h its
whitewashed houses and its many minarets, completely surrounded by
green which has long since disappeared under the advancing tide of
bricks and mortar. One can hardly realize that this fine French city
has replaced the den of pirates of such fearful histories. Yet there
is the original light-house, the depot for European slaves, and away
on the top of yonder hill are remains of the ancient citadel. It was
there, indeed, that those dreadful cruelties were perpetrated, where
so many Christians suffered martyrdom. Yes, this is where once stood
the "famous and war-like city, El Jazirah," which was in its time "the
scourge of Christendom."

Whether the visitor be pleased or disappointed with the modern city
depends entirely on what he seeks. If he seeks Europe in Africa, with
perhaps just a dash of something oriental, he will be amply satisfied
with Algiers, which is no longer a native city at all. It is as French
as if it had risen from the soil entirely under French hands, and only
the slums of the Arab town remain. The seeker after native life will
therefore meet with complete disappointment, unless he comes straight
from Europe, with no idea what he ought to expect. All the best parts
of the town, the commercial and the residential quarters, have long
since been replaced by European substitutes, leaving hardly a trace of
the picturesque originals, while every day sees a further encroachment
on the erstwhile African portion, the interest of which is almost
entirely removed by the presence of crowds of poor Europeans and
European-dressed Jews. The visitor to Algiers would therefore do well
to avoid everything native, unless he has some opportunity of also
seeing something genuine elsewhere. The only specimens he meets in
the towns are miserable half-caste fellows--by habit, if not by
birth,--for their dress, their speech, their manners, their homes,
their customs, their religion--or rather their lack of religion,--have
all suffered from contact with Europeans. But even before the
Frenchmen came, it is notorious how the Algerines had sunk under the
bane of Turkish rule, as is well illustrated by their own saying, that
where the foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused to grow. Of all the
Barbary States, perhaps none has suffered more from successive outside
influences than the people of Algeria.

The porter who seizes one's luggage does not know when he is using
French words or Arabic, or when he introduces Italian