April 8th Thursday

A beautiful day, due at Algiers at 11 o’clock where I expect to mail this, so no more at present.

Dad.

This has certainly been a day of events. At 11 o’clock, we arrived at Algiers, and it is almost impossible to describe the scene as it presented itself to us. The city itself is built on a hill, which slopes upward from the Mediterranean Sea. The houses are built in the Moorish Spanish style and look like so many toy houses.

The pilot came on board and guided the ship close to the wharfes [sic] where we dropped anchor and swung around. A government launch (French) brought an officer on board and took as many passengers as she could load on shore, the others were taken in small boats and launches.

The carsmen looked very picturesque with their white pantaloons, purple jackets, and red fez, quite a number of vendors came aboard to sell postal cards, spyglasses and Moorish trinkets.

From the upper deck we had a good view of the city, we could see parks with palm trees, a bronze equestrian statue, the City Hall, several mosques and a “Sure enough” street car.

The life on the water was full of variety. The White Star liner, “Canopic” had left Gibraltar about the same time as our boat, but being a faster boat, she had arrived four hours before us and was now calling in her passengers. Another large steamer came and and dropped her anchor, all of which gave us as much to see as we could possibly see in so short a time.

At 12 o’clock we started for Naples with the wind dead against us and the “Canopic” which had started later, gradually gaining on us and soon lost to our sight.

It was rumored that we would have the Captain’s dinner to-day and a peep into the dining room showed that it was being decorated with a great number of small flags. So we decided to “Dress” for the occasion and we all came into the “Dining Saloon” in full rig. The waiters were dressed up in style, and take it all around, it was quite a festive looking crowd.

The tables were decorated, too, and on each one was an elaborate table piece built up of macaroons and decorated with small flags and “costume favors.” When it came to the dessert, the lights were put out and the waiters marched in with Japanese lanterns and bearing the ice cream on a platter with an electric light inside of each. It was a very pretty sight.