The Rue de Lyon next leads through the suburb of Le Hamma to the (½ M.) *Jardin d’Essai (Pl. E, 9; adm., see p. [220]), or Jardin du Hamma, the botanic garden of Algiers and at the same time a nursery-garden and public promenade. Founded by government in 1832 and frequently extended, it became the property of the Compagnie Algérienne (p. [219]) in 1878. In wealth of vegetation it vies with the botanic gardens of Palermo and Lisbon, which, however, have been more advantageously laid out. It consists of two sections: a hill-garden on the verge of the Sahel plateau and the main garden in the once marshy, but now extremely fertile coast-plain.
Opposite the S. Entrance of the main garden, in the Rue de Lyon, is the dilapidated Mauro-Turkish Fontaine du Hamma (16th cent.). From this point, near the small Hôt.-Restaurant du Château Rouge, the Chemin des Arcades (p. [231]) ascends to the Hill Garden, a wooded park, with tall araucarias, huge eucalypti, and other trees.
Through the Main Garden a magnificent avenue of planes runs from the chief entrance towards the sea. Halfway is a circular space with a café. The W. half of the garden, to the left of the avenue, is occupied by the less interesting nursery-garden.
The E. half of the garden is intersected by shady walks at right angles to each other. Parallel with the main avenue are the narrower dragon-tree and palm avenue and the magnolia and fig-tree avenue. The chief cross-walks, parallel with the Rue de Lyon, are the date-palm, the bamboo, and the dwarf-palm and rose avenues. From the S. entrance we turn at once to the right into the date-palm avenue, where, from the steps opposite the offices (‘administration’), we have a charming view of the dragon-tree and palm avenue. Then, passing the magnolia and fig-tree avenue, we go straight to the S. angle of the garden, where we are struck with the profusion of tropical plants, outstanding among which are the huge Ficus nitida with its exposed roots and a group of yuccas (the rare Yucca draconis and other palm-lilies). A little lower down, near the artificial island with its aquatic plants, are a group of *Strelitzias and (beyond a tall Livistona australis) a beautiful little palm-grove. We next follow the *Bamboo walk, and from it turn to the right into the *Dragon-tree (p. [30]) and palm avenue, which leads towards the sea. Farther on, to the left, beyond the dwarf-palm (Chamærops excelsa) and rose avenue, is the small Zoologie (adm., see p. [220]), with a few specimens of Algerian animals.
Opposite the N. Entrance, in the Rue Sadi-Carnot, at the station of the outer tramway-line, rises a group of date-palms, where the cafés Oasis des Palmiers and Closerie des Palmiers are much frequented by the citizens in the afternoon (déj. 2½, D. 3 fr.). Beyond the railway line, from the shore near the sea-baths (p. [219]; restaur.), we obtain a delightful *View of Algiers. When the wind is to the N. or N.W. the breakers here are grander than at the Rampe de l’Amirauté (p. [223]).
The Rue Sadi-Carnot ends at the Oued Knis (p. [231]), on the outskirts of the small town of Hussein-Dey (Hôt. de la Gare; railway and tramway station; see pp. [217], 247), where the Tobacco Factory has swallowed up the villa of the last deys of Algeria. The inhabitants (5700) are mostly Spaniards from the Balearic Islands (‘Mahonnais’), who grow early vegetables.
From Hussein-Dey to Maison-Carrée, see p. [247].
From the village of Le Ruisseau (p. [231]), at the end of the Rue de Lyon and at the mouth of the Ravin de la Femme Sauvage, a road ascends in windings to the (1¼ M.) village of Kouba (427 ft.; tramway No. 4, see p. [219]), in a charming, well-wooded site. At the entrance to the village, on the site of a kubba, stands a Church with a long flight of steps. The flat roof of the Grand Séminaire, a training-college for priests founded by Card. Lavigerie (p. [346]; adm. by leave of the Superior), commands an extensive *Panorama of the Mitidja, the Atlas of Blida, and the Jurjura range.