e former and a small number
of the latter remain, the rest having been ruthlessly turned into
churches. The Mosque of Hasan, built just over a century ago, is now
the cathedral, though for this transformation it has been considerably
distorted, and a mock-Moorish facade erected in the very worst taste.
Inside things are better, having been less interfered with, but what
is now a church was never a good specimen of a mosque, having been
originally partly European in design, the work of renegades. The same
may be said of the Mosque of the Fisheries, a couple of centuries old,
built in the form of a Greek cross! One can well understand how
the Dey, according to the story, had the architect put to death on
discovering this anomaly. These incongruities mar all that is supposed
in Algeria to be Arabesque. The Great Mosque, nevertheless, is more
ancient and in better style, more simple, more chaste, and more
awe-inspiring. The Zawiah of Sidi Abd er-Rahman, outside the walls,
is as well worth a visit as anything in Algiers, being purely and
typically native. It is for the opportunities given for such peeps
as this that one is glad to wander in Algeria after tasting the real
thing in Morocco, where places of worship and baths are closed to
Europeans. These latter I found all along North Africa to be much what
they are in Morocco, excepting only the presence of the foreigners.

The tile work of Algeria is ugly, but many of the older Italian and
other foreign specimens are exceptionally good, both in design and
colour. Some of the Tunisian tiles are also noteworthy, but it is
probable that none of any real artistic value were ever produced in
what is now conveniently called Algeria. There is nothing whatever in
either country to compare with the exquisite Fez work found in the
Alhambra, hardly to rival the inferior productions of Tetuan. A
curious custom in Algeria is to use all descriptions of patterns
together "higgledy-piggledy," upside down or side-ways, as though
the idea were to cover so much surface with tiling, irrespective of
design. Of course this is comparatively modern, and marks a period
since what art Algeria ever knew had died out. It is noticeable, too,
how poor the native manufacturers are compared with those of Morocco,
themselves of small account beside those of the East. The wave of
civilization which swept over North Africa in the Middle Ages failed
to produce much effect till it recoiled upon itself in the fa