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.
