SEMILASSO IN AFRICA.
TOE German Prince has given us a much more lively and enter- tabling account of his trip to Algiers than the English poet; though, in point of solid information, Semilasso liz .ifrie4 con- tains little more than the Letters front the South. Algiers, indeed, wauld seem to be as unproductive to the traveller as it has proved to the conqueror ; and if another Daesost accompanied the Freneh expedition, it is doubtful whether the ruins oh' Car- thage end Utica would enable the silvans to produce a trophy of scientific research at all comparable with that splendid monument of BON AP.■RTE'S Egyptian campaign. A visit to Algiers, however, makes a pleasant diversion in the route oh the Continental tourist who may sail from Toulon ; and it mav serve as an object to give interest to a yacht cruise in the Mediterranean. The wild and barbarous looks and habits of the Arabs, the Oriental splendour and luxury of their Turkish masters, and the European customs and comforts which the French conquerors have grafted on them, blended together, must have a strange effect. Such at least is the result of a perusal of these pleasant gossiping letters of Prince PCCRI.F.R INICSKAU; who describes his impressions and sensations with picturesque vividness, and records the reflections they give rise to in the easy and assured manner of one who merely seeks to relieve his sensorium of the images that crowd on it, and is only responsible for amusing his eorrespoudent. This smart, off-hand sty le, is exactly suited to tbe rapid glances at men and things, and the superficial and obvious character of the remarks. The Prince visits Bona, Biserta, and Tunis; explores the ruins of Carthage, varying his reflections and researches with an aecouht of a sprain he got there : and introducing a dinner a? fresco by way of' foreground to a sketch of the site of Utica. Ile takes a view al the history of the :`,10erish dotnitiion in Tunis ; gi‘ec u slight account of the Mahomedan reliaion; discusses Arab steede and sediery and warlike& quipments; de- scribe:: a militery expedition and a boar-hula ; discourses on cookery and costume ; throws out some uselul hafts to travellers ; and abounds in tales, aneedates, and email talk of all kinds. And if in this medley of subjects the statist amid the naturalist find but little information, the general reader wiil be agreeably amused. The history of the celebrated tissue, counnendant of the French Spahis at Bowl, related by himself, is the toast remark- able ana tutereAing episode in the leeik : it reads like an Eastern romance. J t'sst: r was brought up in the Seraglio of the Bey of Tunis; and fell iii love at twelve years ohl with KABUL:RA, a dainditer of the Bey. For several years the lovers mai:mt.-4:d to meet at nie-ht on the terrace of the fair one's dwell inea by the con- nivauce uf her neither aed the assistance of her waiting-maids : they filled up the breaks of absence by love-letters, those of Jussue being written in his owil blood. One night the lovers were surmised by a Greek slave, for whom J CeeCe had got the poet of pipe-filler to the Pacha. The traitor's ebjeet was money, and Jussue bribed him to secrecy ; but, to meke sure, he takes an opportunity of stabbing him, cuts his body in pieces, and puts it in a cask of lime, which he builds up in a wall of his house ; reserving only the right hand, eyes, and tongue of the slave, which he presents to his mistress in costly caskets. Their assignations, however, grow more and more diflieult and dangerous-, and, to crown all, the remains of the tnurdered slave are discovered. Jussua j5 eoudemned to death, and has said his last prayer and stretched out his neck to the stroke of the scimitar, when the accidental upsetting of the lamp enables him to escape. After many sufferings and privations, he makes his way to the camp, and there performs same brilliant services, that reconcile the Paella to his continuing to wear his head. But the lovers are new fur- ther asunder than ever : they are frustrated in an attempt to .elope together, and JCSSUF is imprisoned. Even then he contrives to enjoy stolen interviews with his mistress ; and being on one occasion surprised by a black eunuch, the lady stabs the intruder. Finally, JUsSUF is compelled to seek safety in the French service; in which he holds distinguished rank.
The volumes furnish many extractable passages, but we must be content with two of the benefit.
ALGIERS UNDEK THE FRENCH.
We found ourselves, after we had passed the gate, in the broadest street in
the town • the houses i ght and left were half HI Inicri, the French having thrown diem down to inetease the width of the street : everywhere stones and rubbish lay about, the transport of which caused unceasing tumult. The por- ters, often live or six for one object, mostly rau along ; and those who did not look before tlwm, ran imminent risk or being knocked down, particularly by the long beams which some of them carried on thew beads. Costumes of every kind surrounded us ;—black Kabyles from Mount Atlas in white cloaks; Moors in splendid many-coloured dresses ; Negroes in harlequin jackets, em- broidered all over with bright, variegated flowers and stars; elegant French officers; Suaves and Spalus in Oriental French uniform; Parisian waiting- maids and Moorish matrons, the latter covered with linen in such a way that only their eyes are visible, and looking exactly like corpses risen from the bed of death to gaze once more upon the hiving; Jewesses, their feet naked, only wearieg sandals, but, in recompense, glittering all over with gold, and having on their heads tuyaus three feet long made of filligree; all these different cos. tames swarmed in the streets, intermingled with as strange a medley of animals.
We arrived at the door of nun of the levelled houses, which was announced as our hotel. I shuddered at the prospect. Climbing with difficulty over the rubbish, we penetrated through a narrow, half-demolished archway ; we then entered a small door on one side, when, as if by enchantment, the whole scene was instantly changed. An elegant Moorish saloon, surrounded with arcades, supported by handsome marble pillars, the arches tastefully decorated with
tablets of coloured porcelain ; in the middle a well-supplied buffet, with a Parisian demoiselle dressed in the newest fashion enthroned behind it ; num- bers of small round tables, covered with smoking dishes, at which were seated happy guests; and the whole rendered doubly 'inviting to hungry stomachs by the smell of a good French kitchen, dissipated the uneasiness which, on oar entrance, hail made us dread the worst.
A TURKISH NIARRI %GE.
Pomp and barbarism may be truly said to have gone hand in hand there. For instance, the rooms were hung breast-high with crimson velvet em- broidered with gold ; the Smyrna and Persian carpets were of excessive rich. miss, ittel ottomans of white satin, glittering with large gold dowers, were fur. iiished with fancy cushions of all odours, and in the most tasteful designs; the open doers and lattiee-winduws hail magniticient muslin curtains, embroidered ia a manner fir superior to any thing of the kind in Europe ; the ceilings were carved anal adorned with works of consummate art, some parts richly gilt, mho s ornarnented with lit Whim variegated patterns. But, on the other hand, fr an immediately above the satin tapestry to the spleudid ceiling, nothing was to he seen but the naked win w wall ; the room was lighted by a solitary large wax light, such as those used in churches, which WAS plaeed in the centre df the apaitment, on a wooden block inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and around were the Turkish ladies smoking out of pipes ornamented wit jewels. The bridegroom came last, very plainly dressed; hut the bride was adorned with an enormous quantity of pearls, jewels, and gold, usually bin rowed on such oecasious from all her aegmtintances and friends. Besides these barbaric iiiinaments, many pat ti of her Lice were also gilt, particularly her eyebrows, so that 'it was difficult to tell what was her true and natural appearance.
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