This week, we continue with yet another excerpt from the captivity narrative of John Foss, the American who, in October, 1793, was captured by Barbary corsairs from Algiers.
Last week’s excerpt provided some details about the makeup of the population of Algiers and with governance.
This week’s excerpt provides further details about governance, prices, peoples, and some personal details about the Dey of Algiers.
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The Dey of Algiers is an absolute monarch. The next man to him in dignity and power is the Haznagi. The Agha is next to the Haznagi, and the Hodge de Cabellos, is next to him. The next is the Petti Mell. The Agha de Bastione is the fifth man in office; he is the high Sheriff and enjoys his post but two moons and then retires with a pension. The other officers of importance are a Secretary of State, twenty four Chiah Bassas, or Colonels subordinate to the Aga, about two hundred senior Raises, or corsair Captains, and about four hundred Zuta Raises, or Lieutenants.
The Mufti, the Cadi, and the Grand Marabout are known by the largeness of their turbans. The former is the high Priest. The second is the Supreme Judge in ecclesiastical causes. The third is the chief of an order of Saints or Hermits. These hermits are people who wander from one part of the country to another, living upon alms after the manner of the wandering Jews of Jerusalem. They were formerly looked upon with disdain and treated with derision. But since the prophesy of Yusef (who was one of these Hermits) concerning the destruction of the Spaniards (which was the expedition of Charles V, in the year 1541), they have been accounted Saints.
Such is the gross ignorance and superstition of these people that when one of these Hermits happens to pass by any person who is halt, or blind, they will endeavor to touch his garment with their fingers, then rub their fingers upon the part affected, thinking the Hermit has power to make them whole.
The inhabitants of Algiers live very meanly and abstemiously, although their country plentifully produces the conveniences and luxuries of life, and all kinds of provisions are very cheap. I have purchased a quarter of beef here weighing 70 pounds for three Arbia booches, though the common price is about five. A dozen eggs are commonly sold for a mazoone and a half. All other provisions are as cheap in proportion.
To give the reader a more explicit idea of the value of these coins, I have presented all the coins current in Algiers in the table below.
| GOLD COINS Dollars Cents |
| Sultani (or Sequin) 1 80 |
| Mahaboob 1 35 |
| Nooz Sultani 90 |
| Nooz Mahaboob 68 |
| Arba Sultani 45 |
| SILVER COINS |
| Riele Booche 60 |
| Nooz Booche 30 |
| Arbia Booche 15 |
| Timinee Booche 7 |
| Mazoone 2 |
They have but one copper coin. This they call drahame segaria, 1,160 of which make a dollar.
The chief part of their diet is bread, oil, olives, vinegar and salad. They very seldom eat any meat. When they do, one pound is sufficient for six or eight people, and this they think extravagant.
They profess not to drink any spirituous liquors, and if any one is seen intoxicated, he is no more accounted a true Mahomet. Many of them will, however, drink to excess when they are out of sight of any others of their religion. I have seen many instances of this kind, particularly one Mustafa, an Algerine, who would often go into the Bagnio and purchase wine from the slaves (at double price) that they had bought for their own use, and then sit down and drink among them.
One evening, as I went in after returning from my labor, I saw Mustafa drinking wine and eating pork sausages. I asked him if he knew what he was eating. He answered in great rage, “Uz coot sanzafida unta main schelim, una main arfshi!” In Englishm this is, “Hold your tongue, you unbeliever. If you do not tell me, I shall not know!”
The present Dey of Algiers, is between sixty and seventy years of age. He is a thick, well-built man, with a white beard covering his breast. He is of a light complexion and does not appear to be much decayed by the weight of years that have rolled over his head. He is of a very malicious disposition and, often (when he is in a rage) commands deeds of inhumanity to be committed—of which it is said he repents afterwards.
His family consists of himself, his wife, and one daughter. His wife and daughter have a separate palace at a little distance from that of the Dey’s. They have a great number of female Christian slaves to serve them. The Dey visits them every Thursday evening, abides with his wife the night, and returns to his own palace on Friday morning. The Dey has a number of male Christian slaves to wait upon him. One cooks his victuals, another sets his table, waits upon him while eating, makes his bed, and sees that all things in his apartment are kept clean. The others do any kind of work that is necessary.
He keeps no Seraglio, as is generally reported. He has but the one wife and sleeps with her but once a week.
When the Dey eats, he has a table about 4 inches high, on which is set several different dishes, with neither plates, knives, nor forks, for in Algiers they eat only with spoons, their victuals being cut small before they are set upon the table. They can touch their victuals only with their right hand. They sit always on the floor (which has a mat or carpet upon it), for chairs are entirely unknown among them. The common people only differ from the Dey by having no table whatever, their dishes being set upon the floor.
The Turks are a well-built, robust people, their complexion not unlike Americans, though they somewhat larger in statue. However, their manner of dress and long beards make them appear more like monsters than human beings.
The Cologlies are somewhat less in stature than the Turks, and are of a more tawny complexion.
The Moors, or Moriscoes, are generally a tall, thin, spare set of people, not much inclining to fat, and of a very dark complexion, much like the Indians in north America.
The Arabs, or Arabians, are of a much darker complexion than the Moors, being darker than the Mulattoes. They are also much less in stature than the Moors, being the smallest people I ever saw. Very few reach the height of five feet, and they are generally near of a size. These people compose the greater part of the pisaras (the porters) in the city. As they are not allowed to trade in any mercantile line, nor even to learn any mechanic art, they are obliged to be drudges to their superiors in order to gain the hard-earned morsels on which they subsist.
The Algerines maintain about six thousand five hundred foot soldiers, consisting of Turks and Cologlies (the sons of Soldiers). About one thousand of them do garrison duty, and part of them are employed in fomenting differences among the neighboring Arab princes.
Besides these, the Dey can bring two thousand Moorish cavalry into the field. Those troops are under excellent discipline.
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For the next installment of John Foss’s narrative, see the next post here in this blog.
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For those who may be interested…
The above excerpt from John Foss’s narrative comes from A journal, of the captivity and sufferings of John Foss; several years a prisoner at Algiers: together with some account of the treatment of Christian slaves when sick—and observations on the Manners and Customs of the Algerines, second edition, originally published in 1798, pp. 69-75.
As usual, I have lightly edited and abridged the original text to make it more accessible for modern readers.
Corsairs and Captives
Narratives from the Age of the Barbary Pirates
The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson
The story of the Barbary corsair raid on Iceland in 1627