UNDER THE PALMS

ALGERIA TUNIS .

HON. LEWIS WINGI‘IELD.

IN TW O VOLUMES .

VOL. II.

LONDON

AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS ,

19, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

1868.

C O N T EN T S

TH E S E C OND V O L UME .

CHAPTERXII.

Philipville—H6tel d’Or ient— Visitto the Ar chmologicalMuseum— Our Cicer qne

-vB uins ofthe Roman Amphitheatr e—Reser voir s oftheTom - 1m gatiop” Gr eatUndertaking— Sum spentin Alger ian Rail

'

wa'

ysiéRailway

along the North Afr icam Coas'J-J—Aspt‘

ofthe Countr yRiver— Extrapnlinar y Appearance ofthe

of Constantine—Appr oachtothe City l Cur ious Alipearance oftheNatives—W aiting for the Evening Gun 3

CHAPTER XIII.

Batna to B iskr a—Hotel des Colonies—Ride in a Bus

Lambese—Relics ofAntiquity— In Sear ch ofthe Picturesque— Lions and Panther s— Cedar s —Hill Tr ibes—TheSteed oftheDesert—Departur e fr om Batna—Inn of E1

Gar dens—A Sheikh’s W ashing— Gener al Salutation

Vehicle— El -Outaia— Bar r en Plains—The Gr eatSahar a— B iskr a -H6tel de Sahar a

CONTENTS.

CHAPTERXIV.

Biskra— Face ofthe Sahar a— OuladNayls— Their Costume— Ar ab Acr obats A Lunatic—Negr o Festivals—Jewesses—The Date Palm— Ir r igation—Dates—Old B iskr a

— AMilitar y Cicer one—The Cypr ess— Hunting Gr oundsofOuar gla Ostr ich Hunting— Mur der s— Particular stelatingtothe Ostr ich— Biskr a after Dark— A Café—Kabyle Dancer s— Opium Smoker s -Pictur esque Gr oupExper imentin Locomotion—Ride on a Camel—Dismounting— The Desert— Our Guides—Residence of a

Sheikh—Nightin the Desert— Pepinier e de Beni -Mor a

—Plague of Gr asshopper s— The Touar egs—W onder fulSpecimen ofthe OuladNayls 38

Cotton. in‘the Sahar a-éVlsit.to‘ fine CommandantSuper ieur ofthe.Bur eauAmber

‘M ilitar y Quar r els— StalwartNatives V131§to:M.

‘Dufodr g Cultivation of CottonScar city oof~W aW —

g-‘Efi filpus:Pr ices paid for it— Blind

Policy 6? Spyemmdrit! Sy1stem of Repr ession— TheFr emy-TalabotContr act— M . Dufour g

’s Pr ospects— His

Lim ited Exper ience— Exportof Cotton fr om Egypt

Cotton gr own by M . Dufour g— The Comm encementandPr ogr ess of his Business— The Cotton Season— CleaningMachiner y—Expenses—M. Dufour g

’s Letter to the

87

CHAPTERXVI.

Plains ofthe Hodna— Scene of Desolation— False AlarmUnpleasant Memor ials—Mdoucal— Tedious Or deal

Quicksands Danger ous Tr ibes Sand and Bog

Sheikh Baleuti— Ah Ar ab Peculiar ity— Extr actfr om

CONTENTS. V1!

Gover nm entReport- The Bar ika— Gentlemen of theRoad— A Sheikh

’s Encampment—Ar ab Etiquette—Up

in the Mor ning— W ild Game—A New Sensation—A

Doubtful W elcome— W eird Scene—Nightin an Ar abTent— Visitto M Jna—Model EncampmentState of

the Bur eau Ar abes

CHAPTERXVII.

MsilatoAlgier s—PopulationofMsila—Anecdote—Mar r iageand Divor ce— Gam e— Lim itation ofthe Tr ibes—A Pr ophecy and Revolt— Miner al Pr oductions— Bor dj -bouAr er idj— Abd-el-Kader — ExtentofhisPower — The Em irin Disgr ace—Tr avelling Difficulties—Taking the Lawinto our own Hands— Inter ior of an Ar ab Tent—Ser iousIllness— The Gr and Porte - Pr otection againstLions— Scene of Hor r or — Beni -Mansour — Sport— AmbulanceMules— Boui r a— Again inthe Saddle—Dr a el-Mizan— A

Dilemma 137

CHAPTERXVIII.

Journey thr ough the W ester n Pr ovince— O r phanage of

Ben-Alloun— Blida— The Bois Sacr e — Signs of theLate Earthquake—La Chiffa— Upthe Str eam— The FiveCascades—Miliana—Destitution Cr ops— The Cem eter y—Touching Memor ials— Excur sion— W ild Glen— For estLands— Incendiar ism— Gover nm entand Colonists—Thuya Tr ee

— Teniet-al-Had— Change of Climate— The HillCountr y—Rich Vegetation— Our Guide—Ar ab Tale

— For estofTeniet-al-Had— Miner al Spr ings -Pr ocession

of aDouar—Visitto our Cocher

CONTENTS.

CHAPTERXIX.

P r ovir ice of Or an—Miner al W ealth— Population— Commeme—Mostaganem—Native Childr en— Plague ofGr asshopper s

— Spaniar ds in O r an— Native Hovels— Colony of

Char coal Bur ner s— Extr aor dinar y Houses— Ar balFr enchHospitality— Model Farm— Mer ino Sheep

—Ruinsof a Roman Town— Pr etty Gar den— A Jolly Life —TheOldestColonist—Reckless Settler s— Colonial Management— Land— W ages

— Labour— Complaints of Colonists— Agr icultur al Pr osper ity—Rur al Life— Usine d’Egr ainage

— Cotton-Gr owing— Cleaning Machines— TheReservoir— W ater Tax -NightJour ney in a DiligenceTlemcen—Ride thr ough the Town— Str iking Scene

Magnifi centRelic— Childr en in the Str eet—The Gr eatMosque- Sidi-bou-Medin— Tomb of the Recluse—ASchoolmaste r and his Class— Plains ofthe Isser— Townand Countr y— LastSolitar y W alk—Dr eadful Vacar me— Easter n Phlegm

— A Common Occur r ence— Fr enchDom inion— Maladm inistr ation—Distr ibution ofPr operty— Colonization -The Ar my— Situation of Aflair s—Mili

tary Gover nm ent 214

PART III.

e fi n ed S ahar a @ esztt.

VOL. II.

CHAPTERXII.

PHILIPVILLE .

Nthe course of the night ofthe l stof February,we arrived atStora, which is the Arab village

hanging tothe skirts of European Philipville . It

is a pretty little place, . emboson1ed in trees,close

to the water’s edge . Philipville is about three

m iles distant, and is the colonial town and port .

W hen I say port, I should say landing-place,as

there is no port to speak of, only a few rickety

stairs,which

,in rough weather, ar e covered by

the waves. A port is to be built shortly, they

say, and then gr eat things ar e expected ; butIfear

this is only another of the Chc’iteauw en Espagne

in which Algeria is so rich .

Philipville is the Russicada of theRomans, and

was a bishopric of the early Church, and couse

quently of considerable size and importance. Half

4 PHILIPVILLE .

of the original site is now submerged, as is proved

by the factthat in days of storm coins and other

relics ar e found in quantities on the beach . Mar

shal Valée,atthe time of the conquest

,felt

anxious to give Constantine a fitOpening to the

and laid the foundations Of the Fort de

France close to the ruins of Russicada. A town

soon rose around the fort,through the necessities

Of commerce,and this town was called

,after

Louis Philippe,Philipville. Itis a nice town

enough , adorned with squares, and cafés, and ar

cades. The population consists of about in

habitants,of which ar e .Anglo

-Maltese ; 400

ar e Spaniards,and the remainder Aborigines.

W e putup atthe HOtel d’O r ient, a howlish and

dilapidated place ; had food, had room s,and no

water. There had been no rain for eight months

in this neighbourhood, and consequently there was

a gr eat dearth of that commodity. The taps and

fountains in the town were only allowed to flow

during two hours every day, and crowds m ight

have been seen bearing pitchers, awaiting the

happy moment,likethe lam e of Bethesda pool .

OURCICERONE . 5

After breakfast we managed to find our way to

the Ar chaological Museum ,where we expected to

be enabled to judge of the impor tance of the

ancient remains. M. Roger, the antiquarian, was

notathome,buta wonderfully absurd little tailor

threw down his scissors and ofi er ed to actas

Cicer one to the ruins. A little snufiy, flufl’y old

m an,with long, d r y, iron-

grey hair and seamed

visage, a large battered wide-awake hat,and the

whole of his dim inutive person compressed into a

tight black coat, and seedy,shiny

,baggy con

tinuations of the same . He chirped pleasantly as

he went along, and bobbed and strutted w ith all

the importance of a very small bird. He was

delighted with everything, and evidently a phi

losopher .

Sapr isti l— Africa was a charm ing climate— no

w inter,no cold . The Midi de la France was

very n ice,butnothing to these br ight skies. He

explained to us the statues that lay about, ex

am ining a Pomona with critical eye, frowning sen

tentiously on her the while, the little twitteringhead well on one side.

6 ROMANAMPHITHEATRE .

That, you see

,is a fruit-woman ; there weren

’t

many found like her. Yonder is Caesar, aRoman, I

believe, buttheArabs— devil take them i— knocked

ofl’his nose . There ar e the tombs in which they

were buried, these m en of long ago. Ah ! they

were clever fellows ! Look atthe bricks all

crumbling in decay, while the mortar stands the

weather bravely still . Come and walk up here

and see the Circus. W hat big stones they used, and

here they ar e yet, though the hands that placed

them have long since passed away. Tonner r e,but

itis wonderful I”

He led us about,and showed ofl’to the best ad

vantage the ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre.Itis nothalf excavated yet

,though much in the

way of mosaic and inscription has been borne

away to Paris. Atthis juncture the little man

left us,nodding pleasant sm iles

,and waving his

thimbled forefinger, hoped we should enjoy the

sunshine. W e watched him tripping down the

path,carolling back to his work ; and turning,

saw M. Roger approaching us, whom a fortunate

chance had brought back to do the honour s of the

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8 IRRIGATION.

carriage, all our own ; which consisted of an nu

wieldy trap,whose business it was to carry letters.

W e made ourselves ver y comfortable, however,bivouacking on the roof, and sending the thorn

to dowager inside . Rain had notfallen here for

the last eight months, and yet the fields looked

perfectly gr een, and wheat showed signs of an

abundant crop under the vivifying influence of

copious night-dews. The want of irrigation

around the actual towns of Constantine and

Philipville will soon be remedied by means of

aqueducts and an iron pipe,two feet in diameter,

which will draw water from the neighbouringrange of mountains. This work is in able hands

,

andwill soon be completed,they say. 13 it another

chateau ? The Government agents compare this

country to an estate on which much money has

been spent,the fruits of which expenditure ar e

notyet visible : m eaning, I suppose, that all will

come right suddenly by magic. Ihope it may be

so, though the suggestion looks ver y like an ex

cuse for dilatoriness and culpable delay. Itmust

he confessed, however, that more activity is now

GREAT UNDERTAKING . 9

being exercised in public works,as an example of

which m ay be cited that of the new railway be

tween Constantine and Philipville , which will be

completed in about two years. Itis a dreadful

undertaking, as the whole length of road is made

up of hills and valleys, necessitating embankments

and endless tunnels. ar e said to have

been already spent on Algerian r ailways,though

ther e is as yetnothing to show whatever. The

plan on which they ar e supposed to be working is

that of having a centr al line or back-bone

railroad communication running along the coast,

from which atsome future time branch lines maybe made intersecting the country as far as shall be

considered necessary.

The following appear ed in an English newspaper , datedthe 6th ofMar ch

,1867

PROPOSEDLINE OFRAILWAY ALONGTHENORTHAFRICANCOAST.

-M . A. B lancho , a member ofthe Council-Gener alofthe pr ovince of O r an ,

makes a pr oposal which, if car r ied

out,will depri vethe English and Mediter r anean Steam ship

Company of an imm ense amountof Levanttr affic . M . A.

Blancho advises, both on econom ical and political gr ounds,the importance of a r ailway all along the north coastofAfr ica fr om Alexandr iato Tangier . He says In order tocounter balancethetr ansitof her steamer s, Fr ance will r e

10 ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.

The aspect of the country between Philipville

and Constantine is mountainous, more grassy than

rocky,with a superabundance of rushes and red

lilies. Near the village of Hamma we came upon

anovel scene— a rushing river of warm sulphureous

waters,in which were bathing a group of dusky

natives. The women presented an extraordinary

appearance,their heads only appearing above the

surface of the water, with two enormous silver

r ings in each ear,which as they moved flapped

about like the head of a lop-cared rabbit. Further

onthe same river is made to turn a multitude of

quir e a r ailway starting fr om Alexandr ia, passing thr oughTunis, Constantine, Algier s, O r an, &c .

,to be pushed later

on as far as Tangier . A r ailwayto Tangier places Am er ica,

Spain, and Portugal in communication with Suez , and thevessels fr om India

,in sixty hour s. Or an ateighthour s

fr om Eur ope becomes the centr e of Norther n Afr ica, andacquir es a special position onthe Mediter r anean , on accountof itstwo har bour s—Mer s-cl Kebir and Or an . I do notsee the possibility of competing with the English otherwisethan by co-oper ative societies or ganized in the tr ibes,jointly with fr eetr ade. W hichever may be the means toemploythe natives,ther e can be no doubtthatther e willbe plenty of wor k inthe constr uction ofthe pr oposed r ail,way.

’Bythis peaceful innovation upon the habits ofthe

Afr icantr ibes, M. Blancho believes thatFr ance will gain

APPROACH To CONSTANTINE . 11

flour-m ills, and its ir rigation pr oduces an oasis of

luxur ious foliage— great spr eading palms and

delicate bananas, together with the park andhedge

r ow cultivation of m idland Europe.

A few more m iles brought us to an iron bridge

over the r iVer Roumel,and from this point we

gained a magnificent view of Constantine, much

finer than that obtained from the Setif road— a

foreground of water, and reckless abandon of

bram ble and cactus,while the town rises on two

thousand feetof beetling clifl’,surrounded by the

deep shadow of a dark ravine. W e were now

given an extra horse to aid in dragging us up the

Mor occo by the economical war . Should the r ailway

alongthe norther n coastofAfr ica be completed,the steamer s tr ading up the Mediter r anean fr om Gibr altar and

other ports of call will lose a lar ge quantity of passen

ger fr eight, or pilgr im money, every year fr om the Mahom etans, who gener ally visitthe tomb ofthe pr ophetatMecca

,takingthe r ailway instead ofthe steam er s. A lar ge

decr ease will also be caused in the extensive mortalitywhich always pr evails amongstthe pilgr ims to Mecca on

boar d ship, wher e they gener ally lie on deck, exposed tothe heatof daytim e and penetr ating cold in the ni ght.France

,however , will eventually r eap a r ich har vestshould

the plan so plausibly pr oposed by M . Blancho meetthe ap

pr obation ofthe Emper or ofthe Fr ench.

12 THE GREAT SQUARE .

steep ascent . As we neared the town we were

attracted by the busy running to and fro of natives

on the bare brown slopes. Iwas irresistibly struck

with their resemblance to the anxious,unsteady

motion of ants when disturbed in their labour s.

Outside the arches of the Porte were clustered

many of the white-robed,all impatiently awaiting

the evening gun, that should free them for the dayfrom the irksome fast of the Ramadan. W e

rattled into the great square,d r ew up with a

jerk atthe door of the diligence-office, and were

Speedily surrounded by an Odoriferous group with

dusky faces and ragged limbs, who crowded round,and stared as though a Eur opean were a very un

usual appari tion.

CHAPTERXIII.

B A TNA T o B IS KRA.

thought it prudent to remain a day atConstantine

,in order to lay in a stock of pro

visions,potted m eats, &c.

,in case of any sudden

r un into the desert. W e therefore started by the

evening diligence, which ' landed us atBatna at

eightthe next morning. Itis a wretched-lookingbarren Spot

,som e feet above sea-level, con

taining a population of people,who appear

very m iserable. Ithas wide, howling streets,with

comfortless, empty houses. Of these the HOtel

des Colonies was the most forbidding, and turned

outquite unnaturally terrible. They gave us

scanty food of the very worst description, putus

up in rooms that were the abode of all the draughts

under heaven, and charged us Paris prices. But

14 RIDE INA ’BUS.

that is always the way, the worse the article themore you ar e expected to pay for it. The H6tel

de France, they say, is very good . Atany rate,nothing could be worse than the accommodation

,

as well as the boorish incivility,we m etwith at

Les Colonies

After a nasty breakfast,we chartered a

’bus

,

in common with another English party, to convey

us to the r uins of Lambése, said to be three m iles

outside the town. For this ’bus we were charged

inordinately, and dragged ou r weary length alongin a generally hopeless and desponding manner

,

the horses being dead-beat, and quite beyond either

threats or cajolement. In vain the driver kicked

and swore, in vain be aimed atthe .sores on the

poor beasts’backs with his cruel lash, hoping by

this means to stir them into activity ; do what he

would he could notgetup more than a jog-trot,which subsided into a walk every now and then .

An English lady inside expostulated loudly atthe

cr uelty to animals,and finally gotoutand walked,

rather than countenance such a transaction. It

was a dreary affair altogether, dark lowering clouds

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16 RELICS or ANTIQUITY.

savage beasts. In that respect it is the same now

as it wasthen,being infested with lions and pan

ther s,hyenas and tiger-cats, lynxes and ichneumons,

foxes and tapes,porcupines and wild boars.

I have heard the ruins of Lambese compared

with those of Pompeu,butam forced to say that

there is no possibility of comparison whatever .

W e saw the remains of a house half excavated,

the mosaics in whose atrium ar e well preserved,

while its walls bear indistinct tr aces of ancient

frescoes. This may be all very well for travellers

new to such relics of antiquity,butfor those who

remember Pompen’s long paved streets

,and the

house of Diomed,the whole thing is a delusion

and a snare. A few statues ar e collected in a sort

of museum near the entrance of the town, butallof them ar e in the most degenerate style of art

,

and no more worthy of a visit than the place

itself. W e mounted the box of our vehicle in

great disgust, and crawled back to Batna. Its

uncomfortable aspect struck me more than ever

as we r e-entered its inhospitable gates, the cold

wind rushing down its yawning thoroughfares, the

m SEARCH OF THE PICTURESQUE . 17

low rampart and dyke which surrounded the town,

as w ell as the small one-storied houses in its streets,

giving the whole thing an aspect of insignificance

unpleasant to behold. Itcontains a garrison of

men, besides the number of civilians men

tioned above ; and a real place of banishment it0

m ust truly be to the gay and pleasure-lovingF r enchman !

Thoroughly deceived by the Roman ruins, we

still resolved to persevere in the search after the

picturesque, and started ofi on the followingmorn

ing on mule-back to visit the forestof cedar s,situated a few m iles among the mountains. In

course of time we traversed the monotonous plain,

and began to ascend the hills. They looked blue

and hazy in the distance, butdo notbear near

inspection, being very barren and’ brown ; the

roads, too, ar e bad, leading over sloshy swamps

and broken rocks. Half-way up the first moun

tain we meta Frenchman,who strongly advised

us to proceed no further, the snows having driven

the lions from their usual haunts nearer to the

abodes of man. W e were told, indeed, that they

VOL . II.

18 LIONS ANDPANTHERS.

frequently prowl round the town, and have even

been known, in very hard winter s,to penetr ate

within the fosse and wall, and wander throughthe

streets ! A farmer told us that he was one night

returning from a visit in the country,and suddenly

came on two lions, male and female,who wer e

taking a stroll in the moonlight, nottwenty paces.

from him— he remained quite still, and they moved

away. The lion’s m ode of securing his prey is

cur ious, and, though sounding rather fabulous, is

tr ue nevertheless. Having seized a fi rm hold of

the back of his intended victim,he lashes him

self with his powerful tail into a gallop, andthus

bears the terrified animal to a convenientspot,where he r ends and devours him atleisur e. He

w ill never attack a man unless driven to do so by

hunger, as his predilections lie more in the way of

the inferior animals than of human beings. A pan

ther,on the contrary, will spring upon you outof

sheer malice, and is ther efore a much mor e un

pleasant beast to meet.

On the present occasion we made up our m inds

to proceed, and r isk a danger which seemed to us

CEDARS . 19

chimer ical. Slowly we wound up the hill, over

the br ow ofthe first r ange, down into the valley,and up again, a toilsome way, over the nextandhighestr idge. W e wer e mete very now and

then by a few mules laden with planks of cedar ,that nearly forced us outof the path with theirunwieldy length, and gave outpleasantwhifi s of

perfume as we went by . These ar e notthe sweet

br own cedars so much valued for cabinet-work,

buta white wood, used her e for bu ilding, and

possessing a cedary odour,notquite so power~

ful as in the forests of Lebanon or Teniet-al-Had.

Ar rived atthe top of the mountain,we expected

the for estto break upon our view in all the

gr andeur of its primeval monarchs, instead of

whichthere were only a few scr ubby tr ees,and

some half-sawn planks lying about. The large

roots that peeped outeverywhere showed that the

for esthad indeed existed once, butwas now no

more— atany r ate, in a picturesque point of view.

W e were much disappointed,and vented our ill

humour on the unfortunate guides, until atlength

calm r easontriumphed, and we consoled .ourselves

20 HILL-Tamas.

with comforting reflections on the beauty of the

day and the balmy freshness of the air .

As we wound down the hill again on our home

ward r oute, we hadthe entire plain stretched out

before us, with snow-capped m ountains beyond.

Itcer tainly is a frightful country, and quite r e

markable for the thinness of its population. W ith

a powerful opera-glass we could only distinguish

two habitations on the whole expanse that lay thusmapped out. Batna itself is built in r egul

squares,and resembles from these heights a gigan

tic sheep-fold. The tribes inhabiting the hills ar e

great breeder s of hor ses, and produce an animal

of the Arab race, which is exceedingly pretty, butrather weak in the shoulder. The horses bred

in the mountains ar e much better than those of

the plains,being more robust, and notso dainty as

to food. B esides this,they ar e wonderfully sure

of foot— a greatdeal more so, indeed, than the

much-vaunted mules. There is an average of one

hundred and fifty thousand horses in Algeria.

The hor ses far away in the Sahara again, ar e of

superior quality to those of the Tell (whether of

THE STEEDOF THE DESERT. 21

the mountains or the plains), and ar e identified

w ith almost all the actions of their master s.

The celebrated steed of the desert,the glory

of ancient Numidia,

remarkable for the

beauty of its form,the rapidity of its cour se

,and

the promptitude with which it interprets the

smallest wishes of its master. According to Arab

judges, it should possess the qualities of the hare,the pigeon, and the mahari

,or swiftly-trotting

cam el. They say that a perfect animal is wide in

three of its parts— the forehead,the chest

,andthe

limbs ; long in three of its parts— the neck,the

belly,and the haunches shortin three of its par ts

—the ears,the pasterns

,and the tail .’

In 1844 there was an alarm of the race dyingout

,so a depo

‘tof stallions was established by Go

ver nm entin each of the three provinces ; and in1851 the entire system was r e -organiz ed, and

placed under the charge of an experienced ofi cer .

So great was the apathy of the natives themselves,and their indifl’er ence to the degeneration of their

horses,that they refused to make use of the advan

Chevaux da Sahar a.

” Par 16 Génér al B aumas.

22 DEPARTURE PROM BATNA.

tage prepar ed for them , until a prem ium was

ofi er ed for the best yearling mare and foal in each

pr ovince. Equine afi air s ar e now in a flourishingcondition again, thanks to General B aumas and

Marshal Randon.

W e were by this time quite rabid to leave Batna

behind us,and were much dismayed, on a visit to

the diligence office, to find all the places taken. It

was utterly impossible to remain in so dreadful a

place so,in answer to our urgent entreaties, the

chef of the bureau prom ised to manage for us

somehow,if we would prom ise to be atthe office

punctually by 4 A.M.,the settled time for starting.

W e were there accordingly, only too anxious to

getaway,which was proved by the fact that

rather than remain where we wer e, we subm itted

to the indignity of being packed up along with

the luggage, and stowed away in the place usually

allotted tothe banquette, lying all in heaps any

how,our bones br oken by the sharp edges of boxes

and imperials, each jolt bringing in its train its

own peculiar series of agonies. This state of

things wenton for six hours, while we traversed a

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24 PRECIPITOUS GORGE .

ready atonce, er e the diligence toils onward withits heavy freight to B iskr a.

W e getoutand stretch our selves as well as

mangled limbs and aching bones will perm it, and

look around us in anticipation of the speedy depar

ture of the convenience,leaving us to the solitar y

enjoym ent of the inn. we ar e in the opening of a

winding gorge of red pr ecipitous crags, utterly in

accessible,I should imagine, to the human foot,

a home for vultures and gaz elles, and a breedingplace for eagles. Nota sign of a green thingwherever the eye reposes. Reposes I should notsay, for itis impossible that the eye should r epose

in such cruelly glaring heat. A few of the white

robed follow us about, and ofl’er tamarinds for sale

—there is a general clatter of voices, and of knives

and forks,and the hor ses ar e putto. Messieur s

les Voyageur s ar e unceremoniously bundled into

their places,the driver cracks his whip

, and the

hor ses shake their bells. Allez ! crack— the great

unwieldy monster sways and gr oans, and is CH;

we ar e left alone with the brawling waters and the

melancholy clifi s— in peace

OASIS OF EL-KANTARA. 25

W e gotthrough a nasty breakfast of gar lic and

beef, garlic and chicken

, garlic and everythingelse, and sallied forth to see the Oasis of El-Kan

tara, lying justoutof sight beyond the cliffs, theentrance into the gr eat SaharaDesert. W e none

of us had a clear notion of an oasis, and therefore

did notknow what to expect .

A few m inutes’walk brought us through the

gorge, andthere a scene presented itself for which

we were totally unprepared. A blue stream ,

dancing in the sunlight, rippled gently over stones

while a few half-naked figures were bathing in its

waters. On either bank, rising som e feet above the

river’s bed,myriadsof palms

,of all siz es and all

cshades,waved their fanlike branches to each other

in the softly stirring breeze . Behind this unlooked

for mass of verdure was a range of arid moun

tains,shining orange in the brilliant light, with

sharp shadows of strong clear blue . Enchanted

with this sudden return from unending brown to

quiet green, we made the best of . our way to the

water’s edge, no easy matter where the luxurious

vegetation is divided into square plots, or date

26 GARDENS.

gardens, by rough mud walls,well fringed with

prickly bushes. Our doctor "tried to jump into

one of the enclosures, butfailed signally in the at

tempt,scratching his legs severely with the thorns.

A figure in white,of forbidding aspect

,now ap

pear ed outof the gr ey-gr een gloom ,and asked our

business. The enclosur e evidently belonged to

him,and after making signs athim for some time

he made outour drift, and conducted us thr ough

many little gardens, sim ilarto his own,tothe bed

of the str eam . Pleasant places these little gardens,

the sun shut outby spreading palms, checkeringw ith brightpatterns the m ossy ear th, whilstthevine

,the fig—tr ee, and the tamarind vie with each

other in luxuriance of leafage . Round each lowb

m ud wall runs a dyke of. water, which serves in

som e sort as protection, as well as for purposes of

irrigation, to the enclosur e within ; which is further

armed against the intruder by piled-up masses of

prickly briar, form ing a r egular chevaux-de r iz e

of needle-pointed thorns against pilfering hands.

Arrived atthe river’s brink, we paused to look

around . Never had anything so thoroughly novel

A SHEIRH’S W ASHING. 27

come under '

our observation. The peculiarity

both of form and coloiIr in the groves themselves,the cutting outlines of gigantic rock, with limpid

deep-blue shadows,and

,lastly

,the strange figures

gr ouped about us,all told thatthis indeed was

Africa. W e strolled along in the great heat, and

atthe bend of ' the stream came upon a noisy and

a motley throng—the servants and wives of theSheikh washing his best burnous ! A man in a

linen nightgown, or gondour a, draped close around

his loins,jumping and kicking, and perform ing

wondrous antics on a big flatstone, treading out,so to speak

,a mass of soapy draperies

,attendant

nymphs adding now more soap and now more

water,each woman in the very scantiest of attire

,

generally bright in colour, up to the eyes in a

lather of fuller’s earth,with water up to her knees,

and the mostgorgeous jewelry on every spot

about her person . Immense gold earrings, all in

cr usted with uncut stones, ponderous anklets and

bracelets,and her hair plaited with thick cord and

hor sehair till ithangs in monstrous masses about

her head ; on the top of this edifice a coloured

GENERAL SALUTATION.

handkerchief ortwo, wound in and outwith strings

of coral or silver chains. W e satfor some time

watching this curious picture, and were much

amused in witnessing the general salutation, which

took place on the addition oftwo more women tothe party. They began by kissing each other

’s

hands all round, then pressed them to their hearts

and kissed their own,this performance being r e

peated again and again with little alteration and

much monotony. Several men began to gather

round us,feeling the sharpness of their knives,

and frowning angrily atthe too great interest wemanifested in His Highness

’s ladies, so we thought

it prudent to decamp.

W andering over some stepping-stones, and up

among the umbrageous plantations, we came sud

denly upon a spring, where stood a perfect picture

of a young savage girl fi lling a water-skin, her

well-tur ned limbs exposed in all buta state of na

ture. Atsight of us she turned and fled as fast

as her heavy anklets would perm it,she being an

unmarried young lady, and consequently notyetto be looked upon by men. The Sheikh’s son

ARAB vILLAGE. 29

now volunteered to show us overthe village ; and,penetrating throughthe oasis, we found our selvesin odd narrow little streets of houses builtof mud

,

w ith no windows whatever, and a very rough

adaptation,indeed, to serve in lieu of door. The

whole ensemble partook of the dreary brown of

the surrounding country, and the artists’s eye

longs for a touch of white, as one would long for

water in the deser t plains. From the tops of the

houses,which ar e flat

,and raftered with split-up

palms, came howlings of dogs innumerable, while

we had carefully to pick our steps among the pros

trate Arabs, who were taking a m id-day siesta.

The natives seemed much interested in us,asking

perpetually about the prices of all that we had on,

and seem ed especially covetous of the bright-striped

scarf that usually festooned about my neck instead

of collar or other adjuncts of civilized life. W e

watched a man fixing on a pair of grass-woven

sandals ; ingenious contrivances enough, butpain

fully fraying to wear,one would imagine. It

seems, however, that once fastened in their places,

these shoon ar e never taken off until worn out,

30 ROMANREMAINS.

and ar e then immediately replaced by others.The wearer of these foot-coverings accosted us

,

producing all sorts of francs and silver coins from

unexpected places in his attire,and was ver y an

xions to exchange them with us for gold, as space

is of great consequence to them , hoarding as they

dotheir little all in some corner of their hum ous

as long as it is possible for them to do so.

i

In the

course of our wanderings through the ins and outs

of the queer and intricate village, we came upon

many stones and pillars bearing Roman inscr iptions— indeed

,they say that such ar e 0always crop

ping up atthe smallest overturning of the soil,and ar e eagerly sought after by the lazy Arabs, to

be turned into door-posts and lintels in the modern

habitations.Ispent nearly the whole of the next day sketch

ing by the r iver side . The natives came in troops

and satround me,very civil and chatty

,in spite

of their reputation for lawlessness. W e had been

warned to keep our pistols near athand in all our

dealings with them, and m ine host was much

astonished that no evil had come of our staring at

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32 A SORRY VEHICLE .

interior,with an injunction to go anywher e else.

A most sorry vehicle it proved, bumping heavily

on the springs atevery obstacle along the road,

and, in truth, they wer e notfew ! For three

hours and a half we drove through hideous tracts

encumbered with small round stones ; arid sandy

hills and plains, all pretty much the game in

colour, and monotonous in ugliness. The road

is simply dreadful,and made us ache most

terribly as we tossed and tumbled up and down

the steep inclines. Now and then we were forced

literally to hold on by anything that was avail

able, to avoid being thrown to the bottom of the

carriage, or banged with our heads against the

On approaching El-Outaia (the half-waycaravansary), we came upon something that

cured us of all our pains a broad expanse of

sand and stones,rising here and there into low

hills a long belt of pale blue mountains all round

as far as the eye could reach . This was divided

from the plain by a narrow line of verdure,most

vivid in its gr eenness, and rendered all the mor e

EL—OUTAIA. 33

so by the exceeding harmony of the remainingfeatures of the landscape .

I looked atthis for some time with feelings of

great surprise— the m ixture of the rich bright

green with its barren surroundings seemed so

unnaturally outof place . This line of verdure

forms the oasis Of El-Outaia,and consists of

barley and a few palm-trees. In the m idst of it

stands a tower or m inaret,conspicuous as the only

W hite Spot in the pervading burnt-up monotony .

W e were told by the dirty and garrulous old

woman who keptthe caravansary that there was

a mountain of salthard by very well worth seeing,

should we find time to visit it and she produced

sundry specimens of itin proof of her assertion .

Very good salt it seems,waiting only for some

one to work it properly. The Arabs,in their own

indolent and unsatisfactory way, detach loose

pieces after the winter rains,and sell them about

amongst the tribes even as far nor th as Batna and

Constantine. Much saltpetre is also found in this

locality .

The horses being suffi ciently rested,we tum

VOL. II.

BARRENPLAINS.

bled into our conveyance again, with ears and

eyes all agape for the fi rst real glimpse of the

Great Desert. I caught bits now and again

through the open w indow,which were em inently

characteristic and picturesque. Stretches of longlow land

,quite orange in the sun— a line of camels

,

and the white figures of their gaunt drivers in high

relief against the rosy hills, their lengthen ingshadows slanting blue and cool along the ground,a mass of colour rich and full

,butblending and

harmonious in its very brightness. As the sun

lowered in the heavens,there was an incessant

change in the effects, though the ever-varyingblues and reds and violets scarce make up for the

m issing gr een . Inever appreciated our own sweet

m eadow landscape so much as when gazing on

these barren plains, gorgeous as they ar e, and

dazzling in their vivid richness.

A few more jolts and bounds, and we were told

to prepare for the sight par excellence. Tho

roughly ou the qui vice by this time, we leapt out

of our seats,and started off on foot for the turn

of the hill from whence the pr om ised view was to

THE GREAT SAHARA. 35

be obtained . Once there, we paused and gazed,and felt that it was indeed well wor th the trouble

ofthe jour ney. W e stood on a high hill, from

which could be tr aced the road winding down

alongthe plain. On either side an amphitheatr e

of high and rocky mountains, their rugged tOps

cutting in shar p and jagged edge of intensely

pur ple blue against a greenish yellow sky, lower

ing gr adually, and blending by degr ees into the

far -OE immensity of the Great Sahara,that

stretched away in uncomprom ising line, and was

lost, m ingling with the hor izon. The excessive

peacefulness of the scene was most impr essive

the sun setting gloriously in the west— a bar ren

sea Spread outbefore us,stern in its majesty, and

calm in tranquil rest.

One’s fancy will r un riot on these occasions,

and I could notbutthink,as I stood musing on

the rock, of the numbers of nations and people

thatlive on this great expanse, of the varieties of

tongues and habits,of hopes and fears, of loves

and animosities,congregated on this m ighty plain,

and wonder for what purpose they were created

36 B ISKRA.

these hundreds of thousands of human atoms,

living outtheir useless lives, and fretting out

their petty passions— with what efl’ectupon the

outward world ? Ignorant, savage, and brutal,

of little use to mankind in general , and notmuch

credit to their Maker. W hen w ill Christianity

Wake all these dormant souls to life ? W ill the

day ever come, in the revolving cycle of nations’

grandeur , on which the descendant of the despised

African shall stand over the ruins of fallen Eu

rope,and send for th edicts to the world ?

W e saw B iskra in the distance— a long belt of

dark green foliage— its celebrated cypress tower

ing like a giant sentinel above the lesser trees.

As the brief twilight was rapidly turning into night,we gotinto our vehicle once more

, and watched

from itswindow the ever-changing colouring with

interest and pleasure . There was a silvery shim

mer on the foreground stones, as if reflected from

some unseen light, which gave an uncertainty and

atmosphere to the mass,in spite of the real dis

tinctness of each bit of rock,that to my m ind suc

cessfully disproved the theory of Pre-Raphaelitism .

HOTEL DU SAHARA.

A lovely sky behind the purpling hills gradated

fr om a delicate gr een through red andyellow up to

turquoise blue,flecked here and there with a light

grey cloud just tipped with gold and crimson. As

we drove into B iskrawe passed thr ough groves of

feather y palms,tall and black against a blood-red

sky, and were notsorry to find dinner awaitingus in the hospitable salle-c

‘

l-manger of the H6tel

du Sahara.

CHAPTERXIV.

BISKRA.

HE Sahara is divided into three

divisions.

The Centr al part is occupied by the Touaregs, a

race sim ilar tothe Kabyles.The W’ester n portion is an assembly of ancient

tribes that m igrated from the north in the eighthcentury.

The Easter n part is occupied by the remnants

Of the black races that once inhabited all North

Africa.

The surface of the desert is far from being the

sandy waste which in my ignorance Ihad expected

to see. Itundulates generally into waves coveredwith stones and little rocks

,and well furnished

with a scrubby grey- looking attempt atvegetation.

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40 B ISKRA.

B iskra is the chief town of the Ziban,or group

of thirty-eight Zab villages. The Zabs consist of

eighteen tribes souls) . Ithas always

held its own as capital of the Ziban,on account of

its important position,standing as it does in the

very mouth of the entrance into the Sahar a,295

feet above the level of the sea. Itpossesses

inhabitants,exclusive of the gar rison of 500 m en.

This number of soldiers is considered sufficient, as

their ranks could be augmented to any extent on

very shor t notice from the depo'ts of Batna or of

Constantine.

Our first day atB iskra was that of the féte ofthe B eyram ; so we sallied forth

,fully prepared for

something extra wonderful , nor were we dis

appointed. Every one was outparading in holi

day attire,whilst a salvo Of guns from the Fort

St. Germain announcedthat the m onth of fastingwas atan end. Itis a queer m ixture, the modern

town,consisting Of wide streets and immense

squares formed of tiny low-roofed houses and

booth-l ike shops. Palm-trees grow everywhere.

Go where you will, you ar e pretty cer tainto catch

THE STREETS. 41

a vista of the oasis and its palm-forest between

two houses, or atthe extreme end of some street ;

and besides this, there ar e straggling groups of

these trees rising sometimes in the m iddle of the

road, obstructing the thoroughfare, or leaningtheir top-heavy heads against a wall or window.

There is a general absence of w indows,by the

way, in all Arab habitations ; in this climate they

ar e obliged to leave their doors w ide Open, and

that serves every purpose of light and air . The

few shops in existence ar e chiefly those of fruit

vendors,all other

‘

br anches of trade being car ried

on in the great market har d by. This would

make the streets look desolate, were it notthe

fashion to sitabout in the road or on the footway,smoking cigarettes and sipping coffee . As it is

,

there is never a lack of excitement going on— al

ways noise and always movement. The Old town

is situated about a m ile and a half away in the

palm -forest,and is extremely picturesque. Itis

almost exclusively inhabited by Jews.

Itwas a good Opportunity for studying costume,this fi rst day of the Beyram , for all were in their

42 OULADNAYLs.

best,and all were bent on a display. Men and

children clustered round the Cafés Maurs, al

though itwas buteleven o’clock

,and the Oulad

Nayls marched about, or squatted smoking on the

ground, a perfect collection of queer silver orna

ments.

The Oulad Nayls ar e the institution of the

desert par excellence, and will hold a place in my

memory long after the other details of this jour

ney shall have passed away. They ar e the

dames legeres of the Sahara,and come gene

rally from one special tribe in the vicinity of

Laghouat. In this strange country, where the

woman is notthe equal of the man, we find a

still stranger subjectfor marvel . The Oulad

Nayls ar e far from being looked down upon for

their little peccadilloes ; on the contrary, they ar e

a much-honoured race. No wedding is complete

without their presence, and no women mar ry so

well as these fair butfrail daughters of the

plains. Having made market of their beauty for

a certain time, they retur n to their tribe, buy a

few fields and some palm-trees,and setup as

THEIRCOSTUME . 43

r espectable pr oprietors— a fitmark for heiresshunting spendthrifts.

Their costume while pur suing their cr aft is ver y

wonderful indeed. They ar e so wrapped up, and

overloaded w ith clothes, that it is difficult to get

any idea of their figur es, as one sees nothing but

a tangled mass of long dr aperies and handker

chiefs and chains,which don’t seem to belong

anywhere in particular. I will nevertheless

endeavour to dissect one these extraordinary

anatom ies,piece by piece

,as far as I am capable

of so difficult a task.

The body is dr aped, in the first place, in a long

gown, that trails far behind, made usually of

Manchester cotton print or some flimsy native

stuff,which is joined atthe shoulder by large

silver pins, and doubled under the arms, so as to

leave the sides bare to the waist. To one of the

silver pins is attached a loose bandana handker

chief,used sometimes in the dance

,and sometimes

to mop the perspiring face of beauty. Round the

waist is an immense length of silken belt, wound

round and round the body, and hanging in tassels

44 HEAD-DRESS.

to the feet. Their feet ar e encased in little em

broidered slippers,or red morocco boots

,over

which fall the monstrous silver anklets,whose

clanking gives notice of the approach of the fair

one,and rem inds the traveller of a prison yard .

From the shoulders falls a cloak, dark and thick,

and over that again is hung a white-striped cotton

and silk sort of burnous, which sometimes trails in

the mud,and is occasionally drawn over the head .

The head is the most remarkable thing of all, and

gives its cachetto the figure, more especially

when seen from behind,as it is a great deal wider

than the body (about three-quarters of a yard

across altogether), and quite without form . The

hair is plaited into four times its ordinary bulkby the addition of horse-hair and wool ; and over

this is built up an edifice of chains, sequins, and

gold handkerchiefs, such as would supply half-a

dozen ordinary women. The fabric is only taken

down once in three or four months, and forms,with its profusion of adornment and glitteringscarfs

,a comfortable nest for every description of

unclean insect, such as must,I should imagine,

PROFUSIONOF JEW ELRY . 45

have been nursed inthe-heads of our gr eat-grand

mothers. Under the chin is often tied a gauz e

veil of r ed or gr een, which is knotted about the

neck, and covers the whole constr uction. They

steep their hair in henna as well as their hands,

and this render s them even more fi lthy than they

would otherwise be. Their silken burnouses and

gowns ar e almost hidden under the weight of

ornam ent with which they ar e encumbered— yards

of silver chains about their necks and waists,on

which ar e strung dagger s and looking-glasses, and

great boxes of talismans, all of solid silver ; while

the wealthier damsels have, in addition to all this,

magnificent necklaces of coral and silver beads.

Their arms ar e loaded with immense bracelets,

and their fingers concealed by multitudes of rings.

All these costly gewgaws fl ap and rattle as the

ladies walk, and produce a singular effect where

many ar e about . Their faces would notbe ugly

were they notplastered with rouge, and painted in

patterns. The eyebrows glisten with oil, and the

whole physiognomy is a mass of grease, otherwise

it would crack with the thickness of the repulsive

46 ARAB ACROBATS.

unguents. From behind,as I have said

,they

present a very droll appearance— a mere bundle

of clothes with a wide top, a tag, or a handker

chief,or a bit of gauze, sticking outgenerally of

som e inconceivable place,which gives a general

impression of everything having been thrown at

the figure, and stuck there by some magnetic

power.

In one of the principal squares we found a large

concourse assembled round a company of acrobats

from Morocco. A characteristic assembly in the

br illiant sun ; the taller men ranged in groups

behind,and the boys and little children squatting

in an inner circle— a mass of white robes and

swarthy faces, varied here and there by a stalwart

negro with bare head, or a native soldier in his

showy uniform . The : performance was nottoo

exciting, although it seemed highly to entertain

the audience. One of the acrobats,clad in tunic

and short linen br eaches (evidently the funnyman of the troupe), began a conflict with twosmall boys

,whose business it was to attack him in

front and rear, and pull his single lock of hair ,

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48 PROCESSIONor NEGROES.

blessing and cur sing them according as delirium

impelled him . The throng stood silently respect

ful, for all lunatics ar e looked upon as sacred

touched by the hand of God— while a Turko

soldier endeavoured to remove him,butthe

wretched creature only grovelled on the earth,

and dug his nails into the sandy soil,moaning

piteously the while.

There now arose a new hubbub in a distant

cor ner of the square. A band of negroes was ad

vancing to the sound of pipe and tabor, singing,

and accompanying their voices with tom toms and

clanging cymbals. God on high ! God in

heaven ! There is butone God !” they cried, r e

peating it in every variety of cadence, andwith every

imaginable intonation . As fine a stalwart setof

fellows,these negroes, as one would ever wish to

see, broad in the shoulder and straight in the

back,intensely dark in colour

,and generally six

feet in height. Before the occupation these men

were enslaved and much illused by their Arab

brethren,butnow they have allotted to them a

separate quarter of the town,and ar e said to be

NEGRO FESTIVALS.

good and willing workmen. They have brought

m any heathen rites w ith them from the Soudan.

In localities where rivers render it pr acticable,they

go forth once a year and sacrifice on the water’s

brink,whilethe negresses rush scream ing into the

water,and remain there half-drowned until pulled

outby their husbands and male friends. They

also hold periodical festivals of dancing and feast

ing. On these occasions the negresses ar e gotupin flowers and rich gold stuffs ; and very ugly they

m ust look,I should think

,as they ar e all frightful,

offering a great contrast to the men, whom I

ended by considering quite handsome sometimes.

Our attention was suddenly called away from the

nigger procession by a sound of quarrel in one of

the cafés,which of course gave rise to a general

flocking of inquisitive individuals from all corners

of the place. There was a general show of white

hooded figures, and a sprinkling of gorgeous

women, glittering and clanking with a weight of

jewelry one of them,more magnificent than

the rest, fair, fat, and forty, bedizened with im

m ense gold ornaments, an unusual thing among

VOL . II.

50 JEW ESSES.

the OuladNayls, who seem to have a predilection

for silver. The Jewesses, on the contrar y,wear

nothing butgold, and a handsome setthey ar e.

There is one now,passing down the street

,fine

featured and delicate-complexioned, her long black

oriental eyes shaded with soft dark lashes. She

wears the black pointed cap of Constantine, fes

tooned with thick gold chains, and about her neck

is draped soft fi lmy folds of crimson gauze, all

specked with shining dots. A pleasant and r e

freshing sight is her small head and natty attire,

as seen by the side of the preposterously gaudyladies of the desert ! Itis strange that even

outhere, in spite of their wealth in gold and

jewels, the name of Jew is ever a term of hatred

and reproach. In a tavern brawl you will hear

the exasperated quarrellers call each other “Jews,

when every other epithet is exhausted ; while theunlucky camel that does notanswer his master’s

expectations, is freely stigmatized with the same

opprobrious title.

Quite bewildered w ith the noise and heat,we

turned our steps towards the green oasis, in search

THE DATE -PALM. 51

of the coolness and peace that were wanting in

the busy town. There ar e calculated, by offi cial

r eport,to be more than palms around this

m ass of buildings ; and they look their full num

ber,stretching away as they do in straggling fi le

for an imm ense distance into the desert plains.

W e satby one of the rar e water-courses,on a

fallen stump, and enjoyed the breeze that forced

its way among the creaking stem s and wavingbranches of the palm forest. Nature has made

up for her parsimony in this quarter by the gift

of the palm-tree,which seem s capable of being

used for almost every possible purpose.

The date-palm"

(phoenix dactylifer a) is the cha

r acter istic tree of the regions of Sahara. Its fruit

is the basis of food used by all the nations that

inhabit that immense district . B lossoms begin to

make their appearance about March,and speedily

give place to tiny dates, which increase in size

until July,and then sweeten until the m iddle of

For the following infor mation I have to thank M .

Har dy, the clever di r ector of the Centr al Gar den of Ac

climatisation ofAlgier s.

52 IRRIGATION.

autumn . This eccentric tree flourishes best inthe

land where no rain ever falls,and therefore B iskra

is exactly suited to its requirements. Itis in these

rainless countries alone that the air is suffi ciently

dry for the perfect development of the fruit. At

the sam e time it demands constant irrigation about

its roots whence the Arab proverb which says

that “ the date-tree holds its head in the fi r e, and

its feet in the water.

The waters that furnish irrigation to the B is

kran oasis come from the amphitheatre of bills

called the Djebel-Aures, and flow into a great

reservoir atsome distance from the town. In

ancient times of strugglethis was always a point

to be gained by the invader, as, once deprived of

the water for their dates,the inhabitants of the

green-belted city were soon brought to their knees.

Each date-garden is watered every fifteen days in

summer, and two or three times in the course of

the winter,the surplus being used for barley crops.

W ater is too valuable to adm it of a general irri

gation of the surface of the ground. Each tree is

attendedto separately by means of a trench round

DATES. 53

its base . The quality of the water employed seem s

to be a m atter of perfect indifference. The quality

of the fruit depends more on the amount of heat

r eceived than anything else . The date-trees of

the Sahara ar e multiplied by m eans of suckers

springing from a parent stem . This plan is found

to be m ore successful than the use of seed.

The average harvest of a good oasis is lbs.

per acre. Besides the dates which ar e consumed

by the natives themselves,some ar e gathered and

prepared with great care as dattes de luxe .

There ar e no less than seventy varieties of the

fruit in the Ziban,or northern district of the

Sahara. The tree and its produce ar e employed

for a considerable number of differ ent pur poses.

Thus, its boughs make capital ceilings andthatch,while its fibres ar e converted into matting and

baskets ; the trunks ar e used as beams for house

building, and when split up, form a tidy paling.

Date w ine,a very nasty decoction

,is made outof

the juice of the fruit,as well as a species of

alcohol and fi r st-rate vinegar. Date stones,when

young, ar e boiled into a food for cattle ; andthe

54 OLD BISKRA.

young shoots of the boughs ar e eaten as vegetable.

Somewhat cooled by the refreshing shade ofthe

oasis,we setoff once more in search of the great

cypress which forms so remarkable a feature in

all distant views of B iskra. Our way led through

the pleasant groves and date-gardens, and between

over-arching palm s, that swayed and creaked in

the w ind above our heads,breaking ever y now and

then into an open space,where tender barley and

the yellow-eyed daisy masked the barren earth .

Traversing lanes enclosed by low,mud-built

walls and ditches of questionable water, we at

length found ourselves in old B iskr a, a verypicturesque assemblage of queer old houses, half

imbedded among the trees. Atthe open door s

lounged men and women,sewing, or working at

some trade ; while dirty little Jewish children r an

about among the gardens, their gay clothes glint

ing in the sunlight, their laughter echoing through

the groves. There is an interesting mosque in

this portion of the oasis ; its quaint-shaped earth

built m inaret stands outin full relief against thesky, while its entrance lies in a sort of subterra

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56 THE CYPRESS.

being sounded at11 A.M .,after which the soldier

sleeps or loiters about until 5 P .M. The want of

good water is a great drawback to a residence at

B iskra, as it retains a flavour of saltpetre, in spite

of old-fashioned charcoal or any of the new

fangled fi lters. The natives do notseem to care,

being accustomed to it, I suppose. You may see

them any day sitting by the little watercourses,

washing their feet and clothes and hands, and

drinking deep draughts now and then, all this go

ing on in the sam e pool, or rather puddle. There

can be little difference in the external aspect of

the country atany season of the year ; the old

palm branches wither and drop away,and ar e re

placed by new ones. The ground maintains its

usual arid look,and is as dry as ever

,because no

rain is ever known to fall here . W hen Isay no

rain, Iam wrong, for it is reckoned that in very

prosperous years there ar e generally two days of

rain during the twelvemonth , one in spring and

one in autumn .

W e had by this time reached the cypress ; and a

grand tree it is, some 200 feet in height, well

HUNTING GROUNDS or OUARGLA. 57

grown, and well fi lled outin proportion. In sum

m e r -time it must be a thing to be avoided,for all

the snakes and serpents and tarantulas congregate

and abide am id its branches as a pleasant residence

during the hot m onths ! Now, though, we could

rest under its shadow with impunity,and we ac.

cor dingly did so,Sitting on a mud wall

,swinging

our legs, whilst our guide related to us the parti

cular s of an ostrich hunt down south beyond Tug

The hunting-

grounds of Ouargla have a special

charm for the sportsman. The horizon is only

lim ited by the weakness of the human eye . In

the undulations of the ground ar e numberless

little woods,formed of pistachio-trees

,as large as

some of our forest oaks,with an underwood of

Oleander ; and in the cover that is thus form ed ar e

quantities of gazelles and partridges and gangas.

There ar e no springs or watercourses in this vast

region . Reservoirs of water form them selves in

holes and depressions of the earth,and ar e called

by the Arabs “ traitors,

on account of the cruel

deceptions which they practise on thirsty men.

58 OSTRICH HUNTING .

In summer-time these reservoirs dry up, and by

this provision of nature all fighting during the

hotweather is avoided. Itwould be impossible

for Eur opean soldier s to exert themselves outherein June and July ; and the Arabs would naturally

take advantage of this circumstance for revolt ifthey could do so

,butthe absence of water prevents

their marching across the plains,and thus m eet

ing in large bodies. They ar e compelled, much

against the grain, to abandon their homes in the

daias,Or little woods

,from May to October, and

migrate with their herds to m ore hospitable lands

further north ; and it is then thatthe ostriches,driven from the equator by a burning sun, seek

shade and pasturage in the deserted daias.

Ostrich-hunting then takes place in the hottest

season of the year,lasting sometimes forty-five

days, from the 25th of June to the 10th of Au

gust. Itis the heat even m ore than the pace

which kills the ostrich,

say the Ar abs, and exper i

ence shows that they ar e right . Itis only a select

few outof the many nomad tribes who have the

privilege of carr ying on the noble sport. Previous

MURDERS. 59

to the French occupation their only other busi

ness was the pillage of the caravans ; butnow they

do it no more,atleast in the territory under

Gallic jurisdiction . W ell made they ar e,and

wonder q y organized for their life of m ovement

and privation ; dry and hard,with piercing eye

and untiring ankle,possessed of a power of endur

ing hunger and thirst to their farthest lim its.

They make much parade of their new-born conver

sion and uprightness, on the principle, I suppose,of assum ing a virtue if you have itnot.

Our present goodness must redeem the errors

of the past, they say ; we have a few lives upon

our consciences,butGod alone is perfect !

A “ few lives,forsooth —they ar e m odest

,

these good Arabs. Toum i,one of their chiefs,

owned to nineteen murders.

Yes,Ikilled nineteen individuals in attacking

the caravans. Perhaps itis a gr eafer number

than is perm itted to a good believer ; but, after all,we only do as our fathers taught us nevertheless,

Iadm it that when I think of it I feel puzzledy”about the day of judgment

PREPARATIONS FORTHE CHASE .

Itmay be well to say a few words of the neces

saties which ar e indispensable for amonth’s sojourn

in this “ land of thirst. First,of course

,stands

the camel,whose faculty of remaining for four or

five days withoutfood renders him an absolute

necessity in the desert . Four or five camels,

therefore,ar e required for each hunter

,who loads

them with barrels of water,oats

,and provisions,

according to his intended length of stay beyond

the line of civilization. Horse -shoes and nails

m ustalso form part of the store, as well as powderand shotfor the killing of small game . There is

no use in taking a tent, as the starr y vault is thepleasanter covering in seasons such as this. Be

fore the departure of a hunting party from

Ouargla bands of men ar e sent outto discovertheexact whereabouts of the ostr ich-herds

,a necessary

precaution where water has to be so much con

sider ed.

The horses used for the chase undergo a sys

tem of training for fifteen or sixteen days befor ethe start

,being gradually deprived of oats, and

made to take much exercise in the sun until

OSTRICH HUNTING .

they bear the appearance of perfect skeletons.

Ostriches ar e hunted after one of two plans

the bedou or the gaad. By the former system the

huntsman has butone horse, which necessitates,of course

,the best animals and great science. If

the party is a large one, the other plan is almost

always resorted to. Itconsists of an ambuscade,

towards whichthe birds ar e driven . W hen they

pass the fatal spot the sportsmen rush outupon

them,and pursue them hotly till they drop. The

excitement of this system consists in driving the

ostriches towar ds places where relays of horses ar e

stationed . If this is notdone,of course the quarry

is lost, as it easily outstr ips all butthe very best

beasts. Parties of natives on footsometimes lie

in wait for the birds in ambush,and shoot them for

their feathers, butthis is looked upon in pretty

muchthe same light as the shooting of foxes in

our own country. The gaad is rendered possible

by the factthat the foolish birds almost always

r un in the direction in which they ar e started,

unless terrified by a passing caravan, or some

sim ilar cause .

62 USES OF THE OSTRICH .

Atroop of ostriches has such a fascination for

the sportsman,that as long as they ar e in sight he

can think of nothing butpursuit. All ideas of

personal safety leave him . El naam idjebed el

kalb ou cl a'

in say the Arabs. The ostrich

tears our heart and scar s our eye !” They keepin troops as much as possible

,butwhen near their

end ar e driven by instinct to scatter over the plain,

and ar e then pursued by single horsemen until

they fall down from exhaustion. The dear old

story abouttheir hiding their heads in the sand

is an utter fabrication— like a good many other

dear old stories,by the way. The flesh is very

like beef in colour and taste, while the fatis con

sider ed a panacea for all kinds of maladies. There

is nota portion of the ostrich butwhat is putto

some purpose . The plumes ar e sold,the flesh is

eaten, the skin of the neck and thighs is formed

into bladders for the preservation of the fat,the

skin ofthe feet is used for making coverings for

the human foot, and the nerves ar e twisted into

thread for the sewing of leather. There is an

Arab proverb that says,

advantageous as an

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64 BISKRA AFTERDARK.

W hen the unfortunate creatures ar e taken alive

they ar e killed with sticks,in order that no blood

may spoil the feathers. They ar e struck on the

head and neck,which is fragile, and easily broken .

Can we trace to this fact the fable of their hidingtheir heads under their wings ? Their eggs ar e

delicious. One of them will make an omelette for

ten people .

The town of B iskra,after dark, is seen from its

m ostcharacteristic side. Then it is that the streets

ar e gayest and the Cafés Maurs mostcrowded .

Most of the principal cafés ar e grouped together,

standing in the street which is exclusively ocen

pied by Oulad Nayls. Very pretty this street

looks atnight, a glimmering lantern hanging over

every door,which when lit means that madame is

“athome, and willing to receive a visit ; when

extinguished, that she is out, or occupied . If she

“athome

,she is usually lying on the ground

outside her habitation, the door of which is Open,

disclosing to view a snug little apartment, adorned

with divans and mats,or else she is squabbling

and fighting in the road, with discordant vocifer at

A CAPE.

i r1g voice . W e entered the fi r st cafe’,from the

inte rior of which came sounds of dancing and the

bagpipe . Pushing through the cr owd,we were

speedily supplied with seats, and, becom ing accus

tomed to the smoke and heat,began to look about

u s. A high, long room ,supported by two rude

r after s, and lit by a few flickering oil- lamps. The

ceiling was lost in gloom ,whilst a yellowish light

shone down upon a central mass of white-cowled

figures sitting about in shadowy groups, with hazy

contours,relieved with sharp touches of high light.

A mysterious crowd they looked,with muffled

heads and half-seen faces,rem inding m e of

Dante’s band of hypocrites so grandly described

inthe Inferno

Laggiutr ovammo una gente dipinta,Che giva intor no assai con lenti passi ,Piangendo, e nel sembiante stanca e vinta.

Egli avean cappe con cappuci bassiDinanz i agli occhi fatte dellataglia,Che per Ii monaci in Cologna fassi .Onde

’lDuca si volse, e disse, Aspetta,E poi secondo il suo passo pr ocedi .

Ristetti , e vidi due mostr ar gran fr ettaDell’anino, col viso, d

’esser meco ;

VOL. H .

ITS ARRANGEMENT.

Matar davagli ’l car co, e la via str etta.

Poi si volser o in se, e dicean seco :

Costui par vivo all’atto della gola,E s’ei son morti , per qual pr ivilegio ‘

Poi disser me—O Tosco, ch’al collegio

Degl’ipocr ititr isti se’venuto,

Dir chi tu sei non aver s in dispr egio.

The peculiar eflectwas principally due to the pre

vailing amount of white— white pillars, white figures, and white walls, all deprived of the whiteness,

ifImaymake use of the apparent contradiction, bythe smoke and obscurity. The entire arrangement of

the cafe’differed utterly from those of Tunis. Here

the crowd ar e gathered in the centre, and all

alongthe walls, leaving a vacant space or passage

all round the room for the dancing Oulad Nayl,who floats about with flowing draperies to the

music of the bagpipe and the tom -tom .

OuladNayl, or dancing girl of the desert, difl’er s

in every particular from her sister of Tunis.

W hilst the latter is short of clothing, and aban

doued in her gesture, the former moves slowly

KABYLE DANCERS. 67

and gracefully in a tr ipping walk, very long intheskirts

,and smothered in many-coloured scarfs.

She changes now and then to a sprightlier mea

sur e, giving one or two marvellous jumps and

leaps,butsoon relapses into a slow forwar d m ove

m ent,accompanied by a slight swaying of the

body and a waving of the hands and arms. Thus

she goes slowly, slowly round and round the room ,

seldom chapging her fantastic step,or varying the

monotony of her motions, until she gives wayfr om sheer exhaustion, when another immediately

supplies her place.

The noise of the bagpipe— an instr umentsomewhatresembling theNeapolitan pifer ar o, blown byaNigger with stentorian lungs— is excr uciating in the

extr eme,the sound being terribly harsh and shr ill .

Dr iven outof this place of entertainment by the

overpowering heat and want of air,we turned

into the next, equally crowded with the last, andwher e muchthe same scene was exhibited

,except

that in this place the dancer was aKabyle instead

of an OuladNayl . This lady was assisted in her

gyrations by two very small boys,who stopped

68 OPIUM-SMOKERS.

periodically tothrow a handkerchief atyou (equivalentto a demand for coppers If you were

liberal they kissed your hand with efi usion,and

twirled on again after the goddess with renewed

energy and vigour. This caféwas wearing its

festal robes in honour of the féte of the Beyram ,

the walls all draped with gaudy carpets and rugs,

and the pillars masked with great palm -branches,

that nodded to each other across the ceiling like

monster hearse-plumes. In one corner,on a

raised dais, sata quiet circle of opium-smokers,

inhaling the noxious fumes of hasheesh,and

some of them already looking haggard and half

intoxicated. Itis a horrid kind of drunkenness to

witness. Instead of the stolid look of the wine

bibber,the opium -smoker is known by a staring

and over-wrought appearance about the eyes, and

a nervous working of the mouth and lips, that has

a fearful resemblance to madness. Outside the

cafe’, rolled up in their burnouses, and laid outlike

corpses to await the m orrow’s wakening, were longrows of the wretched beings, who had already sunk

helpless before their dreadful idol. W hen the

A PAS DE DEUX. 69

w akening does come, it brings its own punishmenti n aching limbs and intense m ental depression— so

g reat as sometimes to lead to suicide.

The “ lovely Kabyle was dancing round and

r ound all this time, holding aloft in either handthe

end of a scarf,with which she sometimes postured

and som etimes mopped her perspiring brow . No

wonder she perspired,poor thing, for the heat was

intense,even to us who satquite still ; and what

must it have beento her ! A brawny black man,

who struck the tambourine, gotvery excited, sway

ing him self into the strangest attitudes under the

influence of the lovely creature’s eyes. She was not

particularly lovely,however

,though she was grace

ful and fine in figure, and notraddled with paint,like the OuladNayls, and that is always something.

She was nevertheless the worshipped of B iskra,

and drew everybody to that especial cafe by the

power of her charm s. She and the tambourine-man

went through apas de deua', throwing them selves

on one knee and bending backwards, much after

the fashion of our ow n ballet performers,though

with infinitely more untutored grace.

70 PICTURESQUE GROUP.

Once mor e in the open air , we wander ed out

to the border s of the town, to obtain an evening

view of the long blue line of the horizon, that looks

so likethe ocean. In the chief market-place we

came upon some picturesque groups keeping the

Beyram feast in their own peculiar way. There

were some musicians,with guitar and tom -tom

,

squatting in a circle in the open air,surrounded

by other circles of white-clad figures ; in the

centre was a tiny light, which reflected ruddily in

their faces,and threw great long shadows on the

wall behind them . They keptup a monotonous

kind of chant,one party answering the other, as

is done by choristers in high-ehurch services— averytedious affair

,suggesting a queer notion of amuse

ment, accoor ding to our European standard. A

little further on was another party,singing bythe

light of a fi r e, with the dim line of the desert as a

background, whose dark faces and slight, flut

tering garb looked quite elfish in the uncertain

light.

The next morning Iwas awakened from plea

sant slumbers by the guggling of camels ; and on

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72 RIDE ONA CAMEL.

certain that he knew it,and would as likely as not

scrape my leg against every obstacle, outof sheer

malice. Malice, however, he had none, being as

docile and am iable as his looks betokened ; and a

tr uly benevolent type of countenance he possessed,if Lavater’s rules ar e to be trusted. Itis just as

well to try everything, if only for the new sensa

tion, and an unpleasantone a camel’s motion as

sur edly is—a long swinging walk of about four

miles an hour, which jerks one’s back unmercifully,

together with a reckless waste of labour and

fatigue consequent on a prom iscuous going to and

fro,beating, as it were, aboutthe bush , instead of

walking straight, like a Christian, in one direction.

To be carried W hither he listed was to be my

fate,for I felt that I m ight as we!! attempt to

guide a locomotive engine as direct his er ratic

course. The walk was bad enough, butwhen it

came to a trot,ye gods ! all presence of m ind

vanished,and I was only too glad to cling to any

thing in order to keep my seat. One gets used to

anything in time,however, and I accordingly

settled down atlast,and bor e the pain pretty well,

DISMOUNTING . 73

untilthe m oment arrived for dismounting, when the

sense of going down was even m ore dreadful than

the previous one of getting up. The camel bends

his forelegs ata signal from the driver,which is

given by tapping him on the knees,and gradually

sinks by fits and starts, giving vent to a wailingkind of cry the while

,em inently disconcer ting to a

nervous rider. Once on his knees one naturally

endeavours to untangle oneself from among his

legs ; butnotatall, there is another sinking to

be effected,which ends in his lying on his stomach,

when one rises easilyto a standing position, with

a pervading notion,however

,of having been split

up.

On starting we skirted the great palm forest,and advanced into the plain beyond, already be

com ing scorched by a fierce m idday sun. In

about three quarters of an hour we had gotclear

of the sandy earth of B iskra, on to undulatinghillocks of fine white powder, which m ust indeed

be annoying to eyes and lips when agitated by

wind . The scene now bore the aspectof a

gigantic moor, covered as far as the horiz on by

74 THE DESERT.

bunches of a heathery underwood, stretching awayin reds and browns

,that efi ectually veiled the

nakedness beneath . Here and there the eye

caught long stretches of slaty blue, caused by the

reflection of the blue sky overhead on the white

incrustations of saltpetre thatsprinkle the ground

nearly everywhere ; while the foreground con

sisted of camels’bones and broken sticks,shining

and glitter ing in the sunlight. W e now had the

mountains of the Lesser Atlas behind us, and on

every other side could trace nothing butthe longline of monotonous horiz on wherever we tur ned

our eyes. Nota living creature visible on the

whole expanse,except a solitary vulture

,thatwas

swaying and swinging slowly in the air,his wings

just tipped with golden rays of heat. A lizard or

two sped past,from time to time disturbed bythe

unwonted noise, and was quickly outof sight .

Here and there a deadly sandsnake,looking like

an alligator in m iniature,hideous and repulsive,

whose bite is fatal within the hour ; no insects,no other birds or beasts to break the dreary soli

OURGUIDES. 75

The scene changed by degr ees. The scanty

bushes were left behind, and their place was taken

by deep,dry, crumbling sand

,har d walking for

our guides. Nevertheless, they trudged cheer ily

on,a m iddle-aged Arab, in the conventional haik,

and short cotton shirt,and a negro boy, a jolly

little fellow,rich in colour and bright of eye, with

such a pleasant, roguish sm ile as itdid one good

to look upon . The landscape is sad, butdr eamy

and impressive the far -OE pale blue line melting

gently into circumambient atmosphere,before

merging in umber and sienna with the incidental

grass-tufts that surrounded us, rank patches of

vegetation, with waving ends and sickly yellow

tOps. As B iskra and its oasis were lost in a filmy

vapour,nothing metthe view buta cutting

r im of extreme distance,broken in one place by

an indistinct mass of shadowy palms . that con

cealed Oumach,our destination.

The fur ther we advanced over the tracklessplain

,the more impalpable did the village seem

to become, until we ceased watching it, and tur ned

our attention to the long masses of coar se grass

76 RESIDENCE OF A SHEIKH .

which the camels were crushing beneath their

feet. Afte r a hot march of three hours and a

half,we neared the oasis in good earnest, and

were notsorry to distinguish clearly quaint mud

walls and a crazy m inaret. On a large space

of undulating, open gr ound, stood the Sheikh and

his attendant sons,who received us with cere

monious courtesy, and led us by the hand into

what was evidently the sanctum,or presence

chamber,of the chief— a lofty room

,with roof of

plaited palm branches,supported by pillars cut

from the same useful tree. A tiny window high

up in the wall, by which only a little light was ad

m itted, rendered it deliciously cool within, whilewithout was dust

,and sand

,and scorching sun .

The heat is pleasant,though, on the whole, dry

and fresh , butpowerful, unlike the heavy oppr es

sion of the London dog-days.

The room was perfectly bare, and devoid of

furniture of any kind, as indeed ar e all Arab

apartments. Mats were str etched on the ground,upon which we were motioned to be seated

, and

wer e immediately supplied with dates and camel’s

OURRECEPTION. 77

m ilk,the latter a most horrible beverage, which,

when allowed to stand,ferments

,and possesses

intoxicating qualities. W e satthus for some time,

whilst the elite of the village passed before us,

staring, as usual, with goggle-eyes and open mouth .

The Sheikh nodded atus,thereby intimating that

we were welcome and we nodded blandly in

r eturn,in thankfulness for the same. Athis left

hand squattedthe Figaro of the village, who had

been busy shaving the heads of the Faithful when

we arrived,butabandoned his trade and pocketed

his razors to actas interpreter to the “ illustriousstrangers. He jabbered away accordingly an nu

intelligible jargon ofArabic and broken French,

and we answered in a vague and uncertain man

ner,finding it very hard work to make outhis

meaning. The Sheikh informed us, through him ,

that he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and

seemed proud of it. He was astonished atour choos

ing camels in preference to horses or mules, andwas

very anxious to know whether they, the camels,

were our ordinary means of conveyance in Lon

don . He regretted extremely that the chief por

78 . CONVERSATION.

tion of his subjects were away in the Desert,

feeding their cattle on the scanty herbage ; but

intimated thatthiswas their usual avocation duringthe winter m onths

,as they only return home in

August for the date-harvest. He was great on

the subject of the Due d’Aumale, who, it seems,

paid him a visitwhen travelling in Africa ; andended by assuring us that he, the chief of Oumach,

was the ban gar con of the district, and the be

loved of the French authorities. Seeingme staringathim

,he apologised earnestly for looking old

- a rather extraordinary proceeding on his par t

stating that when pr operly shaved and gotup, he

looked quite twenty year s younger.

Atlast the prom ised cofl'ee made its appear ance ;and very glad we were, forthe sun was beginningto sink om inously in the heavens, and threatened a

lengthened march in the dark. Of course the

whole congregation turned outto see us start,and

we only succeeded in really getting OE after many

salaams and much shaking of the hand .

W e took a different road on our way back to‘B iskr ar a road which led across even masses of

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THE PEPINIERE DE BENI-MORA.

door. W e staggered into chairs and rested atlast— swearing, notloud, butdeep, that come whatm ight, we had had our first and last ride on a

camel’s back !

Before leaving B iskra, we thought it incumbent

on us to pay a visit to the garden of acclimatiz a

tion— the Pepiniere de B eni-Mora, as it is calledwhich is situated a little outof the town on the

sandy plain. W e wandered up and down itspleasant alleys without being able to gain any in

formation,and ended by looking up the Director ,

who was taking his siesta hard by. He has been

here ever since the establishment of the pepiniere,

now aboutten years ago, and seems quite recon

ciled to his banishment . Arab boys ar e the only

workmen of whom he can avail himself, and they

(like Arabs in general) ar e wedded to indolence

impossible, as he himself termed it. W e

saw some of them atwork— if work it can be

called— digging for a few m inutes, and then lyingdown for a little repose. He did notseem to

m ind, however, being pretty much used to the

annoyance,more especially as they ar e only paid

GARDENor AOCLIMATIZATION. 1

by the am ount of work that they getth r ough .

This gentleman was exceedingly severe in his

denunciations of the Arab race. He doubts thesincerity of their religious fanaticism

,because

(which is certainly true) they will eatpork and

getdrunk as much , if notmore than the Chris

tian dogs, tf only ther e is no one to peach upon

He consider s them utterly untrustworthy,

from a warped ignorance or carelessness of right

and wrong, and sets them down as liars and

thieves, even up to the chiefs, who march about

so proudly with their crosses and decorations.

In this garden ar e gathered together specimens

of all sorts of tropical trees,with a view, of course,

to their future introduction to Saharian soil .

Thus we find the soap-tree from Guadaloupe, and

the gourd-palm from China, everything, in fact, that

will bear the heat, both useful and or namental .

Drawbacks, of course, have to be contended with .

The saltness of the water is very injurious to the

more delicate plants, which ar e only watered once

in two or three weeks in summer, and never in

winter,for fear of over chillingthe atmospher e.

VOL. II.

PLAGUE OF GRASSHOPPERS.

There ar e still traces on many of the shr ubs

of the gr eat grasshopper plague of lastyear , and

a fearful scourge it must have been.

came in flights, which appeared as a cloud on

the horizon no bigger than a man’s hand

,and

advanced like the wind, in such terr ible for cethatthe ver y birds fled dismayed, and the whole hea

vens were obscured. They remained inthe neigh

bour hood over three months,devouring everything

around them , beginning with the delicate shoots

thatthey liked, and ending with the tough palm

branches which they did notlike. They dis

regarded all the noise and tom -tom music that

was gotup to frighten them ,and were killed in

m illions by the natives who came outto fight

them . My friend the Director took to layingdown heaps of dry grass atintervals

,into which

the beasts cr ept in swarms,and when safely in,

were bur nt on a series of funeral piles.

Ravenous and ruinous!y destructive as they ar e,they ar e never known to bite a man, being pur ely

gram inivor ous in their nature. The ingenious

natives managed to derive some benefit even from

THE TOUAREGS. 3

this plague. They salted the grasshoppers, and

used them as articles of food. Though full of

little bones,they ar e notso ver y bad

,I am told

,

tasting something like attenuated sardines. Great

quantities of them were stor ed up as ar ticles of

subsistence,and

,together with dates, and a little

br ead,will form the dinners of the natives for

many a day to come.

In the Di r ector’s room I saw a wonderful speci

men of a shield,made of hide str etched tightly

over bamboo framework ; and thinking that it was

a relic of some savage tribe, I inquir ed into its

histor y. Itturned out,however

,to be one of the

articles of warfare still used by the warlike

Touaregs, far away in the south . Their fastnesses

ar e in the unknown wilds of the desert, and per

haps some day they will be the m eans of openinga directcommunication with the Soudan. Mean

while they rob the car avans, and amuse themselves

by suddenly pouncing on unwar y travellers. W hen

on a pillaging expedition the Touaregs live upon

the pods of one of the desert shrubs, and ar e

tr ained to go withoutfood for an enormous space

84 THE TOUAREGS.

of time. They m ust have fertile cases in their

territory,for the few of their number who have

ever penetrated northwards were notastonished at

the pasturage of the Tell, only atthe height ofthe

mountains.

The nam eTouareg signifies veiled, and they ar e so

called from the fact that theywear their haiksmuch

like a woman’s yashmak, up to the eyes. They go

without shoes,for they say proudly that they never

go on foot. They ar e tall and well-made,with

white skins and remarkably small hands. Their

arms ar e never laid aside,being fastened to the

per son by means of leather thongs. They consist

generally of the above-m entioned shield,a sword

,

and a long lance, with poisoned tip. The women

wear black pantaloons, and dark-blue stufls draped

about their forms, and ar e very pretty and white

skinned. They have one remarkable peculiarity

when girls they go quite naked, and when married

they ar e clothed. The r eason they assign is not

a bad one : “A woman must be seen before she is

married ; once married, she must be seen by none

buther husband. The men go veiled because

ANOULADNAYL . 85

they should be hidden from their enemy !”

Although the Touar egs ar e of the same religion

as the Arabs, they difl’er from them in many

things. In the first place,they hate and detest

them ; and in the second place, they only intermar ry

amongst themselves, have butone wife, and follownone of the outward forms of the Koran. They

resem ble the Kabyles, to a certain extent,in

language, type, and energy of character. In fact,

the Touaregs, Kabyles, and Chaouia (a tribe in

the mountains of Batna) speak a tongue which is

a relic of the original inhabitants of Barbary, whowere ofVandal origin.

On our way back to thetown we passed through

the quarter of the OuladNayls, and came upon a

wonderful specimen of them,sitting in the sun,

enjoying her coffee and a cigarette, an old and

majestic lady,who r eturned my nod with a dis

tautly disdainful inclination of the head . She was

so magnificent that I thought it a good oppor

tunity of finding outthe average value of the

ornaments worn bythese women on their persons.

W e therefore stopped,and she very civilly told

86 DISPLAY or JEW ELRY.

us the or iginal cost of many of the gewgaws with

which she was bedizened. She wore no less than

three large necklaces, one of gold, and two of

massive silver, a profusion of gold ornaments on

her head, and magnificently worked ear r ings of

the same costly metal. A large poniard and a

silver looking-glass dangled from her waist, whilsther arms and legs were weighed down with enor

mous manacle-like bracelets. All this we esti

mated, ou calculation, as worth upwards of £260 ;

no slight amountin solid metal, independent of

stones, or other fictitious source of wealth. Itstrikes one as funny to see this sort of display laid

outon aManchester cotton gown, such as would beworn by our housemaids

,though to the Oulad

Nsyls it is the same kind of luxury as satin and

velvet ar e to our own ladies.

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88 MILITARY QUARRELS.

wilder men . Perceiving that he was wastingbreath

,he gave in, contenting himself with a few

words of warning and advice . As a precaution

against our own followers,we sent our three

muleteers (who were stranger s to us) to have their

names inscribed 0 11 the Government books, so that,in the event of our disappear ance, they would be

unable to return to B iskra ; thus securing our

selves against treason in the camp. W e were all

armed,and being seven in number

,considered

ourselves quite safe against attack.

On my way back to the hotel, Imetthe funeral

of a Zouave who had been killed in a CaféMaur

the night before. His death originated in a riot

about an OuladNayl, between a party of Zouaves

and another of Turkos. These two regiments

hate each other,as the latter

,which is recruited

entirely from among the natives,considers the

former a setof interlopers,because its ranks ar e

fi lled with men of every nation under heaven. On

this infinitesimal cause of quarrel, therefore, thetwo

regiments came to blows ; the result of which was

that sever al men were killed, and many wounded.

CULTIVATIONor COTTON. 89

W e started 03 on the 12th of Februar y, w ith

good m ules,for a wonder

,and accompanied by

natives of a higher class than that to which we

had been accustomed : fine stalwart fellows,free

of action, and clean of limb, with a long swingingstride, like the Highlanders of Scotland. W e took

a farewell of the m isty horizon of the Desert from

the heights of the Lower Atlas, and descended intothe plain on their northern side

,

’

where we Visited

aM.Dufourg, the cotton-planter ofthe neighbour

hood,according to appointment.

In the cour se of a rustic deyeilner , Iopened fi r e

on him (having been pr eviously primed by my

Glasgow friend), and succeeded in taking him in

as to my cotton knowledge and general commer

cial standing. He told m e that cotton had never

been tried in this portion of North Africa until

four years ago, when the immense capabilities of

the country for the growth of this plant became

apparent. The soil of the higher grounds of the

Sahara is all that can be desired for the purpose,

being sandy and porous by nature, and strongly

impregnated with salt. So richly endowed is it,

90 SCARCITY or W ATER.

that on the slightest scraping and application of a.

little water,itstarts as it were into life

,being ex

pressly cr eated seem inglyto suit the requirements

of the indolent inhabitants. The great drawback,

up to the present time, to the successful pr oduction

of cotton in this quarter, arises from the almosttotal

absence of water ; the little there is belonging inthe

first place to the natives,who sell it in their turn

to Europeans atfabulous prices,m easuring it in

some inexplicable manner of their own by thew idth of any of their hands, regardless of the

difl’er ence in size of these members. They use it

themselves for irrigating the palms of the oases ;

and sometimes delay surrendering it into the pos

session of its after-proprietors until it is almosttoo

late to putit to its intended purpose. In this case

the unfortunate colonisthas butlittle chance of

redr ess,it being the policy of the ImperialGover n

ment to favour the Arabs,and gently to checkthe

too rapid progress of colonization. The reason of

this,accor ding to M. Dufou rg

’s suggestion, is that

the large standing army of France is in constant

need of a safety-valve for its super-abundantmili

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92 FREMY-TALABOT CONTRACT.

man or other foreigner who should come to fight

for a share in the spoil,and endeavour, with the

peaceful weapons of industry,to win his way to

fortune. To so great an extent is this repression

carried on,that quite lately

,when a merchant of

Mulhouse ofi er ed to sink an Artesian well athisown expense

,he was peremptorily refused perm is

sion to do so,on the plea that they had notyet

been sufficiently tried by Government . Itis true

that things ar e beginning to look up in this quar

ter. If the Fremy-Talabotcontract is signed,which is now under discussion in the French

Chambers, a new er a will begin to open for Al

gerian colonists. By this contract a certain

amount of land is to be placed in the hands Of

Messrs. Fremy and Talabot,who undertake to do

all necessary draining, and sublet it to enterprisingmen. The plan looks pretty on paper

,butit r e

mains to be seen how much of the agreement will

be fulfi lled on either side .

M. Dufourg is a sanguineman as to his future

prospects, and is only waiting to be joined by

some one with capital to invest,in order to launch

M.DUFOURG. 93

outin a larger undertaking than he has atpresentunder his hand . Itappears thatthe land he

holds was given to him by Government on loan,

with the option of adding any number of acres

to it,by reclaim ing it from the sandy wastes

around. This loan had no specified time to r un,

being, in fact, a gift, liable to be withdrawn in

case of failur e,which m ightcast a shadow on the

country in the eyes of the outer world . Of course

Government would notgive any more land to anyone else

,butdeclares itself prepared to sell a

certain amount of it to any purchaser. Little

could be made outof itwithout the introduction of

Artesian wells ; and it would notbe worth while to

make these wells unless the proprietor had a large

extent Of land in his possession. Governmentis

notprepared to part with large tracts Of terri

tory atpresent— consequently this seem ingly

paternal offer m eans nothing atall !

M. Dufourg, having been originally a common

stone-mason,and being devoid of education, cannot

be taken as a fair sample of a flourishing cotton

grower on the soil Ofthe Sahara. He is ignorant

94 HIS LIMITEDKNOW LEDGE .

of his business, and unable to imagine what

m ight be made outof so fair a possession in the

hands of one of Our own long-sighted fellow

countrymen. This is amply shown by the fact

thathe knew nothing Of Egyptian“

seed or its

results, though be instantly proposed inquir ingabout it on being informed of its superior quali

ties. He could noteven tell me whence he drew

his original crop, as it was supplied him by aMul

house merchant, whom I take to be his real backer .

Ignorance is bliss perhaps in some cases, but

surely notin business transactions like the one at

presentunder notice. The results of his own ex

per ience ar e Of course intrinsically valuable inthe

way Of statistics and working details, though the

opinions which he draws from them must be taken

attheir proper value .

A letter published inthe Moniteur de l’Alger ie, datedMar ch 20th, 1867 states thatthe total of exports fr omEgypt, in 1861, amounted onlyto 200 million fr ancs ;that,in 1865, itamounted to 445 million fr am e

,of which 431

m illion francs wer e for cotton alone ! Ifthis r esultis attained in these few year s in Egypt, why should notasim ilar one he ar r ived atin Alger ia, whose soil is allowed

to be fully as suitable asthatof Egypt

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96 THE COTTONSEASON.

through rotation crops of barley, oats, &c. M.

Dufourg has latterly used his own seed,taken

from his own plants,worked alternately with

American grain. He considers that a cotton plan t

is of little use after the second y ear.

As the cotton season only lasts from May to

September,he is enabled to grow a barley crop

during the remaining months, which should defraythe current expenses of the entire business .

Another, gentleman, on the other hand, told me

that it would be perfectly feasible to grow adouble

crop of cotton,supposing always that a sufi cient

quantity of water were attainable ; butM.Dufourgsays that for long-staple cotton it would be im

possible. W hether his Opinion is of suffi cient

weight to decide this matter I should be inclined

to doubt. W e visited his buildings and outhouses,which ar e of a very prim itive description

, and an

inconsiderable item in his expenditure. The clean

ing machines ar e only five in number,worked by

water,and revolve atthe rate of fifty turns a

m inute. The land is good, butrequires a con

sider able quantity of manure before it can become

ExPENSEs. 97

what it should be . This it is diffi cult to obtain,

as that which comes from the barracks (the princi

pal supply) is used up for the fertilization of the

palm-gardens immediately around B iskr a. On

the Hodna plains,where cotton has also been tried

w ith success,the use of such extraneous aid is con

sider ed unnecessary ; butthen it must be hom e

in m ind that land in that quarter costs five timesas much as in the country Of the Sahara. Human

labour is cheap, being estimated atone franc perday. One native and one bullock would work an

acr e in six days. M. Dufourg reckons that his

total annual expenses per acre amount to 125

francs,which equals £5. For the last two years

he calculates that he has made nothing by his

business, on account of the grasshopper plague,which ravaged his land for two seasons consecu

tively, remaining three months atatime. Duringthat period 300 natives were perpetually atwork

defending the plants, ata salary of one franc per

diem,notwithstanding which nearly all the trees

perished.

The following is an extr act, tr anslated literally,VOL . II.

98 M. DUPOURG’S LETTER

from a letter r eceived from my friend, M. Dufour g ,since my return to England. Ileave the reader tojudge of it for himself.

Ihasten to reply to the questions which you

putto me in your last letter.

For the cultivation of cotton water is all that

is necessary ; as for ground, there is no lack of it.

W ater has to be bought from the Arabs. It

would be quite feasible so to regulate matters with

them as to realize that which they fail in achiev

ing. Iknow of several districts which have been

abandoned from time to time because of the rapid

growth of dwarf-palms, &c.,which choke up their

ill-constructed barrages,’and thus deprive them

frequently of water during the most important

seasons..W e

,the settlers

,m ight, with capital

,

er ect works and dig reservoirs on these spots, r e

signing the water to the natives for their cr ops

during the winter, using it ourselves in summer

for our own especial cultivation.

If sufli cientcapital were attainable, we m ight

make atEl Outaia, from whence Iwrite,a reser

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100 M. DUEOURG’S LETTER.

tr uth of what I have stated,and we will go

together and see the places most suitable for

cultivation.

CHAPTERXVI.

THE PLAINS OF THE B OBNA.

leaving M. Dufourg, who wished us a plea

sant journey, we went on to ElOutaia, wher e

there is a horrid caravansary, under the char ge

of very rude people. Dogs abound there, as they

do indeed in all Arab villages, of a kind of fox

like half-breed,whose special m ission it is to

bark,and bark they do most lustily through the

whole night. W e did our best to sleep am id the

burly-burly of the canine race,butsoon gave up

the attempt,and began preparations for an early

start. Our mules were in good order, which was

lucky, considering that there is no road, or even

footpath,in these untraver sed wilds ; and the

traveller is forced to trust tothe vague indications

of passing Arabs, who have no notion of time, and

102 SCENE or DESOLATION.

little of distance,for his information . As we

started,the sun rose behind us in m itigated bril

liancy, rem inding us that we were leaving the

cloudless heavens of the deser t,where ther e is a

certainty of fine weather,for the hill-country of

r ains and storms.

Our way led through sandy plains, which

changed gradually to rocky hills, varied w ith

r ocky valleys ; no vegetation visible, except pe r

haps a scr ubby bush of cold grey-green, catchingthe eye by contr ast w iththe pervading heat. At

length we lost the flatness to which we had he

come accustomed,and wandered on through such

a scene of desolation as it is diffi cult to convey

to one who has notseen it— undulating hillocks

of coar se,loose sand

,broken now and then by a

hoar y boulder,or a loose mass of shingly stones

,

that r attled down and fell with an echo under

our cautious tr ead ; bald clifi s, which closed

us in on all sides,only Opening outto dis

play a r epetition of what we had already passed

thr ough— mor e bare, more bald, more melancholy

than befor e ; no sun to brighten this dismal pros

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104 UNPLEASANT MEMORIALS.

of the guides carried a most murderous weapon

slung round his neck— a sort of overgrown horse

pistol,which gave a report like a cannon

,swal

lowed up a vast quantity of powder,and only pr o

pelled a very tiny ball .

En r oute again, am id scenery of the same m elan

choly character. The difference of the various

stratabecam e very strongly marked, lying in str eaks

of blue,yellow

,and r ed

,sometimes horizontal

,and

sometimes upturned in an almost vertical direction

by some convulsion of the earth long ago. More

bleak hills and tumbling shingle, more sand-plains

and stony undulations,butno sign of living being

or human habitation . Though man was wanting,there was no lack of his handiwork. Heaps of

stones on all sides of us testified to the buryingplaces of men murdered by the lawless natives,many of them evidently of qu ite recent erection

,

causing m ost unpleasant thoughts to arise in

our breasts as we passed by them ! As thesun lowered

,so did the clouds

,which soon

covered the hills with m ist, m elting into

drizzle,

and ending in heavy rain. Still we

MDOUCAL. 105

toiled onthrough the sand and stones, and atthe

tur n of a barren hillock, came in sight of Mdou

cal,our place of rest. Itis the same kind of

oasis as all the rest— when you see one you see all.

Ther e was the same long line of shadowy palms,

thick towards the centre ofthe group, the number

dwindling gradually into one ortwo ghostly tr ees,that wagged their ponderous heads, andswayed their

attenuatedtrunks clear-cutagainst a darkling dis

tance. A long avenue of mud-built walls led to

wardsthe dwelling ofthe Sheikh— a winding and

narrow road,with palm-

gardens on either side,

and great almond trees overshadowing the way.

These trees,though devoid of leaves, were laden

with thick clusters of a lovely blossom ,somewhat

resembling that of our apple,which hid the

branches from view,and presented the appearance

of a delicate pinky-white tracery,like boar-frost

in the last blush of sunset.

The Sheikh received us civilly on reading our

letter from the Bureau Arabe,and allotted us a

sort of house,cold

,dark

,and damp, which

looked unprom ising enough. W e satdown, how

106 TEDIOUS ORDEAL.

ever, on the car pets prepared for us, and pr o

ceeded,with what patience we m ight, to under go

the tedious ordeal of visits from the natives,

fatig uing process after a long day’s march . They

flock in by troops on the fi r st intimation of an

arr ival , and after sitting and staring their fill, then

give place to others. There is notthe slightest use in

making any objections, as it is the orthodox thing,

and there is no chance of obtaining any food until

the levee is atan end. W e gota fi r e of drypalm-branches on the earth in front of ou r

car pet,and Isetmyself to prepare some Liebig

soup, with m or e energy than prudence, as a

pr oceeding so novel only lengthened the per iod

of our discomfort. W e sat, therefore, the oh

ser ved Of all observers,and d r ank our soup while

“ the big round tears coursed one another down

our innocent noses in piteous chase,produced by

the stifling smoke,thatfound no outletinto the

outer air . Though the two doors of our habi

tation stood wide open,all draught was stopped by

the crowds of Arabs who came to gape atus and

enjoy the fi r e.

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108 QUICKSANDS.

pr oposed route was voted to be impossible, on ac

count of mudand moving sands. Dr eadful stories

being told us of m ules disappearing altogether in

the quicksand during the rainy season,itwas

resolved to make a de’tour throughthe more sandycountry ofthe Batna division of the Hodna plains,which would probably land us atMsila in three or

four days ; though on this point we were delight

fully vague, no one knowing the way or the dis

tance,or the difli culties we should have to en

counter.

W e started ofi,however

,in high Spirits

,and

tur ning our backs on Mdoucal, began to skirt the

base of the rocky mountains we had passed the

day before, wandering on in great uncertainty

until we came upon a nomad chief and his arrayof tents pitched on the open plain. Atabout ahundred yards from the encampment we cametoa standstill

,and waited

,according to etiquette, the

approach Of a deputy sent by the chief to inquire

what we wanted. This is done partly on accountof the women

,who of course mustnever be

seen by foreign eye, and partly as a pr ecaution

DANGEROUS TRIRES. 109

againstthe dogs, that rush outon a near er ap

pr oach, and bark,bowl

,and bite atthe legs

of incautious wayfarers. I suppose these dogs

kept as guards against intrusion, though in

m y experience of their tent life I never saw an

A r ab move or make a Sign for such a war ning.

The chief in question gave us a guide to conductu s tothe borders of the next tr ibe. This worthy

strode on ahead of us, looking sourly the while

fr om below his tattered hood,as though he hated

the very sight of Christian dirt !W e had now the satisfaction of knowing that

w e were passing through the territory of the ver y

w ickedest tribes in all Algeria— quite the FeniansofNorth Africa— who ar e perpetually in a fer

ment,and ever ready to rise atthe first prospect

of revolt. Few Europeans have ever passed this

way. The officers of the Bureaux Arabes traversed

it on the first distribution of land after the occupa

tion ; andtwo years ago, when the volcano of r e

bellion burst into flame,the sedition was crushed

with an iron hand. Further than this, these tribes

have no knowledge of Europeans, nor , for that

110 FROM SANDTo BOG.

matter, do they seem to desire it. They speak

confidently of the day, notfar distant,when the

African shall plant his foot on Europe’s neck

,with

other balderdash of the like description,butforthe

pr esent subm ission seems to be their policy.

W e passed through great plains of sand, that

ended in the hor izon,hidden from us by the

gathering m ists which obscured the sun, and

concealed from view the range of mountains

on our right. There were little lakes alongour route

,well stocked with game, flocks of

geese and wild-duck, that flew off affrighted

atour approach . W e travelled 0 11 in perfec t

ignorance of our whereabouts each Sheikh o r

Chief, as we passed on from tribe to tribe, send

ing a man to lead the way, and conduct us to the

borders of his ter ritory. The sandy plains gave

wayto heavy bog— the great sticking capacities of

which painfully impeded our movements. W e

were well aware that time was gold, and that to he

benighted in these ill-omened tracts was to insur e

attack,and possible destruction.

Arrived atthe encampment of Sheikh Buleuti,

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112 ANARAB PECULIARITY .

an interpreter, argued innocence indeed as regarded

the doings of the outer world beyond the blue

mountains of his native land. He assured us,

among other information, that the English were a

great nation, who lived exclusively on the sea.

Can this idea have arisen from some vague notion

of the ancient sea-kings from whom we ar e de

scended ? He was a grave man, our Sheikh,

grave almost to m elancholy ; butno Arab ever

really laughs, a gentle sm ile is his only indication

of merriment. If any one laughs loudly in his

presence, he looks about, imagining that some one

is making fun of him . A fear of ridicule is one

of his tender est points, which may perhaps account

for the wandering and unsteady look of half

wonder that sits deep in ever y tr ue Ar ab’s eyes, as

though he were always on the defensive, with

car s back ready for a kick,if Imay be allowed

so rude a sim ile.

W e left the friendly chief with salutes and

shakings ofthe hand, and following the horsemanwhom he sent with us

,soon came in sightof the

great salt lake— the Chott of Saida— a fine piece

PLAINOF THE HODNA. 113

of water, seen as we fi rst saw it, peaceful and

still, glistening like a silver shield in the one r ay

of sunlight which seemed sent through the heavy

clouds to give this bit of brightness to the drearylandscape . H ills high and finely

-cutalong its

western bank ; while in some places it is so broad

that one cannot see across it.

All the country around this lake forms the

great plain of the Hodua,which is

,or ought to be,

the garden of Algeria. This plain, or series of

plains,is enclosed between two mountain chains

that of the Sahara,and that of the Tell-maritime .

These actas fi lters,and produce a regularity of

climate which accounts for their having been the

granar ies of ancient Rome and Carthage. The

land is rich,varying between sand and marly clay

it is clean,moreover

,and unencumbered with

stones,besides being freed from the dwarf-palm ,

the curse of the colonist— a most tenacious plant,the rooting outof which is one of the chief items

of expense on first settling in Algeria. This fer

tile territory belongs entirely tothe Arabs, and is

unattainableto the European, being now in course

VOL. II.

114 SYSTEM or REPRESSION.

of allotment among the tribes. Itis scratched upand cultivated, accor ding to the Arab notion of

cultivation, which is so imperfectas to pass almost

unnoticed bythetraveller, unless he were infor medof the fact. The whole plain is atits wor stfor

want of drainage. This would cost a large sum ,

which neither the Ar abs nor the Gover nment seem

inclined to pay. The Bureaux Arabes give out

that their policy is to leave the native in posses

sion,leading him on by little and little to improve

his land, and become by degrees as finished a

farmer as his Fr ench master. A chimera— a

dream,impossible of fulfi lment. The Arab has

notit in him to work outanything requir ingenergy or purpose, and will always go on in thesame groove, trusting in Al lah, and burying his

money in a napkin,so long as he shall retain his

fainéantnatur e and his Mussulman relig ion .

Meanwhile this grand country is perm itted toremain unworked, in spite ofthe factthat it m ightbe made to pour oil and corn into the foreignmarkets, and supply with cotton the British looms.

Two years ago barley was found in this distr ictto

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116 THE BABIKA.

malvacée, dit M. Dar eau de laMalle,semble avoir

eu de grands développements en Afrique, surtout

dans les parties du B odua dont nous nous ocen

pons. Les anciens connaissaient parfaitementle

coton. Théophr aste, dans son histoire des plantes,décrit l’arbre qui le produit avec une exactitude

qui ne laisse aucun douteacetégard. M.Dur eau

de laMalle cite nu passage de Pline qui prouve

qu’il existait quand cet historien a étéen Afrique

ou le cotonnier arbrisseau (gossypium fr utescens)ou un arbr e du genre des bombax qui donnait des

productions analogues. Quelques auteurs,

’ dit

Pline,

‘rapportent qu’enArabie les maures s’élévent

en sept mois ala hauteur eta la dimension d’un

arbre, etpeuvent dés lors servir de baton.

’Mais on

trouve aussi une maure arborescente dans la

Mauritanie, pres du Golfe de Lexos, a200 pas del’océan ; ells atteint aune hauteur de vingt pieds,

etsa cir comfér ence esttelle qu’un homme ne peut

l’embr asser . La culture était aussi flor issante dansles plaines de la Hodna au dixieme siecle.

In the course of the afternoon,we came upon

the river Barika, which flows into the Salt Lake,

GENTLEMENOF THE ROAD. 117

and which it was our business to cross in spite of

its swollen condition. Very unpleasant it looked,

tumbling and rushing along, all thick and yellow

with accumulated clay,like the flavae capillae

of old Father Tiber. On its banks were sitting a

party of five ill- looking men enough, who turned

outto be robber s,waiting by the river-side for any

stray horseman who should chance to come that

way, in order that he m ightbe attacked and

finished while battling with the waters,and

unable to escape . The “gentlemen of the road

took no great heed of us, beyond looking longingly

after the baggage, for we were too well arm ed, and

in too great numbers (mustering seven), to warrant

an attack from such cowardly hounds as these.

W e now turned our attention to the great ques

tion of the stream,and senttwo of our m en into

itto sound its depth . They stripped themselves

of their scanty clothing up to the breast, and,

steadied with thick sticks,began the crossing, we

following in single fi le, nearly carried off our

beasts by the surging tide. The width of the

river atthis point is about half a m ile. Having

118 A SHEIKH’S ENCAMPMENT.

satisfactorily gone through our bath, we putspursto our jaded mules

,and forced them on as best

we m ight, being anxious to reach some kind of

quarters before nightfall, considering the critical

proxim ity in which we found ourselves. Accord

ingly, about sunset, we came upon a fine plateau,rich pasture land

,all dotted w ith sheep and cattle,

a curious oasis to us after the barrenness we had

gone through . The whole scene seemed so pas

toral and peaceful,thatIcould hardly fancy my

self in a lawless and cut-throatcountry,butrather

transpor ted by a magic carpet to la belle Nor

mandie, or the gr een meadows of our own native

England. This idea,however

,was speedily dis

pelled by the appearance of the mole-hill tents of

a wandering tribe, and the apparition of some

native women with hardly any clothes, and mon

strous ear -rings, bearing water on their much

enduring backs.

This was the encampment of Sheikh Saad-Ben

Saada,who presently came outto meet us on

becom ing aware of our approach . He demurr ed

somewhat atour claims on his hospitality,on the

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120 ARAB ETIQUETTE .

its fr iendly shelter,and straightway setto work

to divide it into two parts by means of bags and

saddles,one place for our men, and the other for

ourselves. Unseen female hands had meanwhile

been busy with the exterior, and by their carethe

draughts were partly dim inished, leaving us cozy

enough, though rather shor t of space . The Sheikh,

who came and satwith us,according to Arab

etiquette,stared with solemn eyes atou r arrange

m ents,dim inishing our room

,and thus increasing

our discomfort ; whilst Hamoud, the thorn,be

stirred himself for once in his life,and having pro

cured fowls, cutOE their heads in a tr ice

,and

broiled them in an earthenware pipkin over the

fi r e atthe entrance to our tent. Itwas a pic

tur esque sight atthis moment . The swarthy faces

of our men and the heavy folds of our tent,litup

with a ruddy glow, and a broken foreground of

bags and sticks shining red in the fi r elight, con

tr asted vividly with the dim blue landscape without,the moonlit shadowy tents

,and the snow-capped

mountains. After we had partaken of some muddy

water and execrable m ilk,the Sheikh

,upon an

LAW S OF HOSPITALITY. 121

intim ation that we wished to sleep,retired

,l eaving

a guard to watch over our slumbers,and betook

h im self to his own,as we were assured by the

h ideous snoring that was soon heard from his

ten t .

W e discussedthe propr iety of watching by turns

du r ing the night, in case of attack in so unprotected

a position, butresolved rather to trust to the much

vaunted Arab hospitality . Hospitality is one of

the fi rst laws inculcated in the Koran,and has

taken fast hold (except under circumstances of

extra-temptation) of the warped intellects of the

w ild tribes. They will strain every nerve to pro

cure anything that you may desire as long as you

ar e their guest, butonce off in the morning, will

waylay and shoot you quite coolly if the idea

enters their darkened brains. W e slept,therefore

,

without the slightest fear, though the dogs howled

incessantly, the goats made inroads upon us at

intervals, and the mules kicked and neighed close

to our car s. In the morning we awoke with

broken backs,aching all over bycontact with the

damp hard ground. W e determ ined unanimously,

122 UP INTHE MORNING.

nevertheless,that camping outis ver y pleasant

,

although the scene in the morning, when on e

emerges from the mass of poles and sticks upon

the bleak plain,amongst cocks and hens, and low

ing herds, is most peculiar. I should have liked

to have wandered through the encampment, but

was followed so jealously by my guard wher ever I

went, that it was impossible. I could notleave

the tent for a single instant without having him

after m e,nom inally as a protection against the

dogs, in reality to seethat I caught no glimpse of

the women. W hat a strange contradiction it is,

keeping them thus so sacredly outof sight, and

atthe same time tr eating them as no galley-slave

would he treated in a Christian country !

As soon as our small arrangements were aecom

plished, off we went again across the weary table

land,led this time by the Sheikh in person, on a

fine Arab steed,with magnificently-embroider ed

high-peaked saddle. He had really been most

kind to us,taking great trouble to supply our

wants, and giving us butter for the cooking of our

fowls ; butter which is so scarce outhere, that it is

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124 W ILDGAME .

and except for the m igration of the doua r s

ar e almost unused. The wealth of these people

is always estimated by the number of head of

camels they possess. All this district abounds in

wild game of every description ; gaz elles, plove r s,par tridges, and ortolans. Storks ar e consider ed

sacred all overNorth Africa,as in Germany, and

ar e tame accordingly. Troops of flam ingoes may

be seen in summer time upon the waters, glistening

w ith brilliant plumage. Among the hills there still

exist relics of a species of wild bull,although the

race has nearly altogether died out.

W e splashed through the mud,stuck in hogs,

and then,after slipping into a ditch, scrambled

anyhow up the opposite bank, straining every

nerve to keep the long guide in sight, who marched

inexorably on,knowing that if we lost him we

were lost ourselves,in a district of quags and

holes,w ithout road or path

,or even track. The

soil is fine and rich,though sadly in want of

drainage. On our left throughoutthe day laythe

great salt Chott, or lake, spreading away in a longlow line

,with a scarcely perceptible indication of

A NEW SENSATION. 125

shadowy hills beyond. W e mettwo horsemen

(closely veiled, as is the fashion when on a maraud

ing excursion), who passed by, render ed prudent

by our numbers. Itcertainly is a new sensation,

although one gets used to everything in time, to

look with suspicion on every!

man that crosses

your path, to treat him as your natural enemy,

and to lay your hand on your pistol athis ap

proach . Itis having your hand against every

m an,and every man’s hand against you, in the

true Cain-like acceptation of the saying.

By this time we had lost our way completely,

having been abandoned by our ragged guide, who

seemed to have dropped through the earth some

where. W e therefore stopped ou a piece of rising

ground to hold a consultation. To travel onwar d

after dar k was impossible ; and nowhere on the

gr eat plain before us could we perceive a tent or hu

man dwelling. The horizon was anxiously scanned

with glasses, and in the extr eme distance we thought

we could detect something that rose outof the

earth like a great tree, and which we conjectured

to be a portion of the town of Msila. As in these

126 PUSHING ON.

immense expanses of level gr ound, it is impossible

to judge of m ileage, we calculated the hours of

daylight that still remained,in order to make a

r ough guess atour chance of reaching it. For

the time being nothing could be done butpushon we certainly could notstay where we were in

the vast solitude ; and, whatever our fate was tobe, it was as well to getfor ward on our way. On

we went, therefore, through clay and water, stones

and sand,until atlast a few mud-huts appear ed in

sight. One of our men then started with all speed

to make inquiries as to our farther progress. On

com ing up with him again, we found him in

altercation with a savage, half-starved wr etch, who

shouted in guttural accents, and gesticulated with

sharply-pointed finger. On demanding the cause,we discovered that we were ata hopeless distancefrom Msila, and that the tents of the Kaid Si

Sachr id must be our shelter for the night.

These tents wer e pitched on a Species of fast

ness in the m idst of surrounding moors,pr otected

fr om attack by the friendly proximity of hog and.

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128 W EIRDSCENE .

ently emerging from the ground, assembled onth e

open space in Speechless wonder. Suddenly the

m oon shone outfrom behind a cloud, andthe scene

was weird and fantastic to the last degr ee . The

gathering concourse, as if from the cities of thedead

,cowled and shrouded in frosty grave

clothes,increased momentarily. I was strongly

rem inded of the great scene in Robert ls Dia

onlythis Desert scene was more still and

ghastly than the got-up counterfeits behind thefoot -lights. Presently a tall black figure joined

the throng, shadowy,like Hecate

,come to rule

the conference ; and then another,in . a peaked

and broad-brimmed hat— a witch,a Mother

Shipton,or other goblin of the pantom ime, ani

mating the shades to some elfish incantation.

Streams of light from above shone green Upon

the earth,casting long shadows over its face» ;

behind, a glimpse of loom ing fires, and great w ild

clouds scudding madly across the m oon. Hecate

spoke. The Spell was broken— the illusion atanend. The black ghostturned outto be the Kaid’sson

, who ordered a tent to be pitched for our se

COLDW ELCOME .

commodation— a nice comfortable soldier’s tent,

white and clean. Mother Shipton,who was in

r eality som e subordinate of the Kaid’s household,

decorated with one of the immense palm-hats from

T uggart, was soon busy in preparing car pets and

c ushions— magnificentembroidered cushions of

gold and brocade, which had evidently been bor

r owed for us from the much-enduring women.

Our tent,though pretty to look at

,was far

air -tight, allowing a perfect whirlwind

of breezes to blow about our heads. Our wel

com e was a cold one, as the Kaid was away ;

and nothing that we asked for was forth

com ing. His son adm itted in the course of con

versation that he believed the English to be a

very wicked race,saying that he dared notgo to

London on account of the danger of the expe

dition ! An idea industr iously circulated amongthe tribes by their French conqueror s

,for reasons

of their own .

W e rolled ourselves in ou r burnouses, and com

posed ourselves to sleep— a sleep disturbed,as far

as Iwas concerned,byadreadful nightmare in the

VOL‘

. 11.

130 NIGHT INANARAB TENT.

form of a creeping man with hands upon my br east.Near er he came and closer, till his weightwasmorethan I could bear ; and Iwoke from feverish

slumber s to find a greatcatsitting on my chestinstern reality, with fiery eyes staring into m ine. I

satup, startled by this unlooked-for apparition,just in timeto see the creature beating a hasty r e

treat through a hole in the canvas ; and, lookinground atour sleeping men, all huddled amongthe

saddles,Ilay down once more to woo the god ofthe

poppy andthe lotus-crown. The guard thathadbeen posted, as usual

,for our protection was

stretched across thetent entrance in so profound a

state of unconsciousness, that I fancy a gun fi r ed

in his ear would scar cely have awakened him .

There were snifling muz zles of many dogs wor k

ing busily for bones around the canvas edge. It

was certainly unwise of us to have left such tempting bait just within their reach, for as they bur

rowed for bones they disturbed our walls, and letin sudden and unexpected gusts of wind that

nearly blew us away .

W hen day dawned, we rose unrefreshed, and

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MODEL ENCAMPMENT.

containing the boring machiner y, the same wh ich

we had taken inthe distance,the day previous, fo r

some giant tree . There were heaps of ir on pipingand other heavy goods lying about, which musthave

cost something before arr iving in this out-of—theway Spot. W henever the encampment is m oved

to commence Operations in a fresh direction,three

hundred cam els ar e required for the purpose, pr o

vided by forced loans from the neighbour ingtribes.

This is quite a m odel of an encampm ent. There

is a bakehouse,where we saw some excellent white

bread in course of manufacture ; a butchery, a

workshop,and a most ingenious oven, that is taken

to pieces athalf-an-hour’s notice,and is packed

away on three camels’backs. M. Jus invited us

into his own tent,where were tables and bookcases

nattily fitted up, books and papers from France,

periodicals,and other luxuries ofthe like descr ip

tion. He gave a flourishing account of the pros

peets of the country, should Government see fit

to change their tactics with regard to colonization .

A great deal of barley is sown by the Arabs, and

STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 133

grows magnificently, in spite of their ignorant

m ethod of working, fetching in the'

Setif marketsthe enormous sum of eight francs the twenty litres

(about a five gallon m easure), in consequence of

the havoc produced by the war here two yearsago. Land it is impossible to obtain atany price

in the Hodna,as it is divided into disjointed par

cels,which dovetail hopelessly together ; besides

which,the Arabs of this district cling jealously to

their rights of propr ietorship. The few colonists

that ar e settled here ar e free from taxes ; why, I

failed in making out. The Hodna tribes ar e hard

hit by the Z elchattax, as nearly all their wealth

consists of camels and cattle. Cotton has been

tried with signal success, as is amply shown in theaccompanying Government report,

’which

,by the

way, was private, and notintended for my sacri

legions hands.

M. Jus had himself made the experiment on

several isolated patches of ground ; andon applica

Cottonp icked atGuillaluja.— Geor gian , long staple, ver y

white, ver y fine, ver y long , ver y silky and str ong. W ell

cleaned onthe whole. Itis advised to pay mor e attentionto cleanliness in the picking . Finally, itis cotton of

134 EXCELLENT BREAKFAST.

tion to Government for perm ission to proceed was

metwith a peremptory refusal .

M. Jus, m ost hospitable of m en,pr epared a gor

geons br eakfast for us, consisting of course of all

the delicacies of the season,andsent us off

,after we

had eaten,notonly with many good wishes, buta

very super ior quality, aver aging in value fr om ten toeleven fr ancs the kilog . (2 lbs. 3 on ) .

Cotton picked atMelkasnak.— Geor gian, long staple,

white,withthe much-esteemed yellowtintin it, long and

silky, pr obably cleaned by hand. Excellentcotton,aver ag

ing fr om ninetoten fr ancsthe kilog.

Cotton p icked atAm -Nakr ar .— Geor gian, long staple,

yellowish white, r ather long, str ong and ner vous . Toler ablywell cleaned. Aver age pr ice, eightto nine fr ancsthe kilog.

Cotton p icked atB ar ika.— Geor gian, long staple, fine

colour , ver y di rty, and badly cleaned. This does notdetr actfr om the intr insic value of the cotton, although itlower s itin pr ice abouttwo fr ancsthe kilog.

These specimens leave nothing to be desi r ed exceptalittle mor e attention in cleaning and in picking W er ethispr oper ly attendedto,the cotton gr own atthe above-nam ed

places would stand deser vedly high in our mar kets. May

our ships be soon loaded with such pr oduce.

(Signed) HARDY,

(Counter -signed) F. AUBLY,

Commandant-Super ieur Bou-Saada.

Januar y 11, 1865 .

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136 OFFICERS or TRE BUREAUX ARAEEs.

being butscanty. One month’s leave in the space of

three years is all these hapless exiles have to look

forward to . They camp outfor a month ortwo ata

time,in their business of lim iting the tr ibes, a task

which entai ls endless quarrels and heart-burnings

w ith the natives, and must be an unenviable

one indeed . Two or three only of these officers

ar e placed in the distant stations,and they live so

isolated from French communion,that they end

by becom ing m ore Arab than the Arabs them

selves,delighting in kooskoos, and worshipping at

the shrine of the OuladNayls.

CHAPTERXVII.

M S IL A T O A L G IE RS.

HE Kaid was sitting outside his house as we

passed,on our morning walk, and invited us

to join him in a social thimbleful of cofi'

ee . W e

squatted down accordingly on the straw matby

his side,and smoked the calum et of peace

,basking

inthe sun the while— rather a public performance,

though, in the m iddle of the street! The cofi ee

these people drink is excellent,strong, perhaps

a little too thick for European taste,and gene

rally over-sweet,according to Eastern fashion.

Theirtea,on the other hand

,is execrable

,strongly

spiced with caraway, and altogether a most sickenq

ing beverage . Having gone through the necessary

performances of hospitality with the Kaid, we suc

ceeded in escaping, preceded by his own henchman

138 POPULATIONOF MSILA.

as guide to the lions of the place. This worthy

began by carrying us across the r iver on his back,

an undignified proceeding, butthe only m eans of

reaching the best portion of the town. Itis a

queer,rambling place, perched on the summ it of

a hill,all the houses low and mud-built

,the fi rst

floor s projecting on rude rafters overthe road. The

tumble-down court-yards ar e full of quaint nooks

and corners, and crazy galleries, in whichthe inmates sitand work all day, embroidering for the

great Friday markets. Each house has its w ide

low doorway, coigned with ancient Roman stones,

closed with a ponderous conglomeration of wood

and nails, and finished usually with a massive iron

ring.

The Arab portion of the population gain theirlivelihood by m eans of gold and silver embroidery

on red morocco leather,a coar ser species of the

same description of work as that of Constanti

nOple. The Jews restrictthemselves to metal,

and turn outall kinds of jewelry in bad gold

and worse silver. W e went about from house to

house exam ining the wares, the only way of find

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140 MARRIAGE ANDDIVORCE .

injur ed to be of any use in the matter. Ata oer -r

tain ball which took place shortly after, a woman,driven by jealousy

,accused her lover (a total

stranger to the chief) of having done the fatal

deed ; upon which the chief seized him, and con

fined him in a cellar until such time as Providence

should decide whether his brother was to die or

to survive. He died,and the accused was in

stantly putto death with horrid tortures, without

trial or tribunal . Upon this the French author i

ties interfered,remonstrating with the chief for

so summary a proceeding. He defended him self

by declaring that his brother’s blood cried for

vengeance, and would notwait for the lengthy

forms of French justice. He was tr ied and

imprisoned in due course, considering himself,

notwithstanding, an injured individual and a

martyr. This occurred only a few years back.

W hat is to be done with a people whose educated

men actlike this ? Rude in their ideas of what

constitutes murder,they ar e still m ore so withte

gard to marriage. A formal repudiation, three

times pronounced before witnesses,is considered

GAME . 141

equ ivalentto a divorce . The multiplicity of

wives results in there being no old maids, for

ever yone,however ugly, can easily p r ocure a bus

band . A rich man possesses notonly w ives to be

the m others of his children, butalso w ives to make

his dinner,and wives to work as field- labour er s.

The natives of this neighbourhood ar e tolerably

clean and soignéin their attire, which, by the way ,

only consists of a gondour a, or linen shirt, and a

couple of burnouses. Those of the south , who

live nearer the equator, have no knowledge of

water as a cleansing medium,on account of its

excessive scarcity. They perform the necessary

ablutions ordained bythe laws of Mahomet with

sand or gravel, so that their state of fi lth is incon

ceivably dreadful .

Thetown of Msila would form a capital centre

of operations for the sportsman,as every sort of

game abounds, and no license is necessary. There

ar e wild duck and geese, snipe and woodcock,

partridge and plover,hares and gazelles ; every

thing that the heart can desire, even up to pan

ther s and lions. AnArab was killed by a panther

142 LIMITATIONOF THE TRIBES.

just outsidethe town a few days befor e our ar

The “ lim itation of the tribes is going on in

the neighbourhood of Msila Slowly butsurely .

AS soon as it has had time to work,there will be

a gr eat change in the political aspect of this dis

tr ict. Up to the present day the uncertain lines

of demar cation between rival properties have been

a fruitful sour ce of broil and trouble. The shepherds who guar d the fiocks of camels commence a

dispute upon the r ights of pasture ; the women

take part, words lead to stones, and stones to sticks

and guns, andthenthe whole tribe takes up the

matter,and a general scrimmage is the r esult.

The new settling of the boundaries will notafi ect

the half-yearly m igrations of the Sahar ians duringthe summer months into the Tell or northern di s

tr iet ; butthe ver y fact of their possessions beingaccurately chalked out

,will prevent the repetition

of the usual squabbles on their winter’s retur n toclaim their own again. Experienced men ar e of

opinion that years will pass over before the wor k

is accomplished. Ar abs ar e tenacious of the ir

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144 MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.

to excuse themselves,remarking Simply that

,

“ though they liked the French, and were gr ateful

for the benefi ts conferred by them,they were

called bythe Schér ifi , and were obliged to fight

under his standard. The arrival of the French

was decreed by destiny ; they were sent to do us

good, to construct towns and roads for us,but

the day will come when we shall hunt them

out,for Allah has said it ! These worthies

argue thus, and it will therefore be long before

the African colony can work without the help of

a standing army,in spite of the firebrand deola

mations of M. de Girardin,and his assertions to

the contrary.

I questioned my friend of the Bureau Arabe ,who seemed thoroughly well up in Algerian

matters, as to the discoveries with regard to the

m ineral kingdom that have been made up to thepresent time. A great quantity of iron is found

in the neighbourhood of Bona and Bougie, more

especially atAlélik, where it is estimated that

the m ines produce tons per annum . There

is a great factory atthis place,the only one in

MINERAL PRODUCTIONS . 145

Algeria, for the manufacture of projectiles,as

well as for the production of steel ; itis beingcarried on with greatsuccess . Ther e ar e rich

lead m ines in the vicinity of Tenes and Sétif,besides a considerable amount of copper. Oran

is rich in antimony,whilst gold is found in

insignificant quantities in the basin of Oued-el

Dz ehel,or the golden river, in the province of

C onstantine .

Porphyry,onyx

,and fine blocks of alabaster

ar e brought from Setif, as well as a marble which

is supposed to be the same as the celebrated Nu

m idian stone. Near the Cap de Garde of Bougie

exists a veritable mountain of white marble, m uch

r esembling that of Carrar a, in which may still be

seentwo Roman quarr ies. Itwas m uch employed

for the ornaments of the Carthaginian palaces,

although its loosene ss of grain is against its use

for open-air decoration. Chalcedony is found in

its neighour hood, while the valleys of Ben Misra

(near B lida) ar e rich in emeralds. There ar e vast

depots of por celain-earth and valuable deposits

of lime near Bona salt is to be metwith near

VOL . II.

APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY .

El-Outaia, and in immense rocks near the oasis

of Laghouat.

W e took leave of our fr iendly Kaid on the

mor ning of the 18th, and star ted 03 once m ore on

our homeward journey,expecting to sleep that

night atBordj-bou-Arér edj , and to r each Algier s

a ver y few days later. The road was said to be

practicable for a carriage, butsome very wonder

ful vehicle must have been in the eye of our

informant,for anything more quaggy and sloppy

than this road it would be difficult to imagine.

Holes and ruts, indeed, told of past tr affic, though

after the heavy rains wheels must have sunk to

the axle-tr ee atevery five or Six yards. Itis an

ugly country, .well cultivated on the whole. Low

hill rises behind low hill in wearisome monotony.

A water cour se,with its waving woods of Oleander

,

brings relief to the tir ed Sight every now and then,

and forms fi tting Shelter for the game that ever y

where abounds. By the side of one of these

watercourses we paused and breakfasted, r emar k

ing with interest the odd appearance presented bya Marabout’s tomb and its surroundings. The

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148 ABD-EL -KADER.

themselves this little town . Itis entir ely moder n,

notpossessing a Single native-builthabitation. A

B ureau Ar abe is established her e , and the town

boasts of a barrack capable of accomm odatingtwo

thousand men .

Having mentioned his name,I cannotresist

saying a few words on the subject ofAbd-cl-Kader,

r egarding whom there has been so much discussion

in the Fr ench press. M. Em ile de Girardin has

been perpetually asking why thatcountr y was not

given back to the ex-Em ir, to be made into a

kingdom by him (under Fr ench surveillance),

or der that the tangled skeins and Gordian knots

of the Algerian question m ight be thus satis

factor ily unravelled . A m oment’s consideration

shows that this would have been an impossibility .

From 1832 to 1847 Abd-el-Kader was really

powerful, in his own province of Oran, and in his

own tribe of the Hachem . He was a Marabout,

and being superior to all the rest,was named

Commander of the Faithful,

against the nu

believer s. Athome he was surrounded by his own

people, while elsewhere his subordinates wer e in

EXTENT OF HIS AUTHORITY. 149

r eality independent. He often complained of them ,

butdid notchange them— because he could not.To show thatthe provinces cared butlittle for

h is yoke, we have butto cite an instance in con

n ection with the treaty ofTafna The Em ir

had by this document ceded the towns of B lida

and Colea into the hands of France ; butwhenthe

F r ench comm issioner went thither to take posses

sion, the people refused to surrender them ,on the

plea that they were notunder the Em ir’s jur isdic

tion. Marshal Valée, the then governor of the

country,was therefor e obliged to send troops to

occupy them, either by fair means or foul . In this

matter , however , Abd-el-Kader was notdeceitful,

only powerless.

”

That which has erroneously been termed the“Gover nment ofAbd-el-Kader

,was nothing more

than a coalition of four provinces, under their own

chiefs, who recognized the supremacy of a central

chief for unity of action against a common enemy.

Even in his own tr ibe,and in his own fam ily,

Life of Abd-el-Kader ,” by Bellemar e, fr om docu

ments deposited inthe ar chives ofthe Minister of W ar .

150 THE EMIRINDISGRACE.

the-authority of the Em ir was sometimes setaside .

The following incident is authentic . In Decem

be r,1835, the Em ir returned to his tr ibe of the

Hachem s,beaten byGeneral Clauzel in the passage

of the Sidi—Embalek.

You ar e no longer our Sultan, said the chiefs

around, and they tore his parasol, the emblem of

authority. You ar e no longer wor thy of being

a captain, said the cavalry officer s, and they

dragged the Spurs from 05 his feet. You ar e

noteven a man, echoed the crowd, and they took

fr om him his burnous. You shall no longer bethehusband of our women, and they robbed him of

his wife, who went back to her fam ily, and r e

turned to him no more.

They had left him his hor se,his wallet

, con

taining a few dried figs, his gun and ammunition,and w ith these he went silently away. He satfor three days on a hill that overlooked Mascara

(where the French army was then stationed), and

tving his hor se to a group of palms, there m edi

tated and prayed . The French army,having bur nt

Mascara, retired on Mostaganem ; whilst Abd-el

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152 GREAT, THOUGH HE EAILED.

an infidel because ithas notyet commenced.

If in a question so grave as this be was

forced to subm it,against his inter ests and his

will,to a cour se which he knew to be fatal to his

country,surely he was notthe man to found a

kingdom diametrically opposed to all the pr inciples

of the Koran,and to the traditions of the Mus

sulman religion ! He was a gr eat man ; buthis

genius was more strongly called outin fightingagainst obstacles athome than in facing the

columns of his legitimate enem ies. He is looked

upon in his own country as one thathas fai led

a fatal wor d in all half-savage lands ; and yet be

was possessed of the faith that moves mountains,and was armed with the Kor an, that gave him

strength equal to his faith. He fought against

the stranger and the infidel,and had for aux

iliar ies those who imagined the Holy W ar to be

the fi r st duty of the Mussulman. He failed ; but

muststill be considered great, even amongst the

great, in notShr inking fr om a task so beset

with rivalry,and jealousy, and intrigue.

AtBordj-bou-Arér idj , where we found a decent

TRAVELLING DIFFICULTIES. 153

inn,we metw ith great difficulties in the way of

pur suing our journey. The purveyor s of mules

were even m ore impracticable than usual . Theyc r owded into our little room

,br inging with them

the odours of gar lic, and talked all atonce involuble Arabic. As they would notaccede to

ou r terms, we swept them outw ithout cere

mony, and applied to the Commandant-Supérieur

ofthe B ureau Arabe for assistance. One of his

men, a sleek and oily individual,with a plausible

countenance, hinted that he could provide the

r equ ired animals if it was made wor th his while.

W e could notmake outhow many days’journey

we were from Algier s, as one Arab said four,

another three, and a third seven. In fact, we

had long learned the bitter lesson notto believe an

Ar ab’s word in any m atter whatever— to place

no dependence on any statement he may make

relative either to tim e or distance . Driven to our

w it’s endamong them all,we ultimate ly closed with

the last ofi er,and resolved to push on as far as pos

sible that very day, as we wer e all panting for the

flesh-pots of civilization. For my own part, I

154 THE THORN.

”

longed w ith an intense desire, fee ling dreadfully

ill and knocked-up. W e had commenced the con

tr over sy with the Arabs athalf-past eight A.M .,

and it was two o’clock before we were able to

star t.

Atlength we did manage to getofi , on mules

that looked doubtful atthe beginning, butwhich

turned outeventually even worse than we had an

ticipated. Our way led through chains of Scotchylooking mountains, w ith a snow-range rising clear

behind. The road was bad,impeded with rocks

and dwarf-palms, butour guide strode steadily in

front, and we pushed on as best we m ight . The

thorn was now beginning to make him self

actively objectionable (he had been so passivelythroughout the expedition), evidently trying to

delay us by every means in his power,in or der

that his services m ight be necessary to us for a

few days longer. Seven francs a-day is seven

francs a day all the world over,and he began to

Show that he thought so.

W e ofi er ed a steady and stubborn opposi

tion, however, to everything he pr oposed, and

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156 ARAB TENT.

ourselves for the night. They were a rude, surly

lot,and seemed more than ready to turn on us

butthe sun had by this time sunk, and there was

nothing for it butto stay where we wer e . The hut

we had chosen was already occupied by a few

Arabs, travellers like ourselves.

I felt so ill that I could stand no longer , and laydown in the corner most sheltered from the w ind,supported by a saddle and a little straw . The

motley cr owd around stared atme without m oving- evidently a sick European was a new sight for

them— and I lay quite still, and star ed back at

them . The whole but,which consisted of butone

room,w ith a door

,for a wonder ! was literally

heaped w ith natives,who lay everywhere, squab

bling and arguing incessantly, their voices risingsom etimesto a him!

,and dying away again into

whispers, inter rupted occasionally by shrieks,

which startled m e and my companions. Near m e

sata lovely delicate-looking boy, about ten year s

old,the son of the Kaid

,who leaned his cheek on

his thin hand,and gazed atm e w ith m elancholy

eyes, of that mournful depth which tells of pr e

SCENE INTHE INTERIOR. 157

m ature decay. They wer e fr inged with longlashes, shaded by singularly fine eyebrows, and

,

n otw ithstanding their unutterable sadness,were

v ery beautiful . All the Arabs of the moun

tains have regular features, butthis boy added

the richness of the Moorish typeto the delicacyof complexion peculiar to our own country. He

seem ed a great favourite among the tribe— all

boys indeed ar e so— whilethe girls ar e kicked and

cufi ed,and made to work incessantly. W e had

scar cely taken our places,when we received a mes

sage from the women in the tents, that we could

nothave the m ilk and fowls we had demanded

w ithout payment beforehand— a manifestation of

Ar ab distrust that was em inently characteristic .

W e paid atonce,therefore

,and cast the bodies of

the luckless bir ds, still warm ,into the seething pot

upon the fi r e . The Arabs, as usual, sataround,jabbering and chanting songs while their koos-koos

was preparing, or telling long legends and spin

n ing interm inable yarns, to w ile away the time .

Atlast they rolled themselves up, and snored in

chorus. Itwas a curious sight, as I tossed fever

158 SERIOUS ILLNESS.

ishly,to watch the moonbeam s playing through

the open door on this mass of humanity lying inheaps

, all wrapped in snowy dr aper ies, like a lot

of corpses awaiting bur ial.

By dawn Iwas quite unfi t for fur ther exertion,with high fever and inflammation of the lungs .

Iwas putupon my m ule, nevertheless, as i t was

physically impossible that we should remain wher e

we were. W e had now again penetrated intotheheart of the Kabyle country

,and were marching

towards the south side of the greatDjer jur a range,which we had skirted two months before. Our

ambition was to hurr y with all the speed we could

muster through the Portes de Fer,celebrated

in the history of the Kabyle W ar,and reach

Beni -Mansour,a Bureau Arabe station

,where we

expected to find an army-surgeon and m edicines.

About m idday Ibroke down completely,though

dosed incessantly w ith quinine. The doctor ther e

fore resolved to try a new m ethod of transpor t

holdingme across his saddle, while a native ledthe

mule . This arr angement seem edprom ising enough,until the brute, aggr ieved probably atbeing over

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160 PROTECTIONAGAINST LIONS.

and stunted junipers. Atthe end of this defi le

was a hut, builtof rough stones

,and surrounded

by tents,in which dwelt a French surveyor

,en

gaged in making the road from Algier s to Seti f.

This gentleman, a M. Plateau,took com passion o n

the invalid, giving up his own bed for my se

commodation. Itwas now dark,and the jackals

were howling in m elancholy concert. M. Plateau’s

dog r an into the but,and refused to be enticed out

again by any manner of endearment . The hor ses

and m ules betrayed uneasiness ; and an aged Arab

shook his head,for he knew by the jackal’s cr y that

a lion was athand . Our host corr oborated this in

formation,stating, moreover, that in the neighbour

ing villages it wasthe custom to fasten ayoung goat

n ightly on a particular spot for the lion’s private

entertainment ; and that if this precaution were

neglected, his majesty of the forest was pretty cer

tain to make a raid on one or another of the

villages, and make havoc among the flocks. Itis

curious that the lion seem s positively aver se to

human flesh if he can getanything else . One of

our m en related that he had three times com e in

STRUCK W ITH PESTILENCE. 161

contactwith lions, himself unarmed,and had

always escaped scot-fr ee .

The next day Iwas too ill to stir a limb,soM.

Plateau sent downto the neighbour ing Sheikh for

a par ty of men,in order that Im ight be carried on

an impr omptu litter as far as Beni-Mansour,which

was said to be only six hours distant . My com

pan ions made a slight détour to visit the Petite

Porte,a gorge unprecedented for its wildness in

the whole ofNorth Africa. I, who was delirious,and more than half unconscious

,had no m ore

appreciation of what I saw than a log..

W e cr ossed a great plateau, the scene of one of

the numberless horrid incidents in the Kabyle

war . The village that crowns the bill was struck

with pestilence, and the natives, like the good

Samaritans that they ar e, gathered together all

the ir sick, and laid them outin the centre of the

plain to die ! Fancy the dutiful son laying his

fevered mother on the burning earth, taking no

heed of her prayers for mercy,roughly unclasping

the stifi ening fingers that clutched his hair. Fancy

the stricken chi ld calling in vain on his brutal ,

VOL. 11.

162 SCENE OF HORROR.

father, begging for a little water to assuage h is

parching thirst. For what man is there of you ,

whom,if his son ask bread, will he give him a

stone ; if he ask a fi sh,w ill he give him a se r

W here were these men’s hearts that theycould actthus ? From the heights above, thesefi ends watched the lingering process of starvation

and of death, looking unmoved on the hide

ous spectacle of fathers,brothers

,

lovers perishing by inches, in some cases m erely

from want of care . B utthis system worked too.

slowly— the demon Selfishness achieved a triumph

Fearing lest contagion m ight yet reach them ,

in spite of all precaution,a general assembly

was convoked, and a chosen band sent out, who,under Shadow of the night, dug a long deeptrench . Into this they shovelled the dead andthe

living, the dying and the Sick— in m ingled heaps

— and buried all together quickly outof sight .

This occurred notyet twelve years ago

W e reached B eni—Mansour soon after m id-day,

and were putupby the Bureau Arabe, who occupy

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164 SPORT.

pleasantchange afterthe mud-colour ed houses far

OH in the Sahar a. Two villages, which in parti

colar engaged my attention, wer e the last strongholds of the unconquer ed tr ibes befor e they fe ll—letus hope, for ever—under civilized dom inion .

As Isatwatching this scene fr om a sunny knoll, a

party of offi cer s came up, retur ning fr om the

chase. They wer e well pr ovided with game, for I

soon saw str ewn ar ound me par tridges and ducks,

snipe and woodcock,bustar ds and har es, and an

immense wi ld boar. Ther e is good fishing out

her etoo, atleast so the offi ce r s say, though I havemy suspicionsthatthe river s contain nothing but

bar bel. W e had some for dinner,and ver y nasty

they wer e ; butwhatgood can come outof theseeter nally muddy water s ? The native Sheikhs ar e

giventothe chase, though hawking is their chiefdelight. The Fr ench ofi cer s, in their banishment, have little elseto do— for ther e is notmuchbusiness tr ansacted inthe distantstations. Theyther efor e wile awaytheir time in shooting, press

ing a few stray Arabs into the service as heater s,an office notmuch r elished by these laz y gentle

AMBULANCE IIULES. 165

m en,on account of the danger to their legs fr om

their scanty clothing, and the chance of per haps

beating up a lion or a panther by m istake .

Having stayed a fu ll day with our hospi table

hosts,we began to make ready for a fr esh star t, in

spite ofthe ir kind endeavour s to detain us. This

tim e Iwas to try a new method of tr ansit, intheshape of an ambulance mule

,thatis to say, a

beastwith a chair suspended on each side, like

the pannier s used for babies. These conveyances

ar e sent on to the battle-fields for the pumose

of bear ingthe woundedtothe temporar y hospitals.

Iwas packed on one side, while a Savoyar d soldier

balanced me on the other . Itwas nota successful

ar r angement, as the mule fell down once, and the

pannier in which Isatcame ofi , pr ecipitating me

into the mud. W e skirted the foot of the Gr eat

Djer jur a all day, and ar rived atnightfall ata

horr ible caravansar y belonging to a Frenchman.

Itisthe gr eatest delusionto givethe preferenceto

Fr ench car avansaries. Allthe bestar e taken, by

the Ar abs, and ifthetour ist carries his own com

missar iat(as he oughtto do), he will be much

166 BOUIRA.

better OHwith them than in the crazy dom iciles

allotted to the Europeans. This one, the cara

vansar y of Bordj-Bouira, is a case in point. Itis a crazy, dirty, ruinous edifice, infested by a

number of howl ing watchdogs. W e had a hor r i

ble dinner here,and though the room was damp,

only a scanty supply of fi r ewood . The place, too,

swarmed with arm ies of bugs and fleas. Clean

straw and a bare floor would have been infinitely

preferable to the specious bed and suspicious cur

The district of Bouira is rising into impor tance

through the cultivation of tobacco. This article

is in ever-increasing demand. In 1857 there

were acres under cultivation, which br ought

in lbs. of tobacco, valued atabout six

m illion francs. In the province of Algiers there

ar e acres devoted to the cultur e of tobacco .

On the fi rst establishment of the colony, the

mother countr y r efusedto take in Algerian grain,on the plea that French agriculture m ust be pro

tected. The European colonists,therefore

,unable

to sell their corn,looked about for some remedy to

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168 DRA-EL-MIZAN.

vated land or bur ied beneath dar kling woods The

cultivated land is well worked, bear ing fur r ows

thattell of Eur opean labour , instead ofthe scr atching ofthe Or iental plough.

Atone o’clock we found our selves quite sud

denly atDr a-ec izan, pr oving once mor e, if so

patent a factr equir es pr oof, how little Ar ab in

telligence isto be depended upon. Itis a lovely,

peaceful spot— quite anAfrican Ar cadia. The littlevillage nestles atthe foot of the big snow-moun

tain, on a plain of pastur e-land, r emindingstr ongly of Switz er land, in its m ixtur e of moun

tain scener y with flourishing homesteads and well

to-do farms. Itpossessesabar r ack containingagarr ison of a thousand men, as asafeguar dfor thetr anquillity of W esternKabylie. Itspopulation consistsof agr icultur ists, about. 160 in number , lar ge pr o

pr ietor s some of them . W e paused atthe littler ustic innto make inquir ies asto our r oute, cad r e»

solvedto push on, if possible, as far estheAlger i ahigh-m ad

,which was said notto be many miles

distant. W e journeyed on,ther efor e, thr ough

Scener y thatseemed. fami liar to us, and enjoyed

A DILEMMA. 169

the gr een, luxurious vegetation, which appear ed

doubly enchanting after the sand and mud which

we had lately passed thr ough . W hen dar kness

came on, as there was no moon, our way became

one of diffi culty. Round us echoed the dismalhowlings of jackals, r em inding us unpleasantly of

the possible vicinity of panther s. Atlength wer eached the high-road, and the ponder ous gatesof a car avansar y

,after a r ide of thirteen hours.

The gates were long in giving us adm ittance,and only tur ned slowly on their hinges to show

that the inter ior had lately been destr oyed by fi r e.

Her e was a dilemma ! W e found outupon in

quir y that one dwelling-room was still standing, so

we madethe best of a bad job, and bivouacked

after the most appr oved fashion of chez les

Arabes. The mor r ow broughtthe welcome bells

of the diligence, and after a drive of eight hours

we caught sight ofAlgier s, with its tr anquil bluewater s plashing laz ily on the str and, and its white

houses warmed with the depar ting glory ofthe

setting sun.

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CHAPTERXVIII.

BLIDA AND TENIET-AL—HAD.

HE fi r st of April saw us once mor e on our

tr avels, bent on penetrating through the

W ester n province to Oran. This is a journey

seldom undertaken by tourists, as there is but

little to satisfythe lover of the picturesque . At

the same time, it is a district that will rise sooner

or later into great importance, on account of the

natur al richness of the soil, and its adaptability to

the cultivation of cotton andtobacco.

Theten o’clock train from Algiers dr agged itsweary length along through the plains of the

Mitidja as far as B lida. This is the only piece of

r ailway as yet completed, and a wretched Specimen

itis of that method of locomotion. The route lay

174 ORPHANAGE or B EN-ALLOUN.

through a fertile expanse of pastur es and wavingcorn, w ith here and there a grove of tr ees or

wooded water-course, and a perfect constellation of

little white villages dotting the landscape up to the

horizon. The train wound along the coast for

some distance, giving us a farewell view of Algier s

and its bay, and passing on the leftthe orphanage

of Ben-Alloun,the first established in this country .

There ar e now many such establishments, placed

under regular boards andGovernment supervision .

The orphanage of Ben-Alloun is in every r espect

an adm irable institution . Itcontains 300 inmates,exclusively boys

,who ar e fed, educated, and

clothed ata very moderate expense to the society.

Ninepence a-day is the calculated average for ever y

child underten years of age ; eightpence for those

between the ages of ten and fifteen ; and five

pence for those between fi fteen and nineteen .

The ratio is so arranged because, as he grows

older,the orphan is enabled to work of a part of

his expenses for living. The system of education

embraces all the pr imary branches usually taught .

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176 stem s or nu ns .

pictur esque position am id gr oves of or ange-tr ees,whose perfumed and shady alleys have obtained

for it, in the or nate language of theArabs,the titleof the r ose

The sights of B lidaar e notnumer ous.Nevertheless

,as the driver ofthe car r iage we had engaged,

who had undertaken to do its honour s, insisted on

our going through the whole town regularly, in

spite of sheets of r ain,we armed our selves with

umbrellas, and wer e fain to subm it. Fir st we

were taken to the Tapis Vert,a sort of summer

theatr e, now bar e and tenantless. W hat more

dismal than a place like this,that tells only of the

questionable glories of the past ? Old play-bills

old beer stains— old orange-peel— stale and dirty

débr is of the year before— the entire place silent

and deserted— a ghost of Splendour s long since

vanished. Iwalked on the stage, and looked at

its tawdry ornaments, pale and faded in the garish

light of day. I listened to the rain splashing

monotonously thr ough the roof, watched it trick

ling between the beams, or falling with a heavy

THE nor s sw an. 177

thud upon the greasy boards, and rushed with a

shudder from the place.

O ur coachman appeared astonished as well as

hu rtatour want of appreciation of the amuse

m ent he was preparing for us,butpersever ed in

h is endeavours,and carried us 0 5 for a drive

through the dr ipping O rangerie, which is really

very pretty,rem inding me somewhat of Cannes

and Nice . The sun struggled outatlast on a

regular forest of dark-leaved orange-trees, some

of them from twenty to thirty feet in height.

The branches of various trees,str aggling into the

road,formed a wonderful tangle of luxurious

vegetation, fig and vine,the yellow-eyed narcis

sus and graceful blue convolvulus, trailing and

creeping over each other in beautiful confusion,their fresh spring colouring contrastingw ith that of

the sombre foliage above. W e soon arrived atthe

gates of the Bois Sacré, a public garden of some

extent, which owes its beauty to a grove of giant

olives,under whose shade lie the bones of some

saintly Marabout,covered by a white dome . In

VOL. II.

178 SIGNS or THE LATE EARTHQUAKE .

this garden ar e massed an incongruous crowd of

flowering shrubs,which trail about attheir own

sweet will,uncurbed bythe hand of man. They

intertwine and form athicket of gorgeous colou r ,r endered all the more striking by contrast w ith

the great grey olives, whose gnarled and knotted

stems ar e buried am id the blossoms of the jessa

m ine and the white trumpet-bells of the datura

youth and age tenderly embr acing one another

the silver locks of hoary Lear encircled by a

wreath of flowers. A glimpse of plashing foun

tains sparkles now and then through a fragrant

curtain of sweet-smelling plants,soothing the

place into a drowsy stillness, in which the ever

flitting shadows ar e the only signs of life and

m otion .

W e had now “ done everythingthat B lida has

to ofi er in the way of lions, and turned ou r steps,

or rather our carriage, towards the H6tel de la

Régence, a tolerable inn,clean

,butvery dear .

.As we drove through the streets,we came upon

ever- r ecurring signs of the late earthquake ; houses

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180 VARIEDSCENERY.

conver ge is natur ally Algier s ; the disposition ofthe

r oads being a suffi cient pr oof of this fact. Onthe

map they bear the aspect of the bones of a huge

fan,united in the great centre of communication

,

which embr aces all the towns and villages atthe

mountains’base.

By degrees we left the flats behind us,and

plunged into a gorge between two r anges of

thickly-wooded m ountains,feather ed w ith tr ees

down to the ver y edge of the roar ing tor rentat

the bottom . The road w inds along the edge ofthe

rock,on the verge of a precipice some three hun

dred feet above the water, and the scene changes

atevery turn of the way from rich woods to bald

clifl'

s,r ising two thousand feet above the river’s

level,and then again to inlets and ravines

,w ith

spouting cascades and dashing waterfalls.

About half way through the pass we came on a

tiny auberge, placed picturesquely on the hill,half

embosomed in freshly springing leafage— a prettylittle cottage, with adjuncts of stream and fountain

,

sheltered under the pale gr een tracery of early

UP THE STREAM . 181

bu dding willows. Here we took cofi ee in the dim

h alf- light of an arbour, and then scrambled

through the dense vegetation up the bed of a small

burn, which fell r oaring and foam ing from boul

de r to boulder,and rock to rock, dashing in spark

l ing spray over the ferns that touched its waters,and dragging in its descent a wealth

.

of leaves,w hich whirled and twisted in the eddies

,and

played for a brief Space in chequered sunlight,fi nally dancing outof life beneath the m ossy

stones. Great trailing strings of ivy were

interlaced acr oss the stream ; and long-armed

branches of the fig, immense dock-leaves and

thorny naked boughs, all tangled and twisted to

gether, were reflected with vivid truth in the beryl

darkness of the pools. Up this stream we strug

gled, now clinging to a friendly tree,now stum

bling over a slippery rock, until atlast one more

form idable than the rest compelled us to turn back

andretrace ou r steps,w ithout meeting with a single

Specimen of the small grey monkeys that dwell in

these woody solitudes.

182 THE FIVE CASCADES.

Once more in our car riage we followed the

high-road, com ing atevery tur n on something new

and striking, till atlength we reached the “ Five

Cascades, a series of waterfalls that fray them

selves a passage through the sur rounding bushes ,

almost from the summ it of the m ountain . The

day had been so far dull and cloudy, threateningrain

,butnow the sun shone forth

,bringing out

in bright relief the lights and shadows of rock,

cave,and mountain. From every available cr e

vice in the stone sprung tendrilled creepers and

thick- leaved plants,while the entire surface

seemed literally bursting into flower under

the magic touch of Spring— the youngthat

,as the lamented Alexander Sm ith so

expresses it,breathes with living br eath upon a

dead branch till itSprouts fragrantly. Rapidly

flitting clouds flecked the hills w ith shadow,and

tender Sprouts of rose and or chis stood outin con

trast with the sober evergreens ; while atdistances

along the road were long caravans of picturesque

carts, and strings of horses w inding slowly round

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184 DESTITUTION.

with whitewashed tur ret. From this point the

view is charm ing— a perspective of green alleys,

under whose shade (later in the day) were congre

gated groups of jabbering natives, squatting on

clean mats,discussing fragrant Moka. A crowd

of the unwashed, too— ver y unwashed, by the

way— were huddled in a corner

,clamorously r e

ceivingthe bounty of the local Sisters ofMercy, in

the Shape of hunches of good brown bread. They

don’t improve on acquaintance,these Arabs

sordid and ungrateful thieves ! Even while r eceiv

ing the gift of charity, they bite the hand that

feeds them . In this instance they concealed the

food that had been given, and urgently demanded

m ore,until convicted of deceit.

There is much destitution among the tribes of

this province and in Oran . A great deal is done

for them each year atAlgiers in the way of sub

scr iptions and bazaars, and yet beggary is alarm

ingly on the increase,probably because they begin

to learn— the m iserable wretches— thatthey w ill

notbe allowed to starve. Munching her crustin

MILIANA. 185

the m idst of the unsavoury throng was one woman

whom it was painful to look at,so near did she

com e in baseness of countenance to the recognised type of the gorilla a broad flatface

,utter

ly devoid of intellect, and fearfully developed in

the sensual department. The only scintillationof humanity shone outof her eyes. I was all

butconverted to the Darwinian theory on the

spot.

Miliana is a larger townthan I expected to see,containing upwards of four thousand inhabitants,

inclusive of the garrison, one thousand strong. It

stands two thousand feet above sea- level, and is

ver y cheerful and healthy of aspect. W e saun

ter ed about among the alleys, looking into the

well-stocked shop-fronts,and then outupon the

battlements,from which we gained a fine view

of flourishing fields and tidily-kept homesteads.

Around the town itself everything looks fair enough,

thanks to the exertions of a few enterprising

colonists, butbeyond its immediate circle very little

is done.

CROPS.

In the whole immense area of eighty m iles

between Miliana and O r leansville there ar e but

two European villages. The cause of this is the

uncertainty of the crops, in consequence of the

uncertain supply of water. Rivers the r e ar e in

seem ing abundance,though notin suffi cient num

ber s to assure a requisite amount of irrigation .

Barley and cats ar e the staple commodities of the

plain. In fortunate seasons all surplus produce is

sent to swell the markets of Algiers. Tobacco has

been tried w ithout success. All sorts of fruit

trees flourish here, as does also the vine

,from

which good sound w ine is made,tasting strongly

of the gr ape— a wholesom e article of consumption,

which, unfortunately,will notbear carr iage. If

Miliana ever rises into real importance,itwill be

through the instrumentality of copper and i r on,

which ar e said to abound in the mountains,

although they remain as yet unworked .

W e wandered on through a form idable dis

play of m artial architecture,in the way of

barracks and redoubts,

and eventually found

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188 TOUCHING MEMORIALS .

dead. How pleasant to see so m uch solicitude

for those that have gone before ! No sculptur ed

tomb or high -flown epitaph— no vaunting list of

virtues— no costly tear s,forgotten as soon as

Shed— butonly a plain stone or humble cr oss,

encircled by well-tr immed roses,m ementoes that

tell of the tender hands which forget notthe

departed each little garden so neat and weedless,

in fi tting contrast to the lavish gifts of tangled

flowers bestowed by loving nature . Sacr ed to

the memory of Eulalie Pr udhom,aged seven.

Such apr etty bed she rests in, under the soft shade

of a guardian cypress, am id great white mar guer a

ites and blue forget-me-nots, while a parting r ay

of dying sunset kisses the place in which She

sleeps. Sleep on,little Eulalie

,under the

jewelled sod i The orchid and wild rose Shall

sway above thy head,the beetle and the bee

boom a lullaby over thy gr assy sepulchre,and

the giant mountain watch over thy slumbers,till

the blast of the angel’s trumpet shall go forth into

all lands, gathering us together from theNorth

ANExcussron. 189

and the South,the East and the W est

,befor e the

tribunal of Eternity !

Sunrise the following morning saw us off

on an excur sion to the forest of Teniet-al-Had,

which was to occupy three days. W e had en

gaged a prim itive kind of cart, with moveable seats,dr awn bytwo hor ses

,and were notsorry to tur n

ou r hacks for a brief space on the damp beds and

execrable accommodation of the H6tel d’ISly.

Driving Slowly down the hill on which the town

is built, we found ourselves surrounded on all sides

by tidy cottages and enclosed gardens, plantations

o f fruit-tr ees,and many flour -m ills. Once upon

level ground, we emerged upon the plain of the

Cheliff, through which runs the river of the same

name,the largest in Algeria. Atlength we

passed through a forest of tamarinds, and risingonce more into the hill-country, came upon apartyof convicts busy on the roads— most awful roads,

much in need of their services,being in some

places all butimpassable . Our vehicle jolted

bravely on,however

,now falling into a deep r ut

,

190 W ILDGLEN.

and sticking there, now bumping painfully over

rocky em inences,to the imm inent danger of the

Spr ings, and all butupsetting us in mor e than one

instance. W e saw a hungry jackal prowling about

the road close to us, slouching and shuffling alonglike one of our own street r uflians athom e ; and

like them,too

,he shambled off atour approach .

Up hill and down hill, atone time we wound over

the ledge of a precipice, atanother skir ted the

stony bed of the r iver,m oving steadily upwards all

the tim e,till we penetrated into a wild glen ,

wooded w ith gr eatilexes and the juniper - like foliage

ofthe thuya. Peaks of rock rose from the thick

leafage in gaunt weird forms, the silence broken

only by a rippling stream that sparkled in silver

light through gaps in the superabundant vegeta

tion. A few eagles circled in the clear air high

above our heads— the only signs of life— not

a house,or a village, or a human habitation

for m iles and m iles. All the woods through

which we passed were low and stunted,w ith

here and there a blasted trunk,telling of what

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192 INCENDIABISM.

managed by them ; and, during the first year, theyexpended capital to the extent of twenty-five francs

the acre on the ground conceded to them . From

that period ther e have been annual fi res,evidently

the work of incendiar ies,which have gone far to

ruin the enter prising colonists, and which as yet

it has been impossible to check . The Duke of

Malakofi’,when Governor of Algeria, imposed a

fine of francs on the tribes in whose

neighbourhood the fires took place ; butthe fines

were never paid,and the Arabs have thus been

encouraged, rather than the reverse , in their m is

chievous and wicked work. Some writer s have

attr ibuted the disasters to accident,spontaneous

combustion, &c. ; butthis is very improbable, when

we consider that the conflagr ations take place at

many difi er entpoints simultaneously,and always

when a Sirocco wind is blowing. Native possessions

never snfi er .

From time immemorial it has been the custom

of the Arab herdsmen to burn all underwood from

beneath the trees, to pr oduce the tender Shoots of

woons ANDEonns'r s. 193

which cattle ar e so fond ; and under Tur kish m is

r ule it was amatter of small consequence whether

a hundred acr es of valuable timber were destr oyed

or not. Now matters have taken a new aspect .

The forests ar e the property of the State, and as

such ar eto be protected from all dangers, in order

that in tim es to come they may yield a valuable

expor t,and increase the revenues of Gover nment.

A law was issued in 1830, interdicting in the

strongest terms the burning of underwood by fi r e ;and until the granting of the concessions above

nam ed,these fires were of comparatively rare cc

currence . The Arabs ar e jealous of the workingof the woods

,to which they for generations have

had the exclusive right, and attempt by every

m eans attheir disposal to ruin their European

rivals and drive them from their posts.

Itis even a matter of some difliculty to setfi r e

to cork-woods (whose bark is fi r e -proof), and r e

quires the science of incendiarism . During the

struggle with Abd-el-Kader, the French soldiers

attempted to burn the wood of K har eza, butwer e

VOL . II.

194 CONFLAGRATIONOF FORESTS.

unable to do so ; and yet last year this wood was

(accidentally ?) all butdestroyed by fi r e . Another

fact worthy of remark is that, during all the gr eat

conflagr ations in the three provinces, there has

been no harm done in territory under Kabyle in

fluence, for that race consists of m en and arbori

culturists.

To give some notion of the enormous spread of

these conflagr ations, Ihave butto quote from the

newspaper reports of 1865

In 1863, acres were burnt inthe pr o

vince of Constantine alone ; whilst, in 1865, the

damage done amounted to acres. In the

small district of Jemappes, the concessionists wer e

losers to the extent of francs.

In the a‘

r r ondissementof Guelma, acres

were destroyed ; whilstthe bathing establishm ent

of Meskhr outin,

’hard by,was in constant danger

of destruction for several weeks.‘

The forestof Tefeschoon was bur nt straight

Moniteur de PAlge'

r ie. Jour nal Ofi ciel. 3lstAugust,1865 .

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196 THUYA-TREE .

terms, and atmoderate charges, on the conditionthatroads ar e made

,brushwood cleared away

,and

spaces fi lled up. Iguarantee on my Sidethe free

enjoyment of that which Iam willing to let .

Although these conditions impose consider able

outlay atfi rst on those to whom the concessions ar e

made,yet there ar e found no lack of tenants to ac

cept them . A contract is thereupon Signed by the

r epresentatives of the State and the representatives

of the companies,by which the former alienates

from herself the temporary enjoym ent of the

for ests, while she remains primary propr ietor of

tr ees and soil ; and the latter become farmers,who

pay a rent from the moment the trees commenceto

yield a produce,and up to that time ar e bound to

lay outconsiderable sum s to create a value where

otherwise there would be none.

The Thuya tree flourishes in great quantities in

many ofthe forests of Algeria, and w ill one daybecome a m ine of wealth

,though atpresent it is

render ed useless by difficulty of transport. Ithas

a grain sim ilar tothat of bird-eye maple, butmuch

TENIET-AL-HAD. 197

fi ner in colour,and adm itting of a super ior polish .

B ombonel,the celebrated lion-killer

,being enter

tained one day by achief far up in the hills, was

m uch horrified atseeing logs of this valuable wood

heaped up on the fi res. He requested that some of

the logs m ight be laid aside, and car ried them with

him to Paris, where they were quickly transformed

into a beautiful cabinet, which was ultimately sent

as a gift to the distant chief, to Show him the use

to which his fi r e-wood m ight be applied. Bombonel

was nota practical man,or he would have perceived

thatthe expense to which he had been putfor

the instruction of the chief exceeded by a hundr ed

fold the real value of the timber ! B utbe this

as it may, we shall one day see much of itin use

for the adornment of our ladies’chambers.

Meanwhile we were jolting along over a stonycauseway

,until the improved condition of the

r oad warned us of approaching civilization. Ao

cor dingly about sunset the town of Teniet-al

Had came into view— a straggling street of little

houses,large barracks, and a church ; with a

198 CHANGE or CLIMATE.

fountain and tank for water ing cattle, and a

few trees planted on each Side . The soldiers’

quar ters ar e enclosed w ithina strong line of has

tions,and it is the p r esence of these regiments that

keeps the surrounding and nottoo-subm issive

tribes in subjection. All the inhabitants turnedoutto stare atus as we jogged up the str eet. The

arrival of stranger s was quite an excitem ent in

their blank lives,poor creatures ! The sun had

been scor chingly hot all day indeed the Skin was

peeling ofi my face from its efi ects ; buton our

ar rival atTeniet we became sensible of a sudden

change, which did notsu r prise us, considering that

it stands some feet above sea-level,in the

heart of the highest range in the whole province.

The object of our journey was to visit the vast

forest of cedars for which these hills ar e famous. So

immediately on our arrival atthe door ofthe little

inn,we made particular inquiries as to the m eans

of conveyance to our point of destination. W e

learned that the forest was onlytwo or three hours’

r ide from the town, over a road that was quite im

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200 BEAUTIFUL vmw .

came grand and savage inthe extr eme. W e stoodon a shelving ledge of rock w ith a sheer fall of

four hundred feet into the valley below . The

depth appear ed even greater than it really was, as

the bottom was hidden from view. W e looked

down upon the tops of the feathery trees,beneath

which was an uncertain gloom of Shadow,while

across the deep valley lay an expanse of pr ecipi

tous mountain side,of a dark and sombre green,

varied here and there by a patch of open ground.

Great bare rocks peeped now and then from outthe obscurity below us

,and beyond Spread a vast

panorama of indistinct m ountains, pale and blue in

the haze of early morning.

A further ride of about half an hour br oughtus to the Grand Point

,a large flatOpen space

of meadow-land on the brow of a hill in the centre

of the forest. Here we dismounted and satdownunder the Shade of some enormous cedars to takeinthe view— a truly lovely scene

,which we con

templated with delight.

Far down, below, wer e undulating woods of

RICH VEGETATION. 201

gr ey -

gr een foliage, merged in the distance in the

str e tch of m ighty hills. Bald peaks of Titanic

m asonry m elted away, r ange behind range, into an

im perceptible jagg ed line, which gradually disap

posr ed in the heavens in a veil of m ist. Above

and around,rough-barked trees of giant growth,

the fanlike branches of which descended to the

gr ound, loaded the air with heavy per fume. A

w ilderness of leaves and flowers which gr ew

about the roots of the great cedar s, contrasted

in warm brilliancy of colour with the sober

br anches and stems which rose above them . Her e

and there amongst them towered a few ghastly

trunks, gaunt and bare, like lean, pale ghosts of

torturedDryads lifting their arm s as if to avert the

vengeance of the gods. Ther e was nota breeze

to stir the boughs, or a sound to break the still

ness, save the drowsy hum of insects, or the soft

tip-tapping of the woodpecker. W e satin a

per fect maze of vegetation the golden buttercup

and yellow-eyed daisy nodding over the bells of

the narcissus,or nestling against the deep-toned

202 OURGUIDE .

violet heartsease, whilst the sod was alive with

myriads of little creatures that Sparkled like

gems in the grass. To the right and left

were sm iling glades, fresh and green in contrast

with the sombre foliage, dotted about w ith lich

ened rocks, and specked with many a sunburn

flower. Great monarchs of the forest lay prone

across the open, toppled from their thrones,and

half buried in luxuriant leaves,as though kind

earth were grieving over their fall, and seeking to

shroud with reverent hand their desecrated heads.

Many a painted butterfly, too, skimmed outofthe

dim Shadow,and bright little lizards darted hither

and thither under the cool refuge of the stones.

But“nulle rose sansépines. A great serpent, som e

six feet long, green and glistening, wriggled noise

lessly across ou r path,warning us that the velvet

conceals the claw.

Our little guide was an Italian boy, whowhipped

his horse most unmercifully, and was brimful of

legends and anecdotes of terror. As we rode

along, he volunteered a story to amuse us on the

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204 ARAB TALE.

tian’s tomb in the far -OE land wher e sleep thebones of the fair Flor inda ? Mistr ess she was of

Roderic, the last Gothic king, who, finding herself

deser ted by him,appeared on the coast of Africa,

rousing the tribes to battle, and pointing to theshores of Spain. She told of the wealth of

Spanish cities,and of the beauty of Spanish maid

ens, and so inflamed the warm blood of the

Orientals, that they rose en masse, and conquered

the Chr istians in open fight . Seeing the crescent

Shine above the cross,and the Gothic circlet

added to the turban of the conqueror, the fair

one was overcom e with remorse atthe extent of

her r evenge, and pined slowly away in the land

of her voluntary exile. She would neither eat

nor Speak,butsatlistless on the clifi

'

s of Cher

chell,watching dr eam ily in the ebbing waters the

sleeping city buried below its depths— the city of

Ion,whose glor y has depar ted, swallowed in the

envious tide. Atlength she died, and was buried

beneath a costly monument,which stands on the

br ow of Cher chell’s heights. Arab, do you know

ARAB TALE . 205

this tomb,in your native land far away i— do you

w ish to see your wives again, and embrace your

childr en

Stranger— mock m e not,

’replied the Arab,

Such joy is forbidden to me by Allah’s

decree ; blessed be His name ! W hy make sport,

old man,of a slave’s regr ets ? To insultthe con

quered is unworthy of the brave .’

Listen, 0 son of the Prophet ; if you will,

your chains shall fall, you shall see your sons,

your Ourida,the babe you leftbehind. You Shall

tread once more your native soil,and breathe the

air of the eternal mountains ; butwill you paythe price that Idemand ?’

Everything, O Thaleb,

’cried the frenzied

Moor,even to the salvation of my soul .’

Go, then, you ar e free ; butwhen you reach

your distant home,taketwo days holiday to cele

brate your return,and the third devote to grati

tude . Go you alone atdawn to the Christian’s

tomb,and there burn this parchment. Remember

your prom ise, or bewar e

ARAB TALE.

“Ben Cassim prom ised, swear ing loudly by the

sepulchre of Mahom et ; buthis vows were wasted

on the woundless air , forthe mysterious old man

had vanished .

“The sun was sinking in the west as he neared“

his peaceful home. The smoke was curlingstraight up into the air as he approached the

well-remembered tents. He sank on his knees

in the fading twilight, and water ed the ear th

with his tears.

Come to m e,wife ; embrace m e

,oh ! my

children ! Ihave returned atlast once more from

foreign bonds. Many a time in Spanish irons

have I prayed to clasp my dear ones yet again .

Allah, thou artgr eat, thou hast heard my suppli

cations ! And Ourida, my daughter, flower of

the ear th, how brilliant ar e thine eyes ! Come,and nestle on my knee, while I gather round

me the friends that I love,andthe brethren of my

Duringtwowhole days white koos-koos smoked

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208 ARAB TALE.

Ben Cassim,atSight of this astounding

m iracle,tur ned to flee, but,

'

overcome by avar ice,

thr ew his bur nous like a netover the departingstr eam

,in hopes of saving a little for himself

,

and instantly the prodigy ceased— the r ain of

gold dr ied up. He was never theless a r ich man,

for his garment was full of shining piastres,

although the sour ce of wealth was gone, and he

thencefor th paraded the streets on market

days in silken haik,and bur nous Spun by Djerid

dames. Great talk was there in the cafés on

the subject of the m iracle, and atlength its fame

sounded in the ear s of royalty itself. The Deyof Algier s heard the story

,and hastened to as

semble an army of workmen to sweep away thetomb and dig among the rocks ; butno sooner

had the first iron struck the stone thanthe sky

darkened, and in the lurid light was seen an awful

spectre— the dim figur e of a woman,r eaching to

the clouds, seated on the desecrated sepulchr e . She

waved her arm m enacingly aloft,and crying in

a voice that Shook the fi r mament,Alloula ! Al

TENIET-AL-B AD. 209

loula !’melted gradually into thin vapour, while

fr om every cranny in the earth came hosts of

m onster ants,that covered the hills and valleys,

d r iving the workmen into the sea. The DeyO f Algiers, his court, and all his ladies who had

com e to divide the treasure,disappeared ; and the

h usbandman going to his work Shakes his head

fearfully,quickening his pace the while

,

he passes under the shadow of the Christian’s

T omb.

The father of our little Italian guide is atpre

sent the only concessionist adm itted into the forest

of Teniet-al-Had. Great care is being taken of

it now (a little late, perhaps) by Government .

Guards ar e stationed to protect it from the pil

fer ing hands of Arabs, and only a certain number

of trees ar e allowed to be cutdown annually— som e

twenty or thirty— which ar e all duly marked before

hand by the offi cers of W oods and Forests . These

treesthe concessionist cuts down, and sells as he

hostcan, paying Governmentten francs the cubic

VOL. II.

210 MINERAL SPRINGS.

metr e for the pr ivilege . Tr ansitis diffi cultandver y expensive, through the imperfection of ther oad

,which in some places is no mor e than a stony

path . Itis r eckoned that the carriage of the

wood costs five sons a m etre as far as the town

alone, a distance of only n ine orten m iles ! The

work is render ed dangerous, too, by the Vicinity of

hyenas and panther s, whilethe risk of being bitten

by ser pents is also ver y gr eat.Ther e ar e m ineral spr ings in the neigh

bour hood,which bear comparison with those of

Spa or Kr euznach. Petitions have been sent

per iodically in to Gover nment, to pr ay for the

establishment of thermal baths on these valuable

sour ces, butthe petitions have as yetonly

found their wayto the waste-paper basket. The

efficacy of the water s has been pr oved in num

ber less cases among the soldiery with Signal

success, and itis to be hoped that some day the

power s that be will see further into their own

inter ests, and make more of the gifts showered on

them by Pr ovidence. Atpr esentthey ar e a by

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212 VISIT TO OUR COCIIER.

"

the tr ees, jabbering and crooning Arab music,

awakening the echoes of the hills. A few sturdy

m en there were too,on horseback

,quietly enjoy

ing their ease, while their weaker halves tr otted

barefootin the m ire. A gaunt gr oup ortwo of

towering Shepherds,som e of them naked to the

waist, nursed in their arms new-born lambs,

rem inding one of that other Shepherd who went

about to seek and to save that which was lost. It

is truly a peculiartrait in theArab character,their

utter disregard of female weakness. The ladies

cer tainly do notexcite much compassion. Theyeither march along, a bundle of white clothes

,

with nothing Visible butperhaps a braceleted ar m ,

o r shuffle by the side of their lord and m aster,

w ith dir ty brats clinging about their necks,and

perspiration pouring in torrents down their paint

raddled physiognom ies.

W e paid a visitto the abode of our cocher‘

athis earnest desire ; and a very nice house it was,surrounded with Vineyards and fruit-gardens, and

commanding a fine view of the Chélifl’plains.

B IS HOUSE AND LAND. 213

Land is cheap outhere. He only paid Six thou

sand fr ancs for his little estate of some five acres,

which is laid outas a nursery. The house itself

cost two thousand francs in building— a nice

house of one stor y, with cool verandah, and lots

Of accommodation.

CHAPTERXIX .

ORANANDTLEMCEN.

HE diligence, or rather ser ies of diligences,

of the Messageries Impér iales carried us in a

tiresome journey of three ver y long days th r ough

the plains that stretch from Mi liana to Oran . The

roads in some places ar e really awful,and unfi t for

such unwieldy vehicles as those employed for the

purpose. In Spite of the seven or eighthorses

attachedtothe conveyance, we stuck per petually

in ditch and m ire, and were more than once on

the eve of a capsize. W e were landed the fi r st

evening atOrleansville, a pretty little town, with

an excellent hotel (rather a r am avis, by the

way) . Thistown is said to have in store for ita

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216 MINERAL W EALTH .

in Constantine,and snow is hardly ever known

to fall .

This province,too

,is by far the richest of the

three in m ineral wealth . The lead,copper

,and

iron, which ar e found about Tlemcen and Gar

Rouban,ar e reckoned as fine in quality as any

that we can Show athome. Much translucid

onyx and alabaster,dug from the quarries of Sidi

Kassen,has been sent this year to adorn the

Paris Exhibition. tons of excellent salt

ar e produced annually from the lake of Arzen,and enormous quantities of pottery-earth find

their way yearly to the European markets.

The principal trees that form the forests ar e

oak,cedar

,thuya

,and pine

,notforgetting the

olive,which grows around Tlem cen into a forest

king, and becomes the staple of a consider able

com m erce.

The statistical columns of the Governm ent

documents,dated 30th June, 1864, gave the

following report of the population of the pro

POPULATION. 217

Eur opeans

Mixed nationalities 1 941

Fr ench

Spaniar ds

Ger mansItalians

Indigenous

MussulmansNegr oesIsr aelites

Total

Gener al r ecapitulation of entir e population

Gr and total

In 1859 there were 7620 pupils, European and

African,in the difi er entnational schools.

So far I have said nothing butwhat is favour

able of the province. In speaking of its com

mer cial status it must be far otherwise. Many

efforts have been made, and many expedients have

218 COMMERCE .

been tried, butas yet no adequate r eturns have

r epaid the zeal and per severance of the fi r st

pioneers of civilization.

In agriculture, having learnt by experiencethatall cereals

,save oats

,yielded very uncertain crops

,

fr om lack of irrigation, the colonists tried thevine. Ithas succeeded adm irably, particular ly

in the neighbourhood of Mostaganem and Mas

cara, butits produce cannot as yet bear comparison

with that of the mother countr y. Cotton,too

,is

meeting w ith considerable success ; that of Oran

has always carried off the priz es in the Gover n

ment Exhibitions.

But, in order that all these essays may answer

expectation,it is indispensable to possess a perfect

and direct outlet and m eans of communication.

The r ailway, it is to be hoped, will be completedsome day ; butmeanwhile the only provincial

r oads and ar teries of commerce ar e

during the rainy season ! For want of por ts, the

entire trade of the province centres in thetownof Or an. Itis ther e that grain, wool, oil, skins

,

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220 NATIVE CHILDREN.

fi lthy in the extreme,and we made all haste out:

of it,having been alm ost eaten up in the course

of a single night by whole arm ies of bugs and

W e mounted once more, then, into the ban

quette of the diligence, and followed the cour se

of the Mediterranean thr ough Arzew to O r an.

Little bands of native children rushed outatus

as we drove along, cr ying and shr ieking for

0 0ppel‘

8,and singing the Sire de Fr amboisy,

which they had been taught by the Conducteur.

Most dreadful little savages they looked, as they

tor e along, with their eyes starting outof their

heads,and the long love-lock which is left un

shaven,as a

“ handle up to heaven, flapping in

the wind. They all wore the scantiest attir e.

Some of them had a white linen gondour a, or

shirt ; butthe dress of most consisted of no

thing atall, noteven spurs or a paper collar

- r ather startling to modest eyes,consider ing

that some of them were girls ! The coachman

stopped the car r iage, and they were putthrough

PLAGUE OF GRASSHOPPERS. 221

their daily lesson— a m ixture of the Lord’s Prayer

and“ Long Live the Emperor

,which they

gabbled through ata great pace, notunderstand

ing a word of whatthey were saying, buteager

ly eyeing the pence and sugar w ith which they

were to be rewarded . W e threw them a

handful of sons, and continued our onward

fiway.

The country through which we passed was

arid and tangled w ith dwarf-palm s ; while here

and there the fields reclaimed by the colonists

showed what m ight be done were some company

to take matters in hand— a fine opening for Mes

sieurs Fremy and Talabot, if they ever Sign their

treaty with Government .

W e suddenly found ourselves in the m idst of a

plague of grasshoppers— the plague of which we

had heard so m uch all through our travels. The

air was full of the great winged insects, which

swept over the crops in ravaging columns, leav

ing everything behind as bare as the palm of

the hand. The road was black with their young ;

222 ORAN.

tiny, dingy creatur es, fluttering in m illions,mow

ing like sand driven by the wind . Hapless

colonists, engaged in sweeping them into fi r es

litatintervals,were burning them up by hun

dr eds. Useless labour l— they breed w ith fear

ful rapidity ; those that ar e destroyed ar e butas

a drop in the ocean to those that ar e continu

ally springing into life. The plague has lasted

in this district seven m onths,and almost every

thing destructible is already long since destroyed.

One can scarcely conceive any one settling in

the countr y as an agr icultur ist, in the face of so

fear ful a visitation.

As night was closing in, the town of O ran

appeared in sight ; and a fine spectacle it pr e »

sented,with its Spreading gulf and frowning

clifls, crowned with ancient Spanish battlements.

The port was full of shipping, whose masts

and cordage shone black against the sky, while

the rocky crags and towers of the Spanish Kas

bah loomed grandly throughthe night. The town

itself lies Spread about, in a ver y unsatisfactor y

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224 NATIVE HOVELS.

or bedouin-dr aped Arabs, who instantly dispel the

illusion. Itis a most uninteresting town, in sooth,w ith no old buildings or quaintholes and cr annie s

to delight an ar tist’s eye. There is a handsom e

m osque-front, richly sculptured in Arabesques,

and adorned with a plashing fountain ; and a

queer w inding street,w ith big trees growing in

the m iddle of the road ; butbeyond this, no

thing.

)ve strolled up the principal streets and outof

the for tified gates upon the plain beyond, and

presently found our selves in the native quarter,

a regular little town standing by itself atthe topof the hill . Ihave heard much of Irish m isery

,

and have seen the dwellings of the unhappy

people on the west coast of Ireland,butI am glad

to be able to assert that they ar e palaces compar ed

w ith these native hovels,which ar e builtof

m ud or of plaited branches,and ar e SO wretch

ed that we Should consider them unfi t for dogs

to live in. They stand for the most part in

little yards deep in accumulated fi lth,and some

COLONY OF CHARCOAL-B URNERS. 225

tim es am ong scrubby hedges of cactus, rich in

fetid rags, and choked with noisome water. There

were groups of native wom en grinding cor n in

the ir prim itive m ills,two of them atwork ateach

m achine,like those mentioned in the B ible .

Little children, too, r an hither and thither, staringatus with big round eyes— queer little imps, with

no particular clothing save monstrous ear -rings.

The sun was SO hot that we could notbear thedazzle of the whitewash

,and therefore wandered

in search of a cooling breeze outto the brow of

the neighbouring hill, where stands a native ceme

ter y, and from which may be obtained a fine view

of rocky coast and clear blue water. The tombs

Of departed Marabouts lie scattered here and there,

surrounded by the modest graves of their humbler

fellow-countrymen. Many of these gr aves were

sadly desecrated, bearing evident marks of havingbeen rifled by the hyena or the jackal .

Returning slowly across the open Space to the

European town, we cam e upon a little colony of

Spaniards,charcoal-burners principally, who live

VOL. II.

226 ExTRAORDINARY HOUSES.

in dwellings hollowed outof the earth, on the side

of a bank that Slopes towards the sea. Fr om a

distance the tout-ensemble looks like a r abbit

warren,and it really is notmuch m ore

,after

AS we stood looking about us,

several

of the inhabitants emerged from their holes to

gaz e atus, and as quickly disappear ed again into

darkness. The better class of these extraordinary

houses were surrounded w ith a rough bamboo

paling, per fectly covered with large land-snails,which ar e eaten in g r eat numbers by the poor

people. There were heaps of them lying in the

sun to dry, and great stacks of them stored away

neatly in grass hampers, ready for tr ansm ission

into the interior. A few old withered Spanish

bags were basking in the sun, plaiting straw m ats,

or otherwise employing themselves, while cats and

dogs lay stretched around in a delightful comatose

condition. W e could nothelp thinking of thedestruction which an earthquake would occasion

in establishments such as these, literally hollowed

outof the ground, without pole or stay of any

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228 ARBAL.

clothes with great expedition, quite loathing the

waiter all the time, and having severely burned

our throats with a boiling cup of coffee, tum

bled into the clumsy machine prepared for us, and

rumbled 03 once mor e . Itwas a horrid,r am-o

shackly vehicle,with broken windows and crazy

joints,drawn by such amelancholy trio of horses as

made one’s heart ache to look atthem,though the

poor things did try to assume a valour they did

notpossess,by ar ching their scraggy necks and tink

ling their little bells. W e drove through a hideous

country,alternately divided into cultivated land

and moors notyet reclaim ed, skirting on our way

the border s of the great salt lake, and about ten

o’c lock reached the gate OfArbal , the model farm

par excellence of the province. Itis in the pos

session Of a Monsieur St. Maur, and is worked

for him by three m iddle-aged bachelors. The

house and offi ce ar e enclosed within a high sort

of fortification— notagainst Arabs, as I atfi r st

imagined, butas a safeguard against the depreda

tions of the jackal and the lynx .

FRENCH HOSPITALITY. 229

Driving through the gates, we found ourselves

in a large double courtyard, with little houses

ranged all round, their doors high up in the wall,approached by rough wooden ladders. In the

centre was a stone washing- trough, shaded by

pleasant w illows ; and further on, the house of the

m asters,built in a retired spot

,embowered in roses

and wild flowers. Dismounting, I accosted a gen

tleman who seemed like one having authority,

and asked him (as Iwas generally Spokesman on

these occasions) if we m ight be perm itted to look

over the farm . He was all politeness,albeit a

l ittle shy, and ofl’er ed atonce to actas cicer one.

I must again pay homage to French hospitality

to the universal kindness which we metwith

throughout our journey— nothing butcivility from

all with whom we cam e in contact,and

,in some

cases,such excessive attention as one would only

expect to find in an intimate friend . W herever

we went,we were received with open arms

,nu

provided,as we were

,with letters of intr oduc

tion,and itwas rare indeed that they would let

MODEL FARM.

us go away without joining in the fam ily meal.

T he gentleman of whom we have just spoken

was No. 2 of the ruling three, and super inten

dent Of the animal department,the other two

overlooking respectively the crops and the books.

He led us through the yards and outhouses, ex

plaining all the ar rangements as we went along ;

and m ost adm irable arrangements they appeared to

be. There is quite a little colony enclosed within

the walls—thirty French labourers,with their

wives and children ; in all,some one hundred and

twenty souls. A tidy little white-washed chapel

stands by itself in one corner of the yard, where

mass is performed every Sunday morning. Ther e is

also a brewery,a wine-press

, a forge, and a barn

capable of storing quarters,besides the usual

accompaniment of storehouses and outbuildings.

The estate covers an area of acres,of which

abouttwo-fifths ar e under cultivation. The rest

is occupied by mountain and grazing-

ground.

The principal produce of the farm lies in grain

and wool . The latter fetches seven shillings and

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232 ANIMALS ONTHE FARM.

stallions, fine animals, br ushed and dressed to per

fection. A good working hor se is produced by a

cr oss of these European ones with Arab mar es,

though, as in the case of the Sheep,no after

breeding is allowed w ith half-br ed stallions.

The pigs which we saw dr iven outto feed were am ixture of the white English race and those of

Spain ; the object of the cr oss being to preventtheir becom ing too unwieldy to cater for themselves. The cows in use ar e of the small B r ittany

kind,which ar e found to stand heat pretty well

,

though they ar e notequal to the ugly Arab cattle

as workers for the field . Mules ar e considered

better than either bullocks or horses for field

labour,as they notonly do a good day

’s work

,but

eatany sort of food,and ar e quite content to sleep

anywhere,in the field or in the ditch . Atthe same

time it is impossible to leave anything living outside

the enclosure after dark,as the neighbouringArabs,

like the rest of their race,have notvery strict notions

of meum andtuum . There ar e hardly any Arabs

on the farm except in the capacity of Shepherds.

RUINS OF A ROMANTOWN. 233

The ordinary r un of work is done by the French

residents,with the assistance of a few extra hands

atharvest-tim e— Kabyles and natives of Morocco.

W e were now taken outto see the nakedness

of the land,as the farmer expressed it

,and the

prospect certainly did look bare enough . Instead

of gr ass through which it would be an arduous

task to walk— notatall unusual in this ter ri

tory— we saw nothing butburnt-up earth ; and

where four or five feet of waving corn should

have been glancing in the sun,there was only

the remainder of a few earless blades,scorched

almost before they had had tim e to Show their

heads. This is the worst year they have had here

for fifteen years,and counts as blank in their ex

portbooks. The ground is laid outin vineyards,and in fields for the growth of cereals and m us

tard. The ruins of an old Roman town,vestiges

of which sprout up here and there through the

herbage in bits of stone with inscriptions, in pillars

and broken statues,tell of the glories that have

GRIEVANCES.

Very ingenious adaptations have been made of

Roman thermae and subterranean vaults for the

storing of corn and oats,which

,once safely

packed away,ar e plastered up, as a protection

from the m onster ants which inundate all the

country. These cr eatur es ar e the greatest plague

from which the colonists snfi er in this district

worse considerably than the grasshoppers, that

seem butlittle known outhere. The great grie

vance (besides the inevitable one of lack of land),

is want of water. There is butone stream to do

all the irrigation of the acres,so that when

rains fail,as they have done this year, all the

crops ar e destroyed— many,indeed

,do notas

much as show above the soil . Artesian wells

have been attempted, butwhat water appeared

was too salt even for the growth of cotton .

jours en excés, said my agricultural friend,

should be the motto of Alger ia. Either the rains

come down in torrents, or they do notcome at

all. One of the great causes of the outcry for

land lies in the immense extent thatis neces

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A JOLLY LIFE .

W e wer e now called in by the sound of a

great hell to what my fr iend called a modest

I had endeavoured several times to

excuse our party from intruding on his kindness,buthe insisted on our appearing atthe break

fast-table,and of cour se we wer e only too glad

to give way. In the cool parlour of the

master S house we found number s one and

three already waiting, and satdown,a par ty of

six,attended by a tidy body in neatwhite

coif. Oranges peeped in atthe window,and

brightly-painted birds glittered in their cages

under the Shade of the verandah . I looked

atour cheery hosts, and thought what a jolly

life they must lead— so free and comfortable they

looked in their rough, ill-fitting clothes, and their

bronzed sunburnt faces seemed so healthy .

Everything on the table was of home manufac

ture ; white wine and strong home-brewed, excellentbread and butter

,with eggs and vegetables. There

were also partridges, and such good cheese, pro

bably the production of the old lady herself, who

THE OLDEST COLONIST. 237

stood behind,a buxom Hebe

,with snowy napkin

and clean white plates. W hile the meal was

going on I found leisure to survey the Oldest

colonist of the” group, who first setthe farm going.

He arrived with his tent twenty-three years since,

and pitched it on the sorry field of oats that lan

guished where the house now stands. He was a

good-humoured-looking man, w ith cropped grey

hair and a laughing eye. Though a Frenchman,he had never been to Paris

,and had only seen

A lgiers once, now ten years ago ! He talked of

colonization and its future atsome length, only

r eiterating, however, that which I had so often

heard before.

The same complaint arises in Oran as in the

other provinces with regard to the imperfect

m eans of communication. This is one of the great

stumbling-blocks in the colonist’s path,bringing

about indirectly the ruin of many of the smaller

m en. Considerable panic was caused, indeed,within the last year or two, by the failure of SO

large a number ofthe settlers. My friend, how

RECKLESS SETTLERS.

ever,assur ed me that they brought it in a gr eat

degr ee on themselves by their recklessness, and

that the country was notin their case to blame.

W ith an ardour only equalled by their inex

pe r ience, they rushed into ill-conceived schemes

of building and ill- imagined enterprises. Theyfelicitated themselves atthe outseton the delights of buying ata very low rate

,forgetting

that when the modest purse, with which they

purchased corn and cattle for a song, was

exhausted,they would find themselves strug

gling producers, selling ata very low figure

the fruits of a greatdeal of labour ; a state

of things rendered all the worse by the ex

orbitant prices demanded for Eur opean goods

and cotton stufi s,

and clothing— which

triple and quadruple their or iginal value in their

progress over the Shocking ruts and roads called

by courtesy strategic. Ithas been well said

that “ in fine weather you Skirt alongside the

road, while in wetweather you do notpass at

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W ANT OF LAND.

Algeria, unity of views, promptitude and decision

in action, and an attentive study of facts, ar e

amongstthe primary conditions of agricultur al

success.

In all discussions on this subject,the old com

plaintof want of land is sure to crop outsooner or

later. The same cry is repeated year after year,Ce ne sont pas les bras qui manquent ala terr e,c’est la terre qui manque ala coloniz ation ;

the discouragement thence arising is the real

cause of the annual reflux of would-be colonists

back to their native land.

o

Capital and space

ar e the indispensable requisites. The settler s do

notask the former of the State,which has too

long forgotten its real mile— ia this case, that of

making roads. Private interest is quite willingand prepared to furnish capital, on condition of

receiving land in payment, according to a suitable

W ould it be so very difficult for the

State, in these circumstances, to provide more

land,considering the thinness of the population

and its extreme importance to the vital interests of

CESSIONOF LAND. 241

the country ? Itis inevitable that the Arabs Shall

eventually give place to the Europeans, as the

Indians have already done in America. In the

plains of the Sig, already all the inhabitants ar e

either French or Spanish, with a slight sprinklingonly of natives. Government seems to imagine

that the ceding of land is equivalent to the gift

of a fortune . Though ru in succeeds ruin, theyfail to see that the manto whom a concession is

made r isks that which he possesses,w ith only a pos

sibility of success. Land is diflicultof manage

m ent, dangerous often, and sometimes suicidal .

Because in France itholds an intrinsic value,

itis supposedthat the colonists of North Africa,who receive the gr ound for next to nothing,

m ust necessarily be wealthy ; although in France

itself the reclaim ing of land has been the ruin of

many, for its only real value consists in the money

and labour expended by its owner.

The wages Of farm -servants is another subject

which is occupying much the papers and journals

of Algeria. They ar e naturally high, because

VOL . II.

242 W AGES.

ther e is a want of constant occupation for fi eld

labour er s. The men ar e called in athar vest-time

in large number s, and packed ofi when the season

is over. Men cannot live on nothing, and mustmake the work of the few months pay for the

forced idleness of the r emainder . Itisthe dutyof a large proprietor, in distant lands such as this,

to find occupation during the entir e year for

the servants who ar e necessary to him . Can

farmers expect to find around them in colonies

beyond the seas an indefinite number of hands to

betaken up or dropped atpleasure ? Ar e theynotconstrained so to combine their system s of

cultur e, as to find constantlabour for their men,withoutoverstepping their accustomed lim its ?

W hether is it better to make them gain their bread

by means of a plan which furnishes successive

work throughoutthe year, orto employ them for

six months and pay them for twelve ? On the

farm of Arbal the fi r st system has been pur sued.

W ages never rise above two francs a-day without

food, and thi r ty fr ancs a month with food. The

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244 COMPLAINTS OF COLONISTS.

har vest ! M. St. Maur never willingly employs

Europeans as extra harvest hands,onthe principle

of notencour aging vagrant settler s,as he con

siders them so pr ejudicial tothetrue intere sts of

colonization. Ther efor e, as ther e is no more

landto be obtained atpresentfor love or money,

he concludes that colonization is ata stand

still— a ruinous state of things for a half-gr own

country,and only to be remedied by a thor ough

change in the system of m isrule atpresent going

Letter s ar e written to the papers by cer tain

malcontents, complaining of having to pay wor k

m en two francs,fi fty centimes

,per day ; whilst

in France, their mother-country, the same sum

is the usual average for railway labour. These

colonists complain of paying their reapers two or

three francs ; while in the circle of Paris six,or

even seven francs is the accustomed wage . In

Pr ovence and the valley of the Rh6ne,thr ee

francs per diem is the sum commonly recognised

as dueto a cutter ofthe cor n.

AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY. 245

B utthe real r oad to agr icultu r al prosperity in

Alger ia lies notin the reduction of salaries, butin

the amelioration of the crop. Supposing a field

of oats to have costtwo hundred francs in work

ing, andto have pr oduced butten hectolitres, the

sum of the hectolitre will be twenty francs,where

as it would only have been ten francs, had the

field been capable of producing twenty hectolitres.

The Am ericans have shown,on the subject of

cotton,athow cheap a r ate a cr op may be oh

tai ned— fi r stly, by pushing the cultivation of the

produce to perfection ; secondly,by applying to

the cr op liberally,butwith intelligence, all the

money which may be necessary to for ce it to the

ver y some of production. Thus they ar e enabled

to sell with profi t ata price unattainable to com

petition in this French colony,

although the

expenses of fre ight and car riage ar e many times

gr eater than in a countr y such as this,which

0 borders on the hem,soto speak

,of the European

markets.

Atthe gates of the farm we gotinto our car

246 A VILLAGE .

r iage, and bade a cordial farewell to those who

had entertained us so kindly. Our r oad now layacross the plains, by the margin of the lake

,into

the neighbouring district of the Sig, said by some

to be the most suitable spot in all Alger ia for thecultivation of cotton. W e concluded, however ,after a visit to the principal plantation

,thatits

only telling advantages over the Sahara was its

nearness to a large seapor t. This advantage

would be null ified by railway, if the plains of El

Outaia in the desert were to be opened outbycolonial enterpr ise.

Shortly before sunset, we came in sight of the

village— a Villageto dr eam of in its pastor al sim

plicity. Itlies in the m idst of a fertile plain,half buried in fresh tr ees and waving corn

m id bowery hollows crowned with summer sea.

”

A cluster of clean white houses nestles under a

hill, with a guardian chur ch-tower rising in the

m idst,surr ounded by hedges and clumps of the 0

glistening- leaved pom egranate, heavy with a bur

den of blood-red blossom . Itconsists of little more

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248 USINE D’EGRAINAGE.

dark clothes, one could hardly believe that this

was still Afr ica. Suddenly the bell pealed out

once mor e, and the throng dispersed to their

separ ate homes. Er e long the moon streamed

down on the Silent village, while long still

shadows lay across the road,and the grasshoppe r

chaunted alone inthe peaceful night.

W e wer e up betimes the following m or ning,

and went off atonce to visit the cotton planta

tions. The Usine d’Egr ainage is the largest

establishment of the kind in the neighbourhood,

and all that is best of the “ Sig cotton, cele

br ated in Afr ican produce, is drawn from the

works of this single proprietor. He has two

farms, which occupy together an area of ninety

five acres, devoted exclusively to the cultivation

of cotton. He was notso civil as other farmers

that we had metw ith, turning us over to the ten

der mer cies of a man who knew nothing of the

subject. This person contented himself with‘

showing us the flower -garden, and pointing outa

monster lizard, and other things, very interesting

COTTON-GROW ING . 249

in their way, which we had notcome all this

distance to see. W hile we were wandering aboutthe prem ises

,however , we cam e upon the head of

the machinery department, and he satisfied our

thir st for knowledge as far as his lights enabled

him to do.

Cotton-bushes ar e her e ranged in rows, as in

the plantation of M. Dufour g of El-Outaia,

leaving a square yard between every two plants.

According to this system the same land is used

dur ing a series of years by m erely placing the

Shrubs a few inches to the right or left of a

former spot, because they ar e furnished with but

one long straight r oot,which penetrates deep,

w ithout spr eading, and thus exhausting the

gr ound. The original seed is Georgian longstaple ; that gathered on the pr em ises, however,

is foundto answer very well for the production

of new plants, with an interm ixture of American

gr ain every five or six year s. One harvest is

the utmostthat can be obtained in the year,owing, I imagine, to the scarcity of water .

CLEANING MACHINES .

Sowing commences in May, and gathering in

September. Atthat period a number of extr a

hands ar e called in, and the total number of

labourers then averages from two to three

hundred,according to the success or failur e of

the crop. Each r eceives from two and a half to

four francs a day. W e exam ined the cleaningmachines, the work of Platt, which ar e fourteen

in number,and turn outfrom 600 to

bales of 219 lbs. each per annum . These ar e

taken in carts to Oran, a distance of about

twenty-five m iles,and immediately shipped OE to

Havr e for sale. The pr oprietor also does a con

sider able business in the way of buying up theuncleaned produce of the neighbouring small

farmers, who possess no cleaning-machines, paying them sevenpence the pound. The same article

fetches tenpence farthing the pound, as turned

outby the above-mentioned gentleman.

In the course of som e little conversation which

we had with him before our departur e,he

expressed great surprise atour nothaving seen

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AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT.

this is a very rare occurrence. Aqueducts arranged

in the thickness of the masonry perm itof the

r eservoir being emptied in the course of a few

hour s, by means of valves andapertur es constructed

for the pur pose.

The President of the Gener al Council of Agri

culture atOran stated, in his r epor t of 1863, that

on this Side the Mediterranean the less land

receives water direct from heaven,the more fit

itseems to be for pr oduction, if wate r ed arti

ficially. W ater and civilization march hand in

hand over the soil , for it has come to be an

axiom that drought is the cur se of the country,the great stumbling-block in the way of agri

cultural improvement. In this case it will be the

reservoirs,about which so much agitation is now

going on inthe colony,that will change the face

of Algeria. They w ill ser ve a double pur pose

too. By collecting the winter rains within man

ageable compass, they will revivify the ear th, and

atthe same tim e tend to the drainage of the

m ar shes, which atpresent sow sickness and death

CONSTRUCTIONOF RESERVOIRS. 253

th r oughout the province ; while the low lands,

freed from m iasmas, will Open outa new fi e ld for

agr icultural energy and labour.

The total expense of making the necessary

rese r voirs in Oran will amount to upwards of

three m illion francs ; and these the settlers prepose

thatthe State should advance , prom ising in their

tur n to keep in perpetual repair the tanks and

canals connected with them . They ofl’

er also to

pay to Government from twenty to thir ty francs

for every acre watered in summer, and from two

to ten francs for every acre watered in winter,

according to a tariff to be drawn up for difi'

er ent

districts. The entire sum was calculated to be

about francs per annum . W ater is of

such vital importance to the colonists that they ar e

w illing to make any sacrifices in order to obtain

There is a territory in the plains of the

Habra which lets for £5 an acre,because there

is a stream running through it ; while atThelat,

onlyten m iles from Oran, there exists a property

of 900 acres, with considerable buildings, and

W ATER-TAX.

ver y rich soil,for which the other day a price

of £1 an acre could barely be obtained. In the

valley of the Mina water is very scar ce, mer elyfr om want of means to keep possession of it,for in the winter torr ents come down from themountains and rush into the sea, to the extent (lastyear) of 500 m illion cubic m etr es The tax

,

after all, is nothigh, ifwe come to compar e it withthat of other countries. In the department of the

Loir e, for instance, where, too, winter snows fall

abundantly, there is a watertax of Sixteen francs ;while in Italy and Spain, more especially atLlorca

,in the kingdom of Murcia

,it rises as high

as for ty and even fi fty francs. W hat will be the r e

sult of the negotiations now pending itis impossible to say. Meanwhile many local Agri~

Ifeel compelledto quote my author ity for so startlinga statement, and r efer the r eader to the r eports of theGener al Council of Afri can Agr icultur e for the cur r entyear : alsotothe “Discussion nu sujetdes bar r ages-r eservoir s dans la pr ovince d

’Or an,

”

publiée a Or an par lo

Conseil General. Page 25 . Alsoto a speech addr essed by

M. St. Maur to the local society, and r eprinted in theCour r ier d

’Or an, date Mar ch 2nd, 1867.

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256 NIGHT-JOURNEY INA DILIGENCE .

clouds of dust ; and, quite disgusted withthe townand its accompaniments, proceeded atonce to en

gage the coupéfor the night journey to Tlem

cen.

Night .

journeys in a diligence ar e,after all,

notso terr ible as they atfirst Sight appear. The

car riage rattles along cheerily enough, throwing

great sheets of light across the road, while the

m ind fi nds much food for pleasantwanderings

inthe indistinctmasses that appear outof seem

ing chaos and the half-formed Shapes of r ocks

and precipices.

On the present occasion,however

, we found

ourse lves more than usually uncomfortable, in

consequence of the upright back of the conveyance and its ill-stuffed cushions

,and were more

than half-chokled with dust until we gotsome littledistance outof Oran— a town of which dust

seem s to be a staple commodity,swirling round

the corners into the eyes of passers-by in ever y

kind of weather. Itwas five o’clock. P .M.,

when we jmgled outof the Porte Napoleon

NIGHT-TRAVELLING . 257

into the open country— bleak moors, rocky and

tangled with dwarf-palms,undulating down to

the water’s edge, that of the eter nal salt-lake . Itis impossible to m ake any expedition outof Oran

w ithout skirting that dreary lagoon, which on this

occasion looked spectrally sad,as seen in the

gathering obscurity. Darkness came on rapidly,

and we endeavoured to make ourselves as com for t

able for the night as was compatible with such

ver y close quarters. Little by little the landscape

m erged into form less haze, and we were left . to

the contemplation of lamp-lit horse-tails, or to the

indulgence of our own thoughts, amonotony broken

now and then when we clattered through some sleep

ing village,the houses of which seem ed to fly past us

like disturbed white ghosts in the gloom ,before we

halted for a change of team . All these pauses

wer e unnecessarily long, for on ever y available oc

casion the majority of the passengers tumbled out

to take a gill, hob-nobbing with each other all

round, and then inviting the guard to take a glass

as an excuse for an extra drain. Atlast we

VOL. II.

258 ANHOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT.

settled into a disturbed sleep,interrupted by jolts

and jerks,and r endered horrible by nightmar e ,

until, as day was beginning to dawn, we were

rudely wakened up, and desired to getoutand

walk,to ease the horses.

Now, the hour before daylight is always a

trying time, and under such circumstances as

these, became doubly depr essing. Our fellow-voya

ger s, however, had allturned outwith dirty facesand dishevelled hair

,m ost unbecom ing in the

mor ning light. Nothing was left butfor us to

do likewise. W e turned out, therefore, grum

bling atthe cold, and trudged shivering over

the stones,big with a real grievance. Itwas

eight o’clock before Tlemcen came in sight,

and fully nine befor e we were landed, hungry

and wear y, atthe door of the Hotel de France

(an excellent hotel), after a m iserable night trave l

of sixteen hours.

Tlemcen is a pretty town,of upwards of

inhabitants, of whom three thousand ar e Euro

pean. Itwas first occupied by the French in

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260 r f s FORMERGREATNESS.

and public monuments. Its king was a man of

r efined m ind,a patron of the arts and sciences,

who aim ed atmaking it what Florence after war ds

became under the fostering care of Lorenzo de’

Medici . He had commercial relations with all

the important maritime towns of the Medite r r a

nean, was surrounded by a brilliantcour t, and

commanded a vast and well-disciplined army of

weather-beaten warriors. Tlemcen, in a word,

was atthis time, when the genius ofthe European

nations was just beginning to wake from a longsleep

,one of the most important, as well as one of

the most civilized of the great cities of the world .

W ith the opening year s of the sixteenth cen

tury,the decadence of Tlem cen commenced.

Civil war had raised up another king, who had

built another city (Mansourah), almost w ithin a

stone’s throw of the original town. W eakened

thus by intestinal broil,it is notsurprising that

she should have fallen an easy pr ey to the victor i

ous Spaniard. In 1509 she became the humble

vassal of the Castilian lion,and fr om that day

r fs DECADENCE . 261

the page of her histor y is steeped in blood . The

brother s Barbarossa preluded their career of con

quest by the division of the kingdom of Tlemcen,one of them raising Algiers into an opposition

capital ; and later on, we see the Pacha of

Algiers bearding the Em ir of Tlemcen under his

very walls. The son of the last Sultan fled to

Oran,in 1553, before the Turkish army, and

sought protection andan asylum there atthe hands

of Spain. He was baptized under the name of

Don Carlos, and passed his life in obscurity atthe

court of Philip the Second. Tlemcen sunk lower

and lower underTurkish rule,and languished into a

third-rate countrytown,until

,atthe period of the

French invasion, she received a new impulse, and

retrieved,by means of her waters and fer tile soil,

a little of her former importance .

Abd-el-Kader was particularly fond of the place,

comparing it to a friend whose afi ection he had

Atsight of m e,

sang the Em ir poet,with oriental grandiloquence, Tlemcen gave m e

her hand to kiss. I raised the veil that shrouded

262 RIDE THROUGH THE TOWN.

her lovely face,and my heart beat loud with hap

piness. Tlemcen had many masters, butshe

blushed before them like a living coal, lowering

her long lashes, and turning away her head in

indifl’e r ence ; for me alone she had a sm ile, and

rendered me the very happiest of Sultans by mur

muring, Embrace me, my love, and close my lips

with thine.

After we had breakfasted,and ar rayed our

selves in clean garments, we hastened to secure a

car r iage— a lumbering’bus

,the only vehicle to be

had in the town— and mounting its roof, setOE in

high delight atthe lovely weather, to see ever y

thing that was to be seen. Our driver was not

too intelligent, being evidently unaccustomed to

doing the honours of his native place, butwas, at

any rate, less futile than his wife, who listened

blankly to our inquiries aboutthe sights, her faceonly lighting up with intelligence when she sug

gested the tir au pistolet 1”

Driving through the fortifications, we pene

tr ated into the open, passing great masses of

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264 MAGNIFICENT RELIO .

with the gr aceful tracer y Of Moorish art, a finelydentelated hor se-shoe ar chway and delicate cler es

tory,suppor ted on alabaster columns. All the

work in this neighbourhood dates from the er a

of the Alhambra and Seville Alcaz ar, a per iod

the architecture of which was more beautiful than

grand ; and this tower may be setdown as one

of its finest examples. There ar e still remnants,

among the ornaments on the higher part, Of eu

amel and colour ed tiles ; while the gr ound for yards

around is encumbered with brilliant débr is of gr een

and red mosaic worked into quaint patterns, and

with fragments of tr anslucid alabaster. The tower

is cr umbling day by day, and it is probable that

this magnificent relic will shortly disappear al

together, for two only of its walls ar e now

standing— fair marks for the violent winds that

sweep across the Open from the sea. From

among the fretted stones and carved work wer e

springing flowers innumerable,of a lovely blue, and

red, and yellow, the convolvulus and rose, the gen

tian and wild datura, its long tendrils trailing over

CHILDREN INTHE STREET. 265

the rubbish, as though to teach a lesson of hu

m ility, by contrasting the smallest works of God

w ith the rarest and most per fect productions of

human skill .

Our dr iver now retraced his steps,winding

through the queer streets of the town,nearly upsetting some closely-veiled female in a

shar p turn round a corner,or making a cutat

some over-bold child, in spangled dr ess and

pointed r ed velvet cap; who had perhaps dropped

its gold-worked slipper on the road, and chose

of course the most dangerous moment, as child

r en invariably do,to dart among the horses

’legs

and reclaim the treasure. W e passed outof the

other door,atthe opposite side Of Tlemcen

,

driving over a road that jerked us unmercifully

among the ruts, and made our way through a

great burial-ground, crowded”

with memorials of

the dead,a dome-shaped tomb of some venerated

Marabout rising here and there among the trees.

W e came atlast to a sudden halt atthe eu

trance of a wooded lane. Here we were handed

THE GREAT MOSQUE.

over tothe tender mercies of an Arab guide, who

tucked up his burnous and marched a-head to do

the honours of Sidi-Bou-Medin. He conducted

us up the hill on which the village stands,

through glades of sheltered vegetation and be

tween beautiful hedgerows. A tangle of youngvine-leaves

,or an overarching acacia

,showered

from time to time its silver wealth’ upon the

ground ; and occasionally we had a glimpse of

clear spring water, into which dipped the branches

of the pomegranate with their gorgeous blossom .

The village is builtin straggling streets over

the hill,houses rising in succession one above

another— Moorish and flat-roofed ; most of

them with tiny w indows and low-browed doors,shaded by vine-trellised porches. Figures layabout the steps

,enveloped in white robes, as

we approached the great mosque, seekingshelter from the sun

,and smoking the pipe

of peace. Following close upon the heels of

our guide, we entered its m ighty portals, iron

clamped and brass-clasped, and found ourselves

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268 SIDI-BOU-MEDIN.

He was a Moor of noble birth, residing at

Seville, in 1126, and was destined from early

youth for the profession of arms. Devoted,

however,to the pursuit of science

,he left his

home,and having wandered through the uni

ver sities of Spain,cam e over to Africa,

found himself atTlemcen. Struck with the

great beauty of the spot,be resolved to settle

in the neighbourhood ; but the noise and

bustle of the city so distu r bed his thoughts,

that he retired to the m ountains,and built him

self a herm itage. The fame of his piety and

wisdom soon Spr ead far and wide,and he saw

himself compelled,in order to maintain his dig

nity, to work a variety of m iracles.

A thaleb one day had a quarrel with his wife,

and resolved on separation. Before taking so

important a step, however, he thought it wise to

ask the Opinion of the learned anchorite. As he

entered the cell,the voice of the recluse sounded

outof the darkness,repeating verses of the

Koran .

DEATH OF THE RECLUSE. 269

Keep thy wife and fear God, he cried,

quoting from the thirty-third division of the

seventh chapter. The thaleb was thunder

struck .

How knew you the object of my visit, be

ventured to inquire, considering that I had

confided my secr et to no one‘

l”

My son,r eplied Bou-Medin

,as you stepped

acr oss the threshold, I saw the words written in

burning characters on your burnous, and thus

divined your intentions.

The holy man returned to Spain,and dwelt

there, great in reverence and honours, until he

was sent for thence by the Sultan of Tlemcen,

who found himself in need of his advice. Al

though in the 77th year of his age, he under

took the journey, and on sight of Tlemcen

’s

towers, he cried in the spiritof inspiration,How propitious a spot is this to slumber at

peace in eternal rest!”

Arrived close to the gates, he satdown, am id

the whirring clamour of passing tr aflic, and

270 m s TOMB .

died,murmuring quietly,

“God is the supreme

truth . His corpse was conveyed r ever ently to

the spot where it now r eposes, and the mosque

and village rose over his remains.

The tomb consists of a narrow little low r oom,

the walls of which ar e so covered with carved and

painted wood,and w ith magnificent embroideries,

that nothing of them is visible . As soon as our

eyes became accustomed to the obscurity,we per

ceivedtwo catafalques,on which repose the coffins

of the sage and of his favourite pupil, both of

them wrapped in costly silks,and palled with gor

geously embroidered drape r ies of gold and silver.

Around the walls ar e hung ostrich-eggs setin

gold, and a multitude of banners— silk and satin

brocade— the gifts of pious chiefs and em irs.

The dim religious light is adm itted through

painted glass, which gives an aspect of mystery

to the interior of the sacred edifice. Itwas inter

esting to look about in this venerated sepulchre

and muse on its time-honoured dust,which has r e

mained untouched through ages— silent,still

,and

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272 A SCHOOLMASTERANDHIs CLAss.

flights Of steps,into an enclosur e wher e the

schoolmaster was sitting with his class, adm inister

ing the justice of the cane.

Itwas a funny sight. A shady bu ilding with

cr acked plaster walls, very high and domed . A

gr eat doorway opened into a neglected court,wher e rose the fig from between the broken

stones,while frogs and lizards leapt in and outof

the central fountain in the sunlight. In the

cor ner Of the darkened room satthe pedagogue

cross-legged, wrapped in a brown burnous,the

hood of which nearly concealed his face ;

close in front of him squatted a hapless imp, gab

bling over his lessons, on whose devoted head the

cane came down with the regular ity of clockwork.

In an outer cir cle crouched the rest of the class,all hooded and haiked

,each w ith his scroll sup

ported Ou his crossed legs, and all shouting out

atonce . The noise of their shrill voices,indeed

,

was deafening, each pupil attempting to gain the

master’s approbation by outshr ieking his fellows.

There was one little boy half buried among

PLAINS or THE ISSER. 273

folds Of blue and white woollen drapery,who

m ight have served as a model for W ilkie or W il

liam Hunt. He swayed his l ittle body w ith great

energy, while his lar ge eyes seemed starting out

Of his head in his endeavours to do battle with the

difficulties before him , and his lips moved rapidly

up anddown as he conned the words and shouted

them outatthe top of his voice .

W e left this scene of childhood’s joys (who

would be a child again and penetrated up to

the top Of the hill,scrambling in and outof courts

and rocky staircases,through dwellings, and over

fl'

atlow roofs. Arrived atthetop, we Obtained a

really very fine view of the plains of the Isser,and

satdown to enjoy its beauty. Below us spread a

soft dark wood of olives,with here and there a

white-domed Marabout,and then a vast expanse of

fresh green fields, dotted with a multitude of little

villages, and extending into the pale blue hills

beyond. Scattered atintervals over the plain,r ose square Saracenic m inarets

,in solitary grace.

Heavy clouds threw great deep purple shadows,

VOL. II.

274 RURAL SCENERY.

lengthening and vanishing, which, as if in sport,

chased each other. To the left, on its em inence,stood Tlemcen

,picturesque in appearance

,and

crowned with many tower s ; and beyond it,

in the extreme distance, the r ampart of Man

sour ah, with its sentinel campanile frowningblack against the sky. Vineyards and olive-yards

were sprinkled here and there, while many a

little brawling rivulet meandered through the

tr ees, glancing like a silver thread am id the ver

dure . Itwas a scene from which one retires better

of hear t,with a sigh of gratitude for the infinite

goodness of the Alm ighty— a scene which Spoke

for itself of peace and prosperity,singing its own

sweet hymn of praise to the beneficentMaker in

the glory of His works.

W e drove back through the principal str eets,

under the walls of the gaunt Mechouar, or palace

ofthe Sultans, which through a veil of roses looked

down, gr im and windowless

,upon a busy scene.

The band was playing, and everyone Of aristocratic

pr etentious inthe town was parading in his best .

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LAST SOLITARY W ALK.

is the case with ever y variety of Oriental cos

tume .

Before leaving Tlemcen, and taking the dili

gence backto Oran (whence Iwas to start by shipfor Mar seilles), I sallied forth for a solitary walk

,

to bid a last far ewell toNorth Africa,for this was

the last I was destined to see of its picturesque

scenery and luxur iant vegetation . Through the

queer labyr inths of the Jews’quarter I direct

ed my steps,past the square m inar ets

,each of

which is surmounted by its rough stork’s nest,

with generally a gr eat pair of birds m edi

tating ; under the walls Of the big mosque

of El-Kebir, wher e there is a charm ing street,

all arched atdistances w ith the Saracenic horse

and decorated with tiles and legends

taken from the Koran. Door-posts, lintels, and

wooden shutters, ar e all elaborately carved,while

the window-sills ar e loaded w ith pots containingrare flowers

,andwith cages of parrots and canaries.

The houses ar e very small and curiously con

structed,each having two distinct cour ts, one

DREADFUL VACARME.

”277

above the other,with the usual accompaniment of

well and pulley. There were women dr yingclothes on the flathouse-tops, or spreading out

cotton to bleach,their anklets and massive gold

chains making a clanking noise,that rem inded

one of a prison as they moved about.

Pretty well accustomed by this time to the

peculiarities of Eastern towns, I went straight

on,although each turn seem ed to be the last

,

passing under vaulted ways that forced me to

bend low,and up and down steps that seemed

only to lead to no thoroughfare. Atlast

I emerged into a tumble-down squar e,where

m uch traffi c was going on. Tents and booths

encumbered the way, cottons and stuffs fi lled up

the footpath,and crockery of the queerest antique

patterns was going, going, going for next to

nothing. Children howled,women called to

each other in shrill,discordant voices

,and a band

of negro musicians soon added their noise to the

deafening hubbub, wagging their heads wildly

while they beat their tom toms and rattled their

278 EASTERN PHLEGM.

castanets, and digging their elbows'

into the ribs,or com ing down on the toes of anyone who

m ight chance to be jostled up against them .

A few mules,with w idely-spreading burdens

,

forced themselves through the crowd,and an

equestrian or two galloped in and out, r egard

less of impeding obstacles. The inhabitants of

the surrounding houses took no sort of notice of

the dreadful vacar me, butworked steadily attheir

prim itive looms,or sipped cofi ee underneath their

awnings, as though all were quiet and tranquillity.

I forced my way through the bawling throng, and

was notsorry to find myself atlast in the open

country. A perfect land of prom ise it is,this

lovely plain, aflor ding a good example Of the

capacities of the soil where water abounds,even

when unaided by the science Of the European

agriculturist. I looked my last on this display

of the gifts of bounteous nature,sauntering

atone time among hedge-rows of matted leaves

and blossoms,where the insects bummed and

glittered in the light, and great emerald lizards

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A COMMONOCCURRENCE.

war wer e welling outtheir heart’s blood into thethir sty earth, and in their deadly struggle cr ush

ing the fr uits thatshould have nour ished them .

SO close, indeed, was the spot where the tribes

were contending, that the sound of their guns

was distinctly audible in the town. None of the

townspeople,however

,took any notice. Itwas

such a common occurrence,they said ! Is it

wrong to w ish that such a degenerate population

of m iserable cut- throats may soon die out,and

leave the country to those better able to avail

themselves of its resour ces ? If the salt have

lost his savour,wherewith shall it be salted ? It

is thenceforth good for nothing, butto be cast Out,andto be trodden under footof men.

Opposite Mar seilles lies a kingdom which

must be assim ilated to France. Such wer e the

words of the Emperor on the occasion of his

visit to Algeria, and they ar e engraved on the

heart of every colonist. The army now governs

FRENCH DOMINION. 281

Supreme, and in the opinion of many this is the

gr eat cause of maladm inistration in the colony.

The majority among the natives ar e disposed

by nature,as well as by interest

,to accept French

dom inion, because they find under its shadow those

conditions of order,peace

,and justice without

which existence is always precar ious. So long as

the natives continue to exist they must be taught

to live quietly in communion with the settlers. At

the same time itis to be expected that in a hun

dred and fifty years or so they— the Arabs

proper,atleast— will be numbered with the men

and things of the past. There they ar e atpre

sent,however

,and the system of legislation by

which they ar e ruled proves itself daily to be false

in pr inciple,leading only to m isgovernment and

confusion. Above the masses there is an ava

r icious m inor ity,that of the bad and worse than

useless aristocracy,which has always lived like a

leech upon the people,and is opposed to French

dom inion,because it desires to live in the fu

tur e as in the past, atthe expense Of the in

282 MALADMINISTRATION.

fer ior classes. Unfortunately too much power

has been left in the hands of this aristocracy,

who have m isused it for the attainment of their

ends, against the interests both of native and

colonist, taking advantage of their super ior know

ledge to m islead the ignorant as to the inten

tions Of Government. French dom inion is there

fore precar ious, even under favourable circum

stances,until the country shall be governed and

adm inistered in such a way as to attach the masses

to its side,and annihilate the evil influence of

the m inority . In all their dealings with the

inhabitants their conquerors have laid down as

an axiom perfect equality before the law ,pro

claiming loudly atthe same time that French

authority protects right against injustice, and r e

wards liberally true and faithful service. Many

ar e the cases,notwithstanding, where the feeble

have given way before the strong, and reclama

tions made by humble individuals have fallen

to the ground under high pressure from thearistocratic few. Matters

,indeed

,ar e getting

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284 COLONIZATION.

mentto r aise the Ar abs fr om their social and

political abasement. The institution of private

pr operty is, in the opinion of those most com

petent to form a judgment, the mostefficacious

means of assuring present dom inion, and of

simplifying adm inistration ; and yet a rumour

is now current that the collective system of the

tr ibes will be perm itted to continue its car eer,with only such an establishment of individual

proper ty as shall notclash with ar istocratic in

ter est. The reason of this policy is to prevent

small proprietors from selling their lands to the

colonists,because

,forsooth, the Ar ab chiefs ar e

afraid that their power may thus slip from them !

Butwhy this Oblivion of the inter ests of coloni

zation ? I have shown elsewhere that,without

it, French dominion would be m'

l in Algeria— a

factwell known to those among the native

leaders who still hOpe to r egain their independence.

The Ar my, whether it governs or whether

it adm inisters, whether in barracks or on an

THE ARMY . 285

expedition , costs much, and pays nothing. The

m ore numerous the generals, and the greater

the number of the men,the more heavy the

expense . Notone of their movements butfindsa place in cyphers on the budget. Sooner or

later, say the natives,France will weary of

sterile sacrifice and useless self-abnegation, and

ultimately abandon the country.

Colonization, on the other hand, whether it

cultivates, fabricates, or engages in commerce,costs next to nothing ; the more it spreads, the

m or e it increases the revenues of the State. Notone of its enterprises

,durable or evanescent

,

but sends something, directly or indirectly,

into the treasury. Italready covers many of

the expenses of adm inistration and Of public

works. A little more progress, and it will pro

duce large returns. Colonization then cannot

be attacked from the financial side of the Al

gerian question.

The Army possesses great powers, and is a

cause of terror to evil-doers ; butaccommodations

286 COLONIZATION.

may be br ought about with it, for it is only led

on by a sentiment of duty. A small contribution

towar ds the expenses of war , and there is an end

of the matter.

Colonization, although unarmed, is capable of

protecting its household gods ; and mor e than

this, having par ried the danger of the moment,

itthinks of the’

danger Of the morrow. Co

lonists,too

,know those who attack them ,

can point them outand hand them over to

justice. Their own interests forbid a thought

Of pardon, and thus the colonistis a m or e

redoubtable enemy in the end than the soldier.

The troops,an expedition over, return qu ietly

into quarters,without caring whether the last

punishmentinflicted will preventfurther insur

rections or not. The colonists,on the contrary

,

ar e obliged to think of the future, and of efl‘i

cacious measures for the preservation Of public

security. From this results the differentatti

tudes of the soldier and the coloniston questions

pending concerning the well-being of Algeria ;

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288 MILITARY GOVERNMENT.

have snfi er ed by the experience of the past

they alone who have a vital inter est in the

futur e.

Gener als in command have openly attempted

to excuse themselves in cases wher e the troops

have been slow in putting down an insur r ec

tion, on the plea of having too much on their

hands. W ould this have been the case had the

adm inistr ation Of the country been distinct

the special command of the Army ?

Until in this r espect Algeria becomes com

pletely assimilated to France— until there

be a complete severance of political and

tary power, as in the mother country— ther e

remains little doubtbutthat Algeria will be badlygover ned, badly occupied, and badly adm inister ed.

The only remedy for the political evils under

which she now groans is the complete and total

separation of thetwo powers, and any attempt atnew combinations will only leadto new er rors and

inevitable m istakes.

ADvICE To THE READER. 289

Befor e bidding adieu to the r eader, it may be

well to puthim au cour antwith our experience

onthe jour ney,in case he also should feel tempted

to explor e Alger ia’s beauties for himself.

In the fi r stplace, then, 0 r eader , if you

tr avel with mules,think twice befor e engaging a

dragoman, unless you ar e lymphatic of temper a

ment,or an invalid. In the latter case

,I should

advise you notto venture beyond Algier s, as youwill undoubtedly do your self more harm than

good by braving the disagreeables of the expedi

tion in the former case,I should also advise you

notto leave Algier s, as you will otherwise find

your self underthe necessity of tr avelling throughlong days in sun and rain

,for a forced period of

sometimes seventeen hours. If,however, you ar e

neither the one nor the other, butsimply an

Englishman ready to endur e anything for the sakeOf excitement, or novelty, or perhaps instr uction,Ican say emphatically, make the journey by all

means. You will m ix with a people as yet almost

unalter ed by contactwith Eur opeans ; you will see

VOL. 11.

290 A DRAGOMAN.

such var ieties of scenic beauty as cannotbutplease

your taste, however fastidious ; and you will meetwith such kindness fr om the colonists as you

would seek in vain to excel, or even r ival, else

wher e. You will encounter difliculties, no doubt,and sometimes per sonal danger, butnothing of

sufi cientimportanceto deter you from your pur

pm . A dr agoman we consider to be a fatal

m istake,as he adds considerablytothe expense of

thetr ip, without being of any material ser vice. I

speak only fr om our own experience. Ever y

wher e we went we found atleastone Arab amongthe mule-drivers who could speak French, and

thus actas interpreter to the r est, and many a

time we r epented bitterly the presence Of

Hamoud,the thor n in our side . Of cour se it

is mor e expeditions to take horsesthan mules, butI irery much doubt whether the latter is notthew iser plan. I am now presum ing thatthe tr aveller has r eally come to see the countr y

, and

will notcavil ata few weeks mor e or less in pointof time. If he is in a hur ry, let him take the

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IMPEDDIENTA.

hor r or notto be dr eamtof, or even

The Ar abs often demur atthe use of any saddle

buttheir own,butther e is always some manner of

getting rid of thei r objections,

‘

and if the worst

cometo the wor st,it is simple enough to tie the

Arab pack on the baggage-mule with the r estofthe impedim nta.

I should advise the tr aveller to take as little

with him as possible,though itis excessively un

wise to be too lightly munitioned. Plenty of

r ugs and wraps, and one of Edmiston’s India~

r ubber sheets should be provided, for many nights

have to be passed on very damp ground in Ar ab

huts, with all the winds and rains of heaven .

driving in by innumerable apertures. A r ound

air -cushion, too, will notbe found am iss e ither

on long diligence journeys or for use when sleep

ing onthe gr ound. N0 one who has notendureditwould be lieve the agony of waking with a

br uised hip-joint that has been digging into the

earth all night ? W ith a good waterproof sheet

spread between yourself and the fleas,a good fur

PROVISIONS. 293

coat, and a saddle for a pillow, itis astonishingwhat comfortmay be attained ; butgr eatmanagementis necessaryto ar r ive atthe desired end. A

single mule will car r y a large burden. W e had

each of us our little bag and bundles of r ugs, and

sometimes two boxes of provisions,and yetone

beast was made to bear it all. Itis mostne

cessarytotake provisions—tin cases of preser ved

meats,biscuits, candles, an etna, and a common

metal pannikin or two, for in some places it is

nextto impossible to obtain anything atall. Two

or three pots of L iebig’s soup will be found a

satisfactor y addition to the store,as well as figs

and raisins, and luxuries of the like innocent descr iption. W e each of us carried a flask of

br andy and an opera-glass, besides a pistol and

ammunition. A lantern was a great delighttous, giving us something to look atdur ing the interm inable diligence jour neys dur ing the night,

besides sheltering our candle from the wind inthetoo airy Arab hovels. Tea should be taken, andalso a quantity of insect-powder.

294 MEDICINE CHEST.

Itis wellto be pr ovided with a variety Of pr e

sents, for in some out-Of-the-way places the bestowal of gifts is the only method of paym entfor eggs, m ilk, &c. Powder is the thing m ostpriz ed by the natives, as it is forbidden to themby law ; butitis a question whether in dangerouspositions it is well thus, as it wer e, to place theweapon in the hands of the executioner.

haps tobacco or snufi is a more judicious gift,accompanied by a showy pouch or B rummagem

knife.

A small medicine chest should notbe forgot

ten, well supplied with plaster and quinine,and

other simple remedies. The Arabs,like all sem i

barbarous nations, imagine that every European

must be a doctor , and frequently come down on

the traveller for some medicament to cure an ima

ginar y disease. M. Jus,near Msila

,told us that

he had taken to applying coloured wafers to the

afflicted spot,and that his success as a physician

was most extraordinary !

If the traveller should desire to go en grand

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NEW AMERICA. ByW ILLIAM HEPW ORTHDIXON.

SE VENTH EDITION. 2 vols. dem y 8vo, with Illustr ations . 30s.

The author ofth is ver y inter esting book having penetr atedth r oughthe plain0

and m ountains of the Far W estinto the SaltLake Valley, her e g ives us an ex

cellentaccountof the Morm ons , and som e str iking descr iptions of the scenes

wh ich he saw , andthe conver sations wh ich he held w ith m any ofthe Saints dur ingh is sojour nther e. For a full accountOf the singular sectcalled the Shaker s, ofthe ir patient, loving industr y, their adm ir able schools, and the ir perpetual inte rcour se with the invisible wor ld, we m ustr efer the r eader toth is wor k. Mr . Dixonhas wr ittenthoughtfully and well, and we can r ecall no pr evi ous book on Am er icantr avel which dwells so fully onthese much vexed subjects.

”— fl'

mes.

Mr . Dixon’s book isthe wor k Of a keen Obser ver , and itappear s atan opportune season. Those who would pur sue all the var ied phenom ena Of wh ich wehave attem pted an outline w ill have r eason to be gr ateful to the intelligentandlively guide who has giventhem such a sample Of the inquir y. Dur m g his r esidence atSaltLake CityMr .Dixon was ableto gather much valuable and inte r estinginform ation r especting Morm on life and society : and the accountof thatsingularbody, the Shaker s, fr om h is Obser vations dur ing a visittotheir ch ief settlem entatMountLebanon, is one ofthe bestparts ofMr . Dixon’s wor k. "— Quarter lyReview.

Ther e ar e few books ofth is season likelyto excite so m uch gener al cur iosity asMr . Dixon’s ver y entertain ing and instr uctive wor k on New Am er ica. None ar e

m or e near ly inter ested in the gr owth and developm entof new ideas onthe othe rside ofthe Atlantic than our selves The book is r eally inte r esting fr om the fi r stpagetothe last, and itcontains a lar ge am ountof valuable and cur ious inform a

tion.

”— Pall Mall Gazette.Inthese ver y entertain ing volumes Mr . Dixon touches upon m any other fea

tur es ofAm er ican society, butitis in h is sketches of Mo rm ons, Shaker s, B ibleComm un ists, and other kindr ed associations, thatthe r eade r w ill pr obably find m ostto inter esth im . W e r ecomm end ever y one who feels any inte r estin hum an na

tur eto r ead Mr . Dixon’s volum es for them selves.— Satar dayReview.

W e have had noth ing aboutUtah andtheMorm ons so genuine and satisfactor yasthe accountnow given us by Mr . Dixon, buthetakes also a wide r glance attheFar W est, and blends with his nar r ative such notes of life as heth inks useful aidsto a study Ofthe newestsocial conditions—germ s Of a soc iety ofthe futur e. The r eis notachapter fr om wh ich pleasantextr actm ightnotbe m ade, notapagethatdoesnotby br ightstudies of hum anity in unaccustom ed fo rm s keepthe attention alivefr om the beginning tothe end Ofthe nar r ative.”— Exammer .

“ Intensely exciting volum es. The centr al inter estofthe book lies in Mr .Dixon’sietar e ofMormon soc iety, and itis for its singular r evelations r especting B r ighamgoung‘

e people, and the Shaker s and B ible Communists,thatn ine r eade r s out

Of ever yten w ill send for an ear ly copy of th is str ange stor y. W h ilstMr . Dixonspeaks fr ankly all thathe knows and th inks, he s eaks Itin a fash ionthatw illcar r y his volum es intothe hands Ofever y woman in ugland andAm er ica.

"— Post.“A book wh ich itis a r ar e pleasur eto r ead— and wh ich w ill m ostindub itably be

r ead by all who car eto studythe newestphenom ena of Am e r ican life .— Spectaror .

W e ar e much m istaken if both in Am er ica and England Mr . Dixon’s volum es

do notw in for them selvesthe w idestcir culation.— Standar d .

Mr . Dixon’s New Am er ica Is decidedlythe cleve r estand m ostinter esting, asithas alr eady pr ovedthe m ostsuccessful, book publishedth is season .

— Star .

Mr . Dixon has wr itten a book aboutAm er ica having the unusual m e r itofbeingatonce am using and instr uctive, tr ue as well as new. Ofthe books publishedth isseasonther e will be none m or e cor dially r ead.

—Macmsllan'

sMagcume.

Mr . Dixon’s book is a car eful, w ise, and gr aph ic ictur e ofthe m ostpr om inentsocial phenom enawhich the newestphases ofthe ow W ould pr esent. The nar r ative is ful l of inter estfr om endto end, as well as of m ostim portantsubjects forconsider ation. No studentof society, no h istor ian of hum an ity , should be withoutitas a r eliable and valuabletext-book onNew Am er ica.

— Allthe Year Round.In these gr aphic volum es Mr . Dixon sketches Am er ican m en and wom en,

shar ply, vigor ously and tr uthfully, under ever y aspect. The smartYankee, the

g rave politician , the senate andthe stage, the pulpitand the pr air ie, loafer s andphilanthr opists, cr owded str eets, andthe howlingwilder ness,the saloon and bond-oh;with woman ever ywher e atfull length— all pass on befor e us in som e Ofthe m ostvivid and br illiantpages ever wr itten.

"—Dublm Unwer sztyMagaz ine.1

MES SRS . HURST AND BLACKETT’S

NEW W ORK S— Continued.

THE LIFE OF JOSIAH W EDGW OOD; F r omhis Pr ivate Cor r espondence and Fam ily Paper s, in theof JOSEPH MAYER

,Esq . , FRANCIS W EDGW OOD, Esq .

,C. DAR

W IN,Esq.

,M.A.

,Miss W EDGW OOD, and other Or iginal

Sour ces. W ith an Intr oductor y Sketch of the Artof Potter y inEngland. By Emmam m n. Dedicatedtothe RightHon. W .

E. GLADSTONE. Complete in 2 vols. 8vo,with Portr aits and 300

other Beautiful Illustr ations,elegantly bound, pr ice 425 .

Thi s is the Life of W edgwoodtothe expected appear ance of which I r efer r edatBur slem .

"—E.rtm d fr om a Letter totheAuthor bythe RightHos. W . E . Gladstone.W e haveto congr atulatethe author ess onthe publication of her Life ofW edg

wood. W e can awar d her the pr aise duetothe most ins-taking and conscien

tious application. She has devoted her whole m ind an ener gyto her subject, andhas achieved awor k notless cr editable to her selfthan itis indispensable to allwho w ish to know anything aboutEngllsh cer am ic artand its gr eatinventor . The

two volum es befor e us ar e inthem selves mar vels of decor ative andtypog raphicalskill. Mor e beauti fully pr inted pages, mor e cr eam y paper , and m or e dainty woodcuts have seldom metour eyes. Itis r ar elythatan author is so well secondedby his coadjutor s as Miss Meteyard has been by her publisher s, pr inte r s, andthestaff of dr aughtsm en and engr aver s who have contr ibutedthe num er ous illustrations which ador nthis sum ptuous book. "—8atur dayReview.

This ver y beautiful book contains thatLife of W edgwood which for the lastfifteen year s Miss Meteyar d has had in view . andto which the W edgwood fam ily,and all who have paper s valuable in r elationto its subject, have been cor diallycontr ibuting. In his adm ir able sketch of W edgwood. given atBur slem , itwasto the publication of this biogr a by thatMr . Gladstone looked for war d withpleasur e Itis a ver y accur ate an valuable book. To give their fullestvaluetothe engr avings of wor ks of artwhich lar gely enr ich the volumes, the biographyhas been made by its publisher s a choice specim en of thei r own artas bookmaker s. Ne ither car e nor costhave been gr udged. Thetwo volum es form as

handsom e a book as has ever been published.

”—E:twaiaer .

“The appear ance of such awor k as Miss Meteyard’s ‘Life ofJosiah W edgwood'

is an eventof im portance inthe sister spher es of liter atur e and art. The biographerof our gr eatpotter has m or ethan or dinar y fitness for the fulfi lmentof her labourof love. She is an enthusiastic adm ir er and a pr actised connoisseur of Ce r am ic

Art, and she br ingsthe pleasantener gy of individualtaste and feelingtoth e aid ofcomplete, authentic, and well-ar r anged information, and the well-balancedstyle of an exper ienced litter ateur . The inter estofthe book gr ows with ever y page.

The r eader will per use the num er ous inter esting articular s of W edgwood’s

fam ily life and affair s with unusual satisfaction, an will lay down the wor kwith undoubting confidence thatitwill r ank as a classic among biog raphies—euexhaustive wor k ofthe fi r str ank in its school. —Homtng Post.An adm ir able, well-wr itten, honour ably elabor ate, and mostinter esting book.

Athem um.

No book has come befor e us for som etime so stor ed with inte r esting information. Miss Meteyar d is a biogr apher distinguished by a clever and ener getic sty le,by delicate judgm ent, extensive infor mation, and a deep inter estin her subject.The histor y ofthe Cer am ic Artin England, andthe biogr aphy ofthe em inentmanwho br oughtitto per fection, have evidently been to her a labour of love ; and of

the spi r itand manner in which she has executed itwe can har dly speaktoo “8133The splendid getting up ofthe wor k r eflects much cr editonthe house fr om w

itis issued.

"—Dublin Univer sityMagaz ine.Inthis magnifi centvolume we welcom e one ofthe ver y noblestcontr ibutionsto

the histo r y of the Cer am ic artever published. W e place itatonce and permauently side by side with Ber nar d Palissy’s Memoir s and with Benvenuto Cellin i ‘sAutobiogr aphy. An abundance Of r ar e and ver y pr ecious mater ials is her e adm inably puttogethe r bythe dexter ous hand and exquisitetaste OfMiss Meteyar d. Am or e conscientious dischar ge ofthe r esponsible duties devolving uponthe biogr aBléer Of a r eally gr eatman has notbeen witnessed, we behave, since the days Ofswell, the gr eatestof all biogr apher s. "—Stm.

2

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NEW W ORK S antinued .

LIFE INA FRENCH CHATEAU. By HUB ERTE. H. Jn sntom x ,

Esq. Second Edition. 1 vol. post8vo, withIllustr ations. 10s. 6d. bound.

“ Mr . Je r ningham'

s attractive and amusing voiume will be per-m ed with much

intér esL"

- Hor nmg Post.“ Athor oughly fr esh and delightful nar rative—valuable, instr uctive, and enter

A r eadable, lea-rantand m us ing book, in which Mr . Jem ingham r ecor ds h islife am ong the eniz ens of the Fr ench Chateau. which extended its courtly hospitalityto him , in a ver y agr eeable and entertaining mauner .

"— CowtJour nal.

A LADY’S GLIMPSE OF THE LATE W ARIN BOHEMIA. By 1m Sl um EDEN. 1 vol. post8vo, withIllustr ations. 108. 6d.

“Miss Eden’s book will be of gr eatser vicetothose who wish im partiallyto con

s ider thetw o aspects of the late war , and will r ichly r epay an attentive pe r usal.Nor is ittothem alonethatthis wor k will be valuable. Itis notonly useful andinstr uctive, butitis inte r esting and amusing. The wor k is highly cmditableto its

FROM CADET TO COLONEL : The Record Ofa Life ofActi ve Se r vice . By Major -Gener al Sir TnonAs SEATON,K .C .B . 2 vols. with Illustr ations

,21s.

Itis diffi cultto imagine anything mor e inter esting both to soldie r s and

civilians than Sir Thomas Seaton'

s r ecord of his active car eer .”— Athemewn.

MY PILGRIMAGE TO EASTERN SHRINES .

By ELIZA C . BUSH. 8vo, with Illustr ations. 158 .

“ Th is wor k contains a gr eatdeal of inte r esting matter , and itwill be r ead withpleasur e by all who ar e inter ested inthe countr yto which so many devoutChr istians have madetheir pilgrimage ”—Obm ~ver .

THE SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST INCANADA. W ith Note s on the Natur al Histor y of the Gam e

,

Gam e B ir ds,and Fish ofthatcountr y. By MAJORW . ROSS KING,

1 vol. super r oyal 8vo, Illustr ated with beautiful Colour ed Plates and W oodcuts. 208. Elegantly bound.

Tr uthful, sim ple, and extr em ely obser vant, Major K ing has been abletothr owm uch lightupon the habits as well asthe zoological r elations of the an imals w ithwh ich he cam e in collision ; and his descr iptions ofthe country , as well as of th ec r eatur es inhabiting it, ar e as br ightand gr aphic asthey ar e evidently cor r ect. "Athenwum.

In ‘The Sportsm an and Natur alistin Canada we have a full, tr ue, and compr ehensive r ecor d of all the facts concer ning Am e r icAn an imals which the autho rwas able in a th r ee year s

’r esidence to collect. W e havethese facts in a goodly

volum e, splendidly illustr ated, and with its contents so well ar r angedthata r efe r

enceto any descr iption of bir d, beast. or fi sh may be made alm ostinstantly. Itisan im portantcontr ibution toNatur al Histo r y, and a wor k the intendingtr avelle rwill consultonce and again, since itgives him the inform ation he m ostneeds, andfinds leastgene r ally accessible. The book will take its position in the for em ostr ank of wor ks of its class. The descr iptions th r oughoutar e wr itten by one who i sa m aste r of h is subject, and who wr ites English such as few ar e ableto equal. Ofr ecentB r itishtr aveller s few can vie with its author in close obse r vation of natur e .

and in those gr ac es of style and scholar ship which m akethe inform ation con

tained in h is volume as pleasantto obtain as itis valuableto pr eser ve. In fact,sincethe wor ks of EliotW ar burton and K inglake, no book of tr avels w ith wh ichwe ar e acquainted has been written in a style mor e clear , for cible, pictur esque.

"

Sunday Tuner .

NEW W ORKS Continued.

MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OFFIELD-MARSHAL VISCOUNT COMBERMERE,

&c.

Fr om h is Fam ily Pape r s . Bythe RightHon. MARY VISCOUNTESSCom m unal : and Capt. W . W .KNOLLYS. 2 v. 8vc , with Portr aits. 30 8.

The gallantStapleton Cotton. ViscountCombe r m er e , was one of those m en

who belong totwo epochs. He was a soldi er , actively engaged, near lyten year sbefor ethe lastcentur y came to itstr oubled close ; and he was am ong us butasyeste r day, a noble veter an, glor iously laden with year s, laur els, and pleasantr em iniscences. To the lastth is noble soldier and m ostper fectgentleman tookch eer ful partin the duties and pleasur es of life, leavingto an only son an inher itance of a gr eatnam e, andto a so r r owing w idow the task of r ecor ding how thebear er ofthe nam e won for itall h is gr eatness. Th is has been done, evidently as

a labour of love, by Lady Combe rm er e, and she has been effi ciently assisted in them ilitar y details by Captain Knollys. Apartfr omthe biogr aph ical and pr ofessionald etails, the volum es, mor eover , ar e full of sketches of per sons of im portance or

inte r estwho cam e into connection with Lord Combermer e.

"—AthenamntA welcom e and gr acefully wr itten m em or ial of one ofthe gr eatestof England'

s

soldier s, and worthiestof her sons. Itis a m ostinter esting wor k.

”—Mor m’

ng Post.This biogr aphy, abounding in letter s and other unpublished m ater ials, is all

fr esh andtr ustworthy information, astothe life of aman whose car eer deser ved a

A . BOOK ABOUT LAW YERS . By J. c h m .

FRESON, Bar r ister at-Law,author of A Book aboutDoctor s,’&c.

New,Revised

,and Cheape r Edition. 2 vols . postSW . 249.

PRINCIPAL Com m a — The Gr eatSeal, Royal Portr aits, The Pr actice of Sealing,Lo r ds Comm issione r s, OnDam asking, TheRival Seals, Pur ses of State, A LadyK eepe r , Lawyer s in Arm s, The Devil's Own, Lawyer s on Hor seback, Chancellor s

’Cavalcades , Ladies in Law Colleges, Yor k House, Powis House,

Lincoln’s Inn Fields, The Old Law Quarter , Loves of the Lawyer s, The Th r ee

Gr aces, Rejected Addr esses, B r other s in Tr ouble, Fees to Counsel, Retainer sSpecial and Gener al, Judicial Cor r u tion, Gifts and Sales, Judicial Salar ies ,Costum e and Toilet, Milline r y, W igs,Eands and Collar s , Bags and Gowns, TheSinging Bar r iste r , Actor s atthe Bar , Political Lawyer s, The Pee r s, Lawyer s inthe House , Legal Education, Inns of Courtand Inns ofChancer y, Lawyer s andGentlem en, Law Fr ench and Law Latin, Reader s and Mootm en, Pupils inChambe r s, W itof Lawyer s, Hum or ous Sto r ies, W its in Silk and Punster s inErm ine, Cir cuitem,

W itnesses, Lawyer s and Saints, Lawyer s in CourtandSociety, Attor neys atLaw , W estm inste r Hall, Law and Lite r atur e, &c.

A Book aboutLawyer s deser ves to be ver y popular . Mr . Jeaffr eson hasaccomplished his wor k in a ver y cr editable manner . He hastaken painsto collectinformation fr om per sons as well as fr om books, and he w r ites w ith a sense ofkeen enjoym entwh ich gr eatly enhances the r eader s pleasur e. He introduces us

to Lawyer dom under a var iety of phases—we have lawyer s in arm s, lawyer s on

hor seback. lawyer s in love, and lawyer s in Par liam ent. W e ar e told of their sala

r ies and fees, their w igs and gowns , thei r jokesand gaieties. W e m eetthem athom e and abr oad, in court, in chamber s, and in com pany. Inthe chapter s headedMirth,’the author has gather edtogether a choice sheafof anecdotes fr om the daysofMor e downto Er skine and Eldon.

”— Tima .

“ These volum es will affor d pleasur e and instr uction to all who r eadthem , andthey will incr ease the r eputation wh ich Mr . Jeaffr eson has alr eady ear ned by his

lar ge industr y and gr eatability . W e ar e indebtedto him for aboutseven hundr edpages, all devotedtothe histor y and illustr ation of legalm en andth ings. Itis m uch

thatwe can say for a book, thatther e is nota super fluous page in it. ”— Athm um.

The success of his ‘Book aboutDoctor s has induced Mr . Jeaffr esonto w r iteanother book— aboutLawyer s. The subjectis attr active. Itis a b r ightstr ing of

anecdotes, skilfully puttogether , on legal topics '

of all sorts , butespecially in illustr ation ofthe lives of fam ous lawyer s. Mr . Jeaffr eson has notonly collected a lar genumbe r of good stor ies, buthe has gr ouped them pleasantly, andtellsthem well.

W e need say little to r ecomm end a book thatcan speak for itself so pleasantly .

No livelier r eading is to be found among the new books of the season.

"

NEW W ORK S— Continued.

TRAVELS IN FRANCE AND GERMANY IN1865 AND 1866 : Including a Steam Voyage down the Danube ,and a Ride ac r oss the Mountains of Eur opean Tur key fr om Bel

gr adeto Montenegr o. By Captain SPENCER, author of Tr avels in

Ci r cassia,

’&c . 2 vols. 21s.

This wor k would atanytim e be r ead with pleasur e, butatthis mom entitisinvested with peculiar inte r est. Itpr esents a clear and compr ehensive view ofGermany onthe eve of war , andth r ows much lighton many questions which haver ece ntly occupied, and ar e still destinedto occupy, a consider able shar e of attention.

Itis m or ethan a nar rative oftr avel, although itpossesses all the attr actions of awe ll wr itten wor k of thatnatur e. Ther e is sufficientof adventure for those wholovethatwhich is exciting ; sketches of wild and beautiful scenes ; glim pses of life,notonly in cities, butin secluded villagea and notes and obser vations onthe social,moral, and political condition ofthe countri es passed thr ough. The unity of Germany is r egar ded as a gain to the whole civilized wor ld ; the exclusion of Austr iafr om Ge r many a into her self andtothe magnificentcountr ies she r ules over in

easte r n Eur ope. ith these countr ies the r eader extends his acquaintance. Acharacte r istic sketch ofthe pr esentstate ofHungar y is given in connection w iththe stor y of a voyage down the Lower Danube. The nar r ative of a r ide ac r oss themountains of Eur opean Tur key is fi lled up with a dem r iption of the manner s and

customs of a people still living in a state of pr imitive simplicity. The author ’sstyle is lucid and anecdotal, andthe r ange of his book gives scope for much pleasing var iety as well as for much useful information.

”— Post.

ENGLISH TRAVELLERS AND ITAL IANBRIGANDS : aNar r ative of Captu r e and Captivity. ByW . J. C .

Mom Second Edition. Revised with Additions. 2 vols. ,with

Portr aitand othe r Illustr ations. 213 .

Mr . Moens had a bad tim e of itamong the Italian B r iganda Buth is n iafortunes ar e nowto h im self andto h is fr iends a sour ce of no little entertainm ent, andwe can say for those who listen to his stor ythatwe have followed him in h isadventur es with pleasur e. He te lls histale in a clear and sim ple style, and withthatconfidentm anliness which is notafr aidto be natu —TheNara .

Mr . Moens has had an exper ience and an adventur e of startling magnitude inthese pr osaictim es of our s. He has seen whatno other Englishnian has seen, andhas done whatno one else has done, and has wr itten a br ightand charming bookasthe r esult."—Allthe Year Round.

Inthese volum es,the liter ar y mer its ofwhich ar e numer ous, we have the tru estor y ofthe captur e ofMr . Moens by the br igands. W e have no doubtthatthebookwill be extensively r ead ; we ar e quite sur ethatitwill do an imm ense amountof good. Itlets in a flood of lightuponthe dens ofthese r obber s. ”—Dai lyNews.A W INTER W ITH THE SW ALLOW S IN

ALGERIA. By Mu m » BETHAM EDW As . 8ve,with Illustr a

tions. 159 .

A pleasantvolume ; a genuine, graphic r ecord of a time of thor ough enjoyment. —Aihm am.

A fr esh and fascinating book, full ofmatter and beauty. Itis one ofthe mostinstr uctive books oftravel ofthe season, and one ofthe br ightest. Itwould be difficultto over pr aise it. ”— Spectator .

“A br ight, blithe, pictur esque, artistic book, full of colour and sunshine, andr eplete with good sense and sound obser vation. Tothe enthusiasm of the book a

gr eatportion of its beauty and its attr action ar e ow ing , butsolid information andthe r eality ofth in s in Al ger ia ar e neve r disguised in favour of the br ightland towhi ch the author ollowedthe Swallows. —Post.

TRAVELS ANDADVENTURES OF ANOFFICER’S W IFE IN INDIA

,CHINA

, AND NEW ZEALAND.

By Mr s. MUTER,W ife of Lieut.-ColonelD. D. Mum 13th (Pr ince

Albert’s) LightInfantr y. 2 vols. 218.

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MES SRS . HURST AND BLACKETT’S

NEW W ORK S— Continued.

A JOURNEY FROM LONDON TO PERSEPOLIS ; including WANDERINGS INDAGHESTAN, GEORGIA,

ARMENIA, KURDISTAN, MESOPOTAMIA, AND PERSIA.

By J. Ussm , Esq ., Royal 8vo, with num er ous beauti ful

Colour ed Illustr ations. Elegantly bound.

Th is is a ver y inte re sting nar r ative. Mr . Ussher is one ofthe pleasantestcompan ious we have metw ith for a longtim e W e have r ar ely read abook oftr ave ls inwh ich so much was seen so r apidly and so easily, and in wh ich the scener y, theantiquities, and the people im pr essed the author 's m ind with such gentlemanlysatisfaction. Mr . Usshe r mer ited h is success andthis splendid monum entof h istravels and pleasantexplor ations Timer .

TRAVELS ON HORSEBACK IN MANTCHUTARTARY : being a Summ er

’s Ride beyondthe Gr eatW all of

China. By GEORGE FLmnNO , Militar y Tr ain. 1 vol. r oyal 8ve,w ith Map and 50 Illustr ations.Mr . Flem ing

’s nar rative is amostcharming one. He has an untr odden r egionto

tell of, and he photogr aphs itand its people andtheir ways. Life -like descr iptions ar einte r spe r sed w ith pe r sonalanecdotes, local legends, and stor ies ofadventur e, som e ofthem r evealing no common artistic power . "—Spectator .

THE OKAVANGO RIVER: A NARRATIVEOF TRAVEL

, EXPLORATION, AND ADVENTURE. ByC. J. ANDERSSON, Author of Lake Ngam i.” 1 vol. Illustr ations.

TRAVELS IN THE REGIONS OF THEAMOOR, ANDTHE RussIANAoomsr r ross ONTHE CONFmEs or INDIAAND CHINA. By T. W . ATKINSON, Author of

Or iental and W este r n Siber ia.

” Dedicated,by pe r m ission, to

HER MAJESTY. Royal 8vo, with Map and 83 Illustr ations.

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THIRTEENYEARS’ SERVICE AMONGST THE WILD TRIBES OF

KHONDISTAN, FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF HUMANSACRIFICE. By Major -Gener al JOHNCm snnn, CB . 1 vol. 8vo,with Illustr ations.

ADVENTURES AMONGST THE DYAK S OFBORNEO. ByFREDERICK BOYLE, Esq .,

1 vol. 8vo.

YACHTING ROUND THE W EST OF ENGLAND. By the Rev. A. G. L

’Esm ANOB , B .A.

,of Exete r College,

Oxfor d, 1 vol. 8vc,Illustr ated.

ADVENTURES ANDRESEARCHES am ong theANDAMANISLANDERS. ByDr . MOUA'

r,

&c 1 vol.

demy 8ve, w ith Illustr ations.

SPORT AND SPORTSMEN: A Book of Recellections. By CHARLEs STREr r ON, Esq . 8vo, with Illustr ations.

BRfiGfi

lgDLIFE INITALY. By COUNT MAFFEI.

ontmue

THE BEAUTIFUL INNATURE ANDART.

By MRS . ELLIS. Author of The W om en of England,’650 . 1 vol.

cr own 8vo, with fine Portr ait. 108 . 6d.

W ith pleasur e her num er ous adm ir er s will welcom e a new book bythe popularauthore ss of The W om en of England.

’ A ver y char m ing volum e isth is newwor kby Mr s. Ellis. Its aim isto assistthe young students of artin those studies andsubjects ofthoughtwh ich shall enable them r ightlyto a r eciate and r ealisethatoft-quotedtr uth, ‘Ath ing of beauty is a joy for ever .

’he Tr uthfulness ofArt, ’

The Love of Beauty ,

’The Love of Or nam ent,’ Ear ly dawn ofArt,’and var ious

chapter s of a kindr ed natur e, ar e followed by other s desc r iptive of Lear ning toDr aw,

’Im itation, ’ Lightand Shadow,

’‘Form ,

’Colour ,

’Lady

’s W or k,’ac. The

wor k wi ll inte r estmany fair r eader s. "—Swa.GARIBALDI AT HOME : Notes of a Visit toCapr er a. By SIRCHARLES R. MCGRIGOR, Bart. 8vc . 158.

MEMOIRS OF QUEENHORTENSE,MOTHER

OF NAPOLEONIII. Cheape r Edition, in 1 vol. 68.

A biography ofthe beautiful and unhappy Queen, mor e satisfactor ythan any wehave yetmetwith.

—DailyNews.

W ILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. By CARDINALW ISEMAN. 1 vol. 8vo, 58.

PRISONCHARACTERS DRAWNFROM LIFE.

BY A PRISONMATRON, Author of Fem ale Life in Pr ison .

’2 v. 218 .

These volum es ar e inte r esting and suggestive —Atheorem».

The author ’s quick-witted tr anscr ipts of living char acter ar e studies thatnocan make obsolete or depr ive of inter estfor living m en.

”—Examiner .

RECOLLECTIONS OF A LIFE OF ADVENTURE. By W ILLIAM STAMEB . 2 vols. with Portr ait. 218.

THE GIRAFFE HUNTERS . By CAPTAINMAYNEREID. Author of The Rifle Ranger s,

’&c. 3 vols.

ANNALS OF A QUIET NEIGHBOURHOOD.

By GEORGE MACDONALD, M.A.,Author of ‘Alec For bes

,

’&c. 3 v.

Mr .MacDonald is atr ue poet. The Annals of aQuietNeighbour hood ar e as

full of music as was Pr osper o’s island : r ich in str ains thattakethe ear captivewhenthe ar e fi r sthear d, and after war ds linger long upon it. — Satur dayReview.

The e r m s and value ofMr .MacDonald’swor k need notbe sought—they pr esentthem selves unasked for , inthe tender beauty of h is descr iptions, whether of

natur e, or of life and char acter ; in his almostsupe r natur al insightintothe wor kings

ofthe human heart, and in his uneeasing fertility ofthoughtand happy exactitu e

of illustr ation. W hoever r eads the book ones will r ead itmany tim es.”—Pa1i

Hall Gaz ette

MADONNA MARY. By Mr s. OLIPHANT,Author

of Agnes,’&c. 3 vols.

Fr om fi r stto lastMadonnaMar y is wr itten with evenness and vigour , and

over flows with the bestqualities of its wr iter ’s fancy and humour . The stor y isthor on hly or iginal, as far as its plotand leading incidents ar e conce r ned ; andthestr engfii ofthe nar r ative is such thatwe question if any r eader will lay itaside,notwithstandingthe fulness in histh r oat, andthe constr iction of h is heart, until hehas shar ed inthe happiness wh ich is liber ally assigned tothe actor s ofthe dr am abefor ethe falling ofthe g r een curtain. Butthe pr incipal charm s ofthe wor k ar esubtle humour , fineness of touch, and seem ing ease with which Mr s.thautdelineates and contr asts her numer ous char acter s. —Athenamm.

9

THENEW ANDPOPULARNOVELS,PUBLISHEDBY HURST BLACKETT.

OLDSIRDOUGLAS. By the Hon.MRS.NORTON,Author of Lostand Saved,’&c. 3 vols.

FAIRW OMEN. By MRS . FORRESTER. 3 vols.(In October .)

SIRTRISTRAM’S W ILL . By ALICE KING, Au

thor of ‘Eveline,&c. Dedicatedto CHARLES DIcm s. 3 vols.

A W OMAN’S TRIALS . By GRACE RAMSAY. 3 v .

A clever , inte r esting novel. Mabel Stanhope is as sweeta char acter as we

r emember to have metwith inthe wor ld of r omance for a long—for a ver y longwhile.

’fi—Athaw umtThe her oine of this book is a mostlovable char acter , and her extr ao r dinar y

tr ials and heroic endur ance of them constitute a tale which we advise all our

r eader sto pr ocur e for themselves. The book is a decided success.”—Joha Bull.THE SISTERS OF SAINTHILL . By LADY

Bu n . 8 vols.

W e ar e re joiced againtowelcome a work of Lady Blake’s—one of our most

charming novelists. The pr esentvolumes fully sustain her r eputation. Fr omfi r stto lastthetale is natural and lifelike , andthe inter estwell sustainedth roughout."—Jolm Bull.

The Sister s of Sainthlll.’by Lady Blake, is athor oughly r eadable novel. Thestor y is one of much inter est, and itis mostskilfully wor ked outItcan scar celyfailto be a favour ite with mostr eader s. "—Star .

THE CURATE’S DISCIPLINE. ByMRS. EILOART .

3 vols.

W e r ecommendthis booktothe novel-reader . Itis better than nine-tenths ofth is year ’s wor ks, andthe r eade r will be pleased with itasthe pr oduction of a ladyappar ently gifted with a good education, goodtaste, and, whatis sti ll mor e r e

mar kable, good common sense."—Atlmueum.

LESLIE TYRRELL. By GEORGIANA M. CRAIK,Author of Faith Unwin’8 Or deal,’&c . 2 vols.

Ther e ar e charm ing tr aits of char acter inthis book—much ofthe portr aitur eis per fect. The contr astbetween Leslie Tyr r ell and Fr ank Ar nold is dr awn withwonder ful skill. "—S

Leslie Tyr r ell’

a charm ing stor y. Itis a finished pictur e of a high-minded,excellentwoman.

’—Hom mg Post.

ALEC’S BRIDE. By the Author of St. Olave’s,’

‘Janita’Cr oss,’&c. 3 vols.

in gofie

figglfiige’js;

charm ing book, and possessesthe advantage of being wr itten“A ver y charming novel. The style is good and graceful, and the tone pur e.

The char acter s ar e clear ly conce ived, finely discr im inated, and well sustained. "

CONSTANCE RIVERS . By LADY BARRETT LENNARD. SECONDEDITION. 3 vols.

This book is full of genius, and contains many str ikingly beautiful passages.Itwell dese r vesto find r eader s. Those who begin itwill certainly feel inclinedtofi n ish it. Itis wr itten in a sm art, lively style, and per sonages ofthe higher classar e hitof! faithfully and skilfully. Itcontains many exquisite pieces of poetry.Thetale of Lyla forms one ofthe mostbeautiful idyls we have ever r ead.

"

IRENE’S REPENTANCE. ByCHRISTIANEYRE . 2v.

A ver y leasantstor y. Itis welltold, andther e is a healthytonethr oughout.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

engr aved, bandsomelg bound, with giltedges, pr ice 313 . 6d.

L ODGE S P E ERAGEANDBARONETAGE

CORRECTED B Y THE NOB ILITY.

THE THIRTY-SIXTH EDITIONFOR1867 ISNOW READY.

LOBOR'

S Pm AOR AND BARONRTAOR is acknowledged to be the m ostcomplete , as well as the m ostelegant, wor k of the kind. As an established and authentic author ity on all questions r especting the fam ilyhistor ies, honour s, and connections ofthe titled ar istoc r acy, no wor k haseve r stood so h igh. Itis published under the especial patr onage of Her

Majesty, and is annually cor r ected th r oughout, fr om the per sonal com

munications ofthe Nobility. Itisthe only wor k of its class in which, thetype being keptconstant?l

standing, eve r y cor r ection is m ade in its pr operplacetothe date of pub

'

cation , an advantage which gives itsupr em acyover all its competitor s. Independently of its full and authentic infor mation r especting the existing Pee r s and Bar onets ofthe r ealm ,

the m ostsedulous attention is given in its pages to the collate r al br anches of thevar ious noble fam ilies, and the nam es of m any thousand individuals ar e

intr oduced, which do notappear in other r ecor ds ofthetitled classes. For

its author ity, cor r ectness, and facility of ar r angem ent,and the beauty of

its typogr aphy and binding, the wor k is justly entitled to the place “it

occupies onthetables ofHer Majesty andtheNobility.

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL CONTENTS.

Histor ical View ofthe Peer age. The Ar chbishops and B ishops of England.Par liam entar yRoll ofthe House ofLor ds. Ir eland, andthe Colonies.English, Scotch, and Ir ish Peer s, in their The Bar oneta e alphabetically ar r anged.

order s of Pr ecedence. Alphabetical istof Sur nam es assum ed byAlphabetical Listof Peer s ofGr eatBr itain m ember s ofNoble Fam il ies.

andthe United K ingdom , holding supe Al habetical Listof the Second Titles Of

r ior r ank in the Scotch or Ir ish Peer age . Bee r s, usually bor ne by their EldestAlphabetical listof Scotch and Ir ish Pee r s, Sons.

holding supe r ior titles in the Pee rage Of Alphabetical Index to the Daughter s of

Gr eatBr itain andthe Un ited K ingdom . Dukes, Mar quises, and Ear ls. W 110 , havA Collective listof Peer s. in their or der of ing mar r ied Comm oner s, r etain thetitlePr ecedence. of Lad befor etheir own Chr istian and

Table of Pr ecedency am ong Men. their usband’s Sur nam es.

Table of Pr ecedency among W om en. Al habetical Index to the Daughter s of

The Queen andthe Royal Fam ily. iscounts and Bar ons, who, havingPeer s ofthe BloodRoyal mar r ied Comm oner s, ar e styled HonourThe Peer age, alphabetically ar r anged. able Mr s ; and, in case of the husbandFam ilies of such ExtinctPeer s as have left being a Bar onetor Knight, Honour ableW idows or Issue. Lady.

Al habetical Listofthe Sur names of allthe Mclitgie

s alphabetically ar r anged andtr amee r s. a

Lodge’s Pee r age mustsuper sede all other wor ks ofthe kind, for two r easons : fi r st, it

is on a bette r plan and secondly, itis bette r executed. W e can safely pr onounce itto bethe r ead iest, the m ostuseful, and exactestof moder n wor ks on the subject. "— Spectator .Awor kwhich cor r ectsall er r or soffor m er wor ks. Itisamostuseful publication.

"

“ A wor k of gr eatvalue. Itis the mostfaithful r ecor d we possess of the ar istocr acy ofthe day.

”— Post.“ The bestex isting, and, W e hellev the b t

author ity onthe subject.” —Her ald.

e, es possible peerage. Itisthe standar d

NOW INCOURSE OF PUBLICATION

IIURSTANDBLACKETT’SSTANDARDLIBRARYOF CHEAP EDITIONS OF

POPULARMODERNW ORKS,ILLUSTRATEDBY MILLAIS, HOLMANHUNT, LEECH, BIRKET FOSTER»

JOHNGILBERT, TENNIEL, &0.

Each in a single volume, elegantly pr inted, bound, and illustr ated, pr ice 158.

VOL . I.— SAM SLICK’SNATURE ANDHUMANNATURE.

The fi r stvolume ofMessr sHur stand Blackett’sStandard Librar y ofCheapEditionsfor ms a ver y good beginningto whatwi ll doubtless be a ver y successful undertaking.

Natur e and Human Natur e’is one ofthe bestof Sam Slick’s witty and hum or ous

pr oductions, and i swellentitledtothe lar ge ci r culation which itcannotfailto obtain inIts pr esentcom enientand cheap sha The volume combines withthe gr eatr ecommandations of a clear , boldtype , an good paper , the lesser , butattractive mer its ofbeing well illustr ated and elegantly bound.

”—P ost.

VOL. II.— JOHNHALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

This is a ver y good and a. ver y inter esting work. Itis des'

edtotracethe car eerfr om boyhoodto age ofaper fectman—aCh r istian gentleman, an itabounds in incidentboth well and highlywr ought. Thr oughoutitis conceived in ahigh spir it, and wr ittenw ith gr eataoihty. This cheap and handsome new edition isworthyto pass fr eely fr omhandto hand as agiftbook in many households .

”—E .vaminer .

The new and cheaper edition ofth is inter esting wor k willdoubtlessmeetwith greatsuccess. John Halifax,the her o ofthis mostbeautiful sto is no or dinar y her o. andthis his history is no or dinary book. Itis a full-len h po itof atr ue gentleman ,

one Of natur e’s own nobility. Itis alsothe histo o ahome , andathor oughlyEnglishone. The wor k abounds in incident, and is ful of gr aphic power and tr ue pathos.

Itis abookthatfew will r ead withoutbecom ing wiser and better .”—Scoteman .

VOL . III.— THE CRESCENT ANDTHE CROSS.

BY ELIOT W ARBURTON.

Independentof its value as an or iginal nar r ative, and its useful and inte r estinginformation , this wor k is r emar kable for the colour in power and

play of fancy with

which its descr iptions ar e enlivened. Among its tandmos lasting charms isits r ever entand se r ious spir it.”— Quarter lyReview.

“ A book calculatedto prove mor epractically useful was never pennedthan ‘

TbeC r escentandthe C r oss -awor k whio sur passes all other s in Its homage for the sublim e and its love for the beautiful inthose famous ons consecr atedto ever lastingimmortality in the annals ofthe pr ophets, and whio no other wr iter has ever de

picted with a pencil atonce so r ever entand so pictur esque. —Stm .

VOL. IV.— NATHALIE. BY JULIA KAVANAGH.

Nathalie’is Miss Kavanagh’s bestimaginative effort. Its manner is graciousand attractive. Its matte r is good. .A sentiment, atender ness, ar e commanded byher which ar e as i ndividual they ar e elegant.”—Athemeum.

VOL. V.- A W OMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT W OMEN.

BY THE AUTHOROF “JOHNHALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

”

Abook of sound counsel. Itis one ofthe mostsensible wor ks of its kind, wellw r itten .tr ue-hearted, and altogether pr actical. W hoeve r wishesto give adviceto ayoung lady maythankthe author for means of doing so.

”—Examiner .

VOL . VL— ADAM GRAEME. BY MRS OLIPHANT.

A stor y awakening enuine emotions of inter estand de htby its adm ir able pictur es of Scottish li fe an scene The author sets befor e us e essential attr ibutes ofChr istian virtue , thei r deep an silentwor kin inthe heart.andtheir beautiful manifestations in lifawithadelicacy, power ,andtr utwhich canhardlybe sur passed —Poct.

(CONTINUED).

VOL. VII.— SAM SLICK’S WISE SAW S

ANDMODERNINSTANCES.

W e have notthe slightestintentionto cr iticisethis book. Its r eputation ismade,and w ill stand as long as thatof Scott’s or Bulwer 's Novels. The r emar kabgmality of its pur pose , andthe happy

descr iption itaffords of Am er ican life and mannets. still continue the subj ect0 univer sal adm iration. To say thus much is tosay enough, though we mustustmentionthatthe new edition forms a partofMessr sB ur sta nd Blackett’s Cheap tandard Libr ar y, which has included some ofthe verybestspecimens of lightliter aturethatever have been wr itten.

—Mesm ger .

VOL. VIE —CARDINAL WISEMAN’S RECOLLECTIONSOF THE LAST FOURPOPES.

“A ictur esque book on Home and its ecclesiastical sover eigns, by an eloquentBomsn holic. Cardinal W iseman hastr eated a specialsubjectwith so much geniality,thathis r ecollections will excite no ill-feeling inthose who ar e mostconscientiously oppmedtoever y ideaofhumaninfallibihty r epr esented inPapaldomination.

”—Athem sa

VOL. IX. A LIFE FORA LIFE.

BY THE AUTHOROF “JOHNHALIFAX,GENTLEMAN.

“In ALife for aLife

’the author is fortunate in agood subject, and has pr oducedawor k of str ong efl'ect.”—Athem es.

VOL. X.— THE OLDCOURT SUBURB . BY LEIGH HUNT.

Adelightful book,thatwill be welcometo all r eader s, and mostwelcometothosewho have a love forthe bestkinds of r eading .

”—E .eaminer .

“Amor e agr eeable and enterte'

book has notbeen published sinceBoswellpr Ooduced his r eminiscences ofJohnson.

’— Obser ver .

VOL. XL— MARGARET ANDHERBRIDESMAIDS .

“W e r ecommend all who ar e in sear ch ofa fascinati novelto r eadthis wor k fo rthemselves. They will find itwell worththeir while . her e ar e a fr eshness and

ginality aboutitquite charming.

’—Athem -m .

VOL. XII.— TH

'

E OLDJUDGE. BY SAM SLICK.

The publications included inthis Lib have all been of good quality ; many giveinformation while they entertain, and oft classthe bookbefor e us Is a. specimen .

The manner in which the Chea Editions forming the ser ies is pr oduced deser vesespecialmention. The paper an pr intar e unexceptionable ther e Is asteel engr avingin each volume , and the outsides ofthem W ill sati sfythe pur chaser who likesto seebooks in handsome uniform.

”

VOL. XIII.— DARIEN. BY ELIOT WARBURTON.

This lastpr oduction ofthe author of The Cr escentand the Cr oss hastheelements ofa ver y wide popular ity. Itwillplan e itsthousan —Globe.

VOL. XIV—FAMILY ROMANCE ; OR, DOMESTICANNALS OF THE ARISTOCRACY.

BY SIRBERNARDBURKE, ULSTERKING or ARMS.

Itwer e impossibleto pr aisetoo highlythis :mostinter esting book. Itoughtto he

found on ever y dr awing-r oomtable. cr

ayon have near ly fi fty captivating r oman

withthe pith ofalltheir inter estpr eser vmay be r ead in halfan hour .

— Standar d.

VOL. XV.— THE LAIRDor NORLAWBY MRS OLIPHANT.

The Laird ofNor law fully sustainstheauthor’s high r eputation.

”- Smtday “use.

in undiminished poignancy. and any one

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(GUNTINUED) .

VOL. XxvIIl .— LBS MISERABLES. BY VICTORHUGO.

AUTHORISEDCOPYRIGHT ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

The mer its of Les Miser ables do notmer ely consistin the conce

lption of itas a

whole ; itabounds , m e afte r page , with details of unequalled beauty. n dealiu w ith

allthe summons , doubts , ream , w nch goto make up our common humanitM. ictorHugo has stamped upon eve ry pagethe hall-mar kofgenius .

”— Quaster lyRevi ewVOL. XXIX.

— BARBARA’S HISTORY.

BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS.

Itis notoften thatwe lightupon a novel of so much mer itand inter estasBar bara

’s Histo ry.

’Itis a wor k conspicuous for taste and lite r ary cultur e, Itis a.

ve r graceful and char m ing book, W ith a well-managed stor y , clear ly-cutchar acter ?ah sentim ents expr essed W ith an exquisite elocution. Itis a book whichthe wor lwill like. Th is is high pr aise ofawor k ofart, and so we intend it.”— Times.

VOL. XXX—LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARDIRVING.

BY MRS OLIPHANT.

A good book on amostinter estingtheme.— Times.

Atr uly inte r esting a nd mostaffecting memoir . Ir ving'

s Life oughtto have anichein every galler y of r eligious biog r aphy. Ther e ar e few livesthatwill be fuller of ihstr uction, i nte r est, and consolati on.

—S stur dafReview.

Mr s Olighant’s L ife of Ir vmg supplies a one-feltdesider atum . Itis copi

gx,

ear nest, an e lo nent. Ir ving, as amana nd as a pasto r , is exhi bited with many brpower ful. and e-liketouches , which leave a strong Impr essIOIL ”—Edinbur ghRevi ew .

VOL . XXXI.— ST OLAVE’S.

This charm ing novel isthe wor k of one who possesses agr eattalentfor w r iting, aswell as exper ience and knowledge orthe wor ld. StOlavo’s’isthe wor k of an artist.'

A li e whole book is worth r eadi ng.

”—Athemsum.

VOL. XXXH — SAM SLICK’S TRAITS OF AMERICANHUMOUR.

Dip wher e you will intothis lot of fun, you ar e sureto dr aw outs pr ize. Theser acy Tr aits exhibitmostsuccess ully the broad national featur es of Amer i can

humour .

”—.Post.

VOL . XXXIII.— OHBISTIAN’S MISTAKE.

BY THE AUTHOROF “JOHNHALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

A mor e char m ing stor y,to our taste , has r ar ely been wr itten. In the compass of

a single volumethe wr iter has h itcd’a c ir cle of var ied character s all tr ueto natu r e,a nd she has entangled them in a story which keepsus in suspense fill! its knotishappily and gracefull r esolved ; wh i le, atthe same tune , a pathetic inter estis sus

tained b an artofw ‘

ch itwould be difficultto analysethe secr et. ItIs a choice In

to be ab 0thusto r end human natur e sotr uly,to penetr ate its depths W ith sue a

hing sagacity, andto illum inate them W ith a r adiance so em inentlythe wr iter ’sown. Even Iftr ied bythe standar d ofthe Ar chbishop ofYor k , we should expectthateven he would pr onounce ‘

Chr istian’s Mistake a novel withoutafault.”— s es.

VOL. XXXIV.

— ALEC FORBES OF HOWGLEN.

BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, M.A. ,

N0 accountofthis story would ‘

ve any ideaofthe pr ofound inter estthatthe wor k fr om the fi r st 9 tote last. — Athenwam .

“This book Is

thoughtand good wr iting . MacDonald r eads life and natur e like atr ue poet.”h ammer .