To the uninitiated, Algeria is a colony such as Kenya or the Gold Coast, with a Governor and all the general system of working dominions beyond the seas. But, though the country is administered by a Governor-General, he does not, as might be supposed, depend on the Colonial Office, neither do any of his reports pass through the hands of the Colonial Secretary. His tenure of office is, moreover most uncertain, and he is only appointed for a period of six months at a time, renewable at the end of each period, and this appointment is made by the Home Office (_Ministère de l’Intérieur_) in Paris, under whose jurisdiction he is. At first this contradiction of things seems hard to understand, and one is forced to penetrate further into the inner workings of Algeria to understand. In the first place, North Africa—with the exception of Tunisia and Morocco, which are protectorates—is divided into three departments, with practically the same organization as in France. That is to say, each department sends to the Parliament in Paris one senator and two deputies, who are elected by the French inhabitants of the country and by those Arabs who have opted for French nationality. These departments have their _préfets_ and _sous-préfets_, as in France, and the towns their mayors, with the municipal council, _juges de paix_, _commissaires de police_, etc. Thus up to this point the system of administration in the three departments is identical with that in the mother country. The first slight difference we come upon is in the case of what are known as _communes mixtes_. These centers are those where the Arab population is in excess of the French. In this case the mayor is replaced by an _administrateur_. The area covered by the jurisdiction of this individual is much larger than the _commune_ under the mayor, and comprises numerous _douars_, or native villages. The _administrateur_, who wears a vague uniform, something between that of an officer and a lion-tamer, is trained specially for his post. He is assisted in his duties by an _administrateur adjoint_ and by a _commission municipale_. This _commission municipale_ is composed partly of Frenchmen elected in the area of the _commune mixte_, and partly of Arabs belonging to the various _douars_, who are appointed by the Governor-General. The _caïds_ and other Arab chiefs—of whom we will speak later—assist the _administrateur_ as his agents in their respective areas. The _administrateur_ himself has certain powers of jurisdiction over Arabs, but all those who are French citizens have recourse to the ordinary civil power.