aqueduct. The fine winter climate of Algeciras attracts many
invalid visitors, on whom the town largely depends for its
prosperity. The harbour is bad, but at the beginning of
the 20th century it became important as a fishing-station.
Whiting, soles, bream, bass and other fish are caught in
great quantities by the Algeciras steam-trawlers, which
visit the Moroccan coast, as well as Spanish and neutral
waters. There is also some trade in farm produce and building
materials which supplies a fleet of small coasters with cargo.
Algeciras was perhaps the Portus Albus of the Romans, but
it was probably refounded in 713 by the Moors, who retained
possession of it until 1344. It was then taken by Alphonso
XI. of Castile after a celebrated siege of twenty months,
which attracted Crusaders from all parts of Europe; among them
being the English earl of Derby, grandson of Edward III. It
is said that during this siege gunpowder was first used by the
Moors in the wars of Europe. The Moorish city was destroyed
by Alphonso; it was first reoccupied by Spanish colonists from
Gibraltar in 1704; and the modern town was erected in 1760 by
King Charles III. During the siege of Gibraltar in 1780- 1782,
Algeciras was the station of the Spanish fleet and floating
batteries. On the 6th of July 1801 the English admiral Sir
James Saumarez attacked a Franco-Spanish fleet off Algeciras,
and sustained a reverse; but on the 12th he again attacked the
enemy, whose fleet was double his own strength, and inflicted
on them a complete defeat. The important international
conference on Moroccan affairs, which resulted in an agreement
between France and Germany, was held at Algeciras from the
16th of January to the 7th of April 1906. (See MOROCCO.)
ALGER OF LIEGE (d c. 1131), known also as ALGER OF
CLUNY and ALGERUS MAGISTER, a learned French priest who
lived in the first half of the 12th century. He was first a
deacon of the church of St Bartholomew at Liege, his native
town, and was then appointed (c. 1100) to the cathedral
church of St Lambert. He declined many offers from German
bishops and finally retired to the monastery of Cluny, where
he died about 1131 at a great age and leaving a good reputation
for piety and intelligence. His History of the Church of
Liege, and many of his other works, are lost. The most
important of those still extant are: 1. De Misericordia et
Justitia, a collection of biblical and patristic extracts
with a commentary (an important work for the history of
church law and discipline), which is to be found in the
Anecdota of Martene, vol. v. 2. De Sacramentis Corporis
et Sanguinis Domini; a treatise, in three books, against
the Berengarian heresy, highly commended by Peter of Cluny and
Erasmus. 3. De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio; given in B. Pez's
Anecdota, vol. iv. 4. De Sacrificio Missae; given in the
Collectio Scriptor. Vet. of Angelo Mai, vol. ix. p. 371.
See Migne, Patrol Ser. Lat. vol. clxxx. pp. 739-.972; Herzog-
Hauck, Realencyk.fur prot. Theol., art. by S. M. Deutsch.
ALGER, RUSSELL ALEXANDER (1836--1907), American soldier and
politician, was born in Lafayette township, Medina county,
Ohio, on the 27th of February 1836. Left an orphan at an early
age, he worked on a farm to pay his expenses at Richfield
(Ohio) Academy, was a schoolmaster for two winters, and,
having studied law in the meantime, was admitted to the bar in
1859. He began practice at Cleveland, Ohio, but early in
1860 he removed to Michigan, where he abandoned his profession
and engaged in the lumber business. Enlisting in a Michigan
cavalry regiment in September 1861, he rose from captain to
colonel, distinguished himself in the Gettysburg campaign
and under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and in 1864 and
1865 respectively received the brevets of brigadier-general
and major-general of volunteers. After the war he invested
extensively in pine lands in Michigan, and accumulated a large
fortune in the lumber business. In 1884 he was elected governor
of Michigan on the Republican ticket, serving from 1885 to
1887. In 1889--1890 he was commander-in-chief of the Grand
Army of the Republic. From 1897 to 1899 he was secretary
of war in President McKinley's cabinet. His administration
of the war department during the Spanish-American War was
severely criticized for extravagance in army contracts, for
unpreparedness, and for genetal inefficiency, charges which he
answered in his The Spanish-American War (1901). The extent
of his personal responsibility is at least uncertain. In 1902
he was appointed by the governor of Michigan, and in 1903 was
elected by the state legislature, as United States senator to
complete the unexpired term of James Mcmillan (1838-1902).
He died at Washington, D.C., on the 24th of January 1907.
ALGERIA (Algerie), a country of North Africa belonging
to France, bounded N. by the Mediterranean, W. by Morocco,
S. by the Sahara and E. by Tunisia. The boundaries,
however, are in part not accurately determined. Algeria
extends for about 650 m. along the coast, and stretches
inland from 320 to 380 m., lying between 2 deg. 10' W. and 8 deg.
50, E., and 32 deg. and 37 deg. N. It is divided, politically,
into three departments-- Oran in the west, Algiers in the
centre and Constantine in the east. Its area is 184,474 sq.
m., exclusive of the dependent Saharan regions, which have
an area of some 750,000 sq. m. (see SAHARA, TUAT, &c.).
Physical Features.--The character of the Algerian coast
is severe and inhospitable. The western half is bordered
by a hilly rampart, broken only here and there, in the bays
where the larger streams find their outlet, by flat and sandy
plains. Between Dellys and Philippeville high mountains rise
almost sheer from the sea, leaving only a narrow strip of
beach. East of Philippeville the mountains recede from the
coast, and the rampart of hills reappears. Only between Bona
and La Calle is the general character of the sea-board low and
sandy. Save near the towns and in the cultivated district of
Kabylia, the coast is bare and uninhabited; and in spite of
numerous indentations, of which the most important going from
west to east are the Gulf of Oran, the Gulf of Arzeu, the Bay
of Algiers, and the gulfs of Bougie, Stora and Bona, there
are few good harbours. From time immemorial, indeed, this
coast has had an evil reputation among mariners, quite apart
from the pirates who for centuries made it the base of their
depredations. A violent current, starting from the Straits
of Gibraltar, rushes eastward along the shore, and, hurled
back from the headlands, is deflected to the West. In summer
the east wind brings dense and sudden fogs; while in winter
the northerly gales blow straight into the mouths of the
harbours. In these circumstances navigation is especially
perilous for sailing craft. The terrors of this ``savage sea
and inhospitable shore,'' once described by Sallust, have,
however, been greatly mitigated by the introduction of steam,
the improvement of the harbours, and the establishment by
the French government of an excellent system of lighthouses.
Southward from the sea the country falls naturally into three
divisions, clearly distinguished by their broad physical
characteristics. The healthy, and on the whole fertile coast
region, from 50 to 100 m. in width, is known, as in Morocco and
Tunisia. as the Tell (Arabic for ``hill''). It is a mountainous
country intersected with rocky canons and fertile valleys,
which occasionally broaden out into alluvial plains like that
of the Shelif, or the Metija near Algiers, or those in the
neighbourhood of Oran and Bona. Behind the Tell is a lofty
table-land with an average elevation of 3000 ft., consisting
of vast plains, for the most part arid or covered with esparto
grass, in the depressions of which are great salt lakes and
swamps (Arabic, shats) fed by streams which can find no outlet
to the sea through the encircling hills. To the south this
region is divided by the Great Atlas from the deserts of the
Sahara, with its oases, in which the boundary of Algeria is lost.
The country is traversed by lofty ranges of the Atlas system,
which run nearly parallel to the coast, and rise in places over
7000 ft. These are commonly divided into two leading chains,
distinguished as the Great1 and Little Atlas. The Great,
or Saharan Atlas contains some of the highest points in the
country. The chief ranges are Ksur and Amur in the west
and the Aures in the east. The peak of Shellia, the highest
point in Algeria, in the Aures range, has a height of 7611
ft. In the Amur are Jebel Ksel (6594 ft.) and Tuila Makna (6561
ft.). The Little Atlas, otherwise the Tell or Maritime Atlas,
lies between the sea and the Saharan Atlas, and is composed
of many distinct ranges, generally of no great elevation and
connected by numerous transverse chains forming extensive
table-lands and elevated valleys. The principal ranges of
the Little Atlas--from west to east--are the Tlemcen (5500
ft.); the Warsenis (with Kef Sidi Omar, 6500 ft.); the Titeri
(4900 ft.); the Jurjura, with the peak of Lalla Kedija (7542
ft.) and Mount Babor (6447 ft.); and the Mejerda (3700 ft.),
which extends into Tunisia. The Jurjura range, forming the
background of the plains between Algiers and Bougie, extends
through the district of Kabylia, with which for grandeur of
scenery no other part of Algeria can compare. South of the
Jurjura and separated from it by the valley of the Sahel,
is the Biban range with a famous double pass of the same
name, through which alone access is gained to the highlands
beyond. The Bibans or Portes de fer (Iron Gates) consist of
two defiles with stupendous walls of rock, which by erosion have
assumed the most fantastic shapes. In the case of the Petite
porte the walls in some places are not more than twelve feet
apart. The Dahra range (see MOSTAGANEM) overlooks the
sea, and is separated from the Warsenis by the valley of
the Shelif (see ATLAS MOUNTAINS, SAHARA and TUAT.)
The rivers are numerous but the majority are short. Most of
them rise in the mountains near the coast, and rush down through
deep and rocky channels. During the rainy season they render
communication between different parts of the country extremely
difficult. The most important river, both from its length and
volume, is the Shelif. It rises on the northern slopes of
the Amur mountains and flows N.E. across the high plateau,
piercing the little Atlas between the Warsenis and Titeri
ranges. It then turns W. and reaches the Mediterranean at the
eastern end of the Gulf of Arzeu. The Shelif, which has many
tributaries, is about 430 m. long. The Seybuse (about 150 m.
long), formed by the union of several small streams in the
department of Constantine, runs through a fertile valley and
reaches the Mediterranean near Bona. The Sahel (about 100 m.
long), which contains the greatest body of water after the
Shelif, rises in the department of Algiers near Aumale, and
flows for the most part N.E. to its mouth near Bougie. The
Kebir or Rummel--the river is known by both names--is formed
by the union of several small streams south of Constantine, and
flows past that town N.W. 140 m. to the sea. Among the less
important rivers which empty into the Mediterranean are the
Macta, the Tafna, the Harrach and the Mazafran. The Macta,
but 3 m. long, enters the sea in the Gulf of Arzeu, some 25
m. W. of the mouth of the Shelif. It is formed by the
Habra (140 m.) and the Sig (130 m.), which rise in the Amur
mountains and flowing north unite in a marshy plain, whence
