38. From Algiers to Tizi-Ouzou. From Camp-du-Maréchal to Tigzirt.
From Algiers to Tizi-Ouzou, 66½ M., railway in 3½–6¾ hrs.; fares 12 fr., 8 fr. 55, 6 fr. 45 c.; 1st cl. return 16 fr. 90 c. (to Camp-du-Maréchal, 56 M., in 3–5¾ hrs.; fares 10 fr. 10, 7 fr. 20, 5 fr. 40 c.).—From Camp-du-Maréchal to Dellys, 19½ M., light railway in ca. 1¾ hr. (2 fr. 35 or 1 fr. 70 c.).—From Dellys to Tigzirt, 16 M., diligence in 3 hrs. (at night only).—Motoring Tours, comp. p. [173].
The railway to Tizi-Ouzou forms the chief approach to Great Kabylia or Grande Kabylie, for which the best season is April or May, when the bare limestone peaks of the Jurjura (p. [258]) are still capped with their winter snow, while the lower hills are clothed with the fresh verdure of spring. Most travellers are satisfied with a visit to Fort-National and Michelet and the drive across the Tirourda Pass (R. 39) but the long route from Fort-National to Bougie viâ Azazga and Taourirt-Ighil (R. 40) also is quite interesting. Beautiful coast scenery between Dellys and Tigzirt. The ruins at the latter will interest archæologists. The hotel-charges are everywhere disproportionate to the services rendered, and the cuisine is generally indifferent. Fairly good quarters are to be found only at Tizi-Ouzou, Tigzirt, Michelet, Azazga, and Taourirt-Ighil.
The so-called Kabyles (from the Arabic kebila, tribe) consisted, as far back as the Roman period, of five Berber tribes, united to form a state with a democratic constitution. In their remote mountain villages (thaddart) they successively repelled the attacks of the Romans, the Arabs, and the Turks, and it was not till 1852–7 that the French after protracted struggles succeeded in subduing them. During the Turkish period they were called Zuawas, whence the modern French Zouaves derive their name. Their language is a Berber dialect mingled with Latin and Arabic words. The men in the over-peopled W. and S. regions often migrate to the Algerian towns and even to foreign countries as hawkers (iattaren), or to the Mitidja as harvest labourers. The women, who are unveiled and often adorned with valuable trinkets, are seen to advantage at the wells. Many of the girls have pretty faces and good figures.
From Algiers to (34 M.) Ménerville, see pp. [249], 250. To the left of the train, halfway to Félix-Faure, is the so-called Mausolée de Blad-Guitoun, the sadly dilapidated tomb, originally 33 ft. high, of a Christian Berber prince (4th or 5th cent.), in the style of the later Djedar (p. [208]), but with an octagonal base. The interior, like that of the Tombeau de la Chrétienne (p. [238]), contains a lion in relief, a winding gallery, and a tomb-chamber. The pyramid with its steps has disappeared.
38 M. Félix-Faure-Courbet. From the village of Félix-Faure (236 ft.), formerly called Blad-Guitoun, near the station, a road (diligence twice daily) leads to the N. through the hilly Sahel to (4½ M.) Zaatra and (5½ M.) Courbet (253 ft.), two villages chiefly inhabited by settlers from Alsace and Lorraine.
The road ends at (8¾ M.) Port-aux-Poules or Mers el-Hadjadjeh (p. [248]), a decayed seaport on the site of the Roman Rusubricari, the ruins of which have been almost entirely swept away by the waves.
The train crosses the Isser by viaducts of 110 and 160 yds. in length. 40½ M. Les Issers (82 ft.; Hôt. du Marché, Hôt. des Issers, both humble) is the station for Isserville (213 ft.; Hôt. Sigé), which holds a busy Thursday market. Diligence to (24½ M.) Dra el-Mizan (p. [254]).
43½ M. Bordj-Ménaïel (53 ft.; Hôt. du Roulage; pop. 1100) holds market on Fridays.
A Road leads to the N. from Bordj-Ménaïel through the Isser valley, avoiding the sand-hills at the mouth of the stream, and then skirting Jebel Djinet, the ‘frontier pillar’ of Great Kabylia, to (10 M.) the small bay, opening towards the W., of Mersa Djinet, near Cape Djinet (164 ft.), whose basalt-quarries have yielded paving-stones for Algiers.
The train leaves the Isser and ascends to the E. in the valley of the Oued Chender to (51 M.) Haussonvillers (492 ft.; Hôt. des Postes), peopled by settlers from Alsace-Lorraine. We are now carried over four viaducts, each over 100 ft. high, and through tunnels on the N. slope of the finely-shaped Beni Mekla hills (2920 ft.), down to the Sebaou Valley, the chief valley of Great Kabylia. In the distance appears Jebel Belloua (p. [254]).
56 M. Camp-du-Maréchal (184 ft.; Hôt. Frœliger), peopled by Alsace-Lorrainers, has a Tuesday and a Thursday market. Cork-tree woods in the environs.
From Camp-du-Maréchal to Dellys and Tigzirt, see pp. [254], 255.
We cross the Bougdoura. 60½ M. Mirabeau (154 ft.; Hôt. Caratero, humble).
From Mirabeau to Boghni, 18¾ M., light railway (continuation of the line from Dellys), in ca. 1¾ hr. (2 fr. 25 or 1 fr. 65 c.). The train at first runs to the S. on the Dra el-Mizan road (p. [254]), through a eucalyptus avenue in the broad and featureless lower valley of the Bougdoura, to beyond (4½ M.) Tléta. A little farther on it leaves the highroad and penetrates very narrow cuttings up the winding upper Bougdoura valley, past (12 M.) Maatkas, in the territory of the tribe of that name, to (18¾ M.) Boghni (755 ft.; Hôt. Ricard, Hôt. Grossiard, both humble). The little village lies in the fertile green valley of the stream, here called Oued Boghni, between the lower hills and Jebel Haïzer or Haïzeur, the chief peaks of which are Râs Tachgagalt or Pic Ficheur (7044 ft.) to the E. and Tamgout Haïzer (6965 ft.) to the W. From Boghni to Aïn-Sultan and Fort-National, see pp. [258], 257.
From Mirabeau to Dra el-Mizan (26 M.). The highroad, beyond the cuttings near Tléta (p. [253]), crosses the Bougdoura and runs to the W. for a short time in the valley of the Oued Aguergoun, in view of the fine S. slopes of the Beni Mekla Mts. (p. [253]). It then bends to the S.W. into the pretty and secluded valley of the Acif Tléta or Oued Kessari, which here intersects the lower hills and for a distance of 17 M. contains not a single human habitation. The hill-sides, however, are carefully cultivated by the neighbouring villagers, and are well planted with fig and olive-trees, eucalypti, and cork-oaks. We then ascend a high plateau, with a superb view of Jebel Haïzer (see above), to the village of (26 M.) Dra el-Mizan (1525 ft.; Hôt. Bellevue, Hôt. du Commerce, both humble), once famed for its textile fabrics, situated on the N.W. spurs of the Beni Smaïl Mts. (p. [250]; 10 M. to the W. of Boghni; diligence). A picturesque road (7½ M.; diligence) leads from Dra el-Mizan, to the S.W., across the Tizi el-Arba (beyond this, another view of Jebel Haïzer), to the rail. station of Aomar-Dra el-Mizan (p. [250]).
The train next crosses the Oued Sebt, approaches the Sebaou after a long bend to the N., and then ascends past the Alsatian village of (64½ M.) Bou-Khalfa (161 ft.), near the wooded W. slope of the finely situated Jebel Belloua (2280 ft.).
66½ M. Tizi-Ouzou (620 ft.; Hôt. Lagarde, R. 3–5, B. 1¼, déj. 3, D. 3½, omn. ½ fr., quite good; Hôt. du Square and Hôt. du Roulage, unpretending; pop. 29,620), the chief town and market (Sat.) in the interior of Great Kabylia. Jebel Belloua may be ascended hence, and the poor and dirty Kabyle village at the N. end of the little town may be visited by the curious.
From Tizi-Ouzou to Fort National and Michelet (Tirourda Pass), see R. 39.
The Light Railway to Dellys (19½ M.; p. [252]) descends to the N. from Camp-du-Maréchal (p. [253]) through the broad Sebaou Valley, past unimportant stations; then, near the mouth of the stream, it turns to the N.E., away from the highroad, and skirts the coast, which is at first flat and sandy and afterwards bold, and abrupt. To the left rises the lighthouse, famed for its view, on Cape Bengut (207 ft.), a spur of Jebel Ouamri (1227 ft.), composed partly of basalt and other eruptive rocks.
We now proceed to the E., at first through orchards and then on an embankment 26 ft. high, on the brink of a grand abraded terrace, 1 M. long, flanked with narrow perpendicular ledges of sandstone. We then pass through a short tunnel under the ‘dagger-pointed’ Cape Dellys.
19½ M. Dellys (203 ft.; Hôt. de la Colonie; pop. 3000, of whom 2000 are Mohammedans, mostly Berbers of the Arab type), a quiet little seaport, the W. sea-gate of Great Kabylia, probably on the site of the Roman Cissi, rises in terraces with luxuriant gardens on the E. slope of Cape Dellys, at the end of which is a small lighthouse. The deserted harbour is fairly protected against N. and N.W. winds only; the unfinished works at the end of the headland have been destroyed by the waves. Dellys offers little attraction beyond the strikingly beautiful view, stretching as far as Cape Tedlès (p. [256]). A few relics of Roman Cisterns and Thermae also may be visited. The Native Quarter is very picturesque. The Ecole Nationale d’Apprentissage des Arts et Métiers, numbering many Kabyle pupils, was transferred hither from Fort-National (p. [257]) in 1871.
The *Coast Road to Tigzirt (16 M.; diligence, see p. [252]) leads to the E. from Dellys, up and down hill, in many windings, past small headlands and bays and the estuaries of torrents. At first we observe isolated European settlements, but farther on we pass through underwood and the fields and fig-groves of the Kabyle hill-folk. The latter half of the route leads through remains of the Forêt de Mizrana.
16 M. Tigzirt (66 ft.; Hôt. des Ruines-Romaines, plain; pop. barely 200), a poor little agricultural village founded in 1888, with a lively Wednesday market, occupies part of the site of the ancient Rusuccuru. This, as the name indicates, was originally a Berber settlement; it afterwards became a Phœnician seaport. In the late-Roman period it vied with Saldæ (p. [263]) as one of the most populous places on this part of the coast, and under the Byzantines it was still fairly prosperous.
The village lies on a low coast-terrace behind Cape Tigzirt, a small headland, running out to a storm-beaten rocky island, with which in the Roman period it was connected by a quay. The Roman Town Wall extended from one shore to the other, as did also the shorter Byzantine Wall, which was nearer the promontory. The new buildings erected by the Byzantines, now a mass of ruins overgrown by bushes, superseded most of the Roman edifices on the promontory. The sole relic of the latter is a small *Temple (14¾ by 7 yds.) of the time of Septimius Severus, of unusually heavy and massive form, which, according to the inscription, was dedicated to the genius of the municipium of Rusuccuru. The lofty front-wall of the cella, borne by two columns, immediately adjoins the small court of the temple without an intervening vestibule.
The Roman ruins between the two town-walls, on the inland side, have been mostly either destroyed or built over by the modern villagers.
The most important of the old buildings at Rusuccuru is the *Bishop’s Church, situated close to the Roman town-wall in the E. part of the village. Originally a columnar basilica, 44 by 23 yds., probably of the 5th cent., it is now a picturesque chaos of ruins, with remains of the old mosaic pavement.
The entrances were through the chief portal in the narrow W. vestibule and by three smaller doorways in the wall of the façade, leading into an inner vestibule built into the nave. There are still traces of the two arcades of the nave, borne by clustered columns, all brought from ancient buildings, which rested without bases on stone pedestals. The rich plastic decoration of the imposts, with a touch of the Punic style, is noteworthy. The galleries over the aisles, accessible by outside stairs on the N.E. side only, were ruined by fire at an early period.
On each side of the oldest altar-table at the end of the nave four steps ascended to the choir-recess, where remains of the columns of the later ciborium altar still exist. Two small doors led from the apse into the sacristies, which were shut off from the aisles. The diaconicon, on the left, was adjoined by the quatrefoil-shaped baptistery, also on the left, containing fragments of the old font. The W. portal of the baptistery led into a rectangular hall.
In the late Byzantine period the E. half of the nave was walled off for the use of the greatly reduced congregation, while the old aisles and the sacristies were converted into burial-places.
A few paces to the S. of the bishop’s church, above part of the ancient Roman baths, are relics of a smaller early-Christian Basilica, ending in a trilateral apse. Outside of the town lay the E. burial-ground, with an early-Christian Chapel of similar design.
From Tigzirt we may climb, 1 hr. to the N. E., through underwood, to the Berber village of Taksept, on the crest of the abrupt Cape Tedlès (870 ft.). Among the stone huts of the villagers are many fragments of Roman buildings, hardly now recognizable, probably the ruins of Iomnium, whose harbour lay on the E. side of the promontory. On the highest point of the cape stands the chief landmark of this part of the coast, the so-called Phare or Mausolée de Taksept, a late-Roman tomb, still about 29 ft. high, with an octagonal substructure adorned with eight Corinthian columns, above which probably once rose a step-pyramid.