The whole military strength of Algiers does not ex ceed 20,000 or 25,000 men, 6000 or 7000 of whom are Turks, and the rest Cologlis or Moors. As the dey pos sesses a very scanty revenue, arising chiefly from taxes imposed on the provincial Moors, Jews, and Christians, :•rum the monopoly of grain, the ransom of captives, and exactions of presents from foreigners, the pay of the sol ..11f—c exceedingly small. According to Dr Shaw's calculation, the whole annual expense of the army would not amount to 200,000 dollars.
The naval lOrce of this kingdom consists in general of 20 ships, uric of which is the property of government, and is assigned to the admiral ; the rest belong to private individuals. The corsairs, though not allowed to inter fere in the concerns of the state, arc held in high estima tion. All the officers of their vessels must be either Turks or Cologlis ; for the Moors are not allowed to come upon the quarterdeck, or into the gun-room, unless they are sent for. An eighth part of all their prizes is due to government, the mmainder is distributed among the proprietors and ship's company, and even passengers are entitled to a share.
In a nation of pirates commerce cannot be expected to flourish. As the trade of Algiers is conducted almost solely by the corsairs, whose interest it is to be at war with other naval powers, the internal resources of the country are very much neglected. On this account, very few commodities are exported from Algiers, as their oil, wax, hides, pulse, and corn, arc barely sufficient for the supply of the country ; although the merchants of Oran have sometimes been known to ship off from Barbary several thousand tons of grain. Their other exports are ostrich feathers, copper, rugs, silk, ashes, embroidered handkerchiefs, dates, and Christian slaves. Manufactures in silk, cotton, wool, and leather, are car ried on in this country, chiefly by the Spaniards settled in the vicinity of the metropolis. They also manufacture a kind of carpets, which, though inferior to those of in beauty and fineness, are preferred by the people for their cheapness and softness. At Algiers there are looms for velvet, taffetas, and other wrought silks ; and a coarse sort of linen is manufactured in most parts of the kingdom. The commodities imported by the cor sairs are chiefly gold and silver stuffs, damasks, cloths, spices, tin, iron, plated brass, lead, quicksilver, cordage, sailcloth, bullets, cochineal, linen, tartar, alum, rice, sugar, soap, cotton raw and spun, copperas, aloes, brazil, logwood, and vermilion. The Algeri»es, have no ma
terials for ship-building, neither ropes, tar, sailcloth, anchors, nor iron. When they can procure enough of wood to corm the main timbers of a ship, they supply the rest by breaking down some old vessels of which they have made prizes.
In religion, the Algerines agree with the Turks, ex cept that they have a greater variety of superstitious rites. Though they acknowledge the authority of the Koran, they do not very scrupulously adhere to its doc trines and precepts. The mufti, or high priest, the grand marabout, or saint, together with the cadi, or chief judge, preside in all matters of religion.
The administration of justice in Algiers belongs chiefly to the cadi, who commonly receives his edu cation at Constantinople or Grand Cairo, where the Roman codes and pandects, translated into the Ara bic language, are taught and explained as in the univer sities of Europe. He is obliged to attend at the court of justice once or twice a-day, to hear and determine the several suits and complaints that are brought before him. All affairs of moment, however, are submitted to the dey himself, or in his absence to his principal officers ; who, for that purpose, sit constantly in the gate of the palace. Some of the punishments inflicted at Algiers are exceedingly cruel. A Jew or Christian, guilty of any capital crime, is carried without the gates of the k•ity, and burnt alive. A Moor or Arab, when capitally convicted, is either impaled, hung up by the neck over the battlements of the city, or thrown down upon hooks fixed in the wall below, where they sometimes hang in exquisite torment tor thirty or forty hours. The Turks are never punished in public, but are sent to the court of the aga, where they are either bastinaded or strztng leo, according to the nature of the ir crime. Fe male deiniquents are sent to some private house of correction ; or, II guilty of adultery, or any other capital crime, are tied up in a sack, arid thrown into the sea. Even the barbarous punishment of sawing asunder is still inflic ted among the western Moors. Trials arc conducted at Algiers in a very summary manner, and the sentence once pronounced, is followed by immediate execution. Little regard is paid to the quality of the offender. Trivial transgressions, indeed, may sometimes be ex piated by a sum of money ; but no atonement can be ac cepted for a flagrant crime but the punishments which justice awards.