Algeria from within

by R. V. C. Bodley

Laghouat is a very typical oasis of the south. From the rocky eminence can be seen the town, clustering on either side of the rocky barrier; the mosque on an eminence in the center, modern and rather gaudy, but not unpleasant to look at; the very unprepossessing Catholic church, rather like a wedding cake; and the two oases, north and south. The town itself is comparatively modern, having been rebuilt on the site of the old city which was utterly destroyed by the French in 1852 to punish its heroic defenders for having held out so long against them.

There are two versions as to the origin of the name Laghouat. The first suggestion is from the Arab word “gaouth,” or more exactly “rouat,” meaning a house in a dip with a garden, and which has been contracted into “El aghouat.” The second is “El-aghouat,” of which the derivation is a mountain the ridge of which resembles the teeth of a saw. Both are plausible suggestions, as all the houses have gardens, and the mountains in the neighborhood give one very much the impression of saws.

Prior to the eighteenth century there is very little information to be had concerning Laghouat. It was evidently an oasis frequented by nomads, but there does not appear to have been any definite settlement. In 1700, however, Sidi-El-Hadj-Aïssa, a very saintly marabout, collected the tribes of the district about him and made it clear that it would be in their interest to group themselves in one body, and it must have been at this time that the present Confederation of the Larbas came into existence.

Sidi-El-Hadj-Aïssa, who is the patron of the oasis, is a figure of great importance in the Moslem history of Algeria, and he is venerated throughout the country, more especially as a prophet. Concerning the truth of his foresight it is not for us to criticize, but the facts are worth noting. It appears that after creating this center and making of the divided nomads one people, they did not show the desired gratitude, and as punishment the marabout laid a terrible curse on his followers. In the curse he prophesied the downfall of the city, internal war, and the French invasion. And, though it is too long to go into, it is curious to note that all the details of the prophecy occurred.

He made a further prophecy which is kept a great secret, to the effect that Algeria would be delivered by a great chief who would rise in Morocco and finally become Khalifat of North Africa.

I leave it to the reader to draw his own conclusions, but the fact remains that the French did invade Algeria, and that events in Morocco seemed at one time to indicate a fulfilment of his words.

The town reconstructed on the site of the old city may be more solid, but it could not be less beautiful. Straight streets running at right-angles, plain and drab—it is the typical architecture of the modern southern town. There is a certain picturesque atmosphere in the quarter bordering on the southern oasis, but it is very poor and dirty.

The people live in small houses, and ply their business quite humbly. Modernisms have not crept in, and the shopkeepers do not worry the visitor to buy. When the day’s work is over they repair to their gardens—the gardens which have made Laghouat famous. Every man who can afford it has his own piece of land in the oasis. It may be an acre, it may be three, but, all the same, it is his garden and he is proud of it. Surrounded by high walls, it is planted with palm-trees, peach-trees, vines, apricots, figs, oranges, pomegranates, pears, medlars, and, in fact, all kinds of fruit.

The oasis being at a comparatively high level, the date-palms do not produce a very marketable fruit, such as is found at Biskra in the south, and in Laghouat a palm-tree only brings in fifty francs. All the other fruit-trees, however, bear abundantly, too abundantly, for, there being no railway, there is no outlet, and in early summer peaches can be had for one franc the dozen, and apricots are given away. Some people even find it too much trouble to carry the fruit to market, and they merely eat what they can and use the rest for manure.

Vegetables are in almost the same position, and are sold for negligible sums. It is astonishing to realize that such fertility exists so close to the wastes of the desert. There is a wonderful opportunity for an enterprising man with capital who comes to Laghouat with a fleet of lorries and bears away the fruit and vegetables to Algiers. The purchase of the raw material will cost him next to nothing; it is merely a question of transport. A jam factory in Laghouat would pay a hundred per cent., but let it be hoped, for the sake of the peace and beauty of the surroundings, that no enterprising capitalist will come and spoil a land of pure delight, where living is so easy and so cheap.