SHAFAQNA – William Shaler (1773 – March 29, 1833) was an American government official who served as a diplomat and confidential agent in several foreign locations, including Algiers, Mexico and Cuba. He was one a key foreign agent in Algeria, decades before the french colonialism started. He published his observations of this country in a book titled “Sketches of Algiers, political, historical, and civil: containing an account of the geography, population, government, revenues, commerce, agriculture, arts, civil institutions, tribes, manners, languages, and recent political history of that country.”
Among some of his descriptions of Algerian women, which demonstratively showcase the prevalence of the orientalist gaze over his point of view, we read the following:
“Foreigners seldom have an opportunity of seeing the Moorish women, but from the few furtive occasions that have fallen to my lot, the reports of foreign ladies resident here, and the extraordinary beauty of their children, I am inclined to think that they may vie with any other in point of personal charms.” (p. 54).
Source: SHAFAQNA French