. Life in Morocco and glimpses beyond . rule,as is well illustrated by their own saying, that wherethe foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused togrow. Of all the Barbary States, perhaps nonehas suffered more from successive outside influencesthan the people of Algeria. The porter who seizes ones luggage does notknow when he is using French words or Arabic, orwhen he introduces Italian, Turkish, or Spanish,and cannot be induced to make an attempt at Arabicto a European unless the latter absolutely refuses toreply to his jargon. Then comes a hideous corrup-tion of his mother tongue, in which th
. Life in Morocco and glimpses beyond . rule,as is well illustrated by their own saying, that wherethe foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused togrow. Of all the Barbary States, perhaps nonehas suffered more from successive outside influencesthan the people of Algeria. The porter who seizes ones luggage does notknow when he is using French words or Arabic, orwhen he introduces Italian, Turkish, or Spanish,and cannot be induced to make an attempt at Arabicto a European unless the latter absolutely refuses toreply to his jargon. Then comes a hideous corrup-tion of his mother tongue, in which the foreignexpressions are adorned with native inflexions inthe most comical way. His dress is barbarous,an ancient and badly fitting pair of trousers, andstockingless feet in untidy boots, on the heels ofwhich he stamps along the streets with a mostunpleasant noise. The collection of garments whichcomplete his attire are mostly European, thoughthe Fez cap remains the distinctive feature ofthe Muslims dress, and a selham—that cloak of. ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 313 cloaks, there called a burnus—is slung across hisshoulder. Some few countrymen are to be seenwho still retain the more graceful native costume,with the typical camel-hair or cotton cord boundround the head-dress, but the old inhabitants arebeing steadily driven out of town. The characteristic feature of Algerian costumesis the head-cord referred to, which pervades a greatpart of Arabdom, in Syria and Arabia being com-posed of two twists of black camel hair perhapsan inch thick. In Algeria it is about an eighth ofan inch thick, and brown. The slippers are ^.Isocharacteristic, but ugly, being of black leather,excellently made, and cut very far open, till itbecomes an art to keep them on, and the heelshave to be worn up. The use of the white selhamis almost universal, unhemmed at the edges, as inTunis also ; and over it is loosely tied a short haikfastened on the head by the cord. There is, however, even in Algiers
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