[Algiers,] Thursday, 13 April 1882 

Darling Cacadou, 

I reproach myself for not having written to you again until now, 
not that there’s anything special to report from here. How often do 
I not think of you— at Eastbourne,?°* beside my Jenny’s* sick-bed, 
and during your faithful daily visits so cheering to that crosspatch, 
Otp Nick. But you should know, dear child, that this week and last 
were Fermé’s Easter vacation; he lives in the rue Michelet (as part of 
the route Mustapha supérieur? is called) at the foot of the hill from 
which the Hotel Victoria looks down. It’s only a stone’s throw away 
for him, although he has to ‘clamber’ since there’s no proper path 
leading up to it. And in fact he has latterly been visiting me as- 
siduously, thus frustrating the best of resolutions in regard to afternoon 
letter-writing.— Otherwise not an unwelcome guest, Mr Fermé, nor 
devoid of humour. After I had given him some Citoyens and Egalités to 
read, he arrived chuckling not a little over Guesde’s ‘terrorism of the 
future’ [which is to go on| until—— this anticipated in heavy type — 
the last bourgeois oppressor has been guillotined out of existence. 
Fermé is not fond of Algiers whose climate doesn’t suit either him or 
his family (often visited by fever, etc.) although its members are all of 
them ‘des indigenes a commencer par Madame l’épouse.< Above all, how- 
ever, his salary as a Judge is hardly sufficient for even the most modest 
way of life. Living in a colonial capital is always expensive. But one 
thing he does admit—in no town elsewhere, which is at the same 
time the seat of the central government, is there such /atsser faire, lais- 
ser passer*; police reduced to a bare minimum; unprecedented public 
sans géne*; the Moorish element is responsible for this. For Mussul- 
mans there is no such thing as subordination; they are neither ‘sub- 
jects’ nor ‘administrés’'; no authority, save in politica, something 
which Europeans have totally failed to understand. Few police in Al- 

@ Jenny Marx-° Upper Mustapha-° ‘natives’, starting with his lady wife- 
* easy-going ways-° nonchalance-' persons under the jurisdiction of others- 
8 political matters 

e 

134. Marx to Laura Lafargue. 13 and 14 April 1882 239 

giers, and such as there are for the most part indigénes. And yet, with 
such a medley of national elements and unscrupulous characters, fre- 
quent clashes are inevitable, and it is here that the Catalonians live up 
to their old reputation; the white or red belts they wear, like the 
Moors, etc., outside their coats and not, like the French, beneath 
their clothing, often conceal ‘bodkins’—long stilettos which these 
sons of Catalonia are not slow to ‘employ’ with equal impartiality 
against Italians, Frenchmen, etc., and natives alike. Incidentally, 
a few days ago a gang of forgers was apprehended in the province of 
Oran, amongst them their chief, a former Spanish officer; their Euro- 
pean agency, it now transpires, is in the capital of Catalonia — 
Barcelona! Some of the laddies were not arrested and escaped to 
Spain. This piece of news, and others of a similar kind, derives from 
Fermé. The latter has received 2 advantageous offers from the French 
government; firstly, a transfer to New Caledonia where he would, at 
the same time, be responsible for introducing a new legal system, sa- 
lary 10,000 frs (he and family to travel there gratis and, on arrival, be 
given free official accommodation); or, secondly, to Tunis, where he 
would likewise occupy a higher magisterial rank than here, and 
under far more favourable conditions. He has been given a certain 
period in which to make up his mind; will accept one or the other. 
From Mr Fermé to the weather is a natural transition, since he freely 
heaps imprecations on the same.—Since Easter Monday (incl.) 
I have not missed a single morning stroll, although only yesterday 
(12th) and today have been spared the caprices of April. Yesterday, 
bien que nous subissions le léger siroco et, par conséquent, quelques coups de 
vent, ce fut le maximum du beau temps: & 9 heures le matin (le 12) le tem- 
pérature a Vombre fut de 19.5°, et celle au soleil, de 35°. In spite of 
having gone for a walk in the morning (12 April), I visited Algiers in 
the afternoon in order to take a look at the Russian ironclad, Peter the 
Great, which had arrived in the harbour there a few days before. 
The official meteorological office has forecast intense atmospheric 
disturbances for 15-16 April (when there’ll be orage’), 19, 21, 25, 27, 
29 and 30 April; nevertheless, the weather during the remainder of 
April will on the whole be fine; at the same time it is feared that in 
May, to make up for the absence of a true Algerian spring (which did 

@ although we experienced a slight sirocco and, as a result, some gusts of wind, it was 
the finest possible weather: at 9 o’clock in the morning (the 12th) the temperature was 
19.5° in the shade and 35° in the sun.-° a storm 

not begin till yesterday), summer will arrive all at once and with it 
unbearable heat. However ruat May Be, I do not, as corpus vile,* feel in- 
clined to serve as an experimental station for the weather. In view of 
the altogether abnormal character of the past 4'/: months, God knows 
WHAT ALGERIA MAY HAVE IN store. Large numbers of shrewd folk 
(amongst them /’l'illustre’ ‘Ranc’) departed from the African shore 
day before yesterday. I shall only stay until Dr Stephann has declared 
my left side to be in good order again, apart, of course, from the scar 
well known to the doctissimi‘ Drs Donkin and Hume, left by an 
earlier attack of pleurisy. What has been tiresome here so far is the con- 
stant recurrence of my cough, even if within moderate Limits; Withal, 
much boredom. 

Interruption of the most argeeable kind: Knocks at THE poor; Entrez! ¢ 
Madame Rosalie (ong oF THE SERVING spirits) brings me a letter from 
you, dear Cacadou, and, from the good Gascon,‘ a long letter of 
which the paper, like the envelope, already bears the official stamp: 
‘L’Union Nationale’.?°° This time he seems to have pulled it off! Ce 
n’est pas une de ces entreprises patronées par Mr Ch. Hirsch!‘ On the other 
hand, to be sure, the prospect of my Cacadou’s departure looms 
closer! But not just yet, I trust. Also, I regard it as some compensation 
that aunty Cacadou should represent so great a gain to Jennychen 
and her children’; anyway, with Paris so close, there’s no need to 
spend the whole year in London.— Apropos. Has Lafargue sent the 
next instalment of the article to Petersburg? (I don’t know what be- 
came of the first consignment.) *°° It’s most important not to lose the 
vantage point of Petersburg; it will gain in importance daily! Also for 
anyone who sends despatches there. 

Second interruption: It is 1 ocrock p.m., and I have promised to visit 
the ‘Fardin du Hamma’ ou' ‘Fardin @’ Essai with Madame Casthelaz, son 
fils, and one of our other fellow pensionnaires,; Madame Claude 
(of Neufchatel). We have to be back serore DINNER (6 O'CLOCK P.M.), 
later than which every EFFORT AT WRITING NEVER AS YET DARED UPON BY ME. SO 
no more till tomorrow. Simply by way of a supplement * to the useful 
knowledge of Cacadou I allow myself to remark, that on that very 
Hamma took place the landing of 24,000 soldiers under the com- 
mandment of Charles V, emperor, (or Carlos I, according to the Spa- 
niards) on 23 October 1541 4°!; 8 days later he had to ship the * beaux 

a 

a vile body -” the illustrious-° most learned -¢ Come in.-* Paul Lafargue-! It isn’t 
one of those enterprises patronised by Mr Ch. Hirsch.-* Jean, Henri, Edgar 
and Marcel Longuet-" or-' her son-! lodgers 

134. Marx to Laura Lafargue. 13 and 14 April 1882 241 

restes de son armée détruite sur les vaisseaux échappés a la tempéte du 26, et 
ralliés a grand peine par Doria, a Matifou. Ce dernier lieu ou finit la bate 
@ Alger c. a. d.— le cap Matifou* — opposite, ON THE EAST, TO ALGIERS, IS TO BE 
ESPIED, par des bonnes lunettes,> By MYSELF FROM Hétel Victorias GALLERY. 

Vendredi,: 14 April 

*I commence this letter at the moment when IJ have a few lines to be 
added to the foregoing, that is to say at about J o’clock p.m. The day 
ended yesterday as fine as that of the 12th. Both the evenings 12 and 13 
(about 8 hours p.m.) were warm — quite exceptional this— but cool 
(relatively) at the same time, hence really delightful. This morning 
the warmth a little more ‘heavy’, and just since two hours the wind 
blows violently, probably the ‘orage’ predicted yesterday from 14-15. 

Yesterday at 1 o’clock p.m. we went down to Inferior Mustapha 
whence the tram brought us to Jardin Hamma or Jardin d’Essai, the 
which used for ‘Promenade Publique’ with occasional military music, 
as ‘pépiniére’* for the production and diffusion of the indigenous vege- 
tables, at last for the purpose of scientific botanical experiments and as 
a garden of ‘acclimatation’.— This all encloses a very large ground, part 
of which is mountainous, the other belonging to the plain. In 
order to see more minutely, you would want at least a whole day, and 
beside being somebody with you a connaisseur, f.i. like M. Fermé’s 
friend and old Fourieriste, M. Durando, professor of botanics, who is 
the leader of a section of the ‘Club Alpin Frangais’ on its regular Sun- 
day excursions. (I very much regretted that my bodily circumstances 
and the Dr. Stephann’s strict prohibition till now did not yet allow 
me to share in these excursions, having 3 times [been] invited there- 
to.) 

Well, before entering the ‘Jardin d’Essai’ we took coffee, of course 
in the free air, a Mauresque ‘café’. The Maure prepared it excel- 
lently, we were on a bank. On a rough table, in inclined positions, 
their legs crossed, half a dozen Maure visitors [...]°* were delighted in 
their small ‘cafétiéres’,’ (everyone gets one of his own) and together 

“ remnants of his shattered army aboard the vessels which had escaped the storm of the 
26th and been rallied with much difficulty by Doria, at Matifu. This latter place, whe- 
re the Bay of Algiers ends— Cape Matifu-> with good glasses-° Friday-¢ nursery - 
* Tllegible passage in the ms.-‘ coffee pots 

242 - 134. Marx to Laura Lafargue. 13 and 14 April 1882 

playing at cards (a conquest this on them of civilisation). Most strik- 
ing this spectacle: Some these Maures were dressed pretentiously, 
even richly, others in, for once I dare call it blouses, sometime of 
white woollen appearance, now in rags and tatters — but in the eyes 
of a true Musulman such accidents, good or bad luck, do not distin- 
guish Mahomet’s children. Absolute equality in their social intercourse, not 
affected; on the contrary, only when demoralized, they become aware 
of it; as to the hatred against Christians and the hope of an ulti- 
mate victory over these infidels, their politicians justly consider this 
same feeling and practice of absolute equality (not of wealth or posi- 
tion but of personality) a guarantee of keeping up the one, of not giv- 
ing up the latter.* (Nevertheless, they will go to rack and ruin wirn- 
OUT A REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT.) 

*In regard to the plain part of the Jardin d’ Essai | remark only: It is 
cut by three great longitudinal ‘allées’* of a wonderful beauty; oppo- 
site to the principal entry is the ‘allée’ of the platenes [platanes]”; 
then the ‘allée des palmiers ,° ended by an oasis of immense 72 ‘pal- 
miers’, limited by the railway and the sea; at last the ‘allée’ of the 
magnolia and a sort of figues (ficus roxburght). These three great “allées’ 
are themselves cut by many others crossing them, such as the long 
‘allée des bambous’ astonishing, the ‘allée’ of ‘palmiers a chanvre’,’ 
the ‘dragon/n jiers’,: the ‘eucalyptus’ (blue gum of Tasmania), etc., 
(the latter are of an extraordinarily quick vegetation). 

Of course, these sorts of* a/lées cannot be reproduced in European 
“Jardins @ acclimatation | 

During the afternoon there was a concert of military music in 
a large open space encircled by plane trees; the conductor, a non- 
commissioned officer, wore ordinary French uniform, whereas the 
musicians (common soldiers) wore red, baggy trousers (of oriental 
cut), white felt boots buttoning up to the bottom of the baggy trou- 
sers; on their heads a red fez. 

While on the subject of the garden, I did not mention (though 
some of these were very pleasing to the nose) orange trees, lemon — 
ditto, almond trees, olive trees, etc.; nor, for that matter, cactuses and 
aloes which also grow wild (as do wild olives and almonds) in the 
rough country where we have our abode. 

Much though this garden delighted me, I must observe that what 

* avenues -” plane trees-° palm trees -¢ hemp palms-* dragon trees-! Botanical 

Gardens 

134. Marx to Laura Lafargue. 13 and 14 April 1882 243 

is abominable about this and similar excursions is the ubiquitous 
chalky dust; though I felt well in the afternoon and after coming home 
and during the night, my cough was nonetheless rather troublesome, 
thanks to the irritation caused by the dust. 

I am expecting Dr Stephann today, but as I cannot put off the 
despatch of this missive, I will send a report to Fred later on. 

Finally, as Mayer of Swabia used to say, let us take a little look at 
things from a higher historical perspective. Our nomadic Arabs (who 
have, in many respects, gone very much to seed while retaining, as 
a result of their struggle for existence, a number of sterling qualities) 
have memories of having once produced great philosophers, scholars, 
etc., which, they think, is why Europeans now despise them for their 
present ignorance. Hence the following little fable, typical of Arab 
folklore. 

A ferryman is ready and waiting, with his small boat, on the tem- 
pestuous waters of a river. A philosopher, wishing to get to the other 
side, climbs aboard. There ensues the following dialogue: 

Philosopher: Do you know anything of Aistory, ferryman? 

Ferryman: No! 

Philosopher: Then you’ve wasted half your life! 

And again: The Philosopher: Have you studied mathematics? 

Ferryman: No! 

Philosopher. Then you’ve wasted more than half your life. 

Hardly were these words out of the philosopher’s mouth when the 
wind capsized the boat, precipitating both ferryman and philosopher 
into the water. Whereupon, 

Ferryman shouts: Can you swim? 

Philosopher: No! 

Ferryman: Then you’ve wasted your whole life. 

That will tickle your appetite for things Arabic. 

With much love and many kisses. 

Otp Nick 

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