213 



ALGHERO. 



ALHAMBRA. 



214 



to obedience in 1 355, when the Sardinian and Genoese inhabitants 

 were expelled by the Spaniards, and their places supplied by Catalans. 

 Alghero has given title to a bishop since 1503, and five years afterwards 

 it was fortified. It became a very favourite residence of Charles V. 

 of Spain. 



Alghero stands on the shore, and is built in the form of a parallel- 

 ogram, on a low rocky point, jutting out from a sandy beach. It is 

 surrounded by stout walls, flanked with bastions and towers ; but 

 these defences are commanded by two hills at a short distance from 

 the town. The streets are narrow, but well paved and clean. There 

 are two gate entrances, one at the mole or landing-place on the north, 

 and the other at the ravelin in the land front. There is a handsome 

 cathedral in the town, which also contains some other churches, 

 several convents, a college, and public schools. There are some foun- 

 tains of pure water outside the town, but within the inhabitants 

 obtain their supply by means of cisterns. 



The country round, forming the province of Alghero, which has a 

 population of 34,108, is well cultivated and has pretty scenery. It 

 produces abundance of wine of good quality, as well as butter, cheese, 

 vegetables, and fruits. Tobacco is a profitable object of cultivation. 

 The export* from the town consist of wine, corn, tobacco, wool, skins, 

 raga, anchovies, coral, and bones. The coral obtained at this part of 

 the coast is the most highly esteemed of any in the Mediterranean 

 S,-a. 



The town stands on the shore of a spacious bay, formed on the 

 north by the south point of Cape Caccia, and on the south by Cape 

 Marargin. The anchorage is good. Small vessels only, however, can 

 enter the port of Alghero ; but at 9 miles N.W. from this place is 

 the harbour of Porto Conte, the best and safest in the island. This 

 harbour is large enough for several fleets ; it is defended by towers 

 mounted with guns. 



ALGIERS (AJger), a city of Northern Africa, the capital of the 

 French province of Alge'rie ; in Arabic, Al-Jezira ( The Island), to which 

 was added the epithet of Al-Gazie (The Warlike). It was first built about 

 935 by Jussuf Zeri, an Arabian chief, of the Zeirite dynasty, which 

 succeeded that of Aghleb in the sovereignty of the country. It is in 

 the shape of an irregular triangle, of which one side is formed by the 

 sea-coast, and the other two run up the declivity of a steep hill which 

 faces the north and north-east, and forms part of a ridge called the 

 Sahel, which rises abruptly from the sea-coast, and between that and 

 the Metidja plain which separates it from the Little Atlas. The 

 highest point of the Sahel ia about 1200 feet. The houses rise 

 gradually one above the other, so that there is scarcely one that has 

 not the prospect of the sea from its terrace. The houses are square, 

 and mostly two storys high ; they have a closed court in the middle, 

 on which, and not on the street, the windows of the apartments open. 

 The flat terrace at the top is the resort of the family, especially in 

 the evening, to enjoy the sea-breeze. The buildings are painted white, 

 and the reflection of the sun from them is very painful to the eyes. 

 The circumference of Algiers is little more than two miles ; the streets 

 are very narrow. The native population of Algiers was reckoned in 

 1830 at about 70,000 ; of these, about 8000 were Jews, 1000 Christians, 

 and the rest Mohammedans. In 1852 the population was 54,041, of 

 whom 24,649 were native Mussulmans and Jews. Emigration, poverty, 

 the rise in the price of provisions, and the greater activity of the new 

 settlers, .have thinned the ranks of the old inhabitants. The palace of 

 the Pasha, called also the Jenina, was in the lower part of the town ; but 

 the late Dey had his residence in the Casbah, or citadel, at the highest 

 point of the city. The hills, which rise in the form of an amphi- 

 theatre around the city, are studded with country houses, gardens, 

 vineyards, and olive-groves. Algiers is well supplied with water from 

 a large reservoir, the water of which is conveyed from the country by 

 an aqueduct, and then distributed by conduits all over the city. 

 There are a great number of public baths, of small coffee-houses, and 

 some wretched inns called ' fondues.' The batteries which defend 

 Algiers on the seaside are very strong, but the fortifications on the 

 landaide are weak and exposed. The castle called the Emperor's, 

 which is outside the walls, commands the city, but is itself com- 

 manded by the upper part of Mount Boujereah. Below the Emperor's 

 fort, a road leads from the Casbah along the inland skirt of Mount 

 Boujereah to th. point, of Sidi Ferruch, about 14 miles west. It was 

 by this road that the French advanced, in June 1830, to invest the 

 Kiij|KTor's fort, which, after a brisk cannonade, was abandoned by the 

 Turks on the 4th of July. Tin; following day Algiers surrendered to 

 Marshal Bourmont, on condition that persons, private property, and 

 the religion of tin- Country should be respected; and that the Dey 

 and hi* Turkish militia should quit Algiers, carrying with them their 

 personal property. The rV-ii'-h took possession of the town, the 

 castles, and all |, rty of every kind ; among the spoil were 



12 ships of war, 1500 brass cannon, and 48,000,000 of francs in .,!<! 

 and silver. Since their occnp;iti,.n tin Fn-nch have much improved 

 the :i i i hey have opened wide streets and squares, 



built fine houses in the European style, hotels, coffee-houses, a theatre, 

 Ac. Algiers lies in 36' 49' N. lat, 3 25' E. long. 



The port has been greatly improved Ijy the French, and works are 

 in progress to shelter it from the east and west winds, which blow 

 with great violence in winter. When completed the harbour will be 

 large enough to contain 30 vessels of war and 300 ships of commerce. 



There is a lighthouse with an intermittent light visible for 15 miles 

 at sea. 



The city has numerous well-supplied markets, the principal of 

 which are held in the squares called de Chartres, Mahon, and d'Isly. 

 An exhibition of the agricultural produce of the department is held 

 annually during the second fortnight in September in the court-yard 

 of the Lyceum ; live stock and machinery are exhibited on the 

 esplanade Bab-el-Oued. At the same time a fair is held. The exhi- 

 bition closes on the 28th of the month with horse-races, which attract 

 great crowds both of Europeans and Arabs from all parts of the 

 province. A market for corn is held twice a week ; for olive-oil 

 daily. Foreign consuls from every country in Europe reside in 

 Algiers. In the year 1850, 1720 vessels of aU kinds entered and left 

 the harbour. 



Algiers has supreme courts for the administration of justice to 

 Mussulman and foreign residents ; a chamber and tribunal of com- 

 merce, a college, lyceum, a normal school, a public library and museum, 

 a cathedral and three other Roman Catholic churches, a Lutheran 

 church, a synagogue, four mosques, two theatres, and a bank. Steam- 

 boats ply regularly to Marseille, Cette, and Rouen. The total receipts 

 of customs for the whole of Algeria in the year 1850 amounted to 

 5,391,454 francs. (Almanack dtAlger pour 1852.) 



ALGOA BAY, known also as Port Elizabeth, and formerly called 

 Zwartkop's Bay, is situated in Cape Colony, South Africa, in 33 56' 

 S. lat., 26 53' E. long. This inlet, which is about 20 miles broad 

 from east to west, is nearly 500 miles eastward of Cape Town, between 

 it and Albany. The anchorage and holding-ground of the bay are 

 good. The shore is a level sandy beach ; it receives the waters of the 

 Zondag, Zwartkop, and Kowie rivers, and has besides some fine springs 

 of water on the western side. The surrounding country forms part 

 of the district of Uitenhagen. Port Elizabeth was the place of 

 debarkation for the emigrants who went from this kingdom to Cape 

 Colony in 1820; as many as 3659 individuals landed there in the 

 summer of that year. It has gradually increased in population and 

 importance. [CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.] 



ALGONQUINS, the name of a tribe of North American Indians, 

 or rather a kind of generic name, under which are included numerous 

 native tribes, which are related to one another. The principal tribe 

 of the Algonquin nation, at present, is the Chippeways. The Algou- 

 quins, even in their present depressed state, are spread over a large 

 tract of country, from the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario to the 

 neighbourhood of the Esquimaux. The term Algonquin is one of the 

 three divisions which the early French writers made of the native 

 tribes, the Hurons and Sioux being the others. The Algonquin 

 language is now spoken by the Chippeways, Ottowas, Potawatamies, 

 Sacs and Foxes, Shawnees, Kickapoos, Menomonies, Miamies, and 

 Delawares. These languages are said to approach to the Chippeway, 

 which may be called the standard, in the order in which we have 

 placed them. 



When America was first discovered, the dialects of the Algonquin 

 language extended from the Penobscot in Maine to the Chesapeake 

 Bay, and from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior. The tribe which 

 is properly designated by the name of Algonquin was found on the 

 banks of the Uttawas River, which enters the St.-Lawrence near 

 Montreal, and also on the north shore of lakes Erie and Ontario. 



From the specimens given in Adelung's ' Mithridates ' of the Chip- 

 peway and Algonquin tongues, it cannot be doubted that they are the 

 same languages. In the regions that extend from the Uttawas River, 

 north and west, to Lake Winnipeg, the Saskatchewan River, and stil' 

 farther, Adelung places the Knistenaux, a widely-spread tribe, whose 

 language, if we may judge from the specimens given, is closely allied 

 to the two just mentioned. 



By comparing the specimens of the Knisteuaux, Algonquin, and 

 Chippeway languages, with a very copious Cree vocabulary, we have 

 no doubt that the latter language is closely akin to all three. So 

 vague, indeed, are the notices of Indian tribes, that it is quite possible 

 that all the four names, which we have used, may to a certain extent 

 represent the same nations, or parts of the same nations. The Crees 

 are now described as occupying the country between the 50th and 57th 

 parallels of north latitude, and the 80th and 105th of west longitude ; 

 and are in fact geographically, as well as by language, part at least of 

 the people called by Mackenzie the Knistenaux, and by Charlevoix 

 the Cristinaux or Kilistinous. The meaning and origin of the word 

 Algonquins are, we believe, unknown. 



(North, American Review, No. L. ; Adelung's Mithridates.) 



ALHAMA. [GRANADA.] 



ALHAMBRA, the name now given to the remains of a palace 

 which was built and occupied by the Mohammedan sultans or kings 

 of Granada, in Spain. It stands on the highest part of a lofty hill 

 which adjoins and overlooks the city of Granada on the east and 

 south-east. This hill is separated by a deep ravine from another still 

 higher, called the Cerro del Sol (Hill of the Sun), on which is built the 

 summer residence called the Gcneralife (' Jeneh-al-Arife,' in Arabic, 

 the Pleasant Garden). The Cerro del Sol (of which the Alharnbra hill 

 is the front part cut off by the ravine above mentioned) is an offset or 

 spur from the great mountain-range called the Sierra Nevada. 



The Alhambra hill is of an oblong shape, and the summit, about 

 830 yards in length by 230 in its greatest width, is inclosed by a wall 



