“Every girl who shall not have paid her monthly due, as well as her fines, within ten days after the visit to the Dispensary, shall undergo an imprisonment of not less than five days and not more than three months, unless she establish her indigence as aforesaid.”
“Girls detained in prison shall, on the first symptoms of syphilis, be transferred to the Dispensary for treatment, after which they shall be remanded to prison to serve the remainder of the time.”
“The physician of the Dispensary shall not only treat patients in that establishment, but shall pay periodical, accidental, and all necessary visits to the prostitutes, who are hereby subjected to such visits. He shall visit the Dispensary twice a day, from 7 to 9 A.M. and from 3 to 4 P.M. He shall enter upon his memorandum-book, and upon the pass-book of the girl, the result of all accidental or necessary visits. He shall receive a salary of two thousand francs.”[250]
This law is in force at the present time, and is said to have led to great inconvenience. Police agents are accused of levying black mail on the prostitutes to an enormous extent, in the shape of fines, dues for going to balls, hush-money for escaping the visit to the Dispensary, presents to the policeman on the birth of his children, etc. The product of the tax is inordinately large, amounting, independently of fines, to one hundred and twenty francs, or twenty-four dollars per annum for each girl. Several administrators have recommended its diminution or total suppression, but it is still retained.[251]
In the year 1838, when the present law was passed, the number of women inscribed on the police register was 320, the total population of Algiers being 34,882, of whom two thirds were Africans and one third Europeans; but the mayor of the city gave it as his opinion that this figure (320) was in reality far below the truth. In 1846 measures were taken for enforcing the police regulations more strictly than before, and some care was used to procure correct statistics of population and prostitution.[252] We compile the following table from several given by Dr. Duchesne:
| Year. | Registered Prostitutes (average). | POPULATION. | ||
| African (estimated). | European. | Total. | ||
| 1847 | 442 | 25,000 | 42,113 | 67,113 |
| 1848 | 387 | 25,000 | 37,572 | 62,572 |
| 1849 | 395 | 25,000 | 37,572 | 63,072 |
| 1850 | 479 | 26,000 | 29,392 | 55,392 |
| 1851 | 342 | .... | .... | 55,392 |
To these figures, some of which are only approximative, must be added the number of French soldiers in the garrison at Algiers. At times the effective force has been as large as twelve or fifteen thousand men.
Another point of interest is the nationality of the prostitutes of Algiers. It is known that the native women are loose in their morals. In many parts of the interior it is common for fathers or brothers to let out their daughters or sisters by the night or the week to strangers, and the young women themselves are only too willing to ratify a bargain which promises to gratify their unbounded sensuality. The following table gives the nationality of the registered prostitutes during the period 1846-1851.[253]
| Years. | EUROPEANS. | AFRICANS. | ||||||||||
| France. | Mahon. | Italy. | Germany. | Great Britain. | Spain. | Holland. | Arabs and Moors. | Jewesses. | Mulattoes. | Negresses. | Total. | |
| 1847 | 107 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 58 | 2 | 203 | 26 | 6 | 16 | 451 |
| 1848 | 78 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 49 | ... | 181 | 28 | 7 | 16 | 387 |
| 1849 | 82 | 8 | 2 | 17 | 3 | 60 | ... | 183 | 22 | 7 | 17 | 401 |
| 1850 | 113 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 57 | ... | 248 | 19 | 7 | 17 | 493 |
| 1851 | 81 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 37 | ... | 170 | 12 | 3 | 13 | 336 |
On inquiring for the causes of prostitution at Algiers, Dr. Duchesne found that they might be summed up under three heads: 1st. Poverty, mainly due to the French conquest and the wars which followed. To the present day it appears that it is not unusual for an Arab chief to relieve his wants by sending his prettiest daughter to Algiers to perform a campaign as a prostitute. 2d. The idleness in which all Arab and Moorish women are trained. It was proved that, while all the European women were capable of working at some calling or other, and did work during their stay in the hospital, not one of the native women had any idea of manual employment. A few could sing, and had at one time gained a livelihood as street-singers, but the immense majority were absolutely incapable of doing any thing for a livelihood. 3d. The Oriental idea that the woman is a chattel, to be sold or hired out by her legitimate owner, father, brother, or husband. This idea, which prevails in many savage nations, among others, many of our own Indian tribes, is, of course, the best of all entering wedges for prostitution.[254]