'Twixt Sand and Sea

A light but keenly observed study of the coastal region of North Africa centred on Algiers. Written at the turn of the century, the work is a valuable and entertaining account of Arab life.

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'Mystery broods over North Africa, and the mystery draws you on, and makes you long to dig deep, where as yet the surface has hardly been disturbed.' Thus it was that the authors of this volume, which was first published at the very beginning of the century, were led to make 'a protracted sojourn' there. The principle ingredients of North Africa - 'sand that seems to stretch out into infinity...the ruins of three great civilisations...and the glory of the golden haze over the desert' - can be felt on every page as the writers describe each keenly observed place and incident. The past plays a great part in this narrative, from the history of Carthage, through the Punic Wars, the Roman Empire in North Africa - when systematic irrigation turned Africa into 'the granary of Rome' - to the growth of Christianity, invasions of Vandals and Byzantines and, finally, the spread of Islam. The reader is shown great cities - Kairouan and its beautiful mosques, Algiers, 'the lair of the corsairs' - and Bedouin camps where people eek out their living in the harsh desert. Most fascinating of all, perhaps, are the cave-dwellings of the Matmatas, unchanged for centuries.
The text is admirably complemented by numerous black and white photographs, reproduced from the original edition.