common. A magnificent conifer, the Atlantic pinsapo (Abies
Pinsapo), is found on the heights round Bougie. The forests
suffer great damage from fires, occasioned in part by the
custom of burning up the grass every autumn, and in part by
incendiarism. In 1902 alone, according to the British consular
report, ``at a moderate estimate the number of trees damaged
or destroyed might be put down at 6,000,000.'' Forestry is a
state-protected industry, the government owning over 500,000
acres of forest. The chief tree which has commercial value
is the cork, and the stripping of the bark is under official
supervision. The first cork harvest was gathered in 1890, when
1474 cwt. were sold for L. 1361. Since that date the yield has
been very great. Another tree of great commercial value is the
soap tree (Sapindus utilis), introduced into the country in
1845 and grown extensively in low-lying lands near the coast.
Inhabitants.--Algeria had in 1906 a population of 5,231,850,
consisting of a medley of European, Eastern and African
races. The census showed that in addition to French settlers
and their descendants (278,976) there were 117,475 Spaniards
(most of whom are found in the department of Oran), 33,153
Italians (chiefly in the department of Constantine), 64,645
Jews, 6217 Maltese, and smaller communities of British,
Germans, Levantines and Greeks. There were, moreover, 170,444
naturalized French citizens, mainly of Spanish and Italian
origin. (These figures are exclusive of 73,790 persons counted
apart, as not enjoying municipal rights. In the 73,799 the
troops, French and native, are included). The total European
population, in which category are reckoned the Jews, other
than those of Mzab, was 680,263. Compared with the census
of 1901 the figures of 1906 showed a decrease of 14,000
French, 36,000 Spaniards and 5000 Italians, but an increase
of nearly 100,000 in the foreigners naturalized. Of other
races: (1) The Berbers (q.v.) constitute 75% of the entire
population. The Kabyles (q.v.), a division of the Berbers,
occupy chiefly the more mountainous parts of the Tell, but
some live in the plains and valleys. (2) Arabs, a numerous
class, are found principally in the south. (3) The so-called
``Moors,'' generally of mixed blood, inhabit the towns and
villages near the sea-coast. (4) Negroes, originally brought
from the interior and sold as slaves, are now found chiefly
in the towns, where they serve as labourers and domestic
servants. (5) Mzabites (q.v.) or Beni-Mzab, a distinct
branch of the Berber race, are for the most part engaged in
petty trade, and are distinguished by their sleeveless coats
of many colours. (6) A few Tuareg (q.v.), another division
of the Berbers, are among the nomads found in the Algerian
Sahara. The Kabyles, Mzabites, Tuareg, Arabs and Moors all
profess Mahommedanism, though it is only among the Arabs
that its tenets are held in any purity. The census of 1906
gave the number of the native population at 4,447,149. There
were also 28,639 non-European foreigners in the country.
The Turks, though for a considerable period the dominant race,
were never very numerous in Algeria. The majority of them
were repatriated by the French. The Kuluglis, descendants of
Turks by native women--once a distinct race noted for their
energy, bravery and pride--have almost ceased to exist as a
separate people, being merged in the Moors. Jews have long
been settled in Algeria. Some are supposed to have fled
thither when expelled from Cyrenaica in the reign of the
emperor Hadrian, and others on their banishment from Italy in
1342. The purely ``African'' Jew is now found only in the
oases in the extreme south of the country. In the towns the
``native'' Jews have intermarried with later arrivals from
Europe. A remarkable feast is kept annually by the Algerian Jews
to commemorate the defeat by the Turks of the emperor Charles
V.'s attempt to capture Algiers (1541). The Jews, who enjoyed
religious freedom under the Mahommedans, believed that the
success of the Spaniards would but lead to their own persecution.
Chief Towns.--The chief towns are Algiers, the capital
and principal seaport, with a population (1906), including
Mustapha and other suburbs, of 154,049; Oran (100,499),2
a western seaport and capital of the department of the same
name, and Constantine (46,806), an inland town, capital of
the department of Constantine. Besides Algiers and Oran the
principal seaports are Bona (36,004), Mostaganem (19,528),
Philippeville (16,539), Bougie (10,419), Cherchel (4733)
and La Calle (2774). Inland, besides Constantine, are
the important towns of Tlemcen ( 24,060), Sidi-bel-Abbes
(24,494), Mascara (18,989) and Blida (16,866). In the
Sahara are Biskra (4218), El Wad (7586), Tuggurt (2073) and
Wargla (3579). All these places are separately noticed.
Nemours (1229) is a seaport near the Moroccan frontier,
which formerly bore an Arabic name pregnant with its history
--Jamaa-el-Ghazuat (``rendezvous of the pirates''). The
surrounding country is rich in mineral wealth. Arzeu (3085)
occupies a site on the western side of the gulf of the same
name. It has a good harbour, is the outlet for the produce
of several fertile valleys, and the starting-point of a
railway which penetrates into the Sahara. This railway passes
Saida (6256), 106 m. south of Arzeu, one of the capitals of
Abd-el-Kader, and serves to bring down from the high plateaus
their rich crops of esparto grass. Four miles S.E. of Arzeu
is a Berber village, where are interesting ruins of a Roman
settlement, identified by some authorities as the Portus
Magnus of Pliny; other authorities claim Oran as occupying
the site of Portus Magnus. In the vicinity are the famous
quarries of Numidian marbles. Tenes (3176) is a seaport
situated about 100 m. east of Arzeu on the site of the
Phoenician town, afterwards the Roman colony, of Cartenna.
Outside the town to the west is a public garden in which are
several Roman tombs with inscriptions. Between Tenes and
Algiers are Tipasa (q.v.) and Castiglione (1634), formerly
called Bu-Ismail, both pleasant watering-places. Five miles
inland west of Castiglione is Kolea (2932), a town dating
from 1550 and originally peopled by Moslem refugees from
Spain. It was destroyed by earthquake in 1825 and has been
rebuilt largely in European style. It contains the kubba
of a celebrated marabout, Sidi Embarek, who lived in the 17th
century. Dellys (3275), 50 m. by sea E. of Algiers, has a
small harbour sheltered from the W. and N.W. winds only. It
is a walled town regularly laid out, built by the French on
the site of the Roman Ruscurium, the western ramparts of which
may still be seen. Jijelli (4878), on the eastern side of
the Gulf of Bougie, occupies the site of the Roman colony of
Igilgilis. The old town, built on a rocky peninsula, was
completely destroyed by earthquake in 1856. A new town
arose eastward of the former site, which is now restored as a
citadel. Twenty miles by sea west of Philippeville is Collo
(2258), a city of considerable importance during the Roman
occupation. It was the Kollops Magnus of Ptolemy.
Twenty-three miles S.W. by rail from Algiers is Bufarik (the
``hanging well''); pop. 5980. A thoroughly French town, it
dates from 1835, when General Drouet d'Erlon established there
an entrenched camp on a hillock in the midst of a pestilential
swamp. Soon afterwards Marshal Clausel began to build a
regular city, which was at first called Medina Clausel in his
honour. The draining of the site and neighbourhood was a costly
undertaking, and was only accomplished by the sacrifice of many
lives. The town, surrounded by vast orchards and farms, is
now one of the most flourishing in the country; and the most
important market in the colony for the sale of cattle and
agricultural produce is held there. Sixty-three miles S.W.
of Algiers is Medea (4030)--supposed to stand on the site of
a Roman town--finely situated on a plateau 3000 ft. above the
sea. It is surrounded by a wall pierced by five gates.
An ancient aqueduct is built into the eastern side of the
wall. The town, which was chosen by the Turks as capital of
the beylik of Titeri, is now French in character. Miliana
(3991), which occupies the site of the Roman Milliana,
lies about midway between Blida and Orleansville, is 2400
ft. above the sea, and is built on a plateau of the Zakkar
mountains, commanding magnificent views of the valley of the
Shelif. It possesses few remains of antiquity. An old
Moorish minaret has been turned into a clock tower. The
town, which is walled, has been rebuilt by the French.
The chief streets are bordered by trees and have streams of
water running down either side. Hammam R'Irha to the N.E. of
Miliana, noted from the time of the Romans for its thermal
springs, occupies a picturesque position 1800 ft. above the
sea. Being the only place within easy distance of western
Europe where patients can take with safety a course of baths
during the winter months, it has become a resort of invalids.
Orleansville (3510), on the extensive plain of the Shelif, 130
m. S.W. by rail from Algiers. and 132 m. N.E. from Oran, is
an important military station. The basilica of St Reparatus,
discovered in 1843, was allowed to be used as a public stable
and has been completely destroyed. There was in it a beautiful
mosaic of which, fortunately, drawings exist. From this it
appears that the church was built in A.D. 324, and that St
Reparatus, bishop of the diocese, was buried in it in 475.
Orleansville occupies the site of the Roman Castellum Tingitanum.
Ninety miles S.W. of Bougie is Aumale (2350), a town and military
post established by the French in 1846 on the site of the ancient
Auzia. The Roman town was founded in the reign of Augustus,
and it flourished for two centuries before it disappeared from
history. Out of the materials of the ancient city the Turks
built a fort, which at the time of the French occupation was
itself a heap of ruins. Setif (12,261), the Sitifis Colonia
of the Romans, is 50 m. S.E. of Bougie and 97 m. by rail W. of
Constantine. It stands 3573 ft. above the sea, and is the
junction of several great lines of communication. Its market is
attended by Kabyles, Arabs of the plateaus and people from the
Sahara. The town has been entirely rebuilt in the French
style. Most of the Roman ruins, even those existing at the time
of the French occupation (1839), have disappeared. The walls
of the Roman city, restored probably by the Byzantines, have
been incorporated in the French walls, which are pierced by four
gates. Batna (5279), a walled town 3350 ft. above the sea, 50
m. S. of Constantine by the railway to Biskra, commands the
passage of the Aures mountains by which the nomads of the
Sahara were wont to enter the Tell. Its importance rests on
its strategic position. On the railway between Constantine
and Bona and 76 m. from the latter, is Guelma (6584), the Roman
Kalama, finely situated on the right bank of the Seybuse.
The French occupied the place in 1836 and built their town
out of the Roman ruins. Thirty miles S.E. of Guelma is Suk
Ahras (7602), a station on the railway to Tunis, identified
with the Roman city Tagaste, the birthplace of St Augustine.
Towns in the Sahara.--On the southern slopes of the Great
Atlas, 2437 ft. above the sea, looking out on the Saharan
desert, and 200 m. in a straight line S.W. of Algiers, is the
ancient town of El Aghuat (erroneously written Laghouat); pop.
5660. It formerly belonged to Morocco, by whom it was ceded
