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    24 ALGIERS—FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

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    that away instant from the we are world spy all ing tlieir 1 a most treasures _hajDpy , and existence if all wer the e inmates as it looks must in

    lead . The Negresses ,, whom , we meet continually carrying fruit , breadand wine _5 or attending childrenare very remarkable figures ;

    they are , much taller than the generality , of women _, and very grandly formed their faces are beautiful or ugly according to taste , but we

    think no ; one can refuse to admire those "who have the Memnon cast of countenance . We have seen one Negress who certainly was a little

    Cleopatra in her way ; she was very young and very , slight , and extraordinarilfascinating in her gestures and movements . Quite at

    the top of the y town is a fine old pile of buildings called the Casbah , the ancient palace of the Deys of Algiersthe scene of murders without

    end and tortures untoldand the scene too , of the famous insult which the last Dey offered to the , representative of the French Government ;

    that slap on the ear with his fan which was the excuse for the declaration of war and the final seizure of Algeria . From the flat roof of

    the Casbah and the neighboring ramparts , the view of the town is very curious ; we can see down upon the roofs of nearly all the houses

    in Algiers , which lie below us like flights of broad irregular steps going down to the sea . So close do the houses appear to one

    another that we can hardly believe that it is not possible to step from one to the other without any difficulty .

    Leaving the town by the Casbah , or Eastern gate , we find ourselves on the side of a steep hillintersected by ravines covered with

    aloescactiand olive-trees . The , whole of the Tellor sea-shore , of hills , on which Aliers is situatedis very , fertilealmost

    range every kind of European tree g growing upon it , , with the addition , of ¦ point many of African the Tell trees is the , such Bouzareah as the palm which and is the 1230 juj feet ube . above The the highest sea ;

    the whole of the country to be seen , from this , _jDoint is inexpressibly be autiful and diversified . The Bouzaerah is five miles from Algiers ;

    the road leading to it by El Biar , or the Place of Wells , presents views of the Mediterranean with every variety of foreground , and

    Moorish houses , looking like square towers for defence rather than dwelling places , surrounded by cypress and fig-trees , sometimes

    having- also a wall of cactus , by way of outworks or defence . Some fine stone ines on this roadand one or two palm-trees of

    prodiious hei p ht . grow The mountains become , hiher as we riseor rather we g see more g and more of themand at last g the plain of the , Metidja

    is spread open before us like a golden , sea , perfectly flat for miles and milesbut as it nears the mountains gradually undulating and

    rearing up , and up until it folds itself into the mountain side and is lost in the blue masses of the Atlas . From the Bouzareah can be seen the

    grandest view of the immediate neighborhood of Algiers , and we strongly recommend all visitors to go there on their arrival ; the effect

    is , like that of looking on a _maiD , and will give a general idea of the country and the coast , which will add much to the interest of

    everything seen afterwards . The group of Arab tombs at the Bouzareah

    24 Algiers—First Impressions.

    24 ALGIERS—FIRST IMPRESSIONS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/24/