is the Mzi, which rises in the Jebel 

 Amour; it disappears in the sands below Tedjmont, reappears at 

 Recheg, disappears again near Laghouat, and is then lost altogether. 

 Laghouat, the capital of the Western Sahara, is about 300 miles S. by 

 W. from Algiers. It is inclosed by walls flanked with towers, and is 

 surrounded by extensive gardens and date plantations, irrigated by 

 canals from the river Mzi. Figs, peaches, apricots, plums, bananas, 

 almonds, and mulberries, are abundant. These gardens constitute 

 the wealth of Laghouat. The town reckons about 6000 inhabitants. 

 It has several mosques, a fondouk, or market, but no baths ; water is 

 too valuable. The French, some years ago, made an excursion as 

 far as Laghouat, under General Marey, and were received in a friendly 

 manner. They crossed the table-land of the Atlas from Medeyah to 

 Boghar, where they found excellent truffles ; then they crossed the 

 little western desert, which is a dry elevated terrace ; then they 

 crossed a second table-land, called Jebel Amour and Jebel Sahari, 

 which is said to be as high as the Vosges ; and then descended intr* 

 the valley of the Mzi to Laghouat. General Marey wrote a report of 

 the expedition. Laghouat was formerly a dependance of the Bey of 

 Titteri, to whom it paid a small tribute. 



The eastern and larger part of the Algerine Sahara is considered to 

 belong to the province of Constantine. It consists chiefly of two 

 large districts : the Zaab or Ziban, the ancient Gtetulia, which lies 

 S. of the province of Constantine, between the Atlas and the Wad 

 Adjedee River, and the Wad Reag, which is south of the latter, and 

 stretches to the very edge of the sandy desert. The town or village 

 of Biscara, with a small castle, is the principal place in the Zaab. 

 Dates are the chief produce of the country. The Biscareens are a 

 tribe distinct both from the Arabs and the Kabyles, although believed 

 to be of Arab descent ; they have fixed habitations, are industrious, 

 honest, and quiet. Many of them come to Algiers, where they are 

 preferred as servants and porters, and where they have an amir, or 

 coniul, to settle their concerns. They have been confounded by 

 Europeans with the other Kabyles. They are very dark. They 

 profess Mohammedanism, and speak a dialect of the Arabic. The 

 Biscareens trade with Soodan by the way of Ghadamis. The country 

 of the Biscareens is watered by several streams from the southern 

 slope of the Atlas which fall into the Wad Adjedee, the principal of 

 which is the Wad Abeadh, that rises in the mountains of Auress in 

 Constantino, and flows southward until it meets the Adjedee not far 

 above the marsh called Melgigg. The Duke d'Aumale led an expe- 

 dition to Biscara in 1844. This part of the country is administered 

 by a native sheik, subject to the government of Constantine. 



Wad Reag is another collection of villages like those of the Zaab 



