THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE. 255 or middle, it is probable that it was in a space of this kind that our Saviour and his apostles were accustomed to teach the people. It was doubtless through the curtain stretched across just such a court, that the anxious bearers of the palsied sufferer let down their burden from the roof" into the midst "—at once into the middle of the house, and into the centre of the eager throng who pressed about the Divine Master and Healer. Again to quote Dr. Shaw : "Of all the arts, that which the Moors understand best is architecture, although their maallum, that is to say architects, are only looked upon as artisans, and not as persons who are occupied with a science or liberal art. The method of building in Barbary and the Levant seems to have continued the same without any alteration, from the most early ages. The houses are almost the same as in all Eastern countries, having only the horse-shoe arch as a distinctive mark of nationality. Contrary to the European idea of a dwelling, they cannot be too mean or too unsightly on the outer side, all the adornments being within." From whitewashed blank walls, cut here and there only at rare intervals by tiny grated windows, and these some ten or twelve feet from the ground, we pass through the dim vestibule, privileged ones that we are, into the heart of the house-the beautiful Moorish court paved with marble, and gay with exotic plants. Here, as in a sanctuary, shielded alike from the glare, the heat, the toil and tumult of the outer world, shaded even from the too brilliant blue of the heavens by the sheltering canopy that stretches from roof to roof, we wander as though in a dream; yielding listlessly to the enjoyment of the scene and moment, caring only to listen to the gentle plashing of the ceaseless fountain in its marble basin, and raising our eyes wistfully to the carved woodwork of the balcony, in the vague hope that presently, some radiant beauty of the harem may lean her white and jewelled arms upon it, and charm us with the fascination of her deep dark eyes. Presently, as though to break our dream, no harem "light," but a modern Frenchman with a pile of books under his arm, takes the place we have assigned to Fatimah the soft-eyed, and recalls to us the fact, that here at least, a greater than Fatimah has entered in and taken possession. In this ideal home of the luxurious Turk, the French Bibliothèque and Musée have, since 1838, taken up their abode; and though the space thus afforded is doubtless excessively restricted and inconvenient for the double purpose of museum and library, they could scarcely be placed amid more picturesque surroundings. Not only is the old mansion of Mustapha Pasha beautiful architecturally, but it is enriched with all the adornments of which Moorish art is capable-painted with vermilion and ceiled with cedar, like the palace of the Hebrew king of old. The doors of the various rooms leading from the galleries are of cedar-wood. "The carven cedarn doors Flung inward over spangled floors, The walls of both galleries and staircases are clothed with delicately coloured tiles, while the balustrade which runs round the balcony is a marvel of exquisite carving, from the hand, it is said, of the same Arab artist who designed the beautiful door, which is now at the entrance of Notre THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE. 257 Dame des Victoires. The court and ground-floor of the building serve the purpose very inadequately of the museum. The light in the lower chambers is too dim to exhibit the works of art to anything like advantage. The collection of antiquities is not a large one, several remarkable Roman remains found in the neighbourhood having been removed to Paris; but there are a few very good statues more or less mutilated-a torso of Venus, a Bacchus, a statue of Neptune discovered at Cherchel, some beautiful fragments of mosaic pavement, fine marble sarcophagi, and other objects of interest, including a collection of Arab coins now no longer in currency. But the most striking object of interest in the museum is the plaster-cast of the body of the martyred Geronimo, taken by filling in the cavity in the block of concrete, in the same manner as the casts of the buried inhabitants of Pompeii were obtained in the lava. The martyr is lying on his face with his hands bound behind him, just as Haedo has described (page 238). The cords on his wrist and even the texture of his clothing are apparent, and though the features are not very clearly defined, they are sufficiently so for the Arab type of face to be plainly discernible. There is beside in the Musée a very large collection of sepulchral inscriptions, some of which are even supposed to be of Berber origin. Others are undoubtedly Punic, while there are a great number of Roman, Arab, and Turkish epitaphs. There is also a curious and beautiful astrolabe, which was found at Touggourt, and was presented to the museum by General de Neveu. The library, which is on the first gallery of the building, contains upwards of seventeen thousand volumes, with about seventeen hundred Arab manuscripts, the result of the S labours of M. Berbrugger, collected chiefly from Milianah and Constantine. These are now all carefully catalogued, and contain among their number, not only very beautiful specimens of caligraphy, but much valuable and interesting information with regard, especially, to the history and topography of Algeria. There are also a fine collection of maps and charts, and some rare and interesting autographs, among which may be mentioned those of Napoleon I. and Dr. Shaw, the English traveller. The old offices of Mustapha Pacha's palace are now used as store-rooms for books, and the little marabout, or chapel, attached to the house, is appropriately devoted to works of a religious character. The library is open every week-day, from noon till five P.M. The In the Rue de l'Intendance, past the Bibliothèque, first turning to the left, is a remarkably beautiful Moorish house, now used as the Court of Assizes (Cour d'Assises). It has evidently been restored with great taste and care. rooms which surround the gallery are each of them roofed with small domes, richly ornamented with arabesques, the light being admitted by tiny coloured glass windows. The rooms, galleries, and staircase are also flanked with tiles, and the central court, covered in with glass, becomes a court in another sense, and is fitted up with benches, &c., and a chair of state for the judge. CHAPTER XV. AÏSSAOUI FÊTES.-WEDDINGS.-A NEGRO DANCE. BE "Quot homines, tot sententiæ." EFORE finally quitting the charmed precincts of the Arab town, it will be well to devote a few pages to a description of those extraordinary rites, dissipations, or impostures, whichever they may be-and possibly all three names would equally fit them-called Aïssaoui fêtes, which may certainly claim to be one of the most curious and characteristic spectacles of Algiers, though it is, perhaps, doubtful whether assistance at one of these performances can be justly described as a pleasurable experience. That is, of course, a matter of taste; but those who do not shrink from witnessing the trapèze performances of a circus, the high-rope promenades of M. Blondin, or the sixty-feet leaps of female acrobats, can scarcely, on the score of humanity, take exception at the equally refining and far-lessdangerous-to-life-and-limb exhibitions of the Arab jugglers. The ruling passion is strong in both-excitement; the enjoyment, it would seem, much of the same kind—a delightfully agitating chance of some terrible catastrophe happening to the performer. The chances of this kind are without doubt on the side of the European acrobat, who thus ministers to the taste of the civilized nineteenth |