Monsieur Jean Causeret, Secrétaire Général du Gouvernement Général, who has supplied me with maps, Dr. Alfred S. Gubb, the well-known English physician in Algiers, the Rev. Lucius Fry, British Chaplain in Algiers, and Mrs. Clare Sheridan, who have all lent me photos appearing in these pages. My thanks are also due to Mrs. Welthin Winlo, whose untiring secretarial work has helped me to prepare this work, to Miss Una Thomas who has helped me with the proofs, and to Mr. Julian Sampson, who has not only supplied me with photographs, but who has also brought his expert knowledge to bear in the selecting of suitable illustrations.
Laghouat,
November, 1926.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I | The Object of the Book | [13] |
| II | A Little Geography | [17] |
| III | A Little History | [22] |
| IV | The French Conquest of Algeria | [29] |
| V | The Inhabitants To-Day | [35] |
| VI | French Administration of Algeria | [40] |
| VII | Arab Administration | [48] |
| VIII | Marabouts | [57] |
| IX | The Arab Character | [64] |
| X | Life among the Arabs | [72] |
| XI | Arab Women | [80] |
| XII | Arab Love and the Women of the Reserved Quarter | [87] |
| XIII | Arab Music and Dancing | [94] |
| XIV | Religion | [101] |
| XV | Religious Observances | [109] |
| XVI | “Mektoub” and Other Superstitions | [116] |
| XVII | Abd-El-Kader | [122] |
| XVIII | Arab Education | [128] |
| XIX | Sport among the Arabs | [133] |
| XX | The Nomads | [140] |
| XXI | Sheep-Breeding | [146] |
| XXII | Other Products | [152] |
| XXIII | Algiers | [158] |
| XXIV | Two Excursions | [164] |
| XXV | Voyage | [170] |
| XXVI | Bou Saada | [176] |
| XXVII | The First Glimpse of the Sahara | [182] |
| XXVIII | The Oasis of Laghouat | [187] |
| XXIX | The Mzab | [194] |
| XXX | Ghardaia and Adjoining Towns | [201] |
| XXXI | Guerrera and the Sand Desert | [208] |
| XXXII | Biskra | [213] |
| XXXIII | Timgad | [219] |
| XXXIV | Djemila the Desolate | [226] |
| XXXV | Constantine to the Coast | [232] |
| XXXVI | Kebylie | [239] |
| XXXVII | Traveling Off the Beaten Track | [246] |
| XXXVIII | Few Sketches of Arab Life | [252] |
| XXXIX | A Last Glimpse of the Arab | [295] |
| Index | [303] |
ALGERIA FROM WITHIN
CHAPTER I
THE OBJECT OF THE BOOK
A writer who sets out to study a foreign country such as Algeria is faced with two difficulties: the first, the natural suspicion of the Mohammedan population; the second, the little information obtainable from the French inhabitants of the country.
It has been possible to overcome the first difficulty by making the Arab realize that there was no intention to interfere with his interior life or to obtain information in order to denounce family secrets. The second difficulty has remained. This is due to two factors. The first is the ignorance of the majority of Frenchmen, whether they be business men or colonists, of the customs and peculiarities of any area not neighboring that in which they actually dwell; the second is the French administrator’s apparent lack of information on anything beyond that which is not already to be found in the official handbooks.
When occasionally one meets some one with a deeper knowledge of the matters which should interest him, it is hard, as a foreigner, to obtain any valuable data. The Frenchman finds it difficult to realize that any one can wish to peer into the inner workings of a foreign country without some ulterior motive. If it is not deliberate spying for a jealous government, it is to steal a march on some business enterprise!