No country is happier in its climate than Algiers. In the cultivated parts of this kingdom, particularly, the air is so temperate, that the sultry heat of summer and the piercing cold of winter are equally unknown. During twelve years that 1)r Shaw resided in that country, the thermometer descended only twice to the freezing point ; nor did it ever rise to that of sultry heat, except when the scorching winds blew from the desert. or Sahara. The seasons slide imperceptibly into each other ; and the range of the barometer is only from 29 A. inches, to thus indicating all the revolutions of the weather in the space of I inch and The winds blow generally from the sea. Easterly winds arc com mon from May to September ; and are succeeded by the westerly breezes which prevail longer, and rise more frequently. About the equinoxes, the impetuosity of the Africus, or south-west wind, called by the mariners of these seas Lsbctch, is very sensibly felt. Southerly winds, after blowing over the Sahara, are hot and vio lent, but are by no means frequent at Algiers. Some times, indeed, they blow for five or six days together in July and August, rendering the air so excessively sufliacating, that it is necessary, during their continuance, to sprinkle the floors of the houses with water. In this climate, the serenity of the summer sky is seldom overcast by a single cloud. The first rains begin to fall in September, and in some years a month later ; after which, or about the middle of October, wheat is sown, and beans are planted. If the latter rains fall in the middle of April, the crop is thought secure ; and har vest commences about the end of May, or the begin ning of June. In this charming climate the trees are clothed in unfailing verdure. They begin to bud in February ; in April, the fruit attains its full size, and is completely ripe in May.
Though some parts of this country are extremely fer tile, its soil is by no means equal. In many places it is hot, dry, and barren ; susceptible, perhaps, of im provement, but left by the indolent and unskilful natives uncultivated and waste. The species of grain cultiva ted here arc, wheat and barley, rice, Indian corn, and a kind of millet, called drah, which is preferred to barley for fattening cattle, and of which birds are so fond, that to guard it from their depredations, it is necessary to keep up a continued noise through the whole day. Ac cording to the primitive customs of the eastern nations, the Algerines tread out their corn, by driving mules or horses around the ncdders, or thrashing-floors, on which the sheaves are spread open. To winnow the grain, when thus trodden out, they throw it up against the wind in a shovel, and then lodge it in mattamores, or subterraneous magazines. Of the pulse kind, beans, lentiles, and garvancos, or chick pea, are the most es teemed and abundant ; and their gardens are well stored with herbs, roots, and fruit, in great variety.
But the riches of the Algerines consist chiefly in their cattle, of which they have considerable variety. Of these the most remarkable are, the horse, the mule, and the ass; the kumrah, a serviceable little animal, the offspring of the ass and cow, single hoofed like the for mer, but having a sleek skin, and a head and tail like those of the cow ; the camel, the dromedary, or, as it is there called, the Machary. Their black cattle. arc, in
general, small and slenthr, yielding little milk, and that of inferior quality. They have two sorts of sheep ; the one kind re markable for its breadth of tail ; the other, which is bred in the neighbourhood of the Sahara, is almost as tall as our fallow-deer, which it somewhat re sembles in shape. Its flesh is dry, and its fleece as coarse as the hair of goats. In Algiers are to be seen larhc herds of wild cattle, called by the Arabs, bekker cl-wash ; these are distinguished from tame cattle by the roundness of their bodies, the breadth of their fronts, and the inflexion of their horns. The fishtail, or lerwee, is a species of goat, about the size of a heifer of a year old, but has a rounder turn of body, with a tuft of shagged hair upon the knees and neck : it is so exceedingly timorous, that when pursued, it will throw itself down rocks and precipices. Besides these, the deserts of Algiers abound with animals of a fiercer nature, lions, panthers, leopards, hyaenas, jackalls, bee.
This country is intersected by bold ridges of moun tains, of which the most remarkable are Mount At las ; for a particular description of which, see AT LAS ; the mountains of Trara ; the Boojereah ; the Anwall mountains ; and those of Tur-jura and F'eli zia.
The rivers which deserve to be particularly noticed arc, the 'Liz, which flows through the province of Tremecen, and the desert of Anguid, into the Medi terranean ; the Harcgol, supposed to be the Sign of Ptolemy, issuing from the great Atlas, and flowing through the desert of Anguid into the sea, about five leagues from Oran ; the Mina, a large river, supposed to be the Chylematis of Ptolemy, which crosses the plain of Bathala, and falls into the sea near the town of Arzew ; the Shellif, Zilef, or Zilif; the Belef, probably the Car thena of the ancients ; the Hued-al-quiver, called by Europeans Zinganir, and supposed to be the ancient Nalabata, or Nasaba; the Suf-Gemar, or Suf-Gimmar al Rumniel, the Ampsaga of Ptolemy ; the Ladag, or Ludeg ; and the Cuadi, or Guadel Barbar.
Algiers, as we have already mentioned, formed a con siderable part of Mauritania Tingitana, which, being reduced by Julius Cmsar to a Roman province, was from him called Mauritania Cxsariensis. The Romans were driven out of Africa by the Vandals, who were, in their turn, expelled by Belisarius, the Greek emperor Jus tinian's general. About the middle of the 7th century, a new revolution was effected by the Saracens, who, hav ing obtained possession of this part of the country, di vided it into a number of petty states or kingdoms, governed by chiefs of their own nation and choice. Their power continued till the year 1051, when Abubeker-Ben Omar, called by the Spaniards ?bu-Texefien, an Arab of the Zinhagian tribe, provoked by the tyranny of the Saracens, assembled, by the assistance of the Mara bouts, a powerful army of malcontents, defeated the Arabian cheyks in many engagements, and reduced the whole province of Tingitana under his own domin ion.