xv HOME LIFE AND TRAVELS 375 



"Afric's burning strand." This advice we followed 

 in the spring of 1902, when we visited North Africa 

 and Sicily. It is amazing how nearly space is annihi- 

 lated at the present day ; thus, one may leave Charing 

 Cross at 1 1 o'clock on Friday morning and be in the 

 rainless borders of the Sahara, at Biskra, on Monday 

 afternoon at 4 P.M. 



We all of us knew Algiers, having visited on 

 previous occasions my sister-in-law, Mrs. Wrigley, 

 who had spent many winters at El Muski, in Mustapha, 

 in a modern reconstructed Arab house with a garden 

 and a beautiful view which defies description. As is 

 usually the case in the Mediterranean transit, luck was 

 not on our side, and we were knocked about in the 

 Marechal Bourgerau (which had nearly been wrecked 

 on her previous voyage) to an extent which rendered a 

 night's rest at Algiers imperative. The line of steamers 

 between France and its great Algerian department is, 

 as all travellers on that route will admit, a disgrace. 

 This is entirely due to monopoly, and it is a marvel 

 that such inefficiency is still allowed to prevail. 



The strange mixture of lethargic orientalism with 

 the hurry scurry of Western life was illustrated at a 

 dinner at a first- class restaurant, overlooking the har- 

 bour at Algiers. Among those dining there was a 

 refined Arab gentleman, a tall, well-proportioned, 

 handsome figure, with high-caste features, and dressed 

 in an immaculate Arab costume, who with the suavite 

 of the East sat among the crowd of mobile Frenchmen 

 enjoying the various dishes of the admirable French 

 cuisine as much as they did. 



In contrast to the Arab life, which in the native 

 town is seen to perfection, is the ceremony of the 

 Catholic Church of Notre Dame d'Afrique, a church 

 on the rocky eminence which runs out into the Medi- 



