BLIDAH, the chief town of an arrondissement in the province of Algiers in Algeria, about 30 miles inland from the capital, on the railway from that city to Oran. It lies at. the base of the Algerian Atlas, in the midst of the fertile plain of Metija, and is beautifully surrounded with orchards and gardens, which afford a pleasant contrast to its ramparts and towers. It has well-built modern streets with frequent arcades, and pumbers among its buildings several mosques and churches, a Franco-Arabic and a Protestant school, extensive barracks, and a military hospital. Water is abundantly supplied by an aqueduct fed by the Ouecl-elKebir. As the centre of a flourishing district and a post on one of the main routes in the country it enjoys an extensive traffic, and the inhabitants maintain a thriving trade in oranges, raisins, grain, cotton, and tobacco. The products of the neighbouring copper-mines and of the cork-tree and cedar-groves are also of importance. In the vicinity are the two villages of Joinville and Montpensier, which owe their origin to the military camps established by Marshal Wee in 1838 ; and on the road to Medeah are the tombs of the Alarabut Mohammed-et-Kebir and his two sons. Blidah was a town of some importance under the Turks, but in 1825 it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. It was not till 1838 that it was finally held by the French, though they had been in possession for a short time eight years before. In 1867 it suffered from another earthquake which also nearly ruined the village of Chiffa. Population in 1872, 8113.