The Mediterranean

by Karl Baedeker

VI. ALGERIA.

Route		Page
Geographical and Historical Sketch. Preliminary Information		[168]
28.	Oran	[175]
	a. The Harbour and the Old Town, 178.—b. The New Town, 180.—c. Environs (Fort Santa Cruz, Belvédère, Mers el-Kébir, Promenade des Falaises), 182.—From Oran to Hammam Bou-Hadjar, 184.
29.	From Oran to Tlemcen	[185]
	From Oran to Aïn-Temouchent. From Aïn-Temouchent to Tlemcen viâ Pont-de-l’Isser or Beni-Saf, 185.
30.	Tlemcen	[187]
	Mansura, 193.—Sidi Bou-Médine, 194.—Agâdir, 196.
31.	From Tlemcen to Nemours viâ Lalla-Marnia	[197]
	Oudjda, 197.
32.	From Oran to Beni-Ounif de Figuig (Colomb-Béchar) viâ Damesme and Perrégaux	[199]
	From Damesme to Arzew, 199.—From Tizi to Mascara, 200.—From Aïn-Sefra to Tiout, 202.
33.	From Oran to Algiers	[206]
	Kalàa. From Relizane to Mostaganem; to Tiaret, 207.—Mazouna, 208.—From Orléansville to Ténès, 209.—From Affreville to the Cedar Forest of Teniet el-Haâd, 210.—From Miliana to Margueritte. From Bou-Medfa to Hammam Rhira, 212.—From Blida to Berrouaghia. From Boghari to Ghardaïa viâ Djelfa and Laghouat, 215.
34.	Algiers	[217]
	a. Lower Quarter of the Old Town (Harbour, Mosquée de la Pêcherie, Great Mosque, Jardin Marengo, Archevêché, Cathedral, National Library), 222.—b. The Kasba, 226.—c. Mustapha-Supérieur and Environs (Museum, Chemin du Télemly, Birmandreis), 228.—d. The S.E. Suburbs (Jardin d’Essai, Hussein-Dey, Kouba), 232.—e. El-Biar and Bouzaréah (Forêt de Baïnem), 233.—f. Notre-Dame d’Afrique and St. Eugène, 235.
35.	From Algiers to Tipaza and Cherchell	[236]
	a. Viâ Castiglione	[236]
	Jebel Chenoua, 242.
	b. Viâ El-Affroun and Marengo	[243]
36.	From Algiers to Cape Matifou and to Aïn-Taya viâ Maison-Carrée	[247]
	L’Arba, 247.—Rovigo, 248.
37.	From Algiers to Bougie viâ Beni-Mansour	[249]
	Aumale, 250.—Thubusuctu, 252.
38.	From Algiers to Tizi-Ouzou. From Camp-du-Maréchal to Tigzirt	[252]
	Port-aux-Poules. From Mirabeau to Boghni, 253.—From Mirabeau to Dra el-Mizan, 254.—Taksept, 256.
39.	From Tizi-Ouzou viâ Fort-National to Maillot or Tazmalt	[256]
	From Fort-National through the Djemâa Valley to Michelet; to Boghni, 257.—The Jurjura Mts. Icherridène, 258.—The Lalla Khedidja, 259.
40.	From Fort-National viâ Azazga to Bougie	[260]
	Toudja, 262.
41.	Bougie	[262]
	Cape Carbon, 264.—Anse des Aiguades. Jebel Gouraya, 265.
42.	From Bougie through the Chabet el-Akra to Sétif	[265]
	From Souk et-Tenine to Djidjelli. Mila, 267.—From Kerrata viâ Aïn-Abessa to Sétif, 268.—Périgotville, 269.
43.	From Algiers to Constantine viâ Beni-Mansour, Sétif, and El-Guerrah	[269]
	From Bordj-Bou-Arréridj to Bou-Saâda, 270.—Djemila. From Ouled-Rahmoun to Aïn-Beïda and Khenchela, 272.—Aïn-el-Hammam, 273.
44.	From Constantine to Biskra viâ El-Guerrah and Batna	[274]
	The Medracen, 274.—Zana. Jebel Touggour, 275.—Jebel Metlili. Gorges de Tilatou, 277.—The Aurès Mts., 278.—Environs of Biskra, 281.—From Biskra to Sidi-Okba, 283.—From Biskra to M’chounech; to Touggourt, 284.—The Oued Rhir. From Touggourt to Nefta viâ El-Oued. The Souf, 285.
45.	From Batna viâ Lambèse to Timgad	[286]
	Ichoukkân, 296.
46.	Constantine	[297]
47.	From Constantine to Philippeville	[303]
	From St. Charles to Bona, 303.
48.	From Constantine to Bona viâ Duvivier	[306]
	Announa (Thibilis), 307.—Bugeaud, 311.
49.	From Constantine or Bona viâ Duvivier to Souk-Ahras (Tebessa, Tunis)	[312]
	From Souk-Ahras to Khamissa, 313.
50.	From Souk-Ahras to Tebessa	[313]
	Madaura. Vasampus, 314.

Algeria, the central part of Barbary (Arab. Jezirat el-Maghreb) and since 1830 a French colony, covers an area of about 77,500 sq. M., or, including the S. territories (p. [170]), about 342,500 sq. M., and contains 5,232,000 inhab. (4½ million Mohammedans and 730,000 Europeans, mostly of French, Spanish, and Italian origin). It extends from Oued Kiss, which was substituted for the Mulûya (p. [93]) by the Morocco treaty of 1845, to Cape Roux (p. [131]), the boundary of Tunisia, and from the Mediterranean to the Highlands of Ahaggar in the interior of the Sahara. The arbitrary division of N. Algeria into the three départements of Oran, Alger, and Constantine is a survival of the Turkish administration. The orographical regions, sharply defined except towards the E., are the Tell Atlas (p. xxx), the E. prolongation of the Rîf Mts. (p. [93]), the Great Steppe, and the Sahara Atlas.

The Tell Atlas (Atlas Tellien), the most important part of this vast territory, consists of two parallel ranges of folded hills of recent origin, which intersect a great basin stretching from the Atlantic to the bay of Tunis. The highest points of the range next the coast are the Traras (3727 ft.), the Dahra (5181 ft.), the Atlas of Blida (5345 ft.), the Jurjura Chain (7572 ft.) in Great Kabylia, and the Babor Range (6575 ft.) in Little Kabylia. In the interior rise the Tlemcen Group (6047 ft.), the Ouarsenis (6512 ft.), the Jebel Dira (5938 ft.), and the Hodna Mts. (6112 ft.), which last form the only considerable link between the Tell and the Sahara Atlas. The Littoral, 842 M. in length, with long, precipitous, and almost inaccessible stretches, has ever been dreaded on account of its storms; it is broken by the bays of Oran, Arzew, Algiers, Bougie, Philippeville, and Bona, but does not possess a single good natural harbour. Flanking the coast, in front of the Tell Atlas, are several ranges of lower hills (Sahel), as the Sahel of Oran, between Lourmel and the mouth of the Chélif, the Sahel of Algiers, and the Sahel of Collo, while the Edough Group (3307 ft.), composed of crystalline rock, forms an independent mountain. The extensive plains behind the Sahels, which at Oran are marshy (Marais de la Macta) and have besides the remains of great salt lagoons (Sebkha d’Oran and Salines d’Arzew), and especially the Mitidja near Algiers, once a bay of the sea, and the Plaine de Bône, are the most fertile and richly cultivated parts of Algeria.

The Hauts-Plateaux or Great Steppe, an almost unwatered region, was originally a deep depression between the Tell and the Sahara Atlas, which in the course of thousands of years was gradually filled up with the alluvial deposits of mountain-torrents, and thus converted into a great and monotonous undulating plain, 2300–3300 ft. above the sea-level. The saline and gipseous soil is very sterile and is only at a few places adapted for the culture of grain, but has proved suitable for sheep-grazing. In the depressions of the steppe lie a number of extensive shotts or salt-lakes, which in summer are dry and recognizable only by their dazzling snow-white incrustation. Among these are the Chott Gharbi (Rharbi) and the Chott ech-Chergui in Oran, the Zahrès Gharbi and Zahrès Chergui in Algiers, and the Chott el-Hodna at Constantine.

The Sahara Atlas (Atlas Saharien) forms the great barrier between Algeria and the desert. It is ‘a region of grand and wildly fissured gorges, partly caused by erosion in the pluvial period, of valleys worn by torrents, of lofty plains converted into mountains, and of marine basins now filled up’ (Theob. Fischer). The chief heights are the Montagnes des Ksour (7004 ft.), a prolongation of the much higher Morocco Atlas (p. [93]), Jebel Amour (6467 ft.), the Monts des Ouled-Naïl (5295 ft.), and, beyond the depression of the Monts du Zab (4304 ft.), the Aurès Mts. (7634 ft.), which are wooded in their N. half, and next to Great Kabylia have the finest hill-scenery in Algeria.

The Sahara, which belongs to the Territoires du Sud or de Commandement, governed by the military ‘Bureaux Arabes’, consists of the Bassin du Gourara or Bassin de l’Oued Saoura on the W., a plateau 330–2600 ft. above the sea, and of the Bassin du Melrir, named after the Chott Melrir, on the E., lying partly below the sea-level. Within this desert region, which is divided by the limestone plateau of the Mzab, are distinguished the Hammadas, or lofty plateaux, with rocky or hard clay-soil, entirely waterless and sterile, and the Areg (sing. Erg), the extensive sand-hills rising a few hundred feet above the plains. From the Sahara Atlas and from the hills of the S. Sahara descend numerous water-courses, mostly subterranean, towards the plains, enabling the natives by means of irrigation to form a girdle of oases, which like the coast-plains are apt to be malarious in summer.

Climatically also Algeria is a land of striking contrasts. The rainfall in the provinces of Algiers and Constantine, on the coast, and especially in the higher parts of the Tell Atlas, is abundant (thus at Algiers 25 inches, at Blida 37, Bougie 41½, Fort-National 45 inches). Being partly sheltered from the rainy N.W. winds by the Tell Atlas, the Hauts-Plateaux have a lower rainfall (16–20 inches), which as in the Tell often takes the form of snowstorms. In the Sahara Atlas and the Sahara itself, where the dry trade-winds prevail during the greater part of the year, the rainfall diminishes considerably as we go southwards (thus at Biskra 7, at Goléa 2¾ inches). Even in the coast-lands, however, the prolonged drought of summer necessitates the use of artificial irrigation by means of barrages across the valleys. The temperature on the coast varies comparatively little (thus at Algiers 54½° Fahr. in winter, 74° in summer), but the moisture of the air renders it almost unbearably hot in summer. On the Hauts-Plateaux, on the other hand, in the Sahara Atlas, and notably in the Sahara, there are great extremes of heat and cold, the variations not only between summer and winter, but also between day and night (in consequence of the great evaporation after hot, cloudless days) being very marked (thus, minimum at Constantine 16° Fahr., at Aïn-Sefra 17½° at Géryville 8½° Touggourt 19½°; maximum at Géryville 109°, at Biskra 118°, at Touggourt 122°).

The fauna of Algeria is comparatively poor. The Barbary lion and the ostrich have been exterminated, and the panther is now rare; but we occasionally see camels, hyænas, jackals, maned sheep (p. [277]), one species of ape (Magot, Macacus ecaudatus), a few poisonous snakes, and the unduly dreaded scorpion. The flora on the other hand is strikingly rich and varied. In the coast-zone occur all the usual Mediterranean plants. In the Tell Atlas there still exist, in spite of the wanton destruction of trees by the natives, remains of ancient forests of cork-trees (Quercus suber), evergreen oaks (Quercus Ilex and Quercus cenis), Aleppo pines, and occasionally of cedars (p. [210]). In marked contrast to this vegetation is that of the great steppes, where the saline plants, the meagre dwarf-palms (Chamærops humilis), and particularly the alfa (halfa) or esparto grass (Macrochloa tenacissima), of which immense quantities are exported chiefly from the province of Oran, proclaim the proximity of the sterile and dreary desert. At Bou-Saâda (p. [270]), in the hottest S. valleys of the Sahara Atlas, and in the oases of the Sahara we find the home of the date-palm (Phœnix dactylifera, Arabic nakhl), whose fruit is the chief food of the poorer classes and also an important article of commerce, whose sap yields palmwine, whose trunks afford building material, and with whose leaves are made the mats and bedding of the natives.

The majority of the native inhabitants, who in the S. regions, away from the oases, are chiefly nomadic, are Berbers (p. [94]). These, however, since the immigration of the Beni Hilal and Beni Soleïm (p. [323]), have mingled with Arabs much more than in Morocco, and outside of their mountain fastnesses have completely exchanged their own individuality for that of the Arab. The town populations, especially in the province of Algiers, are composed of a motley assemblage of Moors, descended from Spanish Moriscoes or from pirates (largely Christian apostates), of Kabyles (p. [252]), Mozabites (p. [216]), Biskris (p. [280]), and lastly of Kuluglis, descended from Turks and Moorish women. The Jews, partly settled in Barbary since ancient times, partly immigrants from Spain, have enjoyed, unlike the Mohammedans, the full rights of citizenship since 1870, but, though thriving materially, they are hardly superior in culture to the less favoured inhabitants.

Down to the end of the middle ages Algeria was historically inseparable from Tunisia and Morocco (see pp. [95], 187, 188, 322). After the whole coast as far as the Atlantic had been colonized by the Carthaginians, and the whole of S. Algeria by the Romans, but with diminishing energy as they proceeded from E. to W., a period of decadence set in. Troubles began with the revolt of the Circumcelliones, and were succeeded by the party strife between Catholics and Donatists, by the religious persecutions under the Arian Vandal kings (p. [322]), by the misgovernment of the Byzantines (534–698), and by the irruption of the Arabs (p. [322]). During the Moorish period, as Algeria only formed an independent state for a time under the Ibadites (p. [323]) and the Hammadites (p. [263]), while in the W. regions the kingdom of Tlemcen (p. [188]) was afterwards founded, it proved a constant apple of discord between the powerful dynasties of Morocco and Tunisia. The intrusion of the Spaniards (p. [178]) next led to the intervention of the Turks and to the establishment of a piratical state by Horuk Barbarossa (comp. p. [221]). Under the sway of France great improvements have been introduced; many of the most fertile regions on the coast and in the Tell Atlas have become state property and that of French companies or of industrious colonists (mostly Spaniards, S. French, Alsatians, and Lorrainers), and the long neglected seaports have awoke to new life. The whole country has been opened up by a network of excellent roads, and railways have been carried to the confines of the Sahara. In the towns, with the exception of Tlemcen and Constantine, most of the old Moorish and Turkish buildings have been superseded by French. While but few specimens of Moorish architecture have been spared by enthusiasts for improvement, there still survive in the Hauts-Plateaux some interesting relics of Roman buildings, recently unearthed from the oblivion of centuries, and now carefully preserved from further destruction.

For much fatigue and privation the traveller in Algeria will be compensated by many a glimpse of picturesque Oriental manners and costumes and by the varied scenery of the peaceful and luxuriantly fertile plains, the wild mountains, and the stony and sandy wastes of steppe and desert. Most striking of all are the wonderful effects of light and shade on land, sea, and sky, under the glorious African sunshine. Amid the manifold green hues of the rich subtropical vegetation, enlivened by a wealth of flowers and blossom, gleam the dazzling white Moorish country-houses and Mohammedan shrines (kubbas or marabouts) and the red-tiled roofs of the mountain villages and the European settlements. Travellers penetrating from the coast to the Sahara will marvel, especially in winter, at the extraordinary clearness of the atmosphere and the gorgeous sunsets, such as neither Italy nor Greece can boast of, awakening in every beholder an enthusiastic admiration for the desert.

Notwithstanding the considerable rainfall (p. [170]) and the occasional gales to which it is exposed, the town of Algiers is a favourite winter resort. The best months for travelling on the seaboard and the Hauts-Plateaux are April, May, and November, and for the Sahara February and March. The favourite goals are, in the province of Oran: Oran, Tlemcen, and Figuig; in the province of Algiers: Teniet el-Haâd, Miliana, Hammam Rhira, Blida, Fort-National, and Michelet; and in the province of Constantine: Bougie, the Chabet el-Akra, Constantine, Timgad, El-Kantara, Biskra, and Tebessa.

The Railways, with the exception of the Chemins de Fer Algériens de l’Etat, belong to three private companies, the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée Algérien, the Ouest Algérien, and the Bône-Guelma (et prolongements). They are all single lines. The express on the chief line, that from Algiers to Oran, travels 26¾ M. an hour only; the speed of the ordinary trains is 12–19 M. per hour. On all the main lines dining and sleeping cars are provided. On the branch-lines the trains often have one first-class carriage only. For night journeys in the Hauts-Plateaux the heating by means of foot-warmers is inadequate. In E. Algeria the traffic is sometimes stopped for several days in winter by snow-drifts and cloud-bursts.

The time-tables are to be found in the Livret A. Jourdan (Indicateur des Chemins de Fer, de la Navigation, etc.; 50 c.), in the Livret-Chaix (Guide pour les Chemins de Fer de l’Algérie, de la Tunisie et de la Corse; 50 c.), or in the Indicateur Officiel (Guide-poche Algérien par L. Chappuis; 60 c.). Greenwich time (ca. 59 min. behind mid-European time), which has been recently introduced in France, is observed everywhere. Travellers should go to the ticket-office early, as the officials have much writing to do and their proceedings are slow. In the larger towns tickets may usually be taken and luggage booked beforehand at the town-office of the railway company. As in France each passenger is allowed 30 kilos (about 66 lbs.) of luggage. Return-tickets (billets d’aller et retour) for a distance of 50 kilomètres (31 M.) are valid for two days, for distances over 400 kilom. (248 M.) for at least seven days. The Indicateurs above named contain further information as to return-tickets ‘collectifs pour families’, ‘collectifs d’excursion’, and ‘demi-places’, which last only benefit those who make a stay of several months in the colony.

As the roads are good and the trains slow, those who can bear the expense will often find a Motor Car the swiftest and pleasantest kind of conveyance. Among fine motoring trips may specially be noted those from Oran to Tlemcen (comp. p. [184]); from Algiers to Castiglione, Tipaza, Hammam Rhira, Affreville, and Teniet el-Haâd, returning viâ Blida and Boufarik; from Algiers to Cape Matifou, Ménerville, Tizi-Ouzou, Fort-National, and Michelet (Tazmalt); from Bougie through the Chabet el-Akra to Kerrata, or viâ Djidjelli and Mila to Constantine; also from Algiers or Constantine to Biskra. The maximum speed allowed in towns and villages is 15 kilomètres (9½ M.) an hour, on highroads 30 kilom. (19 M.) per hour. The cars offered for hire in the larger towns are generally good machines of 15–60 horse-power.

Where neither railways nor motor-omnibuses are available persons of limited means travel by Diligence (see time-tables in Jourdan’s Indicateur, mentioned above). Besides the ‘Courrier’, or postal diligence, there is sometimes a ‘Concurrence’, an inferior and cheaper vehicle. Careful inquiry as to time-table and fares should be made, and front seats secured beforehand. The officials sometimes charge strangers more than the legitimate fare. If the passenger prefers to walk or ride part of the way, he may arrange with the driver as to the carriage of his luggage.

Off the highroads and for mountain excursions Riding is often preferable to walking. A mule (mulet) or a donkey (bourricot) is more commonly used than a horse. The Arabian saddle with its high cantle and pommel gives a certain sense of security to the novice, but the experienced rider will prefer an English saddle, which may be obtained in the larger towns. The animals are badly kept by the natives, but are quiet and sure-footed. Instead of a saddle, mules and donkeys often have a kind of sack thrown over their backs, into which the rider thrusts his feet. The attendant has to provide food for himself and his beast, and he is always expected to walk except on very long excursions.

For excursions of any length in the Sahara the traveller must have recourse to the camel, the ‘ship of the desert’. The superior trotting camel (mehara) must be distinguished from the ordinary beast of burden, which only walks about 2½ M. per hour, but has wonderful powers of endurance, even in the most trying weather. In the case of the trotting camel the rider sits on a narrow saddle and crosses his feet (with shoes removed) on the animal’s neck. On the broad pack-saddle of the camel of burden is a seat for men, and right and left are others for ladies, for whom a kind of litter (attatouch) also is provided. While the rider mounts the kneeling animal the attendant usually puts his foot on one of its fore-legs to prevent it from rising too suddenly, as it is very apt to do. As the camel rises on its hind-legs first, tilting the rider forwards, it is advisable to lean well back at first, and then forwards, and to keep firm hold of the saddle. Practice alone will enable the rider to get used to the peculiar gait of the animal. The rider’s head should be well protected by a pith-helmet or other efficient covering. Luggage is best carried in two saddle-bags (gibera) of leather or carpet, for which the natives ask 20 fr., or even in ordinary sacks. As to provisions, see p. [97]. Intending travellers are expected to present themselves at the Bureau Arabe before starting, where they may apply for a Saharien or Cavalier du Maghzen (p. [390]) to accompany them. In some cases an escort is considered indispensable.

The Money for a tour in Algeria had better be taken in the form of notes of the Banque de France or the Banque de l’Algérie (for Algeria and Tunisia only) or in gold of the Latin monetary union. Bank of England notes and sovereigns are always readily exchanged in the larger towns and tourist-resorts. Circular notes are less convenient, but have the merit of being safer. Letters of credit addressed to the Compagnie Algérienne or the Crédit Lyonnais also form a safe vehicle for large sums, but the branch-offices sometimes require a week’s notice before paying. The banks and public offices are mostly open at 9–11 and 2–5 only, but the cashier’s office usually closes at 3.

Comfortable first-class Hotels, owned chiefly by French, Swiss, or German proprietors, are to be found at Algiers, Oran, Hammam Rhira, and Biskra. Those of the second class usually make a fixed charge (5 to 12 fr. per day) for room, déjeuner, and dinner. Charges vary greatly, however, according to the season and to the traveller’s nationality. The beds are very good as a rule, and the rooms fairly clean, but the sanitation is often defective and the servants inefficient. Under these circumstances the scale of gratuities is lower than in Europe.

As for food, the staple of almost every repast in Algeria is mutton. The wheaten bread is generally excellent. Among the best wines are the white of Médéa and Mascara, the red and the white of Tlemcen and Staouéli, and the red of Miliana, Margueritte, and Hammam Rhira. At the Cafés, which are often beset by shoe-blacks (cireurs; 10 c.), we may try a cup of ‘Nossi-Bey’ (50 c.), considered a specially good coffee. A cup of coffee or tea at the Moorish cafés costs one sou, but strangers are often charged two (no gratuities). A few good Restaurants are to be found in the larger towns, and food also is provided by the better brasseries. Tobacco and cigars are much cheaper than in France, there being no government monopoly here, but there is a duty of 36 fr. per kilogramme (2⅕ lbs.) on imported cigars.

The Post Office arrangements are the same as in France. A favourite way of sending small parcels is by sample-post (‘échantillons sans valeur’; 12–15 days from Algiers to England), up to 350 grammes (about 12¼ oz.). Inland postage for letters of 20 grammes (not quite ¾ oz.) or post-cards 10 c., foreign 25 c. (for 20 gr.) or 10 c.—Senders of registered letters and telegrams must fill up a form giving their name and address. Postal orders and parcel-post are not recommended.

Drawing or Photographing in fortified places, if not expressly forbidden, is at least inadvisable, nor should maps or plans be too closely studied in public places. With regard to intercourse with the natives, see p. xxv. The police arrangements are generally as good as in Europe.

The Mosques (p. xxv) in Algeria are all state property and may therefore be visited at any time except during prayer. A fee (20–50 c.) need only be given to the custodian for providing slippers or rendering special services. Smoking is forbidden in the forecourts, and of course in the buildings themselves.

The Moorish Baths (ladies’ hours 12–6) may be glanced at in passing.

Books (comp. also pp. vi, 325). Sir R. L. Playfair’s Bibliography of Algeria (London, 2 vols.) goes no further than 1895. Among works on the history of Algeria and its development may be mentioned: M. Wahl, L’Algérie (5th ed., Paris, 1908; 5 fr.); Hanoteau et Letourneux, La Kabylie (2nd ed., 3 vols., Paris, 1893; 25 fr.); R. L. Playfair, The Scourge of Christendom (London, 1884); Graham, Roman Africa, History of the Roman Occupation (London, 1902); Randall Maciver and Wilkin, Libyan Notes (London, 1901). For the history of art: Stéphane Gsell, Les Monuments antiques de l’Algérie (2 vols., Paris, 1901; 20 fr.); W. et G. Marçais, Les Monuments Arabes de Tlemcen (Paris, 1903; out of print). Delightful descriptions of the country and its inhabitants are contained in R. S. Hichens’s The Garden of Allah (London, 1904); Frances E. Nesbitt’s Algeria and Tunis (London, 1906; 20s.); Irene Osgood’s novel ‘Servitude’; Guy de Maupassant’s novel Au Soleil (nouv. éd., Paris, 1894; 3½ fr.); E. Fromentin’s Un été dans le Sahara (Paris, 1857) and Une Année dans le Sahel (Paris, 1859); Col. Pein’s Lettres familières sur l’Algérie (Châlons-sur-Marne, 1871; 3 fr.).

The French Carte de l’Algérie (of the ‘Service Géographique de l’Armée’) is completed for the N. districts only. Each sheet on the scale of 1:50,000 costs 1½ fr.; sheets on the scale of 1:200,000 cost 90 c. each. Since 1908 M. Jourdan, of Algiers, has been bringing out a new official map for the north (1:200,000) and the south (1:400,000) at 1 fr. per sheet.