Chapter CVIII: Act 1890: was passed and the reconstruction commenced in (14)

In short, five years after the capitulation of Algiers, the French dominion extended as yet over only six coast towns. Clausel, who returned with the same colonial ambitions as in 1830, resolved to conquer the interior of the country. He marched against the amir, defeated him and entered Mascara. Then he proceeded to deliver the inhabitants of Tlemcen, who had been attacked by Abd-el-Kader, and there he left a garrison. Turning towards the east, Clausel organized at Bona the first expedition against Constantine. This failed, and the only result of it was the occupation of Guelma. Clausel was recalled and replaced by General C. M. D. Damremont (February 1837). The task of maintaining the position of France was then divided between Thomas Robert Bugeaud (1784-1849), acting independently in the west, and Damremont, who directed all his efforts towards the east. By the signature of the celebrated treaty of the Tafna (June 1, 1837), Bugeaud made peace with Abd-el-Kader. In return for a vague recognition of the sovereignty of France in Africa, this treaty gave up to the amir the whole of western Algeria. France reserved to herself only Oran and its environs, Mazagran, Algiers and the Metija; she gave up Tlemcen and the Titeri beylik. This was a triumph for Abd-el-Kader, who rerarded the peace as but a truce which would allow him time to gain strength to resume the war under more favourable conditions.

Damremont, on his part, directed a second expedition on Constantine. The town was taken, but Damremont was killed (October 1837). Marshal Sylvain Charles Valee (1773-1846), who replaced him, founded Philippeville to serve as a seaport for the region of Constantine, occupied Jijelli, and at the head of the expeditionary column returned from Constantine to Algiers by the interior, passing through Setif and les Portes de fer. Abd-el-Kader maintained that the French had thus violated the treaty of the Tafna, and began the war again. For two years his power had been increasing. A whole hierarchy of khalifas, aghas and caids obeyed him. He had a regular army of 8000 infantry and 2000 cavalry, without counting 50,000 goums (bodies of Arab horsemen) brought by the khalifas. He was well furnished with war material, possessing magazines and arsenals in the heart of the Tell. He had attacked and subjugated all who were not willing to recognize his authority. Under his influence old rivalries were effaced; at his voice all the tribes joined in the holy war. On the 18th of November 1839 he sent his declaration of war to Marshal Valee, but the impatient Hajutas had already devastated the Metija. Marshal Valee marched against Abd-el-Kader, and at first gained some successes: the French occupied Cherchel, Medea and Miliana. But at the end of 1840 valee was recalled and replaced by Bugeaud, who adopted totally different tactics. The system of Marshal Valee had been the defensive: he multiplied the fortified posts in order to draw the enemy to a spot chosen beforehand. Bugeaud resolutely adopted the offensive, reduced the weight carried by the soldiers in order to increase the mobility of his troops, and carried the war into the province of Oran, from which Abd-el-Kader drew his principal resources. One after the other, all the magazines of the amir--those at Takdempt, Boghar, Taza, Saida and Sebdu--were taken and destroyed. In the spring of 1843 the duc d'Aumale had an opportunity of surprising the smala (camp) of Abd-el-Kader near Taguin. This was a serious blow for the amir, whose determination to continue the contest was, however, as strong as ever. He took refuge in Morocco, and induced that power to declare war on the French on the pretext that they would not give up the frontier post of Lalla-Maghnia. Morocco was soon vanquished. While Francois, prince de Joinville, was bombarding Tangier and Mogador, Bugeaud gained the victory of the Isly (August 1844). Morocco signed a treaty of peace at Tangier on the 10th of September 1844.

The struggle, however, was not ended. Islam made a supreme effort in Algeria. The Dahra and the Warsenis rose at the voice of a fanatic called Bu-Maza (``the goat man''), a Khuan of the order of the Mouley-Taieb. Elsewhere other ``masters of the hour,'' false Bu-Mazas, rose. Abd-el-Kader reappeared in Algeria, which he overran with a rapidity which baffled all pursuit. He beat the French at Sidi Brahim, raided the tribes of the Tell Oranais which had abandoned him, penetrated as far as the borders of the Metija, and reached the Jurjura, where he endeavoured to rouse the Kabyles. But his eloquence offended the narrow and cramped particularism of those little democratic cities, deaf to the sentiment of the common interest. From that time he played a losing game. He returned toward the west, penetrating farther and farther to the south. Badly received by the great aristocratic family of the Walid-sidi- Sheikh, he re-entered Morocco, but the emperor of that country, dreading his influence and fearing difficulties with the French, drove him out. This was the end. On the 23rd of December 1847 Abd-el-Kader surrendered to General Lamoriciere in the plains of Sidi-Brahim. His adversary, Bugeaud, was there no longer. Having failed to persuade the French government to adopt his plans of military colonization, he had retired in June 1847 and had been replaced by the duc d'Aumale.

The surrender of Abd-el-Kader marks the end of the period of the conquest. It is true that Great Kabylia had to be subdued only ten years later, and that terrible insurrections still had to be quelled. But at the end of the reign of Louis Philippe the essential work was accomplished. All that remained was to complete and to secure it.

French progress.

Under the second republic Algeria was governed successively by Generals L. E. Cavaignac (February to April 1848), N. A. T. Changarnier (April to September 1848), V. Charon (September 1848 to October 1850), and A. H. d'Hautpoul (October 1850 to December 1851). The policy followed at this period consisted in assimilating Algeria to France. Important efforts were made to attract French colonists to the country, the colonization of Algeria appearing as a means towards the extinction of pauperism in the mother-country. This point of view suggested numerous projects, as chimerical as they were generous; two millions sterling (50 million francs) were expended with a view to installing Parisian unemployed workmen as colonists, but this attempt failed miserably. The most remarkable military events of this period were (1) the siege and destruction of the oasis of Zaatcha, where the inhabitants, displeased by an alteration in the tax on palms, rose at the voice of a fanatic named Bu-Zian; (2) the ineffectual campaign of Marshal Saint Arnaud in Little Kabylia, where the tribes rose at the instigation of Bu-Magla (``the mule man'') in 1851.

Marshal J. L. C. A. Randon (1795-1871), named governor- general of Algeria after the coup d'etat, had at first to repress in the south a rising of a new ``master of the hour,'' Mahomet ben Abdallah, the sherif of Wargla. A column seized Laghouat (El Aghuat) in December 1852. Si-Hamza, leader of the Walidsidi-Sheikh, an ally of France, indignant at the growing influence of a base-born agitator, pursued him and seized Wargla (1853). In 1854 General Desvaux entered Tuggurt. Henceforth matters remained quiet in the region of the Sahara, and Marshal Randon turned his efforts towards Kabylia. Neither the Romans nor the Turks had been able to subdue this square mountainous tract, of which Bougie, Setif, Aumale and Dellys form the four corners. But in two months (May to June 1857) Marshal Randon made himself master of it, and built in the heart of this country Fort Napoleon (now Fort National), ``the thorn in the side of Kabylia,'' whose batteries commanded all the Kabyle villages of the region.

In 1858 the creation of a ``ministry of Algeria and of the colonies'' brought about the resignation of Marshal Randon. The administrative headquarters of Algeria was then transferred from Algiers to Paris. The ministry of Algeria was entrusted first to Prince Napoleon, and afterwards to the marquis J. N. S. P. de Chasseloup-Laubat (1805-1873). But this office, created at the least prematurely, soon disappeared without causing any regrets. This ephemeral regime lasted from the 24th of June 1858 to the 24th of November 1860. The decree of the 24th of November 1860 transferred the services from Paris back to Algiers, and re-established the functions of governor-general, which were exercised at the end of the second empire first by Marshal Pelissier, duc de Malakoff (December 1860 to September 1864) and then by Marshal Macmahon, duc de Magenta (September 1864 to July 1870). At this period the conception of the Arab kingdom was prevalent. The emperor Napoleon III., in a celebrated letter, wrote that he was as much the emperor of the Arabs as the emperor of the French. Algeria was considered as a kind of great military fief, and the officers who ruled there commonly took the side of the native chieftains against the civil population. European colonization, hampered by the ill-will of the Arab bureaux, then made little progress.

Revolt of 1864-1871.

It was at this period that the great insurrection of the Walidsidi-Sheikh broke out in the Sud Oranais. This powerful family had lived up to that time on a good understanding with France; Si-Hamza, chief of the elder branch, had remained until his death (1861) a faithful ally of France. Thanks to him, the security of the southern frontier was assured. But after his death his son, Si-Sliman, imbued with anti-French sentiments, revolted in 1864 and massacred the Beaupretre column. Several years were occupied in quelling the insurrection. Compelled to guard themselves on the south against the Walid-sidi-Sheikh,the French realized how much they lost by not having the support of these great chieftains. They then accepted the services offered to them by Si-Sliman-ben- Kadour, chief of the younger branch of the Walid-sidi-Sheikh, who maintained tranquillity in the Sud Oranais during the great insurrection of Kabylia in 1871.

The causes of this insurrection were manifold, and, moreover, interdependent: the injury done to the military prestige of France by its defeats in Europe; the fall of the imperial government, in which, in the eyes of the natives, the authority of France was incarnate; and the insults offered with impunity in the streets by the civil population to the officers, who were loved and respected by the Arabs, at the same time that the decree of Adolphe Cremieux accorded to the Algerine Jews the rights of French citizens. The great native chiefs, bewildered and disquieted, thought themselves menaced. The insurrection was inevitable. Mokrani, bach-agha of the Mejana, whom the imperial government had loaded with honours, gave the signal. He had an interview with El Haddad, the sheikh of the Khuans, the religious confraternity of Sidi-Abd-er-Rahman, whose influence was great, and having secured his support in April 1871, Mokrani proclaimed the holy war. At the bidding of El Haddad the whole of Kabylia rose, and numbers of French colonists were massacred; the columns of Colonel Cerez and General F. G. Saussier had to engage in numerous fights. The death of the bach-agha at the battle of Suflat, the submission of the Sheikh El Haddad, and finally the arrest of Bu-Meyrag, brother of Mokrani, mark the declining stages of the insurrection, which was completely suppressed by August 1871. A heavy war contribution was imposed upon the rebels and their lands were sequestrated. The Beni-Manassir, who rose almost at the same time in the Dahra, were subdued soon after. Subsequently the native population of the Algerine Tell remained quiet, the massacre of the colonists at Margueritte many years later being a local and isolated movement.

Since 1870.

Under the third republic Algeria was governed successively by Admiral L. H. de Gueydon (March 1871 to June 1873), General A. E. A. Chanzy (June 1873 to February 1879), J. P. L. Albert Grevy (March 1879 to November 1881), Tirman (November 1881 to April 1891), Jules Cambon (April 1891 to September 1897), Louis Lepine (September 1897 to August 1898), E. J. Laferriere (August 1898 to October 1900), Charles Jonnart (October 1900 to June 1901), A. J. P. Revoil (June 1901 to April 1903), and again Jonnart. During the first years of the new regime a keen reaction was produced against the political system of the imperial government in Africa. The civil territory was considerably enlarged at the expense of the military. An effort was made to attract French colonists to Algeria by gratuitous concessions of land. Some lands were granted in particular to natives of Alsace-Lorraine, who preferred to retain French nationality after the war. Peasants from the south of France, whose vines had been destroyed by the phylloxera, crossed the Mediterranean and established in Algeria an important vineyard. This double current of immigration notably increased the French population of North Africa. The tendency then was to treat Algeria as a piece of France. This assimilative policy attained its culminating point in the so-called decrees of rattachement (1881), in pursuance of which each ministerial department in France was made responsible for Algerine affairs which came by their nature within its jurisdiction.

After a great inquiry held in 1892 by a senatorial committee a reaction was produced in France against this excessive assimilation. The system of rattachement was in great part abandoned, and decentralization was obtained by augmenting the powers of the governor-general, and by granting to Algeria legal personality and a special budget (see above, Central Government.) These reforms appear to have given satisfaction to Algerian opinion. Profoundly troubled as Algeria was in the last years of the 19th century by the anti-Semitic agitation, which occasioned frequent changes of governors, it appears to-day to have turned aside from sterile political struggles to interest itself exclusively in the economic development of the country.

The movement of expansion towards the south was continued under the third republic. In 1873 General G. A. A. Gailifet entered El Golea. In 1882 the oasis of Mzab was annexed. In the Sud Oranais an insurrection, fomented by a marabout named Bu-Amama, broke out in 1881, and the insurgents massacred the European labourers engaged in the collection of alfa (or esparto) grass. But soon the French columns re-established peace, and Bu-Amama had to take refuge in Morocco. In 1883 Si-Hamza, chief of the elder branch of the Wahd-sidi-Sheikh, made his submission, and since then that family has remained devoted to France.

The attempts at penetration into the extreme south, abandoned after the massacre by Tuareg of a mission sent in 1881, under Colonel Paul Flatters, to study the question of railway communication with Senegal, were begun again in 1890, in which year the British government recognized the western Sahara as within the French sphere. Since then military stations and scientific and commercial exploration have increased. But the results of these efforts remained inconsiderable until the spring of 1900, when the French authorities decided to occupy the oases of Gurara, Tuat and Tidikelt. This being accomplished by March 1901, the conquest of the Algerine Sahara was from that time completed, and nothing any longer hindered the attempts to join Algeria and the Sudan across the Sahara. (A. GIR.)

BIBLIOORAPHY.--For a general account of Algeria, see Maurice Wahl, L'Algerie (5th ed., Paris, 1908); P. Leroy-Beaulieu, Algerie et Tunisie (2nd ed., Paris, 1897); J. A. Battandier and L. Trabut, L'Algerie; le sol et les habitants (Paris, 1898), specially valuable for agriculture and fauna; Arthur Girault, Principes de colonisation et de legislation coloniale, Tome iii. ch. i.-viii. (3rd ed., Paris, 1908), containing valuable bibliographies of works relating to legislation, jurisprudence, &c.; Jules Duval, L'Algerie et les colonies francaises (Paris, 1877). The Statistiaue generale de l'Algerie is published periodically by the Algerian government. The British Foreign Office publishes annual Reports on the Trade of Algeria; Sir R. Lambert Playfair's Handbook for Travellers in Algeria (Murray's Handbooks), corrected to 1902, is a capital guide to the country, as is also Algerie et Tunisie (Paris, 1906), in the Guides- Joanne Series; the Bibliography of Algeria (London, 1888), and the Supplement to the Bibliography of Algeria (London, 1898), by Sir Lambert Playfair, contain thousands of entries and many notes. J. A. Battandier and L. Trabut, Flore de l'Algerie (Algiers and Paris, 1884 and onwards), contains a scientific and descriptive catalogue, in several volumes, of the indigenous flora. For the geology of Algeria, see M. A. Pomel, Description stratigraphique generale de l'Algerie (1889), and numerous papers by E. Ficheur, L. Gentil, G. Rolland, P. Thomas, and J. Welsch will be found in the Bull. Soc. Geol. France, and Compt. Rend, Acad. Sci. The volumes of the International Geological Congress review Algerian geology. The French government publication, Exploration scientifique de l'Algerie (20 vols., 1844-1853), gives the results of investigations made in 1840-1842. O. Depont and X. Conpolani, Les Confeeries religiouses musulmanes (Algiers, 1897), and Carte de l,Algerie . . . domaine geographique des confreries (Algiers, 1898), have special reference to the Islamic sects in Algeria. Stephane Gsell's Les monuments antiques de l'Algerie (2 vols., Baris, 1901), one of the publications of the Service des monuments historiques of the colony, is an authoritative and finely illustrated work on the antiquities of Algeria. For archaeology see also the bibliography in AFRICA, ROMAN.

The best best elementary work on the history of Algeria is that of Cat, Petite histoire de l'Algerie (Algiers, 1889). For more profound researches consult: (a) for the Turkish period: H. D. de Gramont, Histoire d'Alger sous la domination turque (1887); Mercier, Histoire de l'Afrique septenirionale (1888-1891); Eugene Plantet, Correspondance des deys d'Alger avec la cour de France (1889--1892); Paul Masson, Histoire dec etablissements et du commerce francais dans l'Afrique barbaresque (1903); General Faure-Biguet, Histoire de l'A.irique septentrionale sous la domination musulmane (1905); (b) for the French period: Camille Rousset, La Conquete d'Alger (8th ed., 1899), Les Commencements d'une conquete; l,Algerie de 1830 a 1840, with atlas (1887), and La Conquete de l'Algerie, 1841- 1857, with atlas (1889); Pelissier, Annales algeriennes (1834); Leon Roches, Trente-deux ans a travers l'Islam (1884-1837); Colonel Trumelet, Histoire de l'insurrection des Guled-Sidi-Cheik (1887); Rinn, Histoire de l'insurrection de 1871 (1891).

The best general maps are those of the Carte de l'Algerie, in numerous sheets, on the scale of 1:50,000 (published by the Service geographique de l'Armee, Paris). (F. R. C.)

1 The name ``Great'' Atlas is more correctly applied to the main range in Morocco.

2 The figures given are not those of the communes, but of the towns proper, certain classes of persons (such as troops, lunatics, convicts) excluded from the municipal franchise not being counted.

3 This western beylik corresponded roughly with the former sultanate of Tlemcen (q.v..)

ALGHERO, a seaport and episcopal see on the W. coast of Sardinia, in the province of Sassari, 21 m. S.S.W. by rail from the town of Sassari. Pop. (1901) 10,779. The see was founded in 1503, but the cathedral itself dates from the 12th century, though it has been reconstructed. The town was strongly fortified by medieval walls, which have to some extent been demolished. It was originally founded by the Doria family of Genoa about 1102, but was occupied by the house of Aragon in 1354, who held it successfully against various attacks until it fell to the house of Savoy with the rest of Sardinia in 1720. Catalonian is still spoken here. Charles V. visited Alghero on his way to Africa in 1541. The coral and fishing industries are the most important in Alghero, but agriculture has made some progress in the district, which produces good wine. There is a large penal establishment containing over 700 convicts. Seven miles to the W.N.W. is the fine natural harbour of Porto Conte, secure in all weather, and on the W. of this harbour is the Capo Caccia, with two stalactite grottos, the finest of which, the Grotta di Nettuno, is accessible only from the sea. The important prehistoric necropolis of Anghelu Ruju was excavated in 1904 61 m. N. of Alghero (Notizie degli Scavi, 1904, 301 seq.).

ALGIDUS MONS, a portion of the ridge forming the rim of the larger crater of the Alban volcano (see ALBANUS MONS) and more especially the eastern portion, traversed by a narrow opening (now called the Cava d'Aglio) of which the Via Latina took advantage, and which frequently appears in the early military history of Rome. That a distinct town existed (Dion. Halic. x. 21, xi. 3) on the mountain is improbable; there must have been a fortified post, but the extensive castle on the hill (Maschio d'Ariano) to the south of the Via Latina is entirely medieval, a fact which has not been recognized by some topographers.

ALGIERS (Fr. Alger, Arab. Jezair, i.e. The Islands), capital and largest city of Algeria, North Africa, seat of the governor- general, of a court of appeal, and of an archbishop, and station of the French XIX. corps d'armee. It is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean, to which it gives its name, in 36 deg. 47' N., 3 deg. 4' E., and is built on the slopes of the Sahel, a chain of hills parallel to the coast. The view of the city from the sea is one of great beauty. Seen from a distance it appears like a succession of dazzling white terraces rising from the water's edge. The houses being seemingly embowered in the luxuriant verdure of the Sahel, the effect is imposing and picturesque, and has given rise to the Arab comparison of the town to a diamond set in an emerald frame. The city consists of two parts; the modern French town, built on the level ground by the seashore, and the ancient city of the deys, which climbs the steep hill behind the modern town and is crowned by the kasbah or citadel, 400 ft. above the sea. The kasbah forms the apex of a triangle of which the quays form the base.

Extending along the front of the town is the boulevard de la Republique, a fine road built by Sir Morton Peto on a series of arches, with a frontage of 3700 ft., and bordered on one side by handsome buildings, whilst a wide promenade overlooking the harbour runs along the other. Two inclined roads lead from the centre of the boulevard to the quay 40 ft. below. On the quay are the landing-stages, the custom-house and the railway station. At the southern end of the boulevard de la Republique is the square de la Republique, formerly the place Bresson, in which is the municipal theatre; at the other extremity of the boulevard is the place du Gouvernement, which is planted on three sides with a double row of plane trees and is the fashionable resort for evening promenade. The principal streets of the city meet in the place du Gouvernement: the rue Bab Azoun (Gate of Grief) which runs parallel to the boulevard de la Republique; the rue Bab-el-Oued (River Gate) which goes north to the site of the old arsenal demolished in 1900; the rue de la Marine which leads to the ancient harbour, and in which are the two principal mosques. A large part of the modern town lies south of the square de la Republique; in this quarter are the law courts, hotel de ville, post office and other public buildings. The streets in the modern town are regularly laid out; several are arcaded on both sides.

The old town presents a strong contrast to the new town. The streets are narrow, tortuous and inaccessible to carriages. They often end in a cul-de-sac. The principal street is the rue de la Kasbah, which leads up to the citadel by 497 steps. The streets are joined by alleys just wide enough to pass through. The houses, built of stone and whitewashed, are square, substantial, flat-topped buildings, presenting to the street bare walls, with a few slits protected by iron gratings in place of windows. Each house has a quadrangle in the centre, into which it looks, and which is entered by a low, narrow doorway. Shops in the native quarter are simply chambers in the walls of the houses, and open at the front. In these shops the few Moorish industries are carried on, such as embroidery in gold and silver thread, the making of kid slippers of every kind and colour, the manufacture of gold and silver ornaments. To European eyes the native city, with its motley throng of Moors, Arabs, Jews and negroes, is the most interesting sight in Algiers. Various squares are set apart for markets, and here are to be witnessed scenes of the greatest animation.

The public buildings of chief interest are the kasbah, the government offices (formerly the British consulate), the palaces of the governor-general and the archbishop--all these are fine Moorish houses; the ``Grand'' and the ``New', Mosques, the Roman Catholic cathedral of St Philippe, the church of the Holy Trinity (Church of England), and the Bibliotheque Nationale d'Alger--a Turkish palace built in 1799-1800. The kasbah was begun in 1516 on the site of an older building, and served as the palace of the deys until the French conquest. A road has been cut through the centre of the building, the mosque turned into barracks, and the hall of audience allowed to fall into ruin. There still remain a minaret and some marble arches and columns. Traces exist of the vaults in which were stored the treasures of the dey. The Grand Mosque (Jamaa-el-Kebir) is traditionally said to be the oldest mosque in Algiers. The pulpit (mimbar) bears an inscription showing that the building existed in 1018. The minaret was built by Abu Tachfin, sultan of Tlemcen, in 1324. The interior of the mosque is square and is divided into aisles by columns joined by Moorish arches. The principal facade, in the rue de la Marine, consists of a row of white marble columns supporting an arcade. The New Mosque (Jamaa-el-Jedid), dating from the 17th century, is in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted by a large white cupola, with four small cupolas at the corners. The minaret is 90 ft. high. The interior resembles that of the Grand Mosque. The church of the Holy Trinity (built in 1870) stands at the southern end of the rue d'Isly near the site of the demolished Fort Bab Azoun. The interior is richly decorated with various coloured marbles. Many of these marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to the English residents (voluntary and involuntary) of Algiers from the time of John Tipton, British consul in 1580. One tablet records that in 1631 two Algerine pirate crews landed in Ireland, sacked Baltimore, and carried off its inhabitants to slavery; another recalls the romantic escape of Ida M`Donnell, daughter of Admiral Ulric, consul- general of Denmark, and wife of the British consul. When Lord Exmouth was about to bombard the city in 1816, the British consul was thrown into prison and loaded with chains. Mrs. M`Donnell--who was but sixteen--escaped to the British fleet disguised as a midshipman, carrying a basket of vegetables in which her baby was hidden. (Mrs. M`Donnell subsequently married the duc de Talleyrand-Perigord and died at Florence in 1880). Among later residents commemorated is Edward Lloyd, who was the first person to show the value of esparto grass for the manufacture of paper, and thus started an industry which is one of the most important in Algeria.

The cathedral of St Philippe, built on the site of a mosque, is in the place Malakoff, next to the governor-general's palace. In its construction an attempt has been made to produce a building suitable for Christian worship whilst the architecture is Moorish in style. The principal entrance, reached by a flight of 23 steps, is ornamented with a portico supported by four black-veined marble columns. The roof of the nave is of Moorish plaster work. It rests on a series of arcades supported by white marble columns. Several of these columns belonged to the former mosque. In one of the chapels is a tomb containing the bones of San Geronimo. The finding of the remains of the saint in 1853 afforded striking confirmation of an incident recorded by a Spanish Benedictine named Haedo, who published a topography of Algeria in 1612. Haedo sets forth that a young Arab who had embraced Christianity and had been baptized with the name of Geronimo was captured by a Moorish corsair in 1569 and taken to Algiers. The Arabs endeavoured, to induce Geronimo to renounce Christianity, but as he steadfastly refused to do so he was condemned to death. Bound hand and foot he was thrown alive into a mould in which a block of concrete was about to be made. The block containing his body was built into an angle of the Fort of the Twenty-four Hours, then under construction. In 1853 the Fort of the Twenty-four Hours was demolished, and in the angle specified by Haedo the skeleton of Geronimo was found. The bones were interred at St Phihppe. Into the mould left by the saint's body liquid plaster of Paris was run, and a perfect model obtained, showing the features of the youth, the cords which bound him, and even the texture of his clothing. This model is now in the museum at Mustapha (see below).

Algiers possesses a college with schools of law, medicine, science and letters. The college buildings are large and handsome. There is also a lycee in which the instruction is similar to that given in France, and in which Christians, Jews and Mahommedans are educated together. The museum (a state institution), formerly housed in the same building as the library, was transferred in 1897 to a new building in the suburb of Mustapha Superieur. In the museum are some of the ancient sculptures and mosaics discovered in Algeria, together with medals and Algerian money. New buildings, to contain specimens of Moslem art, were added in 1903.

The port of Algiers is sheltered from all winds. There are two harbours, both artificial--the old or northern harbour and the southern or Agha harbour. The northern harbour covers an area of 235 acres. The depth at the entrance is 72 to 108 ft., and in port from 36 to 66 ft. Two government dry docks are available for merchant vessels. The quays cover 18,000 sq. yds. There are three jetties, north, east and south. Within this harbour is the small harbour of the deys, now transformed into a wet dock. An opening in the south jetty affords an entrance into Agha harbour, constructed in Agha Bay. This harbour is formed by the projection of a mole, 2500 ft. in length, from the eastern jetty of the old harbour. It provides extensive quayage with a minimum depth of water of 28 ft. Agha harbour has also an independent entrance on its southern side. Algiers is the chief coaling station in the Mediterranean, having become so largely at the expense of Gibraltar. In other respects the trade resembles that of other Algerian ports. (For trade statistics see ALGERIA.) The inner harbour was begun in 1518 by Khair-ed- Din (see History, below), who, to accommodate his pirate vessels, caused the island on which was Fort Penon to be connected with the mainland by a mole. The lighthouse which occupies the site of Fort Penon was built in 1544. Work on the northern harbour was begun in 1836, on the southern in 1904. Algiers maintains communication with Marseilles by a quick service of steamers, which run the 497 miles across the Mediterranean in twenty-eight to thirty hours. The journey between Algiers and Paris, from which it is distant 1031 miles, is accomplished in about forty-five hours.

Algiers was a walled city from the time of the deys until the close of the 19th century. The French, after their occupation of the city (1830), built a rampart, parapet and ditch, with two terminal forts, Bab Azoun to the south and Bab-el-Oued to the north. The forts and part of the ramparts were demolished at the beginning of the 20th century, when a line of forts occupying the heights of Bu Zarea (at an elevation of 1300 ft. above the sea) took their place.

Owing to the mildness of its climate Algiers has become a favourite resort for those seeking to escape the rigours of a European winter. The city is well supplied with water and its sanitary state is good. The mistral of the Riviera is entirely absent from Algiers, but in summer the city occasionally suffers from the sirocco or desert wind. The environs of Algiers are noted for their beauty and healthiness. Of the suburbs the most picturesque is Mustapha Superieur, about 2 m. from the centre of the city on the slopes of the hills to the south. Here are the summer palace of the governor-general, many fine Moorish and French villas and luxurious hotels, all surrounded by beautiful gardens. A numerous British colony resides at Mustapha, where there is an English club. Mustapha Inferieur is built on the lower slopes of the hills. Farther to the south is the large Jardin d'Essai, containing five avenues of palms, planes, bamboos and magnolias. Notre-Dame d'Afrique, a church built (1858- 1872) in a mixture of the Roman and Byzantine styles, is conspicuously situated, overlooking the sea, on the shoulder of the Bu Zarea hills, 2 m. to the north of the city. Above the altar is a statue of the Virgin depicted as a black woman. The church also contains a solid silver statue of the archangel Michael, belonging to the confraternity of Neapolitan fishermen. Beyond Notre-Dame d'Afrique is the beautiful Valley of the Consuls, very little changed since the time of the deys. (The valley was in those days the favourite residence of the consuls.) At the Petit Seminaire, on the site of the old French consulate, Cardinal Lavigerie died (1892).

In 1906 the population of the commune of Algiers was 154,049; the population municipale, which excludes the garrison, prisoners, &c., was 145,280. Of this total 138,240 were living in the city proper or in Mustapha. Of the inhabitants 105,908 were Europeans. French residents numbered 50,996, naturalized Frenchmen 23,305, Spaniards 12,354, Italians 7368, Maltese 865, and other Europeans (chiefly British and Germans) 1652, besides 12,490 Jews. The remainder of the population--all Mahommedans--are Moors, Arabs, Berbers, Negroes, with a few Turks. The vast majority of the Europeans are Roman Catholics. Most of the naturalized French citizens are of Spanish or Italian origin.

History.--In Roman times a small town called Icosium existed on what is now the marine quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of a Roman street. Roman cemeteries existed near the rues Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun. Bishops of Icosium--which was created a Latin city by Vespasian --are mentioned as late as the 5th century. The present city was founded in 944 by Bulukkin b. Zeiri, the founder of, the Zeirid-Sanhaja dynasty, which was overthrown by Roger II. of Sicily in 1148 (see FATIMITES.) The Zeirids had before that date lost Algiers, which in 1159 was occupied by the Almohades, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Abd-el- Wahid, sultans of Tlemcen. Numinally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a large measure of independence under amirs of its own, Oran being the chief seaport of the Abd-el- Nahid. The islet in front of the harbour, subsequently known as the Penon, had been occupied by the Spaniards as early as 1302. Thereafter a considerable trade grew up between Algiers and Spain. Algiers, however, continued of comparatively little importance until after the expulsion from Spain of the Moors, many of whom sought an asylum in the city. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, the Spaniards fortified the Penon. In 1516 the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the brothers Arouj and Khair-ed-Din (Barbarossa) to expel the Spaniards. Arouj came to Algiers, caused Selim to be assassinated, and seized the town. Khair- ed-Din, succeeding Arouj, drove the Spaniards from the Penon (1550) and was the founder of the pashalik, afterwards deylik, of Algeria. Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. In October 1541 the emperor Charles V. sought to capture the city, but a storm destroyed a great number of his ships, and his army of some 30,000, chiefly Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their pasha, Hassan. Repeated attempts were made by various European nations to subdue the pirates, and in 1816 the city was bombarded by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth, assisted by Dutch men-of-war, and the corsair fleet burned. The piracy of the Algerians was renewed and continued until 1830. On the 4th of July in that year a French army under General de Bourmont attacked the city, which capitulated on the following day (see ALGERIA, History.)

ALGOA BAY, a wide, shallow bay of South Africa, 436 m. E. from the Cape of Good Hope, bounded W. by Cape Recife, E. by Cape Padrone. St Croix Island in the bay is in 33 deg. 47' S. 25 deg. 46' E. On this island Bartholomew Diaz made his second landing in South Africa some time after the 3rd of February 1488, and from the cross which he is thought to have erected on it the island gets its name. Algoa Bay was the first landing-place of the British emigrants to the eastern province of Cape Colony in 1820. At a spot 6 m. N.E. of Cape Recife these emigrants founded a town, Port Elizabeth (q.v.), its harbour being sheltered from all winds save the S.E. By seafarers ``Algoa Bay'' is used as synonymous with Port Elizabeth.

ALGOL, the Arabic name (signifying ``the Demon'') of b Persei, a star of the second magnitude, noticed by G. Montanari in 1669 to fluctuate in brightness. John Goodricke established in 1782 the periodicity of its change in about 2d 21h and suggested their cause in recurring eclipses by a large dark satellite. Their intermittent character prompted the supposition. The light of Algol remains constant during close upon 56 hours; then declines in 6 1/2 hours (approximately) to nearly one-fourth its normal amount, and is restored by sensibly the same gradations. The amplitude of the phase is 1.1 magnitude; and the absence of any stationary interval at minimum proves the eclipse to be partial, not annular. Its conditions were investigated from photometric data, by Professor E. C. Pickering in 1880;1 and their realization was finally demonstrated by Dr H. C. Vogel's spectroscopic measures in 1889.2 Previously to each obscuration, the star was found to be moving rapidly away from the earth; its velocity then diminished to zero pari passu with the loss of light, and reversed its direction during the process of recovery. Algol, in fact, travels at the rate of 26.3 miles a second round the centre of gravity of the system which it forms with an invisible companion, while the two together approach the sun with an unvarying speed of 2.3 miles per second. The elements of this disparate pair, calculated by Dr Vogel on the somewhat precarious assumption that its dark and bright members are of equal mean density, are as follows:--

Diameter of Algol . . . . 1,061,000 English miles.
'' Satellite . . . 834,300 '' ''
Distance from centre to centre. 3,230,000 '' ''
Mass of Algol . . . . . 4/9 solar mass.
'' Satellite . . . . 2/9 '' ''
Mean density . . . . . about 1/4 solar.

The plane of the joint orbit, in which no deviation from circularity has yet been detected, nearly coincides with the line of sight. The period of Algol, as measured by its eclipses, is subject to complex irregularities. It shortened fitfully by eight seconds between 1790 and 1879; soon afterwards, restoration set in, and its exact length in 1903 was 2d 20h 48m 56s, being only two seconds short of its original value. By an exhaustive discussion, Dr S. Chandler ascertained in 1888 the compensatory nature of these disturbances;3 and he afterwards found the most important among several which probably conspire to produce the observed effects, to be comprised in a period of 15,000 light-cycles, equivalent to 118 years.4 An explanatory hypothesis, propounded by him in 1892,5 is still on its trial. The system of Algol, according to this view, is triple; it includes a large, obscure primary, round which the eclipsing pair revolves in an orbit somewhat smaller than that of Uranus, very slightly elliptical, and inclined 20 deg. to the line of sight, the periodic time being 118 years. The alternate delay and acceleration of the eclipses are then merely apparent; they represent the changes in the length of the light-journey as the stars perform their wide circuit. If these suppositions have a basis of reality, the proper motion of Algol should be disturbed by a small, but measurable undulation, corresponding to the projection of its orbit upon the sky; and although certainty on the point cannot be attained for some years to come, Lewis Boss regarded the evidence available in 1895 as tending to confirm Dr Chandler's theory.6

A rival interpretation of the phenomena it dealt with was put forward by F. Tisserand in 1895.7 It involved the action of no third mass, but depended solely upon the progression of the line of apsides in a moderately elliptical orbit due to the spheroidal shape of the globes traversing it. Inequalities of the required sort in the returns of the eclipses would ensue; moreover, their duration should concomitantly vary with the varying distance from periastron at the times of their occurrence. It is a moot question whether changes of the latter kind actually occur. When they are proved to do so, Tisserand's hypothesis will hold the field.

Algol gives a helium-spectrum which undergoes no alteration at minimum. Hence the light from the marginal and central portions of the disc is identical in quality, and the limb can be little, if at all, darkened by the ``smoke-veil'' absorption conspicuous in the sun. The rays of this star spend close upon a century in travelling hither. Dr Chase's measures with the Yale heliometer indicated for it, in 1894, a parallax of about 0'' .035;8 and it must, accordingly, be of nearly four times the total brightness of Sirius, while its aerial lustre exceeds seventy- fold that of the solar photosphere. Variables of the Algol class are rendered difficult to discover by the incidental character of their fluctuations. At the end of 1905, however, about 37 had been certainly recognized, besides some outlying cases of indeterminate type, in which continuous occultations by two bright stars, revolving in virtual contact, are doubtfully supposed to be in progress. (A. M. C.)

1 Proceedings Amer. Acad. vol. xvi. p. 27. 2 Astr. Nach. No. 2947. 3 Astr. Journal, No. 165. 4 Ibid. No. 509. 5 Ibid. Nos. 255-256. 6 Ibid. No. 343. 7 Comptes Rendus, t. cxx. p 125. 8 Astr. Jour. No. 318. ALGONQUIN, or ALGONKIN (a word formerly regarded as a French contraction of Algomequin, ``those on the other side'' of the river, viz. the St Lawrence, hut now believed to be from the Micmac algoomaking--``at the place of spearing fish''), a collective term for a number of tribes of North American Indians dwelling in the valley of the Ottawa river and around the northern tributaries of the St Lawrence. The Algonquins allied themselves with the French against the Iroquois. Many were driven west by the latter and later became known as Ottawa. The French missionaries at work among the Algonquins early in the 17th century found their language to be the key to the many Indian dialects now included by philologists under the general term ``Algonquian stock.'' The chief tribes included in this stock were the Algonquin, Malecite, Micmac, Nascapi, Pennacook, Fox, Kickapoo, Delaware, Cheyenne, Conoy, Cree, Mohican, Massachuset, Menominee, Miami, Misisaga, Mohegan, Nanticoke, Narraganset, Nipmuc, Ojibway, Ottawa, Pequot, Potawatami, Sac, Shawnee and Wampanoag. The Indians of Algonquian stock number between 80,000 and 90,000, of whom rather more than half are in the United States, the rest being in Canada. Of the Algonquins proper there remain about 1500 settled in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

For details see Handbook of American Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge, Washington, 1907.

ALGUAZIL, a Spanish title often to be met in stories and plays, derived from the Arabic ``visir'' and the article, `` al.'' The alguazil among the early Spaniards was a judge, and sometimes the governor of a town or fortress. In later times he has gradually sunk down to the rank of an officer of the court, who is trusted with the service of writs and certain police duties, but he is still of higher rank than the mere corchete or catch-poll. The title has also been given to inspectors of weights and measures in market-places, and similar officials.

ALGUM, or ALMUG TREE. The Hebrew words Algummim or Almuggim are translated Algum or Almug trees in the authorized version of the Bible (see 1 Kings x. 11, 12; 2 Chron. ii. 8, and ix. 10, 11); almug is an erroneous form (see Max Muller, Science of Language, vol. i.). The wood of the tree was very precious, and was brought from Ophir (probably some part of India), along with gold and precious stones, by Hiram, and was used in the formation of pillars for the temple at Jerusalem, and for the king's house; also for the inlaying of stairs, as well as for harps and psalteries. It is probably the red sanders or red sandal-wood of India ( Pterocarpus santalinus.) This tree belongs to the natural order Leguminosae, sub-order Papilionaceae. The wood is hard, heavy, close-grained and of a fine red colour. It is different from the white fragrant sandal-wood, which is the produce of Santalum album, a tree belonging to a distinct natural order Santalaceae.

ALHAMA DE GRANADA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Granada, 24 m. S.W. of Granada. Pop. (1900) 7679. Alhama is finely situated on a ledge of rock which overlooks a deep gorge traversed by the river Marchan or Alhama; while the rugged peaks of the Sierra de Alhamarise behind it to a height of 6800 ft. The town is largely modern; for over one thousand of its picturesque old Moorish houses, which formerly rose in terraces up the mountain side, were destroyed, together with five churches, the hospital, the theatre, the prison, and 800 of the inhabitants, in an earthquake which took place in 1884. Subscriptions were received from all parts of Spain, and the present town was built at a little distance from its predecessor. Few vestiges of antiquity survived, except the baths from which Alhama (in Arabic ``the Bath'') derives its name. These are situated near the river, and appear to have been used continuously since Roman times (c. 19 B.C.- A.D. 409) . The temperature of the hot sulphurous springs is about 112 deg. F.; and, as the waters are considered beneficial in cases of rheumatism and dyspepsia, many visitors come to Alhama in spring and autumn, attracted also by the fine scenery of the district. In the 15th century Alhama, and the neighbouring fortress of Loja (q.v.), were generally regarded as the keys of the kingdom of Granada, and their capture went far to insure the overthrow of the Moorish power. Alhama was taken by the Spanish marquis of Cadiz in 1482; and its fall is celebrated in an ancient ballad, Ay de mi, Alhama, which Byron translated into English.

ALHAMBRA, THE, an ancient palace and fortress of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, in southern Spain, occupying a hilly terrace on the south-eastern border of the city of Granada. This terrace or plateau, which measures about 2430 ft. in length by 674 ft. at its greatest width, extends from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and covers an area of about 35 acres. It is enclosed by a strongly fortified wall, which is flanked by thirteen towers. The river Darro, which foams through a deep ravine on the north, divides the plateau from the Albaicin district of Granada; the Assabica valley, containing the Alhambra Park, on the west and south, and beyond this valley the almost parallel ridge of Monte Mauror, separate it from the Antequeruela district.

The name Alhambra, signifying in Arabic ``the red,'' is probably derived from the colour of the sun-dried tapia, or bricks made of fine gravel and clay, of which the outer walls are built. Some authorities, however, hold that it commemorates the red flare of the torches by whose light the work of construction was carried on nightly for many years; others associate it with the name of the founder, Mahomet Ibn Al Ahmar; and others derive it from the Arabic Dar al Amra, ``House of the Master.'' (For an account of the period to which the Alhambra belongs, see GRANADA (city) .) The palace was built chiefly between 1248 and 1354, in the reigns of Al Ahmar and his successors; but even the names of the principal artists employed are either unknown or doubtful. The splendid decorations of the interior are ascribed to Yusef I., who died in 1354. Immediately after the expulsion of the Moors in 1492, their conquerors began, by successive acts of vandalism, to spoil the marvellous beauty of the Alhambra. The open work was filled up with whitewash, the painting and gilding effaced, the furniture soiled, torn or removed. Charles V. (1516-1556) rebuilt portions in the modern style of the period, and destroyed the greater part of the winter palace to make room for a modern structure which has never been completed. Philip V. (1700-1746) Italianised the rooms, and completed the degradation by running up partitions which blocked up whole apartments, gems of taste and patient ingenuity. In subsequent Centuries the carelessness of the Spanish authorities permitted this masterpiece of Moorish art to be still further defaced; and in 1812 some of the towers were blown up by the French under Count Sebastiani, while the whole buildings narrowly escaped the same fate. In

Plan of the Alhambra Scale of Yards 1. Court of Myrtles 2. Hall of Ambassadors 3. Court of Lions 4. Hall of the Abencerrages 5. Room of the Two Sisters 6. Modern Entrance 7. Court of the Vestibule 8. Baths 9. Court of the Council Chamber 10. Queens Robing Room

from Baedeker's Spain & Portugal, by permission of Karl Baedeker Emery Walker SC.

1821 an earthquake caused further damage. The work of restoration undertaken in 1828 by the architect Jose Contreras was endowed in 1830 by Ferdinand VII.; and after the death of Contreras in 1847, it was continued with fair success by his son Rafael (d. 1890), and his grandson Mariano.

The situation of the Alhambra is one of rare natural beauty; the plateau commands a wide view of the city and plain of Granada, towards the west and north, and of the heights of the Sierra Nevada, towards the east and south. Moorish poets describe it as ``a pearl set in emeralds,'' in allusion to the brilliant colour of its buildings, and the luxuriant woods round them. The park (Alameda de la Alhambra), which in spring is overgrown with wild-flowers and grass, was planted by the Moors with roses, oranges and myrtles; its most characteristic feature, however, is the dense wood of English elms brought hither in 1812 by the duke of Wellington. The park is celebrated for the multitude of its nightingales, and is usually filled with the sound of running water from several fountains and cascades. These are supplied through a conduit 5 m. long, which is connected with the Darro at the monastery of Jesus del Valle, above Granada.

The Moorish portion of the Alhambra resembles many medieval Christian strongholds in its threefold arrangement as a castle, a palace and a residential annexe for subordinates. The Alcazaba or citadel, its oldest part, is built on the isolated and precipitous foreland which terminates the plateau on the north-west. Only its massive outer walls, towers and ramparts are left. On its watch-tower, the Torre de la Vela, 85 ft. high, the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella was first raised, in token of the Spanish conquest of Granada, on the 2nd of January 1492. A turret containing a huge bell was added in the 18th century, and restored after being injured by lightning in 1881. Beyond the Alcazaba is the palace of the Moorish kings, or Alhambra properly so-called; and beyond this, again, is the Alhambra Alta (Upper Alhambra), originally tenanted by officials and courtiers.