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ALGERIA FROM WITHIN

New Year's Day, the Aschana, are not observed with any great feasting. Candles are lit in the mosques, the Grande Prière is said collectively, and a little more food than usual is eaten. Quite apart from the orthodox or dissenting religious observances associated with the mosque, there are other rites, which are really private affairs, observed by independent groups of men who venerate some particular saint. They are really little clubs, and though all its members are strict Mohammedans belonging to one of the sects, believing in all the prophets, they are very proud of the particular saint whom they venerate. There are the followers of Sidi Abd-el-Kader, the great marabout, second only to the Prophet; of Sidi-el-Hadj-Aïssa, who founded Laghouat; of Sidi Abder Rahmane, patron of Algiers, and many others. Twice a week these members of the clubs meet, either in the private mosque dedicated to the marabout, or, if it is fine, before the edifice erected in his name outof-doors. Here they drink tea, which is either provided by themselves or is often sent by people of the town who wish to find grace in the eyes of the saint. The men sit round in a circle and sing religious songs in unison while the time is kept by a man with a tambourine. On a clear moonlight night it is a most impressive sight to see the earnest faces of the singers as they sit rigidly intoning the long verses of the chant, which is repeated in a chorus, rising finally into a wild rhythm until it stops suddenly and unexpectedly. Visitors are rare on these evenings, and they sit apart with their shoes off; women occasionally come, but they are heavily veiled and are hidden away in a corner. The actual tombs of marabouts are much ven- erated, as are also the little domes erected at places

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