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ALGERIA AND TUNIS

IN 1845.

CAPTAIN J. CLARK KENNEDY,

18 th (royal ibish] begiment.

AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY
MADE THROUGH THE TWO REGENCIES

VISCOUNT J-EILDING AND CAPT. KENNEDY.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL IL

LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,

GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1846.

ii^n

'2-1']
v,2-

rUXTBB BT W. WnCOCKSOK, WOLXM BVZXXUirOS, VSTTSK LAVE.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 11.

CHAPTER I.

Land at the Goletta — Arrive at Tunis — Sketch of its history
— Population of the city — Situation — View from the Bel-
vedere — The Bardo — Interview with the Bey— -Architecture
of Tunis — "Sooks" — Shops — Sales by auction— Honesty
of the crowd — Flowers — Annual expedition to the Jereed —
Bey of the camp . . . .1

CHAPTER 11.

Hamman el Enf— Lover's vows— Arrive at Solyman — The
Sheick's disappointment — Boar hunt— A Tunisian sports-
man — His misadventure — Bees — The mare and foal —
Rhades — Lake of Tunis — The Goletta— Carthage— Quail
Shooting— Chapel of St. Louis — Bordj Jedeed — Cisterns^
of Carthage — Sir Thomas Reade's excavations — Ruins —
Abdalleeah — Sir T. Reade's collection— Beautiful intaglio
— Second visit to the Bardo— Signer Raffb — Dragomen—
Supply of water — The consulate — Marine gate 22

ir CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

l)eparture from Tunis—" Amers " pf ihe Bey — Our escort —
l>jebel Mukhtar — Grumbalia — Olives— El Arbain — Pro-
bable scene of Masinissa's escape—Ruins — A disputed point
— Ksar d Menarah — Sebkah el Jereeba — History of Baba
Jebb— Ancient custom— Arab miles — Hergla — Antiquities
— Numidian cranes — Gardens — Pottery of Gerbab —
Arriyal at Susa .. . .47

CHAPTER IV.

StiaaL — Ruins of Admmetum — Tunisian Infantry — ^Ancient
and modem harbours— Export trade — Soap manufactory —
Oil mill — The camel's revenge— Administration of justice-
Prisoners — The Raid's seal, and the forgery — The " Saheb-
el-taba" — Date palm — Monasteer — Mahometan sabbath —
Tunny fishery — Lambtah — Incaltah — Cultivation of the
olive— Longevity of the olive— Ruins of Thapsus— Arrival
at Mahadeah ..... . .66

CHAPTER T.

Our ree^tion by Hadji Sidi Mohamet Hamsa— Mahadeah—
Its history— Spanish fortifications— Ancient harbour— Cis-
terns— Tombs— Saracenic ruin— Xuruckseff— Friendly re-
ception—Sketching and taking portraits— The evil eye-
Amulets— Questions and answers— Early start— The curse
of blood— The Smalah of the Kaid of Sfax— Jellooli—
Arab Women— Rouga— Long ride— Jebiniana— Uncom-
foKtaUe night * ^ . . S9

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

lachla — The sand grouse— Sfax — Its trade — Gerbeh — Moor-
idi cookery—The Ka'id's country house— Flowers— Gardens,
and the house tax — Freedom of the inhabitants from
bigotry — Bivouac — An alarm — The Ampliitheatre of El
Jem — Ruins of Tysdrus — Saltpetre works — Medical prac-
tice among the Arabs — Arab school — The Hadji's well —
The i^ain of Kairouan— The Holy Qty . . 107

CHAPTER VII.

Kairouan— Its history and sanctity— The prophet's barber—
The Kaiyas of Kairouan— Female fury— The grand mosque
— Its size and magnificence — Miraculous pillars— Sidi Ab*
dailah and Solyman attempt the passage— Population and
trade— Fanaticism— Leave Kairouan — Pilgrim — Mirage—
Zouwan . . . . .^ 128

CHAPTER VIII.

Zouwan — Its spring and temple — Untried adventure — Sha-
sheahs — New quarters — Ascent of the mountain— Ruins
of Oudena— The great aqueduct— Mahmudiah — Locusts —
Return to Tunis — Plans— Farewell interview with the Bey
—Court of Justice— Ancient and modem costume — " Chat-
tars" — Interior of the Bardo— Young courtiers— -The Bey's
stud— Manuba palace—Barracks— Sidi Tolhah— An Arabic
ade — The Kasbah— Powder mills— Public buildings of
Tunis— Statistics of the Regency — The Bey— Abolition of
slavery —Government , . . .142

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

Departure from Tunis — Changes in our party — ^Aqueduct —
The Majerdah—Tubnrba— Theological dispute — Cloth-
mill — Medjaz el Bab — The banks of the Majerdah— Locusts
an omen of war — Testoor — The meeting of friends — Ruins
of Tounga — Tubersook — Christian inscription — Ruins of
Dugga-~ Magnificent temple — The Kaid of Tubersook 172

CHAPTER X.

Ejah — Sidi Abder Rubbu — Mausoleum^ Inhospitable recep-
tion at Keff— Antiquities — Relics of Christianity — A tra-
veller's duty — Situation of Keff— Storks— A Moorish custom
— Departure from Keff— The Milleg — Douar of the Wur-
gahs — Lions — Bad weather — Nocturnal annoyances — Arab
dogs — Gossiping — Our medical practice — Excessive hospi-
tality of the Sheick — Cross the frontier — Douar of the
Risghis — Extensive view — The valley of the Seybouse —
Return to Bona ..... 190

CHAPTER XI.

Bona— The Opera in Africa — Forest of the Djebel Edough—
Fricandeau de lion— Departure from Bona— Drean —
Mez-meia— Hammam Berda— Guelma— Its ruins and anti-
quities—Valley of the Alligha— tiammam Meskhoutin —
Hot springs— High temperature— Efficacy of the waters
— Roman baths and antiquities— Analysis— Curious cavern
—Latin inscriptions— Arrival at Constantine . 215

• ■

CONTENTS. Vll

CHAPTER XII.

First view of Constantine— Its situation and appearance —
Enter the city— Fortifications— Siege and capture of Con-
stantine in 1837 — Monuments — Improvements — Street
architecture— Cork model— Palace of the Bey— The ravine
— The river Rummel — Ancient bridge— Walk round the
dty— The falls of the Rummel— The Kasbah— Place of
execution— Roman house— Ancient history of Constantine
— Its present population and trade — Funeral of Sula

CHAPTER XIII.

Departure from Constantine— McAdam in Africa — Le loup
Wane— Diligence — *'Les Zephyrs" — Artillery and agricul-
ture—Military farm-yard— Philippe ville —Algiers— Abd-el-
Kader — Conclusion . . . . .247

ALGERIA AND TUNIS

IN 1845.

CHAPTER I.

Land at the Groletta—Arriye at Tunis — Sketch of its History
—Population of the City— Situation — View from the Bel-
vedere — The Bardo— Interview with the Bey — Architecture
of Tunis — "Sooks" — Shops — Sales by Auction— Honesty
of the crowd — Flowers — Annual expedition to the Jereed —
Bey of the Camp.

The morning of our arrival at Tunis
was cold and bleak; a sickly fog rested
upon the land ; and every object, borrowing
the hue of the dull gray sky, looked dreary
and comfortless. We remained at anchor
in the roads until the mail-bag was landed
and orders were received from the shore,
when the Liamone proceeded to take up her
usual berth in the Goletta, — the narrow
canal, strongly fortified, that connects the

VOL. II. B

I ^5

2 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

Lake of Tunis with the sea. Passing the
custom-house without the slightest trouble,
the mention of the words English officer
acting like a talisman, we hired one of the
clumsy, flat-bottomed boats that carry on
the traffic of the lake, and crossed to Tunis,
a distance of ten miles. At the landing-place
we found Sir Thomas Reade, the Consul-
General, who, expecting our arrival by the
steamer, came down to meet us, and insisted
on our taking up our quarters in the consu-
late, where we were soon installed with all
the luxuries and comforts of home around us.

By way of introduction to the succeeding
chapters, descriptive of Tunis as it at present
exbts, a slight sketch of its history may not
be considered out of place.

The city of Tunis, although, according
to the ancient historians, founded at an
earlier period than that of Carthage, was of
little importance until after the final destruc-
tion of that city by the Saracens, a. d. 698 j
up to this time she had shared the vary-
ing fortunes of her powerful neighbour,
falling successively into the hands of the
various nations that had made Africa their
battle-ground. Safe, however, in her appa-

I
I

ALGERIA AND TDNIS, 3

rent insignificance, she still exists, and is
the capital of a sovereign state, whilst genera-
tion after generation have grown their crops
where Carthage stood. Under the Maho-
metan rule, Tunis gradually iacreased in
consequence. Foreign warfare, intestine dis-
cord, and frequent revolutions, contributed
to divide the African conquests of the Sara^
cens into independent states. The holy
city of Kairouan, after a time, ceased to be
the capital, and Tunis became the seat of
goTernment of that state to which she has
given her name. Until the early part of the
sixteenth century there is little to be related
of general interest, except the expedition of
St. Louis, at the head of the sixth crusade,
in 1270, and his death amid the ruins of
Carthage. In 1531, the younger Barbarossa,
assisted by a Turkish force, treacherously
seized upon Tunis, on the pretext of restoring
Alraschid, the elder brother of the reigning
prince, and in whose name he professed to
act, pretending that he had left Alraschid,
whom he had put to death at Constantinople
before the expedition sailed, sick on board
hia vessel. Four years afterwards Barba-
rossa waa driven, after a gallant defence, from

4 AI.GF.aiA ASD TTMS.

his newly acquired possession by Charles V.
who replaced Muley-Hassao upon the throne
as his tributary, requiring from him six
horses and as many hawks, as an annual
token of his vassalage ; the emperor, more-
over, retained the Goletta and all the forti-
fied sea-ports. This state of aOairs did not
last long ; the Spanish garrisons were ex-
pelled by the Turks, and Tunis became a
province of the Porte. In 1655, Admiral
Blake, with an English fleet, memorable as
the first that had entered the Mediterranean
since the time of the Crusades, anchored in
the bay and demanded the release of the
English captives. The Turkish viceroy, in
reply, insolentlv desired him to look at his
castles of Porto Farino and the Goletta, and
do his utmost. The admiral laid his vessels
close in shore, destroyed the defences of the
castles, landed his crews, burnt the Tunisian
fleet, and released the English prisoners.
Thirty years after this occurrence, the Tu-
nisians, dissatisfied with the Turkish rulers
they received from Algiers, revolted, elected
a Bey from among themselves, and declared
the sovereignty hereditary. The Porte not
being then in a condition to maintain its

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 5

claims, tacitly acquiesed in this arrangement,
since which time the Beys of Tunis, although
nominally subject to the Sultan, have been
virtually independant princes.

Tunis, with a population, as nearly as it
can be estimated, of 120,000 inhabitants,
stands close to the western edge of the lake,
surrounded by a wall pierced with numerous
outlets ; the suburbs on the northern side of
the city are also enclosed by a wall of more
recent construction, defended by occasional
bastions in place of towers.

From the summit of a hill, a short distance
to the northward of the city, to which the
Europeans have given the name of the Bel-
vedere, is a splendid panoramic view of Tunis
and the surrounding country. The city,
inclining towards the lake, lies on the slope
of a range of heights, crowned by the Kasbah
and various detached forts. A picturesque
island, with ihe ruins of an abandoned fort,
once used as a lazaretto, rises towards the
centre of the lake, and the constant traffic
between Tunis and the Goletta specks the
surface of the latter with a fleet of boats.
Beyond, on the narrow belt of land that
separates the sea and lake, stand the forls

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and dock-yard of the Goletta. Still farther
out are the vessels, anchored in the roads ;
and, broken only by the rocky form of the
island of Zembra, the lovely bay of Tunis
stretches seaward, as far as the eye can
reach. The elevated promontory of Cape
Bon forms the eastern side of the bay, and
on the western one, are the ruins of Car-
thage, marked by the modern chapel of St.
Louis, placed conspicuously on the site of
its ancient citadel. To the westward of the
city, at the foot of the fortified heights, is
a valley, with an extensive salt lake, which,
during the heats of summer, is almost dry ;
near this is the Bardo, the residence of
the Bey, a square mass of buildings, rising
from the treeless plain, and between it and
the city, an aqueduct that spans the valley,
crosses the road at right angles. An amphi-
theatre of lofty mountains, with the twin
peaks of the Boo-Kerneen, the wild fantastic
crest of the Lead Mountain, the lofty sum-
mit of Zouwan, towering above all, completes
the panorama.

After breakfast, on the 7th, we accom-
panied Sir Thomas Reade to the Bardo, to
be presented to the Bey. Passing out by the

ALGERIA AND TDNIS, 7

Marine gate we drove through the suburbs,
and, keeping to the westward along the sandy
valley between the city and the high ground,
soon arrived at the Bardo, a distance of
nearly two miles. Its external appearance
is sombre and desolate, from the absence of
even a bush in its vicinity. Defended by
heavy towers at each angle and a ditch sur-
rounding its walla, the palace of the Bey is
also a fortress, and the chief deposit of his
treasures. Near the entrance were picketed
four lines of horses, the property of the Bey,
and a number of others, with magnificent
saddles of gold and silver embroidery on the
richest velvet, chased stirrups, and bridles
hung with bells and plates of silver, were
being led about, whilst their riders were en-
gaged within. Facing the south are the Bey's
private apartments ; in front of them, on an
open platform, are placed some brass guns on
European field-carriages, and from a lofty
flag-staff waves the blood-red standard with
its star and crescent, now harmless, but the
crimson folds of which once swept the sea, and
carried ruin and desolation into the remotest
comers of the Mediterranean. On entering
the great gate we passed up a narrow street,
lined with small shops, and the houses of

8 ALGERIA AND Tl'Nia.

various domestics and inferior officers who
reside in the Bardo. Turning to the left we
crossed a square court, and, leaving the closely
grated windows of the harem to our right,
entered a second square, thronged with a
crowd of soldiers, attendants. Moors, Arabs,
Jews, guards, Mamelukes, police-officers with
their prisoners, and litigants awaiting their
turn to be summoned to the hall of justice,
where the Bey sits daily to hear complaints
and decide cases, both civil and criminal.
We now proceeded through an arched pas-
sag;e, having on either side a recess where,
with their arms hung up behind them, guards
were seated smoking and conversing with
their friends as they passed, and leading
to an inner court, the centre of which is
adorned by a fountain, whilst an arcade, sup-
ported on marble columns, runs round the
square. On entering, the hall of justice is to
the left, the Bey's apartments in fi-ont, and
the offices of the secretary, treasurer, &c.,
to the right. After waiting some time, as
several tedious cases were before the Bey,
and every thing yields precedence to the

I administration of justice, we were informed

f he was ready to receive as,

Passing down a long gallery lined with a

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 9

guard armed and disciplined in the European
style, and the walls of which were hung with
weapons, we entered the reception chamber,
a magnificent saloon splendidly decorated, at
the upper end of which the Bey was seated,
with his treasurer standing at his side. As we
walked towards him, he rose, and advancing,
shook hands cordially with Sir Thomas Reade
and returned our salaams when we were pre-
sented, saying he was glad to see us at the
Bardo, and hoped we should pass our time
agreeably in the Regency. He then ordered
chairs to be placed for us, and coffee was
handed round in small cups of the finest
Dresden China. The personal appearance
of Ahmed, the reigning sovereign of Tunis,
is prepossessing; he is rather below the
middle size, and having a bright dark eye,
well-formed features, and great power of
expression in the lines about his mouth,
his countenance becomes animated when
he speaks, which he does with a slight
hesitation. Although only in his thirty-
seventh year, the jet-black of his beard
and mustachios are slightly sprinkled with
grey. He wore a dark green frock coat,
double-breasted and buttoned tight, gold-em-

10 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

broidered epaulettes, scarlet trousers with a
broad stripe of gold lace, and on his head
was the universal " shasheah " of red woollen,
with a blue silk tassel. Ob his breast hung
two brilliant orders of a large size, composed
of magnificent diamonds sdt in the form of
a crescent and star, surrounded by a twining
pattern of foliage ; on the front of his sha-
sheah was fixed a still morfe brilliant orna-
ment of the same description, and beside
him lay a sabre in a plain scabbard.

The conversation was carried on in Ara-
bic and Italian, with the assistance of Signor
Raflfo, the Bey*s secretary, and the chancellor
of the British consulate. The Bey spoke of
our ^intended journey through the Regency,
mentioned several places that we ought to
visit, and promised that every facility and
possible accommodation should be afforded
to us. The conversation now turned upon
the affairs of Europe and the present condi-
tion of Africa, upon which topics he spoke
with such just, clear-sighted views, as con-
vinced me the report I had before heard
of his being a man of talent, was correct.
But what surprised me most was his know-
ledge of geography ; not the superficial

ALGERIA ASD Tt'NIS, 11

acquaintance that might easily be picked
up even by a prince of a Mahometan state,
whose learning is usually confined to the
Koran and tlie works of commentators,
but it was evident from his incidental re-
marks that he was well versed in the sub-
ject. As a proof, I may mention an obser-
vation that he made, although in itself of no
consequence. Hearing that I had been in
China with the army, he asked several ques-
tions, one of which was, had I been atPekin?
I replied in the negative, and added, that
Nankin was the furthest point which the
British army reached ; on which he instantly
said, " Nankin, the ancient capital of the
empire, deserted for Pekin," &c., and made
inquiries concerning its size, population, and
present state, in a manner that showed he
understood and took an interest in the sub-
ject. He is almost entirely self-taught; brought
up in seclusion, and an object of jealousy
until his twenty-sixth year, he employed his
naturally strong mind in study and preparing
himself for the station to which it was
always probable he would be called. In a
fiiture chapter I shall enter more fully into
the consideration of his character with refer-

12 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

ence to the measures he has already taken,
and those he intends to carry into effect for
the improvement of his dominions. Much
pleased with the friendly reception of the
Bey, and with his easy, unaffected deport-
ment, we took our leave, his Highness again
repeating, that we had only to mention those
parts of Tunis we wished to visit, and that
he would order every assistance to be given
to us by the authorities.

We had proposed going over the apart-
ments of the Bardo, and also visiting the
country palace of the Manuba, now con-
verted into cavalry barracks, but the day
was so far advanced when our interview was
over, that we returned to Tunis. The aque-
duct that supplies the detached forts, and
under which the road passes, is a work
of considerable magnitude, erected by the
Spaniards during their shortlived rule. It is
now undergoing repair, having been suffered
of late years to fall into partial decay.

Comparing together the interior of the
two cities of Algiers and Tunis, the result is
greatly in favour of the latter. The style of
the domestic architecture and the general ar-
rangement of the houses is the same in both j

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 13

but in Tunis £he streets are much wider,
many of them paved, the mosques are larger
and handsomer, with occasionally a graceful
minaret replacing the square towers of the
Algerine capital, and the bazaars, or "sooks,"
as they are here called, are protected from
the sun and rain by vaulted roofs of stone,
or wooden sheds across the street.

During the morning the sooks are densely
crowded, for in addition to the aristocracy of
the bazaars, who occupy the dens on either
side, smaller traders erect temporary stalls,
and the space is filled with a throng of men,
women, and children — buyers, sellers, and
idlers. A boy driving a laden donkey, or
a horseman forcing a passage through the
crowd, shouting " balek, balek," at the top
of his voice, to clear the way, creates a mo-
mentary commotion ; but, with this excep-
tion, the people are remarkably orderly, and
what is more, they are honest; robberies
from the person, or from the open shops are
almost unknown, notwithstanding the appa-
rent facilities, and the absence of any sort of
police. Inside the shops there is a much
more tempting collection of merchandize
than in those of Algiers. Silk shawls, scarfs,

AIGEHIA AND TCNI9.

and handkerchiefs, of rich and tastefully
arranged patterns, of brilliant colours, in-
terwoven with gold ; bernous, haicks, and
shawls, from the Jereed and the island of
Gerbeh) of unrivalled texture and softness,
some entirely of wool, and others with an
admixture of silk ; weapons of all kinds,
showily ornamented with silver, coral, and
ivory, but of a very inferior description ; the
" shasheahs," or red caps, for which Tunis
is famous through the Turkish empire, and
the ottos of rose, jasmine, and other essential
oils which are prepared here, althou^fh very
expensive, are of the best quality.

The most attractive shops are those of the
saddlers ; the sole remnant of the ancient
splendour of the Tunisian court being the
continued use of magnificentlv embroidered
horse accoutrements. The saddle is a coarse
wooden frame with a high pommel, and a
cantle formed like the back of a chair, over
which is placed a padded covering, decorated
according to the means and taste of the
owner. Those belonging to the officers of
the Court, or to wealthy individuals, are very
handsome, made of the richest velvet, of
some dark colour, but little of the ground is

ALGERIA AND TON[S. 15

seen through the mass of gold and silver
embroidery worked upon itj the breastplate,
four fingers wide, is often covered with em-
bossed plates of silver ; the bridle, with
square blinkers, is as splendidly embroidered
as the saddle, and the massive stirrups are
gilt or plated, as gold or silver predominates
in the work. A handsome set of saddlery
will cost about forty pounds or 1300 piastres,
but 10,000 piastres have been given. These
splendid coverings are only used on grand
occasions, being replaced for a journey by
others of leather, often prettily worked in
coloured silks, while the former, folded up,
are easily carried in the baggage, and a
change can be made in a few minutes.

Great spirit is given to the sooks, by the
itinerant salesmen who wander up and down
through the crowd, selHng a most miscella-
neous collection of goods by a species of auc-
tion, bawling out the articles they have to dis-
pose of, and mentioning the last price that has
been offered by any of the lookers on — a most
enticing method of sale, as things you do
not want, and would never go into a shop to
a^k for, are thus brought under notice, and
you are seduced into bidding because they

16 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

seem to be going for a trifle. One man we
stopped, had in his hands a pair of antique
burners for perfumes, a silk scarf over one
arm, and a second-hand Turkish carpet
under the other. When the sale is effected,
they receive a small per-centage from their
employer; and among this class dishonesty
is almost unknown, notwithstanding the
many temptations thrown in their way to
falsify the sale, or run off with the valuable
property often entrusted to their care. More
than once we saw a shabby ragged fellow
walking about the streets, offering valuable
jewellery for sale among the crowd, half a
dozen chains around his neck, a ring on
each finger, and his arms hung with brace-
lets, massive rings for the ankles, and various
female ornaments ; any bystander was at
liberty to handle and examine them, and the
idea of theft seemed as far away from the
minds of those who stood about him, as
from that of the man himself, who pushed
with his precious burden unconcernedly
through the mob. Whatever crimes the
Tunisian Moors may be addicted to, they
are at least, free from that of stealing ; for
although there are robberies sometimes com-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 17

mitted, the instances are comparatively rare,
and there is not a capital in Europe, with
its magistracy, gendarmes and police, where
property could be exposed for a single day
without risk, as is done in Tunis every day
in the year. It is hardly necessary to men-
tion, that when speaking of theft, I do not
include the acts of a lawless soldiery, or the
depredations of the robber tribes, who plun-
der all weaker than themselves.

A pleasing trait in the disposition of all
classes is a general love of flowers. In every
street were basketfuls of fresh and deliciously
sweet flowers, arranged with much taste ;
each little bouquet, composed of roses and
orange blossoms tied upon a slip of wood,
and sold for a " bourba*,'* a small copper

coin, the thirteenth part of a penny. An
extensive trade is carried on by the distillers
of the various ottos and perfumed waters,

* The coins of Tunis in circulation, are :

1 Piastre =16 Karroobs.
1 Karroob = 6^ Bourbas.
The exchange varies considerably; but at this time it was in
favour of bills upon England, and we received thirty piastres
for one pound sterling. There is also a gold coin called a
maboob, worth 4^ piastres ; but there are very few in circu-
lation, and all accounts are kept in piastres and karroobs.

18 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and many proprietors in the vicinity of Tunis
derive considerable profit from the sale of
the produce of their flower gardens. The
Bash-Mamelook, in the gardens round his
country house, is said to have upwards of
10,000 rose trees, and his annual crop of
roses is regularly sold, at the rate of so much
per tree J the flower is gathered just as it
becomes full blown, and the leaves carefully
picked, so as to separate those that are
withered or decayed. Large baskets of rose
leaves are brought to market during the
season, and find a ready sale.

Our great difficulty now was to procure
horses, as of late years they have not only
increased in price, but have become scarce,
principally from the numbers that have been
exported to Algeria and Malta. After con-
siderable trouble, I succeeded in purchasing
a handsome, strong-built little horse, for six
hundred piastres ; the other horses for our
first expedition we hired, at the rate of two
piastres per diem, and took the owner, a
good-tcmjwred, hard-working Maltese lad,
of the name of Angclo, for our servant.
He knew only a few words of execrable
Italian, but his willingness to please made

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

up for hie deficiencies, and he eventually
accompanied us in our wanderings until we
returned to B6na. An excursion to Solyman
and the eastern side of the Bay of Tunis
was first on the list ; and as wild boars are
numerous in that quarter, we hoped to get
a shot or two at them. Mr. Reade, the
eldest son of Sir Thomas Reade, who speaks
Arabic like a native, and is well acquainted
with the country, kindly volunteered to ac-
company ua to Solyman, although he had
only just returned from a two-months' march
into the Jereed with the annual camp.

The only means of collecting the revenue
from the wild tribes of the remoter parts of
the regency, and from the inhabitants of
the Jereed, is by a strong force, which leaves
Tunis early in every year, and levies the tax
of a tenth of all produce, in its passage,
affording an excellent opportunity for tra-
versing in safety some of the southern dis-
tricts, which are rather dangerous to enter
with a small escort. The command of this
force is given to a person of the highest
distinction, who is called the " Bey of the
Camp," and is generally a member of the
reigning family, often, indeed, the next heir

ALGEKIA AND TUNIS.

to the throne, which is the case at present.
The body of troops employed on these expe-
ditions is considerable ; the nucleus is formed
by about 2500 men of the regular army,
including mamelukea, hambas, &c., and as
they advance, numerous detachments join
from the surrounding country, until the camp
swells into an army, of sometimes 10,000
men, by the time the frontiers are reached.
As the greater portion of the tribute is paid
in the produce of the country, extensive
preparations are necessary to be made for
its transport, by assembling great numbers
of camels at certain fixed points, where they
are taken up by the camp, which, on its
homeward march, resembles an immense
caravan. The tents are pitched in a certain
order, with that of the Bey in the centre j
guards are mounted, and sentries posted
during the night. Strict discipline is main-
tained, and any irregularities committed on
the line of march are promptly punished.
The Bey of the Camp also acts as supreme
judge in the districts through which he
passes, and hears any complaints that may
be brought against the Kaids or other au-
thorities, administering justice in public, in

I
I

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 21

the centre of the camp, and the poorest
individual is listened to when he pleads his
own cause, with as much attention as is paid
to the rich man. The camp had left Tunis
this year on the 3rd of February, and re-
turned the 4th of April, and both Mr. Reade
and an officer on leave from Malta, who had
accompanied it, found the expedition a most
interesting one. In the Jereed they had
suffered for a few days from the violent
extremes of temperature, suddenly changing
from almost overpowering heat, to very cold
winds, and on one occasion the cold was so
excessive, that several hundred camels and
many men died in the course of twenty-four
hours, being constitutionally unable to endure
the severity of the weather.

22 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

CHAPTER II.

Hamman el Eiif— Lover s Vows— Arrive at Solyman — The
Sheick's Disappointment — Boar Hunt— A Tunisian Sports-^
man — His Misadventure — ^Bees — ^The Mare and Foal —
Rhades — Lake of Tunis — The Goletta — Carthage— Quail
Shooting— Chapel of St. Louis — Bordj Jedeed — Cisterns
of Carthage— Sir Thomas Reade's Excavations^ Ruins —
Ahdalieeah — Sir T. Reade's Collection— Beautiful Intaglio
— Second Visit to the Bardo— Signor Raffo^Dragomen —
Supply of Water — The Consulate — Marine Gate.

On the afternoon of the 8 th, we left
Tunis for Solyman, distant eighteen miles
to the eastward, attended by a Mameluke
and two hambas, sent from the Bardo. After
skirting the lake for some distance, we
passed near the village of Rhades ; and then
crossing the river Mileeana by a modem
stone bridge, arrived at Hamman el Enf, a
country residence of the Bey's, standing at
the foot of the double-peaked mountain of
Boo-kemeen, and close to the sea. The
palace, a plain white-washed mass of build-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

ing erected over a hot spring, was left to
take care of itself after a most primitive
fashion, for the gates were locked, and the
keys in Tunis. We had intended taking a
bath, but were unable to effect an entrance.
The waters are slightly sulphurous, and the
temperature is so high, that the first plunge
is scarcely endurable; they are said to be
very efficacious in cases of paralysis, rheu-
matism, &c. ; and wonderful stories are re-
lated of the cures they have pert'ormed. The
Bey frequently resides here, and hia only
child, a little girl of seven or eight years
of age, had fiot long left the place, having
been ordered to bathe by the doctors. Half
a dozen small houses stand near the palace ;
and at one of them, which was a cafe we
remained, to allow our baggage-horse, which
we bad distanced, to come up .

While sipping our coffee, a labouring man
entered, who had three or four scars on the
calf of each leg, being the indelible traces of
a singular method of proving the sincerity
of a lover's passion for his mistress. Watch-
ing her movements, the enamoured youth
finds some favourable opportunity of throw-
ing himself in her wav, and walking before

24 ALGERIA AND TDNI8.

his lady love, with many a tender sigh and
love-sick glance, he applies a red hot piastre
to his leg, or inflicts some similar piece of
torture upon himself; implying, I suppose,
that whilst happy in the presence of her he
loTes, mere pain of body is unfelt. At the
present time, now that all are trying to
reduce theory into practice, a test of sincerity
somewhat in this stylo might perhaps be
advantagoously applied by my fair country-
women ; for many an amorous swain, who,
brimful of courage, would pour forth endless
protestations of the heroic deeds he would
perform, and the impossible sacrifices he
was ready to make, would sneak off, a
detected braggart, at the sight of a hot
half-crown.

The sun was rapidly declining, and,
having still nine miles before us, we resumed
our march. Rounding the shoulder of the
mountain, the road divides, the right-hand
brancli leading to Hammamet and the
eastern coast of the Regency, and the one to
the left, which we followed, leading through
a succession of unenclosed corn-tields to
Solyman, where we arrived at seven o'clock,
and found everything prepared for our re-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 25

ception in the house of the Sheick, a mes-
senger having been sent in the morning;
from the Bardo ordering him to receive us.
A coffee-maker was in attendance, whose
sole business it was to keep perpetually
brinp-ing small cups of coffee until ordered
to stop ; and supper was ready whenever we
chose to order it. It consisted of the usual
Moorish dishes — thick soup, with vermicelli,
stewed meat and vegetables, dressed with a
liberal allowance of oil, not of the best
description, and couscousoo, more highly
spiced and peppered than among the Arabs.
There were also the sweet cakes, crusted
with sugar, for which the Tunisian confec-
tioners are celebrated ; and when the taste
becomes accustomed to the otto of rose with
which most of them are strongly flavoured,
they are delicious.

The Sheick who had called to pay his
respects to us, met with a sad disappoint-
ment ; for, although we offered him wine, he
obtained no spirits, and he had come with the
full intention of getting drunk as fast as he
could. Too well bred to ask, he threw out
hint after hint, to which we, or rather
Mr. Keade, turned a deaf ear, for he had

Za ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

given a great deal of trouble to the last
shooting party that had visited Solyman, by
getting so excessively drunk that he rolled
on the floor, and had to be carried home
like a sack, having finished two bottles of
brandy and half a bottle of rum, in the
course of a couple cf hours. It is very
seldom that an Arab is found who disregards
the commands of the Koran, but it is equally
rare to find a Moor who will not get drunk
when opportunity offers : many are babituat
drunkards, and the quantity of liquor they
can swallow is enormous.

Next morning we were awakened an hour
before day-break by the indefatigable coffee-
maker, and as it became light, we were in
our saddles, on our way to a river six miles
distant, where we hoped to kill a boar as
well as see the countrj-. The plain of Soly-
man is rich and well cultivated, and the
town is surrounded by fields and extensive
olive plantations, enclosed with hedges of
the prickly pear. A proprietor of an estate
in the neighbourhood, Tunisian by birth,
but whose parents being Genoese, is not
considered as a subject of the Bey, joined
us, and afforded considerable amusement,

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 27

by the wonderful accounts be gave of his
own exploits as a sportsman. His ingenuity
was extraordinary ; for, excepting bis total
contempt of numbers, he kept within the
bounds of possibility, although seldom within
those of probability.

Near the banks of the Oued Bzeeach, we
found a numerous party of country people,
who were to act as beaters, and who had
been taken from their work in the fields by
the Sheicks of the neighbouring villages,
each of whom were obliged to furnish their
quota for the service. The Bzeeach, flowing
through the plain, is bordered with tangled
thickets, and reeds ten or twelve feet high
grow in its swampy bed, which is a favourite
resort of the wild boars, as abundance of
food is to he be found in the fields near the
river. Concealing ourselves in the reeds at
the points commanding the open tracks, we
tried beat after beat uusuccessfuUy. Fortune
did not favour us, very few boars were seen ;
and, at the end of the day, there was only
one to take home, which was, however, a
tolerable load for a horse.

Our sporting iriend, the Genoese, was
still more unfortunate ; after all his boasting,

28 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

he had killed nothing but his favourite dog,
which he had fired at when among the reeds,
mistaking him for a boar. He was much
annoyed at first, but he soon became recon-
ciled to his misfortune, when the idea struck
him that he deserved great credit for having
succeeded so well in such a difficult shot ;
and, lost in admiration of his own skill, he
begged us to observe how satisfactory it was
that the poor dog was quite dead, and how
beautifully the ball was placed just behind
the shoulder.

Next morning we agreed to try our fortune
at the Oued Aweynah, another small stream
nearer the high ground, but the results were
still worse than those of the previous day, as
we did not even see a boar. We were singu-
larly unfortunate, as the sport had, hitherto,
always been good in this quarter. The Arabs
accounted for it by the recent changes of
weather, and said that the boars were all in
the mountains. We had, nevertheless, a
ride over an extensive tract of countrv, and
ascended the seaward face of one of the
mountains of the range that forms the high
land of Ras Addar, or Cape Bon.

On the slopes of the hills, and on the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 29

plain, grow a profusion of wild flowers, and
large patches of gorse, covered with golden
blossoms, supply food to the bees kept
in great numbers by the inhabitants of the
neighbouring villages. The honey is deli-
cious and is much used in cookery, and, in
Tunis, the wax sells at a good price. The
hives are cylinders of basket-work, laid hori-
zontally in rows, with one end open, and
often tier above tier ; in one village I counted
upwards of forty, inserted into a sloping bank.
Within a mile or two of Solyman I had the
vexation of finding that my horse was lame,
and next morning he was hardly able to move.
Before leaving Solyman, which we did
early on the 11 th, I walked through the town,
of which more than half is in ruins, the onlv
object of the slightest interest being a large
stone bearing a few letters of a Roman in-
scription, which, the sheick said, was the
only thing of the kind the plaxje contained.
Furnished with a horse, in place of my
own, which had to be led to Tunis, we re-
turned by the road that we came, as far as
Hamman el Enf, where we turned off in
the direction of the Goletta. One of the
hambas who was riding a mare with a foal

30 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

at her foot, gave the little thing a lift, when
it got tii*ed, by taking it up before him j
it seemed quite accustomed to travel in this
manner, and went fast asleep, with its bead
and tail dangling on either side of its mother,
who took oo more notice of it, than bending
her neck and rubbing it with her nose
when it was first put up ; this is a common
custom, and, frequently afterwards, we saw
the foals carried on horses and camels, the
owners putting them down to walk when
they were rested.

Having now got rid of the lame horse and
tho baggage, we cantered across the fields to
the village of Rhades, famous as the spot
where Kegulus, in the first Punic war, gained
an easy victory over Hanno, who had kept
the Carthaginian army, the chief strength of
which lay in elephants and cavalry, on the
hills, where neither could act. Not long ago
a pair of elephant's tusks, of large size, were
dug up on the position supposed to have been
occupied by Hanno, and, from the durable
nature of ivory, they may, without any vio-
lent stretch of antiquarian credulity, be looked
upon as reUcs of the battle.

From the heights near Rhades we de-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 31

scended to the narrow strip of land that,
extending northwards to Cape Carthage,
separates the Lake of Tunis and the sea.
Changed, like the coasts in its vicinity, the
lake was once a deep and capacious harbour,
for in 5S3, a.d., the fleet of Belisarius, consist-
ing of six hundred vessels, many of five hun-
dred tons burden, passed through the narrow
channel of the Goletta, and anchored in safety
on the day preceding his triumphal entt-y
into Carthage. A thousand years elapsed,
and it had become so shallow that the scanty
remnant of Barbarossa's garrison, driven
from the Goletta, retreated across it to
Tunis ; and, until fourteen years ago, it
remained little more than a morass with a
few feet of water in its centre, when the sea,
during a violent storm, broke through the
bank, and, forming a second channel, in-
creased the lake to its present size of thirty
miles in circumference, with ten feet of water
in its deepest part.

Galloping along the sandy spit, disturbing
the repose of an immense flock of flamin-
goes, which were standing motionless in the
shallow water, we arrived at the Goletta at
noon. The fortifications on either side of
the canal are of considerable strength ; for-

32 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

midable batteries have been built, level with
the water, and armed with guns of various
calibre, many of which are remarkably hand-
some, and several are trophies of those days
when the cruisers of Tunis were the terror
of Christendom. A huge brass gun, a fine
specimen of ornamental casting, was a present
from the Jews of Tunis to their ruler. In
the dockyard there is a large frigate on the
stocks, but there seemed to be but little
attention paid to the navy. Most of the
work done is performed by convicts, who
have been sentenced to various periods of
hard labour. Owing to the muddy nature
of the waters of the lake, the narrow channel
would soon be choked with the accumulated
deposit, were it not for the work of a
steam-dredging machine of English manu-
facture.

The four miles of the peninsula, north of
the Goletta, were soon passed over, and we
stood on the site of Carthage. To whose
mind does not the name of Carthage bring a
thousand stirring memories of the past ?
What dim visions arise of her early age, each
harsh, barbaric feature seen through the veil
of time, and softened by the graceful hand of
historic fiction ! Who can recal the davs

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 33

of her power and splendour, when her ships
were laden with the commerce of the world,
and her fleets and armies disputed its empire
with the rival might of Rome, and then stand
unmoved upon the spot where the waving
com conceals the few miserable fragments
that remain of all her ancient grandeur ?

Nothing can be more complete than the
ruin of Carthage ; the natural course of
time, and the passions of man have united
in the work of destruction. "^J he coast is so
changed, that the sea flows over the shat-
tered columns and foundations of the splen-
did edifices that lined the shore, and the
very position of the double harbour and the
island of the Cothon is a subject of dispute.
From the promontory of Cape Carthage, or
Ras Sidi Boosaeed, to near the Lake of
Tunis, the heights facing the sea are covered
with loose stones, fragments of masonry,
and of precious marbles. All that is left
besides, are some shapeless masses near the
sea, of enormous thickness, entirely com-
posed of &mall stones and mortar ; the soil,
a confused collection of rubbish, is noted
for its fertility, and luxuriant crops of wheat
and barley covered its surface, hiding the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

numerous wells and cisterns, that, scattered
here and there, render necessary great care
in riding among the ruins.

During the quail season Carthage is the
best shooting grouud in the neighbourhood,
and we could scarcely ride ten yards without
flushing a bird. Several parties were out
shooting, from the vessels in the harbour,
and from the different consulates, but, not-
withstanding the ground having been shot
over, Mr. Crowe, the British consul at Sfax,
who had come out from Tunis to meet us,
had killed twenty couple of birds as he came
aerosafromtheAbdalleah.SirThoraasReade's
country house ; and as we wandered about
the ruins, we made the bag up to sixty-seven
and a half couple. A ride of nine miles along
the western side of the lake brought us to
Tunis a little after seven o'clock.

Having taken only a casual view of the
ruins, we devoted the following day to a
closer inspection. The only site that can
he ascertained with any degree of certainty,
is that of the " byrsa," or citadel, which
stood on a hill in the centre of the city ;
its summit is now occupied by the chapel
lately erected to tlie memory of St. Louis.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

Built on the highest point of the hill, in the
form of a cross, surmounted by a dome, and
facing the south-east, it is a conspicuous
object from the surrounding country, and
from it the best view of the ruins is obtained.
The Bey gave permission to erect it, and
over the entrance is the following inscrip-
tion:

Within the chapel is a fine statue of the
royal saint, by a modern French artist.
Very large cisterns have been constructed
under the building occupied by the person
in charge, a considerable space around has
been inclosed by an octangular wall, and is
laid out as a garden and planted with trees.
A road has been cut to the water's edge, and
it is certainly a singular coincidence that,
from the manner in which the buildings
have been laid out, a couple of guns landed
from a man-of-war, run up the winding road,
and mounted upon the solid platform of
masonry on which the chapel stands, would,
with a few loopholes broken in the outer

36 , ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

wall, form a tolerably strong fort at a few
hours' notice. In excavating the founda-
tions, and forming the road, numerous frag-
ments of columns, statues, bas-reliefs, and
portions of inscriptions, with broken capi-
tals, friezes, &c., were discovered, but no-
thing of any importance ; whatever has been
found is carefully preserved, and the finer
specimens are inserted in the wall of one of
the buildings, under an arcade.

On a hill near the sea, a mile to the
north-east of the byrsa, is the small fort of
Burdj Jedeed, the burial-place of Saint Louis.
On the slope of this height are the Lesser
Cisterns, the only remains of Carthage suflS-
ciently well preserved to be of interest for
themselves alone. Supplied solely by rain-
water, they consisted of eighteen reservoirs,
placed side by side, in the form of an oblong
square ; each cistern is ninety-three feet in
length, twenty in breadth, and seventeen in
depth, and they could have contained upwards
of 14,000 tons of water; those at the northern
end are nearly perfect. A passage runs round
the whole, and a walk up the centre is formed
by a wall level with the top of the cisterns,
crossing each at right angles, and probably

ALGERIA ANB TUNIS. 37

placed to guard against the lateral pressure
of the water, if one cistern should be full
whilst its neighbours were empty. They are
arched over, and at each angle of the southern
end, are the remains of a small circular
building ; the dome of one is still in a toler-
able state of preservation* Similar to most
of the ruins, the material used in their con-
struction, is a concrete of small stones im-
bedded in mortar of an extraordinary degree
of hardness, and the cement with which the
basins are lined is of an equally durable
nature. On the height, and under the
wretched hovels of the village of Malakah,
are those known by the name of the Greater
Cisterns, which were supplied with water
from Zouwan, a distance of fifty miles, by
means of an aqueduct, one of the colossal
works of ancient days. Being in a much more
ruinous state than the others, some of them
are used as stabling for their cattle by the
inhabitants of the village.

Close to the shore under the Burdj Jedeed
are the remains of several immense buildings,
if we may judge from the size of the huge
masses that are still visible.^ For more than
three years Sir Thomas Reade was employed

60 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

excavating at the spot, and he succeeded in
clearing away the earth and rubbish that
covered the floor of what must have been an i
edifice of great magnificence, adorned with
granite and marble columns, the pavement
of Mosaic ; and from the profusion of slabs
of the most rare and precious marbles that
were found, the interior was probably en- i
crusted with them. A mutilated statue of
Jupiter was dug out of the ruins, along with
a variety of minor articles ; but no inscrip-
tions were discovered, to denote whether it
had been a temple, a palace, or a Christian j
church. The walls, of great thickness, are
of concrete, faced with hewn stones ; and
whatever was the nature of the building,
it must have been of imposing dimensions, '

Traces of a theatre, circus, temples, and
other large buildings, together with the posi-
tion of the harbours, are just sufficiently
marked to allow of their being identified, j
The noble quays that ran along the sea- '
shore, arc under water, and on a calm day
ruins are to be discovered at the bottom of
the sea, extending for some distance from
the land. The eventful history of Carthage
is too well known to need recapitulation, and

ALGERIA AND TUNIS

relative to its present condition I will only
mention, that although destroyed by the
Saracens a.d. 698, it was not until after
the death of St. Louis, and the departure in
1270 of the French crusading array, which
had taken up a strong position amid the
ruins, at that period considerable, that to
prevent such an occurrence for the future,
all that was left of Carthage was razed to
the ground.

Near the little village of the Marsa, a
mile and a half from the ruins, is the Ab-
dalleah, a large handsome building, once a
country palace of the Bey's, and which has
been occupied by Sir Thomas Reade for
many years. In the poultry-yard was a
young ostrich stalking about, a giant among
the pigmies, and in an adjoining paddock were
some deer from the interior. To the Zoological
Society of London Sir Thomas Reade has
been a most generous contributor, and many
specimens of rare and valuable animals have
been sent off to England from the Abdalleab.
Around the Marsa are numerous country-
houses of wealthy Tunisians, and the villas
of the European residents, surrounded with
gardens and plantations of olive, almond.

40 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and fig-trees, make it the most delightful spot
for a summer residence in the neighbourhood
of Tunis.

During his lengthened residence in the
Regency, Sir Thomas Reade has been inde-
fatigably employed in forming a collection of
Punic and Roman antiquities, and as he
has spared neither expense nor labour, he has
been eminently successful, especially with the
former, which are very rarely to be met with ;
memorials of the long continued dominion of
the Romans are found in every comer of the
land, but few vestiges of the earlier possessors
of the soil have endured to the present time.
Unfortunately for us nearly the whole of his
invaluable collection had been sent to Eng-
land, which deprived us of the pleasure of
inspecting it while occupied in exploring the
country which it illustrates ; however, several
gems, coins, and other small objects of great
interest still remained ; and as a souvenir of
our visit to Carthage, he gave each of us an
engraved cornelian that had been found
among the ruins.

One of the most exquisite productions of
ancient art still remains in Tunis ; it is an
intaglio bearing the figure of Neptune on his

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 41

car, cut in an oval cornelian of pale red,
clouded with white. Upon the surface of a
stone, not three quarters of an inch in dia-
meter, is seen the noble figure of the god
curbing his impetuous steeds, which rushing
over the curling waves emulate them in the
wild freedom of their movements ; the calm
dignity of the god, the buoyant forms of the
Tritons around the car, the distended nos-
trils, tossing manes, and swelling muscles of
the horses, and the agitated sea, moved by
the presence of its ruler, are all so admirably
executed, and with such minuteness, that the
closest examination with a powerful mag-
nifier, only developes new beauties in this
exquisite masterpiece of ancient art. It is
not in the manual dexterity shewn in the
execution that its beauty lies, but in the
pure spirit of artistic genius that pervades
the whole. Purchased by the late Signor Per-
rasso several years ago from a camel driver,
for twelve piastres, he refused 15,000 pias-
tres (500/.), and was said to value it at twice
that sum. It is now the property of the sons
of the original purchase!', who are anxious
to part with it; but at the preposterous
value they place upon it, they will not do so

A1,GERIA AND TUNIS.

, which i

? to be regretted, as a gem
like this should not lie hid in Tunis, being
there nearly as much concealed as if it still
remained among the ruins where it lay for
centuries.

Preparatory to our departure for the
interior, we paid a second visit to the Bardo,
to mention tbe route we wished to take, and
to ascertain if the Bey would issue orders
for our admittance into the holy city of Kai-
rouan. His highness was at first unwilling
that we should venture into Kairouan, fear-
ing that some misfortune might befall us occa^
sionedby the fanatic inhabitants of one of the
most bigoted cities of the Mahometan world,
who consider the presence of a Christian or
a Jew within their sacred walls as a pollution.
On the point being pressed, he yielded, and
the frank and graceful manner in which he
granted our request, much enhanced the
value of the permission.

To Signor RafFo, the Bey's secretary, we

a visit in his office. By descent an

ptalian, he was born in Tunis, and his

ilents have raised him, although a Christian,

Dto one of the highest and most confidential

Regency, which he has held

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

under three successive Beys. This appoint-
ment of a Christian to an important civil
situation, shews the freedom from religious
prejudice that characterises the Tunisian
court.

In walking about the city, it is usual for
the Consuls and other Europeans to be
accompanied by a dragoman attached to
their consulate, who, with a sword by his
side, a magnificent swagger in his gait, and
a big stick, clears the way with little cere-
mony. In the suburbs and outskirts, it is
as well to have a dragoman with you, but in
the city, we usually dispensed with his
attendance ; and, we never met with the
sUghtest insult.

The streets are tolerably clean, in dry
weather, for a Moorish town ; but after
rain, they are knee deep in mud. Except-
ing the suburbs, the quarter principally
occupied by the European population is the
dirtiest in the citv. What renders the
former so detestable is an open ditch that
runs through it, in which stagnates the filth
of Tunis ; and as the ground between the
citv and the lake is nearly of the same level

44 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

as the latter, there is not a sufficient fall to
carry it off speedily. The supply of fresh
water is very deficient, as all the springs are
brackish, and the city depends entirely for
that used for culinary purposes and drinking,
upon rain water collected in tanks. If pro-
per surveys were made, I have little doubt

but that good water would be found on the
range of heights to the northward of the city.

The British consulate, where we were
residing, has only lately been finished, and is
a large, well-arranged house, containing hand-
some apartments. Built close to the Marine
gate, fronting a small open space, the scene
from the balcony affords constant amusement.
From morning to night, the passing crowd
never ceases ; cantering in from the Bardo,
some officer of the Court will enter, his gaily-
caparisoned horse made to prance and curvet,
whilst the rider, clad in European frock-coat
and trousers, shasheah with flowing tassel of
extra size, thin shoes and white cotton stock-
ings, looks around for admiration, and dashes
forward, scattering a lot of dirty Jews in
black garments, as they stand wrangling in
the road. Next, on his way to visit his coun-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 45

try house, comes an oily, well-fed Moor, in
snowy haick and turban, mounted on an am-
bling mule ; as he reaches the gate, loud cries
of " balek, balek," cause a vigorous tug at
the mule's head, and he turns aside from the
narrow arch of the gateway to let a string
of camels enter — ungainly-looking animals,
most of them daubed over with a mixture
of tar and grease, to cure a sort of mange
with which they are aflFected. On foot
a continued stream of passers-by is flowing
through the gate, consisting of Moors, Turks,
Bedoueens from the interior, country people
from the villages, soldiers, porters, and ne-
groes ; near at hand is seated a money-
changer, with his pile of piastres, and trays
of small copper coins, ready counted ; fruit
stalls and small shops are driving a pros-
perous trade; a Maltese mounted on a horse
without a saddle, is riding up and down,
showing him off^ for sale, and a number of
his countrymen stand idling about ; a water
carrier is attracting attention by jingling
together two metal cups, dogs and children
abound, a negro is lying asleep under the
wall, and close to him is a group of camels,
their humps covered with inverted rush

46 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

baskets, kneeling around a tray heaped with
bran, feeding with the utmost decorilm, and
gravely inclining their long necks for each
mouthful. Such, with some slight variations,
is the daily scene within the Marine gate
of Tunis.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 47

CHAPTER IIJ.

Departure from Tunis — " Amers " of ihe Bey — Our escort —
Djebel Mukhtar — Grumbalia — Olives — ^El Arbaiu — Pro-
bable scene of Masinissa's escape— Ruins — A disputed point
— Ksar el Menarah— >Sebkah el Jereeba — History of Baba
Jebb— Ancient custom— Arab miles — Hergla — ^Antiquities
— Numidian cranes — Gardens — Pottery of Gerbah —
Arrival at Susa.

At eight o'clock on the morning of the
15th of April, we left Tunis for the interior.
With considerable difficulty, we had suc-
ceeded in procuring horses ; Lord Feilding
had purchased, almost at the last moment, a
handsome chesnut Arab, but I was obliged
to ride a hired one, as my own horse still
continued lame, and we engaged two more
for our baggage. From the Bardo we were
furnished with orders under the Bey's own
seal, called *^ amers," addressed to the au-

48 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

thorities of the districts we were going to
visit, enjoining them not only to facilitate
our movements and protect us, but also to
supply food, lodging, and forage for the
whole party, at the Bey's expense, we being
considered as his guests during our travels
in the Regency. As a specimen, I annex the
translation of an " amer,*' taken at random
from amongst* those granted to us on this
occasion :

" Praise be to God !

" Our present order we put into the hands
of our beloved Shawsh, whom we have ap-
pointed with a mameluke and two hambas*,
to accompany two English officers who came
to visit our country, and expressed a wish
to see Susa, Monasteer, Sfax, and the neigh-
bourhood of Kairouan.

" Our beloved authorities, therefore, who
shall see the present, are ordered to treat
them generously during their visits, by

* Hambas are inferior officers attached to the Court; a
certain number are always on guard at the Bardo, and they
perform a variety of duties connected with the police, making
arrests, &c. The Bash (chief) Hamba is one of the most
important officials in the regency. A Shawsh is an officer of
a superior grade usually sent in the command of a party.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 49

assisting them in every thing they may want,

and paying attention to them in whatever

may be required by a liberal hospitality

towards them.

" We salute you !

" Written by the poor towards God, His
servant Ahmed Basha Bey. May God se-
cond his wishes. Amen 1 the 7 th Rabih 2nd,
1261."

Our party, including ourselves, was eight
in number, with as many horses. The ap-
pearance of the Shawsh, Sidi Abdallah, who
had been specially chosen by the Bey to
attend us, was imposing. He was of a noble
figure, mounted on a superb white horse
(from the stables of the Bardo) of nearly
pure Arab blood, and dressed in the Moorish
costume, his embroidered jacket being con-
cealed under the voluminous folds of two
white bemous, the hood of the under and
finer one bound round his head with the
usual camel's hair cord; his feet and legs
were encased in red boots armed with spurs,
long iron spikes nearly six inches in length,
and his gun and scimitar were richly oma-
mented with silver. To this nothing could
have formed a stronger contrast than the

VOL. II. D

50 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

appearance of Baba Jebb, the old Mameluke,
who, speaking very mdifferent Italian, acted
as interpreter. Imagine a little, thin, old man,
attired in a blue cloth jacket, trousers of the
same material, loose to the knee, tight from
thence to below the calf and there fastened
with strings, bare ankles not over clean, and
slippers down at heel; round his waist a
party-coloured sash, supporting a cartouch-
box and sabre, a single-barrelled European
gun, manufactured in the days of old, slung
over his right shoulder; on his left a dark-
coloured bemous, and a faded shasheah
crowning the whole ; add moustaches and
a flowing gray beard, and place him in an
antique saddle, on the back of a miserable,
half-starved, three -year -old mare, thirteen
hands and a half high, with lob-ears, hogged
mane and shaved tail, and having an amulet,
to guard against the evil eye, sewn np in a
little bag hung round her neck, and you have
a tolerable portrait of Baba Jebb, whose fun
and drollery afforded us many an hour's
amusement. The two hambas, well armed and
mounted, seemed serviceable troopers, and
the number of our party was completed by
Angelo and an Arab lad, who, mounted on

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 51

the two pack-horses, were sitting on the
sembeels, large straw panniers that contained
the baggage.

When clear of the city we followed the
road to Solyman, as far as Hamman r£nf, just
beyond which it divides. Taking the branch
to the right, we skirted the base of the Djebel
Mukhtar, where, in the limestone rock,
are several caves and quarries, in one of
which Virgil causes Dido and iEneas to take
shelter during a storm.* Proceeding in a
south-easterly direction, the plain of Soly-
man, rich in com and oil, was on our left ;
and at two p.m. we rode into the court-yard
of Grumbalia, a large country-house, the
property of the Bey, situated in the midst of
extensive plantations of olive, and twenty-four
miles distant from Tunis. A few cottages
and a ruinous mosque, of small size, stand at
the rear of the house, which is inhabited
only by a Mameluke, placed there in charge
of the olive gardens, from which the Bey

* Sir Grenville Temple^ in a moist interesting chapter^ satis-
factorily proves that the African scenery of the iBneid is not
imaginary^ but that Virgil must have written from truthful
descriptions of the general features of the country. Fide
'''Excursions in the Mediterranean/' by Sir Grenville Temple,

vol. ii. chap. ii.

52 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

derives a considerable income. In his anxiety
to do us honour, he was seized with an ex-
traordinary fit of cleanliness, and notwith-
standing all we could say, he obliged his
negro servant to continue sweeping until he
fairly drove us out of the room, by raising
a cloud of dust that had lain for years undis-
turbed upon the plastered floor.

The olives in this neighbourhood are
remarkably fine ; they are preserved in
oil instead of a pickle of salt and water; the
fruit is placed in earthen jars, which are
then filled up with oil, and the mouths stopped
with clay ; thus treated, it remains fit for
use only about eighteen months. If the
olives are ripe, when gathered, they acquire
a sharp acid flavour, but those that fall pre-
maturely from the trees become black and
shrivelled.

Next morning we were up and "en route**
soon after five o'clock ; thermometer at forty-
nine degrees. The road, after leaving the olive
gardens of Grumbalia, lies across an open,
undulating plain, the neck of the peninsula
of Cape Bon. In an hour and a half we
arrived at the deserted villao^e of **E1 Ar-
bain/' or " The Forty," so called from a

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 53

tradition current among the people, to the
eflfect that many hundi^ed years ago a battle
was fought at this spot between a large army,
and a band of heroes, who were called " Mud-
gerdeen " (fighters for their faith), in which
the latter, to the number of forty, were killed,
their graves being still pointed out under
a clump of palms in the vicinity. This
may be the place where Masinissa, with a
small body of fifty men, flying from the victo-
rious forces of Syphax, was overtaken by
Boccar in the plain, all his followers, ex-
cept four who escaped with him, being
killed. The localities, and the traditional
number of slain, nearly agree with the ac-
count of Masinissa's escape, given by Livy ;
and it is probable, from the subsequently
glorious career of the African monarch,
that the spot where he escaped from his
pursuers, and where his devoted followers
fell, would be distinguished by a name
that should exist after its exact origin had
been long forgotten. The name "fighters
for their faith,'' given to those who fell,
throws little or no light upon the subject, as
nearly all the local traditions have been ap-
propriated by the Mahometans, and connected

54 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

with their religion ; and it is not likely that
two events, so similar in their details, and of
sufficient importance to become traditional,
should have taken place in the same district:

Around, lay the traces of an ancient city,
whose name has perished ; the modem vil-
lage was in ruins, and no living creature was
to be seen, save an owl, which sat on the wall
of a deserted cottage, gazing stupidly around,
dazzled by the increasing glare of the sun ;
on the sound of our voices breaking the
silence of the plain, the solitary bird flitted
noiselessly away, like the spirit of desolation
fleeing at the approach of man.

For the next mile, on both sides of the road,
hewn stones are scattered about, and founda-
tions appear in every direction ; to the right
are the remains of a considerable building,
and the road passes over the arched roof of
a small cistern. A little to the left is the
floor of a house, of peculiar construction,
composed of pieces of tile, two inches square,
placed edgewise, three together, each set at
right angles to the other, and imbedded in
mortar, the whole having the appearance of
basket-work mosaic.

On leaving the plateau, we descended to-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 00

wards the sea, and the town of Hamraamet,
the ancient Siagitana, standing on the shore
of the bay to which it gives its name, ap-
peared in view. The broken ground of the
declivity is covered with dwarf shrubs, and,
half way down, the road branches off to the
right and left ; here arose a difference of
opinion, our escort wishing to take the latter,
which led to Hammamet, a town where there
was nothing to recompense us for going out
of our way, and we insisting on following the
former, to Hergla. It was a matter of no
great importance in itself, hut if we had given
in we should never have regained the mas-
tery; a trial of strength was necessary to make
affairs work smoothly for the future, and we
were rather glad that the opportunity had
offered at such an early period. Every argu-
ment was urged against us ; it was too far,
the horses would be tired, and if we did
arrive it would not be until the middle of the
night, ficc. ; and Baba Jebb added, as a
climax to the whole, that the sheick of Ham-
mamet would give us a dinner fit for the
Bey, whilst at Hergla they were so poor that
we should get nothing to eat. This argu-
ment he thought conclusive, and was turning
his mare's head in the direction of the wished-

56 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

for dinner, when, as the only way to settle the
point, we rode off towards Hergla, telling
them to please themselves ; this had the de-
sired effect, and, shrugging their shoulders,
they followed without another word ; and so
ended our first and last dispute.

After halting for an hour at an unfinished
fondook, near the sea, we proceeded, along
the coast, to the ruins of a Roman mausoleum,
to which the Arabs have given the name of
" Ksar el Menarah," or, the tower of the
light-house. From a square base rises a
circular tower, forty- five feet in diameter and
thirty in height, built of small stones and
mortar, and faced with blocks of coarse sand-
stone, full of shells ; it is much defaced,
except on the north-western side, and the
altars, with inscriptions, mentioned by Shaw
as in his time standing on its summit, have
long since disappeared. Hammamet bears
east by north about eight miles, and the
tower now stands three quarters of a mile
from the sea, although, from the appearance
of the coast, it would seem that the mauso-
leum, at the period of its erection, stood on
the shore, and that the sea has receded con-
siderably.

A little farther on is " Bir Saloom,'* the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 57

well of the steps, and around it are the
foundations of a town. Passing these, we
crossed a small river, by a modern bridge, the
ruins of the ancient one, consisting of sixteen
arches, standing just above it ; and, at two
o'clock, we entered upon the narrow tongue
of land lying between the sea and the exten-
sive salt lake, or " Sebkah el Jereeba,*' now
nearly dry, but during winter, or when, after
a gale of wind, the waters of the Mediterra-
nean enter, forming a shallow sheet of water,
twenty miles in length, communicating with
the sea by three channels. To the westward,
the plain is bounded by a range of mountains,
amongst which rises conspicuously the lofty
summit of Zouwan ; whilst a chain of heights,
sweeping round towards the sea, with a village
picturesquely placed on the top of a singularly
scarped hill, forms the northern boundary of
the great plain of Kairouan. At three o'clock
we passed one of the channels between the
sebkah and the sea, near which are the ruins
of a bridge that crossed a channel now filled
up. The margin of the lake, and the sea-
shore, were strewn with sea-weed, the size,
shape, and colour, of potatoes. On the dry
bed of the lake stood a gazelle, which had
come from the plain to lick the salt crystal-

D 3

58 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

lized on its surface; as we drew near, the
graceful creature, gazing timidly around,
sprang off towards the other side of the seb-
kab, which appears to be a favourite resort
of these beautiful animals, the soft mud being
marked with their slot in many places.

During the afternoon Baba Jebb related
the history of his life. Born at Naples, he had
accompanied his father, when nine years of
age, in a voyage to Trieste. Whilst on the
passage, the vessel was taken by a Tunisian
corsair, and the passengers and crew sold for
slaves ; Baba Jebb was purchased by the Bey,
but who bought his father he never knew, and
he has forgotten his own name. Brought up
in the Bardo, as a Mahometan, he became,
in time, a Mameluke of the Skeefa, (entrance
of the palace), and has been upwards of fifty
years in the Regency. He has entirely lost
all European ideas, is a very indifferent
Mahometan, and thinks that the laws of the
Koran against wine are just as absurd as
those of the Christians against a plurality
of wives ; as to what will become of him
when he dies, he does not know, but takes it
for granted that there will be room for him
somewhere.

For the few miles previously to reaching

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 59

Hergla, we rode along the sea-shore. The
evening was cahn and clear. Looking back,
the wide sweep of the bay was visible as far
as Ras el Mahmour ; the white-washed walls
and Kasbah of Hammamet, formed a bright
speck in the distance ; and, beyond, rose the
elevated mountains of Cape Bon; on our
right was the muddy bed of the Sebkah,
which an intervening ridge of sand had con-
cealed for some miles ; to our left was the
sea, the scarcely moving waves just murmur-
ing on the sandy beach ; and before us were
the tower and village of Hergla, placed on
the point of a low range of heights, running
out a short distance from the shore.

As we rode up the path we were stopped,
at the entrance of the village, by two young
men, in their gala-dresses of brown cloth,
trimmed with yellow lace, who, stationing
themselves on either side of the road, ad-
vanced and took us prisoners, by casting a
handkerchief gently across our horses' necks ;
according to ancient custom, we had to
ransom ourselves by the payment of a few
piastres, as a wedding was being celebrated
in the village, and each stranger who enters
is expected to make a small present, the

60 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

collection of which is intrusted to the young
men, friends of the bridegroom. ^

On our arrival, a stormy discussion arose ;
the peopledeclared that the Sheick was absent,
and that they were too poor to give us any-
thing when the only man of property in the
village was outof theway ; the factwas thatthe
Sheick had run off and hid himself to avoid
having anything to do with us. We left our
people to fight it out, and the affair could
not have been in better hands than those of
Baba Jebb, whose tongue poured forth a
perfect torrent of abuse, until we were in-
stalled in a small room in the best of the
wretched hovels of the village.

The distance we had come, from Grumbalia,
may be estimated at fifty miles, for we had
been thirteen hours on the road, including
the half-hour at the fondook. It was said
to be sixty-five Arab miles, but they are
so uncertain in length that it is almost im-
possible to reckon by them; we usually
counted our distances by the number of
hours we had travelled, making due allow-
ance for halts and diversions from the road.
An Arab mile is considered as the distance
at which, on level ground, a man may be

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 61

distinguished from a woman; throughout
Algeria and Tunis the mile so called may be
roughly estimated at a little more than two-
thirds of an English one.

We had time, before dark, to walk through
the village, a collection of miserable houses,
clustered round a square tower of Saracenic
or Moorish construction, built on the site of
the ancient Horrea Ccelia, and formed of its
ruins. Fragments of pillars, carved mould-
ings, and the mutilated remains of two bas-
reliefs in white marble, are mingled with the
squared stones, of Roman workmanship, that
have been employed in building the castle
and the present village of Hergla. In the
court-yard of our house was a cavern, which
they said extended to a considerable distance,
in the direction of the tower ; but as it was
inhabited, and full of women and children, we
could not explore it. We had purchased two
or three trifling articles of ancient pottery,
and some copper coins of no rarity, when,
with a certian degree of mystery, as though
the contents were of value, a small packet of
dirty rag, carefully tied up, was ofiered for
sale ; on opening it there appeared, in place
of a gold coin or an engraved gem, nothing

62 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

but a child's marble, striped with blue and
yellow.

Eight o'clock arrived and there were no
symptoms of supper; another hour passed
away, and our people looked reproachfully
at us ; old Baba Jebb was ravenously hungry,
and the only consolation he received was the
assurance of the master of the house that

the best the village afforded was preparing.
At last it made its appearance, and when
the solitary dish was placed xbefore us, Baba
Jebb remarked, in a sorrowful tone, " What
a dinner we should have had at Hammamet."
The food was certainly not inviting : a large
earthenware bowl had been filled with boiling
rancid oil, and floating in the midst was an
untrussed fowl, with legs and wings extended.
Its flesh was like leather, and the flavour
imparted to it by being boiled in bad oil,
was detestable. A dish of very dirty cous-
cousoo, and two or three small cakes of
coarse rye bread, completed our entertain-
ment ; the latter particularly annoyed Baba
Jebb, who exclaimed it was treating us worse
than the horses, for they had barley, while
we were fed upon rye. The poor people
had given us the best they had, and all his

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 63

grumbling and abuse could not make it
better. At one end of the narrow room was
the usual stone platform, raised a couple of
feet from the floor and covered with a mat,
which does duty for a bedstead ; upon this
we slept, and our escort and servants occu-
pied the floor.

On the morning of the 17th, we started
for Susa, a distance of eighteen miles. The
road lies near the sea, and half-way there
are the ruins of what probably was a fortified
station on the coast ; it is known by the
name of " the barber's shop.** We had seen
a similar ruin the previous day, a few miles
on the other side of Hergla, but it had not
been so well preserved. During the morning,
we had an opportunity of watching a pair of
those beautiful birds the Numidian cranes,
or " Mademoiselles.** In the spring, when
they are paying their addresses to each other,
their proceedings are very curious : they
are seen to place themselves face to face, a
little distance apart, one commences bowing,
and is imitated by the other ; a regular
minuet is then danced, each bird, with
drooping wings, and a graceful movement of
the head and neck, advances, retires, and

64 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

moves in a circle, with an easy gliding step,
sometimes passing dos-a-dos ; the whole per-
formance is gone through as methodically as
by young ladies at school; and from this,
and their pretty little airs of conceit, I pre-
sume their name has been derived.

For some miles before reaching Susa, the
country is cultivated, and the road bordered
with gardens and luxuriant groves of olives,
vines, and other fruit-trees, fenced round
with hedges of the prickly pear ; in many
of them are erected square towers, which
the owners inhabit occasionally in the heats
of summer, and which also serve as a resi-
dence to the servant who guards the property
when the fruit has ripened. Palms are
numerous, but they are principally planted
for ornament, as the dates do not ripen well,
and very little attention is paid to the culti-
vation of the trees. The gardens near the
shore owe a portion of their fertility to an
immense bank, formed by the sand drifted
by the winds and waves, which extends for
considerable distance along the coast, and
shelters them towards the north and east.
It has of late years increased rapidly, and
has encroached to such a degree that several

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 65

of the towers have been overwhelmed, and
many others seem likely to share their fate.

A long string of camels that we met, pre-
sented a singular appearance : laden with
pottery from the island of Gerbah, huge
sembeels piled high above the hump, with
lamps, bowls, dishes, &c., and numerous
water-jars of the classic forms of the ancient
Etruscan vases, formed of porous earthenware,
in which even in the hottest weather water is
kept cool by evaporation. The greater part
of the Regency is supplied from this island,
and the enormous jars in which the oil is
preserved and exported, are all made at
Gerbah. The camel-drivers were well armed,
and two of them wore long straight cross-
hilted swords in rough wooden scabbards.

Emerging from the broad green belt of
the plantations that encircle the town, we
came in view of the whitewashed battlements
of Susa close at hand, and at eleven o'clock,
we entered by the marine gate, at the north-
eastern angle of the town.

66 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

CHAPTER IV.

Susa — Ruins of Adrumetum — Tunisian Infantry — Ancient
and modern harbours— Export trade — Soap manufactory —
Oil mill — The camel's revenge— Administration of justice-
Prisoners — The Kai'd's seal, and the forgery — The " Saheb-
el-taba" — ^Date palm — Monasteer — Mahometan sabbath —
Tunny fishery — Lambtah — Incaltah — Cultivation of the
olive— Longevity of the olive— Ruins of Thapsus — Arrival
at Mahadeah.

The Vice-kaid, in the absence of his supe- •
rior, who was at Tunis, received us, and
whilst we were at breakfast with him, Mr.
Carleton, the British consular agent, hearing
of the arrival of two English travellers, did
not wait for a letter of introduction to be
delivered, but most hospitably insisted on
our removing at once to his house. The
afternoon was spent under the guidance of
Mr. W. Carleton in visiting the town and
its environs.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 67

Susa, a place of considerable trade, with
a population of ten thousand inhabitants,
occupies the site of the ancient Adrumetum,
a city whose name frequently occurs in the
history of Africa during the periods of the
Carthaginian and Roman ascendancy. It
was celebrated for the fertility of the sur-
rounding country, one of the richest districts
in a province to which was given the name
of the granary of Rome. The town, nearly
square, is enclosed by lofty battlemented
walls, flanked with towers, on which are
mounted a few light guns ; the kasbah stands
on a height in the southwest angle, and the
seaward face is further defended by batteries
that command the harbour. There are only
two gates, the one by which we entered, near
the sea, and the other on the western side,
leading into the interior. The fortifications
are kept in tolerable repair, and walls, towers,
and houses are alike covered with a frequently
renewed coat of dazzling whitewash. In the
streets and sooks there are no peculiarities
worthy of remark, excepting the many frag-
ments of antique columns, built into the
walls of houses, and generally seen forming
the corner stones where streets intersect each

68 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

other. Outside the western gate are the
ruins of several cisterns, and two of those
in the best state of preservation have been
lately repaired and converted into govern-
ment storehouses. A few hundred yards
beyond, in the midst of an olive plants^fcion,
some huge fragments of masonry are still
standing, of such gigantic proportions, as to
defy all conjecture as to the description of
building of which they once formed a part.

On the open space between these ruins
and the walls three regiments of regular in-
fantry were encamped, organized and drilled
principally by French officers, many of whom
still remain in the Tunisian service. Their
arms, appointments, and clothing are all after
the European model, with the exception of the
shasheah, which replaces the shako. On pa-
rade these regiments look well, and manoeuvre
very fairly, indeed much better than could
be expected when we consider how com-
pletely the European system of drill is op-
posed to their national habits of warfare.
Individually the men have a mean, unsoldier-
like appearance, with an awkward slouching
gait, which may in great part be accounted
for by the entire chang^e of dress — from the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 69

freedom of their rags (for they are taken
from the lowest class of the population) to
the confinement of trousers and tight fitting
jackets. Except when stationed at or in the
vicinity of Tunis, where they are under the
eye of the Bey, their conduct is lawless and
insubordinate^ and the troops are the terror
of the district where they may happen to he
quartered. This is owing in a great measure
to the miserable pay which they receive, and
to the scandalous peculations of the officers,
who cheat their men and the government, by
issuing rations of the worst description ; so
that it not unfrequently happens the soldiery
are driven by actual hunger to commit depre-
dations upon the country people. How these
troops will behave in the field remains to
be proved, as there has not yet been any
opportunity of testing them j but there is no
want of courage individually, and they are
full of confidence in themselves. When war
was expected between Tunis and Sardinia,
and the northern coast of the Regency was
placed in a state of defence, they were both
ready and willing to meet the Sardinian
troops on equal terms. The arrangements
of the present camp were very creditable, the

70 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

canvas tents were pitched with regularity,
and the arms of each regiment piled in line
in front of their respective quarters, under
the charge of sentries*, with their colours of
crimson silk, bearing a crescent and a star,
planted three paces in advance.

Walking through the camp we made a
circuit outside the town, passing under the
kasbah, from whence a beautiful view is
obtained of a richly wooded, well-cultivated
country, the bright walls of the whitewashed
villages, and the domes of the numerous
marabouts, contrasting pleasantly with the
varied hues of green, appearing in the land-
scape. A little to the southward of the
town is the present harbour, small and inse-
cure. Susa ranks in the Regency,* next to
Tunis, as a place of export, and carries on
a considerable trade in olive oil and soap.
On the beach were lying, half buried in the
sand, several curious old guns, relics of the
days when Tunis was a naval power ; and a
short distance from the shore the ancient
port of Adrumetum is still visible, the greater
part under water, but here and there the
remains rising, like rocks, above the surface
of the sea.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 71

Re-entering the town by the Marine gate,
we visited first, a soap manufactory. The
process of soap-boiling is very simple ; the
extensive olive gardens supply the oil, and
tlie alkali is procured from the ashes of a
plant abundant in the neighbourhood. Ten
baskets of ashes are mixed with four of
quick-lime, and placed in a shallow tank ;
water is then added, which when impreg-
nated with the caustic alkali is drawn off
from the bottom into a small reservoir. The
lye is boiled in a capacious iron vessel,
shaped like an inverted cone, and the oil
axided by degrees. The boiling fluid is kept
constantly stirred, and after awhile its con-
sistency is tried by every now and then
placing a drop or two on a board. Poured
into wooden trays four inches deep, it is,
when cold, cut into pieces, which are packed
in baskets for exportation. The quality of
the soap, from the absence of all inferior
ingredients, such as tallow, &c., is excellent,
and as the proportions are always the same,
the only difference that can exist is that
caused by the varying quality of the oil.

From the soap manufactory we proceeded
to an oil-mill, to witness the method of pressing

72 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

the olives. They are gathered about the
month of November, thrown together in
heaps, with a little salt sprinkled over them,
and pressed when convenient ; but nearly all
the oil for exportation is expressed during
December. In the centre of a large dark
outhouse, the earthen floor slopped, and
everything in it daubed with oil, we found a
circular table of solid masonry, raised three
feet from the ground ; upon this works a
heavy stone roller revolving round a pivot,
and put in motion by a camel. The olives
are placed on the table, and a few revolutions
are sufficient to reduce them, as well as the
stones they contain, to a paste. For the
finest oil this paste is placed in water, and
being stirred with the hand, the oil rises to
the surface, and is carefully skimmed off^ ; a
portion of this is used by the higher classes
for cookery, and the remainder is employed
in the manufacture of the finer kinds of
soap. For the second quality, the paste is
put into flexible baskets, fifteen or twenty of
which are placed in a pile, under a powerful
lever, (in this mill, composed of four entire
trees). To the end over the baskets, heavy
weights are attached, and a large coarsely

ALGERIA AND TUNIB. 73

constructed wooden screw, placed under the
longer limb of the lever, produces the pres-
sure requisite to flatten the baskets, the oil
thus expressed running into large earthen
jars embedded in the ground.

This is the oil used for burning, for making
soap, and employed in cookery by all thepoorer
classes in the Regency, who, from habit, pre-
fer the strong taste of the inferior oil to that of
the finer, which they say is without flavour.
The rollers employed in crushing the olives
are generally supplied by the nearest ruins,
and columns of the rarest and most pre-
cious marbles are cut up into lengths for
this purpose. The camels employed in the
mills are often vicious, and one making a
snap at us as we passed, led to the narra-
tion of an anecdote, shewing that the camel,
usually considered so dull and stupid, is not
inferior in apparently reasoning powers, to
many other animals.

A year or two ago it chanced that a
valuable camel, working in the oil tpill, was
severely beaten by its driver, who per-
ceiving that the camel had treasured up the
injury, and was only waiting a favourable
opportunity for revenge, kept a strict watch

VOL. II. E

74 AI-GERIA AND TUNIS.

Upon the animal. Time passed awav ; the
camel, perceiving that it was watched, was
quiet and obedient, and the driver began to
think that the beating was forgotten, when
one night, after the lapse of several months,
the man, who slept on a raised platform in
the mill, whilst, as is customaiy, the camel
was stalled in a corner, happening to remain
awake, observed by the bright moonlight
that when all was quiet the animal looked
cautiously around, rose softly, and stealing
towards a spot where a bundle of clothes and
a bemous thrown carelessly on the ground
resembled a sleeping figure, cast itself with
violence upon them, rolling with all its weight,
and tearing them most viciously with its
teeth. Satisfied that its vengeance was com-
plete, the camel was returning to its comer,
when the driver sat up and spoke ; at the
sound of his voice, and perceiving the mis-
take it had made, the animal was so mortified
at the failure and discovery of its scheme,
that it dashed its head against the wall, and
died on the spot. Such was the story as
related by the dragoman, and the owner of
the mill vouched for its authenticity.

Next morning we paid a long visit to the

ALGEUIA AND TDSIS. 75

Vice-Kaid, and sat with him whilst he was
engaged in dispensing justice. The adminiE-
trationof the laws is carried on throughout the
Regency with simplicity and despatch ; any
individual who may have cause of complaint,
either civil or criminal, against another, at-
tends, at an hour which is known to all, be-
fore the Kaid or other authority ; the accused
is sent for, both parties plead their own cause,
and the decision is generally given at once ;
the laws being contained in the Koran are
tolerably well known, and if the passage
bearing upon any particular case is obscure,
the judge will ask the assistance of a priest
to explain it. Except in a case where the
Kaid is personally concerned, the judgments
are usually just and impartial. Great crimes
are of rare occurrence in the towns and
villages, and executions very seldom take
place ; fines, the bastinado, and imprison-
ment are the usual punishments, the former
being preferred by the authorities, who sel-
dom allow a person of properly convicted of
any offence, to escape without suffering
severely as to his purse.

The Vice-Kaid is a man of information,
tolerably free from prejudice, and spoke

76 ALGERIA ANO TrNIR.

openly upon all matters relating to the
management of his district. He conducted us
over his house, and in doing so passed the
prison, which is in the lower part near the
stable ; the prisoners were confined in a small
apartment, with a strongly barred window
opening towards the street, where several of
their friends were standing conversing with
them, one man every now and then passing
his pipe through the grating to an acquaint-
ance within. The prisoners are wretchedly
fed, coarse bread of the worst description
and a little oil being all that is allowed them ;
except, however, it is especially forbidden,
their friends are permitted to supply them
with provisions. At this time there were only
five prisoners, three were confined for debt,
the fourth had refused to pay a fine that had
been imposed upon him, pleading poverty as
an excuse, although he was known to have
money concealed, and the fifth, who was ac-
cused of theft, was imprisoued on account of
the absence of the prosecutor.

Seeing the Kaid sign several papers, by
affixing the impression of his seal, in black
ink, on the back of the document, placing it
exactly behind the last line, to prevent any

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 77

additions being made to the writing, we asked
for a couple of impressions, and produced a
piece of blank paper for the purpose. These
he seemed unwilling to furnish, and then ex-
plained, that if the paper were lost, any person
who found it might fill it up as he liked, and
that consequences as disagreeable as had hap-
pened to one of his predecessors might ensue.
Sixty years ago, a servant of the then Kaid
of Susa managed to secure three or four im-
pressions of his master's sea!, probably during
his sleep, and then, filling up the papers with
acknowledgments that hia master was in-
debted to him various sums amounting in all
to ten thousand piastres, he summoned him
before the Bey, and demanded repayment of
the debt. In vain the Kaid protested he had
never borrowed even a " bourba" from his
servant, he produced witnesses, who proved
that the plaintiff, so far from possessing ten
thousand piastres to lend, never had a hun-
dred in his life ; all was of no avail, his
seal was examined, and on comparison the
impressions were pronounced to be genuine ;
the Kaid himself could not deny it, and he
was ordered to pay the sum. The decision,

78 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

unjust as it may seem, was founded on the
principle that it was impossible for any one
to repudiate his own signature, particularly
in cases of this sort, where the transaction
was supposed to be confined to two parties,
either of whom, to answer his purpose, might
deny his own act. The servant did not,
however, get clear off; the money which he
claimed was paid to him, and then the Bey
asked, how be, a poor servant, had become
possessed of so large a sum as he had lent
his master ? he could not account for it — the
Bey decided that he must have obtained the
money dishonestly, ordered him to be basti-
nadoed, and the ten thousand piastres to be
confiscated. Thus the Kaid received a lesson
in law, the servant was punished, and the
Bey got the money.

The seal is always worn about the person,
except by the Bey, whose seal is entrusted
to the care of the prime minister, and from
this charge he derives his official appel-
lation of " Saheb-el-taba," or Lord of the
Seal. The devices consist of the owner's
name and title, with often a pious motto ;
the Bey's seal is of an oval form, two inches

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

in diameter, in the centre is his name and
titles,' and it is surrounded by a double
border containing verses from the Koran.
Those of other individuals are much smaller.
That we might have his seal without any
risk to himself, the Vice-Kald had two orders
made out upon a neighbouring village that
we did not intend visiting, and gave them to
us duly signed.

Whilst our horses were getting ready, we
purchased an engraved cornelian and several
coins, from a Jew trader who procures them
from the Arabs and inhabitants of the vil-
lages, when they visit the town to attend the
markets. At noon we left Susa for Monas-
teer ; and as there was no fear of robbers,
we allowed our baggage to follow, under the
charge of two of our escort, and cantered
along the firm sea-beach to the southward.

The low sandy plain to our right, was
covered with groves of the date-palm ; this
being the most northern spot in the Regency

* The style of (he soveieigu of Tunis is '' the .Vluahtet
Ahmed flasha Bey." Musheer agnifies lileraUy counsellor,
ami is the title of a Turkish Basha, of the raok which
ihe viceroys of Tunis held when they were appointed by the
Porte ; it has been continued by the succeeding Beys. The
Guropean goiernments address the Bey u his fiigbneas.

80 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

where they are cultivated ; for, although
they do not ripen here sufficiently for preser-
vation, they are used fresh, and the trees pro-
duce great quantities of " leghma," the sap
of the palm, which is obtained in the same
manner as in India and elsewhere, by making
incisions in the upper part of the trunk, or
by cutting off the head of the plant.

Near the point where the coast takes a
sweep to the eastward, forming the Ras, or
Cape, Misteer, we crossed a small stream,
and the bed of a salt lake, almost dry, a por-
tion of which, however, was covered with a
thick growth of weeds, which teemed with
wild fowl of every description. We now rode
through continuous plantations of olives, kc,
to the extreme point of the promontory
where the town of Monasteer is situated;
half a dozen flags flying from its walls,
and the closed gates, told us that it was the
Mahometan Sabbath, and that the hour of
mid-day prayer was not yet over. This is a
custom peculiar to all fortified places in the
Regency, every gate being shut during the
mid-day service, which commences at half-
past one, and occupies from an hour to an
hour and a half. This practice has its origin

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. fel

in an ancient prophecy that, some Friday
during mid-day prayer, the ChristiEins will
enter Tunis and other walled towns, by
means of the gates left accidentally open,
and that the ruin of the country, and Aowa-
fall of the Mahometan faith, wiU speedily
follow. After sunset, the gates of towns are
invariably closed ; and the traveller arriving
after dark, must make up his mind to spend
the night outside, unless they have, like
Monasteer, Kairouan, and one or two other
places, "houhah," or narrow, low passages,
cut winding through the wall close to the
great gate, just large enough for a man of
moderate size, when bent double, to creep
through.

We might have entered in this manner,
but we preferred waiting until the gates
were opened, and passed the time in riding
about the fields in the immediate vicinity of
the town. The soil is good, water plentiful,
and the inhabitants tolerably industrious ;
for, in place of the slovenly style of agricul-
ture in the northern part of the Regency,
and in Algeria, the land was divided by
hedges of the cactus and aloe, and laid out
in squares, with channels for irrigation con-

S2.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS,

ducting to each from reservoirs, which are
supplied with water raised from wells by
the labour of camels or oxen. On entering,
we were received by the Kaitd, who seemed
rather inclined to play the great man, and
proposed to quarter us upon a rich Jew mer-
chant, a proposition to which we by no means
assented, stating our intention of occupying
a room in his house, which was the best in
the town. Upon this, he became very civil,
and said that by the time we returned from
our walk round the town, everything would
be prepared for us.

Built on the shore, a little to the south
of the extreme point of the cape, Monasteer,
or, as it is called by the Arabs, Misteer,
contains about six thousand inhabitants.
The fortifications are similar to those of
other towns, and the kasbah, with its bat-
tlemented walls, aud a lofty tower rising in
the centre, is placed on the side nearest the
sea. The port is small and of no great im-
portance, and formed principally by two small
islands of soft sand-stone that lie near the
shore, perforated by a hundred caves and
passages, of which the use or history is
unknown. The sand-stone of which the

ALGEUIA AND TUNIS.

headland is composed, is of a peculiarly
friable nature, and in places where the sur-
face of the rock had been espoBed to the
action of the weather, it hore the appearance
of petrified moss, crumbling when touched.

In many of the gardens in the neigh-
bourhood, are country houses to which the
wealthier residents retire during the hot
weather. There are also numerous Mara-
bouts who, here as well as elsewhere, keep
in proper order the tombs of holy men, which
are resorted to by the Moorish women, if
report does not belie them, as much for the
purpose of intrigue as for devotion.

The trade of Monasteer consists of oil,
soap, and grain j but moat of the business
is transacted by the merchants of Susa. In
one of the open spaces within the town, were
large heaps of the refuse of the olives after
the oil had been expressed ; it is formed
into bricks, which, when dried in the sun,
have the appearance of light-coloured peal,
and make excellent fuel ; it is also at times
given as food to camels, and, in seasons of
scarcity, the poor mix it with the flour of
which they make their bread. On returning
at sunset, after a long and pleasant walk, we

o* ALGEKIA AND TPNI3.

found that the Ka'id had kept his word :
three rooms that had once been occupied as
a harem, were fitted up with silken cushions,
and coverlets ; and, in due course of time,
an excellent supper made its appearance,
accompanied by a couple of bottles of tolerable
SicLhan wine.

Next morning, the 19th, we started at an
early hour for Mahadeah. A short distance
below Monasteer, long lines of stakes are
seen extending to a considerable distance
from the land ; these form the enclosures
where the tunny are caught, at the season
of their annual visit to the shores of the
Mediterranean. The tish, finding their
course interrupted, follow the line of the
basket-work barrier, which leads them into
a small pen from which they are unable to
escape. The Bey retains the sole right of
the tunny fishery, which he farms out on
lease, but the receipts from this source, once
considerable, are now much diminished, as
the number of fish has fallen off greatly
within the last few years. The produce is
always very uncertain, and as the expenses
are great, the lessee as often loses as gains
by the speculation. The method of con-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 85

ducting the fishery varies very little from
that followed on the opposite coast of the
Mediterranean.

For the next three hours, we rode either on
the beach or through plantations of olive, palm,
and other fruit trees. The numerous villages
near the sea shore were surrounded with cul-
tivated fields, gardens, and orchards, proving
the fertility of the soil. Various kinds of
vegetables were thriving luxuriantly ; the
trees were laden with fruit ; rich blossoms
covered the pomegranate ; and the karoobas
attaining a considerable size, with their still
swelling pods pendent amidst their foliage,
cast a grateful shade around. After pass-
ing, amongst others, the villages of Hanis,
Kseehah, and the ruins of an ancient town,
to which the modern name of Boo-hajar, or
the Pather of Stones, has been appropriately
ven, we arrived about noon at Lambtah, a
illage on the coast. The ruins of an exten-
;ve castle, built by the Saracens from the
remains of the important city of Leptis, which
formerly stood upon this spot, rise pictu-
resquely in the centre of the clustering hovels.
Many small articles, such as coins, gems,
&c., are found by the villagers, in plough-

86 ALGERIA AND TONIS.

ing the neighbouring fields ; and, during
our halt, they offered several for sale. The
day was not oppressively hot, the thermo-
meter, at noon, marking sixty-nine degrees
in the shade ; but the bright sun and our
ride caused us to enjoy the fresh palm wine,
which they placed before us in an earthen
jar, shaped after an antique model.

A ride of two hours through the villages
of Seyadah and Toobulbah brought us to
Imcaltah, a small village near Ras Demass.
The country was even more fertile than to
the north of Lambtab ; and, what is rather
a rare sight in Africa, a considerable por-
tion of the population were labouring in the
fields. Light, rudely constructed ploughs,
drawn by an ox, a camel, or an ass, were
turning up the soil between the olive trees.
Great attention is paid to irrigation ; water
courses run between the rows of trees, and,
by means of small channels branching to
the right and left, water is supplied to any
single tree that may require it, and is retained
as long as necessary around its roots, by
slight ridges of earth. The olive groves in
this district contain trees of a great age and
size, and accounted the larjrest in Africa. Of

jVLGERIA and TDNIS. S7

immense girth, many are half decayed, with
trunks rent and cracked from top to bottom ;
and, although they may have sheltered Csesar
and his army, they still bear fruit, and their
upper branches are green \vith the freshly
sprung leaves of the new year.'

After feeding our horses, we sent on the
baggage to Mahadeah ; and, accompanied by
the head man of the village, rode round by
Ras Demass, the site of Thapsus, a powerful
city, celebrated for the battle fought beneath
its walls, in which Scipio and Juba were
defeated by Caesar, who was besieging it.
This victor}' it was that gave Africa to Csesar,
and led to the death of Cato.

The principal remains of the ancient city
are the ruins of a solidly constructed pier,
thirty feet wide, and formed of small stones
and mortar, which has withstood the fury
of the waves, although the outward casing
of wrought stone has perished ; it still extends
one hundred and eighty yards from the
shore. To the westward of the pier, lie the

* The appearance af some of ibcse trees warrant ibe assign-
ment to ihem of the greatest age to nhicli the olive can attain.
The longevity of the olive has been computed at two thousand
five hunilred years. The battle of Thapsus was fought in
the yeai 47 b.c.

88 ALGERIA AND TUNIS. ^

ruins of an extensive edifice, and those of
an amphitheatre. To the southwest, are
the cisterns, twenty-five in number, each
two hundred and seventeen feet in length by
ten and a half in breadth. The aqueduct
that supplied them and the amphitheatre
with water remains in many places nearly
perfect ; and the natives stated that it can
be traced to what is now a sebkah, or salt
lake, but which, previously to an irruption
of the sea, caused by a violent storm, con-
tained fresh water.

Sir Thomas Reade commenced excavating
here a few years since, but the proceeds
were so trifling, that the work was abandoned.
We spent so much time amid the ruins, that
the nine miles of coast to Mahadeah could
with difficulty be accomplished by dusk, and
as the night fell, we entered the town.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 89

CHAPTER V.

Onr reception by Sidi Ha^ji Mohamed Hamsa— Mahadeah—
Its history— Spanish fortifications— Ancient harbour — Cis-
terns— Tombs— Saracenic ruin— Xumckseff— -Friendly re-
ception—Sketching and taking portraits— The evil eye-
Amulets — Questions and answers— £arly start — The curse
of blood— The Smalah of the Kaid of Sfax— Jellooli—
Arab Women — Rouga — Long ride— Jebiniana— Uncom-
fortable night.

Mahadeah not being the station of any
government official, we occupied a house the
property of a wealthy Moor, Sidi Hadji Mo-
hamet Hamsa, who had been ordered by the
Kaid of Monasteer to receive us. The even-
ing was enlivened by a furious squabble,
arising out of the manner in which we had
been received ; for the order sent from Mo-
nasteer, instead of being a formal letter, was
written on a dirty scrap of paper, which had
hurt the Hadji's pride, and although he did
not dare to disobey it, he made no further

90 ALGERIA ASD TCSIS.

preparation than to open the door of an tin-
inhabited house. This excited the anger of
our people, but when supper was sent in
their indignation was at its height. As far
as we were concerned the supply was ample,
quite sufficient for a party twice our strength,
but as it was considered an intentional slight
that a man of the Hadji's wealth had not
sent a more liberal meal, we sacrificed our
supper to our dignity, and ordered it to be
instantly returned. We threatened to report
his conduct to the Bey, and if we had done
so he would have been heavily fined, but he
apol(^ized next morning, and I belieTe that
Sidi Abdallah and fiaba Jchb received a
handsome present to say nothing about it on
their return to the Bardo.

We were indebted to the hospitality of

Signor for our supper, and early next

morning he accompanied us over the town.
Mabadeah(or Africa, as it is sometimes called
by Europeans), one of the poorest places in
the Regency, is in appearance one of the most
remarkable. Placed on a low peninsula of
rock, and naturally a strong position, it is
supposed to be the site of the " Tunis Han-
nibalis" of ancient geographers, which name

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

has, however, been also assi^ed to exten-
sive rains at Salecto, some miles to the south-
ward. The more modern history of Maha-
deah is better known. The first Fatiraito
CaUph of Kairouan, who, rising into power
as a religious reformer, had assumed the
title of *' Mahadi," or director, founded or
rebuilt the town, to which he gave his own
name, about the year 94>0, a. d. Towards
the middle of the sixteenth century it was
seized by the famous Dragut, who afterwards
fell at the memorable siege of Malta, and in
whose possession it remained but for a short
time, being taken by a Christian force, and
then strongly fortified by Charles V., who
intended to make it an impregnable fortress
and a station for his cruisers. Not answer,
ing his expectations, the town was abandoned
and the works destroyed.

It is to this that Mahadeah owes ils pictu-
resque appearance ; immense fragments of the
wall, with its mouldering towers, their wea-
ther-beaten remains blending with the rock
on which they stand, encircle the town ; the
Kasbah rises in the centre, and a modem
fijrt near the gate is placed close to a rival
mass of masonry, one of the remnants of the

y» ALGERIA AND TDNIS.

Spanish works which guarded the neck of
the isthmus. Containing a population of four
thousand, the inhabitants and the houses
seemed equally poverty-stricken ; the trade
is inconsiderable, although the present har-
bour on the south side of the promontory is
safe and sheltered, with a sufficient depth of
water for coasting vessels. The ancient har-
bour, excavated in the space within the
walls, was of an oblong form, one hundred
and forty-eight paces by seventy-four, and
communicated with the sea by a narrow
channel, now dry and partially filled up with
rubbish. There are numerous cisterns in
the town, but the most remarkable are those
near the Kasbah, formed in the solid rock ;
they are of great depth, and the flat roofs
that received the rain-water are still sup-
ported by a double range of arches, one
above the other.

At the eastern extremity of the cape there
are many shallow tombs cut in the rock, some
still contain skeletons, but nothing extra-
neous has ever been found in them, except
that an arm-bone was discovered, wrapped
round with a bandage to which some pitchy
substance still adhered. Several, from their

ALGERIA AND TUMIS. 93

small size, must have been the graves of chil-
dren, but there was one, of full length, which
had evidently held double.

Scattered in different directions are stone
shot of considerable size, to discharge which
guns of large calibre must have been required.
During our progress we discovered the cause
of the black, stagnant appearance of the
ponds in the neighbourhood of many of the
villages through which we had passed. Several
women were engaged in obtaining oil for
immediete use by pounding a few handfuls
of olives with a stone, and then placing the
paste in the nearest puddle and skimming
off the oil as it rose to the surface. The
olives thus treated are those of the worst
description, which from fermentation and
never having ripened, are small, shrivelled,
and quite black.

Three miles from Mahadcah, to the west-
ward, stand the ruins of an ancient Saracenic
building of great beauty j it was of small
dimensions, consisting only of a vault beneath
the surface, and two stories above j the in-
terior is fourteen feet and a half square, the
walls nearly five feet in thickness, and an
octangular tower formerly stood at each

94 ALGERIA AND TUNIS,

corner of the building. The masonry is
executed with the greatest nicety of finish,
and a band, two feet in width, sculptured
with an inscription in highly ornamented
Kufic characters, runs round the edifice at
the height of twenty feet from the ground,
and divides the exterior into two portions.
Traces of an inclosure at some distance from
the building still remain. The country
people hare no tradition relating to it, but
from its general appearance, and from the
fragments of the inscription which I had trans-
lated on my return to Tunis proving to he
portions of a verse of the Koran, I infer that
it was probably erected over the tomb of some
distinguished leader, in the early period of the
Mahometan rule, perhaps over that of Ma-
hadi himself, the founder of the town.

Towards the afternoon we started for
Xuruckseff, riding for two hours through an
uninteresting country. We were received
on our arrival with the greatest cordiality,
and the three principal inhabitants of the
place conducted us over the straggling vil-
lage. It lies southwest from Mahadeah, on
the verge of the plain of Kairouan, sur-
rounded with monotonous olive groves, which

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 95

when seen day after day become wearisome
to the eye.

Ascending an adjoining height, I employed
myself in sketching the village, whilst Lord
Feilding was employed in taking the portraits
of our companions, who were at first uncon-
scious of what he was about ; two of them
thought it a capital joke, and insisted on
writing their names underneath the figures,
lest they should be forgotten ; and one, taking-
from his girdle his pen-case and a crumpled
piece of paper, sat down with a most amusing
air of gravity to take our likenesses, and in
due course of time, after the consumption of
all the ink in his case, produced two diabolical
misrepresentations of the human form, which
we had to identify with ourselves by placing
our names beneath. A tliird man who had
accompanied us, we afterwards discovered
had hurried off in a terrible fright, from
dread of the " evil eye," and any misfortune
that may befal him in the course of the next
year we were informed would be laid at our
door.

This fear of the evil eye, the effects of
which they believe to be the work of malig-
nant demons that delight in injuring man-

96 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

kind, and generally make use of strangers as
tbeir unconscious instruments, is universal,
even amongst the better orders. An instance
of this occurred to us in the sook at Sfas ;
struck with the appearance of a lovely child
of four or five years of age, I was pointing
him out to my companion, when, in an
instant, a woman, I suppose the mother,
seized the child in her arms with every sym-
tom of terror, and, spitting in its face, rubbed
the saliva with her hand across the child's
forehead as a counter-charm against the
supposed injurious influence of the evil
eye, conveyed in the admiring glance of a
stranger.

Nearly all the Moors and Arabs wear
charms or amulets about their persons, es-
pecially the women and children. These
charms are composed of a most heterogenous
collection of articles, but those in which the
greatest faith is placed consist of various
combinations of words and sentences from
the Koran, and the more mysterious and
incomprehensible they are, the greater is
the efficacy they are supposed to possess.
Usually concocted by the Marabouts, much
of their virtue is also supposed to depend

ALGEKJA AND TUNIS.

upon the peculiar sanctity of the individual
who may have manufactured them. Sewn
up in leather, and sometimes placed in little
embroidered bags, the amulets are worn not
only by men, women, and children, but are
frequently suspended about the necks of ani-
mals ; five out of the eight horses we had with
us were thus equipped. Inanimate objects
are also imagined to partake of the benefit
believed to be derived from these devices,
for the representation of an open hand —
which is considered a potent charm against
all spells of genii, demons, and evil spirits —
is often affixed to houses ; and the scallop-
shell, so common an ornament on the capitals
of columns, &c., is said to have been intended
originally as a rude Imitation of a hand.

The Sheick, who was building a new
house, made many apologies for not having
better accommodation to offer us, and took
great pride in shewing us over the unfinished
apartments. During the evening the leading
characters of Xuruckseff joined the party,
and old Baba Jebb was kept hard at work
as an interpreter. Great curiosity was ex-
pressed to hear something about England,
and innumerable questions were asked as to

VOL II. r

93 ALGERIA AKD TUXIS.

how far it was off, what was the size of the
largest town, &c. ; but I am afraid that the
replies were not always very correctly con-
veyed, for Baba Jebb at last grew sleepy, and
if the answers that we got to our questions
may be taken as specimens of those that the
Arabs received, he must have made a sad mess
of it. What seemed to puzzle them most was
the fact of our sovereign being a woman ;
and as for the description of London, its
size, number of inhabitants, and the ships in
the Thames, I have little doubt but that they
thought it all a lying exaggeration, although
they were too well bred to say so.

The Sheick was greatly pleased with a small
quantity of English gunpowder that we gave
him, and still more so with several dozen
copper caps, for he had a French percussion
gun, and as far as we could learn it seemed
that he bad never possessed a cap in his life.
A provoking accident happened this day,
Angelo having succeeded in breaking the
barometer ; the large thermometer having
been crusbed to pieces the day before, by one
of the baggage horses rolling upon it, ren-
dered the mishap the more annoying, as we
were now entering that part of the country

I
I

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 99

in which we had particularly wished to take
observations.

As it was uncertain whore we should halt
the next night, we started at an early hour,
being in our saddles at a quarter to three,
Our object was to reach the "smalah"* of
the Kaid of Sfas at a sufficiently early hour
to enable us to resume our march in tbe
afternoon. The smalah was known to have
been removed within a day or two, and we
only received a general direction as to where
we were likely to find it.

Shortly after leaving the village, Sidi Ab-
dallah sent on one of the Hambas as an
advanced guard, and warned us to look to
our arms and keep together. Although there
was but little fear of our being attacked yet
it was as well to be prepared, for the plain
of Kairouan is a favourite resort for roving
parties of the marauding tribeis, who descend
from the mountains to the westward for the
purpose of plundering travellers. As if to
give a colouring of reality to the long stories
of murders and robberies which Baba Jebb
was relating, for the benefit of all parties

* A douat iE cbUgi! a imalfth wben it i£ ihe habitual resi-
dence of a diEtinguished chief, and wben it coDtaius his family
and personal property.

10(1

ALGERIA AND TPSIS.

first, in Arabic and then in Italian, we passed
some heaps of stones, just visible in the
obscurity of the early morning, the rude
memorials of deeds of blood committed on
the spot. It is a custom that each passer-
by should cast a atone upon the heap, and as
he does so he lays the curse of blood upon
the perpetrator of the murder, dooming him
to perish by the same death that another had
received at his hands ; the mound of stones
piled on the victim's grave being symbolical
of the united curses of mankind heaped upon
the head of the murderer.

Our route lay south-westerly for some dis-
tance, through uncultivated plantations of
stunted olives and patches of brushwood,
which grew scantier as we advanced across
the dreary plain. For nearly five hours we
rode without catching sight of tent, flock, or
human being, and the sole incident that
occurred to vary the scene was at day-break,
when a herd of gazelles sprang up affrighted,
from a hollow near our track, and, as they
fled, iu the dull gray light of the morning,
seemed but bounding shadows, soon lost to
view in the floating mist that hung over the
surface of the groOnd.

At eight o'clock we discovered three

ALGERIA ASD TUNIS.

101

douars, pitched within short distances of each
other, and, receiving; proper directions for
our course, arrived two hours afterwards at
the smalah. Gellooli, the Kaid of Sfax, is
reported to be the wealthiest man in the
Regency, his father having been one of the
most enterprising and successful pirates of
modem days. During several months in the
year he leaves the town and wanders with
his smalah over the extensive plains of his
government ; his tent is a very grand affair,
of large size, lined with coloured drapery,
and divided by curtains into three compart-
ments. Having when a young man spent
some time with his father at Malta, he speaks
Italian and has a liking for the English ; it
was only vnth groat diflSculty that we were
allowed to take our departure at noon. The
Kaid added to our party four armed horse-
men, who were to guide us to Rouga, the
ruins of the ancient city of Carraga,

Two miles from the smalah we stopped to
allow our horses to drink at a small pond of
dirtywater, the first we had seen since themorn-
ing, and here we found nearly all the women
and girls of the smalah. There were forty or
fifty females of all ages, many of them standing

102

ALGERIA AND TCNIS.

above their knees in the water, engaged in
filUng the goat skins, that, daubed with tar
and tallow, give such a detestable flavour to
their brackish contents. Even when we rode
in amongst them they were not in the least
chary of exposing their charms, and many of
the younger girls who were in the water with
their garments tucked up, made a liberal
display of form and figure. One or two were
decidedly pretty, a few tolerably good-look-
ing, but the majority, to say the least of it,
were very plain, and some of the elderly
ladies frightfully ugly.

At Rouga there are two sets of cisterns of
considerable magnitude, and nearly perfect.
They are of an unusual form, being circular,
and the largest, which is one hundred and
twenty feet in diameter, has its roof sup-
ported by eight rows of square piers, the
arches between each formed of live blocks of
stone. The only access to them is by a
narrow underground passage, leading to a
breach in the side wall. The debris of the
ancient city, extends over several acres of
ground, and the remains of a triumphal arch
are still standing.

We were now not very far from El Jem,

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 103

which lay a few hours journey to the north-
west.

Whilst in the cisterns I was seized with
my old Chinese enemy the ague, and knowing
from past experience that if the fit proved a
severe one I should not be able to sit my
horse, there was nothing left for it but to
gallop on to Jebiniana, the village where we
were to pass the night. Taking with us
Scheadli, the hamba who was best mounted,
we rode through a region still more dreary
than that traversed in the morning, a pe-
culiar appearance of desolation being given
to the scenery by the wild olives, their dwarfed
and withered forms possessing just sufficient
vitality to retain existence, scattered at dis-
tant intervals over the sandy soil.

The noon-day heat had been oppressive,
but towards evening the heavens grew black
with clouds, the rain descended like a water
spout, and being driven by the wind that
swept furiously across the naked plain, our
horses refused to face it. To add to our
discomfort we now found out that we had lost
our way ; Scheadli knew nothing about it,
and at last^ after riding about for some time

104

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

in the vain hope of discovering a douar, we
determined to make for the sea shore. At half
past six we entered a cultivated olive garden,
and overtook a labourer mounted on a camel,
which bore also on its back a bundle of hoes
and three entire ploughs. The labourer was
returning home to Jebiniana, where we ar-
rived a little before eight, having been sixteen
hours on the road ; our baggage, which we
had left at Rouga to come on quietly, hav-
ing arrived an hour before us. Whether
the change of weather or the excitement of
being lost effected the cure, I know not, but
by this time I was much better. ■

Jebiniana, a small village a shade better
than Hergla, has the character of possessing
a lawless, thieving set of inhabitants, and
Baba Jebb made a great fuss about arranging
the arms for the night, and insisted upon
one of the hambas sleeping across the inside
of the doorway. We afterwards heard that
some native travellers had been attacked and
robbed a few weeks previously, in passing near
the village ; but that is a very different affair
from a well armed party, like ourselves, who
carried nothing likely to tempt the cupidity

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 105

of plunderers, except our arms, which they
would have found it no easy matter to take ;
enquiries would besides have been made if
any thing had happened to us, whilst a few
natives, or half a dozen camel-loads of mer-
chandise, more or less, would not much
signify ; and, in case of a night attack, it

is so difficult to identify the assailants that
unless the matter is taken up seriously by

the government at Tunis, they generally

escape.

We had flattered ourselves that by this

time we had become flea-proof, but this night's

experience proved our mistake ; every article

of outer clothing that we had with us was

soaked in the rain, and as the nights were

cold, we were obliged to borrow a couple of

rugs from the Sheick. Tired as we were,

sleep was out of the question ; myriads o1

tormentors swarmed over us ; they issued

from the blankets, the mats, the ceiling of

the chamber, and from the crevices in the

whitewashed wall, from whence, by the light

of the lamp, we could see them advancing in

squadrons to the attack, — ears, eyes and

noses were invaded ; I do not think it pos-

106 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

sible to pass a more detestable nigbt, and
the heavy complaints made in the morning
by all, even by the Arab servant, who ought
to have been well accustomed to such com-
panions, proved that they had been more
than usually annoying.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 107

CHAPTER VI.

Inchla — The sand grouse— Sfax — Its trade — Gerbeh — Moor-
ish cookery — The Raid's country house— Flowers — Gardens,
and the house tax — Freedom from bigotry — Bivouac — An
alarm — The Amphitheatre of El Jem — Ruins of Tysdrus
— Saltpetre works — Meilical practice among the Arabs —
Arab school — The Hadji's well — The plain of Kairouan —
The Holy City.

Gladly welcoming the first rays of the
sun, on the morning of the 22nd, we left
Jebiniana for Sfax at five o^clock. The
thunder-storm of the preceding evening had
cleared the air, and the fresh invigorating
breeze was a grateful change from the at-
mosphere of the wretched little chamber
where eight persons had passed the night,
stowed, with their saddlery and baggage,
into a space twenty feet long by six wide.

A little more than an hour's ride brought
us to Inchla, the ruins of a temple, or, more
probably, of a Christian church, which at

108 ALGERIA AND TCNIS.

some period subsequent to its foundation,
had been converted into a fortress. The
walls had been greatly increased in thick-
ness, and round towers added at each comer; ■
the original square edifice serving merely as
a skeleton to the more modern building. The
roof also had been replaced by three oblong
vaults, resting upon antique marble pillars,
their capitals sculptured with fruit, flowers,
and birds, and having a ram's head at each
angle, the whole now very much defaced.
Around are scattered the insignificant re-
mains of an ancient town, and numerous wells
are sunk in the neighbourhood, many of which
are used for irrigation at the present day.

Besides partridges and quail, we found
to-day, for the first time, the banded sand-
grouse,* a remarkably handsome bird about
the size of a partridge, of an ash colour,
speckled with dark spots, a rich black band
across the breast, and the whole of the under
part of the body of the same hue. This
bird prefers rocky, stony ground, is swift
and strong on the wing, and when sprung,
utters a very peculiar guttural note, which
is repeated during its flight.

• Pteroeles Arenarius.

ALGERIA AKD TUNIS,

10<J

Proceeding along the plain, we kept a
direct course for Sfax, cutting off the angle
formed by a sweep of the coast, at the extreme
point of which stands the fort of Bordj Sidi
Masour. Five miles from Sfax, the aspect
of the country had completely changed, al-
though the nature of the soil remained the
same. In place of the naked, untilled plain,
the road lay between earthen banks, planted
with cactus, enclosing a succession of olive-
groves and gardens, studded with the towers
and country houses at which the inhabitants
of the town are accustomed to pass the hottest
months of summer.

Emerging from this wide belt of verdure,
forming a semicircle around three sides of
the town, we came in view of Sfax, half a mile
distant. Standing on the sea-shore, the only
objects visible over the battlemented walls
were the kasbah, the towers of the mosques,
the tops of a few houses more ambitiously
built than their neighbours, and the feathery
crowns of some scattered palms imprisoned
within the walls and waving gracefully in the
wind. A Tunisian frigate lay at anchor in
the roads, and several small coasting vessels
and Maltese boats were lying in the harbour.

110

ALGERIA AND TUNI8,

Crossing the tract of barren sand that lies
between the town and the gardens, we entered
Sfax at noon, and proceeded to the Kaid's
house, where we were received by his elder
son, the Kaid having sent off a messenger
from the smalah the day previously, to inform
him of our probable arrival.

Sfax, or Sfakus, with a population of
thirteen thousand inhabitants — owing to its
local position with regard to the Jereed and
the island of Gerbeh, the manufacturing dis-
tricts of the Tunisian dominions— is a place
of considerable trade.* It is also renowned
for the abundance and flavour of the pista-
chio-nuts, the produce of the neighbouring
gardens, and immense quantities of these,
as well as of almonds, are exported annually.
The town, as to its buildings and internal
arrangements, only varies from those before
described inasmuch as it possesses the widest
and cleanest street in the Regency, extend-
ing from the inner gate to the harbour.

• The principal manufactures andproductiong of the Jereed,
are bemoua of narious quaJities, baicks, coarse woollen 9, carpets
and rugs, striped with brilliant colours, — Ealtjietre, dates, and
I, t<^ether with a few articles from ibe interior. Those
tfGerbeh are the beauttfal stufis of mingled wool and sifk^
jKfih, and putter;.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. Ill

After having made inquiries, we found
ourselves obliged to abandon our plan of
nsiting the island of G^beh, on account of
the difficulty of getting back to the main land,
the wind often continuing to blow from the
same quarter for weeks ; a Roman Catholic
priest, who had gone off for two days, had
already been detained a fortnight, and, it was
stated, would very probably have to wait
another ere he could return. Although we
had selected a boat to take us over, we could
not afford time to run the risk of being wind-
bound, so that we were obliged, reluctantly,
to renounce our intention.

At seven o'clock we dined with the Kai'd's
second son, the governor of the town, under
his father, who rules over an extensive dis-
trict. As the first dishes were placed on the
table, a long napkin was passed round, so
as to serve for the whole party, and the
dinner was a triumph of the science of
cookery, as practised by the Moors. Amongst
the numerous dishes the following were espe-
cially worthy of note : pigeons roasted, and
stuffed with a pudding composed of almonds,
pistachio-nuts, raisins, pepper, spices, herbs,
and crumbs of bread, mixed with butter.

CBOBls devvB IB s nch. nsBi^ ■iIa swset
' laeees of ^Ete
I of
and fivd ID «!;' '

noil taAe
(ofpanidge. Bcddes iH tkese
«e had the oiaai Moanik diilieSt soap^
lushes, uwLLtiiim, &CL, fimshiag with cxMB-
eoasoo; we vere abo ssppfied with nr^
tokiable wine^

Nest BMjnniig we wait to see the Kud* s
OMUitTT boQse and garden, ^taaled Unee
quartCT? of a mile from the western gate of
the town. The sandy space between die
gardens and the walls was white with inim-
merable tombs, the domes of aev»ai ma-
raboats interspersed amongst them sl^fath*
fanrii^ the sameness of the oblcKig slabs.
Passing through a (jate, to which is attached
a porter's lodge, and ap an arenue of cy-
presses, ne reached the bouse, an irregular
building of no beaatr. In one of the interior
coortg was an open bath, containing sereral
feet of water, clear as crrstal, which mir-
rored the deep blae of the lorely skr, and
the graceful foliage of an adjacent palm tree.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS, 113

From the terraced roof there is an exten-
sive view of the sandy coast of the gulf of
Gabs,* of the low islands of the Kerkennas,
and of the town, fenced in from the wide
expanse of the barren plain by the broad belt
of the surrounding gardens, gay with a pro-
fusion of roses, jasmine, and other flowers,
thriving luxuriantly in a soil little other than
pure sand. The fondness for flowers shewn
at Tunis is still more prevalent at Sfax,
nearly every person seen in the streets has
a rose, or small bouquet, and the favourite
method of carrying them is to insert the
stalks under the head-dress, so that the
blossoms rest upon the cheek ; a rosebud,
fresh gathered, pure, and fragrant, with
its blushing leaves just opening to the day,
is thus often seen reposing on the dirt-be-
grimed features of a squalid beggar. The
ottos, both of the white and red rose and
of the jasmine, are prepared at Sfax ; the
former is inferior to that of Tunis, but
the latter is considered the finest in the
world, and is very highly esteemed through-

* The rise and fall of the tide is greater in the gulf of
Gabs than in any other part of the Mediterranean.

114 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

out the Levant, selling, when unadulterated,
at four times the price of the otto of rose.

Almost every family in Sfax, excepting
the very poorest, possesses one or more of
these gardens, to which they retire during
the heats of summer, and as the cultivated
ground is five or six miles in width, and many
of the gardens do not contain more than an
acre, they must be very numerous ; but every
body that we questioned made it such a point
of honour to exaggerate, that it was impos-
sible even to guess how many there really
were. An occurrence that took place in
connexion with these gardens during the
reign of a former Bey, proves that their
number must be considerable. — It hap-
pened that, in common with the other towns
of the Regency, an impost was laid upon
Sfax, which the inhabitants considered to
be too heavy, and accordingly petitioned the
Bey for a remission of at least a portion of
the tax. The Bey granted their request by
offering, if they were willing, to receive in
lieu of the tax of which they complained, a
certain small sum which he named, from
I the proprietor of every garden in which stood

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 115

a house of a certain size ; the commutation
was accepted with gratitude by the inha-
bitants, and it was not until after this popular
house-tax had been collected, that they dis-
covered it amounted to nearly double the
sum originally demanded.

In Sfax is to be found fresh evidence of
the reigning Bey's freedom from religious
bigotry, for a Roman Catholic chapel, with
all the outward marks of a Christian place
of worship, is in course of erection on a site
granted by the Bey for the express purpose,
and the stones employed in its construction
are taken by his permission from some an-
cient ruins on the adjacent islands of the
Kerkennas.

Coins and engraved stones are frequently
to be procured from the Jews of Sfax, and
we were tolerably fortunate in our purchases.
In the sooks we did not succeed so well, ae
owing to the contrary winds that had pre-
vailed for some time past, there had been no
arrivals from Gerbeh ; in the whole town
there was only one specimen of the beautiful
fabrics of the island to be obtained, and as
for the far famed otto of jasmine, the last
bottle of the first quality had been sent off

116 ALOERIA AND TUNIS.

to Tunis a few days previously to our arrival,
and there was not a drop to be procured in
the town.

At three, p.m., we commenced our journey
northwards to El Jem. Leaving behind us
Sfax and its gardens, we entered upon the
plain, and having passed the Marabout of
Sidi Salah, three hours ride from Sfax, we
continued our monotonous route till dusk,
when, there being no douar within many
miles, we halted for the night under a soli-
tary, stunted olive, near a puddle of muddy,
brackish water. Sidi Abdallah would not
allow a fire to bo lighted for fear of attracting
the notice of wandering parties, but the night
was fine, and it was no hardship to be with-
out one. Having hobbled the horses, placed
our arms in readiness, and supped on some
cold provisions we had brought with us, the
whole party lay down, with the exception of
one, who mounted guard, and Lord FeUding,
who not feeling inclined to sleep, was taking
a lesson in Arabic. I had been asleep for
some time when I was aroused by several
emart kicks, and starting up, I found my
assailant to be no other than Mohamet, the ,
Arab lad, who trembling in every limb, thrust

ALGERIA AND TCNIS.

117

my gun into my hand. At this instant the
Shawsh rushed forward, half drawing his
sabre, and whilst we gathered round the
tree, challenged a party who were approach-
ing our bivouac. During the parley that
ensued, the first four who came up were
joined by five others ; they declared them-
selves to be travellers, and were evidently as
suspicious of us as we of them, and keeping
together in a body, they moved off towards
Sfax. As soon as the moon rose, our es-
cort determined upon changing ground, in
order, as Baba Jebb facetiously expressed it,
that if our visitors should return with a rein-
forcement, they might find nothing but the
chicken bones. After riding six or seven
miles we again halted, and finding a bed
upon some scrubby bushes, a few inches high,
slept soundly until within an hour of day-
break, when we were again in our saddles
and en route.

Within a few miles of El Jem we observed
an extensive salt lake, glittering in the sun ;
still nearer we passed some beds of reddish
earth, from which saltpetre is extracted, and
at eleven o'clock a tui'n in the road, as we
entered a plantation of olives and cactus,
disclosed to view the gigantic ruins of the

lib ALGETtlA AND TUNIS.

amphitlieatre, towering above the wretched
hovels of the village of El Jem, the modem J
representative of the once splendid city of I
Tysdrus.

Soon after our arrival we set forth, ac-
companied by half the population of the
place, to the amphitheatre. It is seldom
that expectations which have been highly
raised by the descriptions of others, are not
disappointed at the first view of the object,
but here the reality far surpassed the utmost
I had ever pictured to myself. Erected,
according to Shaw's conjecture, during the
reign of the Gordians, who were first recog-
nised as Emperors at Tysdrus, this noble
monument of imperial gratitude is rendered
still more impressive by the desolation in the
midst of which it stands.

The absence of all petty detail of ornament,
as well as its imposing proportions, give an
air of simple grandeur to the edifice. Oval
in form, four hundred and twenty-nine feet in
length, by three hundred and sL\ty-eight
in breadth,* the facade consists of three

' These dimendonB are from the work of Sir Grenville
Temple, who is so correct in his measurements, that it would
have been a waste of time to have repealed them, with the
probable result of (liiFering an inch or two.

i
i

ALGERIA AND TTjNIS. 119

ranges of arches, rising to the height of
ninety-six feet, and above them are the re-
mains of a fourth tier, which was destroyed
during an insurrection by the Arabs, who
converted the amphitheatre into a fortress,
and used the stones as weapons of defence
against their assailants. At this period,
ninety years ago, the whole building was in
good preservation, but to guard against such
an occurrence for the future, the Bey ordered
the great western entrance to be blown up
with gunpowder, and since then it has served
as a quarry, from whence stone may be pro-
cured at pleasure. With the exception of
this breach, and the loss of the upper story,
the exterior is nearly perfect; solidly built
of hewn stone, many of the blocks that form
the arches still bear the numbers cut upon
them to prevent their being misplaced. The
pillars and arches, sixty in number, vary
slightly ill each tier, and are of the Doric
order, with Egyptian capitals.

It appears as though in the original plan,
it had been intended that every key-stone of
the lower tier of arches should bear an era-
blem, as a rough block projects from each,
but only two, on the north side of the breach,
are thus decorated, one having a female head.

120 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and the other that of a lion, sculptured in
bold relief, whilst the others remain un-
finished. The interior is much injured,
nothing remains except the sloping vaults
that supported the rows of seats, the pas-
sages, and the connecting stairs, which have
all perished. Although the exterior is of
stone, the interior is built of concrete ; and
the lining of masonry having been destroyed,
it has failed in many places, although there
is enough left standing to afford access to
every part of the ruia. The arena is covered
with a deep bed of rubbish ; but a gallery
that runs underneath, to the centre of the
amphitheatre, communicating with a square
shaft, by which the wild beasts were intro-
duced into the circus, is partially cleared, as
are also several small chambers diverging to
the right and left, in which the animals were
confined. Myriads of hawks and jackdaws,
dwelling together in unity, build their nests
in the most inaccessible parts of the ruins.

As usual, the remains of Tysdrus lie
buried in the soil ; a few partial excavations
have been made by the Arabs, in search of
columns, which, when found, are sawn into
proper lengths lor the use of oil mills ; owing
to this many curious objects of antiquity have

4
I

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

121

beeu discovered, coins, bronzes, engraved
stones, &c., and from the numerous tumbs in
the vicinity pottery, glass, and a few ornfu
ments are easily obtained. In tbe course of
the afternoon we opened two tombs, exca-
vated in the rock, and covered with large slabs,
imbedded in mortar as hard as the stone
itself; they contained nothing but coarsely
constructed earthen jars ; in another, which
we ordered to be opened next morning, a
lamp, a small glass bottle, and the remains
of a bronze finger ring were found. We
purchased a considerable quantity of ancient
pottery, amongst which were four vessels of
fine red clay, grotesquely formed in the shape
of birds and qoadrupeds.

The cultivated ground near the village is
barely sufficient to supply the wants of the
seven hundred inhabitants. The mosque,
the marabouts, and the village of El Jem,
as well as the new saltpetre works lately
erected by the Bey, are all built of stone
taken from the amphitheatre. The method
of extracting the saltpetre from the earth
through which it is disseminated, is simple.
The earth, brought on the backs of camels
and asses from the extensive beds in the

VOL. II. G

122 ALGEKIA AND TUNIS.

neighbourhood, is placed in open tanks, and
pressed down, to prevent the water poured
upon it from running through too quickly.
The saltpetre is carried off in solution into
large coppers, placed at a lower level than
the tanks, where evaporation is carried on
until the liquid is sufficiently concentrated
to crystallize on cooling. About thirty-five
tons is the annual produce of the works at
El Jem, and the whole is used in the govern-
ment powder-mills in the kashah of Tunis.

Previous to our departure, on the afternoon
of the 25th, we practised with great success
as medical men, the basis of our fame being
the cures effected upon Solyman.whohadhad
a bilious attack from over eating and get-
ting drunk at Susa, and old Baba Jebb who
was really ill, from the unaccustomed fatigue
of the journey. The most serious case was
that of a young man, who had received a few
days previously a musket ball through the
leg i but as the bone was uninjured, he would
soon recover if he followed the directions we
gave. His father, a venerable old man, was
waiting at the outskirts of the village and
stopped us as we rode out, to kiss our hands
in token of his gratitude.

I
I

ALGERIA AND TDNIS.

123

From the summit of a ridge to the west-
ward we had a last view of the amphitheatre,
and leaving behind us the most magnificent
memorial of the Roman empire in Africa that
time has spared, we set out for Kairouan,
where we hoped to arrive the following even-
ing. Towards sunset we reached a douar of
the Suehs, the most wealthy tribe in the plain
of Kairouan ; their Sheick, Hassan Jellooli,
being a younger brother of the Kaid of Sfax.

This evening we had no sinecure, for be-
sides Baba Jebb, who nearly fainted when he
was taken off his horse, we had a regular
succession of patients, till dark. Not that all
were ill, for many had nothing the matter
with them, but were only an:(ious to get
medicine in case they should be so ; these
last would soon have swallowed the whole of
our slender stock of physic, so all that could
be done was to look at their tongues (a pro-
ceeding of which they were rather suspi-
cious), feel their pulses, and retire into a
comer for a consultation, leaving the would-
be patient rather nervous at the solemnity of
the whole affair, and then administering a
couple of bread pills rolled in soda ; these he
had to take in the presence of the assembled

]21 ALGERIA AXD TUNIS.

crowd, the Arabia composing which, seated
three or four deep in front of the tent, were
looking on with the most edifying gravity. I
To those who were really ill we afforded '
what relief we could ; for it would have been
but an ungrateful return for their hospitality
to have deceived them. In the morning
Baba Jebb was better, although at one mo-
ment the fever bad attained such a height
that I was on the point of bleeding him ; we
wished to leave him behind, but he would
not consent, and trusting for his recovery to
the halt we intended making at Kairouan, we ,
allowed him to proceed. |

Whilst our horses were being saddled and '
the sembecls packed, the Sheick, observing
that my attention was attracted by the noise
of many voices, issuing from a tent next our
own, took me by the wrist, led me to the
front of the tent, and pointed out the boys of
the tribe at school, seated in a circle round
an old man, and each repeating bis lesson
with a loud voice. Every douar has its
schoolmaster, and education, as far as being
able to write, and to read the Koran, is almost
universal amongst the Arabs, but beyond J
this they seldom go.

AIGEEIA AND TUNIS. 125

Part of the plain, over which we rode to-
day for ten hours, was dotted with low bushes
and small clumps of thorny brushwood, which
frequently bore the singular appearance of
growing on a patch of snow, from the ground
beneath being covered to the depth of several
inches with thousands of white snail shells.
During the morning we passed several wells,
or rather reservoirs, with narrow mouths, ex-
cavated in the sandstone rock, to collect and
preserve rain-water throughout the summer
months. They owe their origin to the charity
of a pious pilgrim, who, returning from Kai-
rouan, found on this spot the bodies of an
entire family who had perished from thirst,
and who caused these wells t« be dug for the
benefit of all future pilgrims and travellers.
For hours we encountered neither man,
horse, nor camel, yet the vast plain was
full of life J the ground was pierced with
the burrows of the jerd j black-coated, hard-
working beetles, walking backwards, were
with their hind legs rolling towards their
dwellings large balls of dung, much bigger
than themselves; hundreds of lively, bright-
eyed lizards, were playing among the tufts
of grass, and a tortoise crossed our path

126 ALGERIA AND TUNIS,

with creeping pace, as if oppressed with the
burden of its variegated shell. The par-
tridges, now breeding, ran for shelter to the
hushes as we approached ; quails rose under
our horses' feet ; the golden plumage of the
yamounnas* glanced in the sunbeams, as,
in company with a flight of swallows, they
skimmed through the air in chase of insects ;
three or four varieties of smaller birds were
twittering in the bushes and a dozen kites,
which had just finished picking the bones of
a dead camel, were circling high in air in
quest of other carrion.

We halted for an hour at a spring near
which were some insignificant ruins, and
towards the afternoon crossed the nearly
dried-up stream of the Oued el Zeroud,
which falls into the lake of Kairouan, an
extensive sheet of water to the eastward, and
shortly afterwards came in sight of the Holy
city, the lofty tower of the grand mosque
being visible for many miles around. As we
drew near the city a hamba was sent forward
to announce our arrival, and, after waiting
for a short time in an olive grove, a quarter

■* The uonimon bee-ealer. — Meropm apinelre.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS, 127

of a mile from the walls, Sidi Hammouda,
the acting Kaiya, rode out to meet us, and,
placing himself between us, we entered Kai-
rouan, the fourth city in order of sanctity in
the Mahometan world, and where a Christian
or a Jew would meet, unless protected, as we
were, by the especial order of the Bey for our
admittance, and by the presence of the Kaiya,
a certain death at the hands of the fanatic

•

inhabitants. During our stay we were lodged
in what the mameluke called the Bey's palace,
an immense building not far from the grand
mosque ; a guard was placed in the doorway
leading to the court, servants were in attend-
ance, the divan was furnished with silk
and satin coverlets, and an abundance of
well-cooked dishes were supplied at every
meal.

1^8 ALGERIA AM1> TUNIS.

CHAPTER VII.

Kairouan^Its history and sanctity^The prophet's harher—
The ELaiyas of Kairouan^Female fury — The grand mosque
— Its size and magnificence — Miraculous pillars— Sidi Ah-
dallah and Solyman attempt the passage—Population and
trade— Fanaticism— Leave Kairouan — Pilgrim— Mirage —
Zouwan.

Kairouan was founded, a. d. 669> by
Okbah, the conqueror of Africa, as a point
from which to prepare for new conquests,
and as a place of refuge in case of a reverse.
For three centuries it remained the western
capital of Islamism, and was fame4 sts the
seat of science, of religion, and of learning ;
but after the removal of the Fatimite dynasty
to Cairo, a. d. 973, although retaining all
the odour of sanctity, it gradually sunk in
importance to its present rank of the second
city in the Regency of Tunis. The high
degree of veneration in which Kairouan is
held, is owing to the circumstance that Abu

ALGERIA AND TUNIB.

Zemhat Elbalawy, a favourite disciple and
the barber of the prophet, lies huried within
the walls. The holding of the latter office
would seem to point him out as a tried and
trusted friend; but as Mahomet was shaved
only twice in his life, the appointment must
have been a sinecure.

The government of Kairouan haa been, for
many generations, hereditary in the family of
the present Kaiya, Sidi Othman el Marabut,
who having been struck with paralysis, is
represented by his son. Formerly the Kaiyas
possessed much greater power than they do
at present ; although always subjects to the
Bey in name, they were strong enough to set
their sovereigns at defiance. Even now they
are rarely interfered with in the management
of their own territory.

After breakfast, on the morning succeeding
our arrival, we received a visit from the young
Kaiya, who appointed two of his officers to
attend us in our walks through the city. Our
first object was the principal mosque, and on
our way thither we met with a specimen of the
feelings with which our visit was regarded.
Turning a comer suddenly, we encountered
two women of the lower class, the elder

130

AI-SEBIA AND tCNlB.

of whom seemed inclioed to run, but the
younger, amazed at our appearance, stood, for
a second, motionless in the narrow street, and,
allowing her veil to drop, regarded us with
a mingled expression of horror and disgust.
Her attitude was magnificent — drawing her-
self up to her full height, her dark eyes
flashing with rage, and impelled by the same
feeling with which we would crush a noxious
reptile, she raised her hands and rushed upon
me like a fury, when the officer seized her up-
lifted arm, jerked her round with little cere-
mony, and led her cursing down the street.

The mosque, situated in the south-eastern
corner of the city, has no external beaut)',
when seen from the open space around it ;
for the courts, domes, and tower, are enclosed
within a high wall, strengthened by but-
tresses, and concealing the whole. There
are ten entrances, one of which is now walled
up, and the edifice, oblong in form, lies east
and west, one hundred and eighty paces by
ninety-five, as nearly as I could step it ; any
attempt to make a more exact measurement
would probably have led to a serious riot.
The best view is obtained from the mounds
of earth, the refuse of the saltpetre works

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 131

outside the Bab el Kokh, the south gate of
the city. A square tower, of three stories in
height, surmounted by a dome, forms the
centre of the mosque, and seven or eight
melon-shaped cupolas, only two of which are
of any size, rise from various parts of the
building.

The interior, to which nothing would have
induced them to admit us, must, from the
description of the officers who accompanied
us, have been magnificent, even after making
all due allowances for the usual exaggeration.
The great hall, near the principal entrance,
tbev described as of surpassing splendour,
— the pavement of the most precious mar-
bles, and the walls lined mth the same
material ; hundreds of antique columns, the
spoil alike of heathen temple, Christian
church, and Roman palace, support the
roof; and fifty enormous lustres, each of a
hundred and fifty lights, illuminate the hall
on great anniversaries. The relics preserved
here, and which are regarded by all Maho-
metans with veneration and awe, are the
arms of several of the disciples and com-
panions of the prophet, the conquerors of
Africa. Protected by strong iron gratings

132

ALGEaiA AND TUNIS.

these occupy a shrine, to reach which it is
usual to pass hetween three miraculous pil-
lars, placed near each other, in a triangle. To
a true believer, whatever may be his size, the
pillars offer no impediment ; but to a man,
who either from his want of faith, or from his
wicked life, is not looked upon by the pro-
phet with favour, they form an impassible
barrier; — " Let him be," said our guide,
holding up his little finger, " no bigger than
this ; it has even happened, that faithless
sinners, who had sufficient nerve to make
the attempt without repentance, have been
squeezed to death, or dreadfully injured, by
the columns closing upon them."

We were much amused by the account of
the visit of Sidi Abdallah and Solyman to
the mosque, about six weeks previously. The
former, who leads a very regular life, and
never misses his prayers, first tried to pass
between the pillars, but, being a stout man,
stuck fast and failed. Nothing dismayed at
this, Solyman, a good-natured, dare-devil,
drunken fellow, made the attempt, he tried
every way, backwards, forwards, and side-
ways, but all in vain, until, struck by a bright
idea, he stripped to his linen drawers, and.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 133

inserting himself head foremost, wriggled
through in safety to the other side; aided
equally by the prophet and a friend, the former
doubtless relenting at the sight of bis perse-
verance, and the latter applying a vigorous
shove to the most substantial portion of bis
person, which formed the chief obstacle to
bis passage. Upon the strength of the sanc-
tity thus acquired, he has since made a point
of drinking his two bottles of wine, when-
ever he can obtain them, in place of one.

The ignorant, and the lower orders, firmly
believe in the power of these pillars, and
very many never dare to make the trial, for
fear of the consequences ; but the educated
Mahometans, although they revere the relics
of the holy disciples of the prophet, laugh at
the idea of the three miraculous pillars. The
courts of the mosque are surrounded with
arcades, supported by clusters of marble, and
granite columns, and the numerous fountains
are supplied from a large cistern under the
great tower. Besides the grand mosque,
within and around the city are many others.

The streets of Kairouan are well built and
clean ; the city, nearly square, is surrounded
by a lofty wall, having the kasbah at one of

134 ALGERIA AND TrNIS.

its aDgles, whilst on the northern side are
some modem fortifications, constructed after
the European manner. The population is
estimated at forty-five thousand ; and the
principal trade of the city is in boots and
slippers, the yellow leather of which they
are made, and which is here manufactured,
being famous throughout Northern Africa
and the Turkish empire, for the brightness
and durability of its colour, which, it is said,
cannot be produced elsewhere in the same
perfection.

In our perambulations through the sooksand
streets, we encountered a sufficiency of black
looks, and some abuse ; but, in the evening,
when on our way home, a crowd collected in
our rear, and as we passed the copious spring
that supplies the city. Lord Feilding received
a violent blow from a stone on the back of
his head, which caused him to stagger. On
our facing about, the majority of the crowd
ran off; and the Kaiya's officers in advance,
not knowing the individual who had thrown
the stone, thrashed the four nearest by-
standers instead, which answered every pur-
pose just as well.

In the environs of the city, the prickly

ALOEKIA AND TVNIS.

pear is planted to a considerable extent, as
it requires no water, and the only labour
necessary is occasionally to clear the ground
about its roots. The fruit, which it bears
in immense quantities, forms the chief sum-
mer food of the people, and camels are
exceedingly fond of the leaves, the strong,
needle-like thorns seeming to act upon their
leathern palates as an agreeable stimulus.
The cactus is regularly planted in all parts
of Tunis and Algeria where the climate is
suitable, not only for fences, but also for the
sake of its fruit.

At six o'clock on the morning of the 28th,
we took leave of Sidi Hammouda, who had
come to our house at day-break to see us off
in safety, and left the Holy City by the Bab el
Tunis, with our escort increased by four of
the Kaiya's armed horsemen. We were much
gratified both with our "visit to a city so sel-
dom seen by Christians, and with the unex-
pected freedom with which we were permitted
to wander about. The fanaticism of the
populace has either cooled down consider-
ably within the last few years, or the daily
increasing strength of the government is able
to control it j this latter being most probably

136

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

the case, for, whilst M'e were treated with the
greatest consideration by the authorities and
the respectable inhabitants, the trifling inci-
dents 1 have already related, and which have
been mentioned, not as occurrences of grave
import, but to shew the temper of the people,
indicate that their religious zeal is not weak-
ened, but only curbed by strong authority.

I believe that we were the seventh party
of Christians that had ever entered the city,
and the very first who had been permitted
to sleep within the walls ; the few previous
traTcUers having been lodged in a countrv-
house of the Kaiya's, a mile distant. On our
return to Tunis, we heard that the reception
we met with at Kairouan, was owing, not
alone to the Bey's " amer," which we car-
ried with us, but to his orders conveyed to
the Kaiya by a special messenger.

Our route now lay across the most sterile
portion of the barren plain of Kairouan ;
and after a ride of two hours and a quarter,
we crossed a brackish stream, over which
was an ancient bridge, and near it to the
right, a spring of clear fresh water, issuing
from the face of a gentle slope. As we ad-
vanced northwards, the blue range of the

ALGERIA AND TVNIS.

137

Ussulat mountains to the westward, grew
more distinct as they swept round towards
the Zouwan, the well-known crest of which
arose sharp and clear against the distant
horizon. Our Kairouan escort pointed out
the spot, as we passed it, where, last summer,
a Shawsh and six men, who were taking a
sum of money to Tunis, were attacked by
a robber tribe, and all killed except one,
whose life was saved by the speed of his
horse. It was on account of this occurrence
that the Kaiya had strengthened our escort.

In the course of an hour, we had encoun-
tered several small flights of locusts, the
advanced guard as it afterwards proved, of
the most destructive flight that had visited
Africa for many years.

A pilgrim, on his return from Mecca to
his home, near Constantine, asked leave to
join us. He had been absent a year and a
half from his tribe. The vessel in which he
had embarked at Algiers for Alexandria,
with its freight of pilgrims, had touched at
Malta, which our Hadji, although during
the time in quarantine, described as a per-
fect paradise ; and, mistaking it for part of
England, was surprised that we could leave

13S ALGERIA AND TUKIS.

such a country to come to Africa, where there
was neither fruit or wine. After the success-
ful performance of his pilgrimage, he started
from Mecca to return on foot, truly a most
adventurous undertaking. The journey had
already occupied five months ; and, clothed
in rags as we now saw him, with a small bag
of the coarsest provisions, and a water>skin
slung upon his back, he had traversed part
of Arabia and Egypt, crossed the Lybian
desert and the whole width of Tripoli ; and
having performed the last of his religious
duties at Kairouan, considered his travels at
an end. His strength and his spirits seemed
inexhaustible ; the slow pace of the horses
was irksome to him, and hour after hour, he
told story after story of the wonders he had
witnessed in the east. With our people he
soon became a favourite, and we gave him
permission to remain with us until we arrived
in Algeria,

For three or four miles the strata of the
sandstone rock rose a few feet above the
surface of the plain, and, running in a
straight line on either side of the track, so
closely resembled the ruins of a wall, that
we were more than once deceived by it. The

ALGERIA AND TUXI8. 139

heat now grew intense ; there was a dead
calm ; the naked surface of the sandy plain
glowed like a furnace ; and each of us,
closely wrapped in his bernous, plodded
silently along, under the burning rays of
the sun, now approaching the meridian. At
eleven o'clock, greatly to the relief of man
and horse, we reached a spring of fresh
water, rising in the plain, and, throwing
ourselves on the ground, thrust our heads
into a stunted bush a foot or two high, glad
to have obtained even so sorry a shelter from
the scorching heat. The thermometer, well
protected from the sun, marked ninety-nine
degrees, whilst the temperature of the run-
ning water was seventy-three degrees.

Resuming our route, and keeping more
towards the coast, we rode along the base of
a range of undulating hiUocks on our right.
To the left, the mirage was displaj-ing the
magic wonders of its fairy scenery ; bright
specks swelled imperceptibly into lakes, and
the lakes became a sea ; a continent dis-
solved beneath the eye into islands, now bare,
now covered to the water's edge with waving
woods ; and, floating on the glittering sur-
face of the mimic ocean, these again divided

140 ALGERIA AJJD TUNIS.

into a thousand islets, or, re-uniting, appeared
to lay the foundations of another land. We
had often witnessed the mirage before, but
never in the perfection in which it appeared
on this day. Its extreme beauty was probably
owing, in addition to the usual causes, to the
perfect level of the pltun, and the vicinity of
the mountains to the westward.

Towards evening, we circled round the
base of the mountain range that extends from
Zouwan to near the sehkali eljereebah, which
we had passed on our road to Hergla, and
halted for the night, at half-past six, with a
tribe whose chief had made the first step to-
wards civilization, by building in the cen-
tre of the pasturage belonging to his tribe,
for his own occasional residence, a small
house. He is very proud of his stone and
lime habitation, but, for U\-ing in, he much
prefers a tent. We had intended starting
next morning for Zouwan at three o'clock,
but no one awoke in time, so that it was past
five when we set forward.

Passing under the picturesquely situated
village of Takroona, perched on the flat
summit of a hill, we followed a northwesterly
direction through the mountains ; the valleys.

i
4

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 141

rocks, and wooded glens, appearing more
beautiful than usual, after the sameness of
the country we had lately traversed. For
the greater part of the distance we kept the
track of a Roman road, passing the fragments
of several ancient mile-stones, so worn and
defaced that only detached figures and let-
ters could be made out. Judging from the
numerous ruins, these mountains must have
been densely populated, for we saw, in the
space of a few miles, the remains of three
considerable towns.

At noon we arrived at Zouwan, and, the
Sheick being in prison at Tunis, we were
lodged in the house of a wealthy Jew, who,
for a wonder, had a tolerably clean room to
offer us.

142 AXGERIA AND TUNIS.

CHAPTER VIII.

Zouwan— Its spring and temple — Untried adventure — Shas-
heahs — ^New quarters — Ascent of the mountain-— Ruins
of Oudena— The great aqueduct— Mahmudiah— Locusts —
Return to Tunis— Plans— Farewell interview with the Bey
— Court of Justice— Ancient and modem costume—*^ Chat-
tars"— Interior of the Bardo— Young courtiers— The Bey's
stud—Manubapalace^Barracks— Sidi Tolhah—- An Ara^c
ode— The Kashah— Powder mills— Public buildings of
Tunis— Statistics of the Regency— The Bey— Abdition of
slavery — Government.

The situation of Zouwan is extremely
beautiful. The town, surrounded by gardens
and groves of magnificent trees, stands on
the lower slope of the mountain, the rugged
peaks of which rise precipitously from the
rich bed of verdure at its base. The arched
gateway of the ancient city, with its sculptured
key-stone and vacant niches,* still forms the

* The devices on the key-stone are a ram's head^ over it a
ivreath of leaves around the word Auxiuo ; the whole sur-
numated by the letter A^ of a large size.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 143

entrance of the modern town. Higher up
the acclivity lie the tombs of many a genera-
tion ; clear streams pour down the mountain's
eide, while picturesquely placed around the
town and embosomed in trees, the snow-
white domes of several marabouts are seen.

Two miles to the westward springs the
fountain of Zouwan, whose ever-flowing
stream was once conveyed by the great aque-
duct, through hills and over valleys, a distance
of fifty miles, to Carthage. Care seems to
have been taken to protect and adorn the
source in a manner worthy of the great city
which the spring supplied. The basin within
which the waters rise, is in the singular form
of two intersecting ovals ; on either hand a
flight of steps leads, under an arch, to a
terrace immediately behind it, where are
the ruins of an extensive temple, with a
central shrine, and arcades, open to the in-
terior and containing niches, which probably
were once filled with statues of the pre-
siding water nymphs.

Overhanging the basin is an aged tree,
whose gnarled roofs, forcing their way be-
tween the loosened stones, have formed an
arched entrance to a narrow passage in the

14-i ALGERIA AND TUXIS.

earth, which, according to tradition, pene-
trates into the heart of the mountain, where,
guarded by serpents, the splendid armour of
the ancient rulers of the country has lain
concealed for ages. As yet no person has
had the courage to attempt such an adventure
as the obtaining ingress to this mysterious
armoury, and from the appearance of the
opening, which must he entered upon the
bands and knees, it is very likely that a
snake or two might be encountered within.
In all probability, if it lead anywhere, it is
to a vault under the foundations of the tem-
ple, and as it would have taken several days
to clear the passage sufficiently to make it
accessible, even on all fours, we did not at-
tempt to unravel the mystery, and it still
remains a virgin enterprise for more ambi-
tious travellers.

The water of the spring is icy cold, clear
as crystal, and never-failing ; it runs in a
narrow channel towards the town, and, being
joined in its progress by other small streams,
is the cause of the exuberant fertility of Zou-
wan. One of these small streams is that in
which the sbasheahs, or red caps, worn almost
universally throughout Turkey, Egypt, and

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 145

the Levant, are dipped. Principally manu-
factured in Tunis, they are sent to Zouwan
tn receive the red colour so celebrated for its
richness and permanency — qualities imparted
to it by frequent washings in the running
water of this spring. Many attempts have
been made to produce the same colour else-
where, by following precisely the same pro-
cess, but they have all failed.

The inhabitants, however, make no secret
of their method of dyeing, using cochineal,
with alum as a mordaunt, and they refer
their success entirely to the peculiar virtues
of the water of the spring. The washing is
carried on in small enclosures, formed in the
bed of the stream by driving stakes in a circle,
an inch or so apart, so as to permit the cur-
rent to pass freely, whilst the shasheahs,
placed in a coarse sack, are turned and
trampled upon by the feet of the workmen.
The finer shasheahs are rather expensive,
varying in price, according to quality, from
fifteen to thirty piastres each. Zouwan con-
tains about eight thousand inhabitants, and
this prosperous trade, which affords employ,
ment to a large portion of the population,
gives it also a little livelier aspect than

VOL. II. H

146 ALGERIA AND T0NI9.

is usually seen in tlie second-rate towns of
the interior.

On our return, in the evening, we found Mr.
Reade and an officer of H, M. Ship Beacon,
who had ridden over from Tunis to meet us,
and our Jewish quarters not being sufficiently
large to contain the party, we removed to the
house of an old acquaintance of Mr. Reade's,
rather to the inconvenience of the inmates,
who had to vacate their quarters in such a
hurry that a box full of clothes, and several
minor accessories of the female toilette, in-
eluding a plentiful supply of rouge> and of
black paint for the eyelids, were left behind
for our especial edification.

The whole of the next day we devoted to
the mountain, and as the first half of the
ascent may be made on horseback, we set
forth at an early hour, mounted on three
wretched ponies and a mule, furnished by
the town. The road lay along the base of
the mountain, by winding lanes between gar-
dens hedged in by a luxuriant growth of
flowering shrubs and tangled underwood,
from which, side by side with the spreading
branches of the poplar and the plane, rise
the lofty palm and the dark spires of the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 147

cypress, forming a mass of foliage, twined
with wreathing creepers, and impervious to
the sun, save where through some opening
in the trees a stream of light darts across the
road and plays on the rippling surface of a
brook that overflows the path. Leaving the
ruined temple of the spring to the left, the
track wound upwards, and in two hours and
a half we arrived at a marabout, built oh a
grassy shoulder of the mountain, where we
left our horses, and commenced the real as-
cent of the Zouwan.

The peak nearest the town, which we had
till now been skirting, appears from thence
to he the higher of the two, but it is in
reality several hundred feet lower than that
to the westward, which we were about to
climb. These two peaks are connected by
a ridge of rocks which forms, from a dis-
tance, one of the most peculiar features
of the mountain. Crossing the ravine lying
between the marabout and the summit,
we climbed the almost perpendicular face
of the rock, and loitering on the way,
tempted by the splendid prospect, and by
the wild flowers blossoming in every crevice,
it was past mid-day when we stood upon the

lis ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

highest point of the Zouwan. Looking doirn
on Nature's map unrolled heneath us, no same-
ness, even of grandeur, palled the eye — sea,
plain, and mountain, lay spread around, un-
dimraed by mist and bathed in sunshine.
There was Tunis with its encirclinjf forts, its
lakes and bay ; the wide sweep of the Gulf of
Hanimamet ; the vast plain, with the faint
outline of the southern hills ; and, stretching
inknd in undistinguishahlo confusion, range
rose beyond range of lofty mountains, their
various tints distinct, yet blending softly as
they receded to the horizon ; whilst at otar
feet the deep ravines, bare rocks, and cragg)
peaks of the Zouwan, formed a wild fore-
ground to the panoramic view.

Close to the summit, and divided from it
only by a narrow chasm, rises a twin peak,
of nearly the same elevation, and from which,
on the southern side, an almost unbroken
precipice descends into the plain. The sum-
mit itself was covered with tufts of delicately
small blue flowers, and gathering a handful,
as a memorial, though but a fading one, of
the day, we descended to the marabout,
where, under the shade of a clump of trees,
we dined. Near this marabout is aD enor-

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

149

mous pit, iotended as a snow-well for the
Bey, but, faulty in construction, it is a
failure. Birds of prey breed on the mountain
in great numbers, and seldom were there
fewer than ten or a dozen eagles and vul-
tures in sight at any moment during the day.
Wild boars, wolves, and jackals abound, and
as we returned homewards an hyena burst
from a thicket close to the party. The sun
had set in splendour before we reached the
temple of the spring, and the shades of even-
ing fell darkly around us as we re-entered
the town.

On the morning of the first of May we
left Zouwan for Tunis, a distance of about
forty English miles. After crossing a low
range of hills we left the road and cantered
over the plain to the right, to visit Oudena,
a small village of half a dozen huts, built
amid the ruins of the ajicient Uthina. Lying
on the crest and slope of a height overlooking
the plain, are the remains of several large
buildings, an aqueduct, theatre, &c., together
with the cisterns, which are in a nearly per-
fect state of preservation, and through which
we rode, descending from the surface of the
ground by a sloping path to the level of tlieir

150 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

floor, and passing from one cistern to another
by means of arches in the party walls, with-
out dismounting. They are used bv the
inhabitants as store-houses and stables fur
their flo(^ks. Taking them altogether, the
ruins of Uthina are more extensive than
those of any other ancient city we had as yet
seen in the Regency.

To the left of the Tunis road, a long line
of arches stretches northwards across the
plain, a portion of the magnificent aqueduct
that conveyed the waters of the Zouwan a
course of fifty miles, to Carthage. Its height
varies greatly, according to the inequalities
of the countrj', but, at one point, it rises to
the elevation of ninety feet. Where the
water-course lies beneath the surface, it is to
be traced by circular shafts of masonry, rising
at intervals above the ground, formed, pro-
bably, not only for ventilation, but to allow
of repairs being executed. Originally con-
structed by the Carthaginians, the aqueduct
has been at various times repaired by their
successors, in the style of architecture preva-
lent at the period, and the different restora-
tions are easily distinguishable from each other
both as to workmanship and materials, The

I
I

ALGERIA AND TDNIS.

151

date of its final destruction has not been re-
corded. Numbers of small hawks, and blue
jays, of brilliant plumage, build upon the
ruins, and, as we passed, the 6ocks belonging
to a small douar, pitched almost beneath the
arches, were scattered over the grassy plain.
After our mid-day halt at the aqueduct,
we continued our course along the plain,
crossed the Mileeana, and, on the risinjj
ground beyond, passed the Mahmudiah, a
country palace belonging to the Bey, to which
extensive barracks are attached. Great im-
provements have lately been made, and others
are in progress, in this neighbourhood, by
order of the Bey. Large tracts of land have
been taken in from the plain, regularly en-
closed with fences, and many acres planted
with olives. The soil, though light, seemed
fertile, and the crops of grain upon the ground
promised a plentiful return for the slight
labour bestowed upon them, should they
escape the locusts, largo flights of which had
been arriving from the south and east for
several days, and had already done much
mischief. Crossing the sandy plain, and
leaving the salt lake on our left, we passed
under the forts on the heights around the

152 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

city, and entering Tunis at six o'clock, we
were received by our kind friends at the
consulate with a hearty welcome.

The next few days were fully occupied in
making the necessary arrangements for our
departure, in visiting those parts of the city
which we had only cursorily seen,and in having
a farewell interview with the Bey. We now
finally determined to attempt the inland route
from Tunis to B6na, by way of KeflF, instead
of that by Bedja and La Calle, the road
hitherto followed by the few Europeans who
have travelled by land from one country to
the other, both as being the shortest and the
most secure. We were anxious not onlv to
see the numerous objects of interest lying in
the vicinity of the Majerdah, the principal
river of the Regency, but also to visit the
tribes occupying the mountains that form the
disputed boundaries of Algeria and Tunis,
and who, from their local position, are al-
most independent of either government. In
this plan there was perhaps some little risk
to be run, owing to the jealousy with which
Europeans are regarded, but we trusted to
the Bey's Amers to pass us on from tribe to
tribe, and for our safety, to our having little

Bfr^"

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

153

with us to excite cupidity, to our being well
armed, and, above all, to tbe fact of our being
English, the mere word '* Ingleese " having
always a marked effect upon the manner of
our reception by the tribes.

On the morning of the third, we repaired
to the Bardo, to take leave of the Bey. He
received us in the Hall of .Justice, where he
was employed in his daily task of sitting for
three or four hours to determine causes.
During our interview, which did not last long,
he asked several questions, as to whether we
had been gratified with what we had seen, &c.,
we thanked his highness for the great kind-
ness he had shown to us, and, before we took
our leave, requested permission to witness
the method of administering justice.

The court is open to the lowest as well
as the highest, and, as before mentioned,
each party pleads his own cause, or defends
himself, with the utmost freedom. As the
prisoners or witnesses came forward, one by
one, two officers of the court held them by
their shoulders, during the time they vvere
being examined by the Bey. There were no
cases of interest or importance among those
we heard decided j two were disputed debts,

154 ' ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

a third was the case of a soldier who had
heen caught in the act of desertion, and the
fourth was that of an old man accused of
stabbing. This latter case was adjourned,
in the absence of a witness for the defence.
The punishment of death is but rarely in-
flicted, rery seldom for any other crimes save
those of rebellion or murder. The other
])enalties of the law are various terms of im-
prisonment, the galleys, fines, and the basti-
nado.

Sir Thomas Reade described the appear-
ance of the Tunisian court previous to the
introduction of the European costume, as
splendid in the extreme ; louse robes and
garments covered with lace and embroidery
and glittering with jewels, have, however,
now given place to trousers and frock-coats,
with the universal shasheah, seen alike on
the head of the private soldier and the Bey.
The only officials who retain the ancient cos-
tume are the Chattars, who, in crimson and
gold, are always about the person of the Bey
when he appears in public. Originally
appointed from Constantinople, whilst the
rulers of Tunis were subject to the Porte,
their duty consisted in the singular one of

ALGERIA AND TCNIS.

155

putting the Bey to death, whenever they
should receive the Sultan's orders to that
effect. In the course of time their office fell
into abeyance, and they became merely state
attendants at the Bardo, retaining their ori-
ginal designation and uniform, which latter
included a splendid girdle, worn round the
waist, and in which was kept the fatal bow-
string.

Having expressed a wish to see the in-
terior of the Kasbah, the Manuba palace,
and the Bardo, orders were given that the
two former should be opened for our in-
spection, and a strikingly handsome young
officer, the Bey's favourite aid-de-camp, was
sent to conduct us over the latter. The state
saloon, in which we had been received at
our first interview, is fitted up with great
splendour ; the furniture and mirrors are of
Parisian manufacture, and the walls encrusted
with slabs of the rarest marbles, from the
ruins of Carthage and Utica. The ceiling
has a singularly rich appearance ; the ground,
formed of mirrors, being overlaid with gilt
arabesque fret-work. The Bey's private
apartments, — with the exception of an im-
mense saloon, designed by the Bey himself.

156 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and erected in the short space of forty days, —
are small and plainly, yethandsomelyfitted up,
and but for some frightful daubs of pictures
and a number of trumpery French engravings,
all would be in very good taste. In the
Bey's bed-room, and the adjoining apart-
ment, are hung several portraits of Her
Majesty, Louis Philippe, the Sultan, and
other crowned heads, together with portraits
of himself and some members of his family.
Three or four large ornamental clocks are
placed about the rooms, and a well-thumbed
terrestrial globe stands on one of the tables.
From a sort of gallery, the ends and one side
of which were glazed, like a conservatory, a
magnificent view of the environs of Tunis is
obtained, and, gaily decorated with rich silk
hangings and furniture, it must be a de-
lightful lounging place in the cool summer
evenings.

In one of the interior courts we stopped
to speak to two very fine little boys, nephews
to the Bey, and sons of the Saheb el Taba.
The little fellows were not in the least shy,
and although the elder was not more than
seven or eight years of age, they were both
dressed, like the rest of the persons at court.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

157

in trousers and little green frock-coats, but-
toned tight up to the throat. They wore the
insignia of the Tunisian order, in diamonds,
round their necks, and little shasheahs, with
large blue tassels, on their heads.

The stables are sheds, open at the rear
towards the courts ; they were nearly empty,
most of the horses standing picketed in rows
on the plain, in front of the Bardo. There
were no animals of any great value amongst
them, and J was rather disappointed with
the specimens of the Bey's stud that came
under my notice. According to a fashion pre-
valent among the Moors, several white horses
had three of their legs, and the mark as of a
saddle-cloth on their backs, stained of a
bright orange colour, with henna. From
one of the legs being left of its natural colour
this beautifying process has a still more sin-
gular effect, but to dye all four is considered
very unlucky.

From the Bardo we drove to the Manuba
palace, a mile and a half distant. Unin-
habited for a series of years, this beautiful
building was suffered to fall uito partial de-
cay, and was only saved from total ruin by

158 ALGERIA AND TUNIS. I

being converted a few years ago into barracks
for one of the Bey's two regiments of regular
cavalry.

The great hall is famous for the beauty of
its marbles, and the delicacy of the stucco-
work, which is almost peculiar to Tunis.
The upper parts of the walls, the vaulted
ceiling, and the arches, have exactly the ap-
pearance of being covered with lace of the
most delicate texture and intricate pattern,
worked in white marble. The windows,
small in size, and composed of stained glass
of the most brilliant colours, were also filled
with arabesque tracery of the same descrip-
tion. The general effect of these windows
was good, but they appeared heavy when seen
in the midst of the graceful fret-work on the
walls. No expensive preparations are re-
quired to execute this work, called by the
Moors " Mukshch hadeedah." A coat of
plaster, double or treble the usual thickness,
is laid on the wall ; as it begins to set, the
workman, taking the pattern, already drawn
on paper, traces it on the smooth surface,
and, whilst the plaster is still soft, cuts out
the parts required, with a small sharp knife ;

ALGERIA AND TlimS.

159

when dry it becomes nearly as hard as stone,
and only a severe blow can injure it.

The colonel of the regiment insisted on
accompanying us through the barracks. The
two regiments, one of which is quartered
here, each about nine hundred strong, are
armed and equipped like European light
cavalry, and their appearance is far more
aoldier-like than that of the infantsy. 1
was much surprised to find the barracks
scrupulously clean, the bedsteads, of iron,
with the bedding neatly arranged, as were
also their arras, kits, and saddlery, all of
a fair quality and in very good order. We
visited the different regimental workshops,
where the soldiers are employed in making
their own clothing, appointments, &c. In
the armourer's shop were several carbines,
of equal finish to the .French models, and
an ophicleide for the hand was receiving the
finishing touches.

The hospital was clean, airy, and comfort-
able, and was well supplied with medicines,
which seemed to he really for use and not
for shew only, as an hospital assistant, who
had been educated in Italy, was engaged in

160 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

compounding some of them when we entered.
The stabling, for nearly a thousand horses,
is a shed, running round an oblong enclosure ;
the men are well mounted, and the horses,
although there are few beauties amongst
them, are hardy and serviceable. We ex-
amined every thing most minutely, and
were much surprised to find the regimental
economy so perfect, and, as our visit was
quite unexpected, the messenger from the
Bardo having entered the gate with us, we
saw every thing in its every-day dress. After
taking coflfee in the colonel's quarters, we
returned to Tunis.

One morning, in company with Mr. Rich-
ardson, whose name is so honourably known
in connection with the philanthropic eflFbrts
he has made for the abolition of slavery, we
visited Sidi Tolhah, a public notary of Tunis,
a well educated man, and a poet of some local
reputation. As a specimen of modem Arabic
poetry, I insert a literal translation of one of
his latest odes, which he had given to Mr.
Richardson, and which is also curious inas-
much as it betrays that even whilst writing
a poem in praise of the date-palm, its author.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 161

a very pious, orthodox Mussulman, could
not forbear introducing all the great dogmas
of the Mahometan faith.

•* Praise be to God !
God bless our Lord Mahomet, his family

and friends.

This is a poem eulogismg the Palm.

" Lofty is the Palm, and widely spread are
its branches, so that all may see it and be
filled with admiration. The growth of its
fruits begins like unto pearls, always in-
creasing in beauty ; first, oh my brethren !
green as the emerald, after this it changes
to a yellow immaturity, and then to a precious
ripeness, with the unequalled sweetness of
an honey-comb. Each date grows in match-
less order, and ripens of a dark deep crimson
hue, reddening like the ruby.*

** The fruit, placed by the might of God
high upon the tree, hangs in magnificent
bunches, glowing like burnished gold. Each
bunch is a cluster of garnets, and each date,
alternating like a string of pearls, is of a

* When the date begins to germ it is white^ whilst imma-
ture it is yellow^ and when ripe, of a beautiful red.

102 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

lovely eaffron hue, to be gazed upon by all,
God hath in an especial manner granted to
Islatnisra, the Palm, the camel, and the Arabic
tongue. In this language God has made
known to the Arabs their religion, and it
excels in the eloquence of its rhythm like a
nicely poised balance. That the Koran, to
which no other book can be compared, is
written in this language, is an unquestionable
proof of its beauty.

"The Koran so far surpasses all other
books that neither man nor demon can pro-
duce its like. All men, let their colour be
white or yellow, black or red, are subjected
beneath the light of the Koran's laws. Is-
iamism is spread and estabhshed throughout
China, India, and the island of Ceylon ; also
in Scinde, and Yaman, or Araby the blest.
Besides, it is fixed at Hajaz and in Elharam,
the house of God, where he is worshipped,
' the holy of holies ' which though it be far
from us, is by our prayers brought near.
This faith extends also in Araby of Arabia,
in Egypt and in Syria, in Mossul and Kufat,
in Bassorah and Aman of Western Arabia.
In Bagdad and throughout the country of
Persia, even to the confines of China where

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 1(53

Gog and Magog dwell, whose people have
decided to embrace this, the only true reli-
gion. How blest arc those warriors of God
who have fought for this faith in the east
and in the west — their felicity is divine ! Of
a truth God has vouchsafed to them what he
has denied to others, both in this world and
in the next, in defiance of the devil.

" Let God be praised, who has no equal,
neither, oh 1 my friends, is there any likeness
of Him. In contemplating his marvellous
works, I am lost in an uninhabited desert,
and, my friends and kindred not finding me,
I am abandoned to despair. Examine the
workmanship of the Palm, that you may learn
the nature of God, who has no second 1 From
the earth with which God created man, he
likewise created the Palm, therefore the
Palm is our aunt. The flavour of the date
is most delicious, and the form of the Palm
most graceful ; and this is the manner in
which it yields us fruits : you throw a stone
at the palm when the time of yielding has
arrived, and it in turn throws to you dates
overflowing with sweets. Behold I our aunt
in her good works perpetually yielding us
her fruit.

164 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

" Under the sheltering Palm, the Virgin
Mary brought forth her son Jesus Christ,
who by God's decree is made universal judge.
This event took place in Bethlehem. There
is no associate whatever with God 1 Hear
this, and you will go the right way of faith.
When Jesus was bom, he said, * I am the
servant of God, 1 am the servant of the most
Merciful.' This is a precept for those who
do not understand that no one should call
Jesus, Son of, or second to God. But God
is God, and one God eternally, and all crea-
tures are the slaves and the property of the
Unique One. In the Koran God has declared
to our Lord Mahomet, the * seal or last * of
the Prophets, that Jesus did not die, nor was
he crucified, neither did the Jews kill him,
but onlv crucified one like him between two
robbers. These things are the religion of
God — ^follow it, and you will be saved to-mor-
row (i. e. after death) and will inhabit the
Paradise of little innocents. We believe in
all that has been brought to us by our Lord
Mahomet, the master of the two worlds * and

* The same expression^ "The two worlds," occurs on
Turkish coins^ and signifies Asia and Africa, or the East and
West.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

of the family of Adam. He will be our
intercessor on the day of general judgment,
He will preserve us from all terrors, and
save us from everv evil,"

On the eastern side of the city of Tucis
stands the kasbah, which is entered from the
place of execution, an open space of ground
where the bodies of criminals used to be pub-
licly exposed. The great archway, and the
vaulted passages on either hand are decorated
with stripes of black and red, and grotesque
figures af animals, rudely painted in fresco ;
several pieces of rusty armour are hung upon
the walls, relics of the Spanish garrison that
held thefortressin thedaysof Muley-Hassan
and Charles V.

Within the walls, the defences are in ruins,
and the chief use to which the kasbah is
applied is that of a powder manufactory. We
were conducted through the mills by an old
Sicilian in charge of the works, who bad
served for many years in our navy during
the war, and had been present in several o
the actions that took place. The gunpowder
is of a very inferior quality, soft, and badly
granulated. In the method of manufacture,

tbere is nothing remarkable save the great!
carelessness of all parties concerned. Theya
take the chance of an explosion very coolly^ I
alleging, what is certainly an extraordinary!
fact, that there never has been an accident, and!
they dare say " ])lease God " that there never J
will be one. Gunpowder is here a govern--]
ment monopoly, and none other is allowed toM
he manufactured throughout the Regency.l
Many, however, of the Arab tribes make al
very inferior description for their own use^T
and nothing astonished them more than see-1
ing the small quantity of powder with which
we loaded, they being in the habit of charging
their own guns by the handful. The Bey has
also established a tannery, and a manufactory
of military camp equipage, within the kasbah.

Rising amidst a mass of ruins is the square J
tower of an ancient mosque, remarkable fori
the beauty of its external decoration, thel
lower part being covered with verses from
the Koran, sculptured with freedom and
delicacy, inflowing Ku6c characters. From
the walls, on which are mounted a fewold guns,
without carriages, there is an extensive view.

The other public buildings of Tunis worthy
of notice are the new barracks, capable of

ALGERIA AND TCSIS. 167

containing five thousand men ; the town
palace of the Bey, a square mass of building
iieldom occupied, the residence, however, of
Queen Caroline during her visit to Tunis.
The principal mosque, that of the Olive-tree,
is in the sooks, but the most magnificent is
that erected thirty years since by the cele-
brated Saheb-el-taba Yousouf, in the suburbs,
at the cost of 200,000/. After his execution,
for conspiracy against the life of the Bey, the
founder's body was publicly exposed in front
of his own mosque. Near this arc the haths,
also built by Yousouf, the largest and best
arranged in the city. Since the abolition of
slavery, the slave-market, a small square
court, with vaulted roof, and having rooms
around where female slaves of the better
class were kept, merely retains its name as
a reminiscence of the purpose to which it
was formerly appropriated.

The Regency of Tunis, upon a rough cal-
culation, occupies an area of forty-five thou-
sand square miles, with a population of two
millions of inhabitants. The array, exclusive
of the levy "en masse" of the Arab tribes,
amounts to twenty thousand menj of whom a
large proportion are disciplined after the

168 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

European manner. If necessary for the de-
fence of the country, and especially if there
were a chance of plunder, the Bey could bring
from forty to fifty thousand Arabs into the
field, but this force could only be used for
temporary purposes.

The revenue of the Bey varies according
to the state of the harvest, as it principally
consists of a tenth of the produce, of every
description, throughout the Regency. It is
also increased by the profit from the exten-
sive olive gardens, his private property,
and he possesses a flock of thirty thousand
camels, which are hired out at the rate of a
piastre a month. Each of these camels is
branded with the Bey's mark, and when one
of them dies, the piece of skin bearing the
brand is cut ofi^ and shewn to the proper
officer, who replaces it with another camel.
From these and a few other minor sources,
the revenue, in a good year, will amount to
nearly a million sterling, whilst after a bad
harvest, it seldom reaches beyond from four
to five hundred thousand pounds.

Since the accession of the present Bey, the
first steps towards the improvement of the
general condition of the country, have been

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. UiS)

taken. As I have already mentioned, Ahmed
is almost self-educated, and the greater credit
ought to be given him for having, unassisted,
except by the natural strength of his under-
standing, swept away many of the prejudices
that may be said to have been born with him.
A moral man in his mode of life, and atten-
tive to the forms of his religion, he is no
bigot, but, on the contrary, seeing the almost
insuperable bar that fanatacism offers to the
advancement of a semi-barbarous nation, he
is endeavouring, slowly and cautiously, to
weaken the religious intolerance of his sub-
jects, inasmuch as it interferes with his
government and his plans.

Many reforms are in progress, amongst
which the most important are the measures
that have been taken to restrain within proper
bounds the power of the provincial Kaids and
other authorities, who formerly were the great
oppressors of the people. Property has be-
come generally more secure since the discon-
tinuance of a system by which, upon the
slightest pretexts, the Beys used to enrich
themselves by the plunder of wealthy indivi-
duals. The army also has been considerably
augmented, and its efficiency greatly increased

170 ALGERIA AND TCN'IS.

by the personal attention the Boy has paid
to the newly-disciplined troops.

Still, the great event of his reign re-
mains to be told. Of his own free will,
without any external pressure, he has abo-
lished slavery within the Tunisian dominions.
To Sir Thomas Reade the merit of the first
suggestion is entirely due, and it was als»'
warmly taken up by Signor Raffo. When th©i
subject was mentioned to the Bey, he at once
expressed his own feelings of dislike toslavery,
and only hesitated, to consider deliberately
the safest method of proceeding with a mea>
sure which, unless cautiously handled, might
produce serious consequences throughout the
country. The means he took are characte-
ristic of the man. His first step was to
emancipate every slave that he possessed,
which example was followed by all the prin-
cipal officers about the Bardo, and by many
others, by way of paying court to the Bey ;
due notice was then given that, after April,
1 84i 1 , the importation or exportation of slaves
was rendered penal ; four months afterwards
their sale was prohibited, and finally, after
a certain date, all children of slave parentsj
were to be considered as free-born.

4
4

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 171

From what has been stated above, I would
not have it imagined that either the Bey or
his system of government is perfect,— far
from it J for, if something has been done to
raise a country possessing in itself all the ele-
ments necessary for the happiness and pro-
sperity of its inhabitants, from the depth to
which it has been sunk by centuries of des-
potic oppression, barbaric ignorance, and
the withering blight of a false religion, there
is a wide field, upon which he has only just
entered, still spread before the first ruler of
Tunis who has emancipated himself from the
trammels of ignorance and prejudice.

AIGEEU AND TCfilS.

CHAPTER IX.

Departure from Tunis — Changes in our party — Aquednct —
The Mfljerdah—Tuburba — Theological dispute — Cloth-
mill — Medjaz el Bab^The banks of the M^erdoh — LoensU
An onien of war — Testoor — The meeting of friends — Ruins
of Tounga — Tubersook — Clirislian inBcription — Ruio^ of
Dugga— Magnificent temple — The Raid of Tubersook.

Taking leave of our kind friends, whose
house had been our home, and with whom
we had passed so many agreeable days in the
intervals of our travels, we left Tunis on the
morning of the 5th of May.

Several changes had taken place in our
party ; Baba Abdallah, another mameluke,
had been sent instead of poor old Baha Jebb,
who, as well as his comical little mare, were
bothdeadheatwith the fatigue of our southern
expedition ; and Hamet, a young man strik-
ingly handsome, proud of his own good looks

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

173

and of the beauty of his horse, replaced Soly-
maD, one of the Hambas, who had fallen ill
the day after our return. As accidents might
happen, or forced marches might be neces-
sary, we procured a third baggage horse, and
hired, in addition to Angelo, another Maltese
servant. The rest of the party were the
same as already described. We were fur-
nished, as before, with amers to the Bey's
authorities, and letters to the mountain tribes
on the Algerine frontier.

Passing the Bardo and the Manuba bar-
racks, wc proceeded in a westerly direction
over the plain, crossing the grand aqueduct,
which here rises to its greatest elevation. It
is much to be regretted that these magni-
ficent ruins are disappearing day by day,
their materials being taken as from a quarry,
when required for the construction of new
buildings ; we met, indeed, a long string of
cars on their way to Tunis, laden with stones
from the aqueduct. That part which has
been considered as the work of the Romans,
being entirely built of hewn stones, suffers
the most from this practice for the whole of
the materials are by degrees carried away,

174 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

whilst the Carthaginian portion, being com-
posed internally of concrete, is only stripped
of its external facing of masonry.

Thirteen miles from Tunis we crossed the
Majerdah, by a handsome stone bridge at
the village and mill of el Djedida. This river,
the principal one of the Regency, is the Ba-
grada of the Romans, so often mentioned in
ancient history. Following its course for a
distance of five miles, we arrived at Tuburba,
where we halted for the day. The town,
small, dirtj, and ruinous, contains nothing
of interest. The surrounding country is rich
in oil, corn, fruits, and pasture-laud, and
that it was so, was proved at supper by the
lavish expenditure of oil in the cookery,
the newly made little cake-like cheeses, and
a kind of delicately flavoured lemon, not
much larger than a walnut.

We already began to miss Baha Jebb's
ever-flowing good humour, for his successor
was wrangling with some one or other of the
party throughout the whole journey. He
made his debut in the evening, in a discus-
sion with Clement, our new servant, to which
our attention was at last attracted tiv the

,\LGElllA AND TUNIS.

175

increaBiug warmth of the parties, who had
certainly chosen a singular subject for a,n
untaught Maltese, a Christian hut in name,
and a renegade, to quarrel over. The debated
point turned out to be, whether a poor man
had any chance of going to heaven ; Clement
averred that he had, whilst Baba Ahdallah
stoutly maintained the contrary, and wound
up his argument by laying down the law
most decidedly, that any person with plenty
of money might go to heaven if he liked it,
but that a poor man was sure to go to the
devil, as he had no doubt Clement would do,
sooner or later.

Next morning we made a circuit, to visit
a cloth-mill lately established by the Bey, on
the right bank of the Majerdah, a mile distant
from Tuburba. Crossing the river by a mo-
dern bridge, erected a little below the ruined
piers of one built by the Spaniards, and now
converted into a mill dam, we were received
with great civility, and conducted over the
manufactory by a French gentleman in charge
of the works-
Commenced only a year and a half ago,
about two-thirds of the building as originally

17G

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

planned, are finished, and the remainder will
be speedily completed. The whole of the
machinery is French, except the looms, which,
sixty-two in number, are all of the simple con-
struction used in the country, and worked by
hand. The machinery is driven bj- a water-
power equal to that of twelve horses, and which
will shortlybe increased to twenty. Four hun-
dred men, women, and children, are at pre-
sent employed, which number will be doubled
when the works come into full operation.
The wages of these people are low, from
fourpence to sixpence a day each, but consi-
dering the relative prices of food, this sum
is equal to the wages of the continental ope-
rative. The country people are apt scholars,
and the facility with which even old men
acquire skill in perfectly new processes,
shews the manufacturing capabilities lying
dormant in the country. At present the great
fault of the people is indolence i constant
watching is necessary to keep them at work,
and this forms the principal occupation of the
six Europeans employed in the establishment.
The cloth manufactured is strong, and
I -well adapted for army clothing, to supply

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 177

which from the produce of the country, and
by home labour, was one of the Bey's chief
induceinents to establish the works. The
fleece of the Barbary sheep is thick, but
coarse, and much extra labour is occasioned
by the excessively dirty state of the wool. In
one of the warehouses there was a quantity
of camel's hair, which was about to be spun
and woven, as an experiment, but so care-
lessly had the animals been clipped, that to
separate the strong hairs of the mane and
neck that had been mixed with the finer,
would cause an expense equalling alone the
centire cost of the rest of the process.

For the manufacture of the cloth required
by the officers, a small quantity of Spanish
wool has been imported. The Bey takes a
great personal interest in the works, having
visited them himself, and, judging from the
commencement, there would seem to be little
doubt that the enterprise will he crowned
with success.

Riding on over an undulating country,
enlivened by patches of cultivation, we passed
through the village of Kreech el Oued, placed
near the confluence of a small stream with

178 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

the Majerdah, and, at noon, we arrived at
Medjez el Bab, where we remained for two
hours. Prettily situated, at the distance of
a furlong from the river, over which is thrown
a modem bridge, Medjez el Bab contains
the usual antiquities to be found in almost
every town in the Regency, such as pillars,
fragments of inscriptions, &c. Near the bridge
stands, upon a massive square base, a tri-
umphal arch, the key-stones on either side
bearing a coarsely sculptured bust ; from the
fondations near, it would appear that it stood
originally at the end of a bridge, the Ma-
jerdah having formerly passed close under
the site of the modern town.

The direct road to Testoor lies, for the
first half of the distance, on the left bank of
the river, which we should then have had to
ford, but the flood rendering the stream im-
passable, we were forced to follow that on the
right, which is a third longer. For two
hours we scrambled along the steep and pre-
cipitous bank, worn by the winter torrents
into deep ravines,, several of which we had
to skirt for a considerable distance, in order
to find a spot available for crossing. The

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 179

scenery was wild and pretty, with views
varying as we alternately ascended and de-
scended the sides of the water courses,
now dry. We cauglit occasional glimpses of
the river, with the opposite plain, bounded
by a range of hills grfidually increasing in
elevation as they extended southward.

For five miles we rode through an immense
flight of locusts ; the earth was covered with
thera in myriads, and on the bottom and
banks of the deepest ravine we crossed, they
lay so thick, that many were crushed beneath
our horses' feet at every step. Wherever
they had alighted, the vegetation was cut
down to the ground, hardly a blade of herbage
escapes, and the damage they cause is incal-
culable.

They were more than usually numerous
this year, and the Moors and Arabs, more
especially in Algeria, considered their great
number as portending a season of war or
pestilence, and certainly the omen has this
time proved a true one, for the war that
commenced in June, and which has continued
to rage unabated up to the present moment,
has been the most bloody that the Arabs
have as yet experienced.

ISO ALGERIA AND TTJNIS.

The flight of the locusts is heavy, and, al-
most altogether at the mercy of the wind
and unable to direct their course, they often
flew with considerable impetus against our
horses and ourselves. When in motion, and
driven by the breeze in an oblique direction,
their bodies shining in the sun, the air has
the appearance of being filled with flakes
of yellow snow. Destructive as they are to
the country, they are not entirely useless, for
great quantities of them are eaten, without
further preparation than being lightly fried
in oil, and having afterwards the wings
and saw-like legs plucked off". In Tunis, at
the time we left, large heaps of locusts were
exposed for sale in the streets, which was
also the case in all the towns on the road ;
we tasted them, and found their flavour less
disagreeable than their appearance.

We passed several insignificant remains,
and the village of Slookeeah, near the ford
by which we should have crossed, and at
half past five arrived at Testoor, where we
were hospitably received. Surrounded bv
walls, which, except near the gates, are
in ruins, and standing on the right bank
of the Majerdah, Testoor is the ancient

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 181

Colonia Bisica Lucana, and, in various parts
of the town, in the walls and in the private
houses, are several inscriptions of which
we took copies ; none of them however, are
of sufficient general interest to render their
insertion desirable. Ruins of a bridge over
the river are also to be seen.

We had frequently witnessed, and had
been amused at the excessive politeness
exhibited in the salutations of friends at
meeting, and, on this afternoon, we saw the
whole ceremony gone through with more
than ordinary earnestness, by Sidi Abdal-
lah and an Arab acquaintance, passing
through the town on his way to Tunis. First
embracing, by kissing each other's right
shoulder, they then touched hands, and each
kissed his own, afterwards laying it upon his
heart with a graceful inclination of the body
and the usual pious form of salutation ; then
commenced a string of enquiries, each made
separately, after the health of the friend,
his wives, children, relations, horses, camels,
flocks, dogs, and cats, the same anxiety seem-
ingly expressed to hear of pussey's welfare as
of that of any other member of the family.
The questions are asked as quickly as possi-

182 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

ble, each accompanied by an inclination of
the head and with the hand on the heart ; an-
swers are given, in a set form, with the same
rapidity, and with the same number of bows ;
it is all gone through verbatim by both par-
ties, and the ceremony occupies nearly as
much time as it takes to describe it.

The weather during the day had been de-
lightful, a brisk breeze and clear sky, with the
thermometer at noon at sixty-eight degrees,
and at six p. m. at sixty-four degrees. Our
Kairouan acquaintance the Hadji, had joined
us the previous evening at Tuburba, and
had amused himself and others by telling
stories and singing long metrical romances
in a wearisome, nasal tone.

After leaving Testoor the road lay for
rather more than a mile parallel with the
river, which, at the point where it is joined
by the Siliana, makes an obtuse angle, the
stream flowing from the west, and its course
from hence to the sea, into which it falls
near Cape I'arina, being north-east. The
conical mountain on the left bank of the
Majerdah is the point where the mountain
range that runs north to Biserta strikes off
at a right angle to the westward.

■
I

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 183

Fording the Siliana at a spot where the
ruins of a bridge, destroyed by a flood a few
years ago, still encumber its bed, and having
enjoyed a beautiful view of the river, with
its wooded banks backed by the rockv face
of the mountain at the base of which it flows,
we took leave of the Majerdab for some time,
not seeing it again until after two days' march
on the other side of Keff in the Algerine
territories. A farther ride of five miles up
a gentle acclivity, through a broken country,
covered with brushwood, brought us to the
edge of an extensive basin-shaped valley, con-
taining the ruins of the ancient city of Thig-
nica, now known as Tounga, and wholly un-
inhabited. Sending on the baggage under
the charge of the hambas, we left our horses
itt a dear spring of fresh water rising bv
the road side, and proceeded to explore the
ruins on foot.

The principal remains are those of a large
square castle, with flanking towers, built,
evidently, subsequently to the destruction of
the city, fragments of columns, cornices,
stones with inscriptions, &c., being included
in the materials of its massy walls. To the
eastward, higher up the slope, is a small arch.

184

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and, above it, the ruins of what must have
been a splendid temple. A considerable part
of it is still standing, but the portico with
its columns, sculptured frieze, and dedicatory
inscription, of which only a few words are
legible, lie scattered around. A single frag-
ment of one of the columns measured twenty-
five feet in length, and three feet three inches
in diameter.

From the rising ground to the south-east,
where probably stood the citadel, a fine view
is obtained, and on descending the hill we saw
the ruins of a theatre, and of another large
edifice, of which portions of many columns,
to the height of three and four feet, are still
standing. Sandstone was the chief material
used in the construction of Thignica, and
there would seem to have been a great scarcity
of marble, for in our two hours' walk we
saw only one small piece, whilst at Car-
thage, Thapsus, Thysdrus, &c., the ground
is strewed with innumerable fragments.

Remounting our horses, we cantered on to
Tubersook,adistanceof six miles, passing over
a beautiful country, especially the valley of
the Oued el Kalab, another tributary of the Ma-
jerdah. Nothing could exceed the attentioa

AIGERIA AND TUNIS.

185

with which we were received by the Kaid,
Hameda, who conducted ua in person over
the town.

The situation of Tuberaook, the ancient
Thibursicumbure, is extremely beautiful. It
is picturesquely placed on a rocky height,
part of wliicb rises to a considerable eleva-
tion above the town, and is approached by a
road winding through a grove of magnificent
olive trees. Without the walls are gardens
producing an abundance of fruit and vegeta-
bles, whilst within the town rises a spring
of water, almost rivalling that of Zouwan as
to copiousness and purity.

We followed the course of the stream for
a short distance under the walls, through a
tangled copse of fruit trees and shrubs, with
weeds and grass growing breast high, to an
ancient gate of the town, now walled up, ex-
cepting a low arch, beneath which the water
runs. On either side are two pilasters, and
a large oblong stone originally placed over
the gateway now forms a part of the material
by which it is blocked up, and bears an inscrip-
tion, interesting from being one of the very
few relics of Christianity that have escaped
destruction. The inscription, which is as

186 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

follows, commences with i Ps, the well known
Byzantine monogram of the name of our
Saviour,

SALYIS DOMINIS NOSTRIS XRISTIANISSIMIS
BT INVICTI881MIS IHPERATORIBVS
IT6TIN0 ET SOFIA AVOVSTIS HANC MVNITIONEM
. OMAS EXGELLENTIS8IMV8 PREFECTVS FELICITER
iBDIFIOAViT,*

The greater part of the ancient walls
. around the town are still standing, and in
many places their construction is singular ;
frames of large stones, forming square com-
partments, being fiUed up with smaller ones,
in the same manner as the wooden frame-
work of an old English cottage is filled up
with bricks.

Early in the afternoon, the Kaid pro-
vided mules, and accompanied us himself
to Dugga, a ride of two miles, the road
skirting the base of the hills in a south-
westerly direction. On the declivity of a
hill, overlooking a wide and fertile plain, are
placed the few hovels that compose the miser-
able village of Dugga, in the midst of the
ruins of the ancient Thugga, which from
the natural beauty of its position, its extent,

^ * Justin II., or the younger, reigned from a. d. 565 to 578.

ALGERIA AND TTINIS,

187

and the magnificence of its buildings, must
have been one of the principal cities in Africa.

Behind the house of the Sheick, who uses
it as a cattle fold, are the ruins of a mag-
nificent temple. The portico still stands
entire, supported by six noble monolithic
columns of the Corinthian order, and of ad-
mirable proportions and workmanship. On
the pediment is an alto-relievo, so much in-
jured by time, that it is perfectly allowable
to make a guess, and call it a colossal ea^le,
and underneath, on the entablature, are
traces of an inscription, much defaced. The
body of the temple is a complete ruin, with the
exception of the grand entrance leading from
the portico, which, though formed of three
stones only, it equals in height. Upon the
lintel are inscribed the names of the founders
of the edifice.* The wall forming the back
of the temple, excepting a lofty niche which
seems to be of the same date as the ori-
ainal building, has been rudely erected at
some later period.

Spread over a great extent of ground, and
hid amidst thick plantations of olives, are the

ISS

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

ruiDS of many large edifices ; an ampbitbe- \
atre, the arena choked with a dense growth
ofthe prickly pear ; a gymnasium, overgrown
with a tangled thicket of briars, thorns, and
creepers ; a triumphal arch ; many cisterns,
and sepulchral monuments, with an infinite
variety of the remains of private habitations.
Lower down the hill, below the site of the
town, are several mausoleums ; one of these
which had remained nearly perfect until
within a few years, has lately been destroyed,
in order that a Punic inscription, and the '
sculptures which adorned it, might be car-
ried to Europe. Among the stones heaped
around its base are two alto-rehevos, of in-
different execution, representing a warrior
in a chariot, driving four horses abreast.

North-east of the temple is a theatre, par-
tially excavated in the rocky side of the hill.
Many of the rows of seats remain perfect,
and portions of several columns are still
standing. An abundant spring above the
site of the city supplies water for irrigation,
and was, doubtless, the original cause of its I
foundation, for almost invariably throughout
the Regency, wherever good water is to be |
found, there also are the ruins of a town.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 189

^ We returned to Tubersook in the evening,
and the Kaid, who possesses a first-rate
cook, gave us an excellent supper ; a dish in
which both mutton and fowl were dressed in a
kind of thick sauce, composed of yolk of egg,
lemon-juice, and butter, was remarkably good.
The Kai'd had been one of the mamelukes
of the highest grade, and being a man of
some ability, he had first accompanied a
Tunisian Ambassador to Europe, visiting
Malta, Italy, and France, and, on his return,
had received his present appointment.

190 ALGERIA AND TOMS.

CHAPTER X.

£jah — Sidi Abder Rubbu — Mausoleum— Inhospitable recep-
tion at Keff— Antiquities — ^Relics of Chiistianity — ^A tra-
veller's duty — Situation of Keff— Storks— A Moorish custom
— Departure from Keff— The Milleg — Douar of the Wur-
gahs — Lions — Bad weather — Nocturnal annoyances — Arab
dogs — Gossiping — Our medical practice — Excessive hospi-
tality of the Sheick — Cross the frontier — Douar of the
Risghis — Extensive view — The valley of the Seybouse —
Return to Bona.

On the morning of the 8th of May, at half
past four o'clock, we left Tubersook for Keff,
a long da/s journey of seventy Arab miles.
Leaving Dugga to our right, we proceeded
up the valley of the Oued el Kalah, to
Ejah, a large square fort, standing on the
site of an ancient town, and formed of its
ruins, in the same style as those of Lambtah
and Tounga, already described.

At nine we passed Arsallah, a spring rising
near a cavern which appears to have been the
quarry that supplied the stone of which the

ALGEItlA AND TLlNIS. 191

ancient Musti, a mile further on, was built.
The place is now called by the Arabs, Sidi
Abder Rubbu, the name of a distinguislied
Marabout, who lies buried amidst the ruins.
The walls of the town can be easily traced, and
the remains of two gates are still standing.
Large tracts of land throughout this valley are
under cultivation, and the com had attracted
many birds, for, in addition to the partridge
and the quail, there were great numbers of
the Poule de Carthage, and also pigeons, or
rather doves, with a variety of smaller birds,
amongst which the blue jay and the still more
brilliant plumage of the golden oriole, were
conspicuous.

After a three hours' further ride, we arrived
at a mausoleum, of a simple yet beautiful
form ; square at the base and circular above,
it is still in excellent preservation, and the
brief inscription, giving merely the name
and age of the person to whose memory
it was erected, harmonises with the general
simplicity of the design. It stands near the
ruins of another town, placed in a grassy
valley, through which runs a stream, in the
shade of the tangled thicket on the bank of
which, we made our mid-day halt.

192 ALGERIA AND TUNIS*

On leaving the valley, we rode for four or
five miles through a rocky pass, covered with
brushwood and dwarf pines, mingled with a
few olives and karoubas. Here we made the
discovery that Baba Abdallah was as cow-
ardly as quarrelsome and selfish, for he
had worked himself up into a state of the
greatest possible nervousness, because a party
of the Bey's troops, sent to collect tribute
from a neighbouring tribe, had been attacked
and beaten in this pass. We, however, much
to his relief, met with nothing more formid-
able than a family party of men, women,
and children, who were removing with all
their property. Descending from the hills,
we entered an extensive plain, bounded on
the north by the mountain range upon which
Keff is placed, and to the south and west by
ridge beyond ridge of lofty mountains. Here
again we passed some insignificant ruins,
and, bearing away to our right, a winding
path through rocky and barren hills, brought
us to Keff, which we reached at half past
six.

The Kaiya of Keff, to whom we had been
introduced at the Bardo by Sir Thomas
Reade, is a fine specimen of a Tunisian of

ALGERIA AND TUNIS

193

the higher class. Hia manner had been so
frank and hospitable when Sir Thomas Reade
had meotioned that we were about to visit
Keff, that although we knew he was still at
Tunis, we fully expected to have been well
received by his son, who was the acting
Kaiya in his father's absence.

On our arrival we were lodged in a spa-
cious house, the property of the Bey, not far
from the Kasbah ; so far all was well, but
with the exception of the bare walls of the
house, it was with difficulty we procured any
thing; our horses could not be fed after their
long march, and, at ten o'clock, after having
supped upon some provisions we had brought
with us in case of emergency, two bowls of
bad couscousoo made their appearance. M'itli
some trouble we had previously managed to
get a couple of dirty, ragged quilts, for be'l-
ding, such as the poorest village in the Re-
gency would have afforded. Next morning
we sent the Shawsh and the Mameluke to
demand the cause of this treatment, and on
their return we discovered that the young
Kaiya, who is notorious for his debauchery,
was intoxicated and in bed, but that, possibly,
when he got sober, he might pay us a visit.
VOL. II. K

194 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

This he did not do, but sent a message
towards evening, to the eflfect that we might
call upon him. Of this condescension, after
the inhospitable treatment we had received,
we refused distinctly, to avail ourselves,
unless he first came to us. During the
whole of the night, and the early part of the
following morning, the rain came down in
torrents ; towards noon it cleared up, and
on our stating that we intended walking
about the city, and visiting whatever anti-
quities it might have to boast, two of the
Kaiya's people were appointed to attend us.

Anciently Sicca Venesia, the modern city
of Keff contains many ruins, but few of any
importance. They consist merely of some
large cisterns, and the remains of several
buildings forming portions of private houses,
into all of which we were freely admitted ;
many fragments of columns, &c. are scattered
about the city, and we met with several in-
scriptions.

These, and many others copied in the
course pf our journey, I purposely omit, as,
although interesting on the spot, their repe-
tition would be useless unless they con-
tained some information of more general

ALGERIA AND TTJNIS.

195

interest than the monumental notices of un-
known individuals, of which nine-tenths of
the existing inscriptions consist. Not that
I consider their collection as useless, for as
they sometimes contain the name of the
locality, they often form the only means by
which the sites of various places mentioned
in history can be recognised.

In two instances we met with the Cross.
In one oftheseit was small, and placed within
a circle on a square, being cut upon the
keystone of an arch. Behind this arch is a
semicircular recess containing five niches,
and having the appearance, more especially
as it is towards the east, of having been the
spot where tlie altar of a Christian church
once stood; the other remains of the edi-
fice, containing portions of a stone bearing
an inscription built into the wall, have
been converted into a private house, through
which we had to pass to the inner court,
where the arch above referred to stands. In
the second instance it is singular that the
emblem should have escaped destruction
placed as it is in a conspicuous situation, for,
on a large stone, probably the lintel of a
door, and now inserted in a blocked up arch-

196

ALGERIA ASI) TtJNIS,

way in the open street, is sculptured, visible
to every passer-by, a Greek cross, of consi-
derable size, enclosed by a circular moulding,
with a rudely formed palm on the one side,
and on the other an olive branch. Around
the spring rising within the city, are the
remains of the building that once stood over
it, and in an adjoining street lay a stone
sarcophagus, with the fragments of another.
Returning to our house, we had a grand
scene with two men belonging to the Kaiya,
who had accompanied the servants that
brought us our raid-day meal — a very shabby
affair, which we refused to accept. Calling
in all our people, with the addition of a
Moorish doctor, who, having spent a few
months in Italy, and being under the pro-
tection of an Italian consul took great in-
terest in our affairs, we sat in a dignified
manner upon the ragged quilts, and pro-
ceeded to state our grievances. After some
little time, seeing that quiet remonstrances
were of no avail, we agreed to get into a
passion by turns. This did some little good,
and they admitted that the young Kaiya was
still inebriated. Sidi Abdallah and the two
hambas were very indignant at the inhos-

ALGBBIA AND TUNIS.

197

pitable manner in which we were treated ;
but Baba Abdallah took it very quietly, and
was even beginning to make excuses, which,
had he been allowed to proceed, would have
done away with the impression we had
already made : it therefore became neces-
sary to set him down in the presence of the
whole party, which was most effectually done
by my j umping up suddenly, and emphaticallv
abusing him in choice English, accompanied
by suitably expressive gestures. It was with
the greatest difficulty that we could refrain
from laughing at the ludicrous air of fear
and surprise with which he listened, with
staring eyes and gaping mouth, to a long
speech of which he did not understand a
single word, and to which it was, therefore,
impossible for him to reply. This plan suc-
ceeded admirably; he, as well as all the
others, saw that we were really angry, and
the first-fruits of our objurgation were thu
carrying away of the dishes that had lain on
the floor during the long discussion, and the
replacement of them, in the course of half
an hour, with double the number.

It may, perhaps, at the first view, appear
strange that we should take so much troublH

198 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

on a point seemingly of so little moment, but
it must be remembered tbat tbe fact of our
taking no notice of an intentional slight,
shewn by a man of such importance as the
chief authority of the third city in the Re-
gency, would have lowered us in the eyes of
our escort, and, what is of more consequence,
might affect the reception of any future tra-
vellers who should chance to take this route.
I consider that it is the bounden duty of
every traveller, in any part of the world, but
more especially in countries so little visited
as this, to bear constantly in mind that, al-
though he himself may not suffer from his
own parsimony, lavish expenditure, or from
neglecting to assume the station that he
ought to hold in the eyes of the inhabitants,
yet those who follow after will be judged by
his standard, and will suffer from the effects
of his conduct.

In the afternoon, accompanied only by
Baba Abdallah, we left the city by the
eastern gate, outside of which are a set of
large cisterns in tolerable preservation, and
passed under a wall of rock, formed by the
precipitous side of the hill, the higher ground
of which we ascended a little more to the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 199

eastward for the purpose of obtaining a
better view of the city and the surrounding
country.

Keff, placed on the declivity of the
mountain, overlooks a wide plain to the
south and west ; on the north it is defended
by a deep valley, and on the east, a few
hundred yards from the wall, the ground
rises gradually into the mountain range that
extends as far north as Tubersook. Strongly
fortified, as the principal post near the Al-
gerine frontier, the works are kept in good
repair, and the Kasbah, built on the highest
point at the northern angle of the city, is a
fort of considerable strength, and is well
supplied with artillery. The view from
this spot is very extensive, the singularly
wild outlines of the Constantino moun-
tains forming the characteristic beauties of
the scenery.

While sketching, we were annoyed by a
number of boys, who had followed us from
the city j at first they contented themselves
with saluting us by the usual complimentary
epithets of ** Roomi kelp," (Christian dog),
&c., and then proceeded to throw stones, of
which Baba Abdallah took no notice, until,

200 ALGF.RIA AND TPNIS.

on the falling of one a little too near, I
twirled him round by the shoulders, so that
he could no longer pretend to be ignorant of
what was going on. This formed the climax
to the morning scene, and for the rest of the
journey he held us in wholesome awe. After
walking round the walla, we wandered about
until evening. The city must have at one
time contained a much larger population
than at present, for a considerable space
within the walls is either covered with ruins
or unoccupied.

Storks, numerous in all the towns of North
Africa, are still more so in Keif, which seems
to be a favourite resort of these birds, for the
shapeless bundles of sticks that compose their
nests are to be seen on the top of ever)'
building rising a little higher than its neigh-
bour. In almost every country, the stork,
from the fearless familiarity with which it
seeks the abodes of men, has been esteemed
a harbinger of good fortune and is never '
molested. Both Moors and Arabs feel a sort
of superstitious reverence for these birds,
and assign to them the possession of reasoning
powers of a superior order. It having been
observed that on arriving at their nesta after

ALGERIA AN'D TUSIS.

:^01

a flight, they make a peculiar bowing motion,
accompanied by a loud clattering noise caused
by snapping together the upper and lower
portions of the bill, like a pair of castanets,
the natives believe that the storks are then
engaged in an act of thanksgiving to God
for having permitted them to return home
in safety.

With regard to birds, there is a cus-
tom deserving of mention, from the nature
of the feelings in which it originated. On
the Moorish tombstones there may often
be seen a small trough, or hole cut in the
stone, which, after rain, holds water for some
days ; this is intended for the use of the
birds, with the idea that even after death
a man may minister to the wants and con-
tribute to the happiness of God's crea-
tures.

The rain, towards night, again began to
fall heavily, and the weather promised badly
for our ride across the mountains ; we deter-
mined, however, to leave Keff in the morn-
ing, and sent notice of our intention to the
Kaiya, at the same time requesting the let-
ters to the frontier tribes, with which he was
directed by the orders contained in the Bev's

202 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

amer, to furnish us ; these, after some delay,
were made out and delivered.

The morning of the 10th was bright and
pleasant, when, at eight o'clock, we set for-
ward. This was two hours later than we
had intended, the delay having been caused
by a parting struggle with the Kaiya*s ser-
vants, for wherewithal to satisfy our hunger.
Having asked for breakfast, we determined
not to go without it, being well aware that
the usual morning meal of thin flour cakes
fried in oil (** eftyrah"), and eaten with
honey, could be procured at five minutes
notice. At length, perceiving us to be
determined, the people yielded.

At the distance of a few miles from the
city, we were overtaken by a party of four of
the Kaiya's horsemen, who were sent to
guide and see us safely into the hands of a
tribe who were to pass us on as friends to
the next douar, which would be within the
Algerine territory. Crossing the hills, and
passing through a curiously formed gap at
the summit of the ridge, we descended into
a plain on the banks of the Milleg, a river
which, although larger than the Majerdab,
loses its name on its confluence with the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 203

latter, at a point some miles to the north-
west of Keff. The battle-field of Zama,
respecting the exact position of which so
many disputes have arisen, lies somewhere
in this neighbourhood, but no traveller has
yet been able to point out the spot with any
degree of certainty.

The rain had caused the Milleg to rise to
such a degree, that we were but just able to
cross without swimming ; the only casualties
that happened, however, were part of the
baggage getting wet, and a ducking received
in a deep pool just below the ford, by the
Hadji and one of the Kefi^ troopers, to the
tail of whose horse the former was clinging.
For an hour the track wound up a narrow
valley, through which flows a small tributary
of the Milleg, then, bearing away to the left,
we rode over a magnificent mountain coun-
try, by paths barely practicable after the wet
weather, from the slippery nature of the
mud.

A violent storm now arose, accompanied
with drenching rain, which continued to pour
without intermission, and we were not sorry
when, at half past three, we saw the dark
circle of the douar of the Wurgah tribe,

204 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

where the Sheick Othman Ben Ibrahim
received us with hospitality, sharing with us
his own tent, he and his family occupying
the half on one side of a curtain suspended
in the midst, whilst our party took possession
of the other.

Here we remained until the morning of
the 12th, the weather continuing so unfa-
vourable that it was impossible to proceed.
We did not, however, regret this delay, for,
living in the same tent with an Arab family,
and the circle of the douar being a small one,
we were enabled to witness domestic life
amongst the Arabs with a greater freedom
from restriction than we had hitherto been
able to do.

In one comer of the tent lay the fresh
skin of a lioness, killed the previous day. It
was very provoking that we should have
missed, by a few hours only, this opportunity
of sharing the sport, as it is a chance that
rarely happens to a party merely traversing
the country; a lion hunt only takes place
when the animals are known to frequent a
particular spot, or when cattle have been
carried off; in the latter case the Arabs
know that the lion will not be content with

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

205

one visit, and in the former, they place a bait
to attract him. Fifty men had been out on
the day previous to our arrival, in chase of
the lioness, for she had grown so bold as to
have approached the douar, and she fell only
on receiving the fourth ball, which was fired
by the Sheick. Accidents often happen on
these occasions, both from the lions and
from the careless manner in which the Arabs
tire, but luckily, none had occurred at the
hunt in question.

We were anxious to know if there was
any chance of another lion being found in
the neighbourhood, and were informed that,
doubtless, there were plenty, but such was
the nature of the ground, that, unless their
exact haunts were known (in which case
they were generally killed), we might go out
for a fortnight and never encounter a single
beast. The skins of all lions killed through-
out the Regency are sent to the Bey, who
pays a handsome premium upon each. The
flesh is eaten, and, contrary to our expecta-
tion, we found it excellent, and made a
capital supper upon the ends of the ribs
stewed with a little salt and red pepper ; it
tasted like very young beef, and was neither
tough nor strong flavoured.

206 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

During the whole of the next day, with
the exception of a short time in the after-
noon, the rain descended in torrents, and
although the douar was placed on the steep
slope of a mountain, the central space and
the ground near the tents was poached by
the horses and cattle into mud a foot deep,
and the water that had filled the slight
trench dug around the upper side of the
tent began to overflow, which caused the
ladies of the family to turn out in the worst
part of the storm, and deepen it, whilst the
men remained snugly under cover.

The nights were cold, but we did not suflfer
much inconvenience from this cause, for our
party, increased by an Arab who had asked
leave to join us, was eleven in number, and
there being a want of room, we were obliged
to lie close, and thus kept each other warm.
Occasionally in the course of the night a
dog, a sheep, or a goat, seeking shelter from
the storm, would force its way through the
bushes placed in the interval between the
sides of the tent and the earth, and entering,
walk over the sleeping inmates, until kicked
out. This was a trifle to the annoyance of
the dogs; had they contented themselves,
like those of other tribes, with only barking

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 207

all night it would not have signified, but one
old dog, the bully of the douar, took up his
position during both nights outside the tent,
on the top between the two poles, and every
half-hour he was either rushing down to fight
the dogs below or they were scrambling up
to attack him, in which latter case a despe-
rate battle would take place immediately
overhead, giving the people beneath every
instant exactly the idea that the combatants
would come through.

Towards strangers, after nightfal, these
dogs are very savage, and even during the
day a stick is an useful article when ap-
proaching a douar, as a new comer is sure
to be set upon by a pack of yelping curs,
whose favourite mode of attack is to sneak
round to the rear and watch their oppor-
tunity to bite. They bear a good deal of
resemblance to the Scotch sheep-dog in out-
ward appearance, but they are wanting in
sagacity, and, though fierce, are cowardly.
As watch-dogs they cannot be surpassed ;
neither man nor beast can approach without
their giving notice ; and the Arabs rely
upon their vigilance to guard their douars
from surprise.

208

ALGERIA AND Tl'SlS.

The Arabs, generally so calm and quiet J
in their manner, are arrant gossippers at ]
heart ; during our stay here, the small-talk I
was as incessant as the rain, and a great I
variety of subjects were discussed. Amongi
other topics was that of dress, and a full hour
was occupied in examining Sidi Abdallah's
gala suit, which he had brought with him to
wear at Bona. We had an extensive medical
practice, for our own people had on our
arrival proclaimed the wonderful cures we |
had performed. Men, women, and children
had all to be prescribed for, and were not
only anxious to obtain medicines for their
present ailments, but also a supply to prevent
sickness at a future period.

In our character of physicians v,
permitted to visit the women, and as we posi-
tively refused to prescribe for them without
feeling their pulses and seeing their tongues,
they were, perforce, obliged to uncover their
faces ; as usual, the ugliest and oldest of them
all made the most fuss, and the Sheick him-
self was compelled to pull away her hands
from her face. She was in a terrible flight at
the fizzing of a Seidlitz powder, and trembled
in every limb while drinking it. Two poor

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

209

little babies were also brought to us, one only
a few days old; there was not much ceremony
used with them, for, wrapped up in a woollen
rag, they were pushed under the curtain and
laid naked at our feet. Whatever may have
since happened to these infanta, our con-
sciences are clear, for the prescription con-
sisted of a small quantity of arrowroot, a
pinch or two to be boiled in water, and each
babe to suck the tip of its mother's little
linger dipped thrice into the mixture, three
times a-day.

The Sheick was pressing in his invitation
to us to remain some time longer with him,
and was most anxious to treat us with all
proper respect. This, on some occasions,
we would willingly have dispensed with, as
for instance, in the preparation of our break-
fast. Nothing could he nicer than the mate-
rials ; hot cakes, a large piece of honey-
comb, and fresh butter, produced by jerking
to and fro a goat-skin filled with milk,
slung under a triangle. We were just com-
mencing operations, when, seating himself
opposite to us, the Sheick dashed his filthv
paw into the howl of honey, and drawing
forth a portion of the comb, squeezed it over

210 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

the cakes ; then, taking a handfiil of butter,
he worked it up with the houej, wiped his
fingers on the cakes, and handed them to us
as properly prepared.

The state of the weather on the morning
of the 12th was anything bat ft if oura ble ; a
quick succession of driying clouds swept oyer
the mountains, it was blowing a gale of wind
and raining heayily. The appearance of our
cavalcade, as we started at six o'clock, was
rather miserable, for the horses, covered only
by a single blanket had been standing up to
their knees in mud, and exposed to the storm ;
most of them at some time or other had lain
down and were thickly coated with clay, whilst
their riders were almost equally dirty.

For ten hours we rode without halting,
keeping a northwesterly direction through
the mountains. The general appearance of
the country, from the scarcity of wood, which
we met with only in the valleys, is dreary,
but the sides of the mountains are clothed
with herbage, and we passed for mile after
mile through a district that, in any civilized
land, would be white with flocks and herds.
During this time we saw only two douars, at
each of which we changed our guides, and in

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 211

the course of the morning we had entered the
Algerine territory. We fortunately found
the Majerdah passable, a point upon whi<5h
we had had our doubts. After crossing the
river we found the scenery more romantic ;
rocky glens replaced the rounded slopes of
the grassy hills, and the brushwood was
mingled with clumps of splendid oaks. The
" Valley of the Lions,'' so named by the
Arabs, from its being a favourite resort of
those animals, is a long wooded pass near the
river, with overhanging rocks, and a moun-
tain stream flowing through a thicket at its
bottom. Continuing gradually to ascend, we
left the valley of the Majerdah, passed the
ruins of an ancient town near a marabout
called Sidi Mesoud, and bore away to the
westward in search of a douar of the Risghi
tribe, which we did not reach until eight
p. M., our horses rather tired, as we had
marched fourteen hours over a most difficult
countrv, in the midst of a storm of wind
and rain, without halting.

By this time it was dark, and the ground
being too wet for the Kaid to pitch a separate
tent, we shared one with a Jew trader who
passes his time in travelling with goods from

212 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

tribe to tribe. The storm raged during the
night with renewed violence, and the tent,
old and ragged, afforded only indifferent
shelter, and was so small, that although we
had stowed ourselves as closely as possible,
Mohamed and the Hadji, who were on the
windward side, were wet to the skin. In
the morning the sky was clear and the sun
shone brightly. As soon as it was light, the
Kaid came to visit us, and sent forward a
messenger to see that everything was pre-
pared for our next halt.

On leaving, we had to climb the almost
perpendicular face of the mountain upon
which the douar was placed, and after nearly
three hours of toil, we arrived at the highest
summit of the Djebel Zahan, from whence
we had a glorious view, of immense extent,
while the atmosphere was so clear that, to
the northward, we could see the plain of the
Seybouse, and also Bdna, lying like a white
spot on the sea-shore; in every other direction
rose a wild chaos of mountains, with, in the
far distance, to the southwest, the summits
of a lofty range, probably the Djebel Auras,
covered with snow.

Descending the mountain, we rode through

ai.ci:ria and tunis. 213

a pretty, broken country, in some parts well
wooded, and having in others patches of
cultivated ground, to a tent that had been
prepared for us, together with a mid-day
meal, by the kindness of the Kaid of the
Risghi. After halting for an hour and a
half, we remounted, and proceeded three
hours farther to another douar, where we
slept.

Wc were in our saddles by five o'clock on
the morning of the 14th, the weather as
delightful as it had hitherto been the reverse.
The scenery of the valley of the Scybouse,
into which we shortly entered, is truly lovely ;
on the banks of the river, the oak, elm, ash,
silver poplar, and many other trees, attain a
large size, the meadows scattered along its
course, when not covered with heavy crops
of corn, were waist deep in grass, mingled
with the iris and other flowering plants that
flourish in damp places, while the wild rose
and the honeysuckle were blossoming in
every brake. Owing to its winding course,
we crossed the river three times, and, on the
last occasion, Baha Abdallah, who was suf-
fering considerably from fatigue, had rather
a narrow escape from drowning, for, growing

214 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

giddy and nervous, he turned his horse's
head down stream instead of in the contrary
direction, and he was on the very edge of a
deep hole, when the Hadji rushed to his
assistance and hrought him safely to the
other side.

In the afternoon, we crossed the last range
of hills bordering the plain of Bona, and
entered upon its level marshy ground, — a
great relief to our horses, all more or less
lame, from traversing the rocky mountain
paths after having lost their shoes. Ten
miles from B6na, we were obliged to leave
Baba Abdallah behind, at a small douar,
and, a little after seven o'clock, our wearied
horses having with difficulty accomplished
the last three miles, we arrived at the end
of this portion of our journey.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 215

CHAPTER XI.

Bona — The Opera in Africa— Forest of the I)jebel Edough —
Fraicandeau de lion — Departure from Bona — Drean —
Mea5-meia— Hammam Berda— Guelma— Its ruins and anti-
quities—Valley of the Alligha— Hammam Meskhoutin —
Hot springs — High temperature— Efficacy of the waters
— Roman baths and antiquities — Analysis — Curious cavern
— Latin inscriptions— Arrival at Constantine.

We remained at B6na until the lyth,
principally on account of our horses, which,
on the morningafter ourarrival, were scarcely
able to move. Baba Abdallah arrived in
the course of the morning, quite safe, and
consoled himself after all his hardships by
devouring an enormous breakfast, and finish-
ing a bottle of wine. The greater part of
the 15th had been occupied in settling
accounts with our escort and servants, and
in making arrangements for their return to
Tunis, as well as for the continuation of our
own journey to Constantine.

216 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

Our friends, as before, were all kindness,
and, in the evening, we accompanied them
to the opera, where we witnessed " Lucia di
Lammermoor," very respectably performed
by an Italian company, assisted by ama-
teurs, chiefly Germans from the ranks of
the Foreign Legion. The theatre, formerly
a large granary, is prettily fitted up, and, in
the absence of a professional company, per-
formances for charitable purposes are often
given by the amateurs of the garrison.

The following day we devoted to visiting
the forest of the Djebel Edough, a distance
of twelve miles from Bona, and containing
the finest timber in Algeria. A broad road,
the work of the troops, winds up the face of
the mountain, and renders the forest easilv
accessible. The thick mist that enveloped
the upper half of the range of the Edough,
the summits of which vary in height from
two to three thousand feet, deprived us of
an extensive prospect ; but the sight of the
noble trees that crown the ridge and clothe
the northern slope of the mountains, well
repaid us for our ride. The forest consists
principally of oak, chesnut, and cork trees ;
the two former attain to an immense size.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

217

and many of them are seen with their huge
trunks rising upwards of thirty feet unbroken
by a single branch. Descending the moun-
tain, we issued from the clouds at exactly
the same spot where we bad lost sight of the
plain in our ascent, and as we re-entered the
town, the last rays of the setting sun were
softening into the sober hues of twilight.

During dinner, one of the dishes sent up
as a curiosity was a " fricandeau de lion,"
which, without intending to disparage the
skill of the cook of the Lion d'or, J must
observe was very inferior to the simple stew
prepared in the douar of the Wurgahs. In
the course of the evening, we had a formal
leave-taking with Sidi Abdallah and others
of the party, who were to set out at daybreak
on their return to Tunis by the direct route
of La Calleand Beja. We were really quite
sorry to part with them after having had
them for companions for so many weeks.

On the morning of the 17tb, we left Bona
at nine o'clock, in a much humbler manner
than we had entered it a few days previously,
for our retinue had dwindled down to an
Arab, the proprietor of the horse and mule

VOL II. L

218 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

carrying our baggage, and one Maltese ser-
vant, who spoke both English and Arabic.
The route to Constantine, after passing the
ruins of Hippo, lies in a direct line nearlv
south across the plain to Drean, where we
arrived in four hours. Some miles to the
right of the road, is the extensive Lake of
Fetzara, piaced at the base of the western
range of the Djebel Edough,

At Dr^an we halted for two hours. Es-
tablished in the centre of the plain as a mili-
tary post, to keep open the communication
with Guelma and Constantine, it is nothing
more than a small field-work thrown up
around the barrack, canteen, and store-
houses, and is the station of the officer charged
with the management of the neighbouring
tribes, to the number of twenty-two. In the
apartments of this officer we saw a fine col-
lection of skins of wild beasts, and many
other curiosities, amongstwhich was a dagger,
a real Toledo blade, with a name on one side
and a motto on the other. He had pur-
chased it from an Arab to the south of Con-
stantine, and its temper was so fine, that a
good stroke would drive it through a five

ALOERIA AND TUNIS.

319

franc piece. He had also a delightful little
pet iu the shape of a wild hoar a few weeks'
old, a funny little creature, striped brown and
white, and having round its neck a red mo-
rocco collar to which was attached a silver
bell ; it was full of antics, and followed its
master about like a dog, coming when called,
and feeding from the hand.

We slept this night at the canteen of Nez-
mei'a, about the same distance from Drean
as the latter from B6na. During the last
four miles of our ride, the country became
more undulating, and in parts was covered
with brushwood. Nez-meia, signifying " a
place of scorpions," not being a regular mili-
tary post, consists only of a sort of temporary
barrack and a canteen, placed in a vaUey at
the foot of the Djebel Aoura, through which
flows a small stream that afterwards becomes
the river Boudjeraah. The canteen, a rough
wooden building, is kept by a retired regi-
mental " vivandicre," a fine specimen of her
class, and she bustled about most good-
humouredly to make the strangers com-
fortable.

Next morning we crossed the pass over

■2-20

ALGESIA AND TUNIS.

t]ie Djebel Aoura, and descended towards
th« Seybouse, passing, at a distance of three
miles from its hanks, the hot spring of Ham-
niarii Berda, where a large tank and other
ruins of the Roman period still exist. Fording
the Seybouae, (which runs, in the neighbour-
hood of Guelma, from west to east,) at a spot
where a bridge is in course of erection, we ]
arrived at Guelma at nine a. m.

Here stood the Roman city of Cftlama,
which, judging from the extent of the ruins,
must have been a place of importance. In
1836, the first expedition against Constan-
tine assembled here, having marched from 1
B6na by brigades, and when the army passed
through on its return to Bona after the
failure of the attack, Marshal Clausel estab-
lished a strong military post amidst the ruins ■
and garrisoned it with a battalion of infantry. |
'I'he greater portion of the wall of the Roman |
citadel, constructed of squared stones of con-
siderable size, remained sufficiently perfect I
to allow of their being repaired, and the I
ancient fortifications that protected the Ro-
man legions from the Numidians now enclose J
the modem barracks of the French troops.

:«

;«

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

221

Numerous foundations are met with in the
environs, and in clearing the sites for the new
buildings many objects of interest have been
discovered ; tombs, altars, fragments of sculp-
ture, &c., the most curious of which have
been sent to Algiers and France, whilst the
others are carefully preserved in an enclosure
appropriated to that purpose. Amongst the
remaining relics are several sets of mill-
stones, some light enough to be turned by
the hand, and others that must have required
considerable power to work them ; they are
all after the same model, the nether atone
being conical.

The soil around the town is fertile, and
the gardens appeared to he thriving; but
beyond them there has been no attempt at
European cultivation, the garrison forming
nearly the entire population, and there being
but few inducements for civilians to become
settlers. Since the capture of Constantine,
the tribes in the vicinity of Guelma have
submitted to their new masters with less
reluctance than has been shewn in any other
part of the Regency. Through the kindness
of the commandant, to whom General Randon

222

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

had given us a letter, we were furnished with
an escort of Spahis, and with written orders ,
to the tribes on the road to Constantine to |
receive us.

As the day advanced, the weather changed
for the worse, and at noon we left Guelma
in a drizzling rain, with the thermometer at
forty-eight degrees. After riding a mile or
two up the course of the Seybouse we crossed
it by a deep and dangerous ford, full of large
stones and boles, and, skirting its northern
bank, passed the mihtary post of Mjez Ham>
mar, considered to lie half-way between Bona
and Constantine, and placed near the con-
. fluence of the AUigba and the Cherf, which
here form the Seybouse. Proceeding along
the valley of the AUigha, we forded that
river at a point where the stream winds pic-
turesquely between steep banks covered with '
wood. At three o'clock we arrived at the
hot springs of Hammam Meskhouteo, the
cloud of steam rising from them having been
visible from some distance.

During the past' year an invalid station
has been established here ; the medical officer
in charge was good enough to act as our

ALGERIA AND TUSIS.

223

guide, and to him we were indebted for much
interesting information relative to the springs
and the surrounding country. Between a
small rivnlet and the Alllgha, and spread
over an irregular space, perhaps a quarter
of a mile in diameter, are numerous cones,
formed by the deposits of the waters, which,
issuing from the ground by many small aper-
tures, continue to flow until these are choked
by their own deposits, or until some change
takes place in the internal arrangement of
the spring, when the water bursts forth at
another spot. The spring is so abundant
that in several places a copious stream will
follow a stroke or two of a pickaxe, and the
principal source at present open was acci-
dentally formed in this manner. From the
spot where the larger springs rise, the
thermal waters, in flowing over the bank of
the rivulet have formed a calcareous deposit
of great beauty, resembling a cascade of the
purest white marble, occasionally tinged with
various shades of green and orange.

The great peculiarity of the spring, how-
ever, is its high temperature, the waters
rising at two hundred and three degrees, and
a bath when filled having to stand a con-

224 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

siderable time before the temperature is
sufficiently lowered to enable the patient to
enter. The use of the baths, both water and
steam, has been attended with the most bene-
ficial results, especially in cases of paralysis,
afiections of the joints, rheumatism, &c., and
has been also found most efficacious in dis-
eases or inj uries of the bones.

These springs were well known to the
Romans, who must have formed a large
establishment on the spot, for several baths
still remain, two of the basins so perfect that
they only required cleaning to be ready for
use. The foundations of many other build-
ings are scattered around, amongst others
those of a small Christian church, known
to have been such from a cross being dis-
covered when its ruins were taken to erect
the new buildings. Several Roman coins and
medals, as well as two or three of those sup-
posed to be Numidian, have been found in
the neighbourhood.

The superintendent possesses a valuable
collection of minerals, including a complete
series of specimens of the various deposits of
the spring. To him we were further in-
debted for the following minute analysis of

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

'225

the waters of Hammam Meskhoutin, of which
a litre contains : —

Chloride of—

Soda ....

0.41560

Magnesia

0.07864

Potass ....

0.01839

Calcium ....

0.01035

Sulphate of—

Lime ....

0.38036

Soda ....

0.17653

Magnesia

0.00673

Carbonate of—

Lime

0.25722

Magnesia

0.04235

Strontian

0.00154

Arsenic in a metallic state

0.00050

Silex .....

0.07000

Organic roiatter (with traces of Fluorine and

Oxide of Iron) about

0.06000

Grammes.

1.52007.

.nd of gases : — .

Carbonic Acid Gas . . 97.0

)

Sulphuretted Hydrogen . . 00.5

[lOO.

Azote .... 02.5

)

The vicinity of Guelma and Hammam
Meskhoutin is rich in minerals ; lead has
been discovered, and also sulphate of anti-
mony, in great abundance. Shortly previous
to our arrival a singular cavern had been

226 ALGERIA AND TUNIS,

discovered in the mountains at a distance of
half a day's journey from Guelma, into which
our informant had not as yet penetrated far,
but he intended making a party to explore
it thoroughly, in which I suppose he suc-
ceeded, a slight description of the cavern
having appeared in the French papers of the
end of August. Formed in the calcareous
rock, the cavern is entered from the north,
by a single opening, and descends by an
inclined plane 3900 feet in length, to a depth
of thirteen hundred feet below the surface.
Stalactites of a thousand different forms hang
from the vault, and the passage is in places
impeded by the huge blocks of stone that
have fallen from the roof.

But what contribute most to the interest
of this immense cavern, are the Latin in-
scriptions, cut in the solid rock near the
entrance, and which, dating from the early
ages of Christianity, are probably the work
of Christian fugitives, who here sought a
refuge from some of the numerous persecu-
tions of those periods. Most of them are
illegible, or perhaps sufficient attention has
not been paid to decipher them, but in one

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

227

place the name of " Donatus,"* is distinctlv
visible.

The Arabs relate the most absurd legends
concerning this cavern, and never enter it,
through dread of the guardian genii with
whom they people it. The party that ex-
plored it, however, seem to have overcome
the fears of at least oue Arab, for they were
accompanied by the Sheick of the tribe in
whose district it is situated. There is no
tradition amongst the tribes of its having
ever been entered by man, and this was, pro-
bably, the first time that, for many centuries,
its rocky vaults had echoed the sound of a
human voice.

Leaving the picturesque valley of the
baths, we crossed the hills to the south, by
a track nearly as bad as some of the moun-
tain passes on the frontier, and regaining
the direct route from Mjez Hammar to Con-
stantine, and ascending a long, wearisome
hill, in the midst of a drenching rain, arrived
at eight, p.m., at a large douar, where we

* Fora coQciBe account of the origin and progresa of the
scbism of Cbe DonaiistE, commenciiig eariy in the fourth cen-
tury, see the twcnty-firat chapter ot " Gibbon's Decline qui!
Fall of the Roman Empire.''

228 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

slept. When the Arabs heard that we were
English, they appeared much astx)nishedy and
became very inquisitive as to what we could
possibly be doing travelling as friends of the
French, and with a French escort. The
feeling that the French and English are
constantly at war, seems to be universal
throughout the tribes.

At daybreak on the 19th, we set out for
Constantino, where we arrived at half past
five in the afternoon, having passed over a
dreary succession of hills and valleys, covered
with grass, but entirely denuded of wood ; a
small bush, ten or twelve feet high, growing
by the road-side two hours* march from the
city, and hung all over with shreds of cloth
and rags, the superstitious offerings of tra-
vellers for safety on their journey, being the
only plant that, throughout the whole dis-
tance, can claim to be called a tree.

From the summit of the pass beyond El
Harreea, we had a magnificent view of moun-
tain-scenery ; the city of Constantine is also
visible from this spot, and, to the eastward,
we recognised many of the mountains about
Keff and those to the southward, with whose
forms we had become familiar.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 229

CHAPTER XII.

First view of Constandne — Its situation and appearance—
£nter the city — Fortifications — Siege and capture of Con-
stantine in 1837 — Monuments — Improvements — Street
architecture— Cork model — Palace of the Bey — The ravine
— The river Rummel — ^Ancient hridge — ^Walk round the
city— The falls of the Rummel— The Kasbah— Place of
execution — Roman house — Ancient history of Constantine
— Its present population and trade — Funeral of Sula Bey.

On arriving at the verge of the plateau of
Mansourah, the high ground to the east-
ward of Constantine, a glorious prospect
burst upon us. A monotonous ride of twelve
hours had the better prepared us to enjoy
the striking contrast offered to the surround-
ing country, by the singular yet beautiful
situation of the ancient capital of the Numi-
dian kings.

The city, an assemblage of houses, roofed
with reddish tiles, and densely crowded to-

230 ALGERIA AND TCNIS.

gether, occupies the surface of an immense
mass of rock, sloping towards the south-east,
and separated from its parent mountain by a
precipitous ravine of great depth, at the bot-
tom of which flows the stream of the Rura-
mel. The general uniformity of the build-
ings is broken by the minarets and square
towers of the mosques, and by the long
range of hospitals and barracks erected by
the French on the site of the Kasbah.

The form of the city, which exactly fol-
lows that of the plateau on which it stands,
is a trapezium, of which the acute angle is
towards the south ; its greatest length from
north to south being about three quarters
of a mile. Its northern and eastern faces
are rendered impregnable by the naturally
scarped sides of the ravine, which varies in
depth from three to eight hundred feet. On
the western side the rock descends almost
perpendicularly into the plain, and the only
point where the city is at all accessible by
nature is towards the south, where a ridge,
barely three hundred yards wide, with a
steep descent on either hand, connects it
with the adjoining height of Coudiat-Ali.

We entered the city at its eastern angle.

ALGEEIA AND TUNIS.

231

crossing the ravine by a bridge of three tiers
of arches ; and, passing through the Bab-
el-Kantara, or "gate of the bridge," we fol-
lowed the tortuous windings of the narrow
streets into the heart of the city, where we
took up our quarters at the Hotel de I'Eu-
rope, formerly the residence of one of the
wealthiest inhabitants of Constantine.

On our arrival at B6na we had learnt, to
our great disappointment, that General Be-
deau and other officers to whom we had let-
ters of introduction, and whose acquaintance
we were anxious to make, were absent on an
expedition to the southward, with a column
principally composed of the garrison of Con.
stantine ; hut our regrets were much dimi-
nished by the friendly and soldier-like recep-
tion we met with from the colonel of the
22nd regiment, who commanded in the city
and from other officers of the garrison.

As one of the points of the greatest in-
terest, our first visit was made to the scene
of the operations by which the city was taken
by assault on the 13th of October, 1S37.
Passing through the gate Bab-el-Oued, or
Port Valee, as the gate, now building on
the site of the ancient entrance, has been

232 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

named, in honour of the Marshal, and pro-
ceeding along the ridge before mentioned
as connecting the city with the surrounding
country, we ascended the height of Coudiat-
Ati, and, on turning round towards the
walls, the south-western face of the city lay
before us.

The fortifications on this side consist of
a wall from twenty to thirty feet high, flanked
by towers of the same elevation, and further
defended by the loop-holed barracks, formerly
the quarters of the Turkish troops of the
late Bey, a large building placed near the
gate Bab-el-Oued, on either side of which
are the gates of Bab-el-Djedeed and Bab-el-
Ghabia. The greater part of these works
are the fortifications of the ancient city,
which have been repaired at different periods.
Up to the time of the siege, they were heavily
armed with guns and wall pieces, and every
other point being perfectly secure, the whole
strength of the garrison was concentrated at
this spot.

The French batteries placed on the slope
of the Coudiat-Ati breached the rampart
close to the Bab-el-Oued, and on the morn-
ing of the 1 3th of October the breach being

ALGERIA AND TCNI9.

233

reported practicable, the order to advance
was given by the Due de Nemours. Led
by the youDg and gallant Lamorici^re, the
first column rushed to the assault ; in the
breach a bloody and desperate struggle
took place, a portion of the wall fell and
crushed numbers beneath its ruins, a maga-
zine exploded, and besiegers and besieged
met together a common death ; foot by foot,
the breach was contested, the courage of the
garrison availed them but little against the
enthusiastic ardour of the French troops,
and the tri-colour waved triumphantly upon
the walls of Constantine. Long after the
city was taken, the contest continued in the
dark labyrinth of the streets, and many hun-
dreds of the inhabitants lost their lives in
attempting toescape by descending the ravine.
But few, however, succeeded j in most in-
stances the cords broke, or were cut by the
sharp comers of the rock, and the bottom
of the ravine was strewed with the mangled
bodies of men, women, and children.

Two days previously to the assault, General
Damreniont, the Governor -General, was
killed whilst examining the effects of the
fire of the batteries, and a small stone pyra-

231

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

mid marks the spot where he fell. In the
open space between the walls and the height,
stands an isolated minaret, to which has
been affixed a small marble tablet, bearing
the inscription —

« uoRTa nevANT oonrjNTtNB

Improvements similar to those of Algiers,
B6Da, and other towns in the Regencv,
are in progress here. A square has been
formed close to the palace of the Bey, now
converted into the residence of the general
commanding the province, and into public
offices ; new streets branch off at each angle,
and several others are in course of formation
in various parts of the city. Except the
Bey's palace, there are no buildings in Con-
stantine remarkable either for size or beauty
of architecture ; even the mosques are small
and devoid of ornament.

For the most part the houses are built of
sun-dried bricks and clay, often upon the
foundations of Roman structures, whose walls
in many places rise several feet above the
surface of the ground. Houses of a better
class are constructed of stones taken from the
ancient ruins, and of bricks burnt in a kiln

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

285

when they consist of two stories, the upper
almost invariably projects, or, as at Algiers,
an arch is thrown over the narrow street.
The great difference in the outward appear-
ance of the city when compared with other
places io the Regency, is the absence of the
glaring terraced roofs, which are here re-
placed by angular ones, covered with dark
red tiles.

In the workshop of M. Duclaux, we saw
large portions of what is to be a model of
the entire city, composed of cork, on a scale
of ^th of the actual dimensions. The parts
already finished, have been executed with
the greatest fidelity, not a window or door
omitted, and when completed it will be an
interesting memorial of one of the most sin-
gularly situated cities in the world, and which,
as far as its buildings are concerned, is daily
losing its most characteristic features. The
constructor of the model has been already
engaged for four years and a half, and does
not expect to finish it under two years more ;
he is most enthusiastic on the subject, and
certainly seems to consider that one of the
most important results consequent upon the
occupation of the city by his countrymen, is

236 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

the opportunity it has given him of represent-
ing it in cork.

The palace, situated nearly in the centre
of the city, is in great part a modem build-
ing, erected by Ahmed, the late Bey of Con-
stantine, so lately as since the conquest of
Algiers. Externally, it is hardly to be dis-
tinguished from the surrounding crowd of
houses, and it is only on entering that its
great extent becomes perceptible. The va-
rious buildings are so arranged that they
form four courts, having around each arcades
supported by marble pillars, while the inte-
rior spaces are ornamented with fountains
and planted with orange trees, vines, and
flowering shrubs. The apartments are lofty
and well proportioned, and although when
examined in detail, the palace cannot be
admired either for its architectural beauty,
the rarity of its materials, or the richness
of its decorations, yet the effect of the whole
is exceedingly pleasing.

We dined in the palace with the com-
mandant, and as the day had been rather
hot, the table was placed in one of the
arcades ; we met a large party of the officers
of the garrison, and one of the principal in-

ALGERIA AND TCNIS. 237

habitants of the city. Both this and the fol-
lowing evening we passed in most agreeable
society at the rooms of an officer of the 23nd
regiment, whose acquaintance we had been
so fortunate as to make some weeks pre-
viously, on board the steamer running be-
tween Algiers and B6na.

We set forth at an early hour on the morn-
ing of the 2Ist to explore the ravine, under
the guidance of an intelligent soldier, who had
been obligingly sent with us by the " Capi-
taine de Place." Leaving the city by the
Bab-el-Kantara, we crossed the bridge, the
scene of Marshal Clauzel's ill-judged and
mismanaged attack in 1836, and, turning to
the left, and descending by a path winding
through a plantation of cactus to the bottom
of the ravine, we reached the foot of the
bridge, on the southern side of which the
Rummel enters the rock and flows through
a subterranean channel for a considerable
distance beneath the ravine on the northern
face of the city. During its subterranean
course, there is a singular opening thirty or
forty yards in diameter, where the rock has
given way, and on looking down, the river is
seen rushing through its self-formed tunnel.

238 ALGEEIA AND TUKI3.

A little below this, where the sides of the
ravine are highest and most precipitous, it
reappears, and issuing from its rocky prison,
the Rummel falls into the plain by a succes-
sion of cascades.

Passing under the bridge, we were able to
proceed by a narrow ledge of rock on the
face of the precipice, to a distance of three*
hundred yards, when it abruptly ceases
from this point the spring of an arch is
visible on the Mansourah side. It is diffi-
cult to conceiye by what means a single arch
could be thrown across the ravine, but the
foundation still remains on the other side,
and it formed probably part of an aqueduct
supplying the city witli water from one of
the numerous springs which rise in the
plateau of the Mansourah.

The bridge spanning the ravine is one ol
Roman architecture ; erected upon nature's
arch, that here covers in the river, it rises
in three tiers to the surface of the ground,
with which the roadway is level. The
lower portion is undoubtedly the work of
the Romans, whilst the upper, having been
subsequently destroyed, has been rebuilt at
still later period. The bridge is decoratei

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 239

with baa-reliefs of an eagle, two elephants,
and a female figure ; they are much worn,
and appear to have heen originally but
roughly sculptured. The structure was
erected to serve a double purpose, water
having been conveyed along its centre by an
aqueduct which passes between the upper
and lower tiers of arches.

Leaving the ravine by the same path by
which we had descended, we walked along
the plateau of the Mausourah, passing the
fountain that supplies the city with spring
water, which has to be carried in skins on
the backs of men or asses. On arriving
opposite the southern angle, at which point
the ravine commences, we entered a small
cave a few feet above the level of the river,
and in which rises a tepid spring at the tempe-
rature of eighty-two degrees ; it is the ren-
dezvous of all the washerwomen of the city,
who take advantage of this supply of water
from nature's own cauldron. Continuing
our course up the bank of the river, we at
length crossed it by a wooden bridge, erected
below the spot where the stream of Bou-
Marzoug joins the Rummelat a place called
El-Kouas, or *' the arches," from the re-

240 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

mains of an ancient aqueduct still stand-
ing. Between this bridge and the city the
cavalry barracks have been built, and, ascend-
ing to the Bab-el-Oued gate, the open space
before which was crowded with Arabs, attend-
ing the market with the country produce,
we followed the path that leads down the
steep descent on the western side to the falls
of the RummeL

The view from hence is magnificent ; on
either hand rise the perpendicular precipices
of Mount M ^cid and the rock on which the
city stands, to a height of eight hundred
feet, while, rushing out of its contracted bed,
the river falls in sheets of foam over a rugged
ledge of rocks, and then flows on calmly
through a wooded valley to the plain. From
the upper part of the cascade a stream of
water is conducted by wide channels alon^
the face of the hill, and drives three mills in
succession. A few pretty cottages, inhabited
by Europeans, are built on the lower part
of the declivitv, and are surrounded with
thriving gardens. Half-way up, a spring,
similar to that on the other side of the city,
rises in the calcareous rock j it is, however,
nearly a degree warmer. A deep vault, of

I
I

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 241

Roman workmanship, reached by a narrow
passage and a flight of steps, forms a com-
modious bath, and to the water the Arabs
ascribe many healing qualities.

Returning to the city, we visited the site
of the ancient kasbah, on which a large hos-
pital and capacious barracks have lately
been erected ; thev stand at the northern
angle of the rock, and on its highest point.
Tradition points out this spot as the place
of execution, from whence adulterers and
other criminals were precipitated into the
abyss beneath. Below the kasbah are a
series of enormous cisterns, some of which
have been converted into store-houses, and
others are intended as quarters for the troops
should it become necessary to increase the
garrison, whose strength, including the force
absent with the column, varies from four to
five thousand men of all arms. In clearing
the ground for the new buildings, several
fragments of columns, of gigantic dimensions
were laid bare, and the soil seemed in great
part to be composed of rubbish.

I have previously mentioned that the walls
of the ancient houses in many places stand
several feet above the surface, and that the

VOL. II. M

242 ALGEltIA AND TUNIS.

present habitations are built upon them, but
we also visited a house that remains entire,
save some portions of the roof. The floors,
however, are raised considerably above their
proper level by the accumulation of the
dirt of ages. This is the only Roman habi-
tation now standing in the city, and the
officer by whom it had been lately acci-
dentally discovered was so obliging as to
guide us to it.

Ancient historians make frequent mention
of Cirta, (Constantine,) the capital of the
kingdom of Numidia, and praise its splen-
dour and the impregnability of its position.
At one period, anterior to the dominion of
the Romans, the city alone could send twenty
thousand infantry and ten thousand horsemen
into the field. Cajsar, at the successful close
of his contest with Pompey, granted Cirta
and an extensive territory to Sittius, and
admitted it to all the privileges of a Roman
city, under the name of Colonia Sittianorum.
In the beginning of the fourth century, it
was destroyed by the troops of Maxentius,
and shortly afterwards it was raised from
its ruins by the Emperor Constantino, who
gave hia own name to the new city. Since

ALGERIA AND TCNI8.

this time, its history has been that of Car-
thage, Hippo, and the other cities of Africa,
except that its natural position has been the
cause of the site never having been entirely-
abandoned. Before the French occupation
of Algiers, the Bey of Constantine was
appointed by and tributary to the Dey of
Algiers, but upon the downfall of the latter
the Bey declared himself independent.

The present city, a year or two before its
capture by the French, was said to contain
about thirty thousand inhabitants, which
number was much reduced by those who fled
from it at that time ; these have been gra-
dually returning as their confidence in the
security of the French government increased,
and at present the population is considered
to he about twenty thousand.

Owing to its position, in the midst of a
mountain country, and being 2300 feet above
the level of the sea, Constantine is generally
healthy. The troops have occasionally suf-
fered from fevers, &c,, but the sickness can-
not be attributed to the climate, and the
seeds of these disorders have been generally
sown elsewhere.

The trade is wonderfully increasing, and

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

is almost entirely in the hands of native
merchants, who purchase the produce of
the surrounding country and of the interior
with European merchandise. Many of those
traders who live in apparent poverty, have
{foods to the amount of fifty or sixty thousand
francs passing annually through their hands,
and such is their confidence in the govern-
ment that large sums of money are deposited
by them for safety in the military chest of
the province.

On the morning of the 23nd, we received
an invitation to be present, with the prin-
cipal officers of the garrison, at the funeral
of Sula Bey, the late head of one of the
most important families in Constantine, and
who had died on the previous day. The
sending of these invitations to Christians,
asking them to attend a religious ceremony
within the sacred walls of a mosque, was an
extraordinary proof of the progress made by
the French in this neighbourhood. It was
entirely unsolicited, and is the first case of
the kind on record in Algeria.

Not the least curious part of the affair
was the fact of the invitations having been.,
printed, and moreover they ran in the name

AI.GFRIA AND TUNIS. 245

of the widow, an unprecedented occurrence
amongst a people who are not only jealous
of allusions in public to their females, but
who also consider them as beings of an
inferior order. This would appear to be the
first-fruits of the kindness shewn and atten-
tion paid by the king and the French nation
generally, to the Arab chiefs who had spent
their winter in Paris.

The funeral ceremony was simple. The
body, placed in a litter, was borne amidst an
immense crowd of relatives and friends to
the burial-place, a small chapel attached to ii
mosque built and endowed by the family "f
the deceased, and the grave was dug to the
depth of five or six feet, beneath the pave-
ment ; prayers were chanted by numerous
priests whilst the body was being laid in the
grave, and during the time occupied in filling
it up and in replacing the stones. The nearest
relatives stood around, and the mosque was
crowded with guests and spectators, amongst
whom the handsome young chief I had seen
so often in Paris stood conspicuous, with the
broad red riband and the commander's cross
of the Legion of Honour round his neck,
where it had been placed by the king him-

246 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

self, at a farewell audience. Several women
were present in another portion of the huild-
ing, hut they were separated hy a temporary
railing from the men. The whole funeral
ceremony lasted harely an hour, and when
over the two sons of the deceasad stood at
the entrance of the mosque, and received the
salute of each person, whatever might he his
rank, as he passed.

In the course of the morning we took
leave of the friends we had made during our
short sojourn in Constantino, and as Euro-
pean travellers, unless four in number, are
not permitted to pass through the country
between it and Fhilippeville without an
escort, the commandant ordered two Spahi^
to be in readiness to attend us whenever
we chose to set forward.

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 247

CHAPTER XIII.

Departure from Constantine^Mc Adam in Africa — Le coup
blanc— Diligence — **Les Zephyrs"— Artillery and Agri-
culture — Military farm yard — Philippeville — Algiers —
Abd-el-Kader — Conclusion.

At mid-day on the 22nd we took our de-
parture from Constantino, and, descending
the hill, crossed the Rummel, which, fol-
lowing from hence a north-westerly course,
falls into the Mediterranean between Djid-
jeli and CoUo, losing however its name at
the point where it joins the Oued Kebeer,
or " great river,*' the Ampsaga of ancient
geographers. The road to Philippeville, a
distance of twenty-one leagues, had only
lately been completed by the troops, the
greater part is macadamised and kept in

248 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

excellent order, cantonniers, as in France,
being placed at regular stations.

For a mile or two we rode through a rich,
cultivated country, displaying fields enclosed
with fences, and here and there the vine-
covered cottage of an European settler. Be-
yond this not a tree is to be seen, until near
Smendou, a fortified military post where we
changed our escort, and then, commencing
gradually to ascend, crossed a mountain
range, of considerable height. Entering upon
a wide valley, in some parts cultivated, and
in others covered with brushwood, we passed
the Camp des Toumiettes, and arrived at
dusk at that of El Arrouch. Instead of a
rough wooden shed of a canteen, we found a
regularly built hotel, dedicated in due form
" au pauvre diable *' ; the landlord, well
known to the army of Constantine by the
sobriquet of " le loup blanc,*' is the father of
the African colonists, having accompanied
the expedition against Algiers in 1830.

He was in capital spirits, having only this

ALGERIA AND TraiS.

349

day come out of prison at Conatantine, where
he had been confined for having violated the
order forbidding Europeans to travel between
Philippeville and Constantine in smaller par-
ties than of four armed men. This rule is
stringently enforced, not on account of any
danger being apprehended from the tribes on
the route, but because small bands of Kabiles
occasionally come down from the mountains
in the vicinity, for the sake of plunder. For
the convenience of travellers frequent con-
voys, which they are permitted to join, leave
the various camps at stated times, and, what
a few years ago would have been laughed at
in Paris as an idle chimera, a diligence runs
regularly, and performs the distance in two
days.

Early next morning we walked over the
camp, where the esperiment of forming a
fortified village is being tried on a large
scale, and apparently with success. The
landlord, M. Dutoit, who is a practical,
enterprising, and persevering colonist, i^

350 ALGERIA AND TCNI8.

saDguine about the great advantages to be
derived froia the system. The first step
taken is to fix upon a proper site for the new
village, with a good soil and abundance of
water in the neighbourhood ; a military post
is established, the encienfe marked out, and
the interior space divided into lots, of suf-
ficient extent to allow of a house, with all the ,
necessary offices, stables, &c., to be erected
upon it, and also to form a small garden or
a yard. Labour being scarce and dear, the
houses are built by government, and the co-
lonist, on taking possession, pays a sum of
five hundred francs, and enters into an en-
gagement to pay by instalments a. further '
one of a thousand, upon which sum interest
is required.

To each building lot is attached a piece of i
land in the immediate vicinity, not exceeding
twelve hectares in extent, and as soon as the ,
sums above-mentioned have been paid, and a
few conditions relative to the cultivation and
clearing of the soil have been fulfilled, the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS, 251

provisional title first given to the colonist is
exchanged for an absolute grant, subject
however, after the lapse of a certain number
of years, to a small land-tax, if the govern-
ment think proper to levy it, which hitherto
has never been done. Settlers are not, by
any means, compelled to have a house built
for them, it is only intended to find a home
for them on their arrival, especially for those
who possess little or no capital. Those who
prefer it may employ their own workmen
and find their own materials, or they may
procure the latter from the government stores
at a certain fixed rate.

From the camp we proceeded to a military
farm, beautifully situated on the right bank
of the Sefsa, and two miles distant. The
troops employed here are a detachment from
one of the Battalions d'Afrique, or con-
demned regiments, raised only for service
in Algeria, and composed of men who having
undergone a certain amount of punishment,
are not considered as eligible to serve again

252 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

in the ranks of their own regiments, but are
drafted into these battalions, where, being
all bad characters together, they can do each
other no harm, and are moreover subjected
to a much severer discipline than in the line.
In the field they have been invariably dis-
tinguished for their reckless daring, and in
quarters they are equally noted for insubor-
dination. Throughout the army they are
known as " Les Zephyrs."

The establishment, as yet in its infancy,
promises to answer perfectly, the troops when
they would otherwise be idle are usefully
employed, a considerable tract of land is
brought under cultivation, and the farm-yard
is so laid out that it forms a fortified post.
It certainly has rather a curious effect to see
cow-houses and pigsties defended by loop-
holed walls, a howitzer planted in the poultry,
yard, and the sheep and cattle marched to
and from their grazing-ground by a corporal
and a file of men.

Many of the implements in use on the

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 253

farm are made, and all are repaired, in the
work-shops of the establishment j there are
also attached a garden and a nursery, from
which, besides raising sufficient for their
own use, the nurserymen militant are en-
abled to supply the colonists with seeds,
fruit-trees, &c., which cannot otherwise be
procured in the colony except at a consider-
able expense. Those men who work in the
shops receive six sous, and those employed
merely as farm labourers three sous, in
addition to their daily pay. Since the com-
mencement of the experiment, the oflFences
that have been committed bear but a small
proportion to those that formerly occurred
during a similar period in garrison. The
crops were looking well, and the whole
establishment did great credit to the mili-
tary farmers.

Leaving El Arrouch in company with a
party of officers proceeding to Philippeville,
we wound along the wooded and picturesque
banks of the Sefsa, and then keeping to our

2a4 ALQEEIA AND TUNIS.

left, crossed a ridge of high ground, and
descended into a rich, well-watered valley.
On either side of the road were enclosed
farms, gardens, orchards, and several exten-
sive plantations of mulbcrles ; large timber
trees were scattered about, avenues of which
were also planted by the road aide, and we
passed groups of European hay-makers
working in the fields. Near the town, the
soil is less fertile, and the seaward slopes of
the mountains are little more than barren
rocks, mingled with copses of stunted brush-
wood. It was late in the afternoon when we
arrived at PhilippeviUe.

Constantino having fallen into the hands
of the French, it was soon discovered that a
more direct communication with the sea
than that by the circuitous route of Bona,
was necessary to the prosperity of the new
province and its capital. Surveys were ordered
to be made, and the result of them was, that
the spot where PbUippeviUe now stands, was
chosen as the site of the new port; and, in

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 255

the autumn of 1838, Marshal Val^e laid
the foundations of the town, to which he
gave the name of his sovereign. The rapid
increase of the town, and its growing im-
portance as a place of trade, prove the
justness of the views held by the Marshal.
Built entirely by the French, it consists of
one long and wide street, running inland
from the harbour, between two hills, on
whose slopes lie the other portions of the
town, surrounded by walls enclosing a great
extent of ground. The hospital and the
barracks, conspicuously placed upon the hill
to the eastward, are the principal edifices,
and a road has been cut along the face of
the cliffs that rise steeply from the sea-shore,
to Stora, a distance of two miles.

This village, a mere cluster of houses,
niched into an angle of the coast, is built
amidst the ruins of the ancient Rusicada, a
citv which, in the time of the Romans, held
the same position with regard to Constantino
that Philippeville holds at present. Its

256 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

ruins are extensive, and may be traced as
far westward as Philippeville, but, with the
exception of a mosaic pavement of some
beauty, representing Ariadne, surrounded
with an ornamental border of devices, which
has latelv been discovered near the modern
town, they are devoid of interest. From a
block-house perched on the summit of a cliff
behind Stora, the best view of Philippe-
ville is obtained, and the wide expanse of
the bay of Stora, sweeping round to the
headland of the Cape de Fer, is visible at a
single glance.

On the morning of the 25th, the mail
steamer came in from B6na, and at ten o'clock
we sailed for Algiers in the war-steamer " Le
Phare," one of the vessels of the Prince de
Joinville's squadron at Mogadore, where her
captain especially distinguished himself. We
touched, as on our voyage to B6na, at Djidjeli,
Bougia, and Dellys, at which latter place we
arrived early on the morning of the 27th,
and went on shore for an hour. At present

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 257

a small port with an exposed anchorage, it
is a position of but little importance, and
having been only lately occupied by the
French, the new town is rising but slowly
from the ruins of its predecessor. The limits
are not quite so restricted at Dellys as at
the two former places, but a party would
require a strong escort of three or four hun-
dred men to proceed overland to Algiers, a
distance of sixty miles. Early in the afterr
noon we landed at Algiers, after a pleasant
voyage, principally rendered so by the kind
attention of the captain, and for the third
time took up our quarters at the Hotel de
la Regence.

Having arrived at the conclusion of the
narrative, I can imagine the reader, deprived
of his expected 'excitement, exclaiming —
" Write on Algeria, and neither mention
Abd-el-Kader, nor give a single harrowing
description of a skirmish between the Arabs
and their invaders 1 Why, a book on Algeria,

ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

without an Arab chief or a bloodv razzia.

in at least

every

third 1

is like a dish

without seasoning, or bread without salt! — "
Supposing the observation to have been
made, I will explain how this has occurred.
Visiting the Regency at a period when the
tribes were in an almost unexampled state
of quiescence (a calm, as it proved to be,
before the coming storm), I could state
nothing respecting Abd-el-Kader from per-
sonal observation, for even the government
only knew that he was somewhere on " the
frontiers of Morocco", and although vague
rumours were spread abroad of a contem-
plated inroad, and of insurrections, they
did not break out until after our departure,
and probably never would have taken place
to the extent which they have since done,
had it not been for the dreadful tragedy
of the Dahra. The difficulty of obtaining
authentic information, or at least unbiassed
opinions, is very great.

TTiere are few men of the present day |

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 359

whose career has attracted so much attention
as that of Abd-el-Kader, and of whose cha-
racter so little that cau be relied upon is
known. Independently of the portraits in
which he is alternately represented as a
patriotic hero, or a cruel savage, the vulgar
appetite for the wonderful, with the assist-
ance of the public press, has spread abroad
a thousand anecdotes, most of them without
the slightest foundation, which add much to
the difficulty of arriving at the truth. My
impression, however, is, that his character
may he defined in a few words — Ardently
desirous of power, his ambition, strength-
ened by his talents, and confirmed by his
religion, exerts a paramount influence over
all his actions.

In the prime of life,* he is described as
small of stature, with regular features, a
pleasing expression, and of mild and gentle
manners. Daringly active both in mind

" Abd-el-Kader was hornatGaetna, Dear Mascara, accord-
ing to some accounts in lune, whilst others place the date of
his birth two yeara later.

260 ALGERIA AND TUNIS.

and body, he has taken advantage of cir-
cumstances to place himself at the head of
the Arab tribes discontented with Chris-
tian rule and unwilling to submit to the
restraints of a regular government. For
this position, his talents, piety, and lineal
descent from the Prophet through his jDnly
daughter Fatima, eminently qualify him.
Whatever his motive, be it religious ardour,
patriotism or ambition, he is a brave man
and a skilful leader, struggling for the
liberties of the people of his fatherland, and
as such he is deserving of our sympathies ;
while at the same time every one must regret
the continuance of a contest carried on by
both parties with so much ferocity, and rejoice
in any event that would tend to bring it
to a speedy conclusion ; the more so, as it
must, if the peace of Europe remains undis-
turbed, eventually end in his destruction,
for every year brings an enormous accession
of strength to the European population,
whilst the same period sees the numbers of

ALGERIA AND TUNIS. 261

the Arabs, and their resources, gradually
wasting away in a gallant yet fruitless
struggle.

Let us hope that out of the present sad
state of affairs, the star of Africa may rise
once more, cleared from the clouds of igno-
rance and superstition, which, gathering
during twelve centuries, have dimmed its
lustre, and cast their dark shadow over what
might else have been a bright and happy
land.

THE END.

VRIMTKn B\' WILLIAM WII.C0CK80S, KOLLS BVIl.DIKGS , rSTTEK X.ANE.

CECIL H. GREEN LIBRARY

STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-6004

(650) 723-1493

grncirc@sulmail.5lanford.edu

All books are subjecl to recoil.

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