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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Artists and Arabs, by Henry Blackburn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Artists and Arabs
+       Or, Sketching in Sunshine
+
+Author: Henry Blackburn
+
+Illustrator: Henry Blackburn
+
+Release Date: April 14, 2014 [EBook #45380]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARTISTS AND ARABS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger from page images generously
+provided by the Internet Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ARTISTS AND ARABS;
+
+OR
+
+Sketching in Sunshine
+
+By Henry Blackburn,
+
+Author Of 'Normandy Picturesque,' 'The Pyrenees,' 'Travelling In Spain,'
+Etc.
+
+Second Edition.
+
+With Numerous Illustrations.
+
+London:
+
+Sampson Low, Son, And Marston,
+
+1870.
+
+
+
+
+ARGUMENT.
+
+The advantage of winter studios abroad, and the value of sketching in
+the open air; especially in Algeria.
+
+'The best thing the author of a book can do, is to tell the reader, on a
+piece of paper an inch square, what he means by it.'--Athenaeum.
+
+[Illustration: 0019]
+
+ARTISTS AND ARABS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. ON THE WING.
+
+[Illustration: 9019]
+
+Y the middle of the month of July, the Art season in London was on the
+wane, and by the end of August the great body of English artists had
+dispersed, some, the soundest workers perhaps, to the neighbourhood of
+Welsh mountains and English homesteads, to--'The silence of thatched
+cottages and the voices of blossoming fields.'
+
+From the Tweed to the Shetland Isles, they were thick upon the hills;
+in every nook and corner of England, amongst the cornfields and upon the
+lakes; in the valleys and torrent beds of Wales, the cry was still 'they
+come.'
+
+On the continent, both artists and amateurs were everywhere. Smith
+toiling across the Campagna with the thermometer at 95 (his reward
+a quiet pipe at the 'caf� Greco' when the sun goes down) is but a
+counterpart of a hundred other Smiths scattered abroad. In the
+galleries of Florence and Rome no more easels could be admitted, and
+in Switzerland and Savoy the little white tents and 'sun-umbrellas'
+glistened on the mountain side. Brown might be seen rattling down an
+arr�te from the Fleg�re, with his _mat�riel_ swung across his back, like
+a carpenter's basket, after a hard day's work sketching the Aiguilles
+that tower above the valley of Chamounix; and Jones, with his little
+wife beside him, sitting under the deep shade of the beech-trees in the
+valley of Sixt.
+
+We were a sketching party, consisting of two, three or four, according
+to convenience or accident, wandering about and pitching our tent in
+various places away from the track of tourists; we had been spending
+most of the summer days in the beautiful Val d'Aosta (that school for
+realistic work that a great teacher once selected for his pupil, giving
+him three months to study its chesnut groves, 'to brace his mind to a
+comprehension of facts'); we had prolonged the summer far into autumn on
+the north shore of the Lago Maggiore, where from the heights above the
+old towns of Intra and Pallanza we had watched its banks turn from green
+to golden and from gold to russet brown. The mountains were no longer
+_en toilette_, as the French express it, and the vineyards were stripped
+of their purple bloom; the wind had come down from the Simplon in sudden
+and determined gusts, and Monte Rosa no longer stood alone in her robe
+of white; the last visitor had left the H�tel de l'Univers at Pallanza,
+and our host was glad to entertain us at the rate of four francs a day
+'tout compris'--when the question came to us, as it does to so many
+other wanderers in Europe towards the end of October, where to go for
+winter quarters, where to steal yet a further term of summer days.
+
+Should we go again to Spain to study Velasquez and Murillo, should we go
+as usual to Rome; or should we strike out a new path altogether and go
+to Trebizond, Cairo, Tunis, or Algeria?
+
+There was no agreeing on the matter, diversity of opinion was very
+great and discussion ran high (the majority we must own, having leanings
+towards Rome and _chic_; and also 'because there would be more fun');
+so, like true Bohemians, we tossed for places and the lot fell upon
+Algeria.
+
+The next morning we are on the way. Trusting ourselves and our baggage
+to one of those frail-looking little boats with white awnings, that form
+a feature in every picture of Italian lake scenery, and which, in their
+peculiar motion and method of propulsion (the rower standing at the
+stern and facing his work), bear just sufficient resemblance to the
+Venetian gondola to make us chafe a little at the slow progress we
+make through the smooth water, we sit and watch the receding towers of
+Pallanza, as it seems, for the livelong day. There is nothing to relieve
+the monotony of motion, and scarcely a sound to break the stillness,
+until we approach the southern shore, and it becomes a question of
+anxiety as to whether we shall really reach Arona before sundown. But
+the old boatman is not to be moved by any expostulation or entreaty,
+nor is he at all affected by the information that we run great risk of
+losing the last train from Arona; and so we are spooned across the great
+deep lake at the rate of two or three miles an hour, and glide into the
+harbour with six inches of water on the flat-bottom of the boat amongst
+our portmanteaus.
+
+From Arona to Genoa by railway, and from Genoa to Nice by the Cornice
+road--that most beautiful of all drives, where every variety of grandeur
+and loveliness of view, both by sea and land, seems combined, and from
+the heights of which, if we look seaward and scan the southern horizon,
+we can sometimes trace an irregular dark line, which is Corsica--past
+Mentone and Nice, where the 'winter swallows' are arriving fast; making
+a wonderful flutter in their nests, all eagerness to obtain the most
+comfortable quarters, * and all anxiety to have none but 'desirable'
+swallows for neighbours. This last is a serious matter, this settling
+down for the winter at Nice, for it is here that the swallows
+choose their mates, pairing off wonderfully in the springtime, like
+grouse-shooting M.P.s in August.
+
+     * Necessary enough, to be protected from the cold blasts
+     that sweep down the valleys, as many invalids know to their
+     cost, who have taken houses or lodgings hastily at Nice.
+
+A few hours' journey by railway and we are at Marseilles, where
+(especially at the 'Grand Hotel') it is an understood and settled thing
+that every Englishman is on his way, to or from Italy or India, and it
+requires considerable perseverance to impress upon the attendants that
+the steamer which sails at noon for Algiers is the one on which our
+baggage is to be placed, and it is almost impossible to persuade the
+driver of a fiacre that we do _not_ want to go by the boat just starting
+for Civita Vecchia or Leghorn.
+
+On stepping on board it almost seems as if there were some mistake, for
+we appear to be the only passengers on the after deck, and to be looked
+upon with some curiosity by the swarthy half-naked crew, who talk
+together in an unknown tongue; notwithstanding that at the packet
+office in the town we were informed that we could not secure berths for
+certain.
+
+We have several hours to wait and to look about us, for the mail is
+not brought on board until three in the afternoon, and it is half-past,
+before the officials have kissed each other on both cheeks and we are
+really moving off--threading our way with difficulty through the mass of
+shipping which hems us in on all sides.
+
+The foredeck of the _Akhbar_ is one mass of confusion and crowding, but
+the eye soon detects the first blush of oriental colour and costume, and
+on nearer inspection it is easy to distinguish a few white bournouses
+moving through the crowd. There are plenty of Zouaves in undress
+uniforms, chiefly young men, with a superfluity of medals and the
+peculiar swagger which seems inseparable from this costume; others old
+and bronzed, who have been to Europe on leave and are returning to join
+their regiments. Some parting scenes we witness between families of the
+peasant order, of whom there appear to be a number on board, and their
+friends who leave in the last boat for the shore. These, one and all,
+take leave of each other with a significant 'au revoir,' which is the
+key-note to the whole business, and tells us (who are not studying
+politics and have no wish or intention, to trouble the reader with
+the history or prospects of the colony) the secret of its ill-success,
+viz.:--that these colonists _intend_ to _come back_, and that they are
+much too near home in Algeria.
+
+Looking down upon the fore-deck, as we leave the harbour of Marseilles,
+there seems scarcely an available inch of space that is not encumbered
+with bales and goods of all kinds; with heaps of rope and chain,
+military stores, piles of arms, cavalry-horses, sheep, pigs, and a
+prodigious number of live fowls.
+
+On the after-deck there are but six passengers, there is a Moorish Jew
+talking fluently with a French commercial traveller, a sad and silent
+officer of Chasseurs with his young wife, and two lieutenants who
+chatter away with the captain; the latter, in consideration of his rank
+as an officer in the Imperial Marine, leaving the mate to take charge
+of the vessel during the entire voyage. This gentleman seems to the
+uninitiated to be a curious encumbrance, and to pass his time in
+conversation, in sleep, and in the consumption of bad cigars. He is 6
+a disappointed man' of course, as all officers are, of whatever nation,
+age, or degree.
+
+The voyage averages forty-eight hours, but is often accomplished in less
+time on the southward journey. It is an uncomfortable period even in
+fine weather, just too long for a pleasure trip, and just too short to
+settle down and make up one's mind to it, as in crossing the Atlantic.
+Our boat is an old Scotch screw, which has been lent to the Company of
+the _Messageries Imp�riales_ for winter duty--the shaft hammering and
+vibrating through the saloon and after-cabins incessantly for the first
+twenty-four hours, whilst she labours against a cross sea in the Gulf of
+Lyons, indisposes' the majority of the company, and the captain dines
+by himself; but about noon on the next day it becomes calm, and the
+_Akhbar_ steams quietly between the Balearic Islands, close enough for
+us to distinguish one or two churches and white houses, and a square
+erection that a fellow-traveller informs us is the work of the 'Majorca
+Land, Compagnie Anglaise.'
+
+In the following little sketch we have indicated the appearance in
+outline of the two islands of Majorca and Minorca as we approach them
+going southward, passing at about equal distances between the islands.
+
+[Illustration: 0029]
+
+The sea is calm and the sky is bright as we leave the islands behind us,
+and the _Akhbar_ seems to skim more easily through the deep blue water,
+leaving a wake of at least a mile, and another wake in the sky of sea
+gulls, who follow us for the rest of the voyage in a graceful undulating
+line, sleeping on the rigging at night unmolested by the crew, who
+believe in their good omen.
+
+On the second morning on coming on deck we find ourselves in the
+tropics, the sky is a deep azure, the heat is intense, and the
+brightness of everything is wonderful. The sun's rays pour down on the
+vessel, and their effect on the occupants of the fore-deck is curious to
+witness. The odd heaps of clothing that had lain almost unnoticed during
+the voyage suddenly come to life, and here and there a dark visage peeps
+from under a tarpaulin, from the inside of a coil of rope, or from a box
+of chain, and soon the whole vessel, both the fore and after-deck,
+is teeming with life, and we find at least double the number of human
+beings on board that we had had any idea of at starting.
+
+But the interest of every one is now centred on a low dark line of
+coast, with a background of mountains, which every minute becomes more
+defined; and we watch it until we can discern one or two of the highest
+peaks, tipped with snow. Soon we can make out a bright green, or rather
+as it seems in the sunlight, a golden shore, set with a single gem that
+sparkles in the water. Again it changes into the aspect of a little
+white pyramid or triangle of chalk on a green shore shelving to the sea,
+next into an irregular mass of houses with flat roofs, and mosques
+with ornamented towers and cupolas, surrounded and surmounted by grim
+fortifications, which are not Moorish; and in a little while we can
+distinguish the French houses and hotels, a Place, a modern harbour and
+lighthouse, docks, and French shipping, and one piratical-looking craft
+that passes close under our bows, manned by dark sailors with bright red
+sashes and large earrings, dressed like the fishermen in the opera of
+Mas-aniello. And whilst we are watching and taking it all in, we have
+glided to our moorings, close under the walls of the great Mosque
+(part of which we have sketched from this very point of view); and are
+surrounded by a swarm of half-naked, half-wild and frantic figures, who
+rush into the water vociferating and imploring us in languages difficult
+to understand, to be permitted to carry the Franks' baggage to the
+shore.
+
+Taking the first that comes, we are soon at the landing steps and beset
+by a crowd of beggars, touters, idlers and nondescripts of nearly every
+nation and creed under heaven.
+
+[Illustration: 0033]
+
+[Illustration: 0035]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. ALGIERS.
+
+
+``'Ah oui, c'est qu'elle est belle avec ces ch�teaux forts,
+
+``Couch�s dans les pr�s verts, comme les g�ants morts!
+
+``C'est qu'elle est noble, Alger la fille du corsaire!
+
+``Un r�seau de murs blancs la prot�ge et l'enserre.'=
+
+[Illustration: 9035]
+
+HE first view of the town of Algiers, with its pretty clusters of white
+houses set in bright green hills, or as the French express it, 'like
+a diamond set in emeralds,' the range of the lesser Atlas forming a
+background of purple waves rising one above the other until they are
+lost in cloud--was perhaps the most beautiful sight we had witnessed,
+and it is as well to record it at once, lest the experience of the next
+few hours might banish it from memory.
+
+It was a good beginning to have a stately barefooted Arab to shoulder
+our baggage from the port, and wonderful to see the load he carried
+unassisted. * As he winds his way through the narrow and steep slippery
+streets (whilst we who are shod by a Hoby and otherwise encumbered by
+broadcloth, have enough to do to keep pace with him, and indeed to keep
+our footing), it is good to see how nobly our Arab bears his load, how
+beautifully balanced is his lithe figure, and with what grace and ease
+he stalks along. As he slightly bows, when taking our three francs
+(his 'tariff' as he calls it), there is a dignity in his manner, and
+a composure about him that is almost embarrassing. How he came, in the
+course of circumstances, to be carrying our luggage instead of wandering
+with his tribe, perhaps civilization--French civilization--can answer.
+
+     *  It is generally admitted, we believe, that  a vegetable
+     diet will not produce heroes,' and there is certainly a
+     prejudice in England about the value of beef for navvies and
+     others who put muscular power into their work. It is an
+     interesting fact to note, and one which we think speaks
+     volumes for the climate of Algeria, that this gentleman
+     lives almost entirely on fruit, rice, and Indian corn.
+
+The first hurried glance (as we followed our cicerone up the landing
+steps to the 'H�tel de la R�gence,' which faces the sea) at the
+dazzlingly white flat-roofed houses without windows, at the mosques with
+their gaily painted towers, at the palm-trees and orange-trees, and
+at the crowd of miscellaneous costumes in which colour preponderated
+everywhere, gave the impression of a thorough Mahommedan city; and now
+as we walk down to the _Place_ and look about us at leisure, we find
+to our astonishment and delight that the Oriental element is still most
+prominent.
+
+The most striking and bewildering thing is undoubtedly the medley
+that meets the eye everywhere: the conflict of races, the contrast of
+colours, the extraordinary brightness of everything, the glare, the
+strange sounds and scenes that cannot be easily taken in at a first
+visit; the variety of languages heard at the same time, and above
+all the striking beauty of some faces, and the luxurious richness of
+costume.
+
+First in splendour come the Moors (traders looking like princes),
+promenading or lounging about under the trees, looking as important and
+as richly attired as was ever Caliph Haroun Alraschid.
+
+They are generally fair and slight of figure, with false effeminate
+faces, closely-shaven heads covered with fez and turban, loose baggy
+trousers, jacket and vest of blue or crimson cloth, embroidered with
+gold; round their waists are rich silken sashes, and their fingers are
+covered with a profusion of rings. Their legs are often bare and their
+feet are enclosed in the usual Turkish slipper.
+
+This is the prominent town type of Moor or Jew, the latter to be
+distinguished by wearing dark trousers, clean white stockings, French
+shoes, and a round cloth cap of European pattern. There are various
+grades, both of the Moors and Jews, some of course shabby and dirty
+enough; but the most dignified and picturesque figures are the tall
+dark Arabs and the Kabyles, with their flowing white bournouses, their
+turbans of camel's hair, and their independent noble bearing. Here we
+see them walking side by side with their conquerors in full military
+uniform and their conquerors' wives in the uniform of _Le Follet_,
+whilst white-robed female figures flit about closely veiled, and
+Marabouts (the Mahom-medan priests) also promenade in their flowing
+robes. Arab women and children lounge about selling fruit or begging
+furtively, and others hurry to and fro carrying burdens; and everywhere
+and ever present in this motley throng, the black frock-coat and
+chimney-pot hat assert themselves, to remind us of what we might
+otherwise soon be forgetting,--that we are but four days' journey from
+England.
+
+There is noise enough altogether on the _Place_ to bewilder any
+stranger; for besides the talking and singing, and the cries of vendors
+of fruit and wares, there is considerable traffic. Close to us as we sit
+under the trees, (so close as almost to upset the little tables in front
+of the caf�s), without any warning, a huge diligence will come lunging
+on to the _Place_ groaning under a pile of merchandise, with a bevy
+of Arabs on the roof, and a party of Moorish women in the 'rotonde';
+presently there passes a company of Zouaves at quick step, looking hot
+and dusty enough, marching to their terrible tattoo; and next, by way
+of contrast again, come two Arab women with their children, mounted on
+camels, the beasts looking overworked and sulky; they edge their way
+through the crowd with the greatest nonchalance, and with an impatient
+croaking sound go shambling past.
+
+The 'Place Royale' faces the north, and is enclosed on three sides with
+modern French houses with arcades and shops, and when we have time to
+examine their contents, we shall find them also principally French. Next
+door to a bonnet-shop there is certainly the name of Mustapha over the
+door, and in the window are pipes, coral, and filagree work exposed
+for sale; but most of the goods come from France. Next door again is
+a French caf�, where Arabs, who can afford it, delight in being waited
+upon by their conquerors with white aprons and neck-ties.
+
+The background of all this is superb: a calm sunlit sea, white sails
+glittering and flashing, and far to the eastward a noble bay, with the
+Kabyle mountains stretching out their arms towards the north.
+
+At four o'clock the band plays on the _Place_, and as we sit and watch
+the groups of Arabs and Moors listening attentively to the overture to
+'William Tell,' or admiringly examining the gay uniforms and medals of
+the Chasseurs d'Afrique--as we see the children of both nations at high
+romps together--as the sweet sea-breeze that fans us so gently, bears
+into the newly constructed harbour together, a corvette of the Imperial
+Marine and a suspicious-looking raking craft with latteen sails--as
+Marochetti's equestrian statue of the Duke of Orleans, and a mosque,
+stand side by side before us--we have Algiers presented to us in
+the easiest way imaginable, and (without going through the ordeal of
+studying its history or statistics) obtain some idea of the general
+aspect of the place and of the people, and of the relative position of
+conquerors and conquered.
+
+As our business is principally with the Moorish, or picturesque side of
+things, let us first look at the great Mosque which we glanced at as we
+entered the harbour, and part of which we have sketched for the reader.
+
+[Illustration: 0043]
+
+Built close to the water's edge, so close that the Mediterranean waves
+are sapping its foundations--with plain white shining walls, nearly
+destitute of exterior ornament, it is perhaps 'the most perfect example
+of strength and beauty, and of fitness and grace of line, that we shall
+see in any building of this type. * It is thoroughly Moorish in style,
+although built by a Christian, if we may believe the story, of which
+there are several versions; how the Moors in old days took captive a
+Christian architect, and promised him his liberty on condition of his
+building them a mosque; how he, true to his own creed, dexterously
+introduced into the ground plan the form of a cross; and how the Moors,
+true also to their promise, gave him his liberty indeed, but at the
+cannon's mouth through a window, seaward.
+
+     * This beautiful architectural feature of the town has not
+     escaped the civilizing hand of the Frank; the last time we
+     visited Algiers we found the oval window in the tower gone,
+     and in its place an illuminated French clock!
+
+The general outline of these mosques is familiar to most readers,
+the square white walls pierced at intervals with quaint-shaped little
+windows, the flat cupola or dome, and the square tower often standing
+apart from the rest of the structure as in the little vignette on our
+title-page, like an Italian campanile. Some of these towers are richly
+decorated with arabesque ornamentation,' and glitter in the sun with
+colour and gilding, but the majority of the mosques are as plain and
+simple in design as shown in our large sketch.
+
+Here, if we take off our shoes, we may enter and hear the Koran read,
+and we may kneel down to pray with Arabs and Moors; religious tolerance
+is equally exercised by both creeds. Altogether the Mahommedan places
+of worship seem by far the most prominent, and although there is a Roman
+Catholic church and buildings held by other denominations of Christians,
+there is none of that predominant proselytizing aspect which we might
+have expected after thirty years' occupation by the French! At Tetuan,
+for instance, where the proportion of Christians to Mahommedans is
+certainly smaller, the 'Catholic church' rears its head much more
+conspicuously.
+
+In Algiers the priestly element is undoubtedly active, and _Soeurs de
+Charit�_ are to be seen everywhere, but the buildings that first strike
+the eye are not churches but mosques; the sounds that become more
+familiar to the ear than peals of bells, are the Muezzin's morning and
+evening salutation from the tower of a mosque, calling upon all true
+believers to--=
+
+```'Come to prayers, come to prayers,
+
+```It is better to pray than to sleep.'=
+
+The principal streets in Algiers lead east and west from the _Place_ to
+the principal gates, the Bab-Azoun and the Bab-el-Oued. They are for the
+most part French, with arcades like the Rue de Rivoli in Paris; many of
+the houses are lofty and built in the style perhaps best known as
+the 'Haussman.' Nearly all the upper town is still Moorish, and is
+approached by narrow streets or lanes,--steep, slippery, and tortuous, *
+which we shall examine by-and-bye.
+
+     * It may be interesting to artists to learn that in this
+     present year 1868, most of the quaint old Moorish streets
+     and buildings are intact--neither disturbed by earthquakes
+     nor 'improved' out of sight.
+
+The names of some of the streets are curious, and suggestive of change.
+Thus we see the 'Rue Royale,' the 'Rue Imp�riale there is, or was until
+lately, a 'Place Nationale,' and one street is still boldly proclaimed
+to be the 'Rue d� la R�volution'!
+
+In passing through the French quarter, through the new wide streets,
+squares and inevitable boulevards, the number of shops for fancy goods
+and Parisian wares, especially those of hairdressers and modistes, seems
+rather extraordinary; remembering that the entire European population
+of Algeria, agricultural as well as urban, is not much more than that
+of Brighton. In a few shops there are tickets displayed in different
+languages, but linguists are rare, and where there are announcements of
+the labels have generally a perplexing, composite character, like the
+inscription on a statue at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, which ran thus
+'Miss Ofelia dans Amlet.'
+
+Before we proceed further, let us glance at the general mode of living
+in Algiers, speaking first of the traveller who goes to the hotels.
+
+The ordinary visitor of a month or two will drop down pleasantly enough
+into the system of hotel life in Algiers; and even if staying for the
+winter he will probably find it more convenient and amusing to take his
+meals in French fashion at the hotels, ringing the changes between three
+or four of the best, and one or two well-known caf�s, There is generally
+no table-d'h�te, but strangers can walk in and have breakfast or dine
+very comfortably at little tables '_a part_,' at a fixed hour and at a
+moderate price. The rooms are pleasant, cool, and airy, with large
+windows open to the sea.
+
+Everything is neatly and quietly served, the menu is varied enough, with
+good French dishes and game in abundance; the hosts being especially
+liberal in providing those delicious little birds that might be larks or
+quails,--which in Algiers we see so often on the table and so seldom on
+the wing.
+
+````INGLIS
+
+````SPOKEN.=
+
+Half the people that are dining at the 'H�tel d'Orient' to-day are
+residents or habitu�s; they come in and take their accustomed places as
+cosily, and are almost as particular and fastidious, as if they were at
+their club.
+
+There is the colonel of a cavalry regiment dining alone, and within
+joking distance, five young officers, whose various grades of rank are
+almost as evident from their manner as from the number of stripes on
+their bright red kepis ranged on the wall of the salon. A French
+doctor and his wife dine vis-�-vis, at one table, a lady _solitaire_ at
+another; some gentlemen, whose minds are tuned to commerce, chatter in a
+corner by themselves; whilst a group of newly-arrived English people in
+the middle of the room, are busily engaged in putting down the various
+questions with which they intend to bore the viceconsul on the morrow,
+as if he were some good-natured house-agent, valet-de-place, and
+interpreter in one, placed here by Providence for their especial behoof.
+But it is all very orderly, sociable, and comfortable, and by no means
+an unpleasant method of living for a time.
+
+There is the _cercle_, the club, at which we may dine sometimes; there
+are those pretty little villas amongst the orange-trees at Mustapha
+Sup�rieure, where we may spend the most delightful evenings of all; and
+there are also the Governor's weekly balls, soir�es at the consulate,
+and other pleasant devices for turning night into day, in Algiers as
+everywhere else--which we shall be wise if we join in but sparingly.
+And there are public amusements, concerts, balls, and the theatre--the
+latter with a company of operatic singers with weak lungs, but voices
+as sweet as any heard in Italy; and there are the moonlight walks by the
+sea, to many the greatest delight of all.
+
+The ordinary daily occupations are decidedly social and domestic; and
+it may be truly said that for a stranger, until he becomes accustomed to
+the place, there is very little going on.
+
+You must not bathe, for instance, on this beautiful shelving shore.
+'Nobody bathes, it gives fever,' was the invariable answer to enquiries
+on this subject, and though it is not absolutely forbidden by the
+faculty, there are so many restrictions imposed upon bathers that few
+attempt it; moreover, an Englishman is not likely to have brought an
+acrobatic suit with him, nor will he easily find a 'costume de bain' in
+Algiers.
+
+There is very little to do besides wander about the town, or make
+excursions in the environs or into the interior (in which latter case it
+is as well to take a fowling-piece, as there is plenty of game to be met
+with); and altogether we may answer a question often asked about Algiers
+as to its attractions for visitors, that it has not many (so called),
+for the mere holiday lounger.
+
+But for those who have resources of their own, for those who have work
+to do which they wish to do quietly, and who breathe more freely under a
+bright blue sky, Algiers seems to us to be _the_ place to come to.
+
+The 'bird of passage,' who has unfortunately missed an earthquake, often
+reports that Algiers is a little dull; but even he should not find it
+so, for beyond the 'distractions' we have hinted at, there is plenty to
+amuse him if he care little for what is picturesque. There are (or were
+when we were there), a troop of performing Arabs of the tribe of 'Beni
+Zouzoug,' who performed nightly the most hideous atrocities in the name
+of religious rites: wounding their wretched limbs with knives, eating
+glass, holding burning coals in their mouths, standing on hot iron
+until the feet frizzled and gave forth sickening odours, and doing other
+things in an ecstacy of religious frenzy which we could not print, and
+which would scarcely be believed in if we did. *
+
+     * Since writing the above, we observe that these Arabs (or a
+     band of mountebanks in their name), have been permitted to
+     perform their horrible orgies in Paris and London, and that
+     young ladies go in evening dress to the 'stalls' to witness
+     them.
+
+There are various Moorish ceremonies to be witnessed. There are the
+sacrifices at the time of the Ramadhan, when the negro priestesses go
+down to the water side and offer up beasts and birds; the victims, after
+prolonged agonies which crowds assemble to witness, being finally handed
+over to a French _chef de cuisine_.
+
+There are the mosques to be entered barefoot, and the native courts of
+law to be seen. Then if possible, a Moor should be visited at home, and
+a glimpse obtained of his domestic economy, including a dinner without
+knives or forks.
+
+An entertainment consisting entirely of Moorish dances and music is
+easily got up, and is one of the characteristic sights of Algiers. The
+young trained dancing girls, urged on to frenzy by the beating of the
+tom-tom, and falling exhausted at last into the arms of their masters;
+(dancing with that monotonous motion peculiar to the East, the body
+swaying to and fro without moving the feet); the uncouth wild airs they
+sing, their shrieks dying away into a sigh or moan, will not soon be
+forgotten, and many other scenes of a like nature, on which we must not
+dwell--for are they not written in twenty books on Algeria already?
+
+But there are two sights which are seldom mentioned by other writers,
+which we must just allude to in passing.
+
+The Arab races, which take place in the autumn on the French racecourse
+near the town, are very curious, and well worth seeing. Their
+peculiarity consists in about thirty Arabs starting off pell-mell,
+knocking each other over in their first great rush, their bournouses
+mingling together and flying in the wind, but arriving at the goal
+generally singly, and at a slow trot, in anything but racing fashion.
+
+Another event is the annual gathering of the tribes, when
+representatives from the various provinces camp on the hills of the
+Sahel, and the European can wander from one tent to another and spend
+his day enjoying Arab hospitality, in sipping coffee and smoking
+everywhere the pipe of peace.
+
+These things we only hint at as resources for visitors, if they are
+fortunate enough to be in Algiers at the right time; but there are one
+or two other things that they are not likely to miss, whether they wish
+to do so or not.
+
+They will probably meet one day, in the 'Street of the Eastern Gate,'
+the Sirocco wind, and they will have to take shelter from a sudden
+fearful darkness and heat, a blinding choking dust, drying up as it were
+the very breath of life; penetrating every cavity, and into rooms closed
+as far as possible from the outer air. Man and beast lie down before
+it, and there is a sudden silence in the streets, as if they had been
+overwhelmed by the sea. For two or three hours this mysterious blight
+pours over the city, and its inhabitants hide their heads.
+
+Another rather startling sensation for the first time is the 'morning
+gun.' In the consulate, which is in an old Moorish house in the upper
+town, the newly arrived visitor may have been shown imbedded in the wall
+a large round shot, which he is informed was a messenger from one of
+Lord Exmouth's three-deckers in the days before the French occupation;
+and not many yards from it, in another street, he may have had pointed
+out to him certain fissures or chasms in the walls of the houses, as the
+havoc made by earthquakes; he may also have experienced in his travels
+the sudden and severe effect of a tropical thunderstorm.
+
+Let him retire to rest with a dreamy recollection of such events in his
+mind, and let him have his windows open towards the port just before
+sunrise,--when the earthquake, and the thunder, and the bombardment,
+will present themselves so suddenly and fearfully to his sleepy senses,
+that he will bear malice and hatred against the military governor for
+evermore.
+
+But it has roused him to see some of the sights of Algiers. Let him go
+out at once to the almost deserted _Place_, where a few tall figures
+wrapped in military cloaks are to be seen quietly sidling out of a door
+in the corner of a square under the arcades,--coming from the club where
+the gas is not quite extinguished, and where the little green baize
+tables are not yet put away for the night; * and then let him hurry out
+by the _Bab-el-Oued_ and mount the fortifications, and he will see a
+number of poor Arabs shivering in their white bournouses, perched on the
+highest points of the rocks like eagles, watching with eager eyes and
+strained aspect for the rising of the sun, for the coming of the second
+Mahomet. Let him look in the same direction, eastward, over the town
+and over the bay to the mountains far beyond. The sparks from the
+chariot-wheels of fire just fringe the outline of the Kabyle Hills, and
+in another minute, before all the Arabs have clambered up and reached
+their vantage ground, the whole bay is in a flood of light. The Arabs
+prostrate themselves before the sun, and '_Allah il Allah_' (God is
+great) is the burden of their psalm of praise.
+
+     * How often have we seen in the Tuileries gardens, the
+     bronzed heroes of Algerian wars, and perhaps have pitied
+     them for their worn appearance; but we shall begin to think
+     that something more than the African sun and long marches
+     have given them a prematurely aged appearance, and that
+     absinthe and late hours in a temperature of 90� Fahrenheit
+     may have something to do with it.
+
+But Mahomet's coming is not yet, and so they return down the hill, and
+crowd together to a very different scene. The officers whom we saw
+just now leaving the _Place_, have arrived at the Champ de Mars, the
+drill-ground immediately below us, and here, in the cool morning air,
+they are exercising and manoeuvring troops. There are several companies
+going through their drill, and the bugle and the drum drown the
+Muezzins' voices, who, from almost every mosque and turret in the city,
+repeat their cry to the faithful to 'Come to prayers.'
+
+[Illustration: 0061]
+
+[Illustration: 0063]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE MOORISH QUARTER--OUR STUDIO.
+
+[Illustration: 9063]
+
+E said, in the last chapter, that in Algiers there was very little going
+on for the visitor or idler; but if the traveller have anything of the
+artist in him, he will be delighted with the old town. If he is wise he
+will spend the first week in wandering about, and losing himself in the
+winding streets, going here, there, and everywhere on a picturesque tour
+of inspection. His artistic tendencies will probably lead him to spend
+much time in the Moorish caf�s, where he may sit down unmolested (if
+unwelcomed) for hours on a mat, and drink his little saucer of thick,
+sweet coffee, for which he pays one sou, and smoke in the midst of a
+group of silent Moors, who may perchance acknowledge his presence by a
+slight gesture, and offer him their pipes, but who will more frequently
+affect not to see him, and sit still doing absolutely nothing, with that
+dignified solemnity peculiar to the East.
+
+He will pass through narrow streets and between mysterious-looking old
+houses that meet over head and shut out the sky; he will jostle often
+in these narrow ways, soft plump objects in white gauze, whose eyes
+and ankles give the only visible signs of humanity; he may turn back to
+watch the wonderful dexterity with which a young Arab girl balances a
+load of fruit upon her head down to the market place; and he will, if
+he is not careful, be finally carried down himself by an avalanche
+of donkeys, driven by a negro gamin who sits on the tail of the last,
+threading their way noiselessly and swiftly, and carrying everything
+before them; * and he will probably take refuge under the ruined arch
+of some old mosque, whose graceful lines and rich decoration are still
+visible here and there, and he will in a few hours be enchanted with the
+place, and the more so for the reason that we have already hinted at,
+viz.:--that in Algiers he is _let alone_, that he is free to wander and
+'moon' about at will, without custodian or commissionaire, or any of the
+tribe of 'valets de place.'
+
+     * How different from what we read of in _�othen_. The cry is
+     not, 'Get out of the way, O old man! O virgin!--the
+     Englishman, he comes, he comes!' If we were to push an old
+     man out of the way, or, ever so little, to forget our duty
+     to a fair pedestrian, we should be brought up before the
+     Cadi, and fined and scorned, by a jury of unbelievers!
+
+He may go into the Grand Divan; or into the streets where the
+embroiderers are at work, sitting in front of their open shops, amongst
+heaps of silks, rich stuffs and every variety of material; or where the
+old merchant traders, whose occupation is nearly gone, sit smoking out
+their lazy uncommercial lives.
+
+He may go to the old Moorish bath, in a building of curious pattern,
+which is as well worth seeing as anything in Algiers; and, if an Arabic
+scholar, he may pick up an acquaintance or two amongst the Moors,
+and visit their homes when their wives are away for the day, on some
+mourning expedition to a suburban cemetery. He may explore innumerable
+crooked, irregular streets, with low doorways and carved lattices, some
+painted, some gilt; the little narrow windows and the grilles, being as
+perfectly after the old type as when the Moors held undivided possession
+of the city.
+
+One old street, now pulled down, we remember well; it was the one always
+chosen for an evening stroll because it faced the western sea, and
+caught and reflected from its pavement and from its white walls, the
+last rosy tints of sunset, long after the cobblers and the tinkers in
+the lower town had lighted their little lanterns, and the caf�s were
+flaring in the French quarter. It was steep and narrow, so steep, in
+fact, that steps were made in the pavement to climb it, and at the upper
+end there was the dome of a mosque shining in the sun. It was like the
+child's picture of 'Jacob's ladder,' brighter and more resplendent at
+each step, and ending in a blaze of gold.
+
+We are often reminded of Spain in these old streets; there are massive
+wooden doors studded with iron bosses or huge nails as we see them at
+Toledo, and there is sometimes to be seen over them, the emblem of the
+human hand pointing upwards, which recalls the Gate of Justice at the
+entrance to the Alhambra at Granada.
+
+The Moors cling to their old traditions, and the belief that they will
+some day reconquer Spain is still an article of faith. But if ever the
+Moors are to regain their imaginary lost possessions in Spain, they must
+surely be made of sterner stuff than the present race, who, judging from
+appearances, are little likely to do anything great.
+
+There are little shops and dark niches where the Moors sit cross-legged,
+with great gourds and festoons of dried fruits hanging above and around
+them; the piles of red morocco slippers, the oddshaped earthenware
+vessels, and the wonderful medley of form and colour, resembling in
+variety the bazaars at Constantinople, or carrying us in imagination
+still further East.
+
+Other sights and sounds we might mention, some not quite so pleasant but
+peculiarly Eastern; and we should not forget to note the peculiar
+scent of herbs and stuffs, which, mingled with the aroma of coffee
+and tobacco, was sometimes almost overpowering in the little Covered
+streets; and one odour that went up regularly on Sunday mornings in the
+Moorish quarter that was not incense, and which it took us a long
+time to discover the origin of--an Arab branding his donkeys with his
+monogram!
+
+Everything we purchase is odd and quaint, irregular or curious in some
+way. Every piece of embroidery, every remnant of old carpet, differs
+from another in pattern as the leaves on the trees. There is no
+repetition, and herein lies its charm and true value to us. Every fabric
+differs either in pattern or combination of colours--it is something, as
+we said, unique, something to treasure, something that will not remind
+us of the mill. *
+
+     * The little pattern at the head of this chapter was traced
+     from a piece of embroidered silk, worked by the Moors.
+
+If we explore still further we shall come to the Arab quarter, where we
+also find characteristic things. Here we may purchase for about thirty
+francs a Kabyle match-lock rifle, or an old sabre with beautifully
+ornamented hilt; we may, if we please, ransack piles of primitive and
+rusty implements of all kinds, and pick up curious women's ornaments,
+beads, coral, and anklets of filagree work; and, if we are fortunate,
+meet with a complete set or suit of harness and trappings, once the
+property of some insolvent Arab chief, and of a pattern made familiar to
+us in the illustrated history of the Cid.
+
+In the midst of the Moorish quarter, up a little narrow street (reached
+in five or six minutes from the centre of the town) passing under an
+archway and between white walls that nearly meet overhead, we come to a
+low dark door, with a heavy handle and latch which opens and shuts with
+a crashing sound; and if we enter the courtyard and ascend a narrow
+staircase in one corner, we come suddenly upon the interior view of the
+first or principal floor, of our Moorish home.
+
+The house, as may be seen from the illustration, has two stories, and
+there is also an upper terrace from which we overlook the town. The
+arrangement of the rooms round the courtyard, all opening inwards, is
+excellent; they are cool in summer, and warm even on the coldest nights,
+and although we are in a noisy and thickly populated part of the town,
+we are ignorant of what goes on outside, the massive walls keeping out
+nearly all sound. The floors and walls are tiled, so that they can be
+cleansed and cooled by water being thrown over them; the carpets and
+cushions spread about invite one to the most luxurious repose, tables
+and chairs are unknown, there is nothing to offend the eye in shape or
+form, nothing to offend the ear--not even a door to slam.
+
+Above, there is an open terrace, where we sit in the mornings and
+evenings, and can realise the system of life on the housetops of the
+East. Here we can cultivate the vine, grow roses and other flowers,
+build for ourselves extempore arbours, and live literally in the open
+air.
+
+From this terrace we overlook the flat roofs of the houses of the
+Moorish part of the city, and if we peep over, down into the streets
+immediately below us, a curious hum of sounds comes up. Our neighbours
+are certainly industrious; they embroider, they make slippers, they
+hammer at metal work, they break earthenware and mend it, and appear to
+quarrel all day long, within a few feet of us; but as we sit in the room
+from which our sketch is taken, the sounds become mingled and subdued
+into a pleasant tinkle which is almost musical, and which we can, if we
+please, shut out entirely by dropping a curtain across the doorway.
+
+Our attendants are Moorish, and consist of one old woman, whom we see
+by accident (closely veiled) about once a month, and a bare-legged,
+bare-footed Arab boy who waits upon us. There are pigeons on the roof,
+a French poodle that frequents the lower regions, and a guardian of our
+doorstep who haunts it day and night, whose portrait is given at Chapter
+V.
+
+Here we work with the greatest freedom and comfort, without interruption
+or any drawbacks that we can think of. The climate is so equal, warm,
+and pleasant--even in December and January--that by preference we
+generally sit on the upper terrace, where we have the perfection of
+light, and are at the same time sufficiently protected from sun and
+wind.
+
+At night we sleep almost in the open air, and need scarcely drop the
+curtains at the arched doorways of our rooms; there are no mosquitoes to
+trouble us, and there is certainly no fear of intrusion. There is also
+perfect stillness, for our neighbours are at rest soon after sundown.
+
+Such is a general sketch of our dwelling in Algiers; let us for a
+moment, by way of contrast, return in imagination to London, and picture
+to ourselves our friends as they are working at home.
+
+It is considered very desirable, if not essential, to an artist,
+that his immediate surroundings should be in some sort graceful and
+harmonious, and it is a lesson worth learning, to see what may be done,
+with ingenuity and taste, towards converting a single room, in a dingy
+street, into a fitting abode of the arts.
+
+We know a certain painter well, one whose studio it is always a delight
+to enter, and whose devotion to Art (both music and painting) for its
+own sake has always stood in the way of his advancement and pecuniary
+success. He has converted a room in the neighbourhood of Gower Street
+into a charming nook where colour, form, and texture are all considered
+in the simplest details of decoration, where there is nothing
+inharmonious to eye or ear, but where perhaps the sound of the guitar
+may be heard a little too often. The walls of his studio are draped,
+the light falls softly from above, the doorway is arched, the seats are
+couches or carpets on a raised da�s, a Florentine lamp hangs from the
+ceiling, a medley of vases, costumes, old armour, &c, are grouped about
+in picturesque confusion, and our friend, in an easy undress of the last
+century, works away in the midst.
+
+Not to particularize further, let the reader consider for a moment what
+one step beyond his own door brings about, on an average winter's day.
+A straight, ungraceful, colourless costume of the latter half of the
+nineteenth century which he _must_ assume, a hat of the period, an
+umbrella raised to keep off sleet and rain, and for landscape a damp,
+dreary, muddy, blackened street, with a vista of areas and lamp-posts,
+and, if perchance he be going to the Academy, a walk through the parish
+of St. Giles!
+
+Perhaps the most depressing prospect in the world, is that from a Gower
+Street doorstep on a November morning about nine o'clock; but of
+this enough. We think of our friend as we sit out here on our
+_terrasse_--sheltering ourselves on the same day, at the same hour, from
+the sun's rays--we think of him painting Italian scenes by the light of
+his gas 'sun-burner,' and wish he would come out to Algiers. 'Surely,'
+we would say to him, 'it is something gained, if we can, ever so little,
+harmonize the realities of life with our ideal world--if we can, without
+remark, dress ourselves more as we dress our models, and so live, that
+one step from the studio to the street shall not be the abomination of
+desolation.' *
+
+     * It would be obviously in bad taste for Europeans to walk
+     in the streets of Algiers, _en costume Maure_; but we may
+     make considerable modifications in our attire in an oriental
+     city, to our great comfort and peace of mind.
+
+Let us turn again to Nature and to Light, and transport the reader to a
+little white house, overlooking a beautiful city, on the North African
+shore, where summer is perpetual and indoor life the exception; and draw
+a picture for him which _should_ be fascinating and which certainly is
+true.=
+
+_Algiers, Sunrise, December 10._
+
+The mysterious, indefinable charm of the first break of day, is an old
+and favourite theme in all countries and climates, and one on which
+perhaps little that is new can be said. In the East it is always
+striking, but in Algiers it seems to us peculiarly so; for sleeping, or
+more often lying awake, with the clear crisp night air upon our faces,
+it comes to our couch in the dreamiest way imaginable--instead of being
+clothed (as poets express it) with the veil of night, a mantle seems
+rather to be spread over us in the morning; there is perfect quiet at
+this hour, and we seem to be almost under a spell not to disturb the
+stillness--the dawn whispers to us so softly and soothingly that we are
+powerless to do ought but watch or sleep.
+
+The break of day is perhaps first announced to us by a faint stream of
+light across the courtyard, or the dim shadow of a marble pillar on the
+wall. In a few minutes, we hear the distant barking of a dog, a slight
+rustle in the pigeon-house above, or a solitary cry from a minaret which
+tells us that the city is awaking. We rouse ourselves and steal out
+quietly on to the upper terrace to see a sight of sights--one of those
+things that books tell us, rightly or wrongly, is alone worth coming
+from England to see.
+
+The canopy of stars, that had encompassed us so closely during the
+night, as if to shut in the courtyard overhead, seems lifted again, and
+the stars themselves are disappearing fast in the grey expanse of sky;
+and as we endeavour to trace them, looking intently seaward, towards the
+North and East, we can just discern an horizon line and faint shadows
+of the 'sleeping giants,' that we know to be not far off. Soon--in about
+the same time that it takes to write these lines--they begin to take
+form and outline one by one, a tinge of delicate pearly pink is seen at
+intervals through their shadows, and before any nearer objects have
+come into view, the whole coast line and the mountains of Kabylia,
+stretching-far to the eastward, are flushed with rosy light, opposed to
+a veil of twilight grey which still hangs over the city.
+
+Another minute or two, and our shadows are thrown sharply on a glowing
+wall, towers and domes come distinctly into view, housetops innumerable
+range themselves in close array at our feet, and we, who but a few
+minutes ago, seemed to be standing as it were alone upon the top of
+a high mountain, are suddenly and closely beleaguered. A city of flat
+white roofs, towers, and cupolas, relieved here and there by coloured
+awnings, green shutters, and dark doorways, and by little courtyards
+blooming with orange and citron trees--intersected with innumerable
+winding ways (which look like streams forcing their way through a chalk
+cliff)--has all grown up before our eyes; and beyond it, seaward--a
+harbour, and a fleet of little vessels with their white sails, are seen
+shining in the sun.
+
+Then come the hundred sounds of a waking city, mingling and increasing
+every moment; and the flat roofs (some so close that we can step upon
+them) are soon alive with those quaint white figures we meet in the
+streets, passing to and fro, from roof to roof, apparently without
+restraint or fear. There are numbers of children peeping out from odd
+corners and loopholes, and women with them, some dressed much less
+scrupulously than we see them in the market place, and some, to tell the
+truth, entirely without the white robes aforesaid. A few, a very few,
+are already winding their way through the streets to the nearest mosque,
+but the majority are collected in groups in conversation, enjoying the
+sweet sea breeze, which comes laden with the perfume of orange-trees,
+and a peculiar delicious scent as of violets.
+
+The pigeons on the roof-tops now plume their gilded wings and soar--not
+upward but downward, far away into space; they scarcely break the
+silence in the air, or spread their wings as they speed along.
+
+Oh, what a flight above the azure sea!=
+
+```'Quis dabat mihi pennas sicut columb�;=
+
+the very action of flying seems repose to them.
+
+It is still barely sunrise on this soft December morning, the day's
+labour has scarcely begun, the calm is so perfect that existence alone
+seems a delight, and the Eastern aroma (if we may so express it) that
+pervades the air might almost lull us to sleep again, but Allah wills it
+otherwise.
+
+Suddenly---with terrible impulse and shrill accent impossible to
+describe--a hurricane of women's voices succeeds the calm. Is it
+treachery? Is it scandal? Has Hassan proved faithless, or has Fatima
+fled? Oh, the screeching and yelling that succeeded to the quiet beauty
+of the morning! Oh, the rushing about of veiled (now all closely
+veiled) figures on house-tops! Oh, the weeping and wailing, and literal,
+terrible, gnashing of teeth! 'Tell it not upon the house-tops', (shall
+we ever forget it being told on the housetops? ) 'let not a whole city
+know thy misdeeds,' is written in the Koran, 'it is better for the
+faithful to come to prayers!' Merciful powers, how the tempest raged
+until the sun was up and the city was alive again, and its sounds helped
+to drown the clamour.
+
+Let us come down, for our Arab boy now claps his hands in sign, that (on
+a little low table or tray, six inches from the ground) coffee and
+pipes are provided for the unbelievers; and like the Calendar in Eastern
+Story, he proceeds to tell us the cause of the tumult--a trinket taken
+from one wife and given to another!
+
+Oh, Islam! that a lost bracelet or a jealous wife, should make the earth
+tremble so!
+
+[Illustration: 0083]
+
+[Illustration: 0085]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. 'MODELS.'
+
+[Illustration: 9085]
+
+ROM the roof-tops of our own and the neighbouring houses we have
+altogether many opportunities of sketching, and making studies from
+life. * By degrees, by fits and starts, and by most uncertain means
+(such as attracting curiosity, making little presents, &c.) we manage
+to scrape up a distant talking acquaintance with some of the mysterious
+wayward creatures we have spoken of, and in short, to become almost
+'neighbourly.'
+
+     *  In the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of 1867, there was
+     a picture by Alfred Elmore, R.A., taken almost from this
+     spot.
+
+But we never get much nearer than talking distance, conversing from one
+roof to another with a narrow street like a river flowing between us;
+and only once or twice during our winter sojourn, did we succeed in
+enticing a veiled houri to venture on our terrace and shake hands with
+the 'Frank.' If we could manage to hold a young lady in conversation,
+and exhibit sufficient admiration of her to induce her, ever so
+slightly, to unveil whilst we made a hasty sketch, it was about all that
+we could fairly succeed in accomplishing, and 'the game was hardly worth
+the candle:' it took, perhaps, an hour to ensnare our bird, and in ten
+minutes or less, she would be again on the wing. Veiled beauties are
+interesting (sometimes much more interesting for being veiled); but it
+does not serve our artistic purposes much to see two splendid black eyes
+and a few white robes.
+
+However models we must have, although the profession is almost unknown
+in Algiers. At Naples we have only to go down to the seashore, at Rome
+to the steps of St. Peter's, and we find 'subjects' enough, who will
+come for the asking; but here, where there is so much distinctive
+costume and variety of race, French artists seem to make little use of
+their opportunities.
+
+It takes some days before we can hear of any one who will be willing to
+sit, for double the usual remuneration. But they come at last, and when
+it gets abroad that the Franks have money and 'mean business,' we have
+a number of applicants, some of whom are not very desirable, and none
+particularly attractive.
+
+We select 'Fatima' first, because she is the youngest and has the
+best costume, and also because she comes with her father and appears
+tractable. She is engaged at two francs an hour, which she considers
+poor pay.
+
+How shall we give the reader an idea of this little creature, when she
+comes next morning and coils herself up amongst the cushions in the
+corner of our room, like a young panther in the Jardin des Plantes? Her
+costume, when she throws off her ha�k (and with it a tradition of the
+Mahommedan faith, that forbids her to show her face to an unbeliever) is
+a rich loose crimson, jacket embroidered with gold, a thin white bodice,
+loose silk trowsers reaching to the knee and fastened round the waist by
+a magnificent sash of various colours; red morroco slippers, a profusion
+of rings on her little fingers, and bracelets and anklets of gold
+filagree work. Through her waving black hair are twined strings of coins
+and the folds of a silk handkerchief, the hair falling at the back in
+plaits below the waist.
+
+She is not beautiful, she is scarcely interesting in expression, and
+she is decidedly unsteady. She seems to have no more power of keeping
+herself in one position or of remaining in one part of the room, or even
+of being quiet, than a humming top. The whole thing is an unutterable
+bore to her, for she does not even reap the reward--her father or
+husband, or male attendant, always taking the money.
+
+She is _petite_, constitutionally phlegmatic, and as fat as her parents
+can manage to make her; she has small hands and feet, large rolling
+eyes--the latter made to appear artificially large by the application of
+henna or antimony black; her attitudes are not ungraceful, but there
+is a want of character about her, and an utter abandonment to the
+situation, peculiar to all her race. In short her movements are more
+suggestive of a little caged animal that had better be petted and
+caressed, or kept at a safe distance, according to her humour. She does
+one thing, she smokes incessantly and makes us cigarettes with a skill
+and rapidity which are wonderful.
+
+Her age is thirteen, and she has been married six months; * her ideas
+appear to be limited to three or four; and her pleasures, poor creature,
+are equally circumscribed. She had scarcely ever left her father's
+house, and had never spoken to a man until her marriage. No wonder we,
+in spite of a little Arabic on which we prided ourselves, could not make
+much way; no wonder that we came very rapidly to the conclusion that the
+houris of the Arabian Nights, must have been dull creatures, and their
+'Entertainments' rather a failure, if there were no diviner fire than
+this. No wonder that the Moors advocate a plurality of wives, for if one
+represents an emotion, a harem would scarcely suffice!
+
+     *  We hear much of the perils of living too fast, and of the
+     preternaturally aged, worn appearance, of English girls
+     after two or three London seasons. What would a British
+     matron say to a daughter--a woman at twelve, married at
+     thirteen, _blas�e_ directly, and old at twenty?
+
+We get on but indifferently with our studies with this young lady,
+and, to tell the truth, not too well in Fatima's good graces. Our
+opportunities are not great, our command of Arabic is limited, and
+indeed, we do not feel particularly inspired.
+
+We cannot tell her many love stories, or sing songs set to a
+'_tom-tom_;' we can, indeed, offer 'backshish' in the shape of tobacco
+and sweetmeats, or some trifling European ornament or trinket; but it
+is clear that she would prefer a greater amount of familiarity, and more
+demonstrative tokens of esteem. However, she came several times, and
+we succeeded in obtaining some valuable studies of colour, and
+'bits,' memoranda only; but very useful, from being taken down almost
+unconsciously, in such a luminous key, and with a variety of reflected
+light and pure shadow tone, that we find unapproachable in after work.
+
+As for sketches of character, we obtained very few of Mauresques; our
+subjects were, as a rule, much too restless, and we had one or two
+'scenes' before we parted. On one unfortunate occasion our model
+insisted upon examining our work before leaving, and the scorn and
+contempt with which it was regarded was anything but flattering.
+
+It nearly caused a breach between us, for, as she observed, it was not
+only contrary to her creed to have her likeness taken, but it would be
+perdition to be thus represented amongst the Franks. * We promised to
+be as careful of this portrait as if it were the original, and, in fact,
+said anything to be polite and soothing.
+
+     * For fear of the 'evil eye.' There is a strong belief
+     amongst Mahommedans that portraits are part of their
+     identity; and that the original will suffer if the portrait
+     receive any indignity.
+
+On another occasion, we had been working on rather more quietly than
+usual for half-an-hour, and were really getting a satisfactory study of
+a new position, when, without apparent cause or warning of any kind, the
+strange, pale, passionless face, which stared like a wooden marionette,
+suddenly suffused with crimson, the great eyes filled with tears, the
+whole frame throbbed convulsively, and the little creature fell into
+such a passion of crying that we were fain to put by our work and
+question ourselves whether we had been cruel or unkind. But it was
+nothing: the cup of boredom had been filled to the brim, all other
+artifices had failed her to obtain relief from restraint, and so this
+apparently lethargic little being, who had it seemed, both passion and
+grief at command, opened the flood-gates upon us, and of course gained
+her end. There was no more work that day, and she got off with a double
+allowance of bonbons, and something like a reconciliation. She gave us
+her little white hand at parting--the fingers and thumbs crowded with
+rings, and the nails stained black with henna--but the action meant
+nothing; we dare not press it, it was too soft and frail, and the rings
+would have cut her fingers, we could only hand it tenderly back again,
+and bid our 'model' farewell.
+
+We got on better afterwards with a Moorish Jewess who, for a
+'consideration,' unearthed her property, * including a tiara of gold and
+jewels, and a bodice of silver embroidery worked on crimson velvet;
+we purposely reverse the position and speak of the embroidery first,
+because the velvet was almost hidden. She came slouching in one morning,
+closely wrapped in a dirty shawl, her black hair all dishevelled
+and half covering her handsome face, her feet bare and her general
+appearance so much more suggestive of one of the 'finest pisantry in the
+world,' that we began to feel doubtful, and to think with Beau Brummel
+that this must be 'one of our failures.' But when her mother had
+arranged the tiara in her hair, when the curtain was drawn aside and
+the full splendour of the Jewish costume was displayed--when, in short,
+the dignity and grace of a queen were before us, we felt amply rewarded.
+
+     * Many of the poorest Jewesses possess gold ornaments as
+     heirlooms, burying them in the ground for security, when not
+     in use.
+
+The Jewish dress differs from the Mauresque entirely; it is European in
+shape, with high waist and flowing robes without sleeves, a square cut
+bodice, often of the same material as the robe itself, and a profusion
+of gold ornaments, armlets, necklaces, and rings. A pair of tiny velvet
+slippers (also embroidered) on tiny feet, complete the costume, which
+varies in colour, but is generally of crimson or dark velvet.
+
+As a 'model,' although almost her first appearance in that character,
+this Jewish woman was very valuable, and we had little trouble after the
+first interview, in making her understand our wishes. But we had to
+pay more than in England; there were many drawbacks, and of course much
+waste of time. On some holydays and on all Jewish festivals, she did not
+make her appearance, and seemed to think nothing of it when some feast
+that lasted a week, left us stranded with half-done work.
+
+Without being learned in _costumes des dames_, we believe, we may say,
+that the shape and cut of some of these dresses, and the patterns of the
+embroidery (old as they are) might be copied with advantage by Parisian
+modistes; the more we study these old patterns, the more we cannot cease
+to regret that the _Deae ex machina_, the arbiters of fashion in the
+city where Fashion is Queen, have not managed to infuse into the
+costume of the time more character and purity of design--conditions not
+inconsistent with splendour, and affording scope, if need be, for any
+amount of extravagance.
+
+We are led irresistibly into this digression, if it be a digression,
+because the statuesque figure before us displays so many lines of grace
+and beauty that have the additional charm of novelty. We know, for
+instance, that the pattern of this embroidery is unique, that the
+artificer of that curiously twined chain of gold has been dead perhaps
+for ages, that the rings on her fingers and the coins suspended from her
+hair are many of them real art treasures. *
+
+     * The 'jewels turned out to be paste on close inspection,
+     but the gold filagree work, and the other ornaments, were
+     old, and some very valuable and rare.
+
+The result of our studies, as far as regards Moorish women, we must
+admit to have been after all, rather limited and unsatisfactory. We
+never once lighted upon a Moorish face that moved us much by its beauty,
+for the simple reason that it nearly always lacked expression; anything
+like emotion seemed inharmonious and out of place, and to disturb the
+uniformity of its lines. Even those dark lustrous eyes, when lighted by
+passion, had more of the tiger in them, than the tragedy queen.
+
+The perfection of beauty, according to the Moorish ideal, seems to
+depend principally upon symmetry of feature, and is nothing without
+roundness of limb and a certain flabbiness of texture. It is an ideal of
+repose, not to say of dulness and insipidity; a heavy type of beauty
+of which we obtain some idea in the illustration before us, of a young
+girl, about thirteen years old, of one of the tribes from the interior.
+The drawing is by a Frenchman, and pretends to no particular artistic
+excellence, but it attempts to render (and we think succeeds in
+rendering) the style of a Mahommedan beauty in bridal array; one who is
+about to fulfil her destiny, and who appears to have as little animation
+or intelligence as the Prophet ordained for her, being perfectly fitted
+(according to the Koran) to fill her place in this world or in the
+next. *
+
+     * It detracts a little from the romance of these things to
+     learn from Mrs. Evans (who witnessed, what only ladies, of
+     course, could witness, the robing and decorating of the
+     bride before marriage) the manner in which the face of a
+     Moorish lady is prepared on the day of marriage:
+
+     'An old woman having carefully washed the bride's face with
+     water, proceeded to whiten it all over with a milky-looking
+     preparation, and after touching up the cheeks with rouge
+     (and, her eyes with antimony black), bound an amulet round
+     the head; then with a fine camel-hair pencil, she passed a
+     line of liquid glue over the eyebrows, and taking from a
+     folded paper a strip of gold-leaf fixed it across them both,
+     forming one long gilt bar, and then proceeded to give a few
+     finishing touches to the poor lay figure before her, by
+     fastening two or three tiny gold spangles on the forehead!'
+
+     We cannot help thinking that this might have been an
+     exceptional case, especially in the matter of gilding, but
+     we have seen both patches and paint on Moorish features--as
+     indeed we have seen them in England.
+
+[Illustration: 0098]
+
+Thus decked with her brightest jewels and adorned with a crown of gold,
+she waits to meet her lord, to be his 'light of the harem,' his 'sun
+and moon.' What if we, with our refined aesthetic tastes, what if
+disinterested spectators, vote her altogether the dullest and most
+uninteresting of beings? what if she seem to us more like some young
+animal, magnificently harnessed, waiting to be trotted out to the
+highest bidder? She shakes the coins and beads on her head sometimes,
+with a slight impatient gesture, and takes chocolate from her little
+sister, and is petted and pacified just as we should soothe and pacify
+an impatient steed; there is clearly no other way to treat her, it is
+the will of Allah that she should be so debased! *
+
+     * We have before spoken of the influence of beautiful forms
+     and harmony in colour, in our homes and surroundings; and we
+     feel acutely, that the picture of this Moorish woman,
+     intellectually, does not prove our case; but Mahomet decreed
+     that women should endeavour to _be_ beautiful rather than
+     understand, or enjoy it.
+
+One day we had up a tinker, an old brown grizzled Maltese, who with his
+implements of trade, his patchwork garments and his dirt, had a tone
+about him, like a figure from one of the old Dutch masters. He sat down
+in the corner of our courtyard against a marble pillar, and made himself
+quite at home; he worked with his feet as well as his hands at his
+grinding, he chattered, he sang, and altogether made such a clatter that
+we shall not be likely to forget him.
+
+This gentleman, and the old negro that lived upon our doorstep, were
+almost the only subjects that we succeeded in inducing to come
+within doors; our other life studies were made under less favourable
+circumstances.
+
+From the roof of our own house, it is true, we obtained a variety of
+sketches, not (as might be supposed from the illustrations and pictures
+with which we are all familiar) of young ladies attired as scantily as
+the nymphs at the _The�tre du Chatelet_, standing in pensive attitudes
+on their housetops, but generally of groups of veiled women--old,
+ugly, haggard, shrill of voice, and sometimes rather fierce of aspect,
+performing various household duties on the roof-tops, including the
+beating of carpets and of children, the carrying of water-pots and the
+saying of prayers.
+
+A chapter on 'Models' would not be complete without some mention of the
+camels, of which there are numbers to be found in the Arab quarter of
+the town. Some of them are splendid creatures, and as different from
+any exotic specimens that we can see in this country as an acclimatised
+palm-tree from its wild growth.
+
+Some one tells us that these Algerian 'ships of the desert' have not the
+same sailing qualities, nor the same breadth of beam, as those at Cairo.
+But (if true) we should have to go to Cairo to study them, so let us be
+content. We should like to see one or two of our popular artists, who
+persist in painting camels and desert scenes without ever having been
+to the East, just sit down here quietly for one day and paint a camel's
+head; not flinching from the work, but mastering the wonderful texture
+and shagginess of his thick coat or mane, its massive beauty, and its
+infinite gradations of colour. Such a sitter no portrait painter ever
+had in England. Feed him up first, get a boy to keep the flies from him,
+and he will sit almost immoveably through the day. He will put on a
+sad expression in the morning, which will not change; he will give no
+trouble whatever, he will but sit still and croak.
+
+[Illustration: 0105]
+
+Do we seem to exaggerate the value of such studies? We cannot
+exaggerate, if we take into full account, the vigorous quality which
+we impart into our work. And we cannot, perhaps, better illustrate
+our argument in favour of drawing from, what we should call, _natural_
+models, than by comparing the merits of two of the most popular pictures
+of our time, viz.:--Frith's '_Derby Day_,' and Rosa Bonheur's '_Horse
+Fair?_' The former pleasing the eye by its cleverness and prettiness;
+the latter impressing the spectator by its power, and its truthful
+rendering of animal life.
+
+The difference between the two painters is probably, one, more of
+education than of natural gifts. But whilst the style of the former is
+grafted on a fashion, the latter is founded on a rock--the result of a
+close study of nature, chastened by classic feeling, and a remembrance
+it may be, of the friezes of the Parthenon.
+
+[Illustration: 0109]
+
+[Illustration: 0111]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. OUR 'LIFE SCHOOL'
+
+[Illustration: 9111]
+
+F the various studies to be made in Algiers, there are none at the same
+time so quaint and characteristic, as the Moors in their own homes,
+seated at their own doors or benches at work, or at the numerous caf�s
+and bazaars; and nothing seems to harmonize so well in these Moorish
+streets as the groups of natives (both Moors and negroes) with their
+bright costumes, and 'wares for sale. Colour and contrast of colour,
+seem to be considered, or _felt_, everywhere. Thus for instance, no two
+Orientals will walk down a street side by side, unless the colours
+of their costume harmonize or blend together (they seem to know it
+instinctively), and then there is always grey or some quiet contrasting
+tone for a background, and a sky of deep, deep blue. A negress will
+generally be found selling oranges or citrons; an Arab boy with a red
+fez and white turban, carrying purple fruit in a basket of leaves; and
+so on. The reader will think this fanciful, but it is truer than he
+imagines; let him come and see.
+
+It was not at all times easy to sketch in the open street on account of
+the curiosity it excited; a crowd sometimes collecting until it became
+almost impossible to breathe. The plan was to go as often as possible to
+the caf�s and divans, and by degrees to make friends with the Moors.
+
+There was one caf�, in a street that we have been to so often, that it
+is as familiar to us as any in the western world; and where by dint of a
+little tact and a small outlay of tobacco, we managed to make ourselves
+quite at home, and were permitted to work away all day, comparatively
+unmolested. It was a narrow and steep overhanging street, crowded at all
+times with Moors on one side embroidering, or pretending to sell goods
+of various kinds; and on the opposite side there was a caf�, not four
+feet distant, where a row of about eighteen others sat and smoked,
+and contemplated their brethren at work. The street was always full of
+traffic, being an important thoroughfare from the upper to the lower
+town, and there were perpetually passing up and down, droves of laden
+donkeys; men with burdens carried on poles between them; vendors
+of fruit, bread, and live fowls, and crowds of people of every
+denomination.
+
+In a little corner out of sight, where we were certainly rather closely
+packed, we used to install ourselves continually and sketch the people
+passing to and fro. The Moors in the caf� used to sit beside us all day
+and watch, and _wait_; they gave us a grave silent salutation when we
+took our places, and another when we left, but we never got much further
+with our unknown neighbours. If we can imagine a coterie in a small
+political club, where the open discussion of politics is, with
+one consent, tabooed for fear of a disturbance, and where the most
+frolicsome of its members play at chess for relaxation, we shall get
+some notion of the state of absolute decorum which existed in our little
+_caf� maure_.
+
+It was very quaint. The memory of the grave quiet faces of these most
+polite Moorish gentlemen, looking so smooth and clean in their white
+bournouses, seated solemnly doing nothing, haunts us to this day. Years
+elapsed between our first and last visit to our favourite street, yet
+there they were when we came again, still doing nothing in a row; and
+opposite to them, the merchants who do no trade, also sitting in their *
+accustomed places, surrounded with the same old wares.
+
+There was the same old negro in a dark corner making coffee, and handing
+it to the same customers, sitting in the same places, in the same dream.
+
+[Illustration: 0115]
+
+There is certainly both art and mystery in doing nothing well which
+these men achieve in their peculiar lives; here they sit for years
+together, silently waiting, without a trace of boredom on their faces,
+and without exhibiting a gesture of impatience. They--the 'gentlemen'
+in the caf� on the right hand--have saved up money enough to keep
+life together, they have for ever renounced work, and can look on with
+complacency at their poorer brethren. They have their traditions, their
+faith, their romance of life, and the curious belief before alluded to,
+that if they fear God and Mahomet, and sit here long enough, they will
+one day be sent for to Spain, to repeople the houses where their fathers
+dwelt.
+
+This corner is the one _par excellence_, where the Moors sit and wait.
+There is the 'wall of wailing' at Jerusalem; there is the 'street of
+waiting' in Algiers, where the Moors sit clothed in white, dreaming
+of heaven--with an aspect of more than content, in a state of
+dreamy delight achieved, apparently, more by habit of mind than any
+opiates--the realisation of '_Keyf_'.
+
+Not far from this street, but still in the Moorish quarter, we may
+witness a much more animated scene, and obtain in some respects a still
+better study of character and costume--at a clothes auction in the
+neighbourhood of the principal bazaar. If we go in the afternoon, we
+shall probably find a crowd collected in a courtyard, round a number of
+Jews who are selling clothes, silks, and stuffs, and so intent are they
+all on the business that is going forward, that we are able to take up a
+good position to watch the proceedings.
+
+We arrived one day at this spot, just as a terrible scuffle or wrangle,
+was going forward, between ten or a dozen old men (surrounded by at
+least a hundred spectators) about the quality or ownership of some
+garment. The merits of the discussion were of little interest to us and
+were probably of little importance to anybody, but the result was in
+its way as interesting a spectacle as ever greeted the eye and ear,
+something that we could never have imagined, and certainly could never
+have seen, in any other land.
+
+This old garment had magical powers, and was a treasure to _us_ at
+least. It attracted the old and young, the wise and foolish, the excited
+combatant and the calm and dignified spectator; it collected them all
+in a large square courtyard with plain whitewashed walls and Moorish
+arcades. On one side a palm-tree drooped its gigantic leaves, and cast
+broad shadows on the ground, which in some places, was almost of the
+brightness of orange; on the other side, half in sunlight, half in
+shadow, a heavy awning was spread over a raised da�s or stage, and
+through its tatters and through the deep arcades, the sky appeared in
+patches of the deepest blue--blue of a depth and brilliancy that few
+painters have ever succeeded in depicting. It gave in a wider and truer
+sense, just that quality to our picture--if we may be excused a little
+technicality and a familiar illustration--that a broad red sash thrown
+across the bed of a sleeping child in Millais' picture in the Royal
+Academy Exhibition of 1867, gave to his composition, as many readers may
+remember.
+
+But we cannot take our eyes from the principal group, or do much more
+than watch the crowd in its changing phases. To give any idea of the
+uproar, the 'row' we ought to call it, would be to weary the reader with
+a polyglot of words and sentences, some not too choice, and many too
+shrill and fiercely accentuated; but to picture the general aspect in a
+few words is worth a trial, although to do this we must join the throng
+and fight our way to the front.
+
+Where have we seen the like? We have seen such upturned faces in
+pictures of the early days of the Reformation by Henry Leys; we have
+seen such passion in _Shy lock_, such despair in _Lear _; such grave and
+imposing-looking men with 'reverend beards' in many pictures by the old
+masters; but seldom have we seen such concentration of emotion (if we
+may so express it), and unity of purpose, in one group.
+
+Do our figure-painters want a subject, with variety of colour
+and character in one canvas? They need not go to the bazaars of
+Constantinople, or to the markets of the East. Let them follow us here
+crushing close to the platform, our faces nearly on a level with the
+boards. Look at the colours, at the folds of their cloaks, bournouses
+and yachmahs--purple, deep red, and spotless white, all crushed
+together--with their rich transparent shadows, as the sun streams across
+them, reflected on the walls. The heavy awning throws a curious glow
+over the figures, and sometimes almost conceals their features with a
+dazzle of reflected light. Look at the legs of these eager traders, as
+they struggle and fight and stand on tiptoe, to catch a glimpse of some
+new thing exposed for sale; look at them well--the lean, the shambling,
+the vigorous, the bare bronze (bronzed with sun and grime), the dark
+hose, the purple silk, and the white cotton, the latter the special
+affectation of the dandy Jew. What a medley, but what character
+here--the group from knee to ankle forms a picture alone.
+
+And thus they crowd together for half-an-hour, whilst all ordinary
+business seems suspended. Nothing could be done with such a clatter,
+not to mention the heat. Oh, how the Arab gutturals, the impossible
+consonants (quite impossible to unpractised European lips) were
+interjected and hurled, so to speak, to and fro! How much was said to
+no purpose, how incoherent it all seemed, and how we wished for a few
+vowels to cool the air!
+
+In half-an-hour a calm has set in and the steady business of the day is
+allowed to go forward; we may now smoke our pipes in peace, and from a
+quiet corner watch the proceedings almost unobserved, asking ourselves
+a question or two suggested by the foregoing scene. Is expression really
+worth anything? Is the exhibition of passion much more than acting?
+Shall grey beards and flowing robes carry dignity with them any more, if
+a haggle about old clothes can produce it in five minutes?
+
+And so we sit and watch for hours, wondering at the apparently endless
+variety of the patterns, and colours of the fabrics exposed for
+sale; and perhaps we doze, perhaps we dream. Is it the effect of the
+hachshish? Is it the strong coffee? Are we, indeed, dreaming, or is the
+auction a sham? Surely that pretty bright handkerchief--now held up
+and eagerly scanned by bleared old eyes--now rumpled and drawn sharply
+between haggard fingers--is an old friend, and has no business in a sale
+like this? Let us rub our eyes and try and remember where we have seen
+it o before. Yes--there is no mistaking the pattern, we have seen it in
+Spain. It was bound turbanwise round the head of a woman who performed
+in the bull ring at Seville, on the occasion of a particularly high and
+rollicking festival of the 'Catholic Church;' it was handed out of a
+diligence window one dark night on the Sierra Morena, when a mule had
+broken its leg, and the only method of getting it along was to tie the
+injured limb to the girth, and let the animal hop on three legs for the
+rest of the way. It found its way into the Tyrol, worn as a sash; it
+was in the market-place at Bastia in Corsica, in the hands of a maiden
+selling fruit; it flaunted at Marseilles, drying in the wind on a ship's
+spar; and the last time we saw it (if our memory serves us well) it was
+carefully taken from a drawer in a little shop, '_Au Dey d'Alger_' in
+the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, and offered to us, by that greatest of all
+humbugs, Mustapha, as the latest Algerian thing in neckties, which he
+asked fifteen francs for, and would gladly part with for two.
+
+It was a pattern we knew by heart, that we meet with in all parts of the
+world, thanks to the universality of Manchester cottons. But the pattern
+was simple and good, nothing but an arrangement of red and black stripes
+on a maize ground, and therein lay its success. It had its origin in
+the first principles of decoration, it transgressed no law or canon of
+taste, it was easily and cheaply made (as all the best patterns are),
+and so it travelled round the world, and the imitation work came to be
+sold in, perhaps, the very bazaar whence the pattern first came, and its
+originators squabbled over the possession of it, as of something unique.
+
+But we can hardly regret the repetition of these Moorish patterns, for
+they are useful in such a variety of ways. Wind one of the handkerchiefs
+in and out amongst dark tresses, and see what richness it gives; make
+a turban of it for a negress's head; tie it nattily under the chin of a
+little Parisienne and, _hey presto!_ she is pretty; make a sash of
+it, or throw it loosely on the ground, and the effect is graceful and
+charming to the eye. In some Japanese and Chinese silks we may meet with
+more brilliant achievements in positive colours; but the Moors seem to
+excel all other nations in taste, and in their skilful juxta-position
+of tints. We have seen a Moorish designer hard at work, with a box of
+butterflies' wings for his school of design, and we might, perhaps, take
+the hint at home.
+
+But we must leave the Moors and their beautiful fabrics for a while, and
+glance at the Arab quarter of the town. We shall see the Arabs bye and
+bye in the plains and in their tents, in their traditionary aspect; but
+here we come in contact with a somewhat renegade and disreputable race,
+who hang, as it were, on the outskirts of civilization. Many of them
+have come from the neighbouring villages and from their camps across the
+plains of the Sahel; and have set up a market of their own, where they
+are in full activity, trading with each other and with the Frank. * Here
+they may be seen by hundreds--some buying and selling, some fighting
+and not unfrequently, cursing one another heartily; others ranged close
+together in rows upon the ground, like so many white loaves ready for
+baking. Calm they are, and almost dignified in appearance, when sitting
+smoking in conclave; but only give them something to quarrel about,
+touch them up ever so little on their irritable side, and they will beat
+Geneva washerwomen for clatter.
+
+     * This market-place is a sort of commercial neutral ground,
+     where both Arabs and Kabyles meet the French in the
+     strictest amity, and cheat them if they can.
+
+Take them individually, these trading men, who have had years of
+intercourse with their French conquerors, and they disappoint us
+altogether. They are no longer true followers of the Prophet, although
+they are a great obstruction to traffic, by spreading carpets on the
+ground in the middle of the road, and prostrating themselves towards
+Mahomet and the sun. Trade--paltry, mean, and cowardly as it so often
+makes men--has done the Arab irreparable harm: it has taught him to
+believe in counterfeits and little swindles as a legitimate mode of
+life, to pass bad money, and to cringe to a conqueror because he could
+make money thereby. He could not do these things in the old days, with
+his face to the sun.
+
+The Arab is generally pictured to us in his tent or with his tribe,
+calm, dignified and brave, and perhaps we may meet with him thus on
+the other side of the Sahel, but here in Algiers he is a metamorphosed
+creature. The camels that crouch upon the ground, and scream and bite
+at passers-by, are more dignified and consistent in their ill-tempered
+generation than these 'Sons of the Prophet,' these 'Lights of Truth.'
+
+And they have actually caught European tricks. What shall we say when
+two Arabs meet in the street, and after a few words interchanged, pass
+away from each other with a quickened, jaunty step, like two city men,
+who have 'lost time,' and must make it up by a spurt! Shall we
+respect our noble Arab any more when we see him walking abroad with a
+stereotyped, plausible smile upon his face, and every action indicating
+an eye to the main chance? *
+
+     * It may seem a stretch of fancy, but even the bournous
+     itself, with its classic outline and flowing folds, loses
+     half its dignity and picturesqueness on these men. It has
+     been rather vulgarised of late years in Western Europe; and
+     when we see it carried on the arm of an Arab (as we do
+     sometimes), there is a suggestion of opera stalls, and
+     lingering last good nights on unromantic doorsteps, that is
+     fatal to its patriarchal character.
+
+A step lower, of which there are too many examples in the crowd, and
+there is a sadder metamorphose yet--the patriarch turned scamp--one who
+has left his family and his tribe to seek his fortune. Look at him, with
+his ragged bournous, his dirt and his cringing ways, and contrast his
+life now, with what he has voluntarily abandoned. Oh! how civilization
+has lowered him in his own eyes, how his courage has turned to bravado,
+and his tact to cunning; how even natural affection has languished, and
+family ties are but threads of the lightest tissue. He has failed in his
+endeavour to trade, he has disobeyed the Koran, and is an outcast and
+unclean--one of the waifs and strays of cities!
+
+As we wend our way homeward (as John Bunyan says), 'thinking of these
+things,' we see two tall white figures go down to the water side, like
+the monks in Millais' picture of 'A Dream of the Past.' They stand on
+the bank in the evening light, their reflections repeated in the water.
+It is the hour of prayer; what are they doing? They are fishing with
+a modern rod and line, and their little floats are painted with the
+tricolour!
+
+[Illustration: 0131]
+
+[Illustration: 0133]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE BOUZAREAH--A STORM.
+
+[Illustration: 9133]
+
+T would be passing over the most-enjoyable part of our life abroad, if
+we omitted all mention of those delightful days, spent on the hill-sides
+of Mustapha, on the heights of the Bouzareah, and indeed everywhere in
+the neighbourhood of Algiers, sketching in winter time in the open air.
+
+Odours of orange-groves, the aromatic scent of cedars, the sweet breath
+of wild flowers, roses, honeysuckles and violets, should pervade this
+page; something should be done, which no words can accomplish, to give
+the true impression of the scene, to picture the luxuriant wild
+growth of the surrounding vegetation (radiant in a sunshine which to a
+northerner is unknown), and to realise in any method of description, the
+sense of calm enjoyment of living this pure life in a climate neither
+too hot nor too cold, neither too enervating nor too exciting; of
+watching the serene days decline into sunsets that light up the Kabyle
+Hills with crests of gold, and end in sudden twilights that spread a
+weird unearthly light across the silver sea. *
+
+     * There are effects of light sometimes, towards evening,
+     especially over the sea, such as we have never seen in any
+     other part of the world. We know one or two landscape
+     painters who have filled their note-books with memoranda of
+     these phases.
+
+We take our knapsacks and walk off merrily enough on the bright.
+December mornings, often before the morning gun has fired or the city
+is fully awake. If we go out at the eastern gate and keep along near the
+sea shore in the direction of the _Maison Carr�e_ (a French fort, now
+used as a prison), we obtain fine views of the bay, and of the town of
+Algiers itself, with its mole and harbour stretching out far into the
+sea.
+
+There is plenty to interest us here, if it is only in sketching the
+wild palmettos, or in watching the half-wild Arabs who camp in the
+neighbourhood, and build mud huts which they affect to call caf�s, and
+where we can, if we please, obtain rest and shelter from the midday sun,
+and a considerable amount of 'stuffiness,' for one sou. But there is
+no need to trouble them, as there are plenty of shady valleys and
+cactus-hedges to keep off the sun's rays; the only disturbers of our
+peace are the dogs who guard the Arab encampments, and have to be
+diligently kept off with stones.
+
+Perhaps the best spots for quiet work are the precincts of the
+Marabouts' tombs, where we can take refuge unobserved, behind some old
+wall and return quietly to the same spot, day after day. And here, as
+one experience of sketching from Nature, let us allude to the theory
+(laid down pretty confidently by those who have never reduced it to
+practice), that one great advantage of this climate is, that you may
+work at the same sketch from day to day, and continue it where you left
+off! You can do nothing of the kind. * If your drawing is worth
+anything, it will at least have recorded something of the varying phases
+of light and shade, that really alter every hour.
+
+Let us take an example. About six feet from us, at eight o'clock in the
+morning, the sheer white wall of a Moslem tomb is glowing with a white
+heat, and across it are cast the shadows of three palm-leaves, which at
+a little distance, have the contrasted effect of the blackness of
+night. ** Approach a little nearer and examine the real colour of these
+photographic leaf-lines, shade off (with the hand) as much as possible
+of the wall, the sky, and the reflected light from surrounding leaves,
+and these dark shadows become a delicate pearl grey, deepening into
+mauve, or partaking sometimes of the tints of the rich earth below them.
+They will be deeper yet before noon, and pale again, and uncertain and
+fantastic in shape, before sundown. If we sketch these shadows only
+each hour, as they pass from left to right upon the wall (laying down a
+different wash for the ground each time) and place them side by side
+in our note-book, we shall have made some discoveries in light and
+transparent shadow tone, which will be very valuable in after time.
+No two days or two hours, are under precisely the same atmospheric
+conditions; the gradations and changes are extraordinary, and would
+scarcely be believed in by anyone who had not watched them.
+
+     * We are speaking, of course, of colour and effect, not of
+     details that may be put in at any time.
+
+     ** Under some conditions of the atmosphere we have obtained
+     more perfect outlines of the leaves of the aloe, with their
+     curiously indented edges and spear-points, _from their
+     shadows_, rather than from the leaves themselves.
+
+Thus, although we cannot continue a sketch once left off, to any
+purpose, we may obtain an infinite and overwhelming variety of work in
+one day, in the space of a few yards by the side of some old well or
+Marabout's tomb.
+
+We seldom returned from a day in the country, without putting up for an
+hour or two at one of the numerous caf�s, or caravanserai, built near
+some celebrated spring, with seats, placed invitingly by the roadside,
+under the shade of trees. There were generally a number of Arabs and
+French soldiers collected in the middle of the day, drinking coffee,
+playing at dominoes, or taking a siesta on the mats under the cool
+arcades, and often some Arab musicians, who hummed and droned monotonous
+airs; there were always plenty of beggars to improve the occasion, and
+perhaps, a group of half-naked boys, who would get up an imitation of
+the 'Beni Zouzoug Arabs,' and go through hideous contortions, inflicting
+all kinds of torments on each other for a few sous.
+
+[Illustration: 8139]
+
+It is pleasant to put up at one of these caf�s during the heat of the
+day, and to be able to walk in and take our places quietly amongst the
+Arabs and Moors, without any particular notice or remark; and delightful
+(oh! how delightful) to yield to the combined influences of the coffee,
+the hachshish, the tomtom and the heat, and fall asleep and dream--dream
+that the world is standing still, that politics and Fenianism are things
+of the past, and that all the people in a hurry are dead. Pleasant, and
+not a little perplexing too, when waking, for the eye to rest on the
+delicate outline of a little window in the wall above, which, with its
+spiral columns and graceful proportions, seems the very counterpart in
+miniature of some Gothic cathedral screen.
+
+If we examine it, it is old and Moorish (these buildings date back
+several hundred years), and yet so perfect is its similarity to later
+work, that our ideas on orders of architecture become confused and
+vague. We may not attempt to discover the cause of the similarity, or
+indeed to go deeply into questions of 'style,' but we may be tempted to
+explore further, and if we examine such caf�s (as, for instance, those
+at El Biar, or Birkadem), we shall find the walls ornamented with
+Arabesques, sometimes half-concealed under whitewash, and the arcades
+and conical-domed roofs and doorways covered with curious patterns.
+
+In this way we pass the day, often lingering about one spot in most
+vagrant fashion, till nightfall, when the last diligence comes crashing
+in, and stops to change its wretched horses. We take our places quickly
+in the _int�rieur_, and are wedged in between little soft white figures
+with black eyes and stained finger-nails, who stare at us with a fixed
+and stony stare, all the way back to Algiers. Another day we spend in
+the _Jardin d'Essai_, (the garden of acclimatisation), where we may
+wander in December, amidst groves of summer flowers, and where every
+variety of tree and shrub is brought together for study and comparison.
+Through the kindness of the director we are enabled to make studies of
+some rare and curious tropical plants; but there is a little too much
+formality and an artificial atmosphere about the place, that spoils it
+for sketching; although nothing can control, or render formal, the wild
+strength of the gigantic aloes, or make the palm-trees grow in line.
+
+From the 'Garden of Marengo,' just outside the western gates, we
+may obtain good subjects for sketching, including both mosques and
+palm-trees, such as we have indicated on our title-page; and from the
+heights behind the Casbah, some beautiful distant views across the
+plain of the Mitidja. Of one of these an artistic traveller thus speaks:
+'Standing on a ridge of the Sahel, far beneath lies the Bay of Algiers,
+from this particular point thrown into a curve so exquisite and subtle
+as to be well nigh inimitable by art, the value of the curve being
+enhanced by the long level line of the Mitidja plain immediately behind,
+furnishing the horizontal line of repose so indispensable to calm beauty
+of landscape; whilst in the background the faintly indicated serrated
+summits of the Atlas chain preserve the whole picture from monotony.
+The curve of shore, the horizontal bar of plain, the scarcely more than
+suggested angles of the mountains, form a combination of contrasting yet
+harmonising lines of infinite loveliness, which Nature would ever paint
+anew for us in the fresh tints of the morning, with a brush dipped in
+golden sunshine and soft filmy mist, and with a broad sweep of cool blue
+shadow over the foreground.'
+
+But our favourite rendezvous, our principal 'Champ de Mars,' was a
+little Arab cemetery, about six miles from Algiers; on the heights
+westward, in the direction of Sidi Ferruch, and near to a little Arab
+village called the 'Bouzareah.' This spot combined a wondrous view both
+of sea and land, with a foreground of beauty not easy to depict. It was
+a half-deserted cemetery, with tombs of Marabout priests over which the
+palm-trees waved, and little gravestones here and there surmounted
+with crescents. Sheltered from the sun's rays, hidden from the sight of
+passers-by, surrounded with a profusion of aloes, palms, cacti; and
+an infinite variety of shrubs and flowers peeping out between the
+palmettos, that spread their leaves like fans upon the ground--it
+combined everything that could be desired.
+
+Here we worked, sitting close to one of the tombs for its shade, with
+the hush of the breeze, the distant sighing sound of the sea, the voices
+of bees, and butterflies, the flutter of leaves, and one other sound
+that intermingled with strange monotony of effect close to our ears,
+which puzzled us sorely to account for at first. It turned out to be a
+snore; the custodian of one of the tombs was sleeping inside with his
+fathers, little dreaming of our proximity. We struck up an acquaintance
+with him, after a few days of coyness on his part, and finally made him
+a friend. For a few sous a day he acted as outpost for us, to keep off
+Arab boys and any other intruders; and before we left, was induced to
+sit and be included in a sketch. He winced a little at this, and we
+confess to an inward reproach for having thus degraded him. He did not
+like it, but he sat it out and had his portrait taken like any Christian
+dog; he took money for his sin, and finally, by way of expiation let us
+hope, drank up our palette water at the end of the day!
+
+If there is one spot in all Algeria most dear to a Mussulman's heart,
+most sacred, to a Marabout's memory, it must surely be this peaceful
+garden of aloes and palms, where flowers ever grow, where the sun shines
+from the moment of its rising until it sinks beneath the western sea;
+where, if anywhere on this earth, the faithful will be the first to know
+of the Prophet's coming, and where they will always be ready to meet
+him.
+
+But if it be dear to a Mussulman's heart, it is also dear to a
+Christian's, for it has taught us more in a few weeks than we can
+unlearn in years. We cannot sit here day by day without learning several
+truths, more forcibly than by any teaching of our schools; taking in, as
+it were, the mysteries of light and shade, and the various phases of the
+atmosphere--taking them all to heart, so that they influence our work
+for years to come.
+
+How often have we, at the Uffizi, or at the Louvre, envied the power and
+skill of a master, whose work we have vainly endeavoured to imitate; and
+what would we not have given in those days, to achieve something that
+seemed to approach, ever so little, to the power and beauty of colour,
+of a Titian or a Paul Veronese. *
+
+     * And have we not, generally, imbibed more of the trick or
+     method of colour, of the master, than of his inspiration--
+     more, in short, of the real than the ideal?
+
+Is it mere heresy in art, or is it a brighter light dawning upon us
+here, that seems to say, that we have learned and achieved more, in
+studying the glowing limbs of an Arab child as it plays amongst these
+wild palmettos--because we worked with a background of such sea and sky
+as we never saw in any picture of the 'Finding of Moses;' and because in
+the painting of the child, we had not perforce to learn any 'master's'
+trick of colour, nor to follow conventional lines?
+
+And do we not, amongst other things, learn to distinguish between the
+true and conventional rendering of the form, colour and character, of
+palm-trees, aloes and cacti?
+
+First of the palm. Do we not soon discover how much more of beauty,
+of suggested strength, of grace, lightness and variety of colour and
+texture, there is in this one stem, that we vainly try to depict in
+a wood engraving, than we had previously any conception of; and how
+opposed to facts are the conventional methods of drawing palm-trees
+(often with a straight stem and uniform leaves looking like a feather
+broom on a straight stick), which we may find in almost any illustrated
+book representing Eastern scenes, from Constantinople to the Sea of
+Galilee.
+
+[Illustration: 8147]
+
+Take, for instance, as a proof of variety in colour and grandeur of
+aspect, this group of palm-trees * that have stood guard over the
+Maho-medan tombs for perhaps a hundred years; stained with time, and
+shattered with their fierce battle with the storms that sweep over the
+promontory with terrible force. ** Look at the beauty of their lines, at
+the glorious colour of their young leaves, and the deep orange of those
+they have shed, like the plumage of some gigantic bird; one of
+their number has fallen from age, and lies crossways on the ground,
+half-concealed in the long grass and shrubs, and it has lain there to
+our knowledge, undisturbed for years. To paint the sun setting on these
+glowing stems, and to catch the shadows of their sharp pointed leaves,
+as they are traced at one period of the day on the white walls of the
+tombs, is worth long waiting to be able to note down; and to hit the
+right tint to depict such shadows truly, is an exciting triumph to us.
+
+     * The palm-stem we have sketched is of a different variety
+     and less formal in character than those generally seen in
+     the East; nevertheless, there is endless variety in the
+     forms and leaves of any one of them, if we judge from
+     photographs.
+
+     ** We had prepared a drawing of these palm-trees in
+     sunlight; but perhaps Mr. Severn's view of them in a storm,
+     will be thought more characteristic.
+
+Second of the aloe; and here we make as great a discovery as with the
+palm. Have we not been taught (in paintings) from our youth up, that the
+aloe puts forth its blue riband-like leaves in uniform fashion, like
+so many starched pennants, which painters often express with one or two
+strokes of the brush; and are we not told by botanists that it flowers
+but once in a hundred years?
+
+Look at that aloe hedgerow a little distance from us that stretches
+across the country, like a long blue rippling wave on a calm sea, and
+which, as we approach it, seems thrown up fantastically and irregularly
+by breakers to a height of six or eight feet, and which (like the
+sea), on a nearer view changes its opaque cold blue tint, to a rich
+transparent green and gold. Approach them closely, walk under their
+colossal leaves, avoid their sharp spear-points and touch their soft
+pulpy stems. What wonderful variety there is in their forms, what
+transparent beauty of colour, what eccentric shadows they cast upon each
+other, and with what a grand spiral sweep some of the young shoots rear
+upwards! So tender and pliable are they, that in some positions a child
+might snap their leaves, and yet so wonderful is the distribution of
+strength, that they would resist at spear-point the approach of a lion,
+and almost turn a charge of cavalry. If we snap off the point of one of
+the leaves it is a needle, and a thread clings to it which we may
+peel off down the stem a yard long--needle and thread--nature-pointed,
+nature-threaded! Should not artists see these things? Should not poets
+read of them?
+
+Here we are inclined to ask, if the aloe flowers but once in a hundred
+years, how is it that everywhere in Algeria, we see plants of all ages
+with their long flowering stems, some ten or twelve feet high? Have they
+combined this year to flower, or are botanists at fault?
+
+Of the cactus, which also grows in wild profusion, we could say almost
+as much as of the palms and aloes, but it might seem like repetition.
+Suffice it, that our studies of their separate leaves were the minutest
+and most rewarding labour we achieved, and that until we had painted the
+cactus and the palmetto growing together, we had never understood the
+meaning of 'tropical vegetation.'
+
+[Illustration: 0151]
+
+Many other subjects we obtain at the Bouzareah; simple perhaps, and
+apparently not worth recording, but of immense value to a student of
+Nature. Is it nothing, for instance, for a painter to have springing up
+before him in this clear atmosphere, delicate stems of grass, six feet
+high, falling over in spray of golden leaves against a background of
+blue sea; darting upward, sheer, bright, and transparent from a
+bank covered with the prickly pear, that looks by contrast, like the
+rock-work from which a fountain springs? Is it nothing to see amongst
+all this wondrous overgrowth of gigantic leaves, and amongst the tender
+creepers and the flowers, the curious knotted and twisted stem of the
+vine, trailing serpent-like on the ground, its surface worn smooth with
+time? Is it nothing for an artist to learn practically, what 'white
+heat' means?
+
+It is well worth coming to North Africa in winter, if only to see the
+flowers, but of these we cannot trust ourselves to speak--they _must_ be
+seen and painted.
+
+It is difficult to tear ourselves away from this spot, and especially
+tempting to dwell upon these details, because they have seldom been
+treated of before; but perhaps the question may occur to some--are
+such subjects as we have depicted worth painting, or, indeed, of any
+prolonged or separate study? Let us endeavour to answer it by another
+question. Are the waves worth painting, by themselves? Has it not
+occurred to one or two artists (not to many, we admit) that the waves of
+the sea have never yet been adequately painted; and have never had their
+due, so to speak, because it has always been considered necessary to
+introduce something else into the composition, be it only a rope, a
+spar, or a deserted ship? Has it not been discovered (though only of
+late years) that there is scope for imagination and poetry, and all the
+elements of a great and enthralling picture, in the drawing of waves
+alone; and should there not be, if nobly treated, interest enough in
+a group of colossal vegetation in a brilliant atmosphere, without the
+usual conventional adjuncts of figures and buildings?
+
+So far, whilst sketching at the Bouzareah, we have spoken only of the
+foreground; but we have been all the time in the presence of the most
+wonderful panorama of sea and land, and have watched so many changing
+aspects from these heights, that we might fill a chapter in describing
+them alone.
+
+The view northward over the Mediterranean, westward towards Sidi
+Ferruch, southward across the plains to the Atlas, eastward towards
+Algiers and the mountains of Kabylia beyond; each point so distant from
+the other that, according to the wind or time of day, it partook of
+quite distinct aspects, fill up so many pictures in our mind's eye
+that a book might be written, called 'The Bouzareah,' as seen under the
+different phases of sunshine and storm.
+
+It has often been objected to these Eastern scenes, that they have 'no
+atmosphere,' and no gradation of middle distance; that there is not
+enough repose about them, that they lack mystery and are altogether
+wanting in the poetry of cloudland.
+
+But there are clouds. We have seen, for the last few mornings (looking
+through the arched windows of the great aloe-leaves) little companies of
+small white clouds, casting clearly-defined shadows across the distant
+sea, and breaking up the horizon line with their soft white folds,=
+
+```'They come like shadows, so depart.'=
+
+--reappearing and disappearing by some mysterious law, but seldom
+culminating in rain.
+
+Yes, there are clouds. Look this time far away towards the horizon line
+across the bay, and watch that rolling sea which looks like foam, that
+rises higher and higher as we watch it, darkening the sky, and soon
+enveloping us in a kin of sea fog, through which the sun gleams dimly
+red, whilst the white walls of the tombs appear cold and grey against a
+leaden sky. See it all pass away again across the plain of the Mitidja,
+and disappear in the shadows of the lesser Atlas. There is a hush in the
+breeze and all is bright again, but a storm is coming.
+
+[Illustration: 0157]
+
+Take shelter, if you have courage, _inside_ one of the Marabouts' tombs
+(there is plenty of space), whilst a tempest rages that should wake the
+dead before Mahomet's coming. Sit and wait in there, perhaps an hour,
+whilst one or two strong gusts of wind pass over, and then all is still
+again; and so dark that we can see nothing inside but the light of a
+pipe in one corner. We get impatient, thinking that it is passing off.
+
+But it comes at last. It breaks over the tombs, and tears through the
+plantation, with a tremendous surging sound, putting to flight the Arabs
+on guard, who wrap their bournouses about them and hurry off to the
+village, with the cry of 'Allah il Allah;' leaving the care of the tombs
+to the palms, that have stood guard over them so long. Oh, how they
+fight and struggle in the wind! how they creak, and moan, and strike
+against one another, like human creatures in the thick of battle!
+How they rally side by side, and wrestle with the wind--crashing down
+suddenly against the walls of the tomb, and scattering their leaves over
+us; then rallying again, and fighting the storm with human energy and
+persistence!
+
+It is a fearful sight--the rain falling in masses, but nearly
+horizontally, and with such density that we can see but a few yards from
+our place of shelter--and it is a fearful sound, to hear the palm-trees
+shriek in the wind.
+
+There was one part of the scene we could not describe, one which no
+other than Dante's pen, or Dor�'s pencil, could give any idea of; we
+could not depict the confused muttering sound and grinding clatter (if
+we may call it so), that the battered and wounded aloes made amongst
+themselves, like maimed and dying combatants trodden under foot. Many
+scenes in nature have been compared to a battle-field; we have seen
+sheaves of corn blown about by the wind, looking like the tents of a
+routed host; but this scene was beyond parallel--the hideous contortion,
+the melancholy aspect of destruction, the disfigured limbs in hopeless
+wreck, the weird and ghastly forms that writhed and groaned aloud, as
+the storm made havoc with them.
+
+And they made havoc with each other. What would the reader say, if
+he saw the wounds inflicted by some of the young leaves on the parent
+stems--how they pierce and transfix, and sometimes _saw_ into each
+other, with their sharp serrated edges, as they sway backwards and
+forwards in the wind. He would say perhaps that no sea monster or
+devil-fish, could seem more horrible, and we wish him no wilder vision
+than to be near them at night, when disturbed by the wind.
+
+We have scarcely alluded to the palmetto-leaves and branches that filled
+the air, to the sound of rushing water, to the distant roar of the sea,
+nor to many other aspects of the storm. It lasted, not much more than
+an hour, but the water covered the floor of our little temple before
+the rain subsided, and the ground a few feet off where we had sat, was
+completely under water. Everything was steaming with vapour, but the
+land was refreshed, and the dark earth was richer than we had seen it
+for months--there would be no dust in Algiers until to-morrow.
+
+[Illustration: 0163]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. BLIDAH--MEDEAH--THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS.
+
+[Illustration: 9165]
+
+HE Atlas Mountains, of which we have spoken so often, are almost
+separated from the hills of the Sahel on which the town of Algiers is
+built, by the broad plain of the Mitidja, averaging between twenty and
+thirty miles across; and at the inland extremity of this plain, nestling
+close under the shadow of the lesser Atlas, is situated the town of
+Blidah, half Arab, half French, with its little population of European
+colonists and traders; its orange-groves and its orange-merchants, who
+here pass their monotonous, semi-successful lives--varied by occasional
+earthquakes and Arab _�meutes_.
+
+It was not particularly to see Blidah, but because it was on the high
+road to the Atlas Mountains, and to Medeah, a strongly fortified town
+situated 2900 feet above the sea-level--approached by a military road
+cut through the celebrated gorge of 'La Chiffa'--that two of our party
+left Algiers on horseback, on the 14th of December, on a sketching
+expedition.
+
+We made other interesting tours at different times; but it will be
+sufficient for our purpose to speak of two expeditions--the one to
+Medeah; the other, to the celebrated 'Fort Napol�on,' on the Kabyle
+Hills.
+
+It seems to say something for the peculiarly invigorating character
+of the climate that, at an average temperature of 70� Fahrenheit, our
+little horses did their thirty or forty miles a day, laden with our
+well-stored saddle-bags and sketching paraphernalia; and it speaks
+volumes for the security with which travellers can move about from town
+to town, that we were merely by chance provided with firearms, and that
+we started without any guide or escort. *
+
+     * At the time we speak of, journeys into the interior were
+     much less frequent than they are now; when there is a
+     railway to Blidah, and a diligence to the Fort Napol�on.
+
+We pass through the eastern gate before sunrise, and winding up the
+hills behind Mustapha Sup�rieure (keeping to the road) we begin to
+descend on the southern side and have the broad plain of the Mitidja
+before us, just as the day is breaking. As we come down towards the
+plain, we pass several farms of the French colonists; and here and
+there, a tobacco plantation where both Arabs and French are employed.
+At Birkadem, which is in the midst of a farming district, we halt to
+breakfast, and run considerable risk of getting into a controversy
+on French colonization, with some friendly and pleasant, but rather
+desponding agriculturists.
+
+But, happily for ourselves and for our readers, we do not attempt to
+master the subject, and with a sketch of the little Moorish caf� with
+its marble columns and arcades, we continue our journey; over a wide
+waste--half moorland, half desert--passing at intervals little oases
+of cultivation, with houses, shrubs and gardens surrounding. Straight
+before us, apparently only a few miles off, but in reality twenty,
+stretches the chain of the lesser Atlas; the dark shadows here and
+there, pointing out the approaches to a higher range beyond.
+
+At the foot of the mountains we can distinctly see with our glasses,
+the white Moorish houses and villas that are built near Blidah, and the
+thick clusters of trees that shelter them. Our way across the plain for
+the next two or three hours is rather solitary, and although we keep up
+a steady pace, we seem to get no nearer to our destination. We pass a
+number of Arabs leading camels, and overtake a troop of twenty or thirty
+donkeys, laden with goods and ridden by their owners (who sit upon the
+top of their piles), shambling along almost as fast as a horse can trot.
+They beat us hollow before noon, because they never stop, and reach
+Bouffarik, the midday resting-place, long before us.
+
+At Bouffarik we are again amongst the colonists, and hear the peculiar
+French dialect of Provence and Languedoc, with occasional snatches of
+German and Maltese. We rest until about two hours of sunset, and become
+thoroughly imbued with the idea that we must be again in the south
+of France; so completely have the French realised, in the midst of
+an African plain, the dull uniformity of a poor French town, with its
+'place,' its one street of cobble-stones, and its two rows of trees.
+Here we can obtain bad coffee, just as we can in France, and read the
+'Moniteur' but four days old. It is altogether French, and when the
+white Arab mare belonging to one of our party turns restive at starting
+again, and proceeds through the village on its hind legs; it is just
+in time to remind us that it was here that Horace Vernet worked, and
+painted those rampant white steeds that we know so well, in the centre
+of his battle pictures. The war horse, (with the light upon him) was
+more to Horace Vernet perhaps, than the glory of the whole plain of the
+Mitidja; but how he could have lived in Algeria so long, and have been
+so little influenced by the scene around him, it is hard to tell.
+
+It is tempting (indeed it is almost impossible to avoid) at Bouffarik,
+going a little into the question of colonization, and speaking from
+personal observation, of the progress made during the last few years.
+But as English people care little or nothing for the prospects of
+Algeria, we will merely remark _en passant_, that the insurmountable
+evil of Algeria being too near the home country, seems to blight its
+prospects even here, and that the want of confidence displayed by
+private capitalists retards all progress. Nearly all the capital
+employed by the colonists at Bouffarik and Blidah has been raised by a
+paternal government; but, notwithstanding help from the home country,
+the tide of wealth neither flows nor ebbs, with great rapidity.
+
+At Bouffarik we see the Arabs calmly settled under French rule, and
+learning the arts of peace; taking to husbandry and steam ploughs, and
+otherwise progressing in a scientific and peaceful direction. We see
+them in the evening, sitting by their cottages with their half-naked
+children, looking prosperous and happy enough, and hear them droning to
+them in that monotonous 'singsong' that is so irritating to the ear.
+
+There is a musician at the door of our hostelry now, who is as great a
+nuisance as any Italian organ grinder in Mayfair; he taps on a little
+piece of stretched parchment, and howls without ceasing. It is given to
+the inhabitants of some countries, who have what is commonly called 'no
+ear for music' to hum and to drone in more sensitive ears to the point
+of distraction, and it seems to be the special attribute of the Arab to
+fill the air with monotonous sounds; when he is on a journey or resting
+from it, it is the same--he hums and moans like a creature in torment.
+In contact with Europeans we perhaps see him at his worst; for however
+orderly and useful a member of society he may be, however neat and
+clean, there is something cringing and artificial in him at the best.
+But we must hasten on to Blidah.
+
+Again we cross a wide plain, again do we overtake and are overtaken by,
+the tribe of donkeys; and just as the sun goes down we enter the city
+gates together, dismounting in the principal square, which is filled
+with idlers, chiefly French soldiers and poor Arabs who have learned to
+beg. We had chosen the time for this journey when the moon was nearly
+full, and our first near view of the town was by moonlight. Nothing can
+be conceived more beautiful than Blidah by night, with its little
+white domes and towers, and the mountains looming indistinctly in the
+background. In the Moorish quarter, the tower of the principal Mosque
+stands out clearly defined in the moonlight, whilst all around
+it cluster the little flat-roofed houses, set in masses of dark
+foliage--the olives and the date-trees, and the sharp-pointed spires of
+the cypresses, just tinged with a silver light.
+
+So peaceful, so beautiful does it look at night, so complete the
+repose with which we have always associated Blidah, that it is a rude
+disenchantment to learn that but a few years ago, this city was upheaved
+and tossed about, like the waves of the sea. In 1825, eight or nine
+thousand people perished from an earthquake; and in 1866, a lady who was
+staying at our hotel, thus wrote home to her friends: *
+
+     * 'Last Winter in Algeria,'  by Mrs. H. Lloyd Evans.
+
+     'I was roused from sleep by a sound as of some one beating
+     the floor above, and the walls on every side. It increased
+     rapidly in violence, till the whole house shook and rocked
+     and seemed giving way beneath our feet. I saw the wall in
+     the corner of the room split open, and immediately
+     afterwards masses of plaster fell from the ceiling and
+     walls, bringing clouds of dust and a darkness as of night.
+
+     'On the _Place_ it was a fearful scene, people came tearing
+     down the neighbouring streets, women and children ran
+     aimlessly hither and thither, shrieking wildly, men uttering
+     hoarse sounds of terror, whilst the ground heaved and
+     trembled beneath our feet, and we gazed at the surrounding
+     houses in expectant horror; it seemed as if they must fall
+     like a pack of cards. The young trees rocked and swayed, the
+     flagstaff waved backwards and forwards--the wind moaning,
+     the rain pouring down, whilst above all rose, ever and anon,
+     the sound of cavalry trumpets and the rolling of the drum,
+     calling on the troops to quit their tottering barracks.
+
+     'The Arabs alone stalked about unmoved, shrugging their
+     shoulders and muttering "It is destiny!"'
+
+The air is delightful at Blidah, and the little country houses, with
+their groves of orange-trees, their gardens and vineyards, have been
+pointed out by travellers, as some of the most desirable spots on earth.
+The extract above may tend to qualify the longings of some people; but
+we think we might 'take our chance' at Blidah, as the Neapolitans do
+near Vesuvius--there are so many compensations.
+
+Early in the morning we are again on our way, and as we leave the
+western gate, the donkeys, with their dirty drivers, scramble out with
+us and again play the game of the tortoise and the hare.
+
+The gorge of La Chiffa is one of the principal approaches to the
+mountains, through which a military road is cut to Medeah. The first
+part is wild and rocky, the road passing between almost perpendicular
+cliffs, carried sometimes by masonry over a chasm at a height of several
+thousand feet. We ride for miles through a valley of most solitary
+grandeur, with no sounds but the rushing of the torrent and the
+occasional cries of monkeys. We pass by one celebrated waterfall called
+'Ruisseau des Singes,' and are otherwise reminded of the presence of
+monkeys, by their pelting us with large stones, which they dislodge from
+their hiding-places above our heads.
+
+We are at times so shut in by the rocks, that we can scarcely discover
+any outlet, but after a few hours' ascent, we come suddenly upon quite
+a different scene. What is it that delights the eye and that thrills
+us with pleasurable emotions, calling up memories of green lanes and
+England, pastoral?'Tis the plash of water, and the trickling, tinkling
+play of a running stream, winding and winding down to the swollen
+torrent that we crossed just now.
+
+Here under the shadow and shelter of the mountains--refreshed by rains
+that they in the plains know not of, and where the heat of a midday sun
+can scarcely approach--we find a cottage, a little farm, green pastures,
+cattle grazing, trees, flowers and children; the stream flowing through
+all, bright, deep, and sparkling, with green banks, bullrushes and lilies
+of the valley of the Atlas. A few poor emigrants have settled down in
+this corner of the world, as quietly, and we may add as securely, as if
+a sandy plain did not divide them from everything kindred and civilized.
+
+We make our midday halt under the shade of chesnut-trees, and
+sketch; one great defect of our drawings being, that they are far too
+pastoral--they would not be admitted by judges, to represent Africa at
+all! Nothing in this land of strong contrasts could equal the change
+from Nature, untilled, unfruitful, stern and forbidding; to this little
+farm-house, as it might be in Wales, surrounded by trees and watered by
+a sparkling stream.
+
+Continuing our journey up the gorge, walking, riding, clambering, and
+resting, by turns, we do not reach Medeah until after dark. During the
+last few miles our horses are troublesome, and will not be persuaded
+to pass close to any rock or brushwood, being evidently nervous of some
+sudden attack, or surprise; and so we creep along silently and in single
+file, trusting chiefly to our horses to keep to the path.
+
+At last the long-looked-for lights of Medeah appear, and in a quarter
+of an hour afterwards we are inside the fortifications; and with a
+'_Voyageurs, monsieur_' to the sentinel at the gate, we pass under the
+dark arches of a Roman aqueduct--casting a deep shadow over the town as
+the moon shines out, now obscured again by a passing cloud--like some
+solemn dissolving view of Roman power, or phantom monument of the past.
+
+At Medeah, we find everything much the same as at Blidah; a little
+rougher and poorer perhaps, but the same mixture of French and Moorish
+buildings. Fine old mosques, courtyards after the style of the Alhambra,
+and carved doorways of very early date; but brick fortifications, young
+French soldiers, _estamin�ts_, and a 'Place' with half-dead trees, are
+more prominent features; and here, at a height of nearly 3000 feet above
+the sea, set deep in the heart of the Atlas, civilization may again
+be seen, doing its work--the Arabs indulging in absinthe freely, and
+playing at cards with their conquerors.
+
+The beautiful mountain scenery south of Medeah led us to spend some time
+in sketching and in exploring the country. In spite of its wildness and
+solitariness we could wander about with perfect security, within a day
+or two's journey of the French outposts. The crisp keen air at this
+altitude tempted us on and on, through the most deserted region that can
+be imagined. The mountain-ranges to the south were like an undulating
+sea, divided from us by lesser hills and little plains, with here and
+there valleys, green and cultivated; but the prevailing character of the
+scenery was rocky and barren. The great beauty was in the clouds that
+passed over at intervals, spreading a grateful shade, and casting
+wonderful shadows on the rocks. The rain would fall heavily through them
+sometimes for three or four minutes, like summer showers, and the little
+dried-up torrent beds would trickle for a while; the Arabs would collect
+a few drops, and then all would be gone--the clouds, the rivulets, and
+every sign of moisture on the ground--and the mountains would stand out
+sharp and clear against the sky, with that curious pinky hue, so well
+portrayed in the background of Lewis's picture of 'A camp on Mount
+Sinai.' Here we could pitch our tent in the deepest solitude, and
+romance as much as we pleased without fear of interruption. The only
+variation to the almost death-like silence that prevailed, would be
+the distant cry of a jackal, which disturbed us for a moment, or the
+moaning of the wind in some far-off valley, for the air seemed never
+still on these heights. A stray monkey or two, would come and furtively
+peep at our proceedings, but would be off again in an instant, and there
+were no birds; indeed, since we left Blidah we had scarcely heard their
+voices. The few Arab tribes that cultivated the valleys, seldom came
+near us; so that we sometimes heard no voices but our own, from morning
+till night.
+
+One day proved an exception. We had been making a drawing of the
+prospect due south, in order to get the effect of the sun's rays upon a
+sandy plateau that stretched between us and the next range of mountains:
+it was little more than a study of colour and effect, for there was
+not much to break the monotony of the subject--a sand-plain bounded
+by barren rocks. We had nearly finished our work, when two dark specks
+appeared suddenly on the sky-line, and quickly descending the rocks,
+began to cross the plain towards us. With our telescope, we soon made
+out that they were horsemen at full gallop, and we could tell this, not
+by the figures themselves, but by the long shadows that the afternoon
+sun cast from them upon the plain. In a few minutes they rode up to
+our tent. They were not, as our porters had insisted, some Arabs on a
+reconnoitering expedition, but two American gentlemen on hired horses
+from Algiers, who were scampering about the country without any guide
+or escort. They had come from Milianah that day, they would be at Blidah
+to-morrow, and at Algiers the next day, in time to 'catch the boat for
+Europe!'
+
+There was an end to all romance about desert scenes and being 'alone
+with Nature we could not get rid of the western world, we were tourists
+and nothing more.
+
+But it was pleasant to hear the English language spoken, and delightful
+to record that these gentlemen neither bragged of their exploits nor
+favoured us with what are called 'Americanisms.' In short, we are able
+to speak of our interview (they came back with us as far as Medeah)
+without repeating any of those bits of smart conversation, that seem
+inseparable from the record of such rencontres. These gentlemen had
+taken a glance at a great deal, in four or five days, and had been
+(perhaps it did not much matter) once or twice, into a little danger;
+they had seen the cedar forests, the 'Fort Napol�on,' and the principal
+sights, and were now on their way home. They had, however, done one
+thing, in which they evidently felt unmixed satisfaction, though they
+did not express it in so many words--they had been rather _farther_ into
+the interior, than any of their countrymen.
+
+Before leaving the mountains, we should answer a question that we have
+been asked repeatedly, 'What of the African lion, so celebrated by Jules
+G�rard?' We answer, that we did not penetrate far enough for 'sport,'
+of this kind; indeed we scarcely ever heard of any lions. Once only
+our horses stopped and trembled violently, and would not pass a thicket
+without a long detour; and once (only once) we heard the lion's roar,
+not far off. It is a sound that carries a dread with it not soon
+forgotten, and the solemnity of which, when echoed from the mountains,
+it is not easy to describe. Perhaps the only person who was ever
+flippant in speaking of lions, was Gordon Cumming, but then he used
+to go amongst them (according to his own account), single-handed, to
+'select specimens' before firing!
+
+But in the solitude of these mountain wanderings, we have had
+opportunities of seeing one phase of Arab life that we had really come
+out to see, and which was alone worth the journey.
+
+We had started early one morning from Blidah, but not so early, that in
+deference to the wishes of some of our companions, we had first attended
+service in a chapel, dedicated to 'Our Lady of Succour.' We went into
+the little building, which, like some rare exotic, was flourishing
+alone, surrounded by the most discordant elements--situated hard by
+a mosque and close to some noisy Arab dwellings. Service was being
+performed in the usual manner, the priests were bowing before a tinsel
+cross, and praying (in a language of their own) to a coloured print of
+'Our Lady,' in a gilt frame. There were the customary chauntings,
+the swinging of censers, the creaking of chairs, the interchanging of
+glances, and the paying of sous. Sins were confessed through a hole in
+the wall, and holy water was administered to the faithful, with a brush.
+Everything was conducted with perfect decorum, and was (as it seemed
+to an eyewitness) the most materialistic expression of devotion it were
+possible to devise.
+
+Before the evening of the same day, we make a halt amongst the
+mountains. A few yards from us we see in the evening light a promontory;
+upon it some figures, motionless, and nearly the same colour as the
+rocks--Arabs watching the setting sun. The twilight has faded so rapidly
+into darkness, that we have soon to put by our work, and can see no
+objects, distinctly, excepting this promontory; on which the sun still
+shines through some unseen valley, and lights up the figures as they
+kneel in prayer. The solemnity of the scene could hardly be conveyed
+to the mind of the reader in words, its picturesqueness we should
+altogether fail to do justice to; but its beauty and suggestiveness, set
+us upon a train of thought, which, in connection with the ceremony of
+the morning, we may be pardoned for dwelling upon in a few words.
+
+It was not the first nor the last time, that we had witnessed the Arabs
+at prayer, and had studied with a painter's eye their attitudes of
+devotion, the religious fervour in their faces, and their perfect
+_abandon_. The charm of the scene was in its primitive aspect, and in
+the absence of all the accessories, which Europeans are taught from
+their youth up, to connect in some way, with every act of public
+worship; and who could help being struck by the sight of all this
+earnestness--at these heartfelt prayers? What does the Arab see, in this
+mystery of beauty, in its daily recurring 'splendour and decline? Shall
+we say that the rising and the setting of the sun behind the hills, may
+not (to the rude souls of men who have learned their all from Nature),
+point out the entrance of that Paradise, which their simple faith has
+taught them, they shall one day enter and possess?
+
+If it were possible in these days, when religious art assumes the most
+fantastic forms, to create ever so slight a re-action against a school
+which has perhaps held its own too long--if it were not heresy to
+set forth as the noblest aim for a painter, that he should depict
+the deepest emotion, the simplest faith, the most heartfelt devotion,
+without the accessories of purple and fine linen, without marble columns
+or gilded shrines, without furniture, without Madonnas and without
+paste--then we might point confidently to the picture before us to aid
+our words.
+
+What if the heaven prayed for, and the prophet worshipped, seem to a
+Christian unorthodox and worse--there is sincerity here, there is faith,
+devotion, ecstasy, adoration. What more, indeed, does the painter hope
+for--what does he seek; and what more has he ever found in the noblest
+work of Christian art?
+
+If he lack enthusiasm, still, before a scene so strange, let him think
+for a moment what manner of worship this, of the Arabs is; and contrast
+their system with that of the Vatican. The religion of the Arabs is a
+very striking thing, and its position and influence on their lives might
+put many professing Christians to the blush. An honest, earnest faith
+is theirs, be it right or wrong. If we examine it at all, we find it
+something more than a silly superstition; we find that it has been 'a
+firm belief and hope amongst twelve millions of men in Arabia alone,
+holding its place in their hearts for more than twelve hundred years.'
+It is a religion of Duty, an acting up to certain fixed principles
+and defined laws of life, untrammelled by many ceremonies, unshaken by
+doubts; a following out to the letter, the written law, as laid down for
+them by Mahomet, as the rule and principle of their lives.
+
+If the whole system of the Mahommedan faith breaks down (as we admit it
+does) on examination, it does not affect our position, viz.:--that we
+have here an exhibition of religious fervour which seldom reaches to
+fanaticism, and is essentially sincere. Regarding the scene from a
+purely artistic point of view, we can imagine no more fitting subject
+for a painter, than this group of Arabs at their devotions--Nature their
+temple, its altar the setting sun, their faces towards Mecca, their
+hearts towards the Prophet, their every attitude breathing devotion and
+faith.
+
+Setting aside all questions of orthodoxy, regarding for our particular
+purpose both civilised and uncivilised worshippers under their general
+religious aspect--how would it 'strike that stranger' who, descending
+from another planet, wondered why, if men's Duty was so clearly placed
+before them, they did not follow it--how would he view the two great
+phases of religious worship? Whose religion would seem most inspiring,
+whose temple most fitting, whose altar most glorious, whose religion
+the most free from question; the modern and enlightened, intrenched in
+orthodoxy and enthroned in state; or the benighted and un-regenerate,
+but earnest, nature-loving and always sincere?
+
+We shall have perhaps (if we make a serious study of these subjects and
+put our heart into the work), to unlearn something that we have been
+taught, about the steady painting of Madonnas and angels, in our
+schools; but, if we do no more than make one or two sketches of such
+scenes as the above, we shall have added to our store of knowledge in a
+rough and ready way; and have familiarised ourselves with the sight of
+what,--though barbaric--is noble and true.
+
+[Illustration: 0191]
+
+[Illustration: 0193]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. KAB YLIA--THE FORT NAPOL�ON.
+
+[Illustration: 9193]
+
+T was almost impossible to take up a newspaper in Algiers, or to
+converse for five minutes in a caf�, or at the club, without the
+'question Kabyle' cropping up in some paragraph or conversation. Every
+day there came contradictory news about the war, that it would really
+be over to-morrow or the next day, or the next week. It had lasted with
+more or less activity for thirty years, but now at last the smouldering
+embers seemed to be dying out.
+
+The Djurjura mountains stretching eastward into Kabylia, which we
+knew so well in their peaceful aspect, with the sun shining upon their
+snow-clad summits from morning till night, were still the theatre of
+war. In the heart of the mountains, about sixty miles from Algiers,
+and at a height of nearly 3000 feet above the sea, the French army was
+busily engaged in building a fortress, in order to keep the Kabyles
+at bay and give protection to the colonists; and whilst this work was
+progressing with wonderful rapidity, the outposts of the army were
+carrying on a guerilla warfare with the unsubdued tribes. Their camps
+were pitched on the various heights, and the sound of the morning
+_r�veille_ was generally succeeded by the 'ping' of the rifle from
+some concealed Kabyles, and by a quick return volley from the French
+outposts.
+
+We went to the Fort Napoleon at the invitation of some French officers,
+who, when they wrote to us, imagined (as all French people had imagined
+a hundred times before) that the war was over, and that it would be
+a good opportunity to visit the camp and the fort, in process of
+construction. * Two easy days' journey on horseback, halting for the
+night at a caravanserai called Les Issers, brought us to Tiziouzou, a
+small town and military depot on the borders of Kabylia, at the foot of
+the mountains, and but a few miles from the fort. At Les Issers we slept
+upon the ground, each man by the side of his own horse, as there was
+neither stabling nor sleeping accommodation to be had in the inn, which
+was crowded before we arrived, with troops and war _mat�riel_. To reach
+this, our first night's halting-place, we had had some rough riding,
+ending by fording in the evening, a rapid river which rose above the
+saddle-girths and nearly upset our active little horses. The night was
+starlight, and we lay down about fifty together, with fires burning in a
+circle round us, to prevent any surprise.
+
+     * General Randon laid the first stone of the Fort Napol�on
+     in June, 1857. This fort, which occupies an area of more
+     than twenty acres, and is built on most irregular ground,
+     was built in a few months.
+
+The route from Les Issers to Tiziouzou was crowded with baggage-waggons
+sticking in the mud, and with immense droves of camels and donkeys,
+on their way to the fort. The late rains had almost obliterated the
+military road (which was said to extend all the way from Algiers to
+the Fort Napol�on), and in some places it was turned into a river. The
+greater part of our route had been wild and uncultivated, but as we
+came near to Tiziouzou and approached the mountains, every valley was
+luxuriant with vegetation, fig-trees and olives grew in abundance, the
+former of enormous size. But nearly every inhabitant was French, and we,
+who had come to sketch and to see the Kabyles, were as yet disappointed
+at finding none but French soldiers, European camp-followers, and
+camel-drivers, on the way; and when we arrived at Tiziouzou, we were so
+shut in by mountains on all sides, that even the heights of Beni-Raten
+were concealed from view. It was fortunate that we obtained the shelter
+of a little inn on the night of our arrival, for the rain fell steadily
+in sheets of water, until our wooden house was soaked through, and stood
+like an island in the midst of a lake.
+
+We sent our horses back to Algiers, and carrying our own knapsacks, set
+off in the early morning to walk up to the fort. A lively cantini�re
+(attached to a regiment of Zouaves camped near Tiziouzou) walked with
+us and led the way, past one or two half-deserted Kabyle villages, by a
+short cut to the camp. The military road by which the artillery had been
+brought up was about fifteen miles, but by taking the steeper paths, we
+must have reduced the distance by more than half. At one point of the
+way the bare mountain side was so steep and slippery with the late rain,
+that it was almost impossible to ascend it, but some Arabs, with an eye
+to business worthy of the western world, had stationed themselves here
+with their camels to drag up pedestrians; a camel's tail was let for two
+sous and was in great request. The latter part of the ascent was through
+forests, and groves of olive and cork trees, looking cool and grey
+amongst the mass of rich vegetation, through which we had sometimes to
+cut a path.
+
+It was a wild walk, but our merry little cantini�re was so active and
+entertaining that we, encumbered with knapsacks, had enough to do to
+keep up with her, and indeed to comprehend the rapid little French
+histories that she favoured us with. Every now and then we heard through
+the trees the strains of 'Partant pour la Syrie,' or the rattle of a
+regimental drum, and came suddenly upon working parties on the road,
+which the army boasts was made practicable in three months.
+
+After about four hours' clambering, we again emerge upon the road, near
+the summit, and in a few minutes more, come in sight of the fort and the
+pretty white tents of the camps on the surrounding hills. Here we must
+pause a few minutes, to give a picture of the state of things at the
+'Fort Napol�on,' a few weeks before our arrival. We are indebted to
+Lieut.-Col. Walmisley, one of our countrymen who accompanied the
+expedition, for the following graphic account of a sharp action with the
+Kabyles:--
+
+'Daylight dawned upon the Kabyle hills on the morning of the 24th
+June, 1857, and its light streamed over the serried ranks of the second
+division, as, under the command of General MacMahon, the head of the
+column marched out of the lines of Aboudid.
+
+'Before it lay the heights of Icheriden, with its village and triple
+row of barricades, behind which the men of the Beni Menguillet anxiously
+watched the progress of the foe. The path of the column lay along a
+mountain ridge, and it was strange to see that column of between six and
+seven thousand men, advancing quietly and composedly, the birds singing
+around them; the Kabyles crowning every available hillock, the hawks and
+eagles slowly wheeling in large circles over their heads, and the bright
+rays of the morning sun gleaming on brighter bayonets.
+
+*****
+
+'The Kabyle barricades remained black and silent as ever; not a bournous
+was to be seen, as the 54th and the Zouaves received orders to carry the
+position at the point of the bayonet. Before them lay a ridge covered
+with brushwood, affording capital shelter, but at about sixty or seventy
+paces from the stockades the brush had been cleared away, and now the
+occasional gleam of a bayonet, the report of a musket or two fired
+against the stockade, the loud ringing of the trumpets, as they gave
+forth in inspiriting tones the _pas de charge_, and the wild shouting of
+the men, as they pushed their way forward, told of the progress of the
+attack.
+
+'Still the same stern heavy silence reigned over the hostile village.
+Was it indeed deserted, or was it the silence of despair? But now the
+bugle notes became shriller and more exciting; the shots quicker and
+more steady, as emerging from the bush, the attacking column rushed
+forward to the attack. Sixty paces of greensward were before them: but
+instantly, and as if by magic, a thousand reports broke the silence of
+the dark stockades, a wild yell rose from their defenders, as the hail
+of lead fell on the advancing regiments, and a long line of dead marked
+the advance. The Kabyles leaning their pieces over the joints of the
+trees, where they were fitted into each other, and through crevices and
+loopholes, offered little or no mark themselves to the shot; whilst not
+a ball of theirs missed its aim.
+
+'But the Zouaves were not to be daunted; and leaving the ground dotted
+with their dead and dying comrades, on they rushed, a wild cheer rising
+from their ranks, and a volley of balls pattering a reply. Again the
+line of fire burst from the dark stockade, and the advancing column
+withered away. The ground was strewn with fallen forms, and the fire of
+the stockade fell fast and sure. The men gave way, seeking the shelter
+of the bushes; their officers dashing to the front, vainly attempting to
+lead them on. It was useless--even the sturdy Zouaves refused to cross
+the deadly slope, for to do so was death; on the green slope, across
+which the balls hurried fast and thick, lay whole ranks of French
+uniforms.
+
+'The fire from stockade and bush raged fast and furious; well kept up
+on the side of the French, more deadly on that of the Kabyles, and still
+_the men would not advance_ over the uncovered space, for it was certain
+death. Two thousand Kabyle marksmen lined the loopholes, and the balls
+now began to whiz round the heads of the generals and their staff.'
+
+General MacMahon, who was wounded in this engagement, at last resorted
+to shells to dislodge the defenders; the result was successful, and the
+whole ended in a panic.
+
+'Fast and furious now became the flight of the Kabyles, and all was
+havoc and confusion. The men of the Legion, mixed up with the Zouaves
+and the 54th, dashed after the fugitives, entering the villages with
+them, and bayoneting right and left with savage shouts, whilst down the
+steep sides of the hills, away over the ridges to the right and to the
+left, the waving bournous might be seen in flight!'
+
+The curtain fell upon the Kabyle war soon after this action, and large
+detachments of troops were at once told off to build the fort. All
+around, on every promontory and hill, the little white tents were
+scattered thickly, and the sound of the bugle, and the sight of the red
+kepis of the soldiers, prevailed everywhere. But the war was practically
+over, civilians came up from Algiers--some to see, and some to
+trade--and quite a little colony sprung up. And here, on one of the
+heights shown in our little sketch, we establish ourselves again--whilst
+the Kabyle villages still smoulder in the distance, and revenge is deep
+in the hearts of the insurgent tribes, 'one peaceful English tent'
+is pitched upon the heights of Beni-Raten, and its occupants devote
+themselves to the uneventful pursuit of studying mountain beauty. We
+endeavour (and with some success) to ignore the military element; we
+listen neither to the r�veille, nor to the too frequent crack of a
+rifle; our pursuits are not warlike, and, judging from the sights and
+sounds that sometimes surround us, we trust they never may be.
+
+The view from this elevation is superb,--north, south, east and west,
+there is a wondrous landscape, but northward especially; where far above
+the purple hills, higher than all but a few snowy peaks, there stretches
+a horizontal line of blue, that seems almost in the clouds. Nothing
+gives us such a sense of height and distance, as these accidental peeps
+of the Mediterranean, and nothing could contrast more effectively than
+the snowy peaks in sunlight, against the blue sea.
+
+[Illustration: 0203]
+
+All this we are able to study, in perfect security and with very little
+interruption; sketching first one mountain side clothed with a mass
+of verdure; another, rocky, barren, and wild; one day an olive-grove,
+another a deserted Kabyle village, and so on, with an infinite variety
+which would only be wearisome in detail.
+
+And we obtain what is so valuable to an artist, and what is supposed
+to be so rare in Africa--variety of atmospheric effect. It is generally
+admitted (and we should be unwilling to contest the point), that English
+landscape is unrivalled in this respect, and that it is only _form_ and
+_colour_, that we may study with advantage in tropical climates; but
+directly we ascend the mountains, we lose that still, serene atmosphere
+that has been called the 'monotony of blue.'
+
+We read often of African sun, but very seldom of African clouds and
+wind. To-day we are surrounded by clouds _below_ us, which come and
+gather round the mountain-peaks and remain until evening. Sometimes just
+before sunset, the curtain will be lifted for a moment, and the hill
+sides will be in a blaze of gold--again the clouds come round, and
+do not disperse till nightfall; and when the mountains are once
+more revealed, the moon is up, and they are of a silver hue--the sky
+immediately above, remaining quite unclouded. The air is soft on these
+half-clouded days, in spite of our height above the sea; and the showers
+that fall at intervals, turn the soil in the valleys into a hotbed for
+forcing hothouse plants, as we should call them in England.
+
+The weather was nearly always fine, and we generally found a little
+military tent (lent to us by one of the Staff) sufficient protection and
+shelter, even on this exposed situation.
+
+But we must not forget the winds that lived in the valleys, and came
+up to where our tents were pitched--sometimes one at a time, sometimes
+three or four together. Of all things that impressed us, during our stay
+upon the Kabyle hills, the beauty of the clouds, the purple tints upon
+the mountains, and the _wind_, will be remembered best. It is a common
+phrase, to 'scatter to the four winds;' but here the four winds came
+and met near our little camp, and sometimes made terrible havoc with our
+belongings. They came suddenly one day, and took up a tent, and flung it
+at a man and killed him; another time they came sighing gently, as if a
+light breeze were all we need prepare for, and in five minutes we found
+ourselves in the thick of a fight for our possessions, if not for our
+lives. And with the wind there came sometimes such sheets of rain, that
+turned the paths into watercourses, and carried shrubs and trees down
+into the valley; all this happening whilst the sea was calm in the
+distance, and the sun was shining fiercely on the plains. These were
+rough days, to be expected in late autumn and early spring, but not to
+be missed for a little personal discomfort, for Algeria has not been
+seen without a mountain storm.
+
+Before leaving Kabylia, we will take one or two leaves from our
+note-book; just to picture to the reader (who may be more interested
+in what is going on at the camp, than in the various phases of the
+landscape) the rather incongruous elements of which our little society
+is made up.
+
+There has been a general movement lately, * amongst the conquered
+tribes, who are beginning to re-establish themselves in their old
+quarters (but under French rule), which brings together for the night
+about a hundred Kabyles, with their wives and children.
+
+     *  October, 1857.
+
+Around the camp this evening there are groups of men and women standing,
+that bring forcibly to the mind, those prints of the early patriarchs
+from which we are apt to take our first and, perhaps, most vivid,
+impressions of Eastern life; and we cannot wonder at French artists
+attempting to illustrate Scriptural scenes from incidents in Algeria.
+There are Jacob and Joseph, as one might imagine them, to the life; Ruth
+in the fields, and Rachel by the well; and there is a patriarch coming
+down the mountain, with a light about his head as the sun's last rays
+burst upon him, that Herbert might well have seen, when he was painting
+Moses with the tables of the law. The effect is accidental, but it
+is perfect in an artistic sense, from the solemnity of the man, the
+attitude of his crowd of followers, the grand mountain forms which are
+partially lit up by gleams of sunset, and the sharp shadows cast by the
+throng.
+
+This man may have been a warrior chief, or the head of a tribe; he
+was certainly the head of a large family, who pressed round him to
+anticipate his wants and do him honour. His children seemed to be
+everywhere about him; they were his furniture, they warmed his tent and
+kept out the wind, they begged for him, prayed for him, and generally
+helped him on his way. In the Koran there is a saying of similar purport
+to the words 'happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them'--this
+one had his quiver full of them, indeed, and whether he had ever done
+much to deserve the blessing, he certainly enjoyed it to the full. *
+Looked upon as a coloured statue he was, in some respects, a perfect
+type of beauty, strength, and dignified repose--what we might fitly
+call a 'study,' as he sat waiting, whilst the women prepared his evening
+meal; but whether from a moral point of view he quite deserved all the
+respect and deference that was paid to him, is another question.
+
+     * How many a man is sheltered from the winds of the world by
+     a grove of sleek relations, who surround him and keep him
+     from harm; such a man has never really tried the outer
+     world? and has but a second-hand experience of its troubles.
+
+As a picture, as we said before, he was magnificent, and there was a
+regal air with which he disposed the folds of his bournous, which we,
+clad in the costume of advanced civilization, could not but admire
+and envy. He had the advantage of us in every way, and made us feel it
+acutely. He had a splendid arm, and we could see it; the fine contour,
+and colour, of his head and neck were surrounded by white folds, but not
+concealed. His head was not surmounted with a battered 'wide-awake,' his
+neck was not bandaged as if it were wounded, his feet were not misshapen
+clumps of leather, his robes--but we have no heart to go further into
+detail. There is a 'well-dressed' French gentleman standing near
+this figure; and there is not about him one graceful fold, one good
+suggestive line, one tint of colour grateful to the eye, or one
+redeeming feature in his (by contrast) hideous _tout ensemble._
+
+These are everyday truths, but they strike us sometimes with a sort of
+surprise; we have discovered no new thing in costume, and nothing worth
+telling; but the sudden and humiliating contrast gives our artistic
+sensibilities a shock and fills us with despair.
+
+A little way removed there is a warrior on horseback at prayers, his
+hands outstretched, his face turned towards the sun. It is as grand a
+picture as the last, but it does not bear examination. He came and sat
+down afterwards, to smoke, close to our tent, and we regret to say that
+he was extremely dirty, and in his habits, rather cruel. There were
+red drops upon the ground where his horse had stood, and his spur was a
+terrible instrument to contemplate; in the enthusiasm of a noble nature
+he had ridden his delicate locomotive too hard, and had, apparently,
+sometimes forgotten to give it a feed. It was a beautiful, black Arab
+steed, but it wanted grooming sadly; its feet were cracked and spread
+from neglect, and its whole appearance betokened rough usage. Perhaps
+this was an exceptional case, perhaps not; but to the scandal of those
+whose romantic picture of the Arab in his tent with his children and
+his steed, are amongst the most cherished associations, we are bound to
+confess that we have seen as much cruelty as kindness, bestowed by the
+Arabs and Kabyles, on their horses, and incline to the opinion that
+they are, as a rule, anything but tender and loving to their four-footed
+friends.
+
+[Illustration: 0212]
+
+The Kabyles came round our tents in the morning before leaving, and
+the last we saw of our model patriarch, was flying before an enraged
+vivandi�re, who pursued him down the hill with a dish-cloth. He had been
+prowling about since dawn, and had forgotten the distinction between
+'meum' and 'tuum.'
+
+It has been said that there is 'no such thing as Arab embarrassment,
+and no such dignity as Arab dignity;' but the Arab or the Kabyle, as
+we hinted in a former chapter, appears to great disadvantage in contact
+with the French, and seems to lose at once in _morale_.
+
+Another day, there is a flutter in our little camp, for 'the mail'
+has come in, in the person of an active young orderly of Zouaves,
+who, leaving the bulk of his charge to come round by the road, has
+anticipated the regular delivery by some hours, scaling the heights with
+the agility of a cat, and appearing suddenly in our midst. If he had
+sprung out of the earth he could not have startled us much more, and
+if he had brought a message that all the troops were to leave Africa
+to-morrow, he could scarcely have been more welcome.
+
+And what has he brought to satisfy the crowd of anxious faces that
+assemble round the hut, dignified by the decoration of a pasteboard
+eagle and the inscription '_Bureau de Poste_.' It was scarcely as trying
+a position for an official, as that at our own Post-office at Sebastopol
+in Crimean days, although there was eagerness and crowding enough to
+perplex any distributor; but it was very soon over, in five minutes
+letters and papers were cast aside, and boredom had recommenced with the
+majority. It was the old story--the old curse of Algeria doing its work;
+the French officers are too near home to care much for 'news,' and hear
+too frequently from Paris (twice a week) to attach much importance to
+letters. Newspapers were the 'pi�ces de r�sistance,' but there was not
+much news in '_La Presse_' and its _feuilleton_ consisted of two or
+three chapters of a translation of Dickens' 'Martin Chuzzlewit'; there
+was the '_Moniteur_,' with lists of promotions in the army, and the
+usual announcement, that Napoleon, 'by the grace of God and the national
+will,' would levy new taxes upon the people; there was a provincial
+paper, containing an account of the discovery of some ruins near
+Carcassonne; there was '_Le Follet_' for 'my lady _commandant_,' and a
+few other papers with illustrated caricatures and conundrums.
+
+Some of the letters were amusing, as we heard them read aloud; one was
+too quaint not to mention, it was from a bootmaker in Paris to his dear,
+long-lost customer on the Kabyle Hills. He 'felt that he was going to
+die,' and prayed '_M'sieu le Lieutenant_' to order a good supply of
+boots for fear of any sudden accident, 'no one else could make such
+boots for Monsieur.' And so on, including subjects of about equal
+importance, with the latest Parisian gossip, and intelligence of a new
+piece at the 'Vari�t�s.' One other letter we may mention, that came up
+by the same post, to one other member of that little band, perched like
+eagles on the heights; it was also unimportant and from home, and the
+burden of it was this--'Broadtouch' had stretched ten feet of canvas for
+a painting of one rolling wave, and 'Interstice' had studied the texture
+of a nut-shell until his eyes were dim.
+
+We finish the evening as usual with dominoes and coffee; enjoying many a
+long and delightful chit-chat with our military friends. These pleasant,
+genial, but rather unhappy gentlemen do not 'talk shop,' it is
+tabooed in conversation, as strictly as at the 'Rag': but the stamp of
+banishment is upon their faces unmistakeably, and if they do speak
+of this foreign service (now that the war is nearly over), it is in
+language that seems to say,--'all ye who enter here, leave Hope behind.'
+
+[Illustration: 0219]
+
+[Illustration: 0221]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. 'WINTER SWALLOWS.'
+
+'_Oh que l'hirondelle est bien la type de la vraie sagesse, elle qui
+a su effacer de son existence, ces longs hivers qui glacent et
+engourdissent! D�s que le soleil commence � d�cro�tre, sit�t que les
+plantes jaunissent et qu'aux chaudes haleines du Z�phyr succ�dent les
+froides rafales de l'aquilon, elle s'envole prudemment � tire d'ailes,
+vers les douces r�gions embaum�es du Midi._'
+
+[Illustration: 9221]
+
+E come down the hills and back to Algiers, to find the winter in full
+bloom, and the 'winter swallows' in great force, In fact, so full of
+bustle is the town, and so frequent is the sight of English faces, and
+the sound of English voices, that it hardly seems like the place we had
+left a few weeks since.
+
+It has been said that English people love sunshine and blue sky more
+than any other nation, and that the dwellers under the 'ciel nebuleuse
+du nord,' will go anywhere to seek a brighter clime; and it is a fact,
+the importance of which is hardly realised in England, that the African
+sun is producing a crop of English residents that is growing rapidly,
+and taking firm root in the soil, in spite of siroccos, in spite of
+earthquakes--without a thought of colonization in the strict sense of
+the word, and without, it must be added, any particular love for the
+French people.
+
+The visitors, or tourists, are increasing also, and they are naturally,
+rather vulgarising our favourite places. Thus we hear of picnics at the
+Bouzareah, of balls at Mustapha, of 'trips' to Blidah by railway, and of
+'excursions to the gorge of La Chiffa and back' in one day.
+
+An amusing chapter might be written upon Algiers from the traveller's
+point of view, but one or two touches will suffice, to show the easy and
+familiar terms, on which our countrymen and country-women invade this
+stronghold of the French; once the 'city of pirates' and the terror of
+Mediterranean waters.
+
+There is the cosmopolitan traveller, who, having 'done Europe,' finds
+Algiers, of course, rather 'slow,' by contrast; and there is the very
+matter-of-fact traveller, who finds it all vanity, and says,--'Take
+ever so copious a stock of illusions with you to the bright Orient,
+and within half-an-hour after landing, you are as bankrupt as a bank
+of deposit... and the end of it all is, that this city of the "Arabian
+Nights" turns out to be as unromantic as Seven Dials.' There are lady
+travellers, who (enjoying special advantages by reason of their sex, and
+seeing much more than Englishmen of Moorish interiors) are perhaps
+best fitted to write books about this country; there are proselytizing
+ladies, who come with a mission, and end by getting themselves and their
+friends into trouble, by distributing tracts amongst the Moors; and
+there are ladies who (when their baggage is detained at one of the
+ports), endeavour to break down the barriers of official routine in an
+unexpected way. 'The douane did not choose to wake up and give us our
+luggage,' writes one, 'it was such a lazy douane; and though I went
+again and again and said pretty things to the gendarmes, it was of no
+use.'
+
+Another form of invasion is less polite, but it has been submitted
+to with tolerable grace on more than one occasion. Here is the latest
+instance. *
+
+     * 'Under the Palms,' by the Hon. Lewis Wingfield. London,
+     1867.
+
+'Being anxious to obtain a sketch of one of the quaint streets of the
+upper town, I wandered one morning up its dark alleys and intricate
+byeways; and wishing to establish myself at a window, I knocked at a
+promising door, and was answered by a mysterious voice from behind a
+lattice; the door opened of itself, and I marched upstairs unmindful of
+evil. In the upper court I was instantly surrounded by a troup of women,
+in the picturesque private dress of the Moorish ladies, unencumbered
+with veil or yashmak.
+
+'These ladies dragged at my watch-chain, and pulled my hair, until
+finding myself in such very questionable society, I beat a hasty
+retreat, flying down stairs six steps at a time, slamming the doors in
+the faces of the houris, and eventually reaching the street in safety,
+while sundry slow Mussulmans wagged their beards and said that Christian
+dogs did not often enter such places with impunity.'
+
+It is pleasant to see with what good tempered grace, both the Moors and
+the French take this modern English invasion. We settle down for the
+winter here and build and plant vineyards, and make merry, in the same
+romping fashion that we do in Switzerland. We write to England about it,
+as if the country belonged to us, and of the climate, as if we had been
+the discoverers of its charms. But it is all so cozy and genial, and so
+much a matter of course, that we are apt to forget its oddity; we have
+friends in England who speak of Algiers with positive delight, whose
+faces brighten at the very mention of its name, and who always speak of
+going there, as of 'going home.'
+
+We have principally confined our remarks to places near Algiers,
+omitting all mention of Oran and Constantine, because it is impossible
+to work to much purpose if we travel about, and these places are worthy
+of distinct and separate visits. The longest journey that we would
+suggest to artists to make in one winter, would be to the cedar forests
+of Teniet-el-Had, because the scenery is so magnificent, and the forms
+of the cedars themselves, are perhaps the wildest and most wonderful to
+be met with in any part of the world. Hitherto, almost the only
+sketches that we have seen of this mountain forest have been by our own
+countrymen and countrywomen, for French artists do not as a rule go far
+from Algiers.
+
+With a few notable exceptions, * our experience of the works of
+Frenchmen in Algiers, has been anything but inspiring; we have known
+these artists closetted for weeks--copying and re-copying fanciful
+desert scenes, such as camels dying on sandy plains, under a sky of
+the heaviest opaque blue, and with cold grey shadows upon the
+ground--drawing imaginary Mauresques on impossible housetops, and in
+short working more from fancy than from facts; producing, it may be,
+most saleable pictures, but doing themselves and their _clientelles_,
+no other good thereby. It seems ungracious to speak thus of people
+from whom we invariably received civility and kindness; but the truth
+remains, we found them hard at work on 'pot-boilers' for exportation,
+and doing, like the photographers, a flourishing trade.
+
+     * We shall not be accused of alluding in this category to
+     such painters as the late Horace Vern�t; or to G�rome,
+     Fr�re, and others who study here in winter time.
+
+We should endeavour to spend most of our time in the country, if we wish
+to make progress. If we stay in Algiers we shall of course be liable to
+some interruptions; we shall be too comfortable and perhaps become too
+luxurious. We must not dream away our time on a Turkey carpet, or on our
+_terrasse_, charming though the view may be. There is too much scent of
+henna, too strong a flavour of coffee and tobacco, there are, in short,
+too many of the comforts of life; we had better be off to the hills,
+where the air is cooler, and where we can live a free life under canvass
+for a while. *
+
+     * It may not be thought very practical to suggest much
+     sketching in the open air, as the light is generally
+     considered too trying, and the glare too great, for any very
+     successful work in colour.
+
+The tropical vegetation in Algeria gives continual shade and shelter,
+and the style of architecture, with cool open arcades to the houses, is
+admirably adapted for work; but failing the ordinary means of shelter,
+much may be done under a large umbrella, or from an ordinary military
+tent. In the Paris Exhibition of 1867, there were some portable, wooden
+Swiss houses, that seemed constructed for sketching purposes, as they
+could be taken down almost as easily as a tent, and removed from one
+place to another.
+
+A few months, spent amongst the mountains, will have a wonderfully
+bracing effect on Europeans, because both the eye and the mind will
+be satisfied and refreshed; although, it is a curious fact that on the
+uneducated, such scenes have little, or no, influence.
+
+We shall not easily forget 'the splendid comet of Arab civilization that
+has left such a trail of light behind it,' but cannot help remarking
+that neither the Arab in a state of nature, nor the Moor surrounded by
+every refinement and luxury, seem to be much influenced by the grace and
+beauty around them; and in this they do not stand alone, for it is, as
+we said, a notable fact? that contact with what is beautiful in scenery
+or in art, is of itself of little worth. *
+
+     * To reverse the position--it is a fact, which may be proved
+     bystatistics, that there is as much, if not more,
+     benevolence, forbearance, and mutual help, existing amongst
+     the lower classes in the 'black country,' as in any other
+     part of the United Kingdom.
+
+What shall we say of the Sicilian peasant girl, born and bred on the
+heights of Taormina?
+
+What of the Swiss girl who spends her life, knee-deep in newly-mown hay?
+Does beautiful scenery seem to inspire them with noble thoughts? Does
+being 'face to face with Nature,' as the phrase goes, appear to give
+them refined tastes, or to elevate their ideas? Does it seem to lead
+to cleanliness, to godliness, or any other virtue? The answer is almost
+invariably, 'No;' they must be educated to it, and neither the present
+race of Arabs nor Moors are so educated. They do not seem to appreciate
+the works of their fathers, and will, probably before long, fall into
+the way of dressing themselves and building dwellings, after the style
+of their conquerors.
+
+With Europeans it is just the reverse, and the most educated and refined
+amongst us, are learning more and more to value, what an Eastern nation
+is casting off. We submit to the fashions of our time not without
+murmurs, which are sounds of hope. We put up with a hideous costume and
+more hideous streets--from habit or necessity as the case may be--but
+even custom will not altogether deaden the senses to a love for the
+beautiful. In costume this is especially noticeable.
+
+What is it that attracts the largest audiences to 'burlesque'
+representations at our theatres? Not the buffoonery, but the spectacle.
+The eye robbed of its natural food, seeks it in a number of roundabout
+ways--but it seeks it. What made the American people crowd to Ristori's
+performances in New York, over and over again? Not the novelty, not
+alone for the sake of being able to say that they had been there; but
+for the delight to the eye in contemplating forms of classic beauty,
+and the delight to the ear in hearing the poetry of the most musical
+language in the world, nobly spoken, although but few of the audience
+could understand a word. It was a libel upon the people to suggest that
+their attending these performances was affectation; it was an almost
+unconscious drawing out of that natural love for the beautiful, which
+is implanted somewhere, in every human breast, and which, in this case
+perhaps, gave the American audience a temporary relief from smartness,
+and angularity of body and mind.
+
+[Illustration: 0233]
+
+[Illustration: 0235]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION.
+
+[Illustration: 9235]
+
+F the foregoing sketches have seemed to some of our readers, a thought
+too slight and discursive, and to be wanting in detail; it is because,
+perhaps, they have reflected a little too naturally, the habit of
+a painter's mind, and have followed out the principle of outdoor
+sketching, which is to 'hit off' as accurately as possible, the various
+points of interest that come under observation, and, in doing so,
+to give _colour_ rather than detail, and to aim principally at the
+rendering of atmosphere and effect.
+
+But for this, perhaps, most readers will be thankful, and for two
+reasons. First, because it is a fact, that English people as a rule,
+care little or nothing for Algeria as a colony--that they never have
+cared, and probably never will. Second, because, in spite of the
+assertion of a late writer, that 'Algeria is a country virtually unknown
+to Englishmen,' we believe that the English public has been literally
+inundated with books of travel and statistics, on this subject.
+
+It is only in its picturesque aspect, and as a winter residence for
+invalids, that Algiers will ever claim much interest for English people;
+and even in picturesqueness, it falls far short of other cities well
+known to Englishmen. There is nothing in costume to compare with the
+bazaars of Constantinople, or in architecture, to the bystreets of
+Trebizond; but Algeria is much more accessible from England, and that is
+our reason for selecting it. It has one special attraction, in which it
+stands almost alone, viz, that here we may see the two great tides of
+civilization--primitive and modern--the East and the West--meet
+and mingle without limit and without confusion. There is no violent
+collision and no decided fusion; but the general result is peaceful, and
+we are enabled to contemplate it at leisure; and have such intimate and
+quiet intercourse with the Oriental, as is nowhere else to be met with,
+we believe, in the world.
+
+In speaking thus enthusiastically of the advantages of Algeria, let
+us not be supposed to undervalue the beauties of England, or its
+unapproachable landscape and mountain scenery. The 'painter's camp' in
+the Highlands, is no doubt, the right place for a camp, but it is not
+the only right place; the spot where it was pitched is covered with snow
+as we write these lines. Moreover, it is not given to everyone to be
+able to _draw trees_, and it is a change and relief to many, to have
+landscape work that does not depend upon their successful delineation.
+
+In fine, for artists, Algiers seems perfect; a cheap place of residence
+with few 'distractions,' without many taxes or cares; with extraordinary
+opportunities for the study of Nature in her grandest aspects, and of
+character, costume, and architecture of a good old type.
+
+But what they really gain by working here is not easily written down,
+nor to be explained to others; nor is it all at once discovered by
+themselves. It has not been dinned into their ears by rote, or by rule,
+but rather inhaled, and (if we may so express it) taken in with the
+atmosphere they breathe. If they have not produced anything great or
+noble, they have at least infused more light and nature into their
+work, and have done something to counteract the tendency to that sickly
+sentimentality and artificialism, that is the curse of modern schools.
+
+We have been led to insist, perhaps a little too earnestly, on the good
+effects of sound work on a painter's mind, by the thought of what some
+of our foremost artists are doing at the present time. When painters of
+the highest aim and most refined intelligence, seem tending towards a
+system of mere decorative art; when Millais paints children, apparently,
+to display their dress, and devotes his great powers as a colourist
+almost exclusively to imitative work; when Leighton cultivates a style
+of refined Platonism which is not Attic and is sometimes scarcely human;
+when other painters of celebrity, that we need scarcely name spend
+their lives upon the working out of effective details; when the modern
+development of what is called Pr�-Raphaelitism, seems to remove us
+farther than ever from what should be the aim of a great painter, we may
+be pardoned for insisting upon the benefits of change of air and change
+of scene.
+
+But not only to artists and amateurs--to those fortunate people whose
+time and means are as as much at their own disposal as the genii of
+Aladdin's lamp; to those who can get 'ordered abroad' at the season when
+it is most pleasant to go; to those who live at high pressure for
+half the year, and need a change--not so much perhaps, from winter's
+gloom--as from the 'clouds that linger on the mind's horizon;' to all
+who seek a 'new sensation,' we would say, once more--pay a visit to
+the 'city of pirates,' to the 'diamond set in emeralds,' on the African
+shore.
+
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT TO SECOND EDITION.
+
+_We have been requested by several readers to state, in a New Edition,
+the readiest and cheapest method of reaching Algeria from England.
+
+There is no quicker or cheaper way than to go through France to
+Marseilles, and thence by steamer direct to Algiers. The cost of the
+journey from London to Algiers varies from to �10, according to
+'class.' The steamers from Marseilles leave on Tuesdays, Thursdays,
+and Saturdays, at mid-day: the cheapest boats leave on Thursdays,
+their first-class fare, including living, being about �3 3s. All other
+information respecting this journey, can be obtained by reference to
+Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide.
+
+The best months for a visit to Algeria are from November to April.
+
+Travellers should obtain the French 'Guide de l'Algerie,' published by
+Hachette, Paris; also 'Last Winter in Algeria,' by Mrs. Evans, a most
+useful book for visitors.
+
+Hotels in Algiers:--'L Orient,' 'La Regence' 'L Europe,' &c._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Artists and Arabs, by Henry Blackburn
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+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Artists and Arabs;, by Henry Blackburn,
+    </title>
+<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
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+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    .indent5   { margin-left: 5%;}
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Artists and Arabs, by Henry Blackburn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Artists and Arabs
+       Or, Sketching in Sunshine
+
+Author: Henry Blackburn
+
+Illustrator: Henry Blackburn
+
+Release Date: April 14, 2014 [EBook #45380]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARTISTS AND ARABS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger from page images generously
+provided by the Internet Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      ARTISTS AND ARABS;
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      OR
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      Sketching in Sunshine
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Henry Blackburn,
+    </h2>
+    <h4>
+      Author Of 'Normandy Picturesque,' 'The Pyrenees,' 'Travelling In Spain,'
+      Etc. <br /> <br /> Second Edition. <br /> <br /> With Numerous Illustrations.
+      <br /> <br /> London: <br /> <br /> Sampson Low, Son, And Marston,
+    </h4>
+    <h5>
+      1870.
+    </h5>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0008m.jpg" alt="0008m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0008.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0009m.jpg" alt="0009m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0009.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0011m.jpg" alt="0011m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0011.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> ARGUMENT. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. ON THE WING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. ALGIERS. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. THE MOORISH QUARTER&mdash;OUR
+      STUDIO. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. 'MODELS.' </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. OUR 'LIFE SCHOOL' </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. THE BOUZAREAH&mdash;A STORM. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. BLIDAH&mdash;MEDEAH&mdash;THE ATLAS
+      MOUNTAINS. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. KAB YLIA&mdash;THE FORT NAPOL�ON.
+      </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. 'WINTER SWALLOWS.' </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> POSTSCRIPT TO SECOND EDITION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ARGUMENT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The advantage of winter studios abroad, and the value of sketching in the
+      open air; especially in Algeria.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'The best thing the author of a book can do, is to tell the reader, on a
+      piece of paper an inch square, what he means by it.'&mdash;Athenaeum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0019m.jpg" alt="0019m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0019.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <h1>
+      ARTISTS AND ARABS.
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. ON THE WING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9019.jpg" alt="9019 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9019.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Y the middle of the month of July, the Art season in London was on the
+      wane, and by the end of August the great body of English artists had
+      dispersed, some, the soundest workers perhaps, to the neighbourhood of
+      Welsh mountains and English homesteads, to&mdash;'The silence of thatched
+      cottages and the voices of blossoming fields.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the Tweed to the Shetland Isles, they were thick upon the hills; in
+      every nook and corner of England, amongst the cornfields and upon the
+      lakes; in the valleys and torrent beds of Wales, the cry was still 'they
+      come.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the continent, both artists and amateurs were everywhere. Smith toiling
+      across the Campagna with the thermometer at 95 (his reward a quiet pipe at
+      the 'caf� Greco' when the sun goes down) is but a counterpart of a hundred
+      other Smiths scattered abroad. In the galleries of Florence and Rome no
+      more easels could be admitted, and in Switzerland and Savoy the little
+      white tents and 'sun-umbrellas' glistened on the mountain side. Brown
+      might be seen rattling down an arr�te from the Fleg�re, with his <i>mat�riel</i>
+      swung across his back, like a carpenter's basket, after a hard day's work
+      sketching the Aiguilles that tower above the valley of Chamounix; and
+      Jones, with his little wife beside him, sitting under the deep shade of
+      the beech-trees in the valley of Sixt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were a sketching party, consisting of two, three or four, according to
+      convenience or accident, wandering about and pitching our tent in various
+      places away from the track of tourists; we had been spending most of the
+      summer days in the beautiful Val d'Aosta (that school for realistic work
+      that a great teacher once selected for his pupil, giving him three months
+      to study its chesnut groves, 'to brace his mind to a comprehension of
+      facts'); we had prolonged the summer far into autumn on the north shore of
+      the Lago Maggiore, where from the heights above the old towns of Intra and
+      Pallanza we had watched its banks turn from green to golden and from gold
+      to russet brown. The mountains were no longer <i>en toilette</i>, as the
+      French express it, and the vineyards were stripped of their purple bloom;
+      the wind had come down from the Simplon in sudden and determined gusts,
+      and Monte Rosa no longer stood alone in her robe of white; the last
+      visitor had left the H�tel de l'Univers at Pallanza, and our host was glad
+      to entertain us at the rate of four francs a day 'tout compris'&mdash;when
+      the question came to us, as it does to so many other wanderers in Europe
+      towards the end of October, where to go for winter quarters, where to
+      steal yet a further term of summer days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Should we go again to Spain to study Velasquez and Murillo, should we go
+      as usual to Rome; or should we strike out a new path altogether and go to
+      Trebizond, Cairo, Tunis, or Algeria?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no agreeing on the matter, diversity of opinion was very great
+      and discussion ran high (the majority we must own, having leanings towards
+      Rome and <i>chic</i>; and also 'because there would be more fun'); so,
+      like true Bohemians, we tossed for places and the lot fell upon Algeria.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning we are on the way. Trusting ourselves and our baggage to
+      one of those frail-looking little boats with white awnings, that form a
+      feature in every picture of Italian lake scenery, and which, in their
+      peculiar motion and method of propulsion (the rower standing at the stern
+      and facing his work), bear just sufficient resemblance to the Venetian
+      gondola to make us chafe a little at the slow progress we make through the
+      smooth water, we sit and watch the receding towers of Pallanza, as it
+      seems, for the livelong day. There is nothing to relieve the monotony of
+      motion, and scarcely a sound to break the stillness, until we approach the
+      southern shore, and it becomes a question of anxiety as to whether we
+      shall really reach Arona before sundown. But the old boatman is not to be
+      moved by any expostulation or entreaty, nor is he at all affected by the
+      information that we run great risk of losing the last train from Arona;
+      and so we are spooned across the great deep lake at the rate of two or
+      three miles an hour, and glide into the harbour with six inches of water
+      on the flat-bottom of the boat amongst our portmanteaus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From Arona to Genoa by railway, and from Genoa to Nice by the Cornice road&mdash;that
+      most beautiful of all drives, where every variety of grandeur and
+      loveliness of view, both by sea and land, seems combined, and from the
+      heights of which, if we look seaward and scan the southern horizon, we can
+      sometimes trace an irregular dark line, which is Corsica&mdash;past
+      Mentone and Nice, where the 'winter swallows' are arriving fast; making a
+      wonderful flutter in their nests, all eagerness to obtain the most
+      comfortable quarters, * and all anxiety to have none but 'desirable'
+      swallows for neighbours. This last is a serious matter, this settling down
+      for the winter at Nice, for it is here that the swallows choose their
+      mates, pairing off wonderfully in the springtime, like grouse-shooting
+      M.P.s in August.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * Necessary enough, to be protected from the cold blasts
+     that sweep down the valleys, as many invalids know to their
+     cost, who have taken houses or lodgings hastily at Nice.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      A few hours' journey by railway and we are at Marseilles, where
+      (especially at the 'Grand Hotel') it is an understood and settled thing
+      that every Englishman is on his way, to or from Italy or India, and it
+      requires considerable perseverance to impress upon the attendants that the
+      steamer which sails at noon for Algiers is the one on which our baggage is
+      to be placed, and it is almost impossible to persuade the driver of a
+      fiacre that we do <i>not</i> want to go by the boat just starting for
+      Civita Vecchia or Leghorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On stepping on board it almost seems as if there were some mistake, for we
+      appear to be the only passengers on the after deck, and to be looked upon
+      with some curiosity by the swarthy half-naked crew, who talk together in
+      an unknown tongue; notwithstanding that at the packet office in the town
+      we were informed that we could not secure berths for certain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have several hours to wait and to look about us, for the mail is not
+      brought on board until three in the afternoon, and it is half-past, before
+      the officials have kissed each other on both cheeks and we are really
+      moving off&mdash;threading our way with difficulty through the mass of
+      shipping which hems us in on all sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The foredeck of the <i>Akhbar</i> is one mass of confusion and crowding,
+      but the eye soon detects the first blush of oriental colour and costume,
+      and on nearer inspection it is easy to distinguish a few white bournouses
+      moving through the crowd. There are plenty of Zouaves in undress uniforms,
+      chiefly young men, with a superfluity of medals and the peculiar swagger
+      which seems inseparable from this costume; others old and bronzed, who
+      have been to Europe on leave and are returning to join their regiments.
+      Some parting scenes we witness between families of the peasant order, of
+      whom there appear to be a number on board, and their friends who leave in
+      the last boat for the shore. These, one and all, take leave of each other
+      with a significant 'au revoir,' which is the key-note to the whole
+      business, and tells us (who are not studying politics and have no wish or
+      intention, to trouble the reader with the history or prospects of the
+      colony) the secret of its ill-success, viz.:&mdash;that these colonists <i>intend</i>
+      to <i>come back</i>, and that they are much too near home in Algeria.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Looking down upon the fore-deck, as we leave the harbour of Marseilles,
+      there seems scarcely an available inch of space that is not encumbered
+      with bales and goods of all kinds; with heaps of rope and chain, military
+      stores, piles of arms, cavalry-horses, sheep, pigs, and a prodigious
+      number of live fowls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the after-deck there are but six passengers, there is a Moorish Jew
+      talking fluently with a French commercial traveller, a sad and silent
+      officer of Chasseurs with his young wife, and two lieutenants who chatter
+      away with the captain; the latter, in consideration of his rank as an
+      officer in the Imperial Marine, leaving the mate to take charge of the
+      vessel during the entire voyage. This gentleman seems to the uninitiated
+      to be a curious encumbrance, and to pass his time in conversation, in
+      sleep, and in the consumption of bad cigars. He is 6 a disappointed man'
+      of course, as all officers are, of whatever nation, age, or degree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The voyage averages forty-eight hours, but is often accomplished in less
+      time on the southward journey. It is an uncomfortable period even in fine
+      weather, just too long for a pleasure trip, and just too short to settle
+      down and make up one's mind to it, as in crossing the Atlantic. Our boat
+      is an old Scotch screw, which has been lent to the Company of the <i>Messageries
+      Imp�riales</i> for winter duty&mdash;the shaft hammering and vibrating
+      through the saloon and after-cabins incessantly for the first twenty-four
+      hours, whilst she labours against a cross sea in the Gulf of Lyons,
+      indisposes' the majority of the company, and the captain dines by himself;
+      but about noon on the next day it becomes calm, and the <i>Akhbar</i>
+      steams quietly between the Balearic Islands, close enough for us to
+      distinguish one or two churches and white houses, and a square erection
+      that a fellow-traveller informs us is the work of the 'Majorca Land,
+      Compagnie Anglaise.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the following little sketch we have indicated the appearance in outline
+      of the two islands of Majorca and Minorca as we approach them going
+      southward, passing at about equal distances between the islands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0029m.jpg" alt="0029m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0029.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      The sea is calm and the sky is bright as we leave the islands behind us,
+      and the <i>Akhbar</i> seems to skim more easily through the deep blue
+      water, leaving a wake of at least a mile, and another wake in the sky of
+      sea gulls, who follow us for the rest of the voyage in a graceful
+      undulating line, sleeping on the rigging at night unmolested by the crew,
+      who believe in their good omen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the second morning on coming on deck we find ourselves in the tropics,
+      the sky is a deep azure, the heat is intense, and the brightness of
+      everything is wonderful. The sun's rays pour down on the vessel, and their
+      effect on the occupants of the fore-deck is curious to witness. The odd
+      heaps of clothing that had lain almost unnoticed during the voyage
+      suddenly come to life, and here and there a dark visage peeps from under a
+      tarpaulin, from the inside of a coil of rope, or from a box of chain, and
+      soon the whole vessel, both the fore and after-deck, is teeming with life,
+      and we find at least double the number of human beings on board that we
+      had had any idea of at starting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the interest of every one is now centred on a low dark line of coast,
+      with a background of mountains, which every minute becomes more defined;
+      and we watch it until we can discern one or two of the highest peaks,
+      tipped with snow. Soon we can make out a bright green, or rather as it
+      seems in the sunlight, a golden shore, set with a single gem that sparkles
+      in the water. Again it changes into the aspect of a little white pyramid
+      or triangle of chalk on a green shore shelving to the sea, next into an
+      irregular mass of houses with flat roofs, and mosques with ornamented
+      towers and cupolas, surrounded and surmounted by grim fortifications,
+      which are not Moorish; and in a little while we can distinguish the French
+      houses and hotels, a Place, a modern harbour and lighthouse, docks, and
+      French shipping, and one piratical-looking craft that passes close under
+      our bows, manned by dark sailors with bright red sashes and large
+      earrings, dressed like the fishermen in the opera of Mas-aniello. And
+      whilst we are watching and taking it all in, we have glided to our
+      moorings, close under the walls of the great Mosque (part of which we have
+      sketched from this very point of view); and are surrounded by a swarm of
+      half-naked, half-wild and frantic figures, who rush into the water
+      vociferating and imploring us in languages difficult to understand, to be
+      permitted to carry the Franks' baggage to the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking the first that comes, we are soon at the landing steps and beset by
+      a crowd of beggars, touters, idlers and nondescripts of nearly every
+      nation and creed under heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0033m.jpg" alt="0033m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0033.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0035m.jpg" alt="0035m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0035.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. ALGIERS.
+    </h2>
+    <p class="indent10">
+      'Ah oui, c'est qu'elle est belle avec ces ch�teaux forts,
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent10">
+      Couch�s dans les pr�s verts, comme les g�ants morts!
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent10">
+      C'est qu'elle est noble, Alger la fille du corsaire!
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent10">
+      Un r�seau de murs blancs la prot�ge et l'enserre.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9035.jpg" alt="9035 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9035.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      HE first view of the town of Algiers, with its pretty clusters of white
+      houses set in bright green hills, or as the French express it, 'like a
+      diamond set in emeralds,' the range of the lesser Atlas forming a
+      background of purple waves rising one above the other until they are lost
+      in cloud&mdash;was perhaps the most beautiful sight we had witnessed, and
+      it is as well to record it at once, lest the experience of the next few
+      hours might banish it from memory.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a good beginning to have a stately barefooted Arab to shoulder our
+      baggage from the port, and wonderful to see the load he carried
+      unassisted. * As he winds his way through the narrow and steep slippery
+      streets (whilst we who are shod by a Hoby and otherwise encumbered by
+      broadcloth, have enough to do to keep pace with him, and indeed to keep
+      our footing), it is good to see how nobly our Arab bears his load, how
+      beautifully balanced is his lithe figure, and with what grace and ease he
+      stalks along. As he slightly bows, when taking our three francs (his
+      'tariff' as he calls it), there is a dignity in his manner, and a
+      composure about him that is almost embarrassing. How he came, in the
+      course of circumstances, to be carrying our luggage instead of wandering
+      with his tribe, perhaps civilization&mdash;French civilization&mdash;can
+      answer.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     *  It is generally admitted, we believe, that  a vegetable
+     diet will not produce heroes,' and there is certainly a
+     prejudice in England about the value of beef for navvies and
+     others who put muscular power into their work. It is an
+     interesting fact to note, and one which we think speaks
+     volumes for the climate of Algeria, that this gentleman
+     lives almost entirely on fruit, rice, and Indian corn.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The first hurried glance (as we followed our cicerone up the landing steps
+      to the 'H�tel de la R�gence,' which faces the sea) at the dazzlingly white
+      flat-roofed houses without windows, at the mosques with their gaily
+      painted towers, at the palm-trees and orange-trees, and at the crowd of
+      miscellaneous costumes in which colour preponderated everywhere, gave the
+      impression of a thorough Mahommedan city; and now as we walk down to the
+      <i>Place</i> and look about us at leisure, we find to our astonishment and
+      delight that the Oriental element is still most prominent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most striking and bewildering thing is undoubtedly the medley that
+      meets the eye everywhere: the conflict of races, the contrast of colours,
+      the extraordinary brightness of everything, the glare, the strange sounds
+      and scenes that cannot be easily taken in at a first visit; the variety of
+      languages heard at the same time, and above all the striking beauty of
+      some faces, and the luxurious richness of costume.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First in splendour come the Moors (traders looking like princes),
+      promenading or lounging about under the trees, looking as important and as
+      richly attired as was ever Caliph Haroun Alraschid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They are generally fair and slight of figure, with false effeminate faces,
+      closely-shaven heads covered with fez and turban, loose baggy trousers,
+      jacket and vest of blue or crimson cloth, embroidered with gold; round
+      their waists are rich silken sashes, and their fingers are covered with a
+      profusion of rings. Their legs are often bare and their feet are enclosed
+      in the usual Turkish slipper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is the prominent town type of Moor or Jew, the latter to be
+      distinguished by wearing dark trousers, clean white stockings, French
+      shoes, and a round cloth cap of European pattern. There are various
+      grades, both of the Moors and Jews, some of course shabby and dirty
+      enough; but the most dignified and picturesque figures are the tall dark
+      Arabs and the Kabyles, with their flowing white bournouses, their turbans
+      of camel's hair, and their independent noble bearing. Here we see them
+      walking side by side with their conquerors in full military uniform and
+      their conquerors' wives in the uniform of <i>Le Follet</i>, whilst
+      white-robed female figures flit about closely veiled, and Marabouts (the
+      Mahom-medan priests) also promenade in their flowing robes. Arab women and
+      children lounge about selling fruit or begging furtively, and others hurry
+      to and fro carrying burdens; and everywhere and ever present in this
+      motley throng, the black frock-coat and chimney-pot hat assert themselves,
+      to remind us of what we might otherwise soon be forgetting,&mdash;that we
+      are but four days' journey from England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is noise enough altogether on the <i>Place</i> to bewilder any
+      stranger; for besides the talking and singing, and the cries of vendors of
+      fruit and wares, there is considerable traffic. Close to us as we sit
+      under the trees, (so close as almost to upset the little tables in front
+      of the caf�s), without any warning, a huge diligence will come lunging on
+      to the <i>Place</i> groaning under a pile of merchandise, with a bevy of
+      Arabs on the roof, and a party of Moorish women in the 'rotonde';
+      presently there passes a company of Zouaves at quick step, looking hot and
+      dusty enough, marching to their terrible tattoo; and next, by way of
+      contrast again, come two Arab women with their children, mounted on
+      camels, the beasts looking overworked and sulky; they edge their way
+      through the crowd with the greatest nonchalance, and with an impatient
+      croaking sound go shambling past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 'Place Royale' faces the north, and is enclosed on three sides with
+      modern French houses with arcades and shops, and when we have time to
+      examine their contents, we shall find them also principally French. Next
+      door to a bonnet-shop there is certainly the name of Mustapha over the
+      door, and in the window are pipes, coral, and filagree work exposed for
+      sale; but most of the goods come from France. Next door again is a French
+      caf�, where Arabs, who can afford it, delight in being waited upon by
+      their conquerors with white aprons and neck-ties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The background of all this is superb: a calm sunlit sea, white sails
+      glittering and flashing, and far to the eastward a noble bay, with the
+      Kabyle mountains stretching out their arms towards the north.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At four o'clock the band plays on the <i>Place</i>, and as we sit and
+      watch the groups of Arabs and Moors listening attentively to the overture
+      to 'William Tell,' or admiringly examining the gay uniforms and medals of
+      the Chasseurs d'Afrique&mdash;as we see the children of both nations at
+      high romps together&mdash;as the sweet sea-breeze that fans us so gently,
+      bears into the newly constructed harbour together, a corvette of the
+      Imperial Marine and a suspicious-looking raking craft with latteen sails&mdash;as
+      Marochetti's equestrian statue of the Duke of Orleans, and a mosque, stand
+      side by side before us&mdash;we have Algiers presented to us in the
+      easiest way imaginable, and (without going through the ordeal of studying
+      its history or statistics) obtain some idea of the general aspect of the
+      place and of the people, and of the relative position of conquerors and
+      conquered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As our business is principally with the Moorish, or picturesque side of
+      things, let us first look at the great Mosque which we glanced at as we
+      entered the harbour, and part of which we have sketched for the reader.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0043m.jpg" alt="0043m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0043.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      Built close to the water's edge, so close that the Mediterranean waves are
+      sapping its foundations&mdash;with plain white shining walls, nearly
+      destitute of exterior ornament, it is perhaps 'the most perfect example of
+      strength and beauty, and of fitness and grace of line, that we shall see
+      in any building of this type. * It is thoroughly Moorish in style,
+      although built by a Christian, if we may believe the story, of which there
+      are several versions; how the Moors in old days took captive a Christian
+      architect, and promised him his liberty on condition of his building them
+      a mosque; how he, true to his own creed, dexterously introduced into the
+      ground plan the form of a cross; and how the Moors, true also to their
+      promise, gave him his liberty indeed, but at the cannon's mouth through a
+      window, seaward.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * This beautiful architectural feature of the town has not
+     escaped the civilizing hand of the Frank; the last time we
+     visited Algiers we found the oval window in the tower gone,
+     and in its place an illuminated French clock!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The general outline of these mosques is familiar to most readers, the
+      square white walls pierced at intervals with quaint-shaped little windows,
+      the flat cupola or dome, and the square tower often standing apart from
+      the rest of the structure as in the little vignette on our title-page,
+      like an Italian campanile. Some of these towers are richly decorated with
+      arabesque ornamentation,' and glitter in the sun with colour and gilding,
+      but the majority of the mosques are as plain and simple in design as shown
+      in our large sketch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, if we take off our shoes, we may enter and hear the Koran read, and
+      we may kneel down to pray with Arabs and Moors; religious tolerance is
+      equally exercised by both creeds. Altogether the Mahommedan places of
+      worship seem by far the most prominent, and although there is a Roman
+      Catholic church and buildings held by other denominations of Christians,
+      there is none of that predominant proselytizing aspect which we might have
+      expected after thirty years' occupation by the French! At Tetuan, for
+      instance, where the proportion of Christians to Mahommedans is certainly
+      smaller, the 'Catholic church' rears its head much more conspicuously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Algiers the priestly element is undoubtedly active, and <i>Soeurs de
+      Charit�</i> are to be seen everywhere, but the buildings that first strike
+      the eye are not churches but mosques; the sounds that become more familiar
+      to the ear than peals of bells, are the Muezzin's morning and evening
+      salutation from the tower of a mosque, calling upon all true believers to&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent15">
+      'Come to prayers, come to prayers,
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent15">
+      It is better to pray than to sleep.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The principal streets in Algiers lead east and west from the <i>Place</i>
+      to the principal gates, the Bab-Azoun and the Bab-el-Oued. They are for
+      the most part French, with arcades like the Rue de Rivoli in Paris; many
+      of the houses are lofty and built in the style perhaps best known as the
+      'Haussman.' Nearly all the upper town is still Moorish, and is approached
+      by narrow streets or lanes,&mdash;steep, slippery, and tortuous, * which
+      we shall examine by-and-bye.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * It may be interesting to artists to learn that in this
+     present year 1868, most of the quaint old Moorish streets
+     and buildings are intact&mdash;neither disturbed by earthquakes
+     nor 'improved' out of sight.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The names of some of the streets are curious, and suggestive of change.
+      Thus we see the 'Rue Royale,' the 'Rue Imp�riale there is, or was until
+      lately, a 'Place Nationale,' and one street is still boldly proclaimed to
+      be the 'Rue d� la R�volution'!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In passing through the French quarter, through the new wide streets,
+      squares and inevitable boulevards, the number of shops for fancy goods and
+      Parisian wares, especially those of hairdressers and modistes, seems
+      rather extraordinary; remembering that the entire European population of
+      Algeria, agricultural as well as urban, is not much more than that of
+      Brighton. In a few shops there are tickets displayed in different
+      languages, but linguists are rare, and where there are announcements of
+      the labels have generally a perplexing, composite character, like the
+      inscription on a statue at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, which ran thus
+      'Miss Ofelia dans Amlet.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before we proceed further, let us glance at the general mode of living in
+      Algiers, speaking first of the traveller who goes to the hotels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ordinary visitor of a month or two will drop down pleasantly enough
+      into the system of hotel life in Algiers; and even if staying for the
+      winter he will probably find it more convenient and amusing to take his
+      meals in French fashion at the hotels, ringing the changes between three
+      or four of the best, and one or two well-known caf�s, There is generally
+      no table-d'h�te, but strangers can walk in and have breakfast or dine very
+      comfortably at little tables '<i>a part</i>,' at a fixed hour and at a
+      moderate price. The rooms are pleasant, cool, and airy, with large windows
+      open to the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything is neatly and quietly served, the menu is varied enough, with
+      good French dishes and game in abundance; the hosts being especially
+      liberal in providing those delicious little birds that might be larks or
+      quails,&mdash;which in Algiers we see so often on the table and so seldom
+      on the wing.
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      INGLIS <br />SPOKEN.
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      Half the people that are dining at the 'H�tel d'Orient' to-day are
+      residents or habitu�s; they come in and take their accustomed places as
+      cosily, and are almost as particular and fastidious, as if they were at
+      their club.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is the colonel of a cavalry regiment dining alone, and within joking
+      distance, five young officers, whose various grades of rank are almost as
+      evident from their manner as from the number of stripes on their bright
+      red kepis ranged on the wall of the salon. A French doctor and his wife
+      dine vis-�-vis, at one table, a lady <i>solitaire</i> at another; some
+      gentlemen, whose minds are tuned to commerce, chatter in a corner by
+      themselves; whilst a group of newly-arrived English people in the middle
+      of the room, are busily engaged in putting down the various questions with
+      which they intend to bore the viceconsul on the morrow, as if he were some
+      good-natured house-agent, valet-de-place, and interpreter in one, placed
+      here by Providence for their especial behoof. But it is all very orderly,
+      sociable, and comfortable, and by no means an unpleasant method of living
+      for a time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is the <i>cercle</i>, the club, at which we may dine sometimes;
+      there are those pretty little villas amongst the orange-trees at Mustapha
+      Sup�rieure, where we may spend the most delightful evenings of all; and
+      there are also the Governor's weekly balls, soir�es at the consulate, and
+      other pleasant devices for turning night into day, in Algiers as
+      everywhere else&mdash;which we shall be wise if we join in but sparingly.
+      And there are public amusements, concerts, balls, and the theatre&mdash;the
+      latter with a company of operatic singers with weak lungs, but voices as
+      sweet as any heard in Italy; and there are the moonlight walks by the sea,
+      to many the greatest delight of all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ordinary daily occupations are decidedly social and domestic; and it
+      may be truly said that for a stranger, until he becomes accustomed to the
+      place, there is very little going on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You must not bathe, for instance, on this beautiful shelving shore.
+      'Nobody bathes, it gives fever,' was the invariable answer to enquiries on
+      this subject, and though it is not absolutely forbidden by the faculty,
+      there are so many restrictions imposed upon bathers that few attempt it;
+      moreover, an Englishman is not likely to have brought an acrobatic suit
+      with him, nor will he easily find a 'costume de bain' in Algiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is very little to do besides wander about the town, or make
+      excursions in the environs or into the interior (in which latter case it
+      is as well to take a fowling-piece, as there is plenty of game to be met
+      with); and altogether we may answer a question often asked about Algiers
+      as to its attractions for visitors, that it has not many (so called), for
+      the mere holiday lounger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for those who have resources of their own, for those who have work to
+      do which they wish to do quietly, and who breathe more freely under a
+      bright blue sky, Algiers seems to us to be <i>the</i> place to come to.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 'bird of passage,' who has unfortunately missed an earthquake, often
+      reports that Algiers is a little dull; but even he should not find it so,
+      for beyond the 'distractions' we have hinted at, there is plenty to amuse
+      him if he care little for what is picturesque. There are (or were when we
+      were there), a troop of performing Arabs of the tribe of 'Beni Zouzoug,'
+      who performed nightly the most hideous atrocities in the name of religious
+      rites: wounding their wretched limbs with knives, eating glass, holding
+      burning coals in their mouths, standing on hot iron until the feet
+      frizzled and gave forth sickening odours, and doing other things in an
+      ecstacy of religious frenzy which we could not print, and which would
+      scarcely be believed in if we did. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * Since writing the above, we observe that these Arabs (or a
+     band of mountebanks in their name), have been permitted to
+     perform their horrible orgies in Paris and London, and that
+     young ladies go in evening dress to the 'stalls' to witness
+     them.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      There are various Moorish ceremonies to be witnessed. There are the
+      sacrifices at the time of the Ramadhan, when the negro priestesses go down
+      to the water side and offer up beasts and birds; the victims, after
+      prolonged agonies which crowds assemble to witness, being finally handed
+      over to a French <i>chef de cuisine</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are the mosques to be entered barefoot, and the native courts of law
+      to be seen. Then if possible, a Moor should be visited at home, and a
+      glimpse obtained of his domestic economy, including a dinner without
+      knives or forks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An entertainment consisting entirely of Moorish dances and music is easily
+      got up, and is one of the characteristic sights of Algiers. The young
+      trained dancing girls, urged on to frenzy by the beating of the tom-tom,
+      and falling exhausted at last into the arms of their masters; (dancing
+      with that monotonous motion peculiar to the East, the body swaying to and
+      fro without moving the feet); the uncouth wild airs they sing, their
+      shrieks dying away into a sigh or moan, will not soon be forgotten, and
+      many other scenes of a like nature, on which we must not dwell&mdash;for
+      are they not written in twenty books on Algeria already?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there are two sights which are seldom mentioned by other writers,
+      which we must just allude to in passing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Arab races, which take place in the autumn on the French racecourse
+      near the town, are very curious, and well worth seeing. Their peculiarity
+      consists in about thirty Arabs starting off pell-mell, knocking each other
+      over in their first great rush, their bournouses mingling together and
+      flying in the wind, but arriving at the goal generally singly, and at a
+      slow trot, in anything but racing fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another event is the annual gathering of the tribes, when representatives
+      from the various provinces camp on the hills of the Sahel, and the
+      European can wander from one tent to another and spend his day enjoying
+      Arab hospitality, in sipping coffee and smoking everywhere the pipe of
+      peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These things we only hint at as resources for visitors, if they are
+      fortunate enough to be in Algiers at the right time; but there are one or
+      two other things that they are not likely to miss, whether they wish to do
+      so or not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They will probably meet one day, in the 'Street of the Eastern Gate,' the
+      Sirocco wind, and they will have to take shelter from a sudden fearful
+      darkness and heat, a blinding choking dust, drying up as it were the very
+      breath of life; penetrating every cavity, and into rooms closed as far as
+      possible from the outer air. Man and beast lie down before it, and there
+      is a sudden silence in the streets, as if they had been overwhelmed by the
+      sea. For two or three hours this mysterious blight pours over the city,
+      and its inhabitants hide their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another rather startling sensation for the first time is the 'morning
+      gun.' In the consulate, which is in an old Moorish house in the upper
+      town, the newly arrived visitor may have been shown imbedded in the wall a
+      large round shot, which he is informed was a messenger from one of Lord
+      Exmouth's three-deckers in the days before the French occupation; and not
+      many yards from it, in another street, he may have had pointed out to him
+      certain fissures or chasms in the walls of the houses, as the havoc made
+      by earthquakes; he may also have experienced in his travels the sudden and
+      severe effect of a tropical thunderstorm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let him retire to rest with a dreamy recollection of such events in his
+      mind, and let him have his windows open towards the port just before
+      sunrise,&mdash;when the earthquake, and the thunder, and the bombardment,
+      will present themselves so suddenly and fearfully to his sleepy senses,
+      that he will bear malice and hatred against the military governor for
+      evermore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it has roused him to see some of the sights of Algiers. Let him go out
+      at once to the almost deserted <i>Place</i>, where a few tall figures
+      wrapped in military cloaks are to be seen quietly sidling out of a door in
+      the corner of a square under the arcades,&mdash;coming from the club where
+      the gas is not quite extinguished, and where the little green baize tables
+      are not yet put away for the night; * and then let him hurry out by the <i>Bab-el-Oued</i>
+      and mount the fortifications, and he will see a number of poor Arabs
+      shivering in their white bournouses, perched on the highest points of the
+      rocks like eagles, watching with eager eyes and strained aspect for the
+      rising of the sun, for the coming of the second Mahomet. Let him look in
+      the same direction, eastward, over the town and over the bay to the
+      mountains far beyond. The sparks from the chariot-wheels of fire just
+      fringe the outline of the Kabyle Hills, and in another minute, before all
+      the Arabs have clambered up and reached their vantage ground, the whole
+      bay is in a flood of light. The Arabs prostrate themselves before the sun,
+      and '<i>Allah il Allah</i>' (God is great) is the burden of their psalm of
+      praise.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * How often have we seen in the Tuileries gardens, the
+     bronzed heroes of Algerian wars, and perhaps have pitied
+     them for their worn appearance; but we shall begin to think
+     that something more than the African sun and long marches
+     have given them a prematurely aged appearance, and that
+     absinthe and late hours in a temperature of 90� Fahrenheit
+     may have something to do with it.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But Mahomet's coming is not yet, and so they return down the hill, and
+      crowd together to a very different scene. The officers whom we saw just
+      now leaving the <i>Place</i>, have arrived at the Champ de Mars, the
+      drill-ground immediately below us, and here, in the cool morning air, they
+      are exercising and manoeuvring troops. There are several companies going
+      through their drill, and the bugle and the drum drown the Muezzins'
+      voices, who, from almost every mosque and turret in the city, repeat their
+      cry to the faithful to 'Come to prayers.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0061m.jpg" alt="0061m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0061.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0063m.jpg" alt="0063m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0063.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE MOORISH QUARTER&mdash;OUR STUDIO.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9063.jpg" alt="9063 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9063.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      E said, in the last chapter, that in Algiers there was very little going
+      on for the visitor or idler; but if the traveller have anything of the
+      artist in him, he will be delighted with the old town. If he is wise he
+      will spend the first week in wandering about, and losing himself in the
+      winding streets, going here, there, and everywhere on a picturesque tour
+      of inspection. His artistic tendencies will probably lead him to spend
+      much time in the Moorish caf�s, where he may sit down unmolested (if
+      unwelcomed) for hours on a mat, and drink his little saucer of thick,
+      sweet coffee, for which he pays one sou, and smoke in the midst of a group
+      of silent Moors, who may perchance acknowledge his presence by a slight
+      gesture, and offer him their pipes, but who will more frequently affect
+      not to see him, and sit still doing absolutely nothing, with that
+      dignified solemnity peculiar to the East.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He will pass through narrow streets and between mysterious-looking old
+      houses that meet over head and shut out the sky; he will jostle often in
+      these narrow ways, soft plump objects in white gauze, whose eyes and
+      ankles give the only visible signs of humanity; he may turn back to watch
+      the wonderful dexterity with which a young Arab girl balances a load of
+      fruit upon her head down to the market place; and he will, if he is not
+      careful, be finally carried down himself by an avalanche of donkeys,
+      driven by a negro gamin who sits on the tail of the last, threading their
+      way noiselessly and swiftly, and carrying everything before them; * and he
+      will probably take refuge under the ruined arch of some old mosque, whose
+      graceful lines and rich decoration are still visible here and there, and
+      he will in a few hours be enchanted with the place, and the more so for
+      the reason that we have already hinted at, viz.:&mdash;that in Algiers he
+      is <i>let alone</i>, that he is free to wander and 'moon' about at will,
+      without custodian or commissionaire, or any of the tribe of 'valets de
+      place.'
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * How different from what we read of in <i>�othen</i>. The cry is
+     not, 'Get out of the way, O old man! O virgin!&mdash;the
+     Englishman, he comes, he comes!' If we were to push an old
+     man out of the way, or, ever so little, to forget our duty
+     to a fair pedestrian, we should be brought up before the
+     Cadi, and fined and scorned, by a jury of unbelievers!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      He may go into the Grand Divan; or into the streets where the embroiderers
+      are at work, sitting in front of their open shops, amongst heaps of silks,
+      rich stuffs and every variety of material; or where the old merchant
+      traders, whose occupation is nearly gone, sit smoking out their lazy
+      uncommercial lives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He may go to the old Moorish bath, in a building of curious pattern, which
+      is as well worth seeing as anything in Algiers; and, if an Arabic scholar,
+      he may pick up an acquaintance or two amongst the Moors, and visit their
+      homes when their wives are away for the day, on some mourning expedition
+      to a suburban cemetery. He may explore innumerable crooked, irregular
+      streets, with low doorways and carved lattices, some painted, some gilt;
+      the little narrow windows and the grilles, being as perfectly after the
+      old type as when the Moors held undivided possession of the city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One old street, now pulled down, we remember well; it was the one always
+      chosen for an evening stroll because it faced the western sea, and caught
+      and reflected from its pavement and from its white walls, the last rosy
+      tints of sunset, long after the cobblers and the tinkers in the lower town
+      had lighted their little lanterns, and the caf�s were flaring in the
+      French quarter. It was steep and narrow, so steep, in fact, that steps
+      were made in the pavement to climb it, and at the upper end there was the
+      dome of a mosque shining in the sun. It was like the child's picture of
+      'Jacob's ladder,' brighter and more resplendent at each step, and ending
+      in a blaze of gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are often reminded of Spain in these old streets; there are massive
+      wooden doors studded with iron bosses or huge nails as we see them at
+      Toledo, and there is sometimes to be seen over them, the emblem of the
+      human hand pointing upwards, which recalls the Gate of Justice at the
+      entrance to the Alhambra at Granada.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Moors cling to their old traditions, and the belief that they will
+      some day reconquer Spain is still an article of faith. But if ever the
+      Moors are to regain their imaginary lost possessions in Spain, they must
+      surely be made of sterner stuff than the present race, who, judging from
+      appearances, are little likely to do anything great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are little shops and dark niches where the Moors sit cross-legged,
+      with great gourds and festoons of dried fruits hanging above and around
+      them; the piles of red morocco slippers, the oddshaped earthenware
+      vessels, and the wonderful medley of form and colour, resembling in
+      variety the bazaars at Constantinople, or carrying us in imagination still
+      further East.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other sights and sounds we might mention, some not quite so pleasant but
+      peculiarly Eastern; and we should not forget to note the peculiar scent of
+      herbs and stuffs, which, mingled with the aroma of coffee and tobacco, was
+      sometimes almost overpowering in the little Covered streets; and one odour
+      that went up regularly on Sunday mornings in the Moorish quarter that was
+      not incense, and which it took us a long time to discover the origin of&mdash;an
+      Arab branding his donkeys with his monogram!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything we purchase is odd and quaint, irregular or curious in some
+      way. Every piece of embroidery, every remnant of old carpet, differs from
+      another in pattern as the leaves on the trees. There is no repetition, and
+      herein lies its charm and true value to us. Every fabric differs either in
+      pattern or combination of colours&mdash;it is something, as we said,
+      unique, something to treasure, something that will not remind us of the
+      mill. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * The little pattern at the head of this chapter was traced
+     from a piece of embroidered silk, worked by the Moors.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      If we explore still further we shall come to the Arab quarter, where we
+      also find characteristic things. Here we may purchase for about thirty
+      francs a Kabyle match-lock rifle, or an old sabre with beautifully
+      ornamented hilt; we may, if we please, ransack piles of primitive and
+      rusty implements of all kinds, and pick up curious women's ornaments,
+      beads, coral, and anklets of filagree work; and, if we are fortunate, meet
+      with a complete set or suit of harness and trappings, once the property of
+      some insolvent Arab chief, and of a pattern made familiar to us in the
+      illustrated history of the Cid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of the Moorish quarter, up a little narrow street (reached in
+      five or six minutes from the centre of the town) passing under an archway
+      and between white walls that nearly meet overhead, we come to a low dark
+      door, with a heavy handle and latch which opens and shuts with a crashing
+      sound; and if we enter the courtyard and ascend a narrow staircase in one
+      corner, we come suddenly upon the interior view of the first or principal
+      floor, of our Moorish home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The house, as may be seen from the illustration, has two stories, and
+      there is also an upper terrace from which we overlook the town. The
+      arrangement of the rooms round the courtyard, all opening inwards, is
+      excellent; they are cool in summer, and warm even on the coldest nights,
+      and although we are in a noisy and thickly populated part of the town, we
+      are ignorant of what goes on outside, the massive walls keeping out nearly
+      all sound. The floors and walls are tiled, so that they can be cleansed
+      and cooled by water being thrown over them; the carpets and cushions
+      spread about invite one to the most luxurious repose, tables and chairs
+      are unknown, there is nothing to offend the eye in shape or form, nothing
+      to offend the ear&mdash;not even a door to slam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Above, there is an open terrace, where we sit in the mornings and
+      evenings, and can realise the system of life on the housetops of the East.
+      Here we can cultivate the vine, grow roses and other flowers, build for
+      ourselves extempore arbours, and live literally in the open air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From this terrace we overlook the flat roofs of the houses of the Moorish
+      part of the city, and if we peep over, down into the streets immediately
+      below us, a curious hum of sounds comes up. Our neighbours are certainly
+      industrious; they embroider, they make slippers, they hammer at metal
+      work, they break earthenware and mend it, and appear to quarrel all day
+      long, within a few feet of us; but as we sit in the room from which our
+      sketch is taken, the sounds become mingled and subdued into a pleasant
+      tinkle which is almost musical, and which we can, if we please, shut out
+      entirely by dropping a curtain across the doorway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our attendants are Moorish, and consist of one old woman, whom we see by
+      accident (closely veiled) about once a month, and a bare-legged,
+      bare-footed Arab boy who waits upon us. There are pigeons on the roof, a
+      French poodle that frequents the lower regions, and a guardian of our
+      doorstep who haunts it day and night, whose portrait is given at Chapter
+      V.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here we work with the greatest freedom and comfort, without interruption
+      or any drawbacks that we can think of. The climate is so equal, warm, and
+      pleasant&mdash;even in December and January&mdash;that by preference we
+      generally sit on the upper terrace, where we have the perfection of light,
+      and are at the same time sufficiently protected from sun and wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At night we sleep almost in the open air, and need scarcely drop the
+      curtains at the arched doorways of our rooms; there are no mosquitoes to
+      trouble us, and there is certainly no fear of intrusion. There is also
+      perfect stillness, for our neighbours are at rest soon after sundown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such is a general sketch of our dwelling in Algiers; let us for a moment,
+      by way of contrast, return in imagination to London, and picture to
+      ourselves our friends as they are working at home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is considered very desirable, if not essential, to an artist, that his
+      immediate surroundings should be in some sort graceful and harmonious, and
+      it is a lesson worth learning, to see what may be done, with ingenuity and
+      taste, towards converting a single room, in a dingy street, into a fitting
+      abode of the arts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We know a certain painter well, one whose studio it is always a delight to
+      enter, and whose devotion to Art (both music and painting) for its own
+      sake has always stood in the way of his advancement and pecuniary success.
+      He has converted a room in the neighbourhood of Gower Street into a
+      charming nook where colour, form, and texture are all considered in the
+      simplest details of decoration, where there is nothing inharmonious to eye
+      or ear, but where perhaps the sound of the guitar may be heard a little
+      too often. The walls of his studio are draped, the light falls softly from
+      above, the doorway is arched, the seats are couches or carpets on a raised
+      da�s, a Florentine lamp hangs from the ceiling, a medley of vases,
+      costumes, old armour, &amp;c, are grouped about in picturesque confusion,
+      and our friend, in an easy undress of the last century, works away in the
+      midst.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not to particularize further, let the reader consider for a moment what
+      one step beyond his own door brings about, on an average winter's day. A
+      straight, ungraceful, colourless costume of the latter half of the
+      nineteenth century which he <i>must</i> assume, a hat of the period, an
+      umbrella raised to keep off sleet and rain, and for landscape a damp,
+      dreary, muddy, blackened street, with a vista of areas and lamp-posts,
+      and, if perchance he be going to the Academy, a walk through the parish of
+      St. Giles!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps the most depressing prospect in the world, is that from a Gower
+      Street doorstep on a November morning about nine o'clock; but of this
+      enough. We think of our friend as we sit out here on our <i>terrasse</i>&mdash;sheltering
+      ourselves on the same day, at the same hour, from the sun's rays&mdash;we
+      think of him painting Italian scenes by the light of his gas 'sun-burner,'
+      and wish he would come out to Algiers. 'Surely,' we would say to him, 'it
+      is something gained, if we can, ever so little, harmonize the realities of
+      life with our ideal world&mdash;if we can, without remark, dress ourselves
+      more as we dress our models, and so live, that one step from the studio to
+      the street shall not be the abomination of desolation.' *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * It would be obviously in bad taste for Europeans to walk
+     in the streets of Algiers, <i>en costume Maure</i>; but we may
+     make considerable modifications in our attire in an oriental
+     city, to our great comfort and peace of mind.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Let us turn again to Nature and to Light, and transport the reader to a
+      little white house, overlooking a beautiful city, on the North African
+      shore, where summer is perpetual and indoor life the exception; and draw a
+      picture for him which <i>should</i> be fascinating and which certainly is
+      true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Algiers, Sunrise, December 10.</i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mysterious, indefinable charm of the first break of day, is an old and
+      favourite theme in all countries and climates, and one on which perhaps
+      little that is new can be said. In the East it is always striking, but in
+      Algiers it seems to us peculiarly so; for sleeping, or more often lying
+      awake, with the clear crisp night air upon our faces, it comes to our
+      couch in the dreamiest way imaginable&mdash;instead of being clothed (as
+      poets express it) with the veil of night, a mantle seems rather to be
+      spread over us in the morning; there is perfect quiet at this hour, and we
+      seem to be almost under a spell not to disturb the stillness&mdash;the
+      dawn whispers to us so softly and soothingly that we are powerless to do
+      ought but watch or sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The break of day is perhaps first announced to us by a faint stream of
+      light across the courtyard, or the dim shadow of a marble pillar on the
+      wall. In a few minutes, we hear the distant barking of a dog, a slight
+      rustle in the pigeon-house above, or a solitary cry from a minaret which
+      tells us that the city is awaking. We rouse ourselves and steal out
+      quietly on to the upper terrace to see a sight of sights&mdash;one of
+      those things that books tell us, rightly or wrongly, is alone worth coming
+      from England to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The canopy of stars, that had encompassed us so closely during the night,
+      as if to shut in the courtyard overhead, seems lifted again, and the stars
+      themselves are disappearing fast in the grey expanse of sky; and as we
+      endeavour to trace them, looking intently seaward, towards the North and
+      East, we can just discern an horizon line and faint shadows of the
+      'sleeping giants,' that we know to be not far off. Soon&mdash;in about the
+      same time that it takes to write these lines&mdash;they begin to take form
+      and outline one by one, a tinge of delicate pearly pink is seen at
+      intervals through their shadows, and before any nearer objects have come
+      into view, the whole coast line and the mountains of Kabylia,
+      stretching-far to the eastward, are flushed with rosy light, opposed to a
+      veil of twilight grey which still hangs over the city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another minute or two, and our shadows are thrown sharply on a glowing
+      wall, towers and domes come distinctly into view, housetops innumerable
+      range themselves in close array at our feet, and we, who but a few minutes
+      ago, seemed to be standing as it were alone upon the top of a high
+      mountain, are suddenly and closely beleaguered. A city of flat white
+      roofs, towers, and cupolas, relieved here and there by coloured awnings,
+      green shutters, and dark doorways, and by little courtyards blooming with
+      orange and citron trees&mdash;intersected with innumerable winding ways
+      (which look like streams forcing their way through a chalk cliff)&mdash;has
+      all grown up before our eyes; and beyond it, seaward&mdash;a harbour, and
+      a fleet of little vessels with their white sails, are seen shining in the
+      sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then come the hundred sounds of a waking city, mingling and increasing
+      every moment; and the flat roofs (some so close that we can step upon
+      them) are soon alive with those quaint white figures we meet in the
+      streets, passing to and fro, from roof to roof, apparently without
+      restraint or fear. There are numbers of children peeping out from odd
+      corners and loopholes, and women with them, some dressed much less
+      scrupulously than we see them in the market place, and some, to tell the
+      truth, entirely without the white robes aforesaid. A few, a very few, are
+      already winding their way through the streets to the nearest mosque, but
+      the majority are collected in groups in conversation, enjoying the sweet
+      sea breeze, which comes laden with the perfume of orange-trees, and a
+      peculiar delicious scent as of violets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pigeons on the roof-tops now plume their gilded wings and soar&mdash;not
+      upward but downward, far away into space; they scarcely break the silence
+      in the air, or spread their wings as they speed along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, what a flight above the azure sea!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent15">
+      'Quis dabat mihi pennas sicut columb�;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      the very action of flying seems repose to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is still barely sunrise on this soft December morning, the day's labour
+      has scarcely begun, the calm is so perfect that existence alone seems a
+      delight, and the Eastern aroma (if we may so express it) that pervades the
+      air might almost lull us to sleep again, but Allah wills it otherwise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly&mdash;-with terrible impulse and shrill accent impossible to
+      describe&mdash;a hurricane of women's voices succeeds the calm. Is it
+      treachery? Is it scandal? Has Hassan proved faithless, or has Fatima fled?
+      Oh, the screeching and yelling that succeeded to the quiet beauty of the
+      morning! Oh, the rushing about of veiled (now all closely veiled) figures
+      on house-tops! Oh, the weeping and wailing, and literal, terrible,
+      gnashing of teeth! 'Tell it not upon the house-tops', (shall we ever
+      forget it being told on the housetops? ) 'let not a whole city know thy
+      misdeeds,' is written in the Koran, 'it is better for the faithful to come
+      to prayers!' Merciful powers, how the tempest raged until the sun was up
+      and the city was alive again, and its sounds helped to drown the clamour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us come down, for our Arab boy now claps his hands in sign, that (on a
+      little low table or tray, six inches from the ground) coffee and pipes are
+      provided for the unbelievers; and like the Calendar in Eastern Story, he
+      proceeds to tell us the cause of the tumult&mdash;a trinket taken from one
+      wife and given to another!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, Islam! that a lost bracelet or a jealous wife, should make the earth
+      tremble so!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0083m.jpg" alt="0083m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0083.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0085m.jpg" alt="0085m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0085.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. 'MODELS.'
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9085.jpg" alt="9085 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9085.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      ROM the roof-tops of our own and the neighbouring houses we have
+      altogether many opportunities of sketching, and making studies from life.
+      * By degrees, by fits and starts, and by most uncertain means (such as
+      attracting curiosity, making little presents, &amp;c.) we manage to scrape
+      up a distant talking acquaintance with some of the mysterious wayward
+      creatures we have spoken of, and in short, to become almost 'neighbourly.'
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     *  In the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of 1867, there was
+     a picture by Alfred Elmore, R.A., taken almost from this
+     spot.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But we never get much nearer than talking distance, conversing from one
+      roof to another with a narrow street like a river flowing between us; and
+      only once or twice during our winter sojourn, did we succeed in enticing a
+      veiled houri to venture on our terrace and shake hands with the 'Frank.'
+      If we could manage to hold a young lady in conversation, and exhibit
+      sufficient admiration of her to induce her, ever so slightly, to unveil
+      whilst we made a hasty sketch, it was about all that we could fairly
+      succeed in accomplishing, and 'the game was hardly worth the candle:' it
+      took, perhaps, an hour to ensnare our bird, and in ten minutes or less,
+      she would be again on the wing. Veiled beauties are interesting (sometimes
+      much more interesting for being veiled); but it does not serve our
+      artistic purposes much to see two splendid black eyes and a few white
+      robes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However models we must have, although the profession is almost unknown in
+      Algiers. At Naples we have only to go down to the seashore, at Rome to the
+      steps of St. Peter's, and we find 'subjects' enough, who will come for the
+      asking; but here, where there is so much distinctive costume and variety
+      of race, French artists seem to make little use of their opportunities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It takes some days before we can hear of any one who will be willing to
+      sit, for double the usual remuneration. But they come at last, and when it
+      gets abroad that the Franks have money and 'mean business,' we have a
+      number of applicants, some of whom are not very desirable, and none
+      particularly attractive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We select 'Fatima' first, because she is the youngest and has the best
+      costume, and also because she comes with her father and appears tractable.
+      She is engaged at two francs an hour, which she considers poor pay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How shall we give the reader an idea of this little creature, when she
+      comes next morning and coils herself up amongst the cushions in the corner
+      of our room, like a young panther in the Jardin des Plantes? Her costume,
+      when she throws off her ha�k (and with it a tradition of the Mahommedan
+      faith, that forbids her to show her face to an unbeliever) is a rich loose
+      crimson, jacket embroidered with gold, a thin white bodice, loose silk
+      trowsers reaching to the knee and fastened round the waist by a
+      magnificent sash of various colours; red morroco slippers, a profusion of
+      rings on her little fingers, and bracelets and anklets of gold filagree
+      work. Through her waving black hair are twined strings of coins and the
+      folds of a silk handkerchief, the hair falling at the back in plaits below
+      the waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She is not beautiful, she is scarcely interesting in expression, and she
+      is decidedly unsteady. She seems to have no more power of keeping herself
+      in one position or of remaining in one part of the room, or even of being
+      quiet, than a humming top. The whole thing is an unutterable bore to her,
+      for she does not even reap the reward&mdash;her father or husband, or male
+      attendant, always taking the money.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She is <i>petite</i>, constitutionally phlegmatic, and as fat as her
+      parents can manage to make her; she has small hands and feet, large
+      rolling eyes&mdash;the latter made to appear artificially large by the
+      application of henna or antimony black; her attitudes are not ungraceful,
+      but there is a want of character about her, and an utter abandonment to
+      the situation, peculiar to all her race. In short her movements are more
+      suggestive of a little caged animal that had better be petted and
+      caressed, or kept at a safe distance, according to her humour. She does
+      one thing, she smokes incessantly and makes us cigarettes with a skill and
+      rapidity which are wonderful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her age is thirteen, and she has been married six months; * her ideas
+      appear to be limited to three or four; and her pleasures, poor creature,
+      are equally circumscribed. She had scarcely ever left her father's house,
+      and had never spoken to a man until her marriage. No wonder we, in spite
+      of a little Arabic on which we prided ourselves, could not make much way;
+      no wonder that we came very rapidly to the conclusion that the houris of
+      the Arabian Nights, must have been dull creatures, and their
+      'Entertainments' rather a failure, if there were no diviner fire than
+      this. No wonder that the Moors advocate a plurality of wives, for if one
+      represents an emotion, a harem would scarcely suffice!
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     *  We hear much of the perils of living too fast, and of the
+     preternaturally aged, worn appearance, of English girls
+     after two or three London seasons. What would a British
+     matron say to a daughter&mdash;a woman at twelve, married at
+     thirteen, <i>blas�e</i> directly, and old at twenty?
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      We get on but indifferently with our studies with this young lady, and, to
+      tell the truth, not too well in Fatima's good graces. Our opportunities
+      are not great, our command of Arabic is limited, and indeed, we do not
+      feel particularly inspired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We cannot tell her many love stories, or sing songs set to a '<i>tom-tom</i>;'
+      we can, indeed, offer 'backshish' in the shape of tobacco and sweetmeats,
+      or some trifling European ornament or trinket; but it is clear that she
+      would prefer a greater amount of familiarity, and more demonstrative
+      tokens of esteem. However, she came several times, and we succeeded in
+      obtaining some valuable studies of colour, and 'bits,' memoranda only; but
+      very useful, from being taken down almost unconsciously, in such a
+      luminous key, and with a variety of reflected light and pure shadow tone,
+      that we find unapproachable in after work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for sketches of character, we obtained very few of Mauresques; our
+      subjects were, as a rule, much too restless, and we had one or two
+      'scenes' before we parted. On one unfortunate occasion our model insisted
+      upon examining our work before leaving, and the scorn and contempt with
+      which it was regarded was anything but flattering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It nearly caused a breach between us, for, as she observed, it was not
+      only contrary to her creed to have her likeness taken, but it would be
+      perdition to be thus represented amongst the Franks. * We promised to be
+      as careful of this portrait as if it were the original, and, in fact, said
+      anything to be polite and soothing.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * For fear of the 'evil eye.' There is a strong belief
+     amongst Mahommedans that portraits are part of their
+     identity; and that the original will suffer if the portrait
+     receive any indignity.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      On another occasion, we had been working on rather more quietly than usual
+      for half-an-hour, and were really getting a satisfactory study of a new
+      position, when, without apparent cause or warning of any kind, the
+      strange, pale, passionless face, which stared like a wooden marionette,
+      suddenly suffused with crimson, the great eyes filled with tears, the
+      whole frame throbbed convulsively, and the little creature fell into such
+      a passion of crying that we were fain to put by our work and question
+      ourselves whether we had been cruel or unkind. But it was nothing: the cup
+      of boredom had been filled to the brim, all other artifices had failed her
+      to obtain relief from restraint, and so this apparently lethargic little
+      being, who had it seemed, both passion and grief at command, opened the
+      flood-gates upon us, and of course gained her end. There was no more work
+      that day, and she got off with a double allowance of bonbons, and
+      something like a reconciliation. She gave us her little white hand at
+      parting&mdash;the fingers and thumbs crowded with rings, and the nails
+      stained black with henna&mdash;but the action meant nothing; we dare not
+      press it, it was too soft and frail, and the rings would have cut her
+      fingers, we could only hand it tenderly back again, and bid our 'model'
+      farewell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We got on better afterwards with a Moorish Jewess who, for a
+      'consideration,' unearthed her property, * including a tiara of gold and
+      jewels, and a bodice of silver embroidery worked on crimson velvet; we
+      purposely reverse the position and speak of the embroidery first, because
+      the velvet was almost hidden. She came slouching in one morning, closely
+      wrapped in a dirty shawl, her black hair all dishevelled and half covering
+      her handsome face, her feet bare and her general appearance so much more
+      suggestive of one of the 'finest pisantry in the world,' that we began to
+      feel doubtful, and to think with Beau Brummel that this must be 'one of
+      our failures.' But when her mother had arranged the tiara in her hair,
+      when the curtain was drawn aside and the full splendour of the Jewish
+      costume was displayed&mdash;when, in short, the dignity and grace of a
+      queen were before us, we felt amply rewarded.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * Many of the poorest Jewesses possess gold ornaments as
+     heirlooms, burying them in the ground for security, when not
+     in use.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The Jewish dress differs from the Mauresque entirely; it is European in
+      shape, with high waist and flowing robes without sleeves, a square cut
+      bodice, often of the same material as the robe itself, and a profusion of
+      gold ornaments, armlets, necklaces, and rings. A pair of tiny velvet
+      slippers (also embroidered) on tiny feet, complete the costume, which
+      varies in colour, but is generally of crimson or dark velvet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a 'model,' although almost her first appearance in that character, this
+      Jewish woman was very valuable, and we had little trouble after the first
+      interview, in making her understand our wishes. But we had to pay more
+      than in England; there were many drawbacks, and of course much waste of
+      time. On some holydays and on all Jewish festivals, she did not make her
+      appearance, and seemed to think nothing of it when some feast that lasted
+      a week, left us stranded with half-done work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without being learned in <i>costumes des dames</i>, we believe, we may
+      say, that the shape and cut of some of these dresses, and the patterns of
+      the embroidery (old as they are) might be copied with advantage by
+      Parisian modistes; the more we study these old patterns, the more we
+      cannot cease to regret that the <i>Deae ex machina</i>, the arbiters of
+      fashion in the city where Fashion is Queen, have not managed to infuse
+      into the costume of the time more character and purity of design&mdash;conditions
+      not inconsistent with splendour, and affording scope, if need be, for any
+      amount of extravagance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are led irresistibly into this digression, if it be a digression,
+      because the statuesque figure before us displays so many lines of grace
+      and beauty that have the additional charm of novelty. We know, for
+      instance, that the pattern of this embroidery is unique, that the
+      artificer of that curiously twined chain of gold has been dead perhaps for
+      ages, that the rings on her fingers and the coins suspended from her hair
+      are many of them real art treasures. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * The 'jewels turned out to be paste on close inspection,
+     but the gold filagree work, and the other ornaments, were
+     old, and some very valuable and rare.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The result of our studies, as far as regards Moorish women, we must admit
+      to have been after all, rather limited and unsatisfactory. We never once
+      lighted upon a Moorish face that moved us much by its beauty, for the
+      simple reason that it nearly always lacked expression; anything like
+      emotion seemed inharmonious and out of place, and to disturb the
+      uniformity of its lines. Even those dark lustrous eyes, when lighted by
+      passion, had more of the tiger in them, than the tragedy queen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The perfection of beauty, according to the Moorish ideal, seems to depend
+      principally upon symmetry of feature, and is nothing without roundness of
+      limb and a certain flabbiness of texture. It is an ideal of repose, not to
+      say of dulness and insipidity; a heavy type of beauty of which we obtain
+      some idea in the illustration before us, of a young girl, about thirteen
+      years old, of one of the tribes from the interior. The drawing is by a
+      Frenchman, and pretends to no particular artistic excellence, but it
+      attempts to render (and we think succeeds in rendering) the style of a
+      Mahommedan beauty in bridal array; one who is about to fulfil her destiny,
+      and who appears to have as little animation or intelligence as the Prophet
+      ordained for her, being perfectly fitted (according to the Koran) to fill
+      her place in this world or in the next. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * It detracts a little from the romance of these things to
+     learn from Mrs. Evans (who witnessed, what only ladies, of
+     course, could witness, the robing and decorating of the
+     bride before marriage) the manner in which the face of a
+     Moorish lady is prepared on the day of marriage:
+
+     'An old woman having carefully washed the bride's face with
+     water, proceeded to whiten it all over with a milky-looking
+     preparation, and after touching up the cheeks with rouge
+     (and, her eyes with antimony black), bound an amulet round
+     the head; then with a fine camel-hair pencil, she passed a
+     line of liquid glue over the eyebrows, and taking from a
+     folded paper a strip of gold-leaf fixed it across them both,
+     forming one long gilt bar, and then proceeded to give a few
+     finishing touches to the poor lay figure before her, by
+     fastening two or three tiny gold spangles on the forehead!'
+
+     We cannot help thinking that this might have been an
+     exceptional case, especially in the matter of gilding, but
+     we have seen both patches and paint on Moorish features&mdash;as
+     indeed we have seen them in England.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0098m.jpg" alt="0098m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0098.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      Thus decked with her brightest jewels and adorned with a crown of gold,
+      she waits to meet her lord, to be his 'light of the harem,' his 'sun and
+      moon.' What if we, with our refined aesthetic tastes, what if
+      disinterested spectators, vote her altogether the dullest and most
+      uninteresting of beings? what if she seem to us more like some young
+      animal, magnificently harnessed, waiting to be trotted out to the highest
+      bidder? She shakes the coins and beads on her head sometimes, with a
+      slight impatient gesture, and takes chocolate from her little sister, and
+      is petted and pacified just as we should soothe and pacify an impatient
+      steed; there is clearly no other way to treat her, it is the will of Allah
+      that she should be so debased! *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * We have before spoken of the influence of beautiful forms
+     and harmony in colour, in our homes and surroundings; and we
+     feel acutely, that the picture of this Moorish woman,
+     intellectually, does not prove our case; but Mahomet decreed
+     that women should endeavour to <i>be</i> beautiful rather than
+     understand, or enjoy it.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      One day we had up a tinker, an old brown grizzled Maltese, who with his
+      implements of trade, his patchwork garments and his dirt, had a tone about
+      him, like a figure from one of the old Dutch masters. He sat down in the
+      corner of our courtyard against a marble pillar, and made himself quite at
+      home; he worked with his feet as well as his hands at his grinding, he
+      chattered, he sang, and altogether made such a clatter that we shall not
+      be likely to forget him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This gentleman, and the old negro that lived upon our doorstep, were
+      almost the only subjects that we succeeded in inducing to come within
+      doors; our other life studies were made under less favourable
+      circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the roof of our own house, it is true, we obtained a variety of
+      sketches, not (as might be supposed from the illustrations and pictures
+      with which we are all familiar) of young ladies attired as scantily as the
+      nymphs at the <i>The�tre du Chatelet</i>, standing in pensive attitudes on
+      their housetops, but generally of groups of veiled women&mdash;old, ugly,
+      haggard, shrill of voice, and sometimes rather fierce of aspect,
+      performing various household duties on the roof-tops, including the
+      beating of carpets and of children, the carrying of water-pots and the
+      saying of prayers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A chapter on 'Models' would not be complete without some mention of the
+      camels, of which there are numbers to be found in the Arab quarter of the
+      town. Some of them are splendid creatures, and as different from any
+      exotic specimens that we can see in this country as an acclimatised
+      palm-tree from its wild growth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some one tells us that these Algerian 'ships of the desert' have not the
+      same sailing qualities, nor the same breadth of beam, as those at Cairo.
+      But (if true) we should have to go to Cairo to study them, so let us be
+      content. We should like to see one or two of our popular artists, who
+      persist in painting camels and desert scenes without ever having been to
+      the East, just sit down here quietly for one day and paint a camel's head;
+      not flinching from the work, but mastering the wonderful texture and
+      shagginess of his thick coat or mane, its massive beauty, and its infinite
+      gradations of colour. Such a sitter no portrait painter ever had in
+      England. Feed him up first, get a boy to keep the flies from him, and he
+      will sit almost immoveably through the day. He will put on a sad
+      expression in the morning, which will not change; he will give no trouble
+      whatever, he will but sit still and croak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0015" id="linkimage-0015"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0105m.jpg" alt="0105m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0105.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      Do we seem to exaggerate the value of such studies? We cannot exaggerate,
+      if we take into full account, the vigorous quality which we impart into
+      our work. And we cannot, perhaps, better illustrate our argument in favour
+      of drawing from, what we should call, <i>natural</i> models, than by
+      comparing the merits of two of the most popular pictures of our time,
+      viz.:&mdash;Frith's '<i>Derby Day</i>,' and Rosa Bonheur's '<i>Horse Fair?</i>'
+      The former pleasing the eye by its cleverness and prettiness; the latter
+      impressing the spectator by its power, and its truthful rendering of
+      animal life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The difference between the two painters is probably, one, more of
+      education than of natural gifts. But whilst the style of the former is
+      grafted on a fashion, the latter is founded on a rock&mdash;the result of
+      a close study of nature, chastened by classic feeling, and a remembrance
+      it may be, of the friezes of the Parthenon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0109m.jpg" alt="0109m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0109.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0111m.jpg" alt="0111m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0111.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. OUR 'LIFE SCHOOL'
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9111.jpg" alt="9111 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9111.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      F the various studies to be made in Algiers, there are none at the same
+      time so quaint and characteristic, as the Moors in their own homes, seated
+      at their own doors or benches at work, or at the numerous caf�s and
+      bazaars; and nothing seems to harmonize so well in these Moorish streets
+      as the groups of natives (both Moors and negroes) with their bright
+      costumes, and 'wares for sale. Colour and contrast of colour, seem to be
+      considered, or <i>felt</i>, everywhere. Thus for instance, no two
+      Orientals will walk down a street side by side, unless the colours of
+      their costume harmonize or blend together (they seem to know it
+      instinctively), and then there is always grey or some quiet contrasting
+      tone for a background, and a sky of deep, deep blue. A negress will
+      generally be found selling oranges or citrons; an Arab boy with a red fez
+      and white turban, carrying purple fruit in a basket of leaves; and so on.
+      The reader will think this fanciful, but it is truer than he imagines; let
+      him come and see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not at all times easy to sketch in the open street on account of
+      the curiosity it excited; a crowd sometimes collecting until it became
+      almost impossible to breathe. The plan was to go as often as possible to
+      the caf�s and divans, and by degrees to make friends with the Moors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was one caf�, in a street that we have been to so often, that it is
+      as familiar to us as any in the western world; and where by dint of a
+      little tact and a small outlay of tobacco, we managed to make ourselves
+      quite at home, and were permitted to work away all day, comparatively
+      unmolested. It was a narrow and steep overhanging street, crowded at all
+      times with Moors on one side embroidering, or pretending to sell goods of
+      various kinds; and on the opposite side there was a caf�, not four feet
+      distant, where a row of about eighteen others sat and smoked, and
+      contemplated their brethren at work. The street was always full of
+      traffic, being an important thoroughfare from the upper to the lower town,
+      and there were perpetually passing up and down, droves of laden donkeys;
+      men with burdens carried on poles between them; vendors of fruit, bread,
+      and live fowls, and crowds of people of every denomination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a little corner out of sight, where we were certainly rather closely
+      packed, we used to install ourselves continually and sketch the people
+      passing to and fro. The Moors in the caf� used to sit beside us all day
+      and watch, and <i>wait</i>; they gave us a grave silent salutation when we
+      took our places, and another when we left, but we never got much further
+      with our unknown neighbours. If we can imagine a coterie in a small
+      political club, where the open discussion of politics is, with one
+      consent, tabooed for fear of a disturbance, and where the most frolicsome
+      of its members play at chess for relaxation, we shall get some notion of
+      the state of absolute decorum which existed in our little <i>caf� maure</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was very quaint. The memory of the grave quiet faces of these most
+      polite Moorish gentlemen, looking so smooth and clean in their white
+      bournouses, seated solemnly doing nothing, haunts us to this day. Years
+      elapsed between our first and last visit to our favourite street, yet
+      there they were when we came again, still doing nothing in a row; and
+      opposite to them, the merchants who do no trade, also sitting in their *
+      accustomed places, surrounded with the same old wares.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was the same old negro in a dark corner making coffee, and handing
+      it to the same customers, sitting in the same places, in the same dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0115m.jpg" alt="0115m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0115.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      There is certainly both art and mystery in doing nothing well which these
+      men achieve in their peculiar lives; here they sit for years together,
+      silently waiting, without a trace of boredom on their faces, and without
+      exhibiting a gesture of impatience. They&mdash;the 'gentlemen' in the caf�
+      on the right hand&mdash;have saved up money enough to keep life together,
+      they have for ever renounced work, and can look on with complacency at
+      their poorer brethren. They have their traditions, their faith, their
+      romance of life, and the curious belief before alluded to, that if they
+      fear God and Mahomet, and sit here long enough, they will one day be sent
+      for to Spain, to repeople the houses where their fathers dwelt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This corner is the one <i>par excellence</i>, where the Moors sit and
+      wait. There is the 'wall of wailing' at Jerusalem; there is the 'street of
+      waiting' in Algiers, where the Moors sit clothed in white, dreaming of
+      heaven&mdash;with an aspect of more than content, in a state of dreamy
+      delight achieved, apparently, more by habit of mind than any opiates&mdash;the
+      realisation of '<i>Keyf</i>'.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not far from this street, but still in the Moorish quarter, we may witness
+      a much more animated scene, and obtain in some respects a still better
+      study of character and costume&mdash;at a clothes auction in the
+      neighbourhood of the principal bazaar. If we go in the afternoon, we shall
+      probably find a crowd collected in a courtyard, round a number of Jews who
+      are selling clothes, silks, and stuffs, and so intent are they all on the
+      business that is going forward, that we are able to take up a good
+      position to watch the proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We arrived one day at this spot, just as a terrible scuffle or wrangle,
+      was going forward, between ten or a dozen old men (surrounded by at least
+      a hundred spectators) about the quality or ownership of some garment. The
+      merits of the discussion were of little interest to us and were probably
+      of little importance to anybody, but the result was in its way as
+      interesting a spectacle as ever greeted the eye and ear, something that we
+      could never have imagined, and certainly could never have seen, in any
+      other land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This old garment had magical powers, and was a treasure to <i>us</i> at
+      least. It attracted the old and young, the wise and foolish, the excited
+      combatant and the calm and dignified spectator; it collected them all in a
+      large square courtyard with plain whitewashed walls and Moorish arcades.
+      On one side a palm-tree drooped its gigantic leaves, and cast broad
+      shadows on the ground, which in some places, was almost of the brightness
+      of orange; on the other side, half in sunlight, half in shadow, a heavy
+      awning was spread over a raised da�s or stage, and through its tatters and
+      through the deep arcades, the sky appeared in patches of the deepest blue&mdash;blue
+      of a depth and brilliancy that few painters have ever succeeded in
+      depicting. It gave in a wider and truer sense, just that quality to our
+      picture&mdash;if we may be excused a little technicality and a familiar
+      illustration&mdash;that a broad red sash thrown across the bed of a
+      sleeping child in Millais' picture in the Royal Academy Exhibition of
+      1867, gave to his composition, as many readers may remember.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But we cannot take our eyes from the principal group, or do much more than
+      watch the crowd in its changing phases. To give any idea of the uproar,
+      the 'row' we ought to call it, would be to weary the reader with a
+      polyglot of words and sentences, some not too choice, and many too shrill
+      and fiercely accentuated; but to picture the general aspect in a few words
+      is worth a trial, although to do this we must join the throng and fight
+      our way to the front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Where have we seen the like? We have seen such upturned faces in pictures
+      of the early days of the Reformation by Henry Leys; we have seen such
+      passion in <i>Shy lock</i>, such despair in <i>Lear </i>; such grave and
+      imposing-looking men with 'reverend beards' in many pictures by the old
+      masters; but seldom have we seen such concentration of emotion (if we may
+      so express it), and unity of purpose, in one group.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Do our figure-painters want a subject, with variety of colour and
+      character in one canvas? They need not go to the bazaars of
+      Constantinople, or to the markets of the East. Let them follow us here
+      crushing close to the platform, our faces nearly on a level with the
+      boards. Look at the colours, at the folds of their cloaks, bournouses and
+      yachmahs&mdash;purple, deep red, and spotless white, all crushed together&mdash;with
+      their rich transparent shadows, as the sun streams across them, reflected
+      on the walls. The heavy awning throws a curious glow over the figures, and
+      sometimes almost conceals their features with a dazzle of reflected light.
+      Look at the legs of these eager traders, as they struggle and fight and
+      stand on tiptoe, to catch a glimpse of some new thing exposed for sale;
+      look at them well&mdash;the lean, the shambling, the vigorous, the bare
+      bronze (bronzed with sun and grime), the dark hose, the purple silk, and
+      the white cotton, the latter the special affectation of the dandy Jew.
+      What a medley, but what character here&mdash;the group from knee to ankle
+      forms a picture alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And thus they crowd together for half-an-hour, whilst all ordinary
+      business seems suspended. Nothing could be done with such a clatter, not
+      to mention the heat. Oh, how the Arab gutturals, the impossible consonants
+      (quite impossible to unpractised European lips) were interjected and
+      hurled, so to speak, to and fro! How much was said to no purpose, how
+      incoherent it all seemed, and how we wished for a few vowels to cool the
+      air!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In half-an-hour a calm has set in and the steady business of the day is
+      allowed to go forward; we may now smoke our pipes in peace, and from a
+      quiet corner watch the proceedings almost unobserved, asking ourselves a
+      question or two suggested by the foregoing scene. Is expression really
+      worth anything? Is the exhibition of passion much more than acting? Shall
+      grey beards and flowing robes carry dignity with them any more, if a
+      haggle about old clothes can produce it in five minutes?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so we sit and watch for hours, wondering at the apparently endless
+      variety of the patterns, and colours of the fabrics exposed for sale; and
+      perhaps we doze, perhaps we dream. Is it the effect of the hachshish? Is
+      it the strong coffee? Are we, indeed, dreaming, or is the auction a sham?
+      Surely that pretty bright handkerchief&mdash;now held up and eagerly
+      scanned by bleared old eyes&mdash;now rumpled and drawn sharply between
+      haggard fingers&mdash;is an old friend, and has no business in a sale like
+      this? Let us rub our eyes and try and remember where we have seen it o
+      before. Yes&mdash;there is no mistaking the pattern, we have seen it in
+      Spain. It was bound turbanwise round the head of a woman who performed in
+      the bull ring at Seville, on the occasion of a particularly high and
+      rollicking festival of the 'Catholic Church;' it was handed out of a
+      diligence window one dark night on the Sierra Morena, when a mule had
+      broken its leg, and the only method of getting it along was to tie the
+      injured limb to the girth, and let the animal hop on three legs for the
+      rest of the way. It found its way into the Tyrol, worn as a sash; it was
+      in the market-place at Bastia in Corsica, in the hands of a maiden selling
+      fruit; it flaunted at Marseilles, drying in the wind on a ship's spar; and
+      the last time we saw it (if our memory serves us well) it was carefully
+      taken from a drawer in a little shop, '<i>Au Dey d'Alger</i>' in the Rue
+      de Rivoli in Paris, and offered to us, by that greatest of all humbugs,
+      Mustapha, as the latest Algerian thing in neckties, which he asked fifteen
+      francs for, and would gladly part with for two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a pattern we knew by heart, that we meet with in all parts of the
+      world, thanks to the universality of Manchester cottons. But the pattern
+      was simple and good, nothing but an arrangement of red and black stripes
+      on a maize ground, and therein lay its success. It had its origin in the
+      first principles of decoration, it transgressed no law or canon of taste,
+      it was easily and cheaply made (as all the best patterns are), and so it
+      travelled round the world, and the imitation work came to be sold in,
+      perhaps, the very bazaar whence the pattern first came, and its
+      originators squabbled over the possession of it, as of something unique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But we can hardly regret the repetition of these Moorish patterns, for
+      they are useful in such a variety of ways. Wind one of the handkerchiefs
+      in and out amongst dark tresses, and see what richness it gives; make a
+      turban of it for a negress's head; tie it nattily under the chin of a
+      little Parisienne and, <i>hey presto!</i> she is pretty; make a sash of
+      it, or throw it loosely on the ground, and the effect is graceful and
+      charming to the eye. In some Japanese and Chinese silks we may meet with
+      more brilliant achievements in positive colours; but the Moors seem to
+      excel all other nations in taste, and in their skilful juxta-position of
+      tints. We have seen a Moorish designer hard at work, with a box of
+      butterflies' wings for his school of design, and we might, perhaps, take
+      the hint at home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But we must leave the Moors and their beautiful fabrics for a while, and
+      glance at the Arab quarter of the town. We shall see the Arabs bye and bye
+      in the plains and in their tents, in their traditionary aspect; but here
+      we come in contact with a somewhat renegade and disreputable race, who
+      hang, as it were, on the outskirts of civilization. Many of them have come
+      from the neighbouring villages and from their camps across the plains of
+      the Sahel; and have set up a market of their own, where they are in full
+      activity, trading with each other and with the Frank. * Here they may be
+      seen by hundreds&mdash;some buying and selling, some fighting and not
+      unfrequently, cursing one another heartily; others ranged close together
+      in rows upon the ground, like so many white loaves ready for baking. Calm
+      they are, and almost dignified in appearance, when sitting smoking in
+      conclave; but only give them something to quarrel about, touch them up
+      ever so little on their irritable side, and they will beat Geneva
+      washerwomen for clatter.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * This market-place is a sort of commercial neutral ground,
+     where both Arabs and Kabyles meet the French in the
+     strictest amity, and cheat them if they can.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Take them individually, these trading men, who have had years of
+      intercourse with their French conquerors, and they disappoint us
+      altogether. They are no longer true followers of the Prophet, although
+      they are a great obstruction to traffic, by spreading carpets on the
+      ground in the middle of the road, and prostrating themselves towards
+      Mahomet and the sun. Trade&mdash;paltry, mean, and cowardly as it so often
+      makes men&mdash;has done the Arab irreparable harm: it has taught him to
+      believe in counterfeits and little swindles as a legitimate mode of life,
+      to pass bad money, and to cringe to a conqueror because he could make
+      money thereby. He could not do these things in the old days, with his face
+      to the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Arab is generally pictured to us in his tent or with his tribe, calm,
+      dignified and brave, and perhaps we may meet with him thus on the other
+      side of the Sahel, but here in Algiers he is a metamorphosed creature. The
+      camels that crouch upon the ground, and scream and bite at passers-by, are
+      more dignified and consistent in their ill-tempered generation than these
+      'Sons of the Prophet,' these 'Lights of Truth.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And they have actually caught European tricks. What shall we say when two
+      Arabs meet in the street, and after a few words interchanged, pass away
+      from each other with a quickened, jaunty step, like two city men, who have
+      'lost time,' and must make it up by a spurt! Shall we respect our noble
+      Arab any more when we see him walking abroad with a stereotyped, plausible
+      smile upon his face, and every action indicating an eye to the main
+      chance? *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * It may seem a stretch of fancy, but even the bournous
+     itself, with its classic outline and flowing folds, loses
+     half its dignity and picturesqueness on these men. It has
+     been rather vulgarised of late years in Western Europe; and
+     when we see it carried on the arm of an Arab (as we do
+     sometimes), there is a suggestion of opera stalls, and
+     lingering last good nights on unromantic doorsteps, that is
+     fatal to its patriarchal character.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      A step lower, of which there are too many examples in the crowd, and there
+      is a sadder metamorphose yet&mdash;the patriarch turned scamp&mdash;one
+      who has left his family and his tribe to seek his fortune. Look at him,
+      with his ragged bournous, his dirt and his cringing ways, and contrast his
+      life now, with what he has voluntarily abandoned. Oh! how civilization has
+      lowered him in his own eyes, how his courage has turned to bravado, and
+      his tact to cunning; how even natural affection has languished, and family
+      ties are but threads of the lightest tissue. He has failed in his
+      endeavour to trade, he has disobeyed the Koran, and is an outcast and
+      unclean&mdash;one of the waifs and strays of cities!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we wend our way homeward (as John Bunyan says), 'thinking of these
+      things,' we see two tall white figures go down to the water side, like the
+      monks in Millais' picture of 'A Dream of the Past.' They stand on the bank
+      in the evening light, their reflections repeated in the water. It is the
+      hour of prayer; what are they doing? They are fishing with a modern rod
+      and line, and their little floats are painted with the tricolour!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0131m.jpg" alt="0131m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0131.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0133m.jpg" alt="0133m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0133.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE BOUZAREAH&mdash;A STORM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9133.jpg" alt="9133 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9133.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      T would be passing over the most-enjoyable part of our life abroad, if we
+      omitted all mention of those delightful days, spent on the hill-sides of
+      Mustapha, on the heights of the Bouzareah, and indeed everywhere in the
+      neighbourhood of Algiers, sketching in winter time in the open air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Odours of orange-groves, the aromatic scent of cedars, the sweet breath of
+      wild flowers, roses, honeysuckles and violets, should pervade this page;
+      something should be done, which no words can accomplish, to give the true
+      impression of the scene, to picture the luxuriant wild growth of the
+      surrounding vegetation (radiant in a sunshine which to a northerner is
+      unknown), and to realise in any method of description, the sense of calm
+      enjoyment of living this pure life in a climate neither too hot nor too
+      cold, neither too enervating nor too exciting; of watching the serene days
+      decline into sunsets that light up the Kabyle Hills with crests of gold,
+      and end in sudden twilights that spread a weird unearthly light across the
+      silver sea. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * There are effects of light sometimes, towards evening,
+     especially over the sea, such as we have never seen in any
+     other part of the world. We know one or two landscape
+     painters who have filled their note-books with memoranda of
+     these phases.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      We take our knapsacks and walk off merrily enough on the bright. December
+      mornings, often before the morning gun has fired or the city is fully
+      awake. If we go out at the eastern gate and keep along near the sea shore
+      in the direction of the <i>Maison Carr�e</i> (a French fort, now used as a
+      prison), we obtain fine views of the bay, and of the town of Algiers
+      itself, with its mole and harbour stretching out far into the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is plenty to interest us here, if it is only in sketching the wild
+      palmettos, or in watching the half-wild Arabs who camp in the
+      neighbourhood, and build mud huts which they affect to call caf�s, and
+      where we can, if we please, obtain rest and shelter from the midday sun,
+      and a considerable amount of 'stuffiness,' for one sou. But there is no
+      need to trouble them, as there are plenty of shady valleys and
+      cactus-hedges to keep off the sun's rays; the only disturbers of our peace
+      are the dogs who guard the Arab encampments, and have to be diligently
+      kept off with stones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps the best spots for quiet work are the precincts of the Marabouts'
+      tombs, where we can take refuge unobserved, behind some old wall and
+      return quietly to the same spot, day after day. And here, as one
+      experience of sketching from Nature, let us allude to the theory (laid
+      down pretty confidently by those who have never reduced it to practice),
+      that one great advantage of this climate is, that you may work at the same
+      sketch from day to day, and continue it where you left off! You can do
+      nothing of the kind. * If your drawing is worth anything, it will at least
+      have recorded something of the varying phases of light and shade, that
+      really alter every hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us take an example. About six feet from us, at eight o'clock in the
+      morning, the sheer white wall of a Moslem tomb is glowing with a white
+      heat, and across it are cast the shadows of three palm-leaves, which at a
+      little distance, have the contrasted effect of the blackness of night. **
+      Approach a little nearer and examine the real colour of these photographic
+      leaf-lines, shade off (with the hand) as much as possible of the wall, the
+      sky, and the reflected light from surrounding leaves, and these dark
+      shadows become a delicate pearl grey, deepening into mauve, or partaking
+      sometimes of the tints of the rich earth below them. They will be deeper
+      yet before noon, and pale again, and uncertain and fantastic in shape,
+      before sundown. If we sketch these shadows only each hour, as they pass
+      from left to right upon the wall (laying down a different wash for the
+      ground each time) and place them side by side in our note-book, we shall
+      have made some discoveries in light and transparent shadow tone, which
+      will be very valuable in after time. No two days or two hours, are under
+      precisely the same atmospheric conditions; the gradations and changes are
+      extraordinary, and would scarcely be believed in by anyone who had not
+      watched them.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * We are speaking, of course, of colour and effect, not of
+     details that may be put in at any time.
+
+     ** Under some conditions of the atmosphere we have obtained
+     more perfect outlines of the leaves of the aloe, with their
+     curiously indented edges and spear-points, <i>from their
+     shadows</i>, rather than from the leaves themselves.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Thus, although we cannot continue a sketch once left off, to any purpose,
+      we may obtain an infinite and overwhelming variety of work in one day, in
+      the space of a few yards by the side of some old well or Marabout's tomb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We seldom returned from a day in the country, without putting up for an
+      hour or two at one of the numerous caf�s, or caravanserai, built near some
+      celebrated spring, with seats, placed invitingly by the roadside, under
+      the shade of trees. There were generally a number of Arabs and French
+      soldiers collected in the middle of the day, drinking coffee, playing at
+      dominoes, or taking a siesta on the mats under the cool arcades, and often
+      some Arab musicians, who hummed and droned monotonous airs; there were
+      always plenty of beggars to improve the occasion, and perhaps, a group of
+      half-naked boys, who would get up an imitation of the 'Beni Zouzoug
+      Arabs,' and go through hideous contortions, inflicting all kinds of
+      torments on each other for a few sous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figright" style="width:30%;">
+      <img src="images/8139.jpg" alt="8139 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/8139.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      It is pleasant to put up at one of these caf�s during the heat of the day,
+      and to be able to walk in and take our places quietly amongst the Arabs
+      and Moors, without any particular notice or remark; and delightful (oh!
+      how delightful) to yield to the combined influences of the coffee, the
+      hachshish, the tomtom and the heat, and fall asleep and dream&mdash;dream
+      that the world is standing still, that politics and Fenianism are things
+      of the past, and that all the people in a hurry are dead. Pleasant, and
+      not a little perplexing too, when waking, for the eye to rest on the
+      delicate outline of a little window in the wall above, which, with its
+      spiral columns and graceful proportions, seems the very counterpart in
+      miniature of some Gothic cathedral screen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we examine it, it is old and Moorish (these buildings date back several
+      hundred years), and yet so perfect is its similarity to later work, that
+      our ideas on orders of architecture become confused and vague. We may not
+      attempt to discover the cause of the similarity, or indeed to go deeply
+      into questions of 'style,' but we may be tempted to explore further, and
+      if we examine such caf�s (as, for instance, those at El Biar, or
+      Birkadem), we shall find the walls ornamented with Arabesques, sometimes
+      half-concealed under whitewash, and the arcades and conical-domed roofs
+      and doorways covered with curious patterns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this way we pass the day, often lingering about one spot in most
+      vagrant fashion, till nightfall, when the last diligence comes crashing
+      in, and stops to change its wretched horses. We take our places quickly in
+      the <i>int�rieur</i>, and are wedged in between little soft white figures
+      with black eyes and stained finger-nails, who stare at us with a fixed and
+      stony stare, all the way back to Algiers. Another day we spend in the <i>Jardin
+      d'Essai</i>, (the garden of acclimatisation), where we may wander in
+      December, amidst groves of summer flowers, and where every variety of tree
+      and shrub is brought together for study and comparison. Through the
+      kindness of the director we are enabled to make studies of some rare and
+      curious tropical plants; but there is a little too much formality and an
+      artificial atmosphere about the place, that spoils it for sketching;
+      although nothing can control, or render formal, the wild strength of the
+      gigantic aloes, or make the palm-trees grow in line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the 'Garden of Marengo,' just outside the western gates, we may
+      obtain good subjects for sketching, including both mosques and palm-trees,
+      such as we have indicated on our title-page; and from the heights behind
+      the Casbah, some beautiful distant views across the plain of the Mitidja.
+      Of one of these an artistic traveller thus speaks: 'Standing on a ridge of
+      the Sahel, far beneath lies the Bay of Algiers, from this particular point
+      thrown into a curve so exquisite and subtle as to be well nigh inimitable
+      by art, the value of the curve being enhanced by the long level line of
+      the Mitidja plain immediately behind, furnishing the horizontal line of
+      repose so indispensable to calm beauty of landscape; whilst in the
+      background the faintly indicated serrated summits of the Atlas chain
+      preserve the whole picture from monotony. The curve of shore, the
+      horizontal bar of plain, the scarcely more than suggested angles of the
+      mountains, form a combination of contrasting yet harmonising lines of
+      infinite loveliness, which Nature would ever paint anew for us in the
+      fresh tints of the morning, with a brush dipped in golden sunshine and
+      soft filmy mist, and with a broad sweep of cool blue shadow over the
+      foreground.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But our favourite rendezvous, our principal 'Champ de Mars,' was a little
+      Arab cemetery, about six miles from Algiers; on the heights westward, in
+      the direction of Sidi Ferruch, and near to a little Arab village called
+      the 'Bouzareah.' This spot combined a wondrous view both of sea and land,
+      with a foreground of beauty not easy to depict. It was a half-deserted
+      cemetery, with tombs of Marabout priests over which the palm-trees waved,
+      and little gravestones here and there surmounted with crescents. Sheltered
+      from the sun's rays, hidden from the sight of passers-by, surrounded with
+      a profusion of aloes, palms, cacti; and an infinite variety of shrubs and
+      flowers peeping out between the palmettos, that spread their leaves like
+      fans upon the ground&mdash;it combined everything that could be desired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here we worked, sitting close to one of the tombs for its shade, with the
+      hush of the breeze, the distant sighing sound of the sea, the voices of
+      bees, and butterflies, the flutter of leaves, and one other sound that
+      intermingled with strange monotony of effect close to our ears, which
+      puzzled us sorely to account for at first. It turned out to be a snore;
+      the custodian of one of the tombs was sleeping inside with his fathers,
+      little dreaming of our proximity. We struck up an acquaintance with him,
+      after a few days of coyness on his part, and finally made him a friend.
+      For a few sous a day he acted as outpost for us, to keep off Arab boys and
+      any other intruders; and before we left, was induced to sit and be
+      included in a sketch. He winced a little at this, and we confess to an
+      inward reproach for having thus degraded him. He did not like it, but he
+      sat it out and had his portrait taken like any Christian dog; he took
+      money for his sin, and finally, by way of expiation let us hope, drank up
+      our palette water at the end of the day!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If there is one spot in all Algeria most dear to a Mussulman's heart, most
+      sacred, to a Marabout's memory, it must surely be this peaceful garden of
+      aloes and palms, where flowers ever grow, where the sun shines from the
+      moment of its rising until it sinks beneath the western sea; where, if
+      anywhere on this earth, the faithful will be the first to know of the
+      Prophet's coming, and where they will always be ready to meet him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But if it be dear to a Mussulman's heart, it is also dear to a
+      Christian's, for it has taught us more in a few weeks than we can unlearn
+      in years. We cannot sit here day by day without learning several truths,
+      more forcibly than by any teaching of our schools; taking in, as it were,
+      the mysteries of light and shade, and the various phases of the atmosphere&mdash;taking
+      them all to heart, so that they influence our work for years to come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How often have we, at the Uffizi, or at the Louvre, envied the power and
+      skill of a master, whose work we have vainly endeavoured to imitate; and
+      what would we not have given in those days, to achieve something that
+      seemed to approach, ever so little, to the power and beauty of colour, of
+      a Titian or a Paul Veronese. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * And have we not, generally, imbibed more of the trick or
+     method of colour, of the master, than of his inspiration&mdash;
+     more, in short, of the real than the ideal?
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Is it mere heresy in art, or is it a brighter light dawning upon us here,
+      that seems to say, that we have learned and achieved more, in studying the
+      glowing limbs of an Arab child as it plays amongst these wild palmettos&mdash;because
+      we worked with a background of such sea and sky as we never saw in any
+      picture of the 'Finding of Moses;' and because in the painting of the
+      child, we had not perforce to learn any 'master's' trick of colour, nor to
+      follow conventional lines?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And do we not, amongst other things, learn to distinguish between the true
+      and conventional rendering of the form, colour and character, of
+      palm-trees, aloes and cacti?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First of the palm. Do we not soon discover how much more of beauty, of
+      suggested strength, of grace, lightness and variety of colour and texture,
+      there is in this one stem, that we vainly try to depict in a wood
+      engraving, than we had previously any conception of; and how opposed to
+      facts are the conventional methods of drawing palm-trees (often with a
+      straight stem and uniform leaves looking like a feather broom on a
+      straight stick), which we may find in almost any illustrated book
+      representing Eastern scenes, from Constantinople to the Sea of Galilee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figright" style="width:30%;">
+      <img src="images/8147.jpg" alt="8147 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/8147.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Take, for instance, as a proof of variety in colour and grandeur of
+      aspect, this group of palm-trees * that have stood guard over the
+      Maho-medan tombs for perhaps a hundred years; stained with time, and
+      shattered with their fierce battle with the storms that sweep over the
+      promontory with terrible force. ** Look at the beauty of their lines, at
+      the glorious colour of their young leaves, and the deep orange of those
+      they have shed, like the plumage of some gigantic bird; one of their
+      number has fallen from age, and lies crossways on the ground,
+      half-concealed in the long grass and shrubs, and it has lain there to our
+      knowledge, undisturbed for years. To paint the sun setting on these
+      glowing stems, and to catch the shadows of their sharp pointed leaves, as
+      they are traced at one period of the day on the white walls of the tombs,
+      is worth long waiting to be able to note down; and to hit the right tint
+      to depict such shadows truly, is an exciting triumph to us.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * The palm-stem we have sketched is of a different variety
+     and less formal in character than those generally seen in
+     the East; nevertheless, there is endless variety in the
+     forms and leaves of any one of them, if we judge from
+     photographs.
+
+     ** We had prepared a drawing of these palm-trees in
+     sunlight; but perhaps Mr. Severn's view of them in a storm,
+     will be thought more characteristic.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Second of the aloe; and here we make as great a discovery as with the
+      palm. Have we not been taught (in paintings) from our youth up, that the
+      aloe puts forth its blue riband-like leaves in uniform fashion, like so
+      many starched pennants, which painters often express with one or two
+      strokes of the brush; and are we not told by botanists that it flowers but
+      once in a hundred years?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Look at that aloe hedgerow a little distance from us that stretches across
+      the country, like a long blue rippling wave on a calm sea, and which, as
+      we approach it, seems thrown up fantastically and irregularly by breakers
+      to a height of six or eight feet, and which (like the sea), on a nearer
+      view changes its opaque cold blue tint, to a rich transparent green and
+      gold. Approach them closely, walk under their colossal leaves, avoid their
+      sharp spear-points and touch their soft pulpy stems. What wonderful
+      variety there is in their forms, what transparent beauty of colour, what
+      eccentric shadows they cast upon each other, and with what a grand spiral
+      sweep some of the young shoots rear upwards! So tender and pliable are
+      they, that in some positions a child might snap their leaves, and yet so
+      wonderful is the distribution of strength, that they would resist at
+      spear-point the approach of a lion, and almost turn a charge of cavalry.
+      If we snap off the point of one of the leaves it is a needle, and a thread
+      clings to it which we may peel off down the stem a yard long&mdash;needle
+      and thread&mdash;nature-pointed, nature-threaded! Should not artists see
+      these things? Should not poets read of them?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here we are inclined to ask, if the aloe flowers but once in a hundred
+      years, how is it that everywhere in Algeria, we see plants of all ages
+      with their long flowering stems, some ten or twelve feet high? Have they
+      combined this year to flower, or are botanists at fault?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the cactus, which also grows in wild profusion, we could say almost as
+      much as of the palms and aloes, but it might seem like repetition. Suffice
+      it, that our studies of their separate leaves were the minutest and most
+      rewarding labour we achieved, and that until we had painted the cactus and
+      the palmetto growing together, we had never understood the meaning of
+      'tropical vegetation.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0151m.jpg" alt="0151m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0151.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      Many other subjects we obtain at the Bouzareah; simple perhaps, and
+      apparently not worth recording, but of immense value to a student of
+      Nature. Is it nothing, for instance, for a painter to have springing up
+      before him in this clear atmosphere, delicate stems of grass, six feet
+      high, falling over in spray of golden leaves against a background of blue
+      sea; darting upward, sheer, bright, and transparent from a bank covered
+      with the prickly pear, that looks by contrast, like the rock-work from
+      which a fountain springs? Is it nothing to see amongst all this wondrous
+      overgrowth of gigantic leaves, and amongst the tender creepers and the
+      flowers, the curious knotted and twisted stem of the vine, trailing
+      serpent-like on the ground, its surface worn smooth with time? Is it
+      nothing for an artist to learn practically, what 'white heat' means?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is well worth coming to North Africa in winter, if only to see the
+      flowers, but of these we cannot trust ourselves to speak&mdash;they <i>must</i>
+      be seen and painted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is difficult to tear ourselves away from this spot, and especially
+      tempting to dwell upon these details, because they have seldom been
+      treated of before; but perhaps the question may occur to some&mdash;are
+      such subjects as we have depicted worth painting, or, indeed, of any
+      prolonged or separate study? Let us endeavour to answer it by another
+      question. Are the waves worth painting, by themselves? Has it not occurred
+      to one or two artists (not to many, we admit) that the waves of the sea
+      have never yet been adequately painted; and have never had their due, so
+      to speak, because it has always been considered necessary to introduce
+      something else into the composition, be it only a rope, a spar, or a
+      deserted ship? Has it not been discovered (though only of late years) that
+      there is scope for imagination and poetry, and all the elements of a great
+      and enthralling picture, in the drawing of waves alone; and should there
+      not be, if nobly treated, interest enough in a group of colossal
+      vegetation in a brilliant atmosphere, without the usual conventional
+      adjuncts of figures and buildings?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So far, whilst sketching at the Bouzareah, we have spoken only of the
+      foreground; but we have been all the time in the presence of the most
+      wonderful panorama of sea and land, and have watched so many changing
+      aspects from these heights, that we might fill a chapter in describing
+      them alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The view northward over the Mediterranean, westward towards Sidi Ferruch,
+      southward across the plains to the Atlas, eastward towards Algiers and the
+      mountains of Kabylia beyond; each point so distant from the other that,
+      according to the wind or time of day, it partook of quite distinct
+      aspects, fill up so many pictures in our mind's eye that a book might be
+      written, called 'The Bouzareah,' as seen under the different phases of
+      sunshine and storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It has often been objected to these Eastern scenes, that they have 'no
+      atmosphere,' and no gradation of middle distance; that there is not enough
+      repose about them, that they lack mystery and are altogether wanting in
+      the poetry of cloudland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there are clouds. We have seen, for the last few mornings (looking
+      through the arched windows of the great aloe-leaves) little companies of
+      small white clouds, casting clearly-defined shadows across the distant
+      sea, and breaking up the horizon line with their soft white folds,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="indent15">
+      'They come like shadows, so depart.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &mdash;reappearing and disappearing by some mysterious law, but seldom
+      culminating in rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, there are clouds. Look this time far away towards the horizon line
+      across the bay, and watch that rolling sea which looks like foam, that
+      rises higher and higher as we watch it, darkening the sky, and soon
+      enveloping us in a kin of sea fog, through which the sun gleams dimly red,
+      whilst the white walls of the tombs appear cold and grey against a leaden
+      sky. See it all pass away again across the plain of the Mitidja, and
+      disappear in the shadows of the lesser Atlas. There is a hush in the
+      breeze and all is bright again, but a storm is coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0157m.jpg" alt="0157m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0157.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      Take shelter, if you have courage, <i>inside</i> one of the Marabouts'
+      tombs (there is plenty of space), whilst a tempest rages that should wake
+      the dead before Mahomet's coming. Sit and wait in there, perhaps an hour,
+      whilst one or two strong gusts of wind pass over, and then all is still
+      again; and so dark that we can see nothing inside but the light of a pipe
+      in one corner. We get impatient, thinking that it is passing off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it comes at last. It breaks over the tombs, and tears through the
+      plantation, with a tremendous surging sound, putting to flight the Arabs
+      on guard, who wrap their bournouses about them and hurry off to the
+      village, with the cry of 'Allah il Allah;' leaving the care of the tombs
+      to the palms, that have stood guard over them so long. Oh, how they fight
+      and struggle in the wind! how they creak, and moan, and strike against one
+      another, like human creatures in the thick of battle! How they rally side
+      by side, and wrestle with the wind&mdash;crashing down suddenly against
+      the walls of the tomb, and scattering their leaves over us; then rallying
+      again, and fighting the storm with human energy and persistence!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a fearful sight&mdash;the rain falling in masses, but nearly
+      horizontally, and with such density that we can see but a few yards from
+      our place of shelter&mdash;and it is a fearful sound, to hear the
+      palm-trees shriek in the wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was one part of the scene we could not describe, one which no other
+      than Dante's pen, or Dor�'s pencil, could give any idea of; we could not
+      depict the confused muttering sound and grinding clatter (if we may call
+      it so), that the battered and wounded aloes made amongst themselves, like
+      maimed and dying combatants trodden under foot. Many scenes in nature have
+      been compared to a battle-field; we have seen sheaves of corn blown about
+      by the wind, looking like the tents of a routed host; but this scene was
+      beyond parallel&mdash;the hideous contortion, the melancholy aspect of
+      destruction, the disfigured limbs in hopeless wreck, the weird and ghastly
+      forms that writhed and groaned aloud, as the storm made havoc with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And they made havoc with each other. What would the reader say, if he saw
+      the wounds inflicted by some of the young leaves on the parent stems&mdash;how
+      they pierce and transfix, and sometimes <i>saw</i> into each other, with
+      their sharp serrated edges, as they sway backwards and forwards in the
+      wind. He would say perhaps that no sea monster or devil-fish, could seem
+      more horrible, and we wish him no wilder vision than to be near them at
+      night, when disturbed by the wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have scarcely alluded to the palmetto-leaves and branches that filled
+      the air, to the sound of rushing water, to the distant roar of the sea,
+      nor to many other aspects of the storm. It lasted, not much more than an
+      hour, but the water covered the floor of our little temple before the rain
+      subsided, and the ground a few feet off where we had sat, was completely
+      under water. Everything was steaming with vapour, but the land was
+      refreshed, and the dark earth was richer than we had seen it for months&mdash;there
+      would be no dust in Algiers until to-morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0163m.jpg" alt="0163m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0163.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. BLIDAH&mdash;MEDEAH&mdash;THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9165.jpg" alt="9165 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9165.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      HE Atlas Mountains, of which we have spoken so often, are almost separated
+      from the hills of the Sahel on which the town of Algiers is built, by the
+      broad plain of the Mitidja, averaging between twenty and thirty miles
+      across; and at the inland extremity of this plain, nestling close under
+      the shadow of the lesser Atlas, is situated the town of Blidah, half Arab,
+      half French, with its little population of European colonists and traders;
+      its orange-groves and its orange-merchants, who here pass their
+      monotonous, semi-successful lives&mdash;varied by occasional earthquakes
+      and Arab <i>�meutes</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not particularly to see Blidah, but because it was on the high road
+      to the Atlas Mountains, and to Medeah, a strongly fortified town situated
+      2900 feet above the sea-level&mdash;approached by a military road cut
+      through the celebrated gorge of 'La Chiffa'&mdash;that two of our party
+      left Algiers on horseback, on the 14th of December, on a sketching
+      expedition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We made other interesting tours at different times; but it will be
+      sufficient for our purpose to speak of two expeditions&mdash;the one to
+      Medeah; the other, to the celebrated 'Fort Napol�on,' on the Kabyle Hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seems to say something for the peculiarly invigorating character of the
+      climate that, at an average temperature of 70� Fahrenheit, our little
+      horses did their thirty or forty miles a day, laden with our well-stored
+      saddle-bags and sketching paraphernalia; and it speaks volumes for the
+      security with which travellers can move about from town to town, that we
+      were merely by chance provided with firearms, and that we started without
+      any guide or escort. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * At the time we speak of, journeys into the interior were
+     much less frequent than they are now; when there is a
+     railway to Blidah, and a diligence to the Fort Napol�on.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      We pass through the eastern gate before sunrise, and winding up the hills
+      behind Mustapha Sup�rieure (keeping to the road) we begin to descend on
+      the southern side and have the broad plain of the Mitidja before us, just
+      as the day is breaking. As we come down towards the plain, we pass several
+      farms of the French colonists; and here and there, a tobacco plantation
+      where both Arabs and French are employed. At Birkadem, which is in the
+      midst of a farming district, we halt to breakfast, and run considerable
+      risk of getting into a controversy on French colonization, with some
+      friendly and pleasant, but rather desponding agriculturists.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, happily for ourselves and for our readers, we do not attempt to
+      master the subject, and with a sketch of the little Moorish caf� with its
+      marble columns and arcades, we continue our journey; over a wide waste&mdash;half
+      moorland, half desert&mdash;passing at intervals little oases of
+      cultivation, with houses, shrubs and gardens surrounding. Straight before
+      us, apparently only a few miles off, but in reality twenty, stretches the
+      chain of the lesser Atlas; the dark shadows here and there, pointing out
+      the approaches to a higher range beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the foot of the mountains we can distinctly see with our glasses, the
+      white Moorish houses and villas that are built near Blidah, and the thick
+      clusters of trees that shelter them. Our way across the plain for the next
+      two or three hours is rather solitary, and although we keep up a steady
+      pace, we seem to get no nearer to our destination. We pass a number of
+      Arabs leading camels, and overtake a troop of twenty or thirty donkeys,
+      laden with goods and ridden by their owners (who sit upon the top of their
+      piles), shambling along almost as fast as a horse can trot. They beat us
+      hollow before noon, because they never stop, and reach Bouffarik, the
+      midday resting-place, long before us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Bouffarik we are again amongst the colonists, and hear the peculiar
+      French dialect of Provence and Languedoc, with occasional snatches of
+      German and Maltese. We rest until about two hours of sunset, and become
+      thoroughly imbued with the idea that we must be again in the south of
+      France; so completely have the French realised, in the midst of an African
+      plain, the dull uniformity of a poor French town, with its 'place,' its
+      one street of cobble-stones, and its two rows of trees. Here we can obtain
+      bad coffee, just as we can in France, and read the 'Moniteur' but four
+      days old. It is altogether French, and when the white Arab mare belonging
+      to one of our party turns restive at starting again, and proceeds through
+      the village on its hind legs; it is just in time to remind us that it was
+      here that Horace Vernet worked, and painted those rampant white steeds
+      that we know so well, in the centre of his battle pictures. The war horse,
+      (with the light upon him) was more to Horace Vernet perhaps, than the
+      glory of the whole plain of the Mitidja; but how he could have lived in
+      Algeria so long, and have been so little influenced by the scene around
+      him, it is hard to tell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is tempting (indeed it is almost impossible to avoid) at Bouffarik,
+      going a little into the question of colonization, and speaking from
+      personal observation, of the progress made during the last few years. But
+      as English people care little or nothing for the prospects of Algeria, we
+      will merely remark <i>en passant</i>, that the insurmountable evil of
+      Algeria being too near the home country, seems to blight its prospects
+      even here, and that the want of confidence displayed by private
+      capitalists retards all progress. Nearly all the capital employed by the
+      colonists at Bouffarik and Blidah has been raised by a paternal
+      government; but, notwithstanding help from the home country, the tide of
+      wealth neither flows nor ebbs, with great rapidity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Bouffarik we see the Arabs calmly settled under French rule, and
+      learning the arts of peace; taking to husbandry and steam ploughs, and
+      otherwise progressing in a scientific and peaceful direction. We see them
+      in the evening, sitting by their cottages with their half-naked children,
+      looking prosperous and happy enough, and hear them droning to them in that
+      monotonous 'singsong' that is so irritating to the ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is a musician at the door of our hostelry now, who is as great a
+      nuisance as any Italian organ grinder in Mayfair; he taps on a little
+      piece of stretched parchment, and howls without ceasing. It is given to
+      the inhabitants of some countries, who have what is commonly called 'no
+      ear for music' to hum and to drone in more sensitive ears to the point of
+      distraction, and it seems to be the special attribute of the Arab to fill
+      the air with monotonous sounds; when he is on a journey or resting from
+      it, it is the same&mdash;he hums and moans like a creature in torment. In
+      contact with Europeans we perhaps see him at his worst; for however
+      orderly and useful a member of society he may be, however neat and clean,
+      there is something cringing and artificial in him at the best. But we must
+      hasten on to Blidah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again we cross a wide plain, again do we overtake and are overtaken by,
+      the tribe of donkeys; and just as the sun goes down we enter the city
+      gates together, dismounting in the principal square, which is filled with
+      idlers, chiefly French soldiers and poor Arabs who have learned to beg. We
+      had chosen the time for this journey when the moon was nearly full, and
+      our first near view of the town was by moonlight. Nothing can be conceived
+      more beautiful than Blidah by night, with its little white domes and
+      towers, and the mountains looming indistinctly in the background. In the
+      Moorish quarter, the tower of the principal Mosque stands out clearly
+      defined in the moonlight, whilst all around it cluster the little
+      flat-roofed houses, set in masses of dark foliage&mdash;the olives and the
+      date-trees, and the sharp-pointed spires of the cypresses, just tinged
+      with a silver light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So peaceful, so beautiful does it look at night, so complete the repose
+      with which we have always associated Blidah, that it is a rude
+      disenchantment to learn that but a few years ago, this city was upheaved
+      and tossed about, like the waves of the sea. In 1825, eight or nine
+      thousand people perished from an earthquake; and in 1866, a lady who was
+      staying at our hotel, thus wrote home to her friends: *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * 'Last Winter in Algeria,'  by Mrs. H. Lloyd Evans.
+
+     'I was roused from sleep by a sound as of some one beating
+     the floor above, and the walls on every side. It increased
+     rapidly in violence, till the whole house shook and rocked
+     and seemed giving way beneath our feet. I saw the wall in
+     the corner of the room split open, and immediately
+     afterwards masses of plaster fell from the ceiling and
+     walls, bringing clouds of dust and a darkness as of night.
+
+     'On the <i>Place</i> it was a fearful scene, people came tearing
+     down the neighbouring streets, women and children ran
+     aimlessly hither and thither, shrieking wildly, men uttering
+     hoarse sounds of terror, whilst the ground heaved and
+     trembled beneath our feet, and we gazed at the surrounding
+     houses in expectant horror; it seemed as if they must fall
+     like a pack of cards. The young trees rocked and swayed, the
+     flagstaff waved backwards and forwards&mdash;the wind moaning,
+     the rain pouring down, whilst above all rose, ever and anon,
+     the sound of cavalry trumpets and the rolling of the drum,
+     calling on the troops to quit their tottering barracks.
+
+     'The Arabs alone stalked about unmoved, shrugging their
+     shoulders and muttering "It is destiny!"'
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The air is delightful at Blidah, and the little country houses, with their
+      groves of orange-trees, their gardens and vineyards, have been pointed out
+      by travellers, as some of the most desirable spots on earth. The extract
+      above may tend to qualify the longings of some people; but we think we
+      might 'take our chance' at Blidah, as the Neapolitans do near Vesuvius&mdash;there
+      are so many compensations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the morning we are again on our way, and as we leave the western
+      gate, the donkeys, with their dirty drivers, scramble out with us and
+      again play the game of the tortoise and the hare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gorge of La Chiffa is one of the principal approaches to the
+      mountains, through which a military road is cut to Medeah. The first part
+      is wild and rocky, the road passing between almost perpendicular cliffs,
+      carried sometimes by masonry over a chasm at a height of several thousand
+      feet. We ride for miles through a valley of most solitary grandeur, with
+      no sounds but the rushing of the torrent and the occasional cries of
+      monkeys. We pass by one celebrated waterfall called 'Ruisseau des Singes,'
+      and are otherwise reminded of the presence of monkeys, by their pelting us
+      with large stones, which they dislodge from their hiding-places above our
+      heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are at times so shut in by the rocks, that we can scarcely discover any
+      outlet, but after a few hours' ascent, we come suddenly upon quite a
+      different scene. What is it that delights the eye and that thrills us with
+      pleasurable emotions, calling up memories of green lanes and England,
+      pastoral?'Tis the plash of water, and the trickling, tinkling play of a
+      running stream, winding and winding down to the swollen torrent that we
+      crossed just now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here under the shadow and shelter of the mountains&mdash;refreshed by
+      rains that they in the plains know not of, and where the heat of a midday
+      sun can scarcely approach&mdash;we find a cottage, a little farm, green
+      pastures, cattle grazing, trees, flowers and children; the stream flowing
+      through all, bright, deep, and sparkling, with green banks, bullrushes and
+      lilies of the valley of the Atlas. A few poor emigrants have settled down
+      in this corner of the world, as quietly, and we may add as securely, as if
+      a sandy plain did not divide them from everything kindred and civilized.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We make our midday halt under the shade of chesnut-trees, and sketch; one
+      great defect of our drawings being, that they are far too pastoral&mdash;they
+      would not be admitted by judges, to represent Africa at all! Nothing in
+      this land of strong contrasts could equal the change from Nature,
+      untilled, unfruitful, stern and forbidding; to this little farm-house, as
+      it might be in Wales, surrounded by trees and watered by a sparkling
+      stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Continuing our journey up the gorge, walking, riding, clambering, and
+      resting, by turns, we do not reach Medeah until after dark. During the
+      last few miles our horses are troublesome, and will not be persuaded to
+      pass close to any rock or brushwood, being evidently nervous of some
+      sudden attack, or surprise; and so we creep along silently and in single
+      file, trusting chiefly to our horses to keep to the path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the long-looked-for lights of Medeah appear, and in a quarter of
+      an hour afterwards we are inside the fortifications; and with a '<i>Voyageurs,
+      monsieur</i>' to the sentinel at the gate, we pass under the dark arches
+      of a Roman aqueduct&mdash;casting a deep shadow over the town as the moon
+      shines out, now obscured again by a passing cloud&mdash;like some solemn
+      dissolving view of Roman power, or phantom monument of the past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Medeah, we find everything much the same as at Blidah; a little rougher
+      and poorer perhaps, but the same mixture of French and Moorish buildings.
+      Fine old mosques, courtyards after the style of the Alhambra, and carved
+      doorways of very early date; but brick fortifications, young French
+      soldiers, <i>estamin�ts</i>, and a 'Place' with half-dead trees, are more
+      prominent features; and here, at a height of nearly 3000 feet above the
+      sea, set deep in the heart of the Atlas, civilization may again be seen,
+      doing its work&mdash;the Arabs indulging in absinthe freely, and playing
+      at cards with their conquerors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beautiful mountain scenery south of Medeah led us to spend some time
+      in sketching and in exploring the country. In spite of its wildness and
+      solitariness we could wander about with perfect security, within a day or
+      two's journey of the French outposts. The crisp keen air at this altitude
+      tempted us on and on, through the most deserted region that can be
+      imagined. The mountain-ranges to the south were like an undulating sea,
+      divided from us by lesser hills and little plains, with here and there
+      valleys, green and cultivated; but the prevailing character of the scenery
+      was rocky and barren. The great beauty was in the clouds that passed over
+      at intervals, spreading a grateful shade, and casting wonderful shadows on
+      the rocks. The rain would fall heavily through them sometimes for three or
+      four minutes, like summer showers, and the little dried-up torrent beds
+      would trickle for a while; the Arabs would collect a few drops, and then
+      all would be gone&mdash;the clouds, the rivulets, and every sign of
+      moisture on the ground&mdash;and the mountains would stand out sharp and
+      clear against the sky, with that curious pinky hue, so well portrayed in
+      the background of Lewis's picture of 'A camp on Mount Sinai.' Here we
+      could pitch our tent in the deepest solitude, and romance as much as we
+      pleased without fear of interruption. The only variation to the almost
+      death-like silence that prevailed, would be the distant cry of a jackal,
+      which disturbed us for a moment, or the moaning of the wind in some
+      far-off valley, for the air seemed never still on these heights. A stray
+      monkey or two, would come and furtively peep at our proceedings, but would
+      be off again in an instant, and there were no birds; indeed, since we left
+      Blidah we had scarcely heard their voices. The few Arab tribes that
+      cultivated the valleys, seldom came near us; so that we sometimes heard no
+      voices but our own, from morning till night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day proved an exception. We had been making a drawing of the prospect
+      due south, in order to get the effect of the sun's rays upon a sandy
+      plateau that stretched between us and the next range of mountains: it was
+      little more than a study of colour and effect, for there was not much to
+      break the monotony of the subject&mdash;a sand-plain bounded by barren
+      rocks. We had nearly finished our work, when two dark specks appeared
+      suddenly on the sky-line, and quickly descending the rocks, began to cross
+      the plain towards us. With our telescope, we soon made out that they were
+      horsemen at full gallop, and we could tell this, not by the figures
+      themselves, but by the long shadows that the afternoon sun cast from them
+      upon the plain. In a few minutes they rode up to our tent. They were not,
+      as our porters had insisted, some Arabs on a reconnoitering expedition,
+      but two American gentlemen on hired horses from Algiers, who were
+      scampering about the country without any guide or escort. They had come
+      from Milianah that day, they would be at Blidah to-morrow, and at Algiers
+      the next day, in time to 'catch the boat for Europe!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an end to all romance about desert scenes and being 'alone with
+      Nature we could not get rid of the western world, we were tourists and
+      nothing more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was pleasant to hear the English language spoken, and delightful to
+      record that these gentlemen neither bragged of their exploits nor favoured
+      us with what are called 'Americanisms.' In short, we are able to speak of
+      our interview (they came back with us as far as Medeah) without repeating
+      any of those bits of smart conversation, that seem inseparable from the
+      record of such rencontres. These gentlemen had taken a glance at a great
+      deal, in four or five days, and had been (perhaps it did not much matter)
+      once or twice, into a little danger; they had seen the cedar forests, the
+      'Fort Napol�on,' and the principal sights, and were now on their way home.
+      They had, however, done one thing, in which they evidently felt unmixed
+      satisfaction, though they did not express it in so many words&mdash;they
+      had been rather <i>farther</i> into the interior, than any of their
+      countrymen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before leaving the mountains, we should answer a question that we have
+      been asked repeatedly, 'What of the African lion, so celebrated by Jules
+      G�rard?' We answer, that we did not penetrate far enough for 'sport,' of
+      this kind; indeed we scarcely ever heard of any lions. Once only our
+      horses stopped and trembled violently, and would not pass a thicket
+      without a long detour; and once (only once) we heard the lion's roar, not
+      far off. It is a sound that carries a dread with it not soon forgotten,
+      and the solemnity of which, when echoed from the mountains, it is not easy
+      to describe. Perhaps the only person who was ever flippant in speaking of
+      lions, was Gordon Cumming, but then he used to go amongst them (according
+      to his own account), single-handed, to 'select specimens' before firing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the solitude of these mountain wanderings, we have had
+      opportunities of seeing one phase of Arab life that we had really come out
+      to see, and which was alone worth the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had started early one morning from Blidah, but not so early, that in
+      deference to the wishes of some of our companions, we had first attended
+      service in a chapel, dedicated to 'Our Lady of Succour.' We went into the
+      little building, which, like some rare exotic, was flourishing alone,
+      surrounded by the most discordant elements&mdash;situated hard by a mosque
+      and close to some noisy Arab dwellings. Service was being performed in the
+      usual manner, the priests were bowing before a tinsel cross, and praying
+      (in a language of their own) to a coloured print of 'Our Lady,' in a gilt
+      frame. There were the customary chauntings, the swinging of censers, the
+      creaking of chairs, the interchanging of glances, and the paying of sous.
+      Sins were confessed through a hole in the wall, and holy water was
+      administered to the faithful, with a brush. Everything was conducted with
+      perfect decorum, and was (as it seemed to an eyewitness) the most
+      materialistic expression of devotion it were possible to devise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the evening of the same day, we make a halt amongst the mountains.
+      A few yards from us we see in the evening light a promontory; upon it some
+      figures, motionless, and nearly the same colour as the rocks&mdash;Arabs
+      watching the setting sun. The twilight has faded so rapidly into darkness,
+      that we have soon to put by our work, and can see no objects, distinctly,
+      excepting this promontory; on which the sun still shines through some
+      unseen valley, and lights up the figures as they kneel in prayer. The
+      solemnity of the scene could hardly be conveyed to the mind of the reader
+      in words, its picturesqueness we should altogether fail to do justice to;
+      but its beauty and suggestiveness, set us upon a train of thought, which,
+      in connection with the ceremony of the morning, we may be pardoned for
+      dwelling upon in a few words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not the first nor the last time, that we had witnessed the Arabs at
+      prayer, and had studied with a painter's eye their attitudes of devotion,
+      the religious fervour in their faces, and their perfect <i>abandon</i>.
+      The charm of the scene was in its primitive aspect, and in the absence of
+      all the accessories, which Europeans are taught from their youth up, to
+      connect in some way, with every act of public worship; and who could help
+      being struck by the sight of all this earnestness&mdash;at these heartfelt
+      prayers? What does the Arab see, in this mystery of beauty, in its daily
+      recurring 'splendour and decline? Shall we say that the rising and the
+      setting of the sun behind the hills, may not (to the rude souls of men who
+      have learned their all from Nature), point out the entrance of that
+      Paradise, which their simple faith has taught them, they shall one day
+      enter and possess?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If it were possible in these days, when religious art assumes the most
+      fantastic forms, to create ever so slight a re-action against a school
+      which has perhaps held its own too long&mdash;if it were not heresy to set
+      forth as the noblest aim for a painter, that he should depict the deepest
+      emotion, the simplest faith, the most heartfelt devotion, without the
+      accessories of purple and fine linen, without marble columns or gilded
+      shrines, without furniture, without Madonnas and without paste&mdash;then
+      we might point confidently to the picture before us to aid our words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What if the heaven prayed for, and the prophet worshipped, seem to a
+      Christian unorthodox and worse&mdash;there is sincerity here, there is
+      faith, devotion, ecstasy, adoration. What more, indeed, does the painter
+      hope for&mdash;what does he seek; and what more has he ever found in the
+      noblest work of Christian art?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If he lack enthusiasm, still, before a scene so strange, let him think for
+      a moment what manner of worship this, of the Arabs is; and contrast their
+      system with that of the Vatican. The religion of the Arabs is a very
+      striking thing, and its position and influence on their lives might put
+      many professing Christians to the blush. An honest, earnest faith is
+      theirs, be it right or wrong. If we examine it at all, we find it
+      something more than a silly superstition; we find that it has been 'a firm
+      belief and hope amongst twelve millions of men in Arabia alone, holding
+      its place in their hearts for more than twelve hundred years.' It is a
+      religion of Duty, an acting up to certain fixed principles and defined
+      laws of life, untrammelled by many ceremonies, unshaken by doubts; a
+      following out to the letter, the written law, as laid down for them by
+      Mahomet, as the rule and principle of their lives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the whole system of the Mahommedan faith breaks down (as we admit it
+      does) on examination, it does not affect our position, viz.:&mdash;that we
+      have here an exhibition of religious fervour which seldom reaches to
+      fanaticism, and is essentially sincere. Regarding the scene from a purely
+      artistic point of view, we can imagine no more fitting subject for a
+      painter, than this group of Arabs at their devotions&mdash;Nature their
+      temple, its altar the setting sun, their faces towards Mecca, their hearts
+      towards the Prophet, their every attitude breathing devotion and faith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Setting aside all questions of orthodoxy, regarding for our particular
+      purpose both civilised and uncivilised worshippers under their general
+      religious aspect&mdash;how would it 'strike that stranger' who, descending
+      from another planet, wondered why, if men's Duty was so clearly placed
+      before them, they did not follow it&mdash;how would he view the two great
+      phases of religious worship? Whose religion would seem most inspiring,
+      whose temple most fitting, whose altar most glorious, whose religion the
+      most free from question; the modern and enlightened, intrenched in
+      orthodoxy and enthroned in state; or the benighted and un-regenerate, but
+      earnest, nature-loving and always sincere?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall have perhaps (if we make a serious study of these subjects and
+      put our heart into the work), to unlearn something that we have been
+      taught, about the steady painting of Madonnas and angels, in our schools;
+      but, if we do no more than make one or two sketches of such scenes as the
+      above, we shall have added to our store of knowledge in a rough and ready
+      way; and have familiarised ourselves with the sight of what,&mdash;though
+      barbaric&mdash;is noble and true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0191m.jpg" alt="0191m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0191.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0193m.jpg" alt="0193m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0193.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. KAB YLIA&mdash;THE FORT NAPOL�ON.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9193.jpg" alt="9193 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9193.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      T was almost impossible to take up a newspaper in Algiers, or to converse
+      for five minutes in a caf�, or at the club, without the 'question Kabyle'
+      cropping up in some paragraph or conversation. Every day there came
+      contradictory news about the war, that it would really be over to-morrow
+      or the next day, or the next week. It had lasted with more or less
+      activity for thirty years, but now at last the smouldering embers seemed
+      to be dying out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Djurjura mountains stretching eastward into Kabylia, which we knew so
+      well in their peaceful aspect, with the sun shining upon their snow-clad
+      summits from morning till night, were still the theatre of war. In the
+      heart of the mountains, about sixty miles from Algiers, and at a height of
+      nearly 3000 feet above the sea, the French army was busily engaged in
+      building a fortress, in order to keep the Kabyles at bay and give
+      protection to the colonists; and whilst this work was progressing with
+      wonderful rapidity, the outposts of the army were carrying on a guerilla
+      warfare with the unsubdued tribes. Their camps were pitched on the various
+      heights, and the sound of the morning <i>r�veille</i> was generally
+      succeeded by the 'ping' of the rifle from some concealed Kabyles, and by a
+      quick return volley from the French outposts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We went to the Fort Napoleon at the invitation of some French officers,
+      who, when they wrote to us, imagined (as all French people had imagined a
+      hundred times before) that the war was over, and that it would be a good
+      opportunity to visit the camp and the fort, in process of construction. *
+      Two easy days' journey on horseback, halting for the night at a
+      caravanserai called Les Issers, brought us to Tiziouzou, a small town and
+      military depot on the borders of Kabylia, at the foot of the mountains,
+      and but a few miles from the fort. At Les Issers we slept upon the ground,
+      each man by the side of his own horse, as there was neither stabling nor
+      sleeping accommodation to be had in the inn, which was crowded before we
+      arrived, with troops and war <i>mat�riel</i>. To reach this, our first
+      night's halting-place, we had had some rough riding, ending by fording in
+      the evening, a rapid river which rose above the saddle-girths and nearly
+      upset our active little horses. The night was starlight, and we lay down
+      about fifty together, with fires burning in a circle round us, to prevent
+      any surprise.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * General Randon laid the first stone of the Fort Napol�on
+     in June, 1857. This fort, which occupies an area of more
+     than twenty acres, and is built on most irregular ground,
+     was built in a few months.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The route from Les Issers to Tiziouzou was crowded with baggage-waggons
+      sticking in the mud, and with immense droves of camels and donkeys, on
+      their way to the fort. The late rains had almost obliterated the military
+      road (which was said to extend all the way from Algiers to the Fort
+      Napol�on), and in some places it was turned into a river. The greater part
+      of our route had been wild and uncultivated, but as we came near to
+      Tiziouzou and approached the mountains, every valley was luxuriant with
+      vegetation, fig-trees and olives grew in abundance, the former of enormous
+      size. But nearly every inhabitant was French, and we, who had come to
+      sketch and to see the Kabyles, were as yet disappointed at finding none
+      but French soldiers, European camp-followers, and camel-drivers, on the
+      way; and when we arrived at Tiziouzou, we were so shut in by mountains on
+      all sides, that even the heights of Beni-Raten were concealed from view.
+      It was fortunate that we obtained the shelter of a little inn on the night
+      of our arrival, for the rain fell steadily in sheets of water, until our
+      wooden house was soaked through, and stood like an island in the midst of
+      a lake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We sent our horses back to Algiers, and carrying our own knapsacks, set
+      off in the early morning to walk up to the fort. A lively cantini�re
+      (attached to a regiment of Zouaves camped near Tiziouzou) walked with us
+      and led the way, past one or two half-deserted Kabyle villages, by a short
+      cut to the camp. The military road by which the artillery had been brought
+      up was about fifteen miles, but by taking the steeper paths, we must have
+      reduced the distance by more than half. At one point of the way the bare
+      mountain side was so steep and slippery with the late rain, that it was
+      almost impossible to ascend it, but some Arabs, with an eye to business
+      worthy of the western world, had stationed themselves here with their
+      camels to drag up pedestrians; a camel's tail was let for two sous and was
+      in great request. The latter part of the ascent was through forests, and
+      groves of olive and cork trees, looking cool and grey amongst the mass of
+      rich vegetation, through which we had sometimes to cut a path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a wild walk, but our merry little cantini�re was so active and
+      entertaining that we, encumbered with knapsacks, had enough to do to keep
+      up with her, and indeed to comprehend the rapid little French histories
+      that she favoured us with. Every now and then we heard through the trees
+      the strains of 'Partant pour la Syrie,' or the rattle of a regimental
+      drum, and came suddenly upon working parties on the road, which the army
+      boasts was made practicable in three months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After about four hours' clambering, we again emerge upon the road, near
+      the summit, and in a few minutes more, come in sight of the fort and the
+      pretty white tents of the camps on the surrounding hills. Here we must
+      pause a few minutes, to give a picture of the state of things at the 'Fort
+      Napol�on,' a few weeks before our arrival. We are indebted to Lieut.-Col.
+      Walmisley, one of our countrymen who accompanied the expedition, for the
+      following graphic account of a sharp action with the Kabyles:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'Daylight dawned upon the Kabyle hills on the morning of the 24th June,
+      1857, and its light streamed over the serried ranks of the second
+      division, as, under the command of General MacMahon, the head of the
+      column marched out of the lines of Aboudid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'Before it lay the heights of Icheriden, with its village and triple row
+      of barricades, behind which the men of the Beni Menguillet anxiously
+      watched the progress of the foe. The path of the column lay along a
+      mountain ridge, and it was strange to see that column of between six and
+      seven thousand men, advancing quietly and composedly, the birds singing
+      around them; the Kabyles crowning every available hillock, the hawks and
+      eagles slowly wheeling in large circles over their heads, and the bright
+      rays of the morning sun gleaming on brighter bayonets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'The Kabyle barricades remained black and silent as ever; not a bournous
+      was to be seen, as the 54th and the Zouaves received orders to carry the
+      position at the point of the bayonet. Before them lay a ridge covered with
+      brushwood, affording capital shelter, but at about sixty or seventy paces
+      from the stockades the brush had been cleared away, and now the occasional
+      gleam of a bayonet, the report of a musket or two fired against the
+      stockade, the loud ringing of the trumpets, as they gave forth in
+      inspiriting tones the <i>pas de charge</i>, and the wild shouting of the
+      men, as they pushed their way forward, told of the progress of the attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'Still the same stern heavy silence reigned over the hostile village. Was
+      it indeed deserted, or was it the silence of despair? But now the bugle
+      notes became shriller and more exciting; the shots quicker and more
+      steady, as emerging from the bush, the attacking column rushed forward to
+      the attack. Sixty paces of greensward were before them: but instantly, and
+      as if by magic, a thousand reports broke the silence of the dark
+      stockades, a wild yell rose from their defenders, as the hail of lead fell
+      on the advancing regiments, and a long line of dead marked the advance.
+      The Kabyles leaning their pieces over the joints of the trees, where they
+      were fitted into each other, and through crevices and loopholes, offered
+      little or no mark themselves to the shot; whilst not a ball of theirs
+      missed its aim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'But the Zouaves were not to be daunted; and leaving the ground dotted
+      with their dead and dying comrades, on they rushed, a wild cheer rising
+      from their ranks, and a volley of balls pattering a reply. Again the line
+      of fire burst from the dark stockade, and the advancing column withered
+      away. The ground was strewn with fallen forms, and the fire of the
+      stockade fell fast and sure. The men gave way, seeking the shelter of the
+      bushes; their officers dashing to the front, vainly attempting to lead
+      them on. It was useless&mdash;even the sturdy Zouaves refused to cross the
+      deadly slope, for to do so was death; on the green slope, across which the
+      balls hurried fast and thick, lay whole ranks of French uniforms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'The fire from stockade and bush raged fast and furious; well kept up on
+      the side of the French, more deadly on that of the Kabyles, and still <i>the
+      men would not advance</i> over the uncovered space, for it was certain
+      death. Two thousand Kabyle marksmen lined the loopholes, and the balls now
+      began to whiz round the heads of the generals and their staff.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      General MacMahon, who was wounded in this engagement, at last resorted to
+      shells to dislodge the defenders; the result was successful, and the whole
+      ended in a panic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'Fast and furious now became the flight of the Kabyles, and all was havoc
+      and confusion. The men of the Legion, mixed up with the Zouaves and the
+      54th, dashed after the fugitives, entering the villages with them, and
+      bayoneting right and left with savage shouts, whilst down the steep sides
+      of the hills, away over the ridges to the right and to the left, the
+      waving bournous might be seen in flight!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The curtain fell upon the Kabyle war soon after this action, and large
+      detachments of troops were at once told off to build the fort. All around,
+      on every promontory and hill, the little white tents were scattered
+      thickly, and the sound of the bugle, and the sight of the red kepis of the
+      soldiers, prevailed everywhere. But the war was practically over,
+      civilians came up from Algiers&mdash;some to see, and some to trade&mdash;and
+      quite a little colony sprung up. And here, on one of the heights shown in
+      our little sketch, we establish ourselves again&mdash;whilst the Kabyle
+      villages still smoulder in the distance, and revenge is deep in the hearts
+      of the insurgent tribes, 'one peaceful English tent' is pitched upon the
+      heights of Beni-Raten, and its occupants devote themselves to the
+      uneventful pursuit of studying mountain beauty. We endeavour (and with
+      some success) to ignore the military element; we listen neither to the
+      r�veille, nor to the too frequent crack of a rifle; our pursuits are not
+      warlike, and, judging from the sights and sounds that sometimes surround
+      us, we trust they never may be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The view from this elevation is superb,&mdash;north, south, east and west,
+      there is a wondrous landscape, but northward especially; where far above
+      the purple hills, higher than all but a few snowy peaks, there stretches a
+      horizontal line of blue, that seems almost in the clouds. Nothing gives us
+      such a sense of height and distance, as these accidental peeps of the
+      Mediterranean, and nothing could contrast more effectively than the snowy
+      peaks in sunlight, against the blue sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0203m.jpg" alt="0203m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0203.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      All this we are able to study, in perfect security and with very little
+      interruption; sketching first one mountain side clothed with a mass of
+      verdure; another, rocky, barren, and wild; one day an olive-grove, another
+      a deserted Kabyle village, and so on, with an infinite variety which would
+      only be wearisome in detail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And we obtain what is so valuable to an artist, and what is supposed to be
+      so rare in Africa&mdash;variety of atmospheric effect. It is generally
+      admitted (and we should be unwilling to contest the point), that English
+      landscape is unrivalled in this respect, and that it is only <i>form</i>
+      and <i>colour</i>, that we may study with advantage in tropical climates;
+      but directly we ascend the mountains, we lose that still, serene
+      atmosphere that has been called the 'monotony of blue.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We read often of African sun, but very seldom of African clouds and wind.
+      To-day we are surrounded by clouds <i>below</i> us, which come and gather
+      round the mountain-peaks and remain until evening. Sometimes just before
+      sunset, the curtain will be lifted for a moment, and the hill sides will
+      be in a blaze of gold&mdash;again the clouds come round, and do not
+      disperse till nightfall; and when the mountains are once more revealed,
+      the moon is up, and they are of a silver hue&mdash;the sky immediately
+      above, remaining quite unclouded. The air is soft on these half-clouded
+      days, in spite of our height above the sea; and the showers that fall at
+      intervals, turn the soil in the valleys into a hotbed for forcing hothouse
+      plants, as we should call them in England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weather was nearly always fine, and we generally found a little
+      military tent (lent to us by one of the Staff) sufficient protection and
+      shelter, even on this exposed situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But we must not forget the winds that lived in the valleys, and came up to
+      where our tents were pitched&mdash;sometimes one at a time, sometimes
+      three or four together. Of all things that impressed us, during our stay
+      upon the Kabyle hills, the beauty of the clouds, the purple tints upon the
+      mountains, and the <i>wind</i>, will be remembered best. It is a common
+      phrase, to 'scatter to the four winds;' but here the four winds came and
+      met near our little camp, and sometimes made terrible havoc with our
+      belongings. They came suddenly one day, and took up a tent, and flung it
+      at a man and killed him; another time they came sighing gently, as if a
+      light breeze were all we need prepare for, and in five minutes we found
+      ourselves in the thick of a fight for our possessions, if not for our
+      lives. And with the wind there came sometimes such sheets of rain, that
+      turned the paths into watercourses, and carried shrubs and trees down into
+      the valley; all this happening whilst the sea was calm in the distance,
+      and the sun was shining fiercely on the plains. These were rough days, to
+      be expected in late autumn and early spring, but not to be missed for a
+      little personal discomfort, for Algeria has not been seen without a
+      mountain storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before leaving Kabylia, we will take one or two leaves from our note-book;
+      just to picture to the reader (who may be more interested in what is going
+      on at the camp, than in the various phases of the landscape) the rather
+      incongruous elements of which our little society is made up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There has been a general movement lately, * amongst the conquered tribes,
+      who are beginning to re-establish themselves in their old quarters (but
+      under French rule), which brings together for the night about a hundred
+      Kabyles, with their wives and children.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     *  October, 1857.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Around the camp this evening there are groups of men and women standing,
+      that bring forcibly to the mind, those prints of the early patriarchs from
+      which we are apt to take our first and, perhaps, most vivid, impressions
+      of Eastern life; and we cannot wonder at French artists attempting to
+      illustrate Scriptural scenes from incidents in Algeria. There are Jacob
+      and Joseph, as one might imagine them, to the life; Ruth in the fields,
+      and Rachel by the well; and there is a patriarch coming down the mountain,
+      with a light about his head as the sun's last rays burst upon him, that
+      Herbert might well have seen, when he was painting Moses with the tables
+      of the law. The effect is accidental, but it is perfect in an artistic
+      sense, from the solemnity of the man, the attitude of his crowd of
+      followers, the grand mountain forms which are partially lit up by gleams
+      of sunset, and the sharp shadows cast by the throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This man may have been a warrior chief, or the head of a tribe; he was
+      certainly the head of a large family, who pressed round him to anticipate
+      his wants and do him honour. His children seemed to be everywhere about
+      him; they were his furniture, they warmed his tent and kept out the wind,
+      they begged for him, prayed for him, and generally helped him on his way.
+      In the Koran there is a saying of similar purport to the words 'happy is
+      the man that hath his quiver full of them'&mdash;this one had his quiver
+      full of them, indeed, and whether he had ever done much to deserve the
+      blessing, he certainly enjoyed it to the full. * Looked upon as a coloured
+      statue he was, in some respects, a perfect type of beauty, strength, and
+      dignified repose&mdash;what we might fitly call a 'study,' as he sat
+      waiting, whilst the women prepared his evening meal; but whether from a
+      moral point of view he quite deserved all the respect and deference that
+      was paid to him, is another question.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * How many a man is sheltered from the winds of the world by
+     a grove of sleek relations, who surround him and keep him
+     from harm; such a man has never really tried the outer
+     world? and has but a second-hand experience of its troubles.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      As a picture, as we said before, he was magnificent, and there was a regal
+      air with which he disposed the folds of his bournous, which we, clad in
+      the costume of advanced civilization, could not but admire and envy. He
+      had the advantage of us in every way, and made us feel it acutely. He had
+      a splendid arm, and we could see it; the fine contour, and colour, of his
+      head and neck were surrounded by white folds, but not concealed. His head
+      was not surmounted with a battered 'wide-awake,' his neck was not bandaged
+      as if it were wounded, his feet were not misshapen clumps of leather, his
+      robes&mdash;but we have no heart to go further into detail. There is a
+      'well-dressed' French gentleman standing near this figure; and there is
+      not about him one graceful fold, one good suggestive line, one tint of
+      colour grateful to the eye, or one redeeming feature in his (by contrast)
+      hideous <i>tout ensemble.</i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These are everyday truths, but they strike us sometimes with a sort of
+      surprise; we have discovered no new thing in costume, and nothing worth
+      telling; but the sudden and humiliating contrast gives our artistic
+      sensibilities a shock and fills us with despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little way removed there is a warrior on horseback at prayers, his hands
+      outstretched, his face turned towards the sun. It is as grand a picture as
+      the last, but it does not bear examination. He came and sat down
+      afterwards, to smoke, close to our tent, and we regret to say that he was
+      extremely dirty, and in his habits, rather cruel. There were red drops
+      upon the ground where his horse had stood, and his spur was a terrible
+      instrument to contemplate; in the enthusiasm of a noble nature he had
+      ridden his delicate locomotive too hard, and had, apparently, sometimes
+      forgotten to give it a feed. It was a beautiful, black Arab steed, but it
+      wanted grooming sadly; its feet were cracked and spread from neglect, and
+      its whole appearance betokened rough usage. Perhaps this was an
+      exceptional case, perhaps not; but to the scandal of those whose romantic
+      picture of the Arab in his tent with his children and his steed, are
+      amongst the most cherished associations, we are bound to confess that we
+      have seen as much cruelty as kindness, bestowed by the Arabs and Kabyles,
+      on their horses, and incline to the opinion that they are, as a rule,
+      anything but tender and loving to their four-footed friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0212m.jpg" alt="0212m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0212.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      The Kabyles came round our tents in the morning before leaving, and the
+      last we saw of our model patriarch, was flying before an enraged
+      vivandi�re, who pursued him down the hill with a dish-cloth. He had been
+      prowling about since dawn, and had forgotten the distinction between
+      'meum' and 'tuum.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It has been said that there is 'no such thing as Arab embarrassment, and
+      no such dignity as Arab dignity;' but the Arab or the Kabyle, as we hinted
+      in a former chapter, appears to great disadvantage in contact with the
+      French, and seems to lose at once in <i>morale</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another day, there is a flutter in our little camp, for 'the mail' has
+      come in, in the person of an active young orderly of Zouaves, who, leaving
+      the bulk of his charge to come round by the road, has anticipated the
+      regular delivery by some hours, scaling the heights with the agility of a
+      cat, and appearing suddenly in our midst. If he had sprung out of the
+      earth he could not have startled us much more, and if he had brought a
+      message that all the troops were to leave Africa to-morrow, he could
+      scarcely have been more welcome.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And what has he brought to satisfy the crowd of anxious faces that
+      assemble round the hut, dignified by the decoration of a pasteboard eagle
+      and the inscription '<i>Bureau de Poste</i>.' It was scarcely as trying a
+      position for an official, as that at our own Post-office at Sebastopol in
+      Crimean days, although there was eagerness and crowding enough to perplex
+      any distributor; but it was very soon over, in five minutes letters and
+      papers were cast aside, and boredom had recommenced with the majority. It
+      was the old story&mdash;the old curse of Algeria doing its work; the
+      French officers are too near home to care much for 'news,' and hear too
+      frequently from Paris (twice a week) to attach much importance to letters.
+      Newspapers were the 'pi�ces de r�sistance,' but there was not much news in
+      '<i>La Presse</i>' and its <i>feuilleton</i> consisted of two or three
+      chapters of a translation of Dickens' 'Martin Chuzzlewit'; there was the '<i>Moniteur</i>,'
+      with lists of promotions in the army, and the usual announcement, that
+      Napoleon, 'by the grace of God and the national will,' would levy new
+      taxes upon the people; there was a provincial paper, containing an account
+      of the discovery of some ruins near Carcassonne; there was '<i>Le Follet</i>'
+      for 'my lady <i>commandant</i>,' and a few other papers with illustrated
+      caricatures and conundrums.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the letters were amusing, as we heard them read aloud; one was too
+      quaint not to mention, it was from a bootmaker in Paris to his dear,
+      long-lost customer on the Kabyle Hills. He 'felt that he was going to
+      die,' and prayed '<i>M'sieu le Lieutenant</i>' to order a good supply of
+      boots for fear of any sudden accident, 'no one else could make such boots
+      for Monsieur.' And so on, including subjects of about equal importance,
+      with the latest Parisian gossip, and intelligence of a new piece at the
+      'Vari�t�s.' One other letter we may mention, that came up by the same
+      post, to one other member of that little band, perched like eagles on the
+      heights; it was also unimportant and from home, and the burden of it was
+      this&mdash;'Broadtouch' had stretched ten feet of canvas for a painting of
+      one rolling wave, and 'Interstice' had studied the texture of a nut-shell
+      until his eyes were dim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We finish the evening as usual with dominoes and coffee; enjoying many a
+      long and delightful chit-chat with our military friends. These pleasant,
+      genial, but rather unhappy gentlemen do not 'talk shop,' it is tabooed in
+      conversation, as strictly as at the 'Rag': but the stamp of banishment is
+      upon their faces unmistakeably, and if they do speak of this foreign
+      service (now that the war is nearly over), it is in language that seems to
+      say,&mdash;'all ye who enter here, leave Hope behind.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0219m.jpg" alt="0219m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0219.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0035" id="linkimage-0035"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0221m.jpg" alt="0221m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0221.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. 'WINTER SWALLOWS.'
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      '<i>Oh que l'hirondelle est bien la type de la vraie sagesse, elle qui a
+      su effacer de son existence, ces longs hivers qui glacent et
+      engourdissent! D�s que le soleil commence � d�cro�tre, sit�t que les
+      plantes jaunissent et qu'aux chaudes haleines du Z�phyr succ�dent les
+      froides rafales de l'aquilon, elle s'envole prudemment � tire d'ailes,
+      vers les douces r�gions embaum�es du Midi.</i>'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0036" id="linkimage-0036"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9221.jpg" alt="9221 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9221.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      E come down the hills and back to Algiers, to find the winter in full
+      bloom, and the 'winter swallows' in great force, In fact, so full of
+      bustle is the town, and so frequent is the sight of English faces, and the
+      sound of English voices, that it hardly seems like the place we had left a
+      few weeks since.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It has been said that English people love sunshine and blue sky more than
+      any other nation, and that the dwellers under the 'ciel nebuleuse du
+      nord,' will go anywhere to seek a brighter clime; and it is a fact, the
+      importance of which is hardly realised in England, that the African sun is
+      producing a crop of English residents that is growing rapidly, and taking
+      firm root in the soil, in spite of siroccos, in spite of earthquakes&mdash;without
+      a thought of colonization in the strict sense of the word, and without, it
+      must be added, any particular love for the French people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The visitors, or tourists, are increasing also, and they are naturally,
+      rather vulgarising our favourite places. Thus we hear of picnics at the
+      Bouzareah, of balls at Mustapha, of 'trips' to Blidah by railway, and of
+      'excursions to the gorge of La Chiffa and back' in one day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An amusing chapter might be written upon Algiers from the traveller's
+      point of view, but one or two touches will suffice, to show the easy and
+      familiar terms, on which our countrymen and country-women invade this
+      stronghold of the French; once the 'city of pirates' and the terror of
+      Mediterranean waters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is the cosmopolitan traveller, who, having 'done Europe,' finds
+      Algiers, of course, rather 'slow,' by contrast; and there is the very
+      matter-of-fact traveller, who finds it all vanity, and says,&mdash;'Take
+      ever so copious a stock of illusions with you to the bright Orient, and
+      within half-an-hour after landing, you are as bankrupt as a bank of
+      deposit... and the end of it all is, that this city of the "Arabian
+      Nights" turns out to be as unromantic as Seven Dials.' There are lady
+      travellers, who (enjoying special advantages by reason of their sex, and
+      seeing much more than Englishmen of Moorish interiors) are perhaps best
+      fitted to write books about this country; there are proselytizing ladies,
+      who come with a mission, and end by getting themselves and their friends
+      into trouble, by distributing tracts amongst the Moors; and there are
+      ladies who (when their baggage is detained at one of the ports), endeavour
+      to break down the barriers of official routine in an unexpected way. 'The
+      douane did not choose to wake up and give us our luggage,' writes one, 'it
+      was such a lazy douane; and though I went again and again and said pretty
+      things to the gendarmes, it was of no use.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another form of invasion is less polite, but it has been submitted to with
+      tolerable grace on more than one occasion. Here is the latest instance. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * 'Under the Palms,' by the Hon. Lewis Wingfield. London,
+     1867.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      'Being anxious to obtain a sketch of one of the quaint streets of the
+      upper town, I wandered one morning up its dark alleys and intricate
+      byeways; and wishing to establish myself at a window, I knocked at a
+      promising door, and was answered by a mysterious voice from behind a
+      lattice; the door opened of itself, and I marched upstairs unmindful of
+      evil. In the upper court I was instantly surrounded by a troup of women,
+      in the picturesque private dress of the Moorish ladies, unencumbered with
+      veil or yashmak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'These ladies dragged at my watch-chain, and pulled my hair, until finding
+      myself in such very questionable society, I beat a hasty retreat, flying
+      down stairs six steps at a time, slamming the doors in the faces of the
+      houris, and eventually reaching the street in safety, while sundry slow
+      Mussulmans wagged their beards and said that Christian dogs did not often
+      enter such places with impunity.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is pleasant to see with what good tempered grace, both the Moors and
+      the French take this modern English invasion. We settle down for the
+      winter here and build and plant vineyards, and make merry, in the same
+      romping fashion that we do in Switzerland. We write to England about it,
+      as if the country belonged to us, and of the climate, as if we had been
+      the discoverers of its charms. But it is all so cozy and genial, and so
+      much a matter of course, that we are apt to forget its oddity; we have
+      friends in England who speak of Algiers with positive delight, whose faces
+      brighten at the very mention of its name, and who always speak of going
+      there, as of 'going home.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have principally confined our remarks to places near Algiers, omitting
+      all mention of Oran and Constantine, because it is impossible to work to
+      much purpose if we travel about, and these places are worthy of distinct
+      and separate visits. The longest journey that we would suggest to artists
+      to make in one winter, would be to the cedar forests of Teniet-el-Had,
+      because the scenery is so magnificent, and the forms of the cedars
+      themselves, are perhaps the wildest and most wonderful to be met with in
+      any part of the world. Hitherto, almost the only sketches that we have
+      seen of this mountain forest have been by our own countrymen and
+      countrywomen, for French artists do not as a rule go far from Algiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a few notable exceptions, * our experience of the works of Frenchmen
+      in Algiers, has been anything but inspiring; we have known these artists
+      closetted for weeks&mdash;copying and re-copying fanciful desert scenes,
+      such as camels dying on sandy plains, under a sky of the heaviest opaque
+      blue, and with cold grey shadows upon the ground&mdash;drawing imaginary
+      Mauresques on impossible housetops, and in short working more from fancy
+      than from facts; producing, it may be, most saleable pictures, but doing
+      themselves and their <i>clientelles</i>, no other good thereby. It seems
+      ungracious to speak thus of people from whom we invariably received
+      civility and kindness; but the truth remains, we found them hard at work
+      on 'pot-boilers' for exportation, and doing, like the photographers, a
+      flourishing trade.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * We shall not be accused of alluding in this category to
+     such painters as the late Horace Vern�t; or to G�rome,
+     Fr�re, and others who study here in winter time.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      We should endeavour to spend most of our time in the country, if we wish
+      to make progress. If we stay in Algiers we shall of course be liable to
+      some interruptions; we shall be too comfortable and perhaps become too
+      luxurious. We must not dream away our time on a Turkey carpet, or on our
+      <i>terrasse</i>, charming though the view may be. There is too much scent
+      of henna, too strong a flavour of coffee and tobacco, there are, in short,
+      too many of the comforts of life; we had better be off to the hills, where
+      the air is cooler, and where we can live a free life under canvass for a
+      while. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * It may not be thought very practical to suggest much
+     sketching in the open air, as the light is generally
+     considered too trying, and the glare too great, for any very
+     successful work in colour.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The tropical vegetation in Algeria gives continual shade and shelter, and
+      the style of architecture, with cool open arcades to the houses, is
+      admirably adapted for work; but failing the ordinary means of shelter,
+      much may be done under a large umbrella, or from an ordinary military
+      tent. In the Paris Exhibition of 1867, there were some portable, wooden
+      Swiss houses, that seemed constructed for sketching purposes, as they
+      could be taken down almost as easily as a tent, and removed from one place
+      to another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few months, spent amongst the mountains, will have a wonderfully bracing
+      effect on Europeans, because both the eye and the mind will be satisfied
+      and refreshed; although, it is a curious fact that on the uneducated, such
+      scenes have little, or no, influence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall not easily forget 'the splendid comet of Arab civilization that
+      has left such a trail of light behind it,' but cannot help remarking that
+      neither the Arab in a state of nature, nor the Moor surrounded by every
+      refinement and luxury, seem to be much influenced by the grace and beauty
+      around them; and in this they do not stand alone, for it is, as we said, a
+      notable fact? that contact with what is beautiful in scenery or in art, is
+      of itself of little worth. *
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * To reverse the position&mdash;it is a fact, which may be proved
+     bystatistics, that there is as much, if not more,
+     benevolence, forbearance, and mutual help, existing amongst
+     the lower classes in the 'black country,' as in any other
+     part of the United Kingdom.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      What shall we say of the Sicilian peasant girl, born and bred on the
+      heights of Taormina?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What of the Swiss girl who spends her life, knee-deep in newly-mown hay?
+      Does beautiful scenery seem to inspire them with noble thoughts? Does
+      being 'face to face with Nature,' as the phrase goes, appear to give them
+      refined tastes, or to elevate their ideas? Does it seem to lead to
+      cleanliness, to godliness, or any other virtue? The answer is almost
+      invariably, 'No;' they must be educated to it, and neither the present
+      race of Arabs nor Moors are so educated. They do not seem to appreciate
+      the works of their fathers, and will, probably before long, fall into the
+      way of dressing themselves and building dwellings, after the style of
+      their conquerors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With Europeans it is just the reverse, and the most educated and refined
+      amongst us, are learning more and more to value, what an Eastern nation is
+      casting off. We submit to the fashions of our time not without murmurs,
+      which are sounds of hope. We put up with a hideous costume and more
+      hideous streets&mdash;from habit or necessity as the case may be&mdash;but
+      even custom will not altogether deaden the senses to a love for the
+      beautiful. In costume this is especially noticeable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What is it that attracts the largest audiences to 'burlesque'
+      representations at our theatres? Not the buffoonery, but the spectacle.
+      The eye robbed of its natural food, seeks it in a number of roundabout
+      ways&mdash;but it seeks it. What made the American people crowd to
+      Ristori's performances in New York, over and over again? Not the novelty,
+      not alone for the sake of being able to say that they had been there; but
+      for the delight to the eye in contemplating forms of classic beauty, and
+      the delight to the ear in hearing the poetry of the most musical language
+      in the world, nobly spoken, although but few of the audience could
+      understand a word. It was a libel upon the people to suggest that their
+      attending these performances was affectation; it was an almost unconscious
+      drawing out of that natural love for the beautiful, which is implanted
+      somewhere, in every human breast, and which, in this case perhaps, gave
+      the American audience a temporary relief from smartness, and angularity of
+      body and mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0037" id="linkimage-0037"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0233m.jpg" alt="0233m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0233.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0038" id="linkimage-0038"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:65%;">
+      <img src="images/0235m.jpg" alt="0235m " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h5>
+      <a href="images/0235.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0039" id="linkimage-0039"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figleft" style="width:20%;">
+      <img src="images/9235.jpg" alt="9235 " width="100%" /><br /><a
+      href="images/9235.jpg"><i>Original</i></a>
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      F the foregoing sketches have seemed to some of our readers, a thought too
+      slight and discursive, and to be wanting in detail; it is because,
+      perhaps, they have reflected a little too naturally, the habit of a
+      painter's mind, and have followed out the principle of outdoor sketching,
+      which is to 'hit off' as accurately as possible, the various points of
+      interest that come under observation, and, in doing so, to give <i>colour</i>
+      rather than detail, and to aim principally at the rendering of atmosphere
+      and effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for this, perhaps, most readers will be thankful, and for two reasons.
+      First, because it is a fact, that English people as a rule, care little or
+      nothing for Algeria as a colony&mdash;that they never have cared, and
+      probably never will. Second, because, in spite of the assertion of a late
+      writer, that 'Algeria is a country virtually unknown to Englishmen,' we
+      believe that the English public has been literally inundated with books of
+      travel and statistics, on this subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is only in its picturesque aspect, and as a winter residence for
+      invalids, that Algiers will ever claim much interest for English people;
+      and even in picturesqueness, it falls far short of other cities well known
+      to Englishmen. There is nothing in costume to compare with the bazaars of
+      Constantinople, or in architecture, to the bystreets of Trebizond; but
+      Algeria is much more accessible from England, and that is our reason for
+      selecting it. It has one special attraction, in which it stands almost
+      alone, viz, that here we may see the two great tides of civilization&mdash;primitive
+      and modern&mdash;the East and the West&mdash;meet and mingle without limit
+      and without confusion. There is no violent collision and no decided
+      fusion; but the general result is peaceful, and we are enabled to
+      contemplate it at leisure; and have such intimate and quiet intercourse
+      with the Oriental, as is nowhere else to be met with, we believe, in the
+      world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In speaking thus enthusiastically of the advantages of Algeria, let us not
+      be supposed to undervalue the beauties of England, or its unapproachable
+      landscape and mountain scenery. The 'painter's camp' in the Highlands, is
+      no doubt, the right place for a camp, but it is not the only right place;
+      the spot where it was pitched is covered with snow as we write these
+      lines. Moreover, it is not given to everyone to be able to <i>draw trees</i>,
+      and it is a change and relief to many, to have landscape work that does
+      not depend upon their successful delineation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fine, for artists, Algiers seems perfect; a cheap place of residence
+      with few 'distractions,' without many taxes or cares; with extraordinary
+      opportunities for the study of Nature in her grandest aspects, and of
+      character, costume, and architecture of a good old type.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But what they really gain by working here is not easily written down, nor
+      to be explained to others; nor is it all at once discovered by themselves.
+      It has not been dinned into their ears by rote, or by rule, but rather
+      inhaled, and (if we may so express it) taken in with the atmosphere they
+      breathe. If they have not produced anything great or noble, they have at
+      least infused more light and nature into their work, and have done
+      something to counteract the tendency to that sickly sentimentality and
+      artificialism, that is the curse of modern schools.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have been led to insist, perhaps a little too earnestly, on the good
+      effects of sound work on a painter's mind, by the thought of what some of
+      our foremost artists are doing at the present time. When painters of the
+      highest aim and most refined intelligence, seem tending towards a system
+      of mere decorative art; when Millais paints children, apparently, to
+      display their dress, and devotes his great powers as a colourist almost
+      exclusively to imitative work; when Leighton cultivates a style of refined
+      Platonism which is not Attic and is sometimes scarcely human; when other
+      painters of celebrity, that we need scarcely name spend their lives upon
+      the working out of effective details; when the modern development of what
+      is called Pr�-Raphaelitism, seems to remove us farther than ever from what
+      should be the aim of a great painter, we may be pardoned for insisting
+      upon the benefits of change of air and change of scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But not only to artists and amateurs&mdash;to those fortunate people whose
+      time and means are as as much at their own disposal as the genii of
+      Aladdin's lamp; to those who can get 'ordered abroad' at the season when
+      it is most pleasant to go; to those who live at high pressure for half the
+      year, and need a change&mdash;not so much perhaps, from winter's gloom&mdash;as
+      from the 'clouds that linger on the mind's horizon;' to all who seek a
+      'new sensation,' we would say, once more&mdash;pay a visit to the 'city of
+      pirates,' to the 'diamond set in emeralds,' on the African shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      POSTSCRIPT TO SECOND EDITION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <i>We have been requested by several readers to state, in a New Edition,
+      the readiest and cheapest method of reaching Algeria from England. </i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is no quicker or cheaper way than to go through France to
+      Marseilles, and thence by steamer direct to Algiers. The cost of the
+      journey from London to Algiers varies from to �10, according to 'class.'
+      The steamers from Marseilles leave on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,
+      at mid-day: the cheapest boats leave on Thursdays, their first-class fare,
+      including living, being about �3 3s. All other information respecting this
+      journey, can be obtained by reference to Bradshaw's Continental Railway
+      Guide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The best months for a visit to Algeria are from November to April.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Travellers should obtain the French 'Guide de l'Algerie,' published by
+      Hachette, Paris; also 'Last Winter in Algeria,' by Mrs. Evans, a most
+      useful book for visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hotels in Algiers:&mdash;'L Orient,' 'La Regence' 'L Europe,' &amp;c.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
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+  </body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Artists and Arabs, by Henry Blackburn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Artists and Arabs
+       Or, Sketching in Sunshine
+
+Author: Henry Blackburn
+
+Illustrator: Henry Blackburn
+
+Release Date: April 14, 2014 [EBook #45380]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARTISTS AND ARABS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger from page images generously
+provided by the Internet Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ARTISTS AND ARABS;
+
+OR
+
+Sketching in Sunshine
+
+By Henry Blackburn,
+
+Author Of 'Normandy Picturesque,' 'The Pyrenees,' 'Travelling In Spain,'
+Etc.
+
+Second Edition.
+
+With Numerous Illustrations.
+
+London:
+
+Sampson Low, Son, And Marston,
+
+1870.
+
+
+
+
+ARGUMENT.
+
+The advantage of winter studios abroad, and the value of sketching in
+the open air; especially in Algeria.
+
+'The best thing the author of a book can do, is to tell the reader, on a
+piece of paper an inch square, what he means by it.'--Athenaeum.
+
+[Illustration: 0019]
+
+ARTISTS AND ARABS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. ON THE WING.
+
+[Illustration: 9019]
+
+Y the middle of the month of July, the Art season in London was on the
+wane, and by the end of August the great body of English artists had
+dispersed, some, the soundest workers perhaps, to the neighbourhood of
+Welsh mountains and English homesteads, to--'The silence of thatched
+cottages and the voices of blossoming fields.'
+
+From the Tweed to the Shetland Isles, they were thick upon the hills;
+in every nook and corner of England, amongst the cornfields and upon the
+lakes; in the valleys and torrent beds of Wales, the cry was still 'they
+come.'
+
+On the continent, both artists and amateurs were everywhere. Smith
+toiling across the Campagna with the thermometer at 95 (his reward
+a quiet pipe at the 'cafe Greco' when the sun goes down) is but a
+counterpart of a hundred other Smiths scattered abroad. In the
+galleries of Florence and Rome no more easels could be admitted, and
+in Switzerland and Savoy the little white tents and 'sun-umbrellas'
+glistened on the mountain side. Brown might be seen rattling down an
+arrete from the Flegere, with his _materiel_ swung across his back, like
+a carpenter's basket, after a hard day's work sketching the Aiguilles
+that tower above the valley of Chamounix; and Jones, with his little
+wife beside him, sitting under the deep shade of the beech-trees in the
+valley of Sixt.
+
+We were a sketching party, consisting of two, three or four, according
+to convenience or accident, wandering about and pitching our tent in
+various places away from the track of tourists; we had been spending
+most of the summer days in the beautiful Val d'Aosta (that school for
+realistic work that a great teacher once selected for his pupil, giving
+him three months to study its chesnut groves, 'to brace his mind to a
+comprehension of facts'); we had prolonged the summer far into autumn on
+the north shore of the Lago Maggiore, where from the heights above the
+old towns of Intra and Pallanza we had watched its banks turn from green
+to golden and from gold to russet brown. The mountains were no longer
+_en toilette_, as the French express it, and the vineyards were stripped
+of their purple bloom; the wind had come down from the Simplon in sudden
+and determined gusts, and Monte Rosa no longer stood alone in her robe
+of white; the last visitor had left the Hotel de l'Univers at Pallanza,
+and our host was glad to entertain us at the rate of four francs a day
+'tout compris'--when the question came to us, as it does to so many
+other wanderers in Europe towards the end of October, where to go for
+winter quarters, where to steal yet a further term of summer days.
+
+Should we go again to Spain to study Velasquez and Murillo, should we go
+as usual to Rome; or should we strike out a new path altogether and go
+to Trebizond, Cairo, Tunis, or Algeria?
+
+There was no agreeing on the matter, diversity of opinion was very
+great and discussion ran high (the majority we must own, having leanings
+towards Rome and _chic_; and also 'because there would be more fun');
+so, like true Bohemians, we tossed for places and the lot fell upon
+Algeria.
+
+The next morning we are on the way. Trusting ourselves and our baggage
+to one of those frail-looking little boats with white awnings, that form
+a feature in every picture of Italian lake scenery, and which, in their
+peculiar motion and method of propulsion (the rower standing at the
+stern and facing his work), bear just sufficient resemblance to the
+Venetian gondola to make us chafe a little at the slow progress we
+make through the smooth water, we sit and watch the receding towers of
+Pallanza, as it seems, for the livelong day. There is nothing to relieve
+the monotony of motion, and scarcely a sound to break the stillness,
+until we approach the southern shore, and it becomes a question of
+anxiety as to whether we shall really reach Arona before sundown. But
+the old boatman is not to be moved by any expostulation or entreaty,
+nor is he at all affected by the information that we run great risk of
+losing the last train from Arona; and so we are spooned across the great
+deep lake at the rate of two or three miles an hour, and glide into the
+harbour with six inches of water on the flat-bottom of the boat amongst
+our portmanteaus.
+
+From Arona to Genoa by railway, and from Genoa to Nice by the Cornice
+road--that most beautiful of all drives, where every variety of grandeur
+and loveliness of view, both by sea and land, seems combined, and from
+the heights of which, if we look seaward and scan the southern horizon,
+we can sometimes trace an irregular dark line, which is Corsica--past
+Mentone and Nice, where the 'winter swallows' are arriving fast; making
+a wonderful flutter in their nests, all eagerness to obtain the most
+comfortable quarters, * and all anxiety to have none but 'desirable'
+swallows for neighbours. This last is a serious matter, this settling
+down for the winter at Nice, for it is here that the swallows
+choose their mates, pairing off wonderfully in the springtime, like
+grouse-shooting M.P.s in August.
+
+     * Necessary enough, to be protected from the cold blasts
+     that sweep down the valleys, as many invalids know to their
+     cost, who have taken houses or lodgings hastily at Nice.
+
+A few hours' journey by railway and we are at Marseilles, where
+(especially at the 'Grand Hotel') it is an understood and settled thing
+that every Englishman is on his way, to or from Italy or India, and it
+requires considerable perseverance to impress upon the attendants that
+the steamer which sails at noon for Algiers is the one on which our
+baggage is to be placed, and it is almost impossible to persuade the
+driver of a fiacre that we do _not_ want to go by the boat just starting
+for Civita Vecchia or Leghorn.
+
+On stepping on board it almost seems as if there were some mistake, for
+we appear to be the only passengers on the after deck, and to be looked
+upon with some curiosity by the swarthy half-naked crew, who talk
+together in an unknown tongue; notwithstanding that at the packet
+office in the town we were informed that we could not secure berths for
+certain.
+
+We have several hours to wait and to look about us, for the mail is
+not brought on board until three in the afternoon, and it is half-past,
+before the officials have kissed each other on both cheeks and we are
+really moving off--threading our way with difficulty through the mass of
+shipping which hems us in on all sides.
+
+The foredeck of the _Akhbar_ is one mass of confusion and crowding, but
+the eye soon detects the first blush of oriental colour and costume, and
+on nearer inspection it is easy to distinguish a few white bournouses
+moving through the crowd. There are plenty of Zouaves in undress
+uniforms, chiefly young men, with a superfluity of medals and the
+peculiar swagger which seems inseparable from this costume; others old
+and bronzed, who have been to Europe on leave and are returning to join
+their regiments. Some parting scenes we witness between families of the
+peasant order, of whom there appear to be a number on board, and their
+friends who leave in the last boat for the shore. These, one and all,
+take leave of each other with a significant 'au revoir,' which is the
+key-note to the whole business, and tells us (who are not studying
+politics and have no wish or intention, to trouble the reader with
+the history or prospects of the colony) the secret of its ill-success,
+viz.:--that these colonists _intend_ to _come back_, and that they are
+much too near home in Algeria.
+
+Looking down upon the fore-deck, as we leave the harbour of Marseilles,
+there seems scarcely an available inch of space that is not encumbered
+with bales and goods of all kinds; with heaps of rope and chain,
+military stores, piles of arms, cavalry-horses, sheep, pigs, and a
+prodigious number of live fowls.
+
+On the after-deck there are but six passengers, there is a Moorish Jew
+talking fluently with a French commercial traveller, a sad and silent
+officer of Chasseurs with his young wife, and two lieutenants who
+chatter away with the captain; the latter, in consideration of his rank
+as an officer in the Imperial Marine, leaving the mate to take charge
+of the vessel during the entire voyage. This gentleman seems to the
+uninitiated to be a curious encumbrance, and to pass his time in
+conversation, in sleep, and in the consumption of bad cigars. He is 6
+a disappointed man' of course, as all officers are, of whatever nation,
+age, or degree.
+
+The voyage averages forty-eight hours, but is often accomplished in less
+time on the southward journey. It is an uncomfortable period even in
+fine weather, just too long for a pleasure trip, and just too short to
+settle down and make up one's mind to it, as in crossing the Atlantic.
+Our boat is an old Scotch screw, which has been lent to the Company of
+the _Messageries Imperiales_ for winter duty--the shaft hammering and
+vibrating through the saloon and after-cabins incessantly for the first
+twenty-four hours, whilst she labours against a cross sea in the Gulf of
+Lyons, indisposes' the majority of the company, and the captain dines
+by himself; but about noon on the next day it becomes calm, and the
+_Akhbar_ steams quietly between the Balearic Islands, close enough for
+us to distinguish one or two churches and white houses, and a square
+erection that a fellow-traveller informs us is the work of the 'Majorca
+Land, Compagnie Anglaise.'
+
+In the following little sketch we have indicated the appearance in
+outline of the two islands of Majorca and Minorca as we approach them
+going southward, passing at about equal distances between the islands.
+
+[Illustration: 0029]
+
+The sea is calm and the sky is bright as we leave the islands behind us,
+and the _Akhbar_ seems to skim more easily through the deep blue water,
+leaving a wake of at least a mile, and another wake in the sky of sea
+gulls, who follow us for the rest of the voyage in a graceful undulating
+line, sleeping on the rigging at night unmolested by the crew, who
+believe in their good omen.
+
+On the second morning on coming on deck we find ourselves in the
+tropics, the sky is a deep azure, the heat is intense, and the
+brightness of everything is wonderful. The sun's rays pour down on the
+vessel, and their effect on the occupants of the fore-deck is curious to
+witness. The odd heaps of clothing that had lain almost unnoticed during
+the voyage suddenly come to life, and here and there a dark visage peeps
+from under a tarpaulin, from the inside of a coil of rope, or from a box
+of chain, and soon the whole vessel, both the fore and after-deck,
+is teeming with life, and we find at least double the number of human
+beings on board that we had had any idea of at starting.
+
+But the interest of every one is now centred on a low dark line of
+coast, with a background of mountains, which every minute becomes more
+defined; and we watch it until we can discern one or two of the highest
+peaks, tipped with snow. Soon we can make out a bright green, or rather
+as it seems in the sunlight, a golden shore, set with a single gem that
+sparkles in the water. Again it changes into the aspect of a little
+white pyramid or triangle of chalk on a green shore shelving to the sea,
+next into an irregular mass of houses with flat roofs, and mosques
+with ornamented towers and cupolas, surrounded and surmounted by grim
+fortifications, which are not Moorish; and in a little while we can
+distinguish the French houses and hotels, a Place, a modern harbour and
+lighthouse, docks, and French shipping, and one piratical-looking craft
+that passes close under our bows, manned by dark sailors with bright red
+sashes and large earrings, dressed like the fishermen in the opera of
+Mas-aniello. And whilst we are watching and taking it all in, we have
+glided to our moorings, close under the walls of the great Mosque
+(part of which we have sketched from this very point of view); and are
+surrounded by a swarm of half-naked, half-wild and frantic figures, who
+rush into the water vociferating and imploring us in languages difficult
+to understand, to be permitted to carry the Franks' baggage to the
+shore.
+
+Taking the first that comes, we are soon at the landing steps and beset
+by a crowd of beggars, touters, idlers and nondescripts of nearly every
+nation and creed under heaven.
+
+[Illustration: 0033]
+
+[Illustration: 0035]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. ALGIERS.
+
+
+``'Ah oui, c'est qu'elle est belle avec ces chateaux forts,
+
+``Couches dans les pres verts, comme les geants morts!
+
+``C'est qu'elle est noble, Alger la fille du corsaire!
+
+``Un reseau de murs blancs la protege et l'enserre.'=
+
+[Illustration: 9035]
+
+HE first view of the town of Algiers, with its pretty clusters of white
+houses set in bright green hills, or as the French express it, 'like
+a diamond set in emeralds,' the range of the lesser Atlas forming a
+background of purple waves rising one above the other until they are
+lost in cloud--was perhaps the most beautiful sight we had witnessed,
+and it is as well to record it at once, lest the experience of the next
+few hours might banish it from memory.
+
+It was a good beginning to have a stately barefooted Arab to shoulder
+our baggage from the port, and wonderful to see the load he carried
+unassisted. * As he winds his way through the narrow and steep slippery
+streets (whilst we who are shod by a Hoby and otherwise encumbered by
+broadcloth, have enough to do to keep pace with him, and indeed to keep
+our footing), it is good to see how nobly our Arab bears his load, how
+beautifully balanced is his lithe figure, and with what grace and ease
+he stalks along. As he slightly bows, when taking our three francs
+(his 'tariff' as he calls it), there is a dignity in his manner, and
+a composure about him that is almost embarrassing. How he came, in the
+course of circumstances, to be carrying our luggage instead of wandering
+with his tribe, perhaps civilization--French civilization--can answer.
+
+     *  It is generally admitted, we believe, that  a vegetable
+     diet will not produce heroes,' and there is certainly a
+     prejudice in England about the value of beef for navvies and
+     others who put muscular power into their work. It is an
+     interesting fact to note, and one which we think speaks
+     volumes for the climate of Algeria, that this gentleman
+     lives almost entirely on fruit, rice, and Indian corn.
+
+The first hurried glance (as we followed our cicerone up the landing
+steps to the 'Hotel de la Regence,' which faces the sea) at the
+dazzlingly white flat-roofed houses without windows, at the mosques with
+their gaily painted towers, at the palm-trees and orange-trees, and
+at the crowd of miscellaneous costumes in which colour preponderated
+everywhere, gave the impression of a thorough Mahommedan city; and now
+as we walk down to the _Place_ and look about us at leisure, we find
+to our astonishment and delight that the Oriental element is still most
+prominent.
+
+The most striking and bewildering thing is undoubtedly the medley
+that meets the eye everywhere: the conflict of races, the contrast of
+colours, the extraordinary brightness of everything, the glare, the
+strange sounds and scenes that cannot be easily taken in at a first
+visit; the variety of languages heard at the same time, and above
+all the striking beauty of some faces, and the luxurious richness of
+costume.
+
+First in splendour come the Moors (traders looking like princes),
+promenading or lounging about under the trees, looking as important and
+as richly attired as was ever Caliph Haroun Alraschid.
+
+They are generally fair and slight of figure, with false effeminate
+faces, closely-shaven heads covered with fez and turban, loose baggy
+trousers, jacket and vest of blue or crimson cloth, embroidered with
+gold; round their waists are rich silken sashes, and their fingers are
+covered with a profusion of rings. Their legs are often bare and their
+feet are enclosed in the usual Turkish slipper.
+
+This is the prominent town type of Moor or Jew, the latter to be
+distinguished by wearing dark trousers, clean white stockings, French
+shoes, and a round cloth cap of European pattern. There are various
+grades, both of the Moors and Jews, some of course shabby and dirty
+enough; but the most dignified and picturesque figures are the tall
+dark Arabs and the Kabyles, with their flowing white bournouses, their
+turbans of camel's hair, and their independent noble bearing. Here we
+see them walking side by side with their conquerors in full military
+uniform and their conquerors' wives in the uniform of _Le Follet_,
+whilst white-robed female figures flit about closely veiled, and
+Marabouts (the Mahom-medan priests) also promenade in their flowing
+robes. Arab women and children lounge about selling fruit or begging
+furtively, and others hurry to and fro carrying burdens; and everywhere
+and ever present in this motley throng, the black frock-coat and
+chimney-pot hat assert themselves, to remind us of what we might
+otherwise soon be forgetting,--that we are but four days' journey from
+England.
+
+There is noise enough altogether on the _Place_ to bewilder any
+stranger; for besides the talking and singing, and the cries of vendors
+of fruit and wares, there is considerable traffic. Close to us as we sit
+under the trees, (so close as almost to upset the little tables in front
+of the cafes), without any warning, a huge diligence will come lunging
+on to the _Place_ groaning under a pile of merchandise, with a bevy
+of Arabs on the roof, and a party of Moorish women in the 'rotonde';
+presently there passes a company of Zouaves at quick step, looking hot
+and dusty enough, marching to their terrible tattoo; and next, by way
+of contrast again, come two Arab women with their children, mounted on
+camels, the beasts looking overworked and sulky; they edge their way
+through the crowd with the greatest nonchalance, and with an impatient
+croaking sound go shambling past.
+
+The 'Place Royale' faces the north, and is enclosed on three sides with
+modern French houses with arcades and shops, and when we have time to
+examine their contents, we shall find them also principally French. Next
+door to a bonnet-shop there is certainly the name of Mustapha over the
+door, and in the window are pipes, coral, and filagree work exposed
+for sale; but most of the goods come from France. Next door again is
+a French cafe, where Arabs, who can afford it, delight in being waited
+upon by their conquerors with white aprons and neck-ties.
+
+The background of all this is superb: a calm sunlit sea, white sails
+glittering and flashing, and far to the eastward a noble bay, with the
+Kabyle mountains stretching out their arms towards the north.
+
+At four o'clock the band plays on the _Place_, and as we sit and watch
+the groups of Arabs and Moors listening attentively to the overture to
+'William Tell,' or admiringly examining the gay uniforms and medals of
+the Chasseurs d'Afrique--as we see the children of both nations at high
+romps together--as the sweet sea-breeze that fans us so gently, bears
+into the newly constructed harbour together, a corvette of the Imperial
+Marine and a suspicious-looking raking craft with latteen sails--as
+Marochetti's equestrian statue of the Duke of Orleans, and a mosque,
+stand side by side before us--we have Algiers presented to us in
+the easiest way imaginable, and (without going through the ordeal of
+studying its history or statistics) obtain some idea of the general
+aspect of the place and of the people, and of the relative position of
+conquerors and conquered.
+
+As our business is principally with the Moorish, or picturesque side of
+things, let us first look at the great Mosque which we glanced at as we
+entered the harbour, and part of which we have sketched for the reader.
+
+[Illustration: 0043]
+
+Built close to the water's edge, so close that the Mediterranean waves
+are sapping its foundations--with plain white shining walls, nearly
+destitute of exterior ornament, it is perhaps 'the most perfect example
+of strength and beauty, and of fitness and grace of line, that we shall
+see in any building of this type. * It is thoroughly Moorish in style,
+although built by a Christian, if we may believe the story, of which
+there are several versions; how the Moors in old days took captive a
+Christian architect, and promised him his liberty on condition of his
+building them a mosque; how he, true to his own creed, dexterously
+introduced into the ground plan the form of a cross; and how the Moors,
+true also to their promise, gave him his liberty indeed, but at the
+cannon's mouth through a window, seaward.
+
+     * This beautiful architectural feature of the town has not
+     escaped the civilizing hand of the Frank; the last time we
+     visited Algiers we found the oval window in the tower gone,
+     and in its place an illuminated French clock!
+
+The general outline of these mosques is familiar to most readers,
+the square white walls pierced at intervals with quaint-shaped little
+windows, the flat cupola or dome, and the square tower often standing
+apart from the rest of the structure as in the little vignette on our
+title-page, like an Italian campanile. Some of these towers are richly
+decorated with arabesque ornamentation,' and glitter in the sun with
+colour and gilding, but the majority of the mosques are as plain and
+simple in design as shown in our large sketch.
+
+Here, if we take off our shoes, we may enter and hear the Koran read,
+and we may kneel down to pray with Arabs and Moors; religious tolerance
+is equally exercised by both creeds. Altogether the Mahommedan places
+of worship seem by far the most prominent, and although there is a Roman
+Catholic church and buildings held by other denominations of Christians,
+there is none of that predominant proselytizing aspect which we might
+have expected after thirty years' occupation by the French! At Tetuan,
+for instance, where the proportion of Christians to Mahommedans is
+certainly smaller, the 'Catholic church' rears its head much more
+conspicuously.
+
+In Algiers the priestly element is undoubtedly active, and _Soeurs de
+Charite_ are to be seen everywhere, but the buildings that first strike
+the eye are not churches but mosques; the sounds that become more
+familiar to the ear than peals of bells, are the Muezzin's morning and
+evening salutation from the tower of a mosque, calling upon all true
+believers to--=
+
+```'Come to prayers, come to prayers,
+
+```It is better to pray than to sleep.'=
+
+The principal streets in Algiers lead east and west from the _Place_ to
+the principal gates, the Bab-Azoun and the Bab-el-Oued. They are for the
+most part French, with arcades like the Rue de Rivoli in Paris; many of
+the houses are lofty and built in the style perhaps best known as
+the 'Haussman.' Nearly all the upper town is still Moorish, and is
+approached by narrow streets or lanes,--steep, slippery, and tortuous, *
+which we shall examine by-and-bye.
+
+     * It may be interesting to artists to learn that in this
+     present year 1868, most of the quaint old Moorish streets
+     and buildings are intact--neither disturbed by earthquakes
+     nor 'improved' out of sight.
+
+The names of some of the streets are curious, and suggestive of change.
+Thus we see the 'Rue Royale,' the 'Rue Imperiale there is, or was until
+lately, a 'Place Nationale,' and one street is still boldly proclaimed
+to be the 'Rue de la Revolution'!
+
+In passing through the French quarter, through the new wide streets,
+squares and inevitable boulevards, the number of shops for fancy goods
+and Parisian wares, especially those of hairdressers and modistes, seems
+rather extraordinary; remembering that the entire European population
+of Algeria, agricultural as well as urban, is not much more than that
+of Brighton. In a few shops there are tickets displayed in different
+languages, but linguists are rare, and where there are announcements of
+the labels have generally a perplexing, composite character, like the
+inscription on a statue at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, which ran thus
+'Miss Ofelia dans Amlet.'
+
+Before we proceed further, let us glance at the general mode of living
+in Algiers, speaking first of the traveller who goes to the hotels.
+
+The ordinary visitor of a month or two will drop down pleasantly enough
+into the system of hotel life in Algiers; and even if staying for the
+winter he will probably find it more convenient and amusing to take his
+meals in French fashion at the hotels, ringing the changes between three
+or four of the best, and one or two well-known cafes, There is generally
+no table-d'hote, but strangers can walk in and have breakfast or dine
+very comfortably at little tables '_a part_,' at a fixed hour and at a
+moderate price. The rooms are pleasant, cool, and airy, with large
+windows open to the sea.
+
+Everything is neatly and quietly served, the menu is varied enough, with
+good French dishes and game in abundance; the hosts being especially
+liberal in providing those delicious little birds that might be larks or
+quails,--which in Algiers we see so often on the table and so seldom on
+the wing.
+
+````INGLIS
+
+````SPOKEN.=
+
+Half the people that are dining at the 'Hotel d'Orient' to-day are
+residents or habitues; they come in and take their accustomed places as
+cosily, and are almost as particular and fastidious, as if they were at
+their club.
+
+There is the colonel of a cavalry regiment dining alone, and within
+joking distance, five young officers, whose various grades of rank are
+almost as evident from their manner as from the number of stripes on
+their bright red kepis ranged on the wall of the salon. A French
+doctor and his wife dine vis-a-vis, at one table, a lady _solitaire_ at
+another; some gentlemen, whose minds are tuned to commerce, chatter in a
+corner by themselves; whilst a group of newly-arrived English people in
+the middle of the room, are busily engaged in putting down the various
+questions with which they intend to bore the viceconsul on the morrow,
+as if he were some good-natured house-agent, valet-de-place, and
+interpreter in one, placed here by Providence for their especial behoof.
+But it is all very orderly, sociable, and comfortable, and by no means
+an unpleasant method of living for a time.
+
+There is the _cercle_, the club, at which we may dine sometimes; there
+are those pretty little villas amongst the orange-trees at Mustapha
+Superieure, where we may spend the most delightful evenings of all; and
+there are also the Governor's weekly balls, soirees at the consulate,
+and other pleasant devices for turning night into day, in Algiers as
+everywhere else--which we shall be wise if we join in but sparingly.
+And there are public amusements, concerts, balls, and the theatre--the
+latter with a company of operatic singers with weak lungs, but voices
+as sweet as any heard in Italy; and there are the moonlight walks by the
+sea, to many the greatest delight of all.
+
+The ordinary daily occupations are decidedly social and domestic; and
+it may be truly said that for a stranger, until he becomes accustomed to
+the place, there is very little going on.
+
+You must not bathe, for instance, on this beautiful shelving shore.
+'Nobody bathes, it gives fever,' was the invariable answer to enquiries
+on this subject, and though it is not absolutely forbidden by the
+faculty, there are so many restrictions imposed upon bathers that few
+attempt it; moreover, an Englishman is not likely to have brought an
+acrobatic suit with him, nor will he easily find a 'costume de bain' in
+Algiers.
+
+There is very little to do besides wander about the town, or make
+excursions in the environs or into the interior (in which latter case it
+is as well to take a fowling-piece, as there is plenty of game to be met
+with); and altogether we may answer a question often asked about Algiers
+as to its attractions for visitors, that it has not many (so called),
+for the mere holiday lounger.
+
+But for those who have resources of their own, for those who have work
+to do which they wish to do quietly, and who breathe more freely under a
+bright blue sky, Algiers seems to us to be _the_ place to come to.
+
+The 'bird of passage,' who has unfortunately missed an earthquake, often
+reports that Algiers is a little dull; but even he should not find it
+so, for beyond the 'distractions' we have hinted at, there is plenty to
+amuse him if he care little for what is picturesque. There are (or were
+when we were there), a troop of performing Arabs of the tribe of 'Beni
+Zouzoug,' who performed nightly the most hideous atrocities in the name
+of religious rites: wounding their wretched limbs with knives, eating
+glass, holding burning coals in their mouths, standing on hot iron
+until the feet frizzled and gave forth sickening odours, and doing other
+things in an ecstacy of religious frenzy which we could not print, and
+which would scarcely be believed in if we did. *
+
+     * Since writing the above, we observe that these Arabs (or a
+     band of mountebanks in their name), have been permitted to
+     perform their horrible orgies in Paris and London, and that
+     young ladies go in evening dress to the 'stalls' to witness
+     them.
+
+There are various Moorish ceremonies to be witnessed. There are the
+sacrifices at the time of the Ramadhan, when the negro priestesses go
+down to the water side and offer up beasts and birds; the victims, after
+prolonged agonies which crowds assemble to witness, being finally handed
+over to a French _chef de cuisine_.
+
+There are the mosques to be entered barefoot, and the native courts of
+law to be seen. Then if possible, a Moor should be visited at home, and
+a glimpse obtained of his domestic economy, including a dinner without
+knives or forks.
+
+An entertainment consisting entirely of Moorish dances and music is
+easily got up, and is one of the characteristic sights of Algiers. The
+young trained dancing girls, urged on to frenzy by the beating of the
+tom-tom, and falling exhausted at last into the arms of their masters;
+(dancing with that monotonous motion peculiar to the East, the body
+swaying to and fro without moving the feet); the uncouth wild airs they
+sing, their shrieks dying away into a sigh or moan, will not soon be
+forgotten, and many other scenes of a like nature, on which we must not
+dwell--for are they not written in twenty books on Algeria already?
+
+But there are two sights which are seldom mentioned by other writers,
+which we must just allude to in passing.
+
+The Arab races, which take place in the autumn on the French racecourse
+near the town, are very curious, and well worth seeing. Their
+peculiarity consists in about thirty Arabs starting off pell-mell,
+knocking each other over in their first great rush, their bournouses
+mingling together and flying in the wind, but arriving at the goal
+generally singly, and at a slow trot, in anything but racing fashion.
+
+Another event is the annual gathering of the tribes, when
+representatives from the various provinces camp on the hills of the
+Sahel, and the European can wander from one tent to another and spend
+his day enjoying Arab hospitality, in sipping coffee and smoking
+everywhere the pipe of peace.
+
+These things we only hint at as resources for visitors, if they are
+fortunate enough to be in Algiers at the right time; but there are one
+or two other things that they are not likely to miss, whether they wish
+to do so or not.
+
+They will probably meet one day, in the 'Street of the Eastern Gate,'
+the Sirocco wind, and they will have to take shelter from a sudden
+fearful darkness and heat, a blinding choking dust, drying up as it were
+the very breath of life; penetrating every cavity, and into rooms closed
+as far as possible from the outer air. Man and beast lie down before
+it, and there is a sudden silence in the streets, as if they had been
+overwhelmed by the sea. For two or three hours this mysterious blight
+pours over the city, and its inhabitants hide their heads.
+
+Another rather startling sensation for the first time is the 'morning
+gun.' In the consulate, which is in an old Moorish house in the upper
+town, the newly arrived visitor may have been shown imbedded in the wall
+a large round shot, which he is informed was a messenger from one of
+Lord Exmouth's three-deckers in the days before the French occupation;
+and not many yards from it, in another street, he may have had pointed
+out to him certain fissures or chasms in the walls of the houses, as the
+havoc made by earthquakes; he may also have experienced in his travels
+the sudden and severe effect of a tropical thunderstorm.
+
+Let him retire to rest with a dreamy recollection of such events in his
+mind, and let him have his windows open towards the port just before
+sunrise,--when the earthquake, and the thunder, and the bombardment,
+will present themselves so suddenly and fearfully to his sleepy senses,
+that he will bear malice and hatred against the military governor for
+evermore.
+
+But it has roused him to see some of the sights of Algiers. Let him go
+out at once to the almost deserted _Place_, where a few tall figures
+wrapped in military cloaks are to be seen quietly sidling out of a door
+in the corner of a square under the arcades,--coming from the club where
+the gas is not quite extinguished, and where the little green baize
+tables are not yet put away for the night; * and then let him hurry out
+by the _Bab-el-Oued_ and mount the fortifications, and he will see a
+number of poor Arabs shivering in their white bournouses, perched on the
+highest points of the rocks like eagles, watching with eager eyes and
+strained aspect for the rising of the sun, for the coming of the second
+Mahomet. Let him look in the same direction, eastward, over the town
+and over the bay to the mountains far beyond. The sparks from the
+chariot-wheels of fire just fringe the outline of the Kabyle Hills, and
+in another minute, before all the Arabs have clambered up and reached
+their vantage ground, the whole bay is in a flood of light. The Arabs
+prostrate themselves before the sun, and '_Allah il Allah_' (God is
+great) is the burden of their psalm of praise.
+
+     * How often have we seen in the Tuileries gardens, the
+     bronzed heroes of Algerian wars, and perhaps have pitied
+     them for their worn appearance; but we shall begin to think
+     that something more than the African sun and long marches
+     have given them a prematurely aged appearance, and that
+     absinthe and late hours in a temperature of 90 deg. Fahrenheit
+     may have something to do with it.
+
+But Mahomet's coming is not yet, and so they return down the hill, and
+crowd together to a very different scene. The officers whom we saw
+just now leaving the _Place_, have arrived at the Champ de Mars, the
+drill-ground immediately below us, and here, in the cool morning air,
+they are exercising and manoeuvring troops. There are several companies
+going through their drill, and the bugle and the drum drown the
+Muezzins' voices, who, from almost every mosque and turret in the city,
+repeat their cry to the faithful to 'Come to prayers.'
+
+[Illustration: 0061]
+
+[Illustration: 0063]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE MOORISH QUARTER--OUR STUDIO.
+
+[Illustration: 9063]
+
+E said, in the last chapter, that in Algiers there was very little going
+on for the visitor or idler; but if the traveller have anything of the
+artist in him, he will be delighted with the old town. If he is wise he
+will spend the first week in wandering about, and losing himself in the
+winding streets, going here, there, and everywhere on a picturesque tour
+of inspection. His artistic tendencies will probably lead him to spend
+much time in the Moorish cafes, where he may sit down unmolested (if
+unwelcomed) for hours on a mat, and drink his little saucer of thick,
+sweet coffee, for which he pays one sou, and smoke in the midst of a
+group of silent Moors, who may perchance acknowledge his presence by a
+slight gesture, and offer him their pipes, but who will more frequently
+affect not to see him, and sit still doing absolutely nothing, with that
+dignified solemnity peculiar to the East.
+
+He will pass through narrow streets and between mysterious-looking old
+houses that meet over head and shut out the sky; he will jostle often
+in these narrow ways, soft plump objects in white gauze, whose eyes
+and ankles give the only visible signs of humanity; he may turn back to
+watch the wonderful dexterity with which a young Arab girl balances a
+load of fruit upon her head down to the market place; and he will, if
+he is not careful, be finally carried down himself by an avalanche
+of donkeys, driven by a negro gamin who sits on the tail of the last,
+threading their way noiselessly and swiftly, and carrying everything
+before them; * and he will probably take refuge under the ruined arch
+of some old mosque, whose graceful lines and rich decoration are still
+visible here and there, and he will in a few hours be enchanted with the
+place, and the more so for the reason that we have already hinted at,
+viz.:--that in Algiers he is _let alone_, that he is free to wander and
+'moon' about at will, without custodian or commissionaire, or any of the
+tribe of 'valets de place.'
+
+     * How different from what we read of in _AEothen_. The cry is
+     not, 'Get out of the way, O old man! O virgin!--the
+     Englishman, he comes, he comes!' If we were to push an old
+     man out of the way, or, ever so little, to forget our duty
+     to a fair pedestrian, we should be brought up before the
+     Cadi, and fined and scorned, by a jury of unbelievers!
+
+He may go into the Grand Divan; or into the streets where the
+embroiderers are at work, sitting in front of their open shops, amongst
+heaps of silks, rich stuffs and every variety of material; or where the
+old merchant traders, whose occupation is nearly gone, sit smoking out
+their lazy uncommercial lives.
+
+He may go to the old Moorish bath, in a building of curious pattern,
+which is as well worth seeing as anything in Algiers; and, if an Arabic
+scholar, he may pick up an acquaintance or two amongst the Moors,
+and visit their homes when their wives are away for the day, on some
+mourning expedition to a suburban cemetery. He may explore innumerable
+crooked, irregular streets, with low doorways and carved lattices, some
+painted, some gilt; the little narrow windows and the grilles, being as
+perfectly after the old type as when the Moors held undivided possession
+of the city.
+
+One old street, now pulled down, we remember well; it was the one always
+chosen for an evening stroll because it faced the western sea, and
+caught and reflected from its pavement and from its white walls, the
+last rosy tints of sunset, long after the cobblers and the tinkers in
+the lower town had lighted their little lanterns, and the cafes were
+flaring in the French quarter. It was steep and narrow, so steep, in
+fact, that steps were made in the pavement to climb it, and at the upper
+end there was the dome of a mosque shining in the sun. It was like the
+child's picture of 'Jacob's ladder,' brighter and more resplendent at
+each step, and ending in a blaze of gold.
+
+We are often reminded of Spain in these old streets; there are massive
+wooden doors studded with iron bosses or huge nails as we see them at
+Toledo, and there is sometimes to be seen over them, the emblem of the
+human hand pointing upwards, which recalls the Gate of Justice at the
+entrance to the Alhambra at Granada.
+
+The Moors cling to their old traditions, and the belief that they will
+some day reconquer Spain is still an article of faith. But if ever the
+Moors are to regain their imaginary lost possessions in Spain, they must
+surely be made of sterner stuff than the present race, who, judging from
+appearances, are little likely to do anything great.
+
+There are little shops and dark niches where the Moors sit cross-legged,
+with great gourds and festoons of dried fruits hanging above and around
+them; the piles of red morocco slippers, the oddshaped earthenware
+vessels, and the wonderful medley of form and colour, resembling in
+variety the bazaars at Constantinople, or carrying us in imagination
+still further East.
+
+Other sights and sounds we might mention, some not quite so pleasant but
+peculiarly Eastern; and we should not forget to note the peculiar
+scent of herbs and stuffs, which, mingled with the aroma of coffee
+and tobacco, was sometimes almost overpowering in the little Covered
+streets; and one odour that went up regularly on Sunday mornings in the
+Moorish quarter that was not incense, and which it took us a long
+time to discover the origin of--an Arab branding his donkeys with his
+monogram!
+
+Everything we purchase is odd and quaint, irregular or curious in some
+way. Every piece of embroidery, every remnant of old carpet, differs
+from another in pattern as the leaves on the trees. There is no
+repetition, and herein lies its charm and true value to us. Every fabric
+differs either in pattern or combination of colours--it is something, as
+we said, unique, something to treasure, something that will not remind
+us of the mill. *
+
+     * The little pattern at the head of this chapter was traced
+     from a piece of embroidered silk, worked by the Moors.
+
+If we explore still further we shall come to the Arab quarter, where we
+also find characteristic things. Here we may purchase for about thirty
+francs a Kabyle match-lock rifle, or an old sabre with beautifully
+ornamented hilt; we may, if we please, ransack piles of primitive and
+rusty implements of all kinds, and pick up curious women's ornaments,
+beads, coral, and anklets of filagree work; and, if we are fortunate,
+meet with a complete set or suit of harness and trappings, once the
+property of some insolvent Arab chief, and of a pattern made familiar to
+us in the illustrated history of the Cid.
+
+In the midst of the Moorish quarter, up a little narrow street (reached
+in five or six minutes from the centre of the town) passing under an
+archway and between white walls that nearly meet overhead, we come to a
+low dark door, with a heavy handle and latch which opens and shuts with
+a crashing sound; and if we enter the courtyard and ascend a narrow
+staircase in one corner, we come suddenly upon the interior view of the
+first or principal floor, of our Moorish home.
+
+The house, as may be seen from the illustration, has two stories, and
+there is also an upper terrace from which we overlook the town. The
+arrangement of the rooms round the courtyard, all opening inwards, is
+excellent; they are cool in summer, and warm even on the coldest nights,
+and although we are in a noisy and thickly populated part of the town,
+we are ignorant of what goes on outside, the massive walls keeping out
+nearly all sound. The floors and walls are tiled, so that they can be
+cleansed and cooled by water being thrown over them; the carpets and
+cushions spread about invite one to the most luxurious repose, tables
+and chairs are unknown, there is nothing to offend the eye in shape or
+form, nothing to offend the ear--not even a door to slam.
+
+Above, there is an open terrace, where we sit in the mornings and
+evenings, and can realise the system of life on the housetops of the
+East. Here we can cultivate the vine, grow roses and other flowers,
+build for ourselves extempore arbours, and live literally in the open
+air.
+
+From this terrace we overlook the flat roofs of the houses of the
+Moorish part of the city, and if we peep over, down into the streets
+immediately below us, a curious hum of sounds comes up. Our neighbours
+are certainly industrious; they embroider, they make slippers, they
+hammer at metal work, they break earthenware and mend it, and appear to
+quarrel all day long, within a few feet of us; but as we sit in the room
+from which our sketch is taken, the sounds become mingled and subdued
+into a pleasant tinkle which is almost musical, and which we can, if we
+please, shut out entirely by dropping a curtain across the doorway.
+
+Our attendants are Moorish, and consist of one old woman, whom we see
+by accident (closely veiled) about once a month, and a bare-legged,
+bare-footed Arab boy who waits upon us. There are pigeons on the roof,
+a French poodle that frequents the lower regions, and a guardian of our
+doorstep who haunts it day and night, whose portrait is given at Chapter
+V.
+
+Here we work with the greatest freedom and comfort, without interruption
+or any drawbacks that we can think of. The climate is so equal, warm,
+and pleasant--even in December and January--that by preference we
+generally sit on the upper terrace, where we have the perfection of
+light, and are at the same time sufficiently protected from sun and
+wind.
+
+At night we sleep almost in the open air, and need scarcely drop the
+curtains at the arched doorways of our rooms; there are no mosquitoes to
+trouble us, and there is certainly no fear of intrusion. There is also
+perfect stillness, for our neighbours are at rest soon after sundown.
+
+Such is a general sketch of our dwelling in Algiers; let us for a
+moment, by way of contrast, return in imagination to London, and picture
+to ourselves our friends as they are working at home.
+
+It is considered very desirable, if not essential, to an artist,
+that his immediate surroundings should be in some sort graceful and
+harmonious, and it is a lesson worth learning, to see what may be done,
+with ingenuity and taste, towards converting a single room, in a dingy
+street, into a fitting abode of the arts.
+
+We know a certain painter well, one whose studio it is always a delight
+to enter, and whose devotion to Art (both music and painting) for its
+own sake has always stood in the way of his advancement and pecuniary
+success. He has converted a room in the neighbourhood of Gower Street
+into a charming nook where colour, form, and texture are all considered
+in the simplest details of decoration, where there is nothing
+inharmonious to eye or ear, but where perhaps the sound of the guitar
+may be heard a little too often. The walls of his studio are draped,
+the light falls softly from above, the doorway is arched, the seats are
+couches or carpets on a raised dais, a Florentine lamp hangs from the
+ceiling, a medley of vases, costumes, old armour, &c, are grouped about
+in picturesque confusion, and our friend, in an easy undress of the last
+century, works away in the midst.
+
+Not to particularize further, let the reader consider for a moment what
+one step beyond his own door brings about, on an average winter's day.
+A straight, ungraceful, colourless costume of the latter half of the
+nineteenth century which he _must_ assume, a hat of the period, an
+umbrella raised to keep off sleet and rain, and for landscape a damp,
+dreary, muddy, blackened street, with a vista of areas and lamp-posts,
+and, if perchance he be going to the Academy, a walk through the parish
+of St. Giles!
+
+Perhaps the most depressing prospect in the world, is that from a Gower
+Street doorstep on a November morning about nine o'clock; but of
+this enough. We think of our friend as we sit out here on our
+_terrasse_--sheltering ourselves on the same day, at the same hour, from
+the sun's rays--we think of him painting Italian scenes by the light of
+his gas 'sun-burner,' and wish he would come out to Algiers. 'Surely,'
+we would say to him, 'it is something gained, if we can, ever so little,
+harmonize the realities of life with our ideal world--if we can, without
+remark, dress ourselves more as we dress our models, and so live, that
+one step from the studio to the street shall not be the abomination of
+desolation.' *
+
+     * It would be obviously in bad taste for Europeans to walk
+     in the streets of Algiers, _en costume Maure_; but we may
+     make considerable modifications in our attire in an oriental
+     city, to our great comfort and peace of mind.
+
+Let us turn again to Nature and to Light, and transport the reader to a
+little white house, overlooking a beautiful city, on the North African
+shore, where summer is perpetual and indoor life the exception; and draw
+a picture for him which _should_ be fascinating and which certainly is
+true.=
+
+_Algiers, Sunrise, December 10._
+
+The mysterious, indefinable charm of the first break of day, is an old
+and favourite theme in all countries and climates, and one on which
+perhaps little that is new can be said. In the East it is always
+striking, but in Algiers it seems to us peculiarly so; for sleeping, or
+more often lying awake, with the clear crisp night air upon our faces,
+it comes to our couch in the dreamiest way imaginable--instead of being
+clothed (as poets express it) with the veil of night, a mantle seems
+rather to be spread over us in the morning; there is perfect quiet at
+this hour, and we seem to be almost under a spell not to disturb the
+stillness--the dawn whispers to us so softly and soothingly that we are
+powerless to do ought but watch or sleep.
+
+The break of day is perhaps first announced to us by a faint stream of
+light across the courtyard, or the dim shadow of a marble pillar on the
+wall. In a few minutes, we hear the distant barking of a dog, a slight
+rustle in the pigeon-house above, or a solitary cry from a minaret which
+tells us that the city is awaking. We rouse ourselves and steal out
+quietly on to the upper terrace to see a sight of sights--one of those
+things that books tell us, rightly or wrongly, is alone worth coming
+from England to see.
+
+The canopy of stars, that had encompassed us so closely during the
+night, as if to shut in the courtyard overhead, seems lifted again, and
+the stars themselves are disappearing fast in the grey expanse of sky;
+and as we endeavour to trace them, looking intently seaward, towards the
+North and East, we can just discern an horizon line and faint shadows
+of the 'sleeping giants,' that we know to be not far off. Soon--in about
+the same time that it takes to write these lines--they begin to take
+form and outline one by one, a tinge of delicate pearly pink is seen at
+intervals through their shadows, and before any nearer objects have
+come into view, the whole coast line and the mountains of Kabylia,
+stretching-far to the eastward, are flushed with rosy light, opposed to
+a veil of twilight grey which still hangs over the city.
+
+Another minute or two, and our shadows are thrown sharply on a glowing
+wall, towers and domes come distinctly into view, housetops innumerable
+range themselves in close array at our feet, and we, who but a few
+minutes ago, seemed to be standing as it were alone upon the top of
+a high mountain, are suddenly and closely beleaguered. A city of flat
+white roofs, towers, and cupolas, relieved here and there by coloured
+awnings, green shutters, and dark doorways, and by little courtyards
+blooming with orange and citron trees--intersected with innumerable
+winding ways (which look like streams forcing their way through a chalk
+cliff)--has all grown up before our eyes; and beyond it, seaward--a
+harbour, and a fleet of little vessels with their white sails, are seen
+shining in the sun.
+
+Then come the hundred sounds of a waking city, mingling and increasing
+every moment; and the flat roofs (some so close that we can step upon
+them) are soon alive with those quaint white figures we meet in the
+streets, passing to and fro, from roof to roof, apparently without
+restraint or fear. There are numbers of children peeping out from odd
+corners and loopholes, and women with them, some dressed much less
+scrupulously than we see them in the market place, and some, to tell the
+truth, entirely without the white robes aforesaid. A few, a very few,
+are already winding their way through the streets to the nearest mosque,
+but the majority are collected in groups in conversation, enjoying the
+sweet sea breeze, which comes laden with the perfume of orange-trees,
+and a peculiar delicious scent as of violets.
+
+The pigeons on the roof-tops now plume their gilded wings and soar--not
+upward but downward, far away into space; they scarcely break the
+silence in the air, or spread their wings as they speed along.
+
+Oh, what a flight above the azure sea!=
+
+```'Quis dabat mihi pennas sicut columbae;=
+
+the very action of flying seems repose to them.
+
+It is still barely sunrise on this soft December morning, the day's
+labour has scarcely begun, the calm is so perfect that existence alone
+seems a delight, and the Eastern aroma (if we may so express it) that
+pervades the air might almost lull us to sleep again, but Allah wills it
+otherwise.
+
+Suddenly---with terrible impulse and shrill accent impossible to
+describe--a hurricane of women's voices succeeds the calm. Is it
+treachery? Is it scandal? Has Hassan proved faithless, or has Fatima
+fled? Oh, the screeching and yelling that succeeded to the quiet beauty
+of the morning! Oh, the rushing about of veiled (now all closely
+veiled) figures on house-tops! Oh, the weeping and wailing, and literal,
+terrible, gnashing of teeth! 'Tell it not upon the house-tops', (shall
+we ever forget it being told on the housetops? ) 'let not a whole city
+know thy misdeeds,' is written in the Koran, 'it is better for the
+faithful to come to prayers!' Merciful powers, how the tempest raged
+until the sun was up and the city was alive again, and its sounds helped
+to drown the clamour.
+
+Let us come down, for our Arab boy now claps his hands in sign, that (on
+a little low table or tray, six inches from the ground) coffee and
+pipes are provided for the unbelievers; and like the Calendar in Eastern
+Story, he proceeds to tell us the cause of the tumult--a trinket taken
+from one wife and given to another!
+
+Oh, Islam! that a lost bracelet or a jealous wife, should make the earth
+tremble so!
+
+[Illustration: 0083]
+
+[Illustration: 0085]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. 'MODELS.'
+
+[Illustration: 9085]
+
+ROM the roof-tops of our own and the neighbouring houses we have
+altogether many opportunities of sketching, and making studies from
+life. * By degrees, by fits and starts, and by most uncertain means
+(such as attracting curiosity, making little presents, &c.) we manage
+to scrape up a distant talking acquaintance with some of the mysterious
+wayward creatures we have spoken of, and in short, to become almost
+'neighbourly.'
+
+     *  In the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of 1867, there was
+     a picture by Alfred Elmore, R.A., taken almost from this
+     spot.
+
+But we never get much nearer than talking distance, conversing from one
+roof to another with a narrow street like a river flowing between us;
+and only once or twice during our winter sojourn, did we succeed in
+enticing a veiled houri to venture on our terrace and shake hands with
+the 'Frank.' If we could manage to hold a young lady in conversation,
+and exhibit sufficient admiration of her to induce her, ever so
+slightly, to unveil whilst we made a hasty sketch, it was about all that
+we could fairly succeed in accomplishing, and 'the game was hardly worth
+the candle:' it took, perhaps, an hour to ensnare our bird, and in ten
+minutes or less, she would be again on the wing. Veiled beauties are
+interesting (sometimes much more interesting for being veiled); but it
+does not serve our artistic purposes much to see two splendid black eyes
+and a few white robes.
+
+However models we must have, although the profession is almost unknown
+in Algiers. At Naples we have only to go down to the seashore, at Rome
+to the steps of St. Peter's, and we find 'subjects' enough, who will
+come for the asking; but here, where there is so much distinctive
+costume and variety of race, French artists seem to make little use of
+their opportunities.
+
+It takes some days before we can hear of any one who will be willing to
+sit, for double the usual remuneration. But they come at last, and when
+it gets abroad that the Franks have money and 'mean business,' we have
+a number of applicants, some of whom are not very desirable, and none
+particularly attractive.
+
+We select 'Fatima' first, because she is the youngest and has the
+best costume, and also because she comes with her father and appears
+tractable. She is engaged at two francs an hour, which she considers
+poor pay.
+
+How shall we give the reader an idea of this little creature, when she
+comes next morning and coils herself up amongst the cushions in the
+corner of our room, like a young panther in the Jardin des Plantes? Her
+costume, when she throws off her haik (and with it a tradition of the
+Mahommedan faith, that forbids her to show her face to an unbeliever) is
+a rich loose crimson, jacket embroidered with gold, a thin white bodice,
+loose silk trowsers reaching to the knee and fastened round the waist by
+a magnificent sash of various colours; red morroco slippers, a profusion
+of rings on her little fingers, and bracelets and anklets of gold
+filagree work. Through her waving black hair are twined strings of coins
+and the folds of a silk handkerchief, the hair falling at the back in
+plaits below the waist.
+
+She is not beautiful, she is scarcely interesting in expression, and
+she is decidedly unsteady. She seems to have no more power of keeping
+herself in one position or of remaining in one part of the room, or even
+of being quiet, than a humming top. The whole thing is an unutterable
+bore to her, for she does not even reap the reward--her father or
+husband, or male attendant, always taking the money.
+
+She is _petite_, constitutionally phlegmatic, and as fat as her parents
+can manage to make her; she has small hands and feet, large rolling
+eyes--the latter made to appear artificially large by the application of
+henna or antimony black; her attitudes are not ungraceful, but there
+is a want of character about her, and an utter abandonment to the
+situation, peculiar to all her race. In short her movements are more
+suggestive of a little caged animal that had better be petted and
+caressed, or kept at a safe distance, according to her humour. She does
+one thing, she smokes incessantly and makes us cigarettes with a skill
+and rapidity which are wonderful.
+
+Her age is thirteen, and she has been married six months; * her ideas
+appear to be limited to three or four; and her pleasures, poor creature,
+are equally circumscribed. She had scarcely ever left her father's
+house, and had never spoken to a man until her marriage. No wonder we,
+in spite of a little Arabic on which we prided ourselves, could not make
+much way; no wonder that we came very rapidly to the conclusion that the
+houris of the Arabian Nights, must have been dull creatures, and their
+'Entertainments' rather a failure, if there were no diviner fire than
+this. No wonder that the Moors advocate a plurality of wives, for if one
+represents an emotion, a harem would scarcely suffice!
+
+     *  We hear much of the perils of living too fast, and of the
+     preternaturally aged, worn appearance, of English girls
+     after two or three London seasons. What would a British
+     matron say to a daughter--a woman at twelve, married at
+     thirteen, _blasee_ directly, and old at twenty?
+
+We get on but indifferently with our studies with this young lady,
+and, to tell the truth, not too well in Fatima's good graces. Our
+opportunities are not great, our command of Arabic is limited, and
+indeed, we do not feel particularly inspired.
+
+We cannot tell her many love stories, or sing songs set to a
+'_tom-tom_;' we can, indeed, offer 'backshish' in the shape of tobacco
+and sweetmeats, or some trifling European ornament or trinket; but it
+is clear that she would prefer a greater amount of familiarity, and more
+demonstrative tokens of esteem. However, she came several times, and
+we succeeded in obtaining some valuable studies of colour, and
+'bits,' memoranda only; but very useful, from being taken down almost
+unconsciously, in such a luminous key, and with a variety of reflected
+light and pure shadow tone, that we find unapproachable in after work.
+
+As for sketches of character, we obtained very few of Mauresques; our
+subjects were, as a rule, much too restless, and we had one or two
+'scenes' before we parted. On one unfortunate occasion our model
+insisted upon examining our work before leaving, and the scorn and
+contempt with which it was regarded was anything but flattering.
+
+It nearly caused a breach between us, for, as she observed, it was not
+only contrary to her creed to have her likeness taken, but it would be
+perdition to be thus represented amongst the Franks. * We promised to
+be as careful of this portrait as if it were the original, and, in fact,
+said anything to be polite and soothing.
+
+     * For fear of the 'evil eye.' There is a strong belief
+     amongst Mahommedans that portraits are part of their
+     identity; and that the original will suffer if the portrait
+     receive any indignity.
+
+On another occasion, we had been working on rather more quietly than
+usual for half-an-hour, and were really getting a satisfactory study of
+a new position, when, without apparent cause or warning of any kind, the
+strange, pale, passionless face, which stared like a wooden marionette,
+suddenly suffused with crimson, the great eyes filled with tears, the
+whole frame throbbed convulsively, and the little creature fell into
+such a passion of crying that we were fain to put by our work and
+question ourselves whether we had been cruel or unkind. But it was
+nothing: the cup of boredom had been filled to the brim, all other
+artifices had failed her to obtain relief from restraint, and so this
+apparently lethargic little being, who had it seemed, both passion and
+grief at command, opened the flood-gates upon us, and of course gained
+her end. There was no more work that day, and she got off with a double
+allowance of bonbons, and something like a reconciliation. She gave us
+her little white hand at parting--the fingers and thumbs crowded with
+rings, and the nails stained black with henna--but the action meant
+nothing; we dare not press it, it was too soft and frail, and the rings
+would have cut her fingers, we could only hand it tenderly back again,
+and bid our 'model' farewell.
+
+We got on better afterwards with a Moorish Jewess who, for a
+'consideration,' unearthed her property, * including a tiara of gold and
+jewels, and a bodice of silver embroidery worked on crimson velvet;
+we purposely reverse the position and speak of the embroidery first,
+because the velvet was almost hidden. She came slouching in one morning,
+closely wrapped in a dirty shawl, her black hair all dishevelled
+and half covering her handsome face, her feet bare and her general
+appearance so much more suggestive of one of the 'finest pisantry in the
+world,' that we began to feel doubtful, and to think with Beau Brummel
+that this must be 'one of our failures.' But when her mother had
+arranged the tiara in her hair, when the curtain was drawn aside and
+the full splendour of the Jewish costume was displayed--when, in short,
+the dignity and grace of a queen were before us, we felt amply rewarded.
+
+     * Many of the poorest Jewesses possess gold ornaments as
+     heirlooms, burying them in the ground for security, when not
+     in use.
+
+The Jewish dress differs from the Mauresque entirely; it is European in
+shape, with high waist and flowing robes without sleeves, a square cut
+bodice, often of the same material as the robe itself, and a profusion
+of gold ornaments, armlets, necklaces, and rings. A pair of tiny velvet
+slippers (also embroidered) on tiny feet, complete the costume, which
+varies in colour, but is generally of crimson or dark velvet.
+
+As a 'model,' although almost her first appearance in that character,
+this Jewish woman was very valuable, and we had little trouble after the
+first interview, in making her understand our wishes. But we had to
+pay more than in England; there were many drawbacks, and of course much
+waste of time. On some holydays and on all Jewish festivals, she did not
+make her appearance, and seemed to think nothing of it when some feast
+that lasted a week, left us stranded with half-done work.
+
+Without being learned in _costumes des dames_, we believe, we may say,
+that the shape and cut of some of these dresses, and the patterns of the
+embroidery (old as they are) might be copied with advantage by Parisian
+modistes; the more we study these old patterns, the more we cannot cease
+to regret that the _Deae ex machina_, the arbiters of fashion in the
+city where Fashion is Queen, have not managed to infuse into the
+costume of the time more character and purity of design--conditions not
+inconsistent with splendour, and affording scope, if need be, for any
+amount of extravagance.
+
+We are led irresistibly into this digression, if it be a digression,
+because the statuesque figure before us displays so many lines of grace
+and beauty that have the additional charm of novelty. We know, for
+instance, that the pattern of this embroidery is unique, that the
+artificer of that curiously twined chain of gold has been dead perhaps
+for ages, that the rings on her fingers and the coins suspended from her
+hair are many of them real art treasures. *
+
+     * The 'jewels turned out to be paste on close inspection,
+     but the gold filagree work, and the other ornaments, were
+     old, and some very valuable and rare.
+
+The result of our studies, as far as regards Moorish women, we must
+admit to have been after all, rather limited and unsatisfactory. We
+never once lighted upon a Moorish face that moved us much by its beauty,
+for the simple reason that it nearly always lacked expression; anything
+like emotion seemed inharmonious and out of place, and to disturb the
+uniformity of its lines. Even those dark lustrous eyes, when lighted by
+passion, had more of the tiger in them, than the tragedy queen.
+
+The perfection of beauty, according to the Moorish ideal, seems to
+depend principally upon symmetry of feature, and is nothing without
+roundness of limb and a certain flabbiness of texture. It is an ideal of
+repose, not to say of dulness and insipidity; a heavy type of beauty
+of which we obtain some idea in the illustration before us, of a young
+girl, about thirteen years old, of one of the tribes from the interior.
+The drawing is by a Frenchman, and pretends to no particular artistic
+excellence, but it attempts to render (and we think succeeds in
+rendering) the style of a Mahommedan beauty in bridal array; one who is
+about to fulfil her destiny, and who appears to have as little animation
+or intelligence as the Prophet ordained for her, being perfectly fitted
+(according to the Koran) to fill her place in this world or in the
+next. *
+
+     * It detracts a little from the romance of these things to
+     learn from Mrs. Evans (who witnessed, what only ladies, of
+     course, could witness, the robing and decorating of the
+     bride before marriage) the manner in which the face of a
+     Moorish lady is prepared on the day of marriage:
+
+     'An old woman having carefully washed the bride's face with
+     water, proceeded to whiten it all over with a milky-looking
+     preparation, and after touching up the cheeks with rouge
+     (and, her eyes with antimony black), bound an amulet round
+     the head; then with a fine camel-hair pencil, she passed a
+     line of liquid glue over the eyebrows, and taking from a
+     folded paper a strip of gold-leaf fixed it across them both,
+     forming one long gilt bar, and then proceeded to give a few
+     finishing touches to the poor lay figure before her, by
+     fastening two or three tiny gold spangles on the forehead!'
+
+     We cannot help thinking that this might have been an
+     exceptional case, especially in the matter of gilding, but
+     we have seen both patches and paint on Moorish features--as
+     indeed we have seen them in England.
+
+[Illustration: 0098]
+
+Thus decked with her brightest jewels and adorned with a crown of gold,
+she waits to meet her lord, to be his 'light of the harem,' his 'sun
+and moon.' What if we, with our refined aesthetic tastes, what if
+disinterested spectators, vote her altogether the dullest and most
+uninteresting of beings? what if she seem to us more like some young
+animal, magnificently harnessed, waiting to be trotted out to the
+highest bidder? She shakes the coins and beads on her head sometimes,
+with a slight impatient gesture, and takes chocolate from her little
+sister, and is petted and pacified just as we should soothe and pacify
+an impatient steed; there is clearly no other way to treat her, it is
+the will of Allah that she should be so debased! *
+
+     * We have before spoken of the influence of beautiful forms
+     and harmony in colour, in our homes and surroundings; and we
+     feel acutely, that the picture of this Moorish woman,
+     intellectually, does not prove our case; but Mahomet decreed
+     that women should endeavour to _be_ beautiful rather than
+     understand, or enjoy it.
+
+One day we had up a tinker, an old brown grizzled Maltese, who with his
+implements of trade, his patchwork garments and his dirt, had a tone
+about him, like a figure from one of the old Dutch masters. He sat down
+in the corner of our courtyard against a marble pillar, and made himself
+quite at home; he worked with his feet as well as his hands at his
+grinding, he chattered, he sang, and altogether made such a clatter that
+we shall not be likely to forget him.
+
+This gentleman, and the old negro that lived upon our doorstep, were
+almost the only subjects that we succeeded in inducing to come
+within doors; our other life studies were made under less favourable
+circumstances.
+
+From the roof of our own house, it is true, we obtained a variety of
+sketches, not (as might be supposed from the illustrations and pictures
+with which we are all familiar) of young ladies attired as scantily as
+the nymphs at the _Theatre du Chatelet_, standing in pensive attitudes
+on their housetops, but generally of groups of veiled women--old,
+ugly, haggard, shrill of voice, and sometimes rather fierce of aspect,
+performing various household duties on the roof-tops, including the
+beating of carpets and of children, the carrying of water-pots and the
+saying of prayers.
+
+A chapter on 'Models' would not be complete without some mention of the
+camels, of which there are numbers to be found in the Arab quarter of
+the town. Some of them are splendid creatures, and as different from
+any exotic specimens that we can see in this country as an acclimatised
+palm-tree from its wild growth.
+
+Some one tells us that these Algerian 'ships of the desert' have not the
+same sailing qualities, nor the same breadth of beam, as those at Cairo.
+But (if true) we should have to go to Cairo to study them, so let us be
+content. We should like to see one or two of our popular artists, who
+persist in painting camels and desert scenes without ever having been
+to the East, just sit down here quietly for one day and paint a camel's
+head; not flinching from the work, but mastering the wonderful texture
+and shagginess of his thick coat or mane, its massive beauty, and its
+infinite gradations of colour. Such a sitter no portrait painter ever
+had in England. Feed him up first, get a boy to keep the flies from him,
+and he will sit almost immoveably through the day. He will put on a
+sad expression in the morning, which will not change; he will give no
+trouble whatever, he will but sit still and croak.
+
+[Illustration: 0105]
+
+Do we seem to exaggerate the value of such studies? We cannot
+exaggerate, if we take into full account, the vigorous quality which
+we impart into our work. And we cannot, perhaps, better illustrate
+our argument in favour of drawing from, what we should call, _natural_
+models, than by comparing the merits of two of the most popular pictures
+of our time, viz.:--Frith's '_Derby Day_,' and Rosa Bonheur's '_Horse
+Fair?_' The former pleasing the eye by its cleverness and prettiness;
+the latter impressing the spectator by its power, and its truthful
+rendering of animal life.
+
+The difference between the two painters is probably, one, more of
+education than of natural gifts. But whilst the style of the former is
+grafted on a fashion, the latter is founded on a rock--the result of a
+close study of nature, chastened by classic feeling, and a remembrance
+it may be, of the friezes of the Parthenon.
+
+[Illustration: 0109]
+
+[Illustration: 0111]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. OUR 'LIFE SCHOOL'
+
+[Illustration: 9111]
+
+F the various studies to be made in Algiers, there are none at the same
+time so quaint and characteristic, as the Moors in their own homes,
+seated at their own doors or benches at work, or at the numerous cafes
+and bazaars; and nothing seems to harmonize so well in these Moorish
+streets as the groups of natives (both Moors and negroes) with their
+bright costumes, and 'wares for sale. Colour and contrast of colour,
+seem to be considered, or _felt_, everywhere. Thus for instance, no two
+Orientals will walk down a street side by side, unless the colours
+of their costume harmonize or blend together (they seem to know it
+instinctively), and then there is always grey or some quiet contrasting
+tone for a background, and a sky of deep, deep blue. A negress will
+generally be found selling oranges or citrons; an Arab boy with a red
+fez and white turban, carrying purple fruit in a basket of leaves; and
+so on. The reader will think this fanciful, but it is truer than he
+imagines; let him come and see.
+
+It was not at all times easy to sketch in the open street on account of
+the curiosity it excited; a crowd sometimes collecting until it became
+almost impossible to breathe. The plan was to go as often as possible to
+the cafes and divans, and by degrees to make friends with the Moors.
+
+There was one cafe, in a street that we have been to so often, that it
+is as familiar to us as any in the western world; and where by dint of a
+little tact and a small outlay of tobacco, we managed to make ourselves
+quite at home, and were permitted to work away all day, comparatively
+unmolested. It was a narrow and steep overhanging street, crowded at all
+times with Moors on one side embroidering, or pretending to sell goods
+of various kinds; and on the opposite side there was a cafe, not four
+feet distant, where a row of about eighteen others sat and smoked,
+and contemplated their brethren at work. The street was always full of
+traffic, being an important thoroughfare from the upper to the lower
+town, and there were perpetually passing up and down, droves of laden
+donkeys; men with burdens carried on poles between them; vendors
+of fruit, bread, and live fowls, and crowds of people of every
+denomination.
+
+In a little corner out of sight, where we were certainly rather closely
+packed, we used to install ourselves continually and sketch the people
+passing to and fro. The Moors in the cafe used to sit beside us all day
+and watch, and _wait_; they gave us a grave silent salutation when we
+took our places, and another when we left, but we never got much further
+with our unknown neighbours. If we can imagine a coterie in a small
+political club, where the open discussion of politics is, with
+one consent, tabooed for fear of a disturbance, and where the most
+frolicsome of its members play at chess for relaxation, we shall get
+some notion of the state of absolute decorum which existed in our little
+_cafe maure_.
+
+It was very quaint. The memory of the grave quiet faces of these most
+polite Moorish gentlemen, looking so smooth and clean in their white
+bournouses, seated solemnly doing nothing, haunts us to this day. Years
+elapsed between our first and last visit to our favourite street, yet
+there they were when we came again, still doing nothing in a row; and
+opposite to them, the merchants who do no trade, also sitting in their *
+accustomed places, surrounded with the same old wares.
+
+There was the same old negro in a dark corner making coffee, and handing
+it to the same customers, sitting in the same places, in the same dream.
+
+[Illustration: 0115]
+
+There is certainly both art and mystery in doing nothing well which
+these men achieve in their peculiar lives; here they sit for years
+together, silently waiting, without a trace of boredom on their faces,
+and without exhibiting a gesture of impatience. They--the 'gentlemen'
+in the cafe on the right hand--have saved up money enough to keep
+life together, they have for ever renounced work, and can look on with
+complacency at their poorer brethren. They have their traditions, their
+faith, their romance of life, and the curious belief before alluded to,
+that if they fear God and Mahomet, and sit here long enough, they will
+one day be sent for to Spain, to repeople the houses where their fathers
+dwelt.
+
+This corner is the one _par excellence_, where the Moors sit and wait.
+There is the 'wall of wailing' at Jerusalem; there is the 'street of
+waiting' in Algiers, where the Moors sit clothed in white, dreaming
+of heaven--with an aspect of more than content, in a state of
+dreamy delight achieved, apparently, more by habit of mind than any
+opiates--the realisation of '_Keyf_'.
+
+Not far from this street, but still in the Moorish quarter, we may
+witness a much more animated scene, and obtain in some respects a still
+better study of character and costume--at a clothes auction in the
+neighbourhood of the principal bazaar. If we go in the afternoon, we
+shall probably find a crowd collected in a courtyard, round a number of
+Jews who are selling clothes, silks, and stuffs, and so intent are they
+all on the business that is going forward, that we are able to take up a
+good position to watch the proceedings.
+
+We arrived one day at this spot, just as a terrible scuffle or wrangle,
+was going forward, between ten or a dozen old men (surrounded by at
+least a hundred spectators) about the quality or ownership of some
+garment. The merits of the discussion were of little interest to us and
+were probably of little importance to anybody, but the result was in
+its way as interesting a spectacle as ever greeted the eye and ear,
+something that we could never have imagined, and certainly could never
+have seen, in any other land.
+
+This old garment had magical powers, and was a treasure to _us_ at
+least. It attracted the old and young, the wise and foolish, the excited
+combatant and the calm and dignified spectator; it collected them all
+in a large square courtyard with plain whitewashed walls and Moorish
+arcades. On one side a palm-tree drooped its gigantic leaves, and cast
+broad shadows on the ground, which in some places, was almost of the
+brightness of orange; on the other side, half in sunlight, half in
+shadow, a heavy awning was spread over a raised dais or stage, and
+through its tatters and through the deep arcades, the sky appeared in
+patches of the deepest blue--blue of a depth and brilliancy that few
+painters have ever succeeded in depicting. It gave in a wider and truer
+sense, just that quality to our picture--if we may be excused a little
+technicality and a familiar illustration--that a broad red sash thrown
+across the bed of a sleeping child in Millais' picture in the Royal
+Academy Exhibition of 1867, gave to his composition, as many readers may
+remember.
+
+But we cannot take our eyes from the principal group, or do much more
+than watch the crowd in its changing phases. To give any idea of the
+uproar, the 'row' we ought to call it, would be to weary the reader with
+a polyglot of words and sentences, some not too choice, and many too
+shrill and fiercely accentuated; but to picture the general aspect in a
+few words is worth a trial, although to do this we must join the throng
+and fight our way to the front.
+
+Where have we seen the like? We have seen such upturned faces in
+pictures of the early days of the Reformation by Henry Leys; we have
+seen such passion in _Shy lock_, such despair in _Lear _; such grave and
+imposing-looking men with 'reverend beards' in many pictures by the old
+masters; but seldom have we seen such concentration of emotion (if we
+may so express it), and unity of purpose, in one group.
+
+Do our figure-painters want a subject, with variety of colour
+and character in one canvas? They need not go to the bazaars of
+Constantinople, or to the markets of the East. Let them follow us here
+crushing close to the platform, our faces nearly on a level with the
+boards. Look at the colours, at the folds of their cloaks, bournouses
+and yachmahs--purple, deep red, and spotless white, all crushed
+together--with their rich transparent shadows, as the sun streams across
+them, reflected on the walls. The heavy awning throws a curious glow
+over the figures, and sometimes almost conceals their features with a
+dazzle of reflected light. Look at the legs of these eager traders, as
+they struggle and fight and stand on tiptoe, to catch a glimpse of some
+new thing exposed for sale; look at them well--the lean, the shambling,
+the vigorous, the bare bronze (bronzed with sun and grime), the dark
+hose, the purple silk, and the white cotton, the latter the special
+affectation of the dandy Jew. What a medley, but what character
+here--the group from knee to ankle forms a picture alone.
+
+And thus they crowd together for half-an-hour, whilst all ordinary
+business seems suspended. Nothing could be done with such a clatter,
+not to mention the heat. Oh, how the Arab gutturals, the impossible
+consonants (quite impossible to unpractised European lips) were
+interjected and hurled, so to speak, to and fro! How much was said to
+no purpose, how incoherent it all seemed, and how we wished for a few
+vowels to cool the air!
+
+In half-an-hour a calm has set in and the steady business of the day is
+allowed to go forward; we may now smoke our pipes in peace, and from a
+quiet corner watch the proceedings almost unobserved, asking ourselves
+a question or two suggested by the foregoing scene. Is expression really
+worth anything? Is the exhibition of passion much more than acting?
+Shall grey beards and flowing robes carry dignity with them any more, if
+a haggle about old clothes can produce it in five minutes?
+
+And so we sit and watch for hours, wondering at the apparently endless
+variety of the patterns, and colours of the fabrics exposed for
+sale; and perhaps we doze, perhaps we dream. Is it the effect of the
+hachshish? Is it the strong coffee? Are we, indeed, dreaming, or is the
+auction a sham? Surely that pretty bright handkerchief--now held up
+and eagerly scanned by bleared old eyes--now rumpled and drawn sharply
+between haggard fingers--is an old friend, and has no business in a sale
+like this? Let us rub our eyes and try and remember where we have seen
+it o before. Yes--there is no mistaking the pattern, we have seen it in
+Spain. It was bound turbanwise round the head of a woman who performed
+in the bull ring at Seville, on the occasion of a particularly high and
+rollicking festival of the 'Catholic Church;' it was handed out of a
+diligence window one dark night on the Sierra Morena, when a mule had
+broken its leg, and the only method of getting it along was to tie the
+injured limb to the girth, and let the animal hop on three legs for the
+rest of the way. It found its way into the Tyrol, worn as a sash; it
+was in the market-place at Bastia in Corsica, in the hands of a maiden
+selling fruit; it flaunted at Marseilles, drying in the wind on a ship's
+spar; and the last time we saw it (if our memory serves us well) it was
+carefully taken from a drawer in a little shop, '_Au Dey d'Alger_' in
+the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, and offered to us, by that greatest of all
+humbugs, Mustapha, as the latest Algerian thing in neckties, which he
+asked fifteen francs for, and would gladly part with for two.
+
+It was a pattern we knew by heart, that we meet with in all parts of the
+world, thanks to the universality of Manchester cottons. But the pattern
+was simple and good, nothing but an arrangement of red and black stripes
+on a maize ground, and therein lay its success. It had its origin in
+the first principles of decoration, it transgressed no law or canon of
+taste, it was easily and cheaply made (as all the best patterns are),
+and so it travelled round the world, and the imitation work came to be
+sold in, perhaps, the very bazaar whence the pattern first came, and its
+originators squabbled over the possession of it, as of something unique.
+
+But we can hardly regret the repetition of these Moorish patterns, for
+they are useful in such a variety of ways. Wind one of the handkerchiefs
+in and out amongst dark tresses, and see what richness it gives; make
+a turban of it for a negress's head; tie it nattily under the chin of a
+little Parisienne and, _hey presto!_ she is pretty; make a sash of
+it, or throw it loosely on the ground, and the effect is graceful and
+charming to the eye. In some Japanese and Chinese silks we may meet with
+more brilliant achievements in positive colours; but the Moors seem to
+excel all other nations in taste, and in their skilful juxta-position
+of tints. We have seen a Moorish designer hard at work, with a box of
+butterflies' wings for his school of design, and we might, perhaps, take
+the hint at home.
+
+But we must leave the Moors and their beautiful fabrics for a while, and
+glance at the Arab quarter of the town. We shall see the Arabs bye and
+bye in the plains and in their tents, in their traditionary aspect; but
+here we come in contact with a somewhat renegade and disreputable race,
+who hang, as it were, on the outskirts of civilization. Many of them
+have come from the neighbouring villages and from their camps across the
+plains of the Sahel; and have set up a market of their own, where they
+are in full activity, trading with each other and with the Frank. * Here
+they may be seen by hundreds--some buying and selling, some fighting
+and not unfrequently, cursing one another heartily; others ranged close
+together in rows upon the ground, like so many white loaves ready for
+baking. Calm they are, and almost dignified in appearance, when sitting
+smoking in conclave; but only give them something to quarrel about,
+touch them up ever so little on their irritable side, and they will beat
+Geneva washerwomen for clatter.
+
+     * This market-place is a sort of commercial neutral ground,
+     where both Arabs and Kabyles meet the French in the
+     strictest amity, and cheat them if they can.
+
+Take them individually, these trading men, who have had years of
+intercourse with their French conquerors, and they disappoint us
+altogether. They are no longer true followers of the Prophet, although
+they are a great obstruction to traffic, by spreading carpets on the
+ground in the middle of the road, and prostrating themselves towards
+Mahomet and the sun. Trade--paltry, mean, and cowardly as it so often
+makes men--has done the Arab irreparable harm: it has taught him to
+believe in counterfeits and little swindles as a legitimate mode of
+life, to pass bad money, and to cringe to a conqueror because he could
+make money thereby. He could not do these things in the old days, with
+his face to the sun.
+
+The Arab is generally pictured to us in his tent or with his tribe,
+calm, dignified and brave, and perhaps we may meet with him thus on
+the other side of the Sahel, but here in Algiers he is a metamorphosed
+creature. The camels that crouch upon the ground, and scream and bite
+at passers-by, are more dignified and consistent in their ill-tempered
+generation than these 'Sons of the Prophet,' these 'Lights of Truth.'
+
+And they have actually caught European tricks. What shall we say when
+two Arabs meet in the street, and after a few words interchanged, pass
+away from each other with a quickened, jaunty step, like two city men,
+who have 'lost time,' and must make it up by a spurt! Shall we
+respect our noble Arab any more when we see him walking abroad with a
+stereotyped, plausible smile upon his face, and every action indicating
+an eye to the main chance? *
+
+     * It may seem a stretch of fancy, but even the bournous
+     itself, with its classic outline and flowing folds, loses
+     half its dignity and picturesqueness on these men. It has
+     been rather vulgarised of late years in Western Europe; and
+     when we see it carried on the arm of an Arab (as we do
+     sometimes), there is a suggestion of opera stalls, and
+     lingering last good nights on unromantic doorsteps, that is
+     fatal to its patriarchal character.
+
+A step lower, of which there are too many examples in the crowd, and
+there is a sadder metamorphose yet--the patriarch turned scamp--one who
+has left his family and his tribe to seek his fortune. Look at him, with
+his ragged bournous, his dirt and his cringing ways, and contrast his
+life now, with what he has voluntarily abandoned. Oh! how civilization
+has lowered him in his own eyes, how his courage has turned to bravado,
+and his tact to cunning; how even natural affection has languished, and
+family ties are but threads of the lightest tissue. He has failed in his
+endeavour to trade, he has disobeyed the Koran, and is an outcast and
+unclean--one of the waifs and strays of cities!
+
+As we wend our way homeward (as John Bunyan says), 'thinking of these
+things,' we see two tall white figures go down to the water side, like
+the monks in Millais' picture of 'A Dream of the Past.' They stand on
+the bank in the evening light, their reflections repeated in the water.
+It is the hour of prayer; what are they doing? They are fishing with
+a modern rod and line, and their little floats are painted with the
+tricolour!
+
+[Illustration: 0131]
+
+[Illustration: 0133]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE BOUZAREAH--A STORM.
+
+[Illustration: 9133]
+
+T would be passing over the most-enjoyable part of our life abroad, if
+we omitted all mention of those delightful days, spent on the hill-sides
+of Mustapha, on the heights of the Bouzareah, and indeed everywhere in
+the neighbourhood of Algiers, sketching in winter time in the open air.
+
+Odours of orange-groves, the aromatic scent of cedars, the sweet breath
+of wild flowers, roses, honeysuckles and violets, should pervade this
+page; something should be done, which no words can accomplish, to give
+the true impression of the scene, to picture the luxuriant wild
+growth of the surrounding vegetation (radiant in a sunshine which to a
+northerner is unknown), and to realise in any method of description, the
+sense of calm enjoyment of living this pure life in a climate neither
+too hot nor too cold, neither too enervating nor too exciting; of
+watching the serene days decline into sunsets that light up the Kabyle
+Hills with crests of gold, and end in sudden twilights that spread a
+weird unearthly light across the silver sea. *
+
+     * There are effects of light sometimes, towards evening,
+     especially over the sea, such as we have never seen in any
+     other part of the world. We know one or two landscape
+     painters who have filled their note-books with memoranda of
+     these phases.
+
+We take our knapsacks and walk off merrily enough on the bright.
+December mornings, often before the morning gun has fired or the city
+is fully awake. If we go out at the eastern gate and keep along near the
+sea shore in the direction of the _Maison Carree_ (a French fort, now
+used as a prison), we obtain fine views of the bay, and of the town of
+Algiers itself, with its mole and harbour stretching out far into the
+sea.
+
+There is plenty to interest us here, if it is only in sketching the
+wild palmettos, or in watching the half-wild Arabs who camp in the
+neighbourhood, and build mud huts which they affect to call cafes, and
+where we can, if we please, obtain rest and shelter from the midday sun,
+and a considerable amount of 'stuffiness,' for one sou. But there is
+no need to trouble them, as there are plenty of shady valleys and
+cactus-hedges to keep off the sun's rays; the only disturbers of our
+peace are the dogs who guard the Arab encampments, and have to be
+diligently kept off with stones.
+
+Perhaps the best spots for quiet work are the precincts of the
+Marabouts' tombs, where we can take refuge unobserved, behind some old
+wall and return quietly to the same spot, day after day. And here, as
+one experience of sketching from Nature, let us allude to the theory
+(laid down pretty confidently by those who have never reduced it to
+practice), that one great advantage of this climate is, that you may
+work at the same sketch from day to day, and continue it where you left
+off! You can do nothing of the kind. * If your drawing is worth
+anything, it will at least have recorded something of the varying phases
+of light and shade, that really alter every hour.
+
+Let us take an example. About six feet from us, at eight o'clock in the
+morning, the sheer white wall of a Moslem tomb is glowing with a white
+heat, and across it are cast the shadows of three palm-leaves, which at
+a little distance, have the contrasted effect of the blackness of
+night. ** Approach a little nearer and examine the real colour of these
+photographic leaf-lines, shade off (with the hand) as much as possible
+of the wall, the sky, and the reflected light from surrounding leaves,
+and these dark shadows become a delicate pearl grey, deepening into
+mauve, or partaking sometimes of the tints of the rich earth below them.
+They will be deeper yet before noon, and pale again, and uncertain and
+fantastic in shape, before sundown. If we sketch these shadows only
+each hour, as they pass from left to right upon the wall (laying down a
+different wash for the ground each time) and place them side by side
+in our note-book, we shall have made some discoveries in light and
+transparent shadow tone, which will be very valuable in after time.
+No two days or two hours, are under precisely the same atmospheric
+conditions; the gradations and changes are extraordinary, and would
+scarcely be believed in by anyone who had not watched them.
+
+     * We are speaking, of course, of colour and effect, not of
+     details that may be put in at any time.
+
+     ** Under some conditions of the atmosphere we have obtained
+     more perfect outlines of the leaves of the aloe, with their
+     curiously indented edges and spear-points, _from their
+     shadows_, rather than from the leaves themselves.
+
+Thus, although we cannot continue a sketch once left off, to any
+purpose, we may obtain an infinite and overwhelming variety of work in
+one day, in the space of a few yards by the side of some old well or
+Marabout's tomb.
+
+We seldom returned from a day in the country, without putting up for an
+hour or two at one of the numerous cafes, or caravanserai, built near
+some celebrated spring, with seats, placed invitingly by the roadside,
+under the shade of trees. There were generally a number of Arabs and
+French soldiers collected in the middle of the day, drinking coffee,
+playing at dominoes, or taking a siesta on the mats under the cool
+arcades, and often some Arab musicians, who hummed and droned monotonous
+airs; there were always plenty of beggars to improve the occasion, and
+perhaps, a group of half-naked boys, who would get up an imitation of
+the 'Beni Zouzoug Arabs,' and go through hideous contortions, inflicting
+all kinds of torments on each other for a few sous.
+
+[Illustration: 8139]
+
+It is pleasant to put up at one of these cafes during the heat of the
+day, and to be able to walk in and take our places quietly amongst the
+Arabs and Moors, without any particular notice or remark; and delightful
+(oh! how delightful) to yield to the combined influences of the coffee,
+the hachshish, the tomtom and the heat, and fall asleep and dream--dream
+that the world is standing still, that politics and Fenianism are things
+of the past, and that all the people in a hurry are dead. Pleasant, and
+not a little perplexing too, when waking, for the eye to rest on the
+delicate outline of a little window in the wall above, which, with its
+spiral columns and graceful proportions, seems the very counterpart in
+miniature of some Gothic cathedral screen.
+
+If we examine it, it is old and Moorish (these buildings date back
+several hundred years), and yet so perfect is its similarity to later
+work, that our ideas on orders of architecture become confused and
+vague. We may not attempt to discover the cause of the similarity, or
+indeed to go deeply into questions of 'style,' but we may be tempted to
+explore further, and if we examine such cafes (as, for instance, those
+at El Biar, or Birkadem), we shall find the walls ornamented with
+Arabesques, sometimes half-concealed under whitewash, and the arcades
+and conical-domed roofs and doorways covered with curious patterns.
+
+In this way we pass the day, often lingering about one spot in most
+vagrant fashion, till nightfall, when the last diligence comes crashing
+in, and stops to change its wretched horses. We take our places quickly
+in the _interieur_, and are wedged in between little soft white figures
+with black eyes and stained finger-nails, who stare at us with a fixed
+and stony stare, all the way back to Algiers. Another day we spend in
+the _Jardin d'Essai_, (the garden of acclimatisation), where we may
+wander in December, amidst groves of summer flowers, and where every
+variety of tree and shrub is brought together for study and comparison.
+Through the kindness of the director we are enabled to make studies of
+some rare and curious tropical plants; but there is a little too much
+formality and an artificial atmosphere about the place, that spoils it
+for sketching; although nothing can control, or render formal, the wild
+strength of the gigantic aloes, or make the palm-trees grow in line.
+
+From the 'Garden of Marengo,' just outside the western gates, we
+may obtain good subjects for sketching, including both mosques and
+palm-trees, such as we have indicated on our title-page; and from the
+heights behind the Casbah, some beautiful distant views across the
+plain of the Mitidja. Of one of these an artistic traveller thus speaks:
+'Standing on a ridge of the Sahel, far beneath lies the Bay of Algiers,
+from this particular point thrown into a curve so exquisite and subtle
+as to be well nigh inimitable by art, the value of the curve being
+enhanced by the long level line of the Mitidja plain immediately behind,
+furnishing the horizontal line of repose so indispensable to calm beauty
+of landscape; whilst in the background the faintly indicated serrated
+summits of the Atlas chain preserve the whole picture from monotony.
+The curve of shore, the horizontal bar of plain, the scarcely more than
+suggested angles of the mountains, form a combination of contrasting yet
+harmonising lines of infinite loveliness, which Nature would ever paint
+anew for us in the fresh tints of the morning, with a brush dipped in
+golden sunshine and soft filmy mist, and with a broad sweep of cool blue
+shadow over the foreground.'
+
+But our favourite rendezvous, our principal 'Champ de Mars,' was a
+little Arab cemetery, about six miles from Algiers; on the heights
+westward, in the direction of Sidi Ferruch, and near to a little Arab
+village called the 'Bouzareah.' This spot combined a wondrous view both
+of sea and land, with a foreground of beauty not easy to depict. It was
+a half-deserted cemetery, with tombs of Marabout priests over which the
+palm-trees waved, and little gravestones here and there surmounted
+with crescents. Sheltered from the sun's rays, hidden from the sight of
+passers-by, surrounded with a profusion of aloes, palms, cacti; and
+an infinite variety of shrubs and flowers peeping out between the
+palmettos, that spread their leaves like fans upon the ground--it
+combined everything that could be desired.
+
+Here we worked, sitting close to one of the tombs for its shade, with
+the hush of the breeze, the distant sighing sound of the sea, the voices
+of bees, and butterflies, the flutter of leaves, and one other sound
+that intermingled with strange monotony of effect close to our ears,
+which puzzled us sorely to account for at first. It turned out to be a
+snore; the custodian of one of the tombs was sleeping inside with his
+fathers, little dreaming of our proximity. We struck up an acquaintance
+with him, after a few days of coyness on his part, and finally made him
+a friend. For a few sous a day he acted as outpost for us, to keep off
+Arab boys and any other intruders; and before we left, was induced to
+sit and be included in a sketch. He winced a little at this, and we
+confess to an inward reproach for having thus degraded him. He did not
+like it, but he sat it out and had his portrait taken like any Christian
+dog; he took money for his sin, and finally, by way of expiation let us
+hope, drank up our palette water at the end of the day!
+
+If there is one spot in all Algeria most dear to a Mussulman's heart,
+most sacred, to a Marabout's memory, it must surely be this peaceful
+garden of aloes and palms, where flowers ever grow, where the sun shines
+from the moment of its rising until it sinks beneath the western sea;
+where, if anywhere on this earth, the faithful will be the first to know
+of the Prophet's coming, and where they will always be ready to meet
+him.
+
+But if it be dear to a Mussulman's heart, it is also dear to a
+Christian's, for it has taught us more in a few weeks than we can
+unlearn in years. We cannot sit here day by day without learning several
+truths, more forcibly than by any teaching of our schools; taking in, as
+it were, the mysteries of light and shade, and the various phases of the
+atmosphere--taking them all to heart, so that they influence our work
+for years to come.
+
+How often have we, at the Uffizi, or at the Louvre, envied the power and
+skill of a master, whose work we have vainly endeavoured to imitate; and
+what would we not have given in those days, to achieve something that
+seemed to approach, ever so little, to the power and beauty of colour,
+of a Titian or a Paul Veronese. *
+
+     * And have we not, generally, imbibed more of the trick or
+     method of colour, of the master, than of his inspiration--
+     more, in short, of the real than the ideal?
+
+Is it mere heresy in art, or is it a brighter light dawning upon us
+here, that seems to say, that we have learned and achieved more, in
+studying the glowing limbs of an Arab child as it plays amongst these
+wild palmettos--because we worked with a background of such sea and sky
+as we never saw in any picture of the 'Finding of Moses;' and because in
+the painting of the child, we had not perforce to learn any 'master's'
+trick of colour, nor to follow conventional lines?
+
+And do we not, amongst other things, learn to distinguish between the
+true and conventional rendering of the form, colour and character, of
+palm-trees, aloes and cacti?
+
+First of the palm. Do we not soon discover how much more of beauty,
+of suggested strength, of grace, lightness and variety of colour and
+texture, there is in this one stem, that we vainly try to depict in
+a wood engraving, than we had previously any conception of; and how
+opposed to facts are the conventional methods of drawing palm-trees
+(often with a straight stem and uniform leaves looking like a feather
+broom on a straight stick), which we may find in almost any illustrated
+book representing Eastern scenes, from Constantinople to the Sea of
+Galilee.
+
+[Illustration: 8147]
+
+Take, for instance, as a proof of variety in colour and grandeur of
+aspect, this group of palm-trees * that have stood guard over the
+Maho-medan tombs for perhaps a hundred years; stained with time, and
+shattered with their fierce battle with the storms that sweep over the
+promontory with terrible force. ** Look at the beauty of their lines, at
+the glorious colour of their young leaves, and the deep orange of those
+they have shed, like the plumage of some gigantic bird; one of
+their number has fallen from age, and lies crossways on the ground,
+half-concealed in the long grass and shrubs, and it has lain there to
+our knowledge, undisturbed for years. To paint the sun setting on these
+glowing stems, and to catch the shadows of their sharp pointed leaves,
+as they are traced at one period of the day on the white walls of the
+tombs, is worth long waiting to be able to note down; and to hit the
+right tint to depict such shadows truly, is an exciting triumph to us.
+
+     * The palm-stem we have sketched is of a different variety
+     and less formal in character than those generally seen in
+     the East; nevertheless, there is endless variety in the
+     forms and leaves of any one of them, if we judge from
+     photographs.
+
+     ** We had prepared a drawing of these palm-trees in
+     sunlight; but perhaps Mr. Severn's view of them in a storm,
+     will be thought more characteristic.
+
+Second of the aloe; and here we make as great a discovery as with the
+palm. Have we not been taught (in paintings) from our youth up, that the
+aloe puts forth its blue riband-like leaves in uniform fashion, like
+so many starched pennants, which painters often express with one or two
+strokes of the brush; and are we not told by botanists that it flowers
+but once in a hundred years?
+
+Look at that aloe hedgerow a little distance from us that stretches
+across the country, like a long blue rippling wave on a calm sea, and
+which, as we approach it, seems thrown up fantastically and irregularly
+by breakers to a height of six or eight feet, and which (like the
+sea), on a nearer view changes its opaque cold blue tint, to a rich
+transparent green and gold. Approach them closely, walk under their
+colossal leaves, avoid their sharp spear-points and touch their soft
+pulpy stems. What wonderful variety there is in their forms, what
+transparent beauty of colour, what eccentric shadows they cast upon each
+other, and with what a grand spiral sweep some of the young shoots rear
+upwards! So tender and pliable are they, that in some positions a child
+might snap their leaves, and yet so wonderful is the distribution of
+strength, that they would resist at spear-point the approach of a lion,
+and almost turn a charge of cavalry. If we snap off the point of one of
+the leaves it is a needle, and a thread clings to it which we may
+peel off down the stem a yard long--needle and thread--nature-pointed,
+nature-threaded! Should not artists see these things? Should not poets
+read of them?
+
+Here we are inclined to ask, if the aloe flowers but once in a hundred
+years, how is it that everywhere in Algeria, we see plants of all ages
+with their long flowering stems, some ten or twelve feet high? Have they
+combined this year to flower, or are botanists at fault?
+
+Of the cactus, which also grows in wild profusion, we could say almost
+as much as of the palms and aloes, but it might seem like repetition.
+Suffice it, that our studies of their separate leaves were the minutest
+and most rewarding labour we achieved, and that until we had painted the
+cactus and the palmetto growing together, we had never understood the
+meaning of 'tropical vegetation.'
+
+[Illustration: 0151]
+
+Many other subjects we obtain at the Bouzareah; simple perhaps, and
+apparently not worth recording, but of immense value to a student of
+Nature. Is it nothing, for instance, for a painter to have springing up
+before him in this clear atmosphere, delicate stems of grass, six feet
+high, falling over in spray of golden leaves against a background of
+blue sea; darting upward, sheer, bright, and transparent from a
+bank covered with the prickly pear, that looks by contrast, like the
+rock-work from which a fountain springs? Is it nothing to see amongst
+all this wondrous overgrowth of gigantic leaves, and amongst the tender
+creepers and the flowers, the curious knotted and twisted stem of the
+vine, trailing serpent-like on the ground, its surface worn smooth with
+time? Is it nothing for an artist to learn practically, what 'white
+heat' means?
+
+It is well worth coming to North Africa in winter, if only to see the
+flowers, but of these we cannot trust ourselves to speak--they _must_ be
+seen and painted.
+
+It is difficult to tear ourselves away from this spot, and especially
+tempting to dwell upon these details, because they have seldom been
+treated of before; but perhaps the question may occur to some--are
+such subjects as we have depicted worth painting, or, indeed, of any
+prolonged or separate study? Let us endeavour to answer it by another
+question. Are the waves worth painting, by themselves? Has it not
+occurred to one or two artists (not to many, we admit) that the waves of
+the sea have never yet been adequately painted; and have never had their
+due, so to speak, because it has always been considered necessary to
+introduce something else into the composition, be it only a rope, a
+spar, or a deserted ship? Has it not been discovered (though only of
+late years) that there is scope for imagination and poetry, and all the
+elements of a great and enthralling picture, in the drawing of waves
+alone; and should there not be, if nobly treated, interest enough in
+a group of colossal vegetation in a brilliant atmosphere, without the
+usual conventional adjuncts of figures and buildings?
+
+So far, whilst sketching at the Bouzareah, we have spoken only of the
+foreground; but we have been all the time in the presence of the most
+wonderful panorama of sea and land, and have watched so many changing
+aspects from these heights, that we might fill a chapter in describing
+them alone.
+
+The view northward over the Mediterranean, westward towards Sidi
+Ferruch, southward across the plains to the Atlas, eastward towards
+Algiers and the mountains of Kabylia beyond; each point so distant from
+the other that, according to the wind or time of day, it partook of
+quite distinct aspects, fill up so many pictures in our mind's eye
+that a book might be written, called 'The Bouzareah,' as seen under the
+different phases of sunshine and storm.
+
+It has often been objected to these Eastern scenes, that they have 'no
+atmosphere,' and no gradation of middle distance; that there is not
+enough repose about them, that they lack mystery and are altogether
+wanting in the poetry of cloudland.
+
+But there are clouds. We have seen, for the last few mornings (looking
+through the arched windows of the great aloe-leaves) little companies of
+small white clouds, casting clearly-defined shadows across the distant
+sea, and breaking up the horizon line with their soft white folds,=
+
+```'They come like shadows, so depart.'=
+
+--reappearing and disappearing by some mysterious law, but seldom
+culminating in rain.
+
+Yes, there are clouds. Look this time far away towards the horizon line
+across the bay, and watch that rolling sea which looks like foam, that
+rises higher and higher as we watch it, darkening the sky, and soon
+enveloping us in a kin of sea fog, through which the sun gleams dimly
+red, whilst the white walls of the tombs appear cold and grey against a
+leaden sky. See it all pass away again across the plain of the Mitidja,
+and disappear in the shadows of the lesser Atlas. There is a hush in the
+breeze and all is bright again, but a storm is coming.
+
+[Illustration: 0157]
+
+Take shelter, if you have courage, _inside_ one of the Marabouts' tombs
+(there is plenty of space), whilst a tempest rages that should wake the
+dead before Mahomet's coming. Sit and wait in there, perhaps an hour,
+whilst one or two strong gusts of wind pass over, and then all is still
+again; and so dark that we can see nothing inside but the light of a
+pipe in one corner. We get impatient, thinking that it is passing off.
+
+But it comes at last. It breaks over the tombs, and tears through the
+plantation, with a tremendous surging sound, putting to flight the Arabs
+on guard, who wrap their bournouses about them and hurry off to the
+village, with the cry of 'Allah il Allah;' leaving the care of the tombs
+to the palms, that have stood guard over them so long. Oh, how they
+fight and struggle in the wind! how they creak, and moan, and strike
+against one another, like human creatures in the thick of battle!
+How they rally side by side, and wrestle with the wind--crashing down
+suddenly against the walls of the tomb, and scattering their leaves over
+us; then rallying again, and fighting the storm with human energy and
+persistence!
+
+It is a fearful sight--the rain falling in masses, but nearly
+horizontally, and with such density that we can see but a few yards from
+our place of shelter--and it is a fearful sound, to hear the palm-trees
+shriek in the wind.
+
+There was one part of the scene we could not describe, one which no
+other than Dante's pen, or Dore's pencil, could give any idea of; we
+could not depict the confused muttering sound and grinding clatter (if
+we may call it so), that the battered and wounded aloes made amongst
+themselves, like maimed and dying combatants trodden under foot. Many
+scenes in nature have been compared to a battle-field; we have seen
+sheaves of corn blown about by the wind, looking like the tents of a
+routed host; but this scene was beyond parallel--the hideous contortion,
+the melancholy aspect of destruction, the disfigured limbs in hopeless
+wreck, the weird and ghastly forms that writhed and groaned aloud, as
+the storm made havoc with them.
+
+And they made havoc with each other. What would the reader say, if
+he saw the wounds inflicted by some of the young leaves on the parent
+stems--how they pierce and transfix, and sometimes _saw_ into each
+other, with their sharp serrated edges, as they sway backwards and
+forwards in the wind. He would say perhaps that no sea monster or
+devil-fish, could seem more horrible, and we wish him no wilder vision
+than to be near them at night, when disturbed by the wind.
+
+We have scarcely alluded to the palmetto-leaves and branches that filled
+the air, to the sound of rushing water, to the distant roar of the sea,
+nor to many other aspects of the storm. It lasted, not much more than
+an hour, but the water covered the floor of our little temple before
+the rain subsided, and the ground a few feet off where we had sat, was
+completely under water. Everything was steaming with vapour, but the
+land was refreshed, and the dark earth was richer than we had seen it
+for months--there would be no dust in Algiers until to-morrow.
+
+[Illustration: 0163]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. BLIDAH--MEDEAH--THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS.
+
+[Illustration: 9165]
+
+HE Atlas Mountains, of which we have spoken so often, are almost
+separated from the hills of the Sahel on which the town of Algiers is
+built, by the broad plain of the Mitidja, averaging between twenty and
+thirty miles across; and at the inland extremity of this plain, nestling
+close under the shadow of the lesser Atlas, is situated the town of
+Blidah, half Arab, half French, with its little population of European
+colonists and traders; its orange-groves and its orange-merchants, who
+here pass their monotonous, semi-successful lives--varied by occasional
+earthquakes and Arab _emeutes_.
+
+It was not particularly to see Blidah, but because it was on the high
+road to the Atlas Mountains, and to Medeah, a strongly fortified town
+situated 2900 feet above the sea-level--approached by a military road
+cut through the celebrated gorge of 'La Chiffa'--that two of our party
+left Algiers on horseback, on the 14th of December, on a sketching
+expedition.
+
+We made other interesting tours at different times; but it will be
+sufficient for our purpose to speak of two expeditions--the one to
+Medeah; the other, to the celebrated 'Fort Napoleon,' on the Kabyle
+Hills.
+
+It seems to say something for the peculiarly invigorating character
+of the climate that, at an average temperature of 70 deg. Fahrenheit, our
+little horses did their thirty or forty miles a day, laden with our
+well-stored saddle-bags and sketching paraphernalia; and it speaks
+volumes for the security with which travellers can move about from town
+to town, that we were merely by chance provided with firearms, and that
+we started without any guide or escort. *
+
+     * At the time we speak of, journeys into the interior were
+     much less frequent than they are now; when there is a
+     railway to Blidah, and a diligence to the Fort Napoleon.
+
+We pass through the eastern gate before sunrise, and winding up the
+hills behind Mustapha Superieure (keeping to the road) we begin to
+descend on the southern side and have the broad plain of the Mitidja
+before us, just as the day is breaking. As we come down towards the
+plain, we pass several farms of the French colonists; and here and
+there, a tobacco plantation where both Arabs and French are employed.
+At Birkadem, which is in the midst of a farming district, we halt to
+breakfast, and run considerable risk of getting into a controversy
+on French colonization, with some friendly and pleasant, but rather
+desponding agriculturists.
+
+But, happily for ourselves and for our readers, we do not attempt to
+master the subject, and with a sketch of the little Moorish cafe with
+its marble columns and arcades, we continue our journey; over a wide
+waste--half moorland, half desert--passing at intervals little oases
+of cultivation, with houses, shrubs and gardens surrounding. Straight
+before us, apparently only a few miles off, but in reality twenty,
+stretches the chain of the lesser Atlas; the dark shadows here and
+there, pointing out the approaches to a higher range beyond.
+
+At the foot of the mountains we can distinctly see with our glasses,
+the white Moorish houses and villas that are built near Blidah, and the
+thick clusters of trees that shelter them. Our way across the plain for
+the next two or three hours is rather solitary, and although we keep up
+a steady pace, we seem to get no nearer to our destination. We pass a
+number of Arabs leading camels, and overtake a troop of twenty or thirty
+donkeys, laden with goods and ridden by their owners (who sit upon the
+top of their piles), shambling along almost as fast as a horse can trot.
+They beat us hollow before noon, because they never stop, and reach
+Bouffarik, the midday resting-place, long before us.
+
+At Bouffarik we are again amongst the colonists, and hear the peculiar
+French dialect of Provence and Languedoc, with occasional snatches of
+German and Maltese. We rest until about two hours of sunset, and become
+thoroughly imbued with the idea that we must be again in the south
+of France; so completely have the French realised, in the midst of
+an African plain, the dull uniformity of a poor French town, with its
+'place,' its one street of cobble-stones, and its two rows of trees.
+Here we can obtain bad coffee, just as we can in France, and read the
+'Moniteur' but four days old. It is altogether French, and when the
+white Arab mare belonging to one of our party turns restive at starting
+again, and proceeds through the village on its hind legs; it is just
+in time to remind us that it was here that Horace Vernet worked, and
+painted those rampant white steeds that we know so well, in the centre
+of his battle pictures. The war horse, (with the light upon him) was
+more to Horace Vernet perhaps, than the glory of the whole plain of the
+Mitidja; but how he could have lived in Algeria so long, and have been
+so little influenced by the scene around him, it is hard to tell.
+
+It is tempting (indeed it is almost impossible to avoid) at Bouffarik,
+going a little into the question of colonization, and speaking from
+personal observation, of the progress made during the last few years.
+But as English people care little or nothing for the prospects of
+Algeria, we will merely remark _en passant_, that the insurmountable
+evil of Algeria being too near the home country, seems to blight its
+prospects even here, and that the want of confidence displayed by
+private capitalists retards all progress. Nearly all the capital
+employed by the colonists at Bouffarik and Blidah has been raised by a
+paternal government; but, notwithstanding help from the home country,
+the tide of wealth neither flows nor ebbs, with great rapidity.
+
+At Bouffarik we see the Arabs calmly settled under French rule, and
+learning the arts of peace; taking to husbandry and steam ploughs, and
+otherwise progressing in a scientific and peaceful direction. We see
+them in the evening, sitting by their cottages with their half-naked
+children, looking prosperous and happy enough, and hear them droning to
+them in that monotonous 'singsong' that is so irritating to the ear.
+
+There is a musician at the door of our hostelry now, who is as great a
+nuisance as any Italian organ grinder in Mayfair; he taps on a little
+piece of stretched parchment, and howls without ceasing. It is given to
+the inhabitants of some countries, who have what is commonly called 'no
+ear for music' to hum and to drone in more sensitive ears to the point
+of distraction, and it seems to be the special attribute of the Arab to
+fill the air with monotonous sounds; when he is on a journey or resting
+from it, it is the same--he hums and moans like a creature in torment.
+In contact with Europeans we perhaps see him at his worst; for however
+orderly and useful a member of society he may be, however neat and
+clean, there is something cringing and artificial in him at the best.
+But we must hasten on to Blidah.
+
+Again we cross a wide plain, again do we overtake and are overtaken by,
+the tribe of donkeys; and just as the sun goes down we enter the city
+gates together, dismounting in the principal square, which is filled
+with idlers, chiefly French soldiers and poor Arabs who have learned to
+beg. We had chosen the time for this journey when the moon was nearly
+full, and our first near view of the town was by moonlight. Nothing can
+be conceived more beautiful than Blidah by night, with its little
+white domes and towers, and the mountains looming indistinctly in the
+background. In the Moorish quarter, the tower of the principal Mosque
+stands out clearly defined in the moonlight, whilst all around
+it cluster the little flat-roofed houses, set in masses of dark
+foliage--the olives and the date-trees, and the sharp-pointed spires of
+the cypresses, just tinged with a silver light.
+
+So peaceful, so beautiful does it look at night, so complete the
+repose with which we have always associated Blidah, that it is a rude
+disenchantment to learn that but a few years ago, this city was upheaved
+and tossed about, like the waves of the sea. In 1825, eight or nine
+thousand people perished from an earthquake; and in 1866, a lady who was
+staying at our hotel, thus wrote home to her friends: *
+
+     * 'Last Winter in Algeria,'  by Mrs. H. Lloyd Evans.
+
+     'I was roused from sleep by a sound as of some one beating
+     the floor above, and the walls on every side. It increased
+     rapidly in violence, till the whole house shook and rocked
+     and seemed giving way beneath our feet. I saw the wall in
+     the corner of the room split open, and immediately
+     afterwards masses of plaster fell from the ceiling and
+     walls, bringing clouds of dust and a darkness as of night.
+
+     'On the _Place_ it was a fearful scene, people came tearing
+     down the neighbouring streets, women and children ran
+     aimlessly hither and thither, shrieking wildly, men uttering
+     hoarse sounds of terror, whilst the ground heaved and
+     trembled beneath our feet, and we gazed at the surrounding
+     houses in expectant horror; it seemed as if they must fall
+     like a pack of cards. The young trees rocked and swayed, the
+     flagstaff waved backwards and forwards--the wind moaning,
+     the rain pouring down, whilst above all rose, ever and anon,
+     the sound of cavalry trumpets and the rolling of the drum,
+     calling on the troops to quit their tottering barracks.
+
+     'The Arabs alone stalked about unmoved, shrugging their
+     shoulders and muttering "It is destiny!"'
+
+The air is delightful at Blidah, and the little country houses, with
+their groves of orange-trees, their gardens and vineyards, have been
+pointed out by travellers, as some of the most desirable spots on earth.
+The extract above may tend to qualify the longings of some people; but
+we think we might 'take our chance' at Blidah, as the Neapolitans do
+near Vesuvius--there are so many compensations.
+
+Early in the morning we are again on our way, and as we leave the
+western gate, the donkeys, with their dirty drivers, scramble out with
+us and again play the game of the tortoise and the hare.
+
+The gorge of La Chiffa is one of the principal approaches to the
+mountains, through which a military road is cut to Medeah. The first
+part is wild and rocky, the road passing between almost perpendicular
+cliffs, carried sometimes by masonry over a chasm at a height of several
+thousand feet. We ride for miles through a valley of most solitary
+grandeur, with no sounds but the rushing of the torrent and the
+occasional cries of monkeys. We pass by one celebrated waterfall called
+'Ruisseau des Singes,' and are otherwise reminded of the presence of
+monkeys, by their pelting us with large stones, which they dislodge from
+their hiding-places above our heads.
+
+We are at times so shut in by the rocks, that we can scarcely discover
+any outlet, but after a few hours' ascent, we come suddenly upon quite
+a different scene. What is it that delights the eye and that thrills
+us with pleasurable emotions, calling up memories of green lanes and
+England, pastoral?'Tis the plash of water, and the trickling, tinkling
+play of a running stream, winding and winding down to the swollen
+torrent that we crossed just now.
+
+Here under the shadow and shelter of the mountains--refreshed by rains
+that they in the plains know not of, and where the heat of a midday sun
+can scarcely approach--we find a cottage, a little farm, green pastures,
+cattle grazing, trees, flowers and children; the stream flowing through
+all, bright, deep, and sparkling, with green banks, bullrushes and lilies
+of the valley of the Atlas. A few poor emigrants have settled down in
+this corner of the world, as quietly, and we may add as securely, as if
+a sandy plain did not divide them from everything kindred and civilized.
+
+We make our midday halt under the shade of chesnut-trees, and
+sketch; one great defect of our drawings being, that they are far too
+pastoral--they would not be admitted by judges, to represent Africa at
+all! Nothing in this land of strong contrasts could equal the change
+from Nature, untilled, unfruitful, stern and forbidding; to this little
+farm-house, as it might be in Wales, surrounded by trees and watered by
+a sparkling stream.
+
+Continuing our journey up the gorge, walking, riding, clambering, and
+resting, by turns, we do not reach Medeah until after dark. During the
+last few miles our horses are troublesome, and will not be persuaded
+to pass close to any rock or brushwood, being evidently nervous of some
+sudden attack, or surprise; and so we creep along silently and in single
+file, trusting chiefly to our horses to keep to the path.
+
+At last the long-looked-for lights of Medeah appear, and in a quarter
+of an hour afterwards we are inside the fortifications; and with a
+'_Voyageurs, monsieur_' to the sentinel at the gate, we pass under the
+dark arches of a Roman aqueduct--casting a deep shadow over the town as
+the moon shines out, now obscured again by a passing cloud--like some
+solemn dissolving view of Roman power, or phantom monument of the past.
+
+At Medeah, we find everything much the same as at Blidah; a little
+rougher and poorer perhaps, but the same mixture of French and Moorish
+buildings. Fine old mosques, courtyards after the style of the Alhambra,
+and carved doorways of very early date; but brick fortifications, young
+French soldiers, _estaminets_, and a 'Place' with half-dead trees, are
+more prominent features; and here, at a height of nearly 3000 feet above
+the sea, set deep in the heart of the Atlas, civilization may again
+be seen, doing its work--the Arabs indulging in absinthe freely, and
+playing at cards with their conquerors.
+
+The beautiful mountain scenery south of Medeah led us to spend some time
+in sketching and in exploring the country. In spite of its wildness and
+solitariness we could wander about with perfect security, within a day
+or two's journey of the French outposts. The crisp keen air at this
+altitude tempted us on and on, through the most deserted region that can
+be imagined. The mountain-ranges to the south were like an undulating
+sea, divided from us by lesser hills and little plains, with here and
+there valleys, green and cultivated; but the prevailing character of the
+scenery was rocky and barren. The great beauty was in the clouds that
+passed over at intervals, spreading a grateful shade, and casting
+wonderful shadows on the rocks. The rain would fall heavily through them
+sometimes for three or four minutes, like summer showers, and the little
+dried-up torrent beds would trickle for a while; the Arabs would collect
+a few drops, and then all would be gone--the clouds, the rivulets, and
+every sign of moisture on the ground--and the mountains would stand out
+sharp and clear against the sky, with that curious pinky hue, so well
+portrayed in the background of Lewis's picture of 'A camp on Mount
+Sinai.' Here we could pitch our tent in the deepest solitude, and
+romance as much as we pleased without fear of interruption. The only
+variation to the almost death-like silence that prevailed, would be
+the distant cry of a jackal, which disturbed us for a moment, or the
+moaning of the wind in some far-off valley, for the air seemed never
+still on these heights. A stray monkey or two, would come and furtively
+peep at our proceedings, but would be off again in an instant, and there
+were no birds; indeed, since we left Blidah we had scarcely heard their
+voices. The few Arab tribes that cultivated the valleys, seldom came
+near us; so that we sometimes heard no voices but our own, from morning
+till night.
+
+One day proved an exception. We had been making a drawing of the
+prospect due south, in order to get the effect of the sun's rays upon a
+sandy plateau that stretched between us and the next range of mountains:
+it was little more than a study of colour and effect, for there was
+not much to break the monotony of the subject--a sand-plain bounded
+by barren rocks. We had nearly finished our work, when two dark specks
+appeared suddenly on the sky-line, and quickly descending the rocks,
+began to cross the plain towards us. With our telescope, we soon made
+out that they were horsemen at full gallop, and we could tell this, not
+by the figures themselves, but by the long shadows that the afternoon
+sun cast from them upon the plain. In a few minutes they rode up to
+our tent. They were not, as our porters had insisted, some Arabs on a
+reconnoitering expedition, but two American gentlemen on hired horses
+from Algiers, who were scampering about the country without any guide
+or escort. They had come from Milianah that day, they would be at Blidah
+to-morrow, and at Algiers the next day, in time to 'catch the boat for
+Europe!'
+
+There was an end to all romance about desert scenes and being 'alone
+with Nature we could not get rid of the western world, we were tourists
+and nothing more.
+
+But it was pleasant to hear the English language spoken, and delightful
+to record that these gentlemen neither bragged of their exploits nor
+favoured us with what are called 'Americanisms.' In short, we are able
+to speak of our interview (they came back with us as far as Medeah)
+without repeating any of those bits of smart conversation, that seem
+inseparable from the record of such rencontres. These gentlemen had
+taken a glance at a great deal, in four or five days, and had been
+(perhaps it did not much matter) once or twice, into a little danger;
+they had seen the cedar forests, the 'Fort Napoleon,' and the principal
+sights, and were now on their way home. They had, however, done one
+thing, in which they evidently felt unmixed satisfaction, though they
+did not express it in so many words--they had been rather _farther_ into
+the interior, than any of their countrymen.
+
+Before leaving the mountains, we should answer a question that we have
+been asked repeatedly, 'What of the African lion, so celebrated by Jules
+Gerard?' We answer, that we did not penetrate far enough for 'sport,'
+of this kind; indeed we scarcely ever heard of any lions. Once only
+our horses stopped and trembled violently, and would not pass a thicket
+without a long detour; and once (only once) we heard the lion's roar,
+not far off. It is a sound that carries a dread with it not soon
+forgotten, and the solemnity of which, when echoed from the mountains,
+it is not easy to describe. Perhaps the only person who was ever
+flippant in speaking of lions, was Gordon Cumming, but then he used
+to go amongst them (according to his own account), single-handed, to
+'select specimens' before firing!
+
+But in the solitude of these mountain wanderings, we have had
+opportunities of seeing one phase of Arab life that we had really come
+out to see, and which was alone worth the journey.
+
+We had started early one morning from Blidah, but not so early, that in
+deference to the wishes of some of our companions, we had first attended
+service in a chapel, dedicated to 'Our Lady of Succour.' We went into
+the little building, which, like some rare exotic, was flourishing
+alone, surrounded by the most discordant elements--situated hard by
+a mosque and close to some noisy Arab dwellings. Service was being
+performed in the usual manner, the priests were bowing before a tinsel
+cross, and praying (in a language of their own) to a coloured print of
+'Our Lady,' in a gilt frame. There were the customary chauntings,
+the swinging of censers, the creaking of chairs, the interchanging of
+glances, and the paying of sous. Sins were confessed through a hole in
+the wall, and holy water was administered to the faithful, with a brush.
+Everything was conducted with perfect decorum, and was (as it seemed
+to an eyewitness) the most materialistic expression of devotion it were
+possible to devise.
+
+Before the evening of the same day, we make a halt amongst the
+mountains. A few yards from us we see in the evening light a promontory;
+upon it some figures, motionless, and nearly the same colour as the
+rocks--Arabs watching the setting sun. The twilight has faded so rapidly
+into darkness, that we have soon to put by our work, and can see no
+objects, distinctly, excepting this promontory; on which the sun still
+shines through some unseen valley, and lights up the figures as they
+kneel in prayer. The solemnity of the scene could hardly be conveyed
+to the mind of the reader in words, its picturesqueness we should
+altogether fail to do justice to; but its beauty and suggestiveness, set
+us upon a train of thought, which, in connection with the ceremony of
+the morning, we may be pardoned for dwelling upon in a few words.
+
+It was not the first nor the last time, that we had witnessed the Arabs
+at prayer, and had studied with a painter's eye their attitudes of
+devotion, the religious fervour in their faces, and their perfect
+_abandon_. The charm of the scene was in its primitive aspect, and in
+the absence of all the accessories, which Europeans are taught from
+their youth up, to connect in some way, with every act of public
+worship; and who could help being struck by the sight of all this
+earnestness--at these heartfelt prayers? What does the Arab see, in this
+mystery of beauty, in its daily recurring 'splendour and decline? Shall
+we say that the rising and the setting of the sun behind the hills, may
+not (to the rude souls of men who have learned their all from Nature),
+point out the entrance of that Paradise, which their simple faith has
+taught them, they shall one day enter and possess?
+
+If it were possible in these days, when religious art assumes the most
+fantastic forms, to create ever so slight a re-action against a school
+which has perhaps held its own too long--if it were not heresy to
+set forth as the noblest aim for a painter, that he should depict
+the deepest emotion, the simplest faith, the most heartfelt devotion,
+without the accessories of purple and fine linen, without marble columns
+or gilded shrines, without furniture, without Madonnas and without
+paste--then we might point confidently to the picture before us to aid
+our words.
+
+What if the heaven prayed for, and the prophet worshipped, seem to a
+Christian unorthodox and worse--there is sincerity here, there is faith,
+devotion, ecstasy, adoration. What more, indeed, does the painter hope
+for--what does he seek; and what more has he ever found in the noblest
+work of Christian art?
+
+If he lack enthusiasm, still, before a scene so strange, let him think
+for a moment what manner of worship this, of the Arabs is; and contrast
+their system with that of the Vatican. The religion of the Arabs is a
+very striking thing, and its position and influence on their lives might
+put many professing Christians to the blush. An honest, earnest faith
+is theirs, be it right or wrong. If we examine it at all, we find it
+something more than a silly superstition; we find that it has been 'a
+firm belief and hope amongst twelve millions of men in Arabia alone,
+holding its place in their hearts for more than twelve hundred years.'
+It is a religion of Duty, an acting up to certain fixed principles
+and defined laws of life, untrammelled by many ceremonies, unshaken by
+doubts; a following out to the letter, the written law, as laid down for
+them by Mahomet, as the rule and principle of their lives.
+
+If the whole system of the Mahommedan faith breaks down (as we admit it
+does) on examination, it does not affect our position, viz.:--that we
+have here an exhibition of religious fervour which seldom reaches to
+fanaticism, and is essentially sincere. Regarding the scene from a
+purely artistic point of view, we can imagine no more fitting subject
+for a painter, than this group of Arabs at their devotions--Nature their
+temple, its altar the setting sun, their faces towards Mecca, their
+hearts towards the Prophet, their every attitude breathing devotion and
+faith.
+
+Setting aside all questions of orthodoxy, regarding for our particular
+purpose both civilised and uncivilised worshippers under their general
+religious aspect--how would it 'strike that stranger' who, descending
+from another planet, wondered why, if men's Duty was so clearly placed
+before them, they did not follow it--how would he view the two great
+phases of religious worship? Whose religion would seem most inspiring,
+whose temple most fitting, whose altar most glorious, whose religion
+the most free from question; the modern and enlightened, intrenched in
+orthodoxy and enthroned in state; or the benighted and un-regenerate,
+but earnest, nature-loving and always sincere?
+
+We shall have perhaps (if we make a serious study of these subjects and
+put our heart into the work), to unlearn something that we have been
+taught, about the steady painting of Madonnas and angels, in our
+schools; but, if we do no more than make one or two sketches of such
+scenes as the above, we shall have added to our store of knowledge in a
+rough and ready way; and have familiarised ourselves with the sight of
+what,--though barbaric--is noble and true.
+
+[Illustration: 0191]
+
+[Illustration: 0193]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. KAB YLIA--THE FORT NAPOLEON.
+
+[Illustration: 9193]
+
+T was almost impossible to take up a newspaper in Algiers, or to
+converse for five minutes in a cafe, or at the club, without the
+'question Kabyle' cropping up in some paragraph or conversation. Every
+day there came contradictory news about the war, that it would really
+be over to-morrow or the next day, or the next week. It had lasted with
+more or less activity for thirty years, but now at last the smouldering
+embers seemed to be dying out.
+
+The Djurjura mountains stretching eastward into Kabylia, which we
+knew so well in their peaceful aspect, with the sun shining upon their
+snow-clad summits from morning till night, were still the theatre of
+war. In the heart of the mountains, about sixty miles from Algiers,
+and at a height of nearly 3000 feet above the sea, the French army was
+busily engaged in building a fortress, in order to keep the Kabyles
+at bay and give protection to the colonists; and whilst this work was
+progressing with wonderful rapidity, the outposts of the army were
+carrying on a guerilla warfare with the unsubdued tribes. Their camps
+were pitched on the various heights, and the sound of the morning
+_reveille_ was generally succeeded by the 'ping' of the rifle from
+some concealed Kabyles, and by a quick return volley from the French
+outposts.
+
+We went to the Fort Napoleon at the invitation of some French officers,
+who, when they wrote to us, imagined (as all French people had imagined
+a hundred times before) that the war was over, and that it would be
+a good opportunity to visit the camp and the fort, in process of
+construction. * Two easy days' journey on horseback, halting for the
+night at a caravanserai called Les Issers, brought us to Tiziouzou, a
+small town and military depot on the borders of Kabylia, at the foot of
+the mountains, and but a few miles from the fort. At Les Issers we slept
+upon the ground, each man by the side of his own horse, as there was
+neither stabling nor sleeping accommodation to be had in the inn, which
+was crowded before we arrived, with troops and war _materiel_. To reach
+this, our first night's halting-place, we had had some rough riding,
+ending by fording in the evening, a rapid river which rose above the
+saddle-girths and nearly upset our active little horses. The night was
+starlight, and we lay down about fifty together, with fires burning in a
+circle round us, to prevent any surprise.
+
+     * General Randon laid the first stone of the Fort Napoleon
+     in June, 1857. This fort, which occupies an area of more
+     than twenty acres, and is built on most irregular ground,
+     was built in a few months.
+
+The route from Les Issers to Tiziouzou was crowded with baggage-waggons
+sticking in the mud, and with immense droves of camels and donkeys,
+on their way to the fort. The late rains had almost obliterated the
+military road (which was said to extend all the way from Algiers to
+the Fort Napoleon), and in some places it was turned into a river. The
+greater part of our route had been wild and uncultivated, but as we
+came near to Tiziouzou and approached the mountains, every valley was
+luxuriant with vegetation, fig-trees and olives grew in abundance, the
+former of enormous size. But nearly every inhabitant was French, and we,
+who had come to sketch and to see the Kabyles, were as yet disappointed
+at finding none but French soldiers, European camp-followers, and
+camel-drivers, on the way; and when we arrived at Tiziouzou, we were so
+shut in by mountains on all sides, that even the heights of Beni-Raten
+were concealed from view. It was fortunate that we obtained the shelter
+of a little inn on the night of our arrival, for the rain fell steadily
+in sheets of water, until our wooden house was soaked through, and stood
+like an island in the midst of a lake.
+
+We sent our horses back to Algiers, and carrying our own knapsacks, set
+off in the early morning to walk up to the fort. A lively cantiniere
+(attached to a regiment of Zouaves camped near Tiziouzou) walked with
+us and led the way, past one or two half-deserted Kabyle villages, by a
+short cut to the camp. The military road by which the artillery had been
+brought up was about fifteen miles, but by taking the steeper paths, we
+must have reduced the distance by more than half. At one point of the
+way the bare mountain side was so steep and slippery with the late rain,
+that it was almost impossible to ascend it, but some Arabs, with an eye
+to business worthy of the western world, had stationed themselves here
+with their camels to drag up pedestrians; a camel's tail was let for two
+sous and was in great request. The latter part of the ascent was through
+forests, and groves of olive and cork trees, looking cool and grey
+amongst the mass of rich vegetation, through which we had sometimes to
+cut a path.
+
+It was a wild walk, but our merry little cantiniere was so active and
+entertaining that we, encumbered with knapsacks, had enough to do to
+keep up with her, and indeed to comprehend the rapid little French
+histories that she favoured us with. Every now and then we heard through
+the trees the strains of 'Partant pour la Syrie,' or the rattle of a
+regimental drum, and came suddenly upon working parties on the road,
+which the army boasts was made practicable in three months.
+
+After about four hours' clambering, we again emerge upon the road, near
+the summit, and in a few minutes more, come in sight of the fort and the
+pretty white tents of the camps on the surrounding hills. Here we must
+pause a few minutes, to give a picture of the state of things at the
+'Fort Napoleon,' a few weeks before our arrival. We are indebted to
+Lieut.-Col. Walmisley, one of our countrymen who accompanied the
+expedition, for the following graphic account of a sharp action with the
+Kabyles:--
+
+'Daylight dawned upon the Kabyle hills on the morning of the 24th
+June, 1857, and its light streamed over the serried ranks of the second
+division, as, under the command of General MacMahon, the head of the
+column marched out of the lines of Aboudid.
+
+'Before it lay the heights of Icheriden, with its village and triple
+row of barricades, behind which the men of the Beni Menguillet anxiously
+watched the progress of the foe. The path of the column lay along a
+mountain ridge, and it was strange to see that column of between six and
+seven thousand men, advancing quietly and composedly, the birds singing
+around them; the Kabyles crowning every available hillock, the hawks and
+eagles slowly wheeling in large circles over their heads, and the bright
+rays of the morning sun gleaming on brighter bayonets.
+
+*****
+
+'The Kabyle barricades remained black and silent as ever; not a bournous
+was to be seen, as the 54th and the Zouaves received orders to carry the
+position at the point of the bayonet. Before them lay a ridge covered
+with brushwood, affording capital shelter, but at about sixty or seventy
+paces from the stockades the brush had been cleared away, and now the
+occasional gleam of a bayonet, the report of a musket or two fired
+against the stockade, the loud ringing of the trumpets, as they gave
+forth in inspiriting tones the _pas de charge_, and the wild shouting of
+the men, as they pushed their way forward, told of the progress of the
+attack.
+
+'Still the same stern heavy silence reigned over the hostile village.
+Was it indeed deserted, or was it the silence of despair? But now the
+bugle notes became shriller and more exciting; the shots quicker and
+more steady, as emerging from the bush, the attacking column rushed
+forward to the attack. Sixty paces of greensward were before them: but
+instantly, and as if by magic, a thousand reports broke the silence of
+the dark stockades, a wild yell rose from their defenders, as the hail
+of lead fell on the advancing regiments, and a long line of dead marked
+the advance. The Kabyles leaning their pieces over the joints of the
+trees, where they were fitted into each other, and through crevices and
+loopholes, offered little or no mark themselves to the shot; whilst not
+a ball of theirs missed its aim.
+
+'But the Zouaves were not to be daunted; and leaving the ground dotted
+with their dead and dying comrades, on they rushed, a wild cheer rising
+from their ranks, and a volley of balls pattering a reply. Again the
+line of fire burst from the dark stockade, and the advancing column
+withered away. The ground was strewn with fallen forms, and the fire of
+the stockade fell fast and sure. The men gave way, seeking the shelter
+of the bushes; their officers dashing to the front, vainly attempting to
+lead them on. It was useless--even the sturdy Zouaves refused to cross
+the deadly slope, for to do so was death; on the green slope, across
+which the balls hurried fast and thick, lay whole ranks of French
+uniforms.
+
+'The fire from stockade and bush raged fast and furious; well kept up
+on the side of the French, more deadly on that of the Kabyles, and still
+_the men would not advance_ over the uncovered space, for it was certain
+death. Two thousand Kabyle marksmen lined the loopholes, and the balls
+now began to whiz round the heads of the generals and their staff.'
+
+General MacMahon, who was wounded in this engagement, at last resorted
+to shells to dislodge the defenders; the result was successful, and the
+whole ended in a panic.
+
+'Fast and furious now became the flight of the Kabyles, and all was
+havoc and confusion. The men of the Legion, mixed up with the Zouaves
+and the 54th, dashed after the fugitives, entering the villages with
+them, and bayoneting right and left with savage shouts, whilst down the
+steep sides of the hills, away over the ridges to the right and to the
+left, the waving bournous might be seen in flight!'
+
+The curtain fell upon the Kabyle war soon after this action, and large
+detachments of troops were at once told off to build the fort. All
+around, on every promontory and hill, the little white tents were
+scattered thickly, and the sound of the bugle, and the sight of the red
+kepis of the soldiers, prevailed everywhere. But the war was practically
+over, civilians came up from Algiers--some to see, and some to
+trade--and quite a little colony sprung up. And here, on one of the
+heights shown in our little sketch, we establish ourselves again--whilst
+the Kabyle villages still smoulder in the distance, and revenge is deep
+in the hearts of the insurgent tribes, 'one peaceful English tent'
+is pitched upon the heights of Beni-Raten, and its occupants devote
+themselves to the uneventful pursuit of studying mountain beauty. We
+endeavour (and with some success) to ignore the military element; we
+listen neither to the reveille, nor to the too frequent crack of a
+rifle; our pursuits are not warlike, and, judging from the sights and
+sounds that sometimes surround us, we trust they never may be.
+
+The view from this elevation is superb,--north, south, east and west,
+there is a wondrous landscape, but northward especially; where far above
+the purple hills, higher than all but a few snowy peaks, there stretches
+a horizontal line of blue, that seems almost in the clouds. Nothing
+gives us such a sense of height and distance, as these accidental peeps
+of the Mediterranean, and nothing could contrast more effectively than
+the snowy peaks in sunlight, against the blue sea.
+
+[Illustration: 0203]
+
+All this we are able to study, in perfect security and with very little
+interruption; sketching first one mountain side clothed with a mass
+of verdure; another, rocky, barren, and wild; one day an olive-grove,
+another a deserted Kabyle village, and so on, with an infinite variety
+which would only be wearisome in detail.
+
+And we obtain what is so valuable to an artist, and what is supposed
+to be so rare in Africa--variety of atmospheric effect. It is generally
+admitted (and we should be unwilling to contest the point), that English
+landscape is unrivalled in this respect, and that it is only _form_ and
+_colour_, that we may study with advantage in tropical climates; but
+directly we ascend the mountains, we lose that still, serene atmosphere
+that has been called the 'monotony of blue.'
+
+We read often of African sun, but very seldom of African clouds and
+wind. To-day we are surrounded by clouds _below_ us, which come and
+gather round the mountain-peaks and remain until evening. Sometimes just
+before sunset, the curtain will be lifted for a moment, and the hill
+sides will be in a blaze of gold--again the clouds come round, and
+do not disperse till nightfall; and when the mountains are once
+more revealed, the moon is up, and they are of a silver hue--the sky
+immediately above, remaining quite unclouded. The air is soft on these
+half-clouded days, in spite of our height above the sea; and the showers
+that fall at intervals, turn the soil in the valleys into a hotbed for
+forcing hothouse plants, as we should call them in England.
+
+The weather was nearly always fine, and we generally found a little
+military tent (lent to us by one of the Staff) sufficient protection and
+shelter, even on this exposed situation.
+
+But we must not forget the winds that lived in the valleys, and came
+up to where our tents were pitched--sometimes one at a time, sometimes
+three or four together. Of all things that impressed us, during our stay
+upon the Kabyle hills, the beauty of the clouds, the purple tints upon
+the mountains, and the _wind_, will be remembered best. It is a common
+phrase, to 'scatter to the four winds;' but here the four winds came
+and met near our little camp, and sometimes made terrible havoc with our
+belongings. They came suddenly one day, and took up a tent, and flung it
+at a man and killed him; another time they came sighing gently, as if a
+light breeze were all we need prepare for, and in five minutes we found
+ourselves in the thick of a fight for our possessions, if not for our
+lives. And with the wind there came sometimes such sheets of rain, that
+turned the paths into watercourses, and carried shrubs and trees down
+into the valley; all this happening whilst the sea was calm in the
+distance, and the sun was shining fiercely on the plains. These were
+rough days, to be expected in late autumn and early spring, but not to
+be missed for a little personal discomfort, for Algeria has not been
+seen without a mountain storm.
+
+Before leaving Kabylia, we will take one or two leaves from our
+note-book; just to picture to the reader (who may be more interested
+in what is going on at the camp, than in the various phases of the
+landscape) the rather incongruous elements of which our little society
+is made up.
+
+There has been a general movement lately, * amongst the conquered
+tribes, who are beginning to re-establish themselves in their old
+quarters (but under French rule), which brings together for the night
+about a hundred Kabyles, with their wives and children.
+
+     *  October, 1857.
+
+Around the camp this evening there are groups of men and women standing,
+that bring forcibly to the mind, those prints of the early patriarchs
+from which we are apt to take our first and, perhaps, most vivid,
+impressions of Eastern life; and we cannot wonder at French artists
+attempting to illustrate Scriptural scenes from incidents in Algeria.
+There are Jacob and Joseph, as one might imagine them, to the life; Ruth
+in the fields, and Rachel by the well; and there is a patriarch coming
+down the mountain, with a light about his head as the sun's last rays
+burst upon him, that Herbert might well have seen, when he was painting
+Moses with the tables of the law. The effect is accidental, but it
+is perfect in an artistic sense, from the solemnity of the man, the
+attitude of his crowd of followers, the grand mountain forms which are
+partially lit up by gleams of sunset, and the sharp shadows cast by the
+throng.
+
+This man may have been a warrior chief, or the head of a tribe; he
+was certainly the head of a large family, who pressed round him to
+anticipate his wants and do him honour. His children seemed to be
+everywhere about him; they were his furniture, they warmed his tent and
+kept out the wind, they begged for him, prayed for him, and generally
+helped him on his way. In the Koran there is a saying of similar purport
+to the words 'happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them'--this
+one had his quiver full of them, indeed, and whether he had ever done
+much to deserve the blessing, he certainly enjoyed it to the full. *
+Looked upon as a coloured statue he was, in some respects, a perfect
+type of beauty, strength, and dignified repose--what we might fitly
+call a 'study,' as he sat waiting, whilst the women prepared his evening
+meal; but whether from a moral point of view he quite deserved all the
+respect and deference that was paid to him, is another question.
+
+     * How many a man is sheltered from the winds of the world by
+     a grove of sleek relations, who surround him and keep him
+     from harm; such a man has never really tried the outer
+     world? and has but a second-hand experience of its troubles.
+
+As a picture, as we said before, he was magnificent, and there was a
+regal air with which he disposed the folds of his bournous, which we,
+clad in the costume of advanced civilization, could not but admire
+and envy. He had the advantage of us in every way, and made us feel it
+acutely. He had a splendid arm, and we could see it; the fine contour,
+and colour, of his head and neck were surrounded by white folds, but not
+concealed. His head was not surmounted with a battered 'wide-awake,' his
+neck was not bandaged as if it were wounded, his feet were not misshapen
+clumps of leather, his robes--but we have no heart to go further into
+detail. There is a 'well-dressed' French gentleman standing near
+this figure; and there is not about him one graceful fold, one good
+suggestive line, one tint of colour grateful to the eye, or one
+redeeming feature in his (by contrast) hideous _tout ensemble._
+
+These are everyday truths, but they strike us sometimes with a sort of
+surprise; we have discovered no new thing in costume, and nothing worth
+telling; but the sudden and humiliating contrast gives our artistic
+sensibilities a shock and fills us with despair.
+
+A little way removed there is a warrior on horseback at prayers, his
+hands outstretched, his face turned towards the sun. It is as grand a
+picture as the last, but it does not bear examination. He came and sat
+down afterwards, to smoke, close to our tent, and we regret to say that
+he was extremely dirty, and in his habits, rather cruel. There were
+red drops upon the ground where his horse had stood, and his spur was a
+terrible instrument to contemplate; in the enthusiasm of a noble nature
+he had ridden his delicate locomotive too hard, and had, apparently,
+sometimes forgotten to give it a feed. It was a beautiful, black Arab
+steed, but it wanted grooming sadly; its feet were cracked and spread
+from neglect, and its whole appearance betokened rough usage. Perhaps
+this was an exceptional case, perhaps not; but to the scandal of those
+whose romantic picture of the Arab in his tent with his children and
+his steed, are amongst the most cherished associations, we are bound to
+confess that we have seen as much cruelty as kindness, bestowed by the
+Arabs and Kabyles, on their horses, and incline to the opinion that
+they are, as a rule, anything but tender and loving to their four-footed
+friends.
+
+[Illustration: 0212]
+
+The Kabyles came round our tents in the morning before leaving, and
+the last we saw of our model patriarch, was flying before an enraged
+vivandiere, who pursued him down the hill with a dish-cloth. He had been
+prowling about since dawn, and had forgotten the distinction between
+'meum' and 'tuum.'
+
+It has been said that there is 'no such thing as Arab embarrassment,
+and no such dignity as Arab dignity;' but the Arab or the Kabyle, as
+we hinted in a former chapter, appears to great disadvantage in contact
+with the French, and seems to lose at once in _morale_.
+
+Another day, there is a flutter in our little camp, for 'the mail'
+has come in, in the person of an active young orderly of Zouaves,
+who, leaving the bulk of his charge to come round by the road, has
+anticipated the regular delivery by some hours, scaling the heights with
+the agility of a cat, and appearing suddenly in our midst. If he had
+sprung out of the earth he could not have startled us much more, and
+if he had brought a message that all the troops were to leave Africa
+to-morrow, he could scarcely have been more welcome.
+
+And what has he brought to satisfy the crowd of anxious faces that
+assemble round the hut, dignified by the decoration of a pasteboard
+eagle and the inscription '_Bureau de Poste_.' It was scarcely as trying
+a position for an official, as that at our own Post-office at Sebastopol
+in Crimean days, although there was eagerness and crowding enough to
+perplex any distributor; but it was very soon over, in five minutes
+letters and papers were cast aside, and boredom had recommenced with the
+majority. It was the old story--the old curse of Algeria doing its work;
+the French officers are too near home to care much for 'news,' and hear
+too frequently from Paris (twice a week) to attach much importance to
+letters. Newspapers were the 'pieces de resistance,' but there was not
+much news in '_La Presse_' and its _feuilleton_ consisted of two or
+three chapters of a translation of Dickens' 'Martin Chuzzlewit'; there
+was the '_Moniteur_,' with lists of promotions in the army, and the
+usual announcement, that Napoleon, 'by the grace of God and the national
+will,' would levy new taxes upon the people; there was a provincial
+paper, containing an account of the discovery of some ruins near
+Carcassonne; there was '_Le Follet_' for 'my lady _commandant_,' and a
+few other papers with illustrated caricatures and conundrums.
+
+Some of the letters were amusing, as we heard them read aloud; one was
+too quaint not to mention, it was from a bootmaker in Paris to his dear,
+long-lost customer on the Kabyle Hills. He 'felt that he was going to
+die,' and prayed '_M'sieu le Lieutenant_' to order a good supply of
+boots for fear of any sudden accident, 'no one else could make such
+boots for Monsieur.' And so on, including subjects of about equal
+importance, with the latest Parisian gossip, and intelligence of a new
+piece at the 'Varietes.' One other letter we may mention, that came up
+by the same post, to one other member of that little band, perched like
+eagles on the heights; it was also unimportant and from home, and the
+burden of it was this--'Broadtouch' had stretched ten feet of canvas for
+a painting of one rolling wave, and 'Interstice' had studied the texture
+of a nut-shell until his eyes were dim.
+
+We finish the evening as usual with dominoes and coffee; enjoying many a
+long and delightful chit-chat with our military friends. These pleasant,
+genial, but rather unhappy gentlemen do not 'talk shop,' it is
+tabooed in conversation, as strictly as at the 'Rag': but the stamp of
+banishment is upon their faces unmistakeably, and if they do speak
+of this foreign service (now that the war is nearly over), it is in
+language that seems to say,--'all ye who enter here, leave Hope behind.'
+
+[Illustration: 0219]
+
+[Illustration: 0221]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. 'WINTER SWALLOWS.'
+
+'_Oh que l'hirondelle est bien la type de la vraie sagesse, elle qui
+a su effacer de son existence, ces longs hivers qui glacent et
+engourdissent! Des que le soleil commence a decroitre, sitot que les
+plantes jaunissent et qu'aux chaudes haleines du Zephyr succedent les
+froides rafales de l'aquilon, elle s'envole prudemment a tire d'ailes,
+vers les douces regions embaumees du Midi._'
+
+[Illustration: 9221]
+
+E come down the hills and back to Algiers, to find the winter in full
+bloom, and the 'winter swallows' in great force, In fact, so full of
+bustle is the town, and so frequent is the sight of English faces, and
+the sound of English voices, that it hardly seems like the place we had
+left a few weeks since.
+
+It has been said that English people love sunshine and blue sky more
+than any other nation, and that the dwellers under the 'ciel nebuleuse
+du nord,' will go anywhere to seek a brighter clime; and it is a fact,
+the importance of which is hardly realised in England, that the African
+sun is producing a crop of English residents that is growing rapidly,
+and taking firm root in the soil, in spite of siroccos, in spite of
+earthquakes--without a thought of colonization in the strict sense of
+the word, and without, it must be added, any particular love for the
+French people.
+
+The visitors, or tourists, are increasing also, and they are naturally,
+rather vulgarising our favourite places. Thus we hear of picnics at the
+Bouzareah, of balls at Mustapha, of 'trips' to Blidah by railway, and of
+'excursions to the gorge of La Chiffa and back' in one day.
+
+An amusing chapter might be written upon Algiers from the traveller's
+point of view, but one or two touches will suffice, to show the easy and
+familiar terms, on which our countrymen and country-women invade this
+stronghold of the French; once the 'city of pirates' and the terror of
+Mediterranean waters.
+
+There is the cosmopolitan traveller, who, having 'done Europe,' finds
+Algiers, of course, rather 'slow,' by contrast; and there is the very
+matter-of-fact traveller, who finds it all vanity, and says,--'Take
+ever so copious a stock of illusions with you to the bright Orient,
+and within half-an-hour after landing, you are as bankrupt as a bank
+of deposit... and the end of it all is, that this city of the "Arabian
+Nights" turns out to be as unromantic as Seven Dials.' There are lady
+travellers, who (enjoying special advantages by reason of their sex, and
+seeing much more than Englishmen of Moorish interiors) are perhaps
+best fitted to write books about this country; there are proselytizing
+ladies, who come with a mission, and end by getting themselves and their
+friends into trouble, by distributing tracts amongst the Moors; and
+there are ladies who (when their baggage is detained at one of the
+ports), endeavour to break down the barriers of official routine in an
+unexpected way. 'The douane did not choose to wake up and give us our
+luggage,' writes one, 'it was such a lazy douane; and though I went
+again and again and said pretty things to the gendarmes, it was of no
+use.'
+
+Another form of invasion is less polite, but it has been submitted
+to with tolerable grace on more than one occasion. Here is the latest
+instance. *
+
+     * 'Under the Palms,' by the Hon. Lewis Wingfield. London,
+     1867.
+
+'Being anxious to obtain a sketch of one of the quaint streets of the
+upper town, I wandered one morning up its dark alleys and intricate
+byeways; and wishing to establish myself at a window, I knocked at a
+promising door, and was answered by a mysterious voice from behind a
+lattice; the door opened of itself, and I marched upstairs unmindful of
+evil. In the upper court I was instantly surrounded by a troup of women,
+in the picturesque private dress of the Moorish ladies, unencumbered
+with veil or yashmak.
+
+'These ladies dragged at my watch-chain, and pulled my hair, until
+finding myself in such very questionable society, I beat a hasty
+retreat, flying down stairs six steps at a time, slamming the doors in
+the faces of the houris, and eventually reaching the street in safety,
+while sundry slow Mussulmans wagged their beards and said that Christian
+dogs did not often enter such places with impunity.'
+
+It is pleasant to see with what good tempered grace, both the Moors and
+the French take this modern English invasion. We settle down for the
+winter here and build and plant vineyards, and make merry, in the same
+romping fashion that we do in Switzerland. We write to England about it,
+as if the country belonged to us, and of the climate, as if we had been
+the discoverers of its charms. But it is all so cozy and genial, and so
+much a matter of course, that we are apt to forget its oddity; we have
+friends in England who speak of Algiers with positive delight, whose
+faces brighten at the very mention of its name, and who always speak of
+going there, as of 'going home.'
+
+We have principally confined our remarks to places near Algiers,
+omitting all mention of Oran and Constantine, because it is impossible
+to work to much purpose if we travel about, and these places are worthy
+of distinct and separate visits. The longest journey that we would
+suggest to artists to make in one winter, would be to the cedar forests
+of Teniet-el-Had, because the scenery is so magnificent, and the forms
+of the cedars themselves, are perhaps the wildest and most wonderful to
+be met with in any part of the world. Hitherto, almost the only
+sketches that we have seen of this mountain forest have been by our own
+countrymen and countrywomen, for French artists do not as a rule go far
+from Algiers.
+
+With a few notable exceptions, * our experience of the works of
+Frenchmen in Algiers, has been anything but inspiring; we have known
+these artists closetted for weeks--copying and re-copying fanciful
+desert scenes, such as camels dying on sandy plains, under a sky of
+the heaviest opaque blue, and with cold grey shadows upon the
+ground--drawing imaginary Mauresques on impossible housetops, and in
+short working more from fancy than from facts; producing, it may be,
+most saleable pictures, but doing themselves and their _clientelles_,
+no other good thereby. It seems ungracious to speak thus of people
+from whom we invariably received civility and kindness; but the truth
+remains, we found them hard at work on 'pot-boilers' for exportation,
+and doing, like the photographers, a flourishing trade.
+
+     * We shall not be accused of alluding in this category to
+     such painters as the late Horace Vernet; or to Gerome,
+     Frere, and others who study here in winter time.
+
+We should endeavour to spend most of our time in the country, if we wish
+to make progress. If we stay in Algiers we shall of course be liable to
+some interruptions; we shall be too comfortable and perhaps become too
+luxurious. We must not dream away our time on a Turkey carpet, or on our
+_terrasse_, charming though the view may be. There is too much scent of
+henna, too strong a flavour of coffee and tobacco, there are, in short,
+too many of the comforts of life; we had better be off to the hills,
+where the air is cooler, and where we can live a free life under canvass
+for a while. *
+
+     * It may not be thought very practical to suggest much
+     sketching in the open air, as the light is generally
+     considered too trying, and the glare too great, for any very
+     successful work in colour.
+
+The tropical vegetation in Algeria gives continual shade and shelter,
+and the style of architecture, with cool open arcades to the houses, is
+admirably adapted for work; but failing the ordinary means of shelter,
+much may be done under a large umbrella, or from an ordinary military
+tent. In the Paris Exhibition of 1867, there were some portable, wooden
+Swiss houses, that seemed constructed for sketching purposes, as they
+could be taken down almost as easily as a tent, and removed from one
+place to another.
+
+A few months, spent amongst the mountains, will have a wonderfully
+bracing effect on Europeans, because both the eye and the mind will
+be satisfied and refreshed; although, it is a curious fact that on the
+uneducated, such scenes have little, or no, influence.
+
+We shall not easily forget 'the splendid comet of Arab civilization that
+has left such a trail of light behind it,' but cannot help remarking
+that neither the Arab in a state of nature, nor the Moor surrounded by
+every refinement and luxury, seem to be much influenced by the grace and
+beauty around them; and in this they do not stand alone, for it is, as
+we said, a notable fact? that contact with what is beautiful in scenery
+or in art, is of itself of little worth. *
+
+     * To reverse the position--it is a fact, which may be proved
+     bystatistics, that there is as much, if not more,
+     benevolence, forbearance, and mutual help, existing amongst
+     the lower classes in the 'black country,' as in any other
+     part of the United Kingdom.
+
+What shall we say of the Sicilian peasant girl, born and bred on the
+heights of Taormina?
+
+What of the Swiss girl who spends her life, knee-deep in newly-mown hay?
+Does beautiful scenery seem to inspire them with noble thoughts? Does
+being 'face to face with Nature,' as the phrase goes, appear to give
+them refined tastes, or to elevate their ideas? Does it seem to lead
+to cleanliness, to godliness, or any other virtue? The answer is almost
+invariably, 'No;' they must be educated to it, and neither the present
+race of Arabs nor Moors are so educated. They do not seem to appreciate
+the works of their fathers, and will, probably before long, fall into
+the way of dressing themselves and building dwellings, after the style
+of their conquerors.
+
+With Europeans it is just the reverse, and the most educated and refined
+amongst us, are learning more and more to value, what an Eastern nation
+is casting off. We submit to the fashions of our time not without
+murmurs, which are sounds of hope. We put up with a hideous costume and
+more hideous streets--from habit or necessity as the case may be--but
+even custom will not altogether deaden the senses to a love for the
+beautiful. In costume this is especially noticeable.
+
+What is it that attracts the largest audiences to 'burlesque'
+representations at our theatres? Not the buffoonery, but the spectacle.
+The eye robbed of its natural food, seeks it in a number of roundabout
+ways--but it seeks it. What made the American people crowd to Ristori's
+performances in New York, over and over again? Not the novelty, not
+alone for the sake of being able to say that they had been there; but
+for the delight to the eye in contemplating forms of classic beauty,
+and the delight to the ear in hearing the poetry of the most musical
+language in the world, nobly spoken, although but few of the audience
+could understand a word. It was a libel upon the people to suggest that
+their attending these performances was affectation; it was an almost
+unconscious drawing out of that natural love for the beautiful, which
+is implanted somewhere, in every human breast, and which, in this case
+perhaps, gave the American audience a temporary relief from smartness,
+and angularity of body and mind.
+
+[Illustration: 0233]
+
+[Illustration: 0235]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION.
+
+[Illustration: 9235]
+
+F the foregoing sketches have seemed to some of our readers, a thought
+too slight and discursive, and to be wanting in detail; it is because,
+perhaps, they have reflected a little too naturally, the habit of
+a painter's mind, and have followed out the principle of outdoor
+sketching, which is to 'hit off' as accurately as possible, the various
+points of interest that come under observation, and, in doing so,
+to give _colour_ rather than detail, and to aim principally at the
+rendering of atmosphere and effect.
+
+But for this, perhaps, most readers will be thankful, and for two
+reasons. First, because it is a fact, that English people as a rule,
+care little or nothing for Algeria as a colony--that they never have
+cared, and probably never will. Second, because, in spite of the
+assertion of a late writer, that 'Algeria is a country virtually unknown
+to Englishmen,' we believe that the English public has been literally
+inundated with books of travel and statistics, on this subject.
+
+It is only in its picturesque aspect, and as a winter residence for
+invalids, that Algiers will ever claim much interest for English people;
+and even in picturesqueness, it falls far short of other cities well
+known to Englishmen. There is nothing in costume to compare with the
+bazaars of Constantinople, or in architecture, to the bystreets of
+Trebizond; but Algeria is much more accessible from England, and that is
+our reason for selecting it. It has one special attraction, in which it
+stands almost alone, viz, that here we may see the two great tides of
+civilization--primitive and modern--the East and the West--meet
+and mingle without limit and without confusion. There is no violent
+collision and no decided fusion; but the general result is peaceful, and
+we are enabled to contemplate it at leisure; and have such intimate and
+quiet intercourse with the Oriental, as is nowhere else to be met with,
+we believe, in the world.
+
+In speaking thus enthusiastically of the advantages of Algeria, let
+us not be supposed to undervalue the beauties of England, or its
+unapproachable landscape and mountain scenery. The 'painter's camp' in
+the Highlands, is no doubt, the right place for a camp, but it is not
+the only right place; the spot where it was pitched is covered with snow
+as we write these lines. Moreover, it is not given to everyone to be
+able to _draw trees_, and it is a change and relief to many, to have
+landscape work that does not depend upon their successful delineation.
+
+In fine, for artists, Algiers seems perfect; a cheap place of residence
+with few 'distractions,' without many taxes or cares; with extraordinary
+opportunities for the study of Nature in her grandest aspects, and of
+character, costume, and architecture of a good old type.
+
+But what they really gain by working here is not easily written down,
+nor to be explained to others; nor is it all at once discovered by
+themselves. It has not been dinned into their ears by rote, or by rule,
+but rather inhaled, and (if we may so express it) taken in with the
+atmosphere they breathe. If they have not produced anything great or
+noble, they have at least infused more light and nature into their
+work, and have done something to counteract the tendency to that sickly
+sentimentality and artificialism, that is the curse of modern schools.
+
+We have been led to insist, perhaps a little too earnestly, on the good
+effects of sound work on a painter's mind, by the thought of what some
+of our foremost artists are doing at the present time. When painters of
+the highest aim and most refined intelligence, seem tending towards a
+system of mere decorative art; when Millais paints children, apparently,
+to display their dress, and devotes his great powers as a colourist
+almost exclusively to imitative work; when Leighton cultivates a style
+of refined Platonism which is not Attic and is sometimes scarcely human;
+when other painters of celebrity, that we need scarcely name spend
+their lives upon the working out of effective details; when the modern
+development of what is called Prae-Raphaelitism, seems to remove us
+farther than ever from what should be the aim of a great painter, we may
+be pardoned for insisting upon the benefits of change of air and change
+of scene.
+
+But not only to artists and amateurs--to those fortunate people whose
+time and means are as as much at their own disposal as the genii of
+Aladdin's lamp; to those who can get 'ordered abroad' at the season when
+it is most pleasant to go; to those who live at high pressure for
+half the year, and need a change--not so much perhaps, from winter's
+gloom--as from the 'clouds that linger on the mind's horizon;' to all
+who seek a 'new sensation,' we would say, once more--pay a visit to
+the 'city of pirates,' to the 'diamond set in emeralds,' on the African
+shore.
+
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT TO SECOND EDITION.
+
+_We have been requested by several readers to state, in a New Edition,
+the readiest and cheapest method of reaching Algeria from England.
+
+There is no quicker or cheaper way than to go through France to
+Marseilles, and thence by steamer direct to Algiers. The cost of the
+journey from London to Algiers varies from to L10, according to
+'class.' The steamers from Marseilles leave on Tuesdays, Thursdays,
+and Saturdays, at mid-day: the cheapest boats leave on Thursdays,
+their first-class fare, including living, being about L3 3s. All other
+information respecting this journey, can be obtained by reference to
+Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide.
+
+The best months for a visit to Algeria are from November to April.
+
+Travellers should obtain the French 'Guide de l'Algerie,' published by
+Hachette, Paris; also 'Last Winter in Algeria,' by Mrs. Evans, a most
+useful book for visitors.
+
+Hotels in Algiers:--'L Orient,' 'La Regence' 'L Europe,' &c._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Artists and Arabs, by Henry Blackburn
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARTISTS AND ARABS ***
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