High on the slopes behind Algiers, set on a shoulder of the Bou Zarea Hills, above a sea of almond-blossoms, is the church of Notre Dame d’Afrique, to which you should not fail to make a little pilgrimage, if from no more pious motive than to enjoy the sublime view. At our feet the white houses of Algiers run down steeply, like the seats in the gallery of a theater, to meet the blue waters of the bay; turning inland we look down upon the beautiful Valley of the Consuls, the favorite place of residence of the European representatives at the corsair court and but little changed since the time of the deys. Perhaps the most interesting time to visit Notre Dame d’Afrique is on a Sunday afternoon, when thousands of the pious and the curious make their way up the steep hill to witness the poetic ceremony of the blessing of the sea. Amid a reverent hush a procession of priests and choristers moves slowly across the terrace to the edge of the cliff, where, overlooking the Mediterranean, a cross has been raised to the memory of all those who have been buried in deep waters. Boyish voices rise in a sweet, shrill chant, and, after a brief prayer for those who go down to the sea in ships, the officiating priest sprinkles holy water out toward the Mediterranean, whose sun-kissed surface sparkles as though strewn with diamonds. Within the church, above the high altar, is a statue of a _black_ Virgin, and over it is the unusual inscription: “_Notre Dame d’Afrique, priez pour nous et pour les Musulmans._” It gratified me, that inscription; it bespeaks a tolerance, a freedom from bigotry, which one likes to associate with the faith founded by the gentle Man of Nazareth. Why, the words might have been spoken by Jesus himself! “Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Mohammedans.” CHAPTER XVII FOLLOWING THE PIRATE COAST