SOME ACCOUNT OF ALGIERS, AND ITS CONQUEST BY THE FRENCH. II.

Medeya contains about six or seven thousand inhabitants, of which about a thousand are Turks, and the remainder a mixture of the other Algerine tribes.

ORAN is an important town in the western part of the Regency, about seventy-six leagues from Algiers. It is built upon the sea coast, at the inner part of a bay, on two plateaus or plains separated by a valley through which flows a river. Oran was possessed by the Spaniards for a long time after they had been forced to give up the city of Algiers, but was ceded to the Dey in 1791. The town was, about the lastmentioned period, almost destroyed by an earthquake, but was soon afterwards rebuilt. The bay is but little fitted, from its small depth, for the reception of ships.

sold in the streets. The two borders of the river contain many corn mills, pleasure gardens, and country houses, among which is one belonging to the Bey. At the south ward of the town there is a cap of Turks stationed to watch the proceedings of the roving Arabs and Berbers: were this not the case, the latter would frequently pour into the town and plunder it.

Constantina is a considerable place, containing a population of twelve or fourteen thousand souls; they consist of Turks, Arabs, Negroes, and Jews, and the latter appear to have much more liberty and influence than in any other part of the country. The inhabitants bear a character for probity and industry. They employ themselves in agriculture and commerce, exporting corn, cattle, linen, and wax, to Europe.

The town itself presents many good and remarkable buildings, which are distinguished into two separate classes; for the Spanish portion of the town was situated entirely on BONA is a little sea-port distant about a hundred leagues the eastern plateau, and the other half, the Moorish, on eastward of Algiers, on the point of a promontory which the western. The Spanish quarter is in rather a ruinous protects a harbour capable of sheltering vessels. The popustate, showing the remains of what were, before the earth-lation was less than two thousand when the French attacked quake, mansions, churches, and convents. The governor's palace, of which some parts yet remain, appears sur rounded with many good houses; and many aqueducts and fountains had also been constructed near them.

the place. The streets are straight and unpaved: the Kasba, elevated on a hill, is surrounded by a high and strong wall, and from its advantageous position, commands the whole town.

The other part of the town is built almost wholly in the The inhabitants of Bona were almost wholly Moors, who Moorish style. The houses are much in the style of those carried on a commerce with the European states in corn, in Algiers, but the streets are rather wider and more cattle, &c. But when the horrors of war disturbed them, commodious. When the French army took possession of they turned their attention to agriculture. It has been reOran, almost all the inhabitants, with the exception of the marked that the inhabitants of all the secondary towns in Jews, made their escape, taking with them their families the country display better qualities than those of the city of and portable property. But before the arrival of their Algiers. It is not difficult to account for this when we conconquerors, the town contained five or six thousand souls, sider that it was the metropolis which was chiefly engaged consisting of the same classes as those of Algiers. But in the debasing and ferocious corsair system. The Moors it is worthy of remark, that their behaviour was more of Bona are more civilized in their behaviour than those of civilized and rational than that of the Algerines, for they Algiers. They had to play a difficult part when the French were engaged in agriculture and commerce, rather than in entered the country. After the capital had been taken, piracy. The Jews who remained in the city after the the Bey of Constantina summoned the inhabitants of all French had taken it, defended their new masters against the rest of the country to attack the French. The Moors of the attacks of some roving Arabs,-a circustance rather rare Bona, for reasons which they probably thought sufficient, in the people of that religion, seeing how seldom they take did not choose to obey this call; and when the French part in warfare. On one occasion when the Arabs were attacked Bona, they found the Moors no way indisposed to about to attack the French, the Jews took up arms, and change masters. This afterwards subjected them to fierce mounted guard during the night on the terraces and ram- attacks from the Arabs and Berbers; but they appear to parts. On another occasion, when a detachment of French have remained tolerably well disposed towards the French. were engaged with the Arab cavalry out on the plain, the Jews ventured to sally out from the town, with asses and mules carrying leather buckets full of water for the relief of the parched French soldiers.

There are a great number of Moorish artisans in or near Oran: some are shoemakers, some tailors, some weavers, &c. On the borders of the river, near the sea, are a number of tan-pits, and manufactories of morocco leather. Most of the public shops are kept by Jews; but the coffeehouses are kept by the Moors. Oran has been accustomed to carry on a considerable trade with Spain, and Italy, in grain, cattle, linen, and morocco leather. Most of the haiks, bernous, and brown capuchins or hoods, worn by the Moors of Barbary, are made at Oran.

The Mahometans of Oran are very attentive to the duties of their religion. Those who cannot go to the mosques at the appointed hours of prayer, never fail to pray in their shops, or in the streets, when the hour arrives. They are said, however, to be less attentive in their honours to the dead than the inhabitants of Algiers, with whom it is a point of piety and duty frequently to visit the graves of their fathers, and plant flowers between the four stones which form the tomb.

CONSTANTINA. This is a town in the eastward part of the country, situated in the midst of an extensive plain: the plain terminates in a high mountain, at the foot of which flows a river which forms a half circle round the town, and washes its walls. Constantina is not fortified; its walls do not even surround the town, as in most other towns of Barbary. At the entrance, on the side towards Algiers, is a small battery, weakly guarded. The aspect of the town is very similar to that of Medeya: all the houses are covered with tiles, but none of them present the white appearance of the Algerine houses. The streets are broad, and tolerably straight; and over the river is a fine stone bridge, said to have been constructed by the Romans. There are no squares or open places in the interior of the town; but the town contains the palace of the Bey, the Kasba occupied by a Turkish garrison, and some mosques. There is not a single fountain in Constantina, so that all the water required by the inhabitants has to be brought from the river in leather buckets, borne on the backs of mules; it is then

The roving tribes outside of the town are exceedingly fierce and warlike, and harassed the French much in their progress towards Bona.

These are the principal towns to which we need direct our attention. On the roads from one town to another there are public wells, placed on the road-side for the accommodation of travellers. Where there is so much sandy desert, the value of this arrangement is greater than we in England can fully appreciate.

We have more than once had occasion to speak of Marabouts: we must here explain what is understood by that term. At p. 88 is represented the residence of a Marabout of Sydi-Abdekadet, and there are many more such. These Marabouts are men who have a reputation for genius and supernatural power. If a Moor, an Arab, or a Berber, wishes to propitiate the fates, he applies to a Marabout in his hermitage, and gives costly presents. If a Marabout wants any article for his own use, he does not scruple to enter the house of any one and help himself, the people thinking it an honour to be so noticed by him. This is carried so far, that the most sacred of social rights are disregarded, and the hypocrites take advantage of the credulity of the people to violate every tie of decency and propriety. Their power and influence are, in fact, greater than those of any other parties whatever in the country, since they have a hold on the most secret thoughts and superstitions of the

people. It is among the Berbers and Arabs that their power is greatest,-less among the Moors and Turks, and probably not existing at all among the Jews. When a Marabout dies, a splendid tower is generally built by his devotees, and decorated with flowers and offerings, which they make at his shrine. These Marabouts' tombs are to be seen in various parts of the country, and testify to the extent to which this superstition has spread among the mass of the population.

THE INHABITANTS; THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, DRESS, &c. WHEN the French expedition went out to Algiers, it was accompanied by an intelligent engineer, M. Rozet, in the capacity of Geographical Engineer to the expedition. This gentleman has published an interesting account of Algiers, drawn from his own observation, and we shall take him as our chief authority on the subject of the native inhabitants of Algiers.

M. Rozet distinguishes seven separate classes of persons who form the population of Algiers, viz., Berbers, Moors, Negroes, Arabs, Jews, Turks, and Koulouglis, all of whom have habits and characters different from one another. We will consider them in the above order.

BERBERS, These are supposed to be the descendants of the ancient Numidians, who were a mixture of the aborigines of North Africa, and some Persians and Armenians who settled there in remote ages: they are, in fact, the most ancient inhabitants of Algiers, and have still kept a footing in the land, throughout all the eventful scenes which have occurred there.

The Berbers are about the middle height: their complexion is brown, and sometimes almost black, with brown and glossy hair. They are thin, but extremely strong and robust. Their bodies are beautifully formed, and there is an elegance in their attitudes only to be found in antique statues. The head of the Berber is rounder than that of the Arab, and the features shorter, but of an equally marked character, although the fine African nose, so common among the latter, is not often seen among the Berbers. There is in their countenances an expression of savageness, and even of cruelty; but they are active, and extremely intelligent: they are also of a social temper, and endowed with good capacities. The language of the Berbers is said to have no connexion with any other known tongue. Such of this people as inhabit the northern side of the little Atlas (a small chain of mountains between the great Atlas and the sea), and often mingle with the Arabs, speak or understand Arabic; but those who dwell southward of the mountains understand no other language than their own. Many of them are often seen at Algiers, who do not speak a word of Arabic: in this city they are termed Bedouins, a name given to all the tribes who dwell in tents or temporary huts.

The Berbers often leave their mountains, to plunder travellers on the plain; and when they know a caravan is to pass they assemble in great numbers to attack it. They dwell in huts, consisting of a few stakes driven into the ground, with reeds or small branches of trees tied to them, and the whole covered with clay, mixed with a little straw. In some few instances their huts are built with rough stones, arranged with much art. These dwellings are rectangular, with two gable ends, and are covered with thatch or reeds: they are seldom more than ten feet high, and are entered by a low and narrow door, which shuts very close. The windows are small holes in the sides, which are sometimes covered with a piece of glass, Sometimes the huts are built in the midst of thickets, but in other instances a group of huts is situated in the midst of a plantation. Although the Berbers have always lived in a state of barbarous ignorance, and have had but little connexion with eivilized nations, they are a remarkably industrious people, and perhaps the most useful throughout all Algiers. By working the mines in their own mountains, they procure lead, copper, and iron. With the lead they manufacture bullets for war or the chase, and with the copper, ornaments for the women. It is even said that they work gold and silver: and it is true that their weapons are often ornamented with plates of silver, and they make an immense quantity of base silver coin, which they manage to circulate in Algiers. After converting their iron ore into malleable metal, they manufacture gun-barrels, implements of husbandry, and many rudely formed utensils, which they sell to the Moors and Arabs. They understand the manufacture of steel, from which they make knives, swords, and other sharp instruments. ¡

The dress of the Berbers is very simple. The inner garment is a kind of short linen shirt, fastened round the waist with a cord. They have sometimes a sort of small cap on the head, and the chiefs wear babouches and red boots when they travel, although it is customary with the Berbers generally to go with arms and legs bare. Above the shirt, which somewhat resembles a Roman tunic, they wear the haik, which is a piece of white linen, about a yard wide, and five or six yards in length: in this they envelop themselves with singular ease and elegance. The haik passes round the head, where it is fastened by a band of brown linen. When the weather is cold, they wear a bernous, which is a kind of white linen mantle with a cape.

The costume of the women differs but little from that of the men. They do not wear the bernous, but throw the haik over the head without fastening it. They do not cover the face, like the Moorish and Arab women. They travel with bare heads and feet, their long hair floating in the wind, and every part of their bodies, especially the arms and legs, is decorated with designs in different colours, and of perfect regularity. They also stain red the nails, the palm of the hand, and the sole of the foot.

The Berbers are a warlike race, and have never actually submitted to the Dey of Algiers. They are divided into tribes, each of which is governed by a sheikh. They bear a character for great cruelty, both in their mode of making war, and in their general conduct to travellers. On the western coast they are constantly on the watch for vessels which approach the coast, aud when one is stranded, they pounce upon it like a swarm of vultures, murder the crew, seize the cargo, and destroy the vessel. A few years ago, fifty French artillery-men fell into their hands, and were immediately cut up into small pieces, and thrown into a common laystall, and on another occasion, a French suttler was taken, and sus pended by the feet from a palm-tree, until she died. They sometimes attacked the French in the following manner; The horse-soldiers would come on at full gallop, and the infantry run with them, holding either by the saddles or the tails of the horses, and three men have often been seen holding by the same horse. When arrived at a certain distance, the horseman would stop. and the foot-soldiers would immediately collect round him. Each would then fire, withdraw with rapidity to reload his piece, and then return to the charge.

Altogether the Berbers are a formidable race, and what with them and the Arabs, the French are to this day scarcely able to quit the fortified cities of the Regency.

MOORS. The Moorish inhabitants of Algiers are almost as ancient as the Berbers, but different circumstances have given them rather a better position. Dwelling principally near the sea-coast, they have had more frequent communication with the inhabitants of Europe, than the Berbers, who are more inland. This, and the successive conquests of the country, have modified the habits and manners of this people, and in some degree altered the race. Having been subdued by the Arabs, and afterwards governed by the Turks, they embraced Mahometanism, and from that period their mode of life has differed little from that of the other followers of Mahomet.

From time to time a great many Europeans have intermarried with the Moors, and mixed races have resulted from the connexion; but the characteristics of the true Moor are sufficiently evident to lead to a correct description. The men are above the middle stature; their carriage grave and noble: they have black hair: their skin is a little swarthy, but rather fair than brown. Their faces are somewhat full, and their features are less strongly marked than those of the Arabs and the Berbers. The nose is generally rounded, the mouth of middle size, and the eyes very open, though not lively. They are muscular, and the bodies rather fat. The women are formed on a scale proportionate to the men: they have all black hair and beautiful eyes, and some of them are handsome. They never wear stays; and as excessive obesity is considered the perfection of female beauty, they do all in their power to become fat, and are, of course, very defective in shape.

The children of both sexes are extremely pretty. They have a mild expression of countenance, beautiful eyes, and a general intelligence of mind.

The Moors form the greater portion of the population of the Algerine states. They inhabit houses more or less costly in the towns and cities, and they also occupy some villages. A few of them live separately in the neighbourhood of the towns, upon small hills, or in the valleys and culti vated plains. These the Arabs and Berbers plunder, and