Daily Richmond Whig

The Natural resources of Algiers.—The soil of what is termed the Regency of Algiers, appears to have abated nothing of its pristine fecundity; where rivers or rivulets continue to intersect the valleys and plains, the land is as productive as when the Romans panegyrized it as 'the garden of Africa'—It is far more luxuriant and fruitful than the state of Tunis; its mountains are more irregular, the rains more abundant; its springs and brooks more numerous; and above all, its vegetation far more active and diversified. Few quarters of the globe can produce an extent of plain, comparable for beauty, fertility, and cultivation, with that of Mitidja, which lies at no great distance from the immediate vicinity of the capital. Its soil is uniformly rich over the whole range of a quadrangular superficies of a thousand miles; it is finely watered, and has been converted, by the industry of man, into one of the most luxuriant scenes which the mind can conceive.

On the borders of this terrestrial Paradise springs Mount Bourjerea, which rises to an elevation of nearly six hundred feet, its acclivities are covered with gardens and country houses, belonging to wealthy Jews and Moors, and fertilized by gushing springs, or wells, from which the water is drawn up by means of wheels set in motion by camels, wild horses, or asses.

The mountains are, in general, of a calcareous, cretaceous, or conchiferous formation, and produce several species of minerals, more particularly lead and iron, (the only metals which the natives possess the art of raising and turning to account,) antimony, vermillion, rock crystal, gypsum, chalk, marble of various kinds, porphyry, jasper, fuller's earth, nitre and sulphur. The richest product however, which this country affords, is salt, both sea, and rock. There are also several sorts of clay, which abound throughout the western districts of the Regency, and are used in the manufacture of earthenware, a portion of which is sent abroad.

Though Africa is on the whole barren of woods and forests, Algiers produces timber of a handsome growth especially on its low lands. The carob tree and olive are indigenous to the soil, and grow and spread themselves without requiring cultivation. Filberts and chesnuts are found in every quarter. The Fig yields a grateful aliment, and in the shape of hedge rows, affords both shade and protection to the garden and vineyard; the vine thrives on the hills, and decorates the orchards and plantations of the country with its festoons, its trunk growing frequently to the size of that of a pear tree; the pomegranate is three times larger than the Italian. Lemons, oranges, citrons, and other fruits of the same genus, are found in super abundance, & are considered finer in flavor than those produced under any other sky. The coast is rich in palm trees, and Biledulgered furnishes the most delicious dates.

Every kind of fruit, in short, which is common to a temperate, or more properly speaking, a warm zone, may be cultivated on this soil, though, with the exception of the fig, grape, orange, and pomegranate, they are generally of an inferior quality—The sugar cane is of universal growth; but Algiers possesses a peculiar species of this plant, which is called by the natives 'Seleuman,' attains to an extraordinary height, and contains a greater abundance of saccharine matter than any other sort with which we are acquainted.

The grain most commonly cultivated here is wheat and barley; but maize, durra, and rice, are also grown extensively.—Garavance, or peas, are a common food; but are wholly unknown to the husbandmen of Algiers.

Game and wild animals are met with at every point. The ostrich is seldom found within the regency of Algiers, excepting on the frontiers of Morocco, in the desert of Augad, and the defiles of Mount Atlas, where they are sometimes met with in numerous flocks. On the other hand, the country swarms with myriads of reptiles, scorpions, and locusts, which latter would deserve the name of the 'African scourge,' did they not afford nourishment to the mountaineer and others, who have been hence denominated acridophagi, or locust eaters, in ancient times.
The Arabian, Moorish and Amaghhuan tribes, who constitute the internal population of this regency live principally in pastoral state, their chief wealth consists in flocks and herds; and every province being full of pastures of the most extensive descriptions, they are rich in all kinds of domestic animals.— horses, oxen, camels, asses, mules, cattle, goats, &c. The Barbary horse stands in high repute on his native soil, competing with, if not surpassing the Arabian, in beauty and swiftness: though the Moor is, after all, but a negligent groom, and the choicest breed is consequently becoming scarce. Cattle are small in size, the cow yields but a scanty supply of milk, as compared with her European sisterhood, and runs dry as soon as she looses her calf. Algiers is, in common with Morocco, the native country of the famous Merino sheep; and the breed which has the large broad tail, is much more numerous here than in any other of the Barbary states. The Algerine ass is pre-eminently large and handsome: nor is it a matter of surprise, that a country which produces so fine a race of horses and asses, should possess an unrivalled breed of mules, a breed capable of carrying heavier burthens, and enduring greater fatigue than any other. The steady and elongated pace of these animals is given to them by keeping their fore legs tied for considerable time together, and suspending a weight to the pasterns of their hinder legs.— Balt. Amer.