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diff --git a/30581-h/30581-h.htm b/30581-h/30581-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06454fb --- /dev/null +++ b/30581-h/30581-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3506 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Notes in North Africa, by W. G. Windham.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + @media screen { + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none;border-top:thin dashed silver;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; text-indent: 0; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color: silver;} + } + @media print { + hr.pb {border:none;page-break-after: always;} + .pagenum { display:none; } + } + body {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + + .caption {text-align:left; font-size:90%;} + .super {vertical-align:super;} + .toc_ch_desc {margin:auto auto 1em 4em; text-indent:-4em; text-align:justify;} + .toc_chapter {margin-top:1em; text-align:center;} + .trnote {background-color: #EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 5% 1em 5%; font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; border: dotted 1px gray;} + blockquote {display: block; margin: .75em 10% .75em 5%; font-size:0.9em;} + div p {text-align:inherit;} + h1 {font-size:1.8em; line-height:1.8;} + h1,h2,h3 {font-weight:normal; text-align:center;} + h2 {font-size:1.5em;} + h3 {font-size:1.2em;} + hr.mini {width: 20%; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; clear:both; margin: 1em auto;} + ins.trchange {text-decoration: none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + p.center, div.center p{text-align:center;} + table#toc, table#loi{max-width:800px;} + + .chsp {margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center; width: auto;} + .figtag {height: 1px;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcaplc {text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + hr.toprule {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; clear:both;} + p.cg {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-align: left; width: 101%;} + p.ralign {text-align: right !important;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + td.chalgn {text-align:right; margin-top:0; padding-right:1em;} +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes in North Africa, by W. G. Windham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Notes in North Africa + Being a Guide to the Sportsman and Tourist in Algeria and Tunisia + +Author: W. G. Windham + +Release Date: December 2, 2009 [EBook #30581] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTES IN NORTH AFRICA *** + + + + +Produced by Dan Horwood and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<hr class='pb' /> +<div style='width:314px; margin:auto;'> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' title='' width='314' height='500' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +R. Pheney, lith.<span class='super' style='visibility:hidden;'> </span><span style='display:inline-block; float:right; width:auto;'>M. & N. Hanhart, Imp<span class='super'>t</span>.</span></p><p class='caption' style='clear:both;'>MY TWO SERVANTS, ANGELO AND NERO.<br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<div class='center'> +<p style='font-size:1.8em;'>NOTES IN NORTH AFRICA:</p> +<p style='font-size:0.6em;'>BEING A</p> +<p>GUIDE TO THE</p> +<p style='margin-bottom:2em;'>SPORTSMAN AND TOURIST IN ALGERIA AND +TUNISIA.</p> +<p style='font-size:0.8em;'>BY</p> +<p style='font-size:1.3em; margin-bottom:2em;'>W. G. WINDHAM, ESQ.</p> +<hr class='mini' /> +<p>NEW EDITION, WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS.</p> +<hr class='mini' /> +<p style='margin-top:2em; line-height:150%;'>LONDON:<br /> +WARD AND LOCK, 158 FLEET STREET.</p> +<p>1862.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<p style='font-size:0.8em; line-height:150%;'>LONDON:<br /> +PETTER AND GALPIN, BELLE SAUVAGE PRINTING WORKS,<br /> +LUDGATE HILL, E.C.</p> +</div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<a name='PREFACE_TO_THE_SECOND_EDITION' id='PREFACE_TO_THE_SECOND_EDITION'></a> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.</h2> +</div> +<p>Two great faults have been found with my first +edition. The first was, that I had offended many +people by personal allusions. To this, I reply, that +offence was very far from my mind; and to those +offended (if any there be), I say, consider the expressions +unsaid. For the rest, they are omitted in +this edition. The second alleged defect is, that, while +I call my book, to a certain extent, sporting, so little +allusion is made to sport. I grant there is some +reason in this, and accordingly I have added matter +which I think will be useful to future sporting tourists. +I would, however, not advise the man who seeks +sport alone and solely to go to Algeria, as I am sure +he will be disappointed, as I most decidedly was. +With regard to the illustrations, I have taken the +greatest pains that they may faithfully represent, not +only the particular localities alluded to, but also +give a fair idea of the country and climate of these +latitudes.</p> +<p class='ralign' style="margin-right:2.0em">W. G. WINDHAM.</p> +<p style='text-indent: 2.0em;'><i>Hull, April, 1861.</i></p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<a name='ILLUSTRATIONS' id='ILLUSTRATIONS'></a> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> +</div> +<table id='loi' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto;'> +<col style='width:75%;' /> +<col style='width:25%;' /> +<tr> + <td /> + <td valign='top' align='right'><p style='font-size:0.8em; text-align:right;'>TO FACE PAGE</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>FRONTISPIECE: MY TWO SERVANTS––ANGELO AND NERO</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'>1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>SHOOTING HYENAS ON THE PURPLE MOUNTAINS NEAR EL GREESHE</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>SHOOTING WILD DUCKS NEAR AIN MOKRA, PROVINCE OF CONSTANTINE, ALGERIA</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'>44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>HOG-SHOOTING ON THE BANKS OF THE OUED EL AHWENA, IN TUNISIA</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>60</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<a name='CONTENTS' id='CONTENTS'></a> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> +<table id='toc' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'> +<tr> + <td /> + <td valign='top' align='right'><p style='font-size:0.8em; text-align:right;'>PAGE</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER I.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>The Voyage Out</span>:––Paris in 1860––Notre Dame––Our Hotel––Nero and the Groom––The Steamer for Algeria––Gallic Peculiarities––Life on Board</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_I_THE_VOYAGE_OUT'>7</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER II.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Description of Algiers</span>:––Arrival in Algeria––Murray’s Guide-books, and their Amenities––Disembarkation in the Port of Algiers––Our Fellow-travellers––Algiers and its Inhabitants––The Dey’s Palace––Cause of the French Invasion</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_II_DESCRIPTION_OF_ALGIERS'>13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER III.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Life in Algiers</span>:––Algerian Society––A Soirée at General Martinprez’s––The Sirocco––My Maltese Companion––The Theatre––General Youssouf and his Career</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_III_LIFE_IN_ALGIERS'>19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER IV.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'>“<span class='smcap'>Up the Country</span>:”––Departure from Algiers––Blidah––The Zouave Officers and their Companions––Government Establishment of Horses––Joseph, the Horse-dealer––To Arbah––The Caravanserai––Journey towards Oued-el-Massin</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IV_UP_THE_COUNTRY'>25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER V.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Further Experiences</span>:––Abd-el-<a name='TC_2'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Kadir'">Kader</ins> (but not the Emir)––Difficult Road––Perils of the Way––Prospect of Sport––The First Boar––The Chasseurs d’Afrique––Mine Hostess of the “Scorpion”––Teniet</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_V_FURTHER_EXPERIENCES'>30</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER VI.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Further Progress––Religious Ceremonies</span>:––Cold Weather––Milianah––Vezoul––The Aubergiste––El Afroun––The Rhamazan––Dancing Dervishes</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VI_FURTHER_PROGRESSRELIGIOUS_CEREMONIES'>36</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER VII.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Bona and its Vicinity</span>:––Passage to Bona––State of Affairs on Board––Bona––The Lake Metitza––Ain Mokra––Wild Duck Shooting on the Lake</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VII_BONA_AND_ITS_VICINITY'>41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER VIII.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>On to Tunis</span>:––Algeria in General––The Arabs and their Conquerors––Antagonism between the Two Races––Social Condition of the Arabs––The <i>Oasis</i> Steamer––Arrival at Tunis</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VIII_ON_TO_TUNIS'>46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER IX.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Marsa</span>:––Angelo’s Horsemanship––The Bey’s Palace at Marsa––The Arabs and their Love of Tobacco––The Friendly Moor at Camatte</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IX_MARSA'>52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER X.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>About Boar Shooting</span>:––Sleeman––the Oued el Ahwena––Its Scenery, and its Dangers––Beauty of the Landscape on its Banks</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_X_ABOUT_BOARSHOOTING'>55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER XI.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Sporting Experiences</span>:––El Greesh––Shooting Hyenas––An Expedition with the Arabs––The Caid and his Family––Another Wild Boar</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XI_SPORTING_EXPERIENCES'>59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER XII.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Tunis and its Government</span>:––Picturesque Situation of Tunis––The Horse Market––Effects of Race––The Bazaars––Mohamed Medea––The Bardo––The Bey of Tunis––His Mode of administering Justice––Prince Puckler Muskau’s Account of his Interview</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XII_TUNIS_AND_ITS_GOVERNMENT'>62</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER XIII.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>The Ruins of Carthage</span>:––Reflections on Ancient Carthage––Hannibal and his Career––An Arab Domicile––Picturesque Appearance of the Ruins</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XIII_THE_RUINS_OF_CARTHAGE'>69</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER XIV.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>The Ruins Again</span>:––Great Extent of the Ancient City Marsa, on the Sea-shore––Carthaginian Catacombs near Camatte––Quail Shooting––Trait of Honesty in the Arabs––The Arab Character––Anecdotes concerning them</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XIV_THE_RUINS_AGAIN'>76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' colspan='2'><p class='toc_chapter'>CHAPTER XV.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><p class='toc_ch_desc'><span class='smcap'>Home</span>:––My Fellow-passenger, the Sportsman––Passage from Tunis to Malta in a Sailing Vessel––Disagreeables of the Passage––Home Overland––Conclusion</p></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XV_HOME'>83</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Notes for the Sportsman or Tourist in North Africa</span></td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NOTES_FOR_THE_SPORTSMAN_OR_TOURIST_IN_NORTH_AFRICA'>88</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span></div> +<h1>NOTES IN NORTH AFRICA.</h1> +</div> +<div class='chsp'> +<a name='CHAPTER_I_THE_VOYAGE_OUT' id='CHAPTER_I_THE_VOYAGE_OUT'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>THE VOYAGE OUT.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Paris in 1860.––Notre Dame.––Our Hotel.––Nero and the Groom.––The +Steamer for Algeria.––Gallic Peculiarities.––Life on Board.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>In medias res.</i> I will not stop to describe my journey +to Paris, <i>viâ</i> Folkestone, nor to chronicle the glasses +of pale ale––valedictory libations to <i>perfide</i> Albion, +quaffed at the Pavilion––nor to portray the sea-sickness +of “mossoo,” nor the withering indignation of +the British female when her wardrobe was searched. +Briefly, kind reader, be pleased to understand that +we arrived in safety––guns, rifles, “and all”––at the +Hôtel du Louvre, in Paris, at about eleven o’clock on +a certain day in February, 1860.</p> +<p>The next day was Sunday, and I went to hear +vespers at Notre Dame. How I love the old gothic +cathedrals, that seem to remove one at once from +this work-day world––the fanes wherein the very air +seems redolent of devotion, and peopled with phantoms +of the past! ’Spite of all disparagement, there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span> +is something grand and solemn about them. After +service, I ascended one of the towers to the gallery +immortalised by Victor Hugo’s wonderful romance. +The day was declining, and sunset had already commenced. +The galleries were crowded with students +and respectable operatives and <i>bourgeois</i>, with their +wives and children. Every face was bathed in the +purple light of the departing sun, and many eyes +lifted up in silent meditation.</p> +<p>I was aroused from the reverie into which the contemplation +of this glorious sight had thrown me, by +hearing a female voice exclaim, “How beautiful is +Nature––how magnificent!” I turned, and saw two +ladies, evidently mother and daughter, of sufficiently +pleasing appearance. It was from the elder that the +exclamation had come, which brought me back from +my dream to this nether world. Conquering the +shyness which appears to be the Englishman’s birthright, +I made some remark on the beauties of sunset. +Like the earth, we revolved round the sun; but, unlike +that planet, we quickly diverged into other orbits. +I dimly remember that we talked of Angola cats, +Dresden china, Turkish chibouques, maccaroni, and +Lord Byron, with whose poems this lady seemed +sufficiently familiar. I improved the occasion, as the +right thing to do, when talking with ladies about +Byron, to find fault with his impiety, his blasphemous +scepticism, his cutting sarcasm, and the <a name='TC_1'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'unhapy'">unhappy</ins> frivolity +which defaces the works of the man, who, with all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span> +his faults, was undoubtedly the greatest poet the nineteenth +century has yet produced.</p> +<p>A pleasant walk along the quays brought me back +to my hotel, in the courtyard of which establishment +I found an admiring circle of idlers surrounding my +English groom, who had just arrived with my dog +Nero; or rather Nero, who seemed by far the most +popular character of the two, had just arrived +with him; and both appeared to know about as +much French one as the other, and to make themselves +equally understood or misunderstood. That +evening, my friend and travelling companion, +B––– and I dined at Dotesio’s, in the Rue +Castiglione, where we had an excellent dinner, +washed down by more excellent wine. The next +day found us at Marseilles, at the Hôtel D’Orient, +concerning which hostelry I have merely to place on +record the fact, that B––– was mulcted in the sum +of five francs for the matutinal cold tub in which it +was his custom to indulge.</p> +<p>The steamer which was to convey us to Algeria +was well fitted up in every way. We were the only +Englishmen on board. The fore part of the deck +was crowded with Zouaves and French soldiers of +various denominations, with whom Nero soon made +himself perfectly at home, though the exclamation of +a Zouave on his first appearance seemed to forbode +but an indifferent reception for the four-footed intruder. +“<i>Cré nom d’un chien</i>” cried the shaven, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span> +fez-capped warrior, “<i>mais je ne t’aimerais pas pour +mon camarade du lit!</i>”</p> +<p>Breakfast was served in French fashion on board +at ten o’clock, and dinner at five. With one or two +exceptions, the company consisted of French commercial +travellers, and they were split up into the +usual hostile factions of north against south. North, +of course, commenced the conversation with Paris, +<i>Paris</i>, and again <span class='smcap'>Par-rri</span>; the southerners every +now and then throwing in a doubt of the universal +superiority of the metropolis over the known world. +One disputant stood out for Marseilles, another broke +a lance for Bordeaux, and the war of words waxed so +fierce that I began to tremble for the consequences. +One young man in company had been some time at +Bordeaux, and had much to say thereon; but all his +remarks were on one subject––the theatre. On its +beauty, its luxury, and its actresses, he held forth at +unwearied but wearisome length.</p> +<p>While this conversation was going on, the inner +man was by no means neglected. Stewed pullets, potatoes, +salad, and etceteras, disappeared with marvellous +celerity. The cheer was by no means bad, though +decidedly Provençal, as I remarked to my next neighbour, +a dark-looking Marsellais; which observation, by +the way, brought down upon me the anger of the +Gods, as impersonated by a large, fat, dirty Calaisien, +sitting opposite. He was a big man, this champion, +and, according to Cervantes, should, by consequence, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span> +have been a good-natured one. Giving himself a +sounding blow on the chest for emphasis, he declared +the Calaisiens to be an infinitely more moral people +than the Marseillais––and washed down his own dictum +with an enormous glass of <i>bière blanche</i>. I am rather +fond of going to sleep after dinner; so I secured my +nap on cheap terms, by feigning an interest in the +Picard virtues, and accordingly enjoyed a profound +rest, disturbed only at intervals by a monotonous and +expostulatory “<i>allons donc!</i>” thrown in by another +dissentient southerner. He was an enormously fat man, +the new disputant, and wore a mass of very greasy hair, +hanging down over his shoulders. His flannel shirt, +an exceedingly dingy specimen of British manufacture, +did duty for a waistcoat also; but he was <i>decoré</i>, +though it was very doubtful to what order the medal +on his breast may have belonged.</p> +<p>Our captain merits a word of description. He was +a short, red-faced individual, of such ineffable seediness, +as regarded costume, that I should never have suspected +his station but for the fact that he sported a +gold band “<i>bien usité</i>” round his cap, and sat at the +head of the table. For the credit of French politeness +be it, however, added, he was a perfect gentleman +in his behaviour throughout the voyage. There was +also a young French naval officer, whom I afterwards +got to know much better in Algeria. He, too, like all +the Legitimists, was a most finished gentleman, and +spoke English well––a common accomplishment among +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span> +the officers of the French navy. Though quite a +young fellow, he had been in the Russian and Chinese +wars, and imparted some very amusing and instructive +intelligence on both these subjects.</p> +<p>As the noise and the intimacy at the table increased, +and the punch and cognac had already +“chased” the wine, I adjourned with B––– and the +French sailor to the after-deck, and, in company with +two young Dutch travellers, smoked our Havanas in +a climate that was already African in its heat, while +Majorca and Minorca faded away in the distance, and +the pale moon rose silently over the quiet sea.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_II_DESCRIPTION_OF_ALGIERS' id='CHAPTER_II_DESCRIPTION_OF_ALGIERS'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>DESCRIPTION OF ALGIERS.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Arrival in Algeria.––Murray’s Guide-books, and their Amenities.––Disembarkation +in the Port of Algiers.––Our Fellow-travellers.––Algiers +and its Inhabitants.––The Dey’s Palace.––Cause of the +French Invasion.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Next morning, at eight o’clock, came the waiter with +the intelligence––“<i>Nous sommes dans la baie d’Alger, +monsieur, à une heure de la ville.</i>” My desire to see +Algiers was vehement indeed; but scarcely less strong +was the craving of the inner man for bread and coffee. +With the nectar of Arabia, however, the inspiration of +the Orient seemed to percolate my veins; but when a +fragrant glass of cognac crowned the meal, the aroma +of the East enveloped me, the delicious strains of +Bulbul rang in my ears, the Calaisien and the Marseillais, +sitting stolidly before me, became straightway +transformed into camels, the stewardess into a houri, +and the noses of the passengers were as masques in +my enraptured sight.</p> +<p>But the book at my side was not the Koran, +though it might have been, for the strange farrago it +contained.</p> +<p>It was a celebrated traveller’s manual in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span> +English language, and in red binding. The king of +the Cannibal Islands has not in his library a more +absurd volume than this manual; for in its pages +pathetic bagmen give vent to their ludicrous ebullitions +concerning the Alhambra, or the Rhine, or any foreign +lion you please to name; and young boys just escaped +from school dish up their first impressions of the +Continent in a style as savoury as the flavour of a +Spanish olla podrida. And yet, ascend the Rhine, go +to Venice or to St. Petersburg, and ten to one for +the chance, that when you meet an Englishman he +will have that eternal manual clutched in his British +grasp.</p> +<p>Oh, my dear and well-beloved countrymen, what +creatures of fashion and precedent we all are, from +high to low! What one does, the rest must do; and +in the self-same manner. I verily believe, if the late +Albert Smith had left it on record that, in ascending +Mont Blanc, he planted his foot in a certain hole in +the snow, every one of his successors in that glorious +undertaking would have paid their guides an extra +dollar for indicating to them the identical cavity, that +they might go and do likewise. Thank goodness, Algeria +is as yet encumbered by no manual or “Hand-book,” +as our modern Germanised phraseology elects to call +the egregious productions; so shall we travellers be at +liberty to follow our own noses, to go exactly where +we like, and to do what we please, even to dressing +like Arabs, should the whim seize us. Moreover, we +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span> +may do in Rome as Rome does, and enjoy a French +breakfast washed down with good wine in lieu of bad +tea, without having ourselves or our proceedings +stigmatised as “shocking,” as would undoubtedly be +our lot at Paris, or Brussels, or Berlin.</p> +<p>Behold us, then, in happy hour, ready to disembark +in Algiers, with the children of the desert thronging +on board to act as porters. Their appearance pleases +me much, as they come forward, with their tall, +striking figures, dark eyes, and distinguished mien. +“Perfect gentlemen, these,” said I to myself; but beneath +the outside crust little remains that can be called +gratifying. These men are like the apple of Sodom; +at least, so I thought on landing, after a long squabble +with them respecting the passage money, carried on +in bad Italian and French. A nearer acquaintance +with them may, perhaps, modify my views on this +subject.</p> +<p>“Well, it has been a pleasant time on board the +packet,” is my parting reflection as I step ashore; nor +shall I lightly forget the captain, so different in his +politeness and urbanity from the sea-bear with whom +I sailed in the North Sea; nor the honest Hamburgher, +who appeared to have an equally beloved wife in +every land and in every place we came to; nor +the would-be dandy, who lit cigars innumerable, +and invariably flung them overboard after the first +puff; nor the priests, who seemed to possess the gift of +invisibility, so rarely did they show themselves; nor +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span> +the hundred thousand events and personages that flash +upon our path for a moment on our journey through +life, and then linger in the memory only as the dim +phantoms of a dream that has passed away.</p> +<p>Algiers, seen from the sea, presents the appearance +of a vast triangular cone, situated on the slope of +a mountain. Like all the inhabitants of Northern +Africa, the Algerians were at an early period Christians, +and it was only after several battles that the +Mahometan religion was finally established all over the +coast of Barbary. Before the French occupation, the +Algerian ladies, like the females in all Mussulmen +countries, were kept in the strictest seclusion. The +wife of a rich Moor never left her home except to go +to the baths, and even that expedition was undertaken +only at night. When it became absolutely necessary +that ladies should go abroad in daylight, their faces +were covered, and the whole figure so concealed by a +redundancy of wrappings, that a stranger would be +puzzled to find out what the moving bundles were. +The luxury of the bath is greatly used by them. There +are public as well as private baths. They consist of +three apartments. The first is a large hall, for dressing +and undressing; in the second, the visitors perspire; +and the third is for bathing proper, or otherwise, as +tastes and opinions somewhat differ. After the bath, +those of the male sex repair to the first room for +lemonade or coffee, or for a pipe. The modern +Mahometan ladies of Algiers have almost abandoned +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span> +this seclusion. They are seen gadding about everywhere, +and are reported as being by no means particular +or difficult in their conquests. French ideas +and morals have percolated them considerably. +Excessive obesity is regarded among Mahometans +as the perfection of beauty; so that, instead of using +powders and other nostrums to reduce themselves, +like some of my friends at home, they devour seeds +and <i>couscous</i>, the national dish, especially employed +for fattening people. Some young ladies are crammed +to such a degree that they die under the operation.</p> +<p>On a fine, hot day in February, 1860, I mounted +the conical hill on which Algiers is built. The weather +was magnificent. The sun of Africa already made his +approach felt, and the mountains in the far horizon +stood out like <i>bas-reliefs</i> against the azure sky. Here +stood the palace of the Dey before the French occupation. +The building is now called the <i>casbah</i>, and +used as a large barrack; outside are the Moorish +houses, and the chief part of the Moorish population.</p> +<p>The cause of quarrel between France and Algeria, +which resulted in the conquest of the country by the +Gallic legions was as follows:––The Dey, a pasha of +the old Turkish school, was, it appears, a potentate of +extravagant disposition, and owed the French Government +a considerable sum of money. The creditors, +being in a hurry for their cash, dunned the Dey incessantly, +through the agency of their consul. Unaccustomed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span> +to the eagerness of French importunity, +the Dey, on one unlucky occasion, made a gesture of +impatience with his fan, as a man might do with his +riding-whip, if his tailor became too pressing for the +settlement of his account. It proved an expensive +gesture, however; for within a few weeks it brought +10,000 French soldiers to the shores of the Dey, and +cost him his entire realm. The bulk of the Mauresque +and Turkish population quitted Algeria with their +families on the arrival of the French. Those who +remain are the poorer classes, and now live, if report +speaks true, in an immoral state. These events took +place in the reign of that peaceful monarch, Louis +Philippe.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_III_LIFE_IN_ALGIERS' id='CHAPTER_III_LIFE_IN_ALGIERS'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>LIFE IN ALGIERS.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Algerian Society.––A <i>Soirée</i> at General Martinprez’s.––The Sirocco.––My +Maltese Companion.––The Theatre.––General Youssouf and +Career.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I have described Algiers as being built on the side of +a mountain. The city possesses a commodious and +safe harbour, where flutter the colours of every nation, +from the red flag of the Swede to the Spaniard’s +yellow ensign. Economy of space being a primary +consideration in the laying out of the city, the houses +have been built very high, and the streets made very +narrow, so that there is no room for carriages. The +Consul has a very fine Mauresque house in the old +Turkish quarter, where he invited me to dinner and +a <i>soirée</i> the day after my arrival; and the next day I +was invited to the reception of the Governor, General +Martinprez.</p> +<p>The General received me and my companions +most graciously, and, after keeping me in conversation +for about five minutes, introduced me to his lady, a +very pleasing person. My friend A––– and I were +then introduced to two or three other fashionable +ladies of Algiers; and, engrossed in conversation with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span> +these; we strangers were unconscious of a general +movement of the gentlemen towards the farther end +of the room, as a preliminary to the amateur concert. +I was quite ignorant of this Algerian regulation, by +which the gentlemen and ladies are separated as +effectually as in a Lutheran church (a fashion, +by-the-bye, we appear to be adopting). Accordingly, +on looking up, I observed, to my infinite +chagrin, that I was the “observed of all observers,” +and probably was set down as a <i>bête Anglais</i>, +who knew no better. The extensive crinoline +of the ladies effectually prevented a retreat in any +direction, and I was unpleasantly conscious of the +suppressed titter the fair ones tried to conceal behind +their fans. I endeavoured to summon up all the +resources of my London phlegm, to support me in +this ridiculous position; but, unfortunately, I possess +very little of that desirable quality. The fair one with +whom I was conversing evidently felt for the unpleasantness +of my situation, and very good-naturedly +kept me talking till the end of the first piece, when I +succeeded in making my escape.</p> +<p>How I inwardly abused the opera they were performing! +It was called “<i>Le Diable</i>;” and to me it +appeared as though the fiend in question had no tail––or +rather, <i>no end</i>––to that appendage, so long did the +time seem. Far be it from me to despise the arts; +I admire them in every shape, except in the compound +form of speech: <i>exempli gratiâ</i>, art-union, art-school, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span> +&c. Why, in the name of common sense, can we not +talk English instead of German, and say school of arts, +union of arts, &c.? I suppose we shall soon go a step +farther in imitation of our Germanic neighbours, and +call poetry by the appellation of poet-art. In the last +century, it seemed likely, as Johnson said, that we should +babble a dialect of France; in this, there is more +danger of our talking a Teutonic jargon. Let us stick +to the middle course––for our language is essentially +half way between the German and the French, the +Teutonic and Romance tongues, and any attempt to +approximate too much to either extreme is simply +preposterous.</p> +<p>The next day we had the sirocco; and, to quote +the expression with which I once heard a popular +preacher commence a sermon, it was “d–––d hot.” +Start not, ladies of Belgravia, for the preacher in +question belonged not to the Anglican communion; +he held forth to mere vulgar audiences, at least, in a +remote locality. Thrice he repeated the expression +(which I will not), and then improved the occasion by +describing a place hotter than the crowded chapel in +which he was officiating, in the month of July. He +was evidently in his element. He was especially hot +against those modern spirits, who are not such faithful +believers in the burning flames of the lower regions, +and even begin to imagine they may have cooled +down, if they have not been quite extinguished. +“And if”––he cried, in his ardour––“if they were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span> +on the point of being extinguished, I would with my +own breath rekindle the expiring flame!” And his +voice, which sounded like a gale of wind, and his +face, red as a furnace, and his enormous fists fiercely +clenched, made it appear to the congregation, for +the moment, that this terrifying assertion was no +exaggeration. But to return to the sirocco.</p> +<p>In spite, or rather by reason of the heat, I went +for a stroll on the sea-shore with Nero, that we might +cool our wearied limbs in the azure wave of the +Mediterranean. We had been walking along the +shore for about a mile, when about twenty Arab dogs +rushed out most ferociously at Nero, and would, I +believe, have torn him to pieces, but for the large +hunting-whip with which I managed to keep them at +bay. There was with me a young Maltese boy, of +Irish parentage––a most amusing character this urchin +was. He wanted me to take him into the interior as +my interpreter. “Take me wid you, sir,” was his +eloquent appeal; “give me pound a month, sir; tell +Arabs you brother of Queen Victoria, sir; Arabs great +fools, sir; know no better, sir;” but I was proof +against the voice of the charmer.</p> +<p>In returning, I met General Martinprez on horseback, +and saluted; of course, he returned my greeting +most graciously. But I was not a little amused, and +could hardly help laughing, when the young Hiberno-Maltese +tatterdemalion took off his dirty cap with a +flourish to the General, simultaneously with my salute, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span> +as if he had been my confidential friend, taking a +promenade with me.</p> +<p>That evening I went to the theatre. The piece +performed was “<i>Les Femmes Terribles</i>”––and a terribly +Gallic flavour there was diffused over the whole +performance––a kind of <i>haut goût</i>, for which we stolid +islanders have, happily, no relish.</p> +<p>General Youssouf was at the theatre this evening. +He is rather a fine-looking man, and not too stout. +His is a curious history. Originally a Christian slave +at Tunis, supposed to be the son of Italian parents, +he received the name of Youssouf (Joseph) from his +Mussulman masters at Tunis, where he was employed +in the Bey’s palace. Of fine stature and handsome +appearance, the Christian slave soon attracted the +notice of the Bey’s daughter, an honour to which he +was not insensible. The Bey was soon informed of +what was going on, and Joseph would have been caged, +if not racked, had not some kind friend apprised him +of the discovery, and of his own consequent danger. +A French man-of-war happened to be in the harbour at +La Goeletta, off Tunis, and young Youssouf, then about +twenty years of age, managed to effect his escape on +board. The Franks, of course, gladly received him +as an escaped Christian slave. The Bey sent to demand +him back; but the French commander gave +him politely to understand that he would see the Bey +experiencing the reverse of the joys of Paradise before +he would comply with such a request. The vessel set +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span> +sail next day for Algiers, where the Gallic occupation +had just commenced. Young Youssouf––who, +in addition to his knowledge of French and Italian, +could, of course, speak Arabic perfectly––was here +landed, and became interpreter to a foot regiment. +Quick and clever, he was soon promoted, till he +attained an officer’s rank. He is now a general in +the service. Entertaining––perhaps naturally––a +mortal hatred of the Arabs, he has generally been +selected to enforce those stern acts of reprisal against +the native population, which, though perhaps justified +by necessity, still bear the impress of great severity, +and are unpalatable to officers of French birth and +education. These measures he has always carried out +with strict fidelity and unrelenting harshness. He +was the centre of attraction this evening––every battery +of eyes was turned upon him. He had fought +a duel with the editor of a newspaper, only that morning, +for abusing him or his wife, and had succeeded +in running the journalist through the shoulder.</p> +<p>The next few days I was engaged in making purchases, +chiefly of shot and necessary travelling articles, +for the interior. I was swimming my dog in the +water of the port, according to my daily custom, when +I stumbled on my servant, Angelo, whom I determined +to take with me into the interior. Besides +English, which he spoke very well, he could talk +Arabic quite fluently, and I found him very useful.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_IV_UP_THE_COUNTRY' id='CHAPTER_IV_UP_THE_COUNTRY'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>“UP THE COUNTRY.”</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Departure from Algiers.––Blidah.––The Zouave Officers and their +Companions.––Government Establishment of Horses.––Joseph, the +Horse-dealer.––To Arbah.––The Caravanserai.––Journey towards +Oued-el-Massin.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On Thursday, March 8th, after seeing A––– start, +by diligence, with innumerable bags of cheviotine +(deer-shot), I and Angelo left Algiers with my newly-purchased +horses, and, passing through some very +pretty country, stopped at the first village, where +De Warn, a French officer, came up on horseback, +with his groom. He admired my horses very much, +and announced his destination to be the Maison +Carrée, where he was going to shoot quails, a friend +of his having bagged forty there in one afternoon. It +came on to rain very hard as we passed through the +plain of the Medidja, and arrived at Bouffaseh, where +there is a column raised to the memory of twenty-three +men killed there during the war. We galloped +in to Blidah, the rain pouring down on us. At +dinner, I met A––– in a <i>café</i>, with Count L’Esparre +and three or four officers of the 1st Regiment of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span> +Zouaves. They were a very pleasant set of fellows, +but did not appear to admire their remote quarters at +Blidah by any means. The heat, during the height +of summer, they informed me, was terrific, and the +private soldiers are not allowed to quit their quarters +between 10 <span class='smcaplc'>A.M.</span> and 5 <span class='smcaplc'>P.M.</span> during the four hottest +months of the year. We drank unlimited punch to +the “Alliance,” and, on returning to the hotel, after a +mutual exchange of good wishes, we found familiar +faces––belonging to the Dutchmen who had travelled +with us from Marseilles to Algiers.</p> +<p>I went with Count L’Esparre to see the Government +establishment of horses. There were some very fine +creatures of Arab breed; also some Persian horses +which had been presented by the Shah of Persia. +We then started on horseback for Medea, and on +my way passed the “Grotto of Monkeys,” but none of +the animals from which the grotto takes its name met +my inquiring gaze. The Rocher Pourri, which I also +passed on my way, had just acquired an additional but +a lugubrious celebrity, an Arab having killed a Frenchman +there the day before. We rode on to Medea +through a rattling snow-storm, and arrived properly +powdered at the Hôtel du Gastronome, where they +made us comfortable enough. Medea is built in a very +elevated situation, among the mountains, and must be +a very cold place.</p> +<p>On the next day, Saturday, it was still snowing +hard. A––– had to provide himself with a horse, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span> +we were afterwards both engaged, with Angelo, my +Maltese servant, looking for mules to carry our baggage +to Teniet. At the hotel, there was a very celebrated +picture by Horace Vernet, for which one of +the Dutchmen offered a thousand francs, but the offer +was declined by Madame Gerard. In my opinion, +the picture was far from being a masterpiece.</p> +<p>Rising early on Sunday, I was immediately pounced +upon by a set of Arabs, who had engaged to take our +luggage, and to whom we had paid a deposit in advance. +They now refused to take our luggage at five francs +per day, the sum agreed upon, unless we retained their +valuable services all the time we remained at Teniet, +which, of course, we never contemplated doing. I +demanded back the deposit, but they would not give +it up. On going to the Bureau Arabe, we found it +closed, and the Commandant de Ville, to whom some +officers recommended us to apply, was gone to Blidah, +so there was nothing for it but to invoke the aid of +Joseph, a French horse-dealer, who engaged to take +our effects on two mules to Teniet at seven and a half +francs per mule per day, we paying the return journey. +After all, we could not manage to get off until one +o’clock in the day. Joseph accompanied us as far as +Lodi, to indicate the route to the caravanserai of +Arbah, where we were to stay for the night. The +good horse-dealer insisted on our taking two or three +<i>petits verres</i> on the road. A terrible fellow he was +for “nips,” that Joseph.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></div> +<p>The road to Arbah lay across a very barren, desert, +mountainous country, with splendid views over the +whole Atlas range, as far as Mostaganem, now covered +with snow. We passed one or two Arab villages, and +had great difficulty in finding our way, on account of +the number of roads that branched off right and left. +On the journey we passed a very fine house belonging +to a rich Arab chief. We were sorely tempted to turn +in here, but refrained, and arriving at the caravanserai +at about seven o’clock, found a party of French officers +just sitting down to dinner. They very politely invited +us to join them.</p> +<p>The caravanserai is a Government establishment. +In form it resembles a large farm yard, entirely walled +in and crenellated. It has stalls for horses, and good +accommodation for European travellers. A large fair +is held here every Wednesday, chiefly for the sale of +native horses. We had a long and interesting talk +with the officers, and then retired to bed, but not to +sleep, for our baggage had not arrived, and the bitter +cold kept us in a state of enforced watchfulness.</p> +<p>Before breakfast, next day, I walked out on a tour +of inspection through the neighbourhood. The caravanserai +is situated almost in the desert; and very +cold and barren are its surroundings. During breakfast, +we were rejoiced by the arrival of our baggage, +and at once started for Ouad-el-Massin. There is a +very grand sensation of solitude and silence in riding +through these vast plains. The weather was still +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span> +tremendously cold and rainy. I managed to shoot +two partridges as we came along.</p> +<p>A chapter of accidents now began. My Maltese +servant had been mistaken concerning the capacity of +our mules; for they broke down, and we were obliged +to leave them behind. Then my horse, an exceedingly +vicious brute, nearly succeeded in appropriating a +piece of Angelo’s shoulder, as the latter stooped to +tighten the girths. I found afterwards that my steed +had a very bad character all over the country; his ill +fame, however, was slightly redeemed by the fact that +he was a good goer. Then we missed our way among +the mountains, and with difficulty succeeded, just as +it was getting dark, in reaching a small house at +Guebla, kept by a Frenchman. The proprietor received +us very hospitably, and gave us all the accommodation +he could: it was of rather a limited character, +inasmuch as we all slept together in the small room +where we dined and breakfasted. Our host informed +us that there were a great number of lions in the +neighbourhood. He had himself been surprised by +one, just after dusk, on the road from Milianca, and +offered to induce the Caid of the adjoining tribe to +get up a battue on our return. He also spoke of the +great number of wild boars in a way that would make +a hunter’s heart leap within him. We retired to rest, +and, sheltered for the nonce from the searching cold, +I slept as only a weary traveller can.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_V_FURTHER_EXPERIENCES' id='CHAPTER_V_FURTHER_EXPERIENCES'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>FURTHER EXPERIENCES.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Abd-el-Kader (but not the Emir).––Difficult Road.––Perils of the Way.––Prospect +of Sport.––The First Boar.––The Chasseurs d’Afrique.––Mine +Hostess of the “Scorpion.”––Teniet.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the hope of obtaining some reliable information as +to hunting prospects, I had in the Caid’s lieutenant a +fine-looking fellow, rejoicing in the famous name of +Abd-el-Kader, though he was no relation to the +renowned chief. He gave a long description of the +capture of a boar, that had been wounded by some +Arabs; how he caught the brute by the hoofs, gagged +it, and brought it home alive. Mr. –––, he also informed +us, had been surprised, about a month before, +by a lion, as he was returning at dusk from Milianah. +There were many lions in the vicinity, he added; and +promised that his friend the Caid should treat us to a +lion-hunt on our return, if we came back this way.</p> +<p>Then we started, Abd-el-Kader accompanying us to +show us a short way over the mountains to the caravanserai +of Oued-el-Massin, where we were to pass the +night, and expected to find our luggage. We were +prepared to find the river very high, and our anticipations +were not deceived. Abd-el-Kader admonished +me to wait on the bank while he went in to try if there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span> +was any getting through. He returned and asked if +my horse was good, and if I was willing to follow him. +On receiving my affirmative answer, he told me to fix +my eyes on the opposite shore, and, above all things, +to abstain from looking at the water, which was tearing +along at a tremendous rate; if I neglected his instructions, +I should infallibly be carried away and drowned. +I started, and, by dint of spurring, managed to get +across, though my horse plunged up to his shoulder, +and at one moment I thought I was a “gone coon.” +Abd-el-Kader, the undaunted, then went back once +more for the second horse, which he dragged across in +due time by the bridle. Then he pointed out to us +the road over the mountain to Oued-el-Massin; nor +did he think it derogatory to his dignity to accept a +reward for the trouble he had taken on our behalf.</p> +<p>In spite of the valiant lieutenant’s directions, the +road was a very difficult one to find. After wandering +about in the forest through a number of out-of-the-way +paths, we managed at last to stumble on an Arab house +or two, where the promise of a supply of powder prevailed +with an Arab, and he piloted us down to the +caravanserai, where we arrived at about six <span class='smcaplc'>P.M.</span>, wet +to the skin, and weary with a most fatiguing day’s +march. We found our luggage had preceded us by +about half an hour; so we had a change of clothes, and +sat down gleefully to a capital dinner in very comfortable +quarters. These caravanserais are a famous institution. +They are built by the French Government for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span> +the convenience of travellers, and are very well +organised. Each one is under the superintendence of +a Frenchman, and has one part devoted to Europeans +and another to Arabs. We had an excellent sitting-room +and bed-room to ourselves, and, as may be supposed, +were exceedingly comfortable.</p> +<p>Wednesday, the 14th of March, was ushered in by +a pouring rain; and we received the agreeable intelligence +that the river between this and our next station +was perfectly impassable; so we made up our minds to +stay where we were. There was some consolation in +the thought that Joseph, the exceedingly keen horse-dealer +at Medea, will not be entitled to charge extra +for the delay to his mules, he having bound himself, +by solemn covenant, to deliver the baggage safely at +Teniet for a certain stipulated sum.</p> +<p>After breakfast I walked into the forest which surrounds +the caravanserai on all sides, and shot two or +three brace of red-legged partridges and a woodcock. +I saw the traces of several wild boars; they were evidently +quite recent; also a wretched porcupine the +Arabs had killed.</p> +<p>In the course of the day the Arabs brought in +a boar which they had killed in the morning. They +threw the entrails outside the house, and, during the +night, quite an army of jackals came down to devour +them. It was so dark that we could not get a shot at +these African scavengers, though I sallied out once +or twice after them.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span></div> +<p>It rained all night, so that going on was out of the +question, from the swollen state of the river; so I +walked off before breakfast, with Angelo, to an Arab +village, about a mile and a half distant, to inquire +about boars. The promise of some powder brought +out the inhabitants; and, after a little banter and +chaffing, they agreed to meet me after breakfast, and +to show me one of those animals. So I returned to +the caravanserai to breakfast, and then, with my +friend, rode back to the Arab huts. We left our +horses at the village, and proceeded to climb a horribly +steep hill in company with some of the natives, to +whom I had promised tobacco-money, on condition of +being brought face to face with a boar. After some +tremendously steep climbing, we came upon a number +of recent tracks, one of which B––– followed with his +Arab, while I remained in another gorge. Presently +I heard a shot fired, about a mile off; and, on returning +to where the horses were tethered, I found that +B––– and his Arab had succeeded in discovering a +boar. The Arab had fired at the brute at <a name='TC_3'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'twent'">twenty</ins> +paces, but missed his aim. It was now past five +o’clock, so we returned to the caravanserai to dinner. +Some Chasseurs d’Afrique had arrived in the interim. +Their captain joined us in our room, and promised us +an escort for the morrow. He was from Boulogne-sur-Mer, +and spoke English pretty well. He told us +we should have to start at six in the morning to cross +the river.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span></div> +<p>Accordingly, next morning the Frenchman set +out at six o’clock with his troops and traps, leaving a +dragoon behind as an escort for us, but with the +important qualification that the man might only stay +one hour behind the rest, as he must be present on +the arrival of the troop at Teniet. “<i>Et maintenant</i>,” +quoth this bold warrior, “<i>je vais me servir d’un peu de +votre tabac, s’il vous plait, car je vois que votre blague +est bien garni;</i>” and, filling his pipe, he vanished, +with a polite “<i>Au revoir, messieurs</i>!”</p> +<p>Feeling too tired to rise at seven for the sake of +escort, especially as we had not a very long journey +before us, I remained comfortably for breakfast, and +B––– started alone. After a good meal, I set out +with Angelo, and we forced our way through a densely-wooded +country, till we came upon the obstacle which +had lost us two days––the river Klebah. This stream +we managed with some difficulty to cross; a Frenchman, +who emerged from the auberge on the other +side, assisting us, by his advice, as to the best spot to +choose for our passage. B––– and the trooper had +just finished breakfast in the auberge, and departed. +The landlady of the “Scorpion,” a very chatty and +amusing personage, insisted upon it that I was a German. +She favoured me with a sporting anecdote, +setting forth how she had killed three rabbits during +an expedition to pick some rose laurier on the hills. +As the bunnies popped their noses out of their holes, +she had managed to pop them off with the branches. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span> +As this was the only house to be met with on that +day’s journey, I halted there for half an hour. Mine +hostess related how an “English milord” had stayed +there for six months with his wife, in a tent, without +even a servant––“<i>Qu’ils sont drôles ces Anglais!</i>” +was the landlady’s final comment; and it was not for +me to contradict the oft-repeated sentiment.</p> +<p>Through a mountainous and most barren country, +amid a pelting snow-storm, we wended onwards to +Teniet. In my way from El Massin to the “Scorpion,” +I might almost have knocked over several partridges +with my whip, so close did they come; but here there +were none to be seen, nor was there any cover that +might shelter them. At a miserable auberge called +“<i>les Cèdres</i>,” I found B–––.</p> +<p>The fort at Teniet is a fine edifice, in a commanding +position. I went up and left my letter of introduction +for Captain Camatte, who gave us very small +hope of sport. He did not seem very keen on the +subject, and advised us to try some other place, offering +to give us recommendations, &c. I returned to a +most miserable room, where we could hardly sit, so +much were we annoyed by the smoke from the fire; +we could scarcely decide which was hardest to bear, +the smoke within, or the cold without. With a hearty +laugh at the absurdity of coming to such a place as +Teniet in search of game, and with a determination +to set out on our return the next day, we betook +ourselves to an early bed.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_VI_FURTHER_PROGRESSRELIGIOUS_CEREMONIES' id='CHAPTER_VI_FURTHER_PROGRESSRELIGIOUS_CEREMONIES'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>FURTHER PROGRESS.––RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Cold Weather.––Milianah.––Vezoul.––The Aubergiste.––El Afroun.––The +Rhamazan.––Dancing Dervishes.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In order to avoid the trouble of carrying our ammunition +back with us, we sold the greater portion of it. +The snow lay four or five inches deep in the road; we +sent to the commandant to procure us mules and +other necessaries, and set out, with a snow-storm +beating down upon us, and the cold as sharp as it well +could be. At the “Scorpion” we refreshed ourselves +with coffee, and then re-crossed the river, which was +scarcely fordable; we got to El Massin about six +o’clock; the brigadier told us he had shot a hyena. +Some capital wild boar they gave us for dinner, seemed +to be an earnest of our return to sporting latitudes. +At half-past seven next morning, we emerged from the +caravanserai. The weather seemed at last, after a +long season of inclemency, to have set in for heat. +“<i>Le temps s’est remis a neuf</i>,” observed Mr. Ball; and +it had changed with a vengeance, so far as the temperature +was concerned. Terribly hot we found it, +marching across the Milianah plain. We crossed the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span> +Djelish in a bac, or flying bridge, and reached +Afreville about ten o’clock. Leaving B––– and +Angelo to proceed to Medea, I went on to Milianah, +where I arrived at about twelve o’clock. While +waiting there for my baggage, I noticed some Arab +boys playing at a game closely resembling hockey. +Milianah is a very strong fort, with a splendid view +over the Atlas mountains and the plain of the Djelish. +I stopped at the Cat or Du-chat stables, appropriately +kept by Mr. Duchat-<i>el</i>, and found that it was too late +to stop at any place on the road to Blidah.</p> +<p>I took a walk through the town, and on the Grande +Place found a number of soldiers singing a chorus +very creditably, without instrumental accompaniment. +They perform in this manner every Sunday. The +view over the plain of the Djelish is one of the most +splendid I ever beheld, not excepting that from the +Alhambra itself. I was told I could easily get to +Blidah in a day on horseback, from Milianah, so I +determined to stay at the Hôtel d’Iffly, a very comfortable +place. At dinner I met Mostyn and Captain +Ross, just arrived from Algiers, per diligence. +Captain R–––, who is in the Bengal Artillery, told me +he thought the French used the natives much better +than we do those of India. I differ from him. One +of the French officers with whom I dined told me the +only way to manage the “Indigènes” was by that +vigorous measure, “<i>un coup de fouet</i>,” and, from what +I saw, I believe it to be the case.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span></div> +<p>On Monday, the 19th, I left Milianah at about half-past +seven, and rode through splendid Pyreneean +scenery to Vezoul, a French village. The aubergiste +took me for a German, and announced that he had +two German workmen staying with him, who spoke +with the same accent I used. When I repudiated +my Teutonic nationality, he met me with the remark: +“<i>Enfin, c’est le même sang rouge qui coule dans +nos veines, que nous soyons Anglais, Français, ou +Allemands;</i>” to which undeniable proposition I rejoined, +“<i>Oui, c’est vrai nous sommes tous Européens +ici.</i>” I fed my horse here, and came on, over the +mountains, under a very hot sun, to Bourkikah, where +I entered the Medidja plain. On entering this plain, +the traveller enjoys a magnificent view right onward to +sea, gleaming miles away in the sunny haze. At +Bourkikah, my horse was so tired, that I was obliged +to take off the saddle-bags, and leave them at the +“Bureau des Diligences,” to be forwarded. Some +French officers at the hotel assured me I should not be +able to get to Blidah, and recommended me strongly +to stay at El Afroun, “<i>chez les Petits Frères</i>,” if I +found my horse too tired to proceed. I rode determinedly +on through the plain, but could scarcely +get my horse to move by dint of whip or spur. By +the time I had crossed the river into El Afroun, I found +my horse so entirely knocked up, that it was clearly +impossible to proceed. So, of necessity, I turned into +the auberge, and had a very good dinner, enlivened +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span> +by a serenade from a legion of frogs, croaking dolefully +in the neighbouring marshes.</p> +<p>Getting away from El Afroun by six o’clock next +morning, I found myself at Blidah by half-past seven. +The cavalry horses were just turning out on the plains, +and looked very handsome as I rode into the town. +At Blidah, where I breakfasted, the sun was hot +enough to burn my face in a most unequivocal manner, +and to necessitate the purchase of a new hat. On +arriving at Bouffanieh, I got off my horse, which by +this time had fairly fallen lame, and took the diligence +into Algiers. At Bouffanieh I was much amused at +the proceedings of a group of Arabs, who were squatting +on the ground, selling oranges. Their first customer +was a drunken Frenchman, who came staggering +up, and began chaffing the vendors; but they evidently +got the better of him in no time, and he retired +in confusion. Next came a grave, steady-looking +Spaniard, who, after much bargaining, marched off +with <i>one</i> orange. He was followed by a little girl, +who very quickly got hold of three. I thought Algiers +improved on a second view.</p> +<p>Next day I went for a ride to the Maison Carrée, +with De Warne and Captain Thouars, of the <i>Euphrates</i>. +We had a most magnificent view over the plain of the +Metidja. This was the first night of the Rhamazan. +I visited the mosques, which have been thrown open +to Europeans since the French occupation. Thence I +proceeded to view a strange religious or fanatic ceremony +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span> +of the Mussulmans; some Swedish naval officers +were with us. The whole affair reminded me of a +meeting of Jumpers, or Ranters. There are no +priests to take part in it. The men stand round in +a circle, reciting prayers to Allah, and calling on +Mahomet, while they work their bodies violently +backwards and forwards, till they lash themselves into +a state of perfect frenzy. One fanatic more zealous +than the rest then rushes forward, cuts himself with a +knife, and stands on the sharp edge of the weapon, +which is held by another. The chaunt or psalm is +then renewed, and another devotee comes forward +howling; snatches a portion of prickly pear, and actually +devours it ravenously. Then another exceedingly +zealous performer––whose face, by the way, +reminded me strangely of the portraits of Disraeli in +<i>Punch</i>––seized some red-hot coals, and held them in +his mouth for a time, afterwards proceeding to swallow +lighted pipes, and execute other salamandrine feats. +After witnessing this spectacle of degradation for some +time, we retired, somewhat disgusted at the buffooneries +perpetrated in this country, as elsewhere, in the name +of religion.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_VII_BONA_AND_ITS_VICINITY' id='CHAPTER_VII_BONA_AND_ITS_VICINITY'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>BONA AND ITS VICINITY.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Passage to Bona.––State of Affairs on Board.––Bona.––The Lake +Metitza.––Ain Mokra.––Wild Duck Shooting on the Lake.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>We bade adieu to B–––, who had given us letters of +recommendation to the Admiral, for a first-class cabin +to Bona––a thing difficult to achieve on board the +steamers here, as civilians are only allowed second-class +accommodation, the state cabin being reserved +for the use of naval and military officers, as the +steamers on this line rank as men of war. The boat +was much crowded with soldiers, sailors, and Arabs, +and we had to share a most miserable berth with +eight other occupants. We had arrived too late to +procure cabin places, and were obliged to dine in an +unsavoury den, reeking with pestilential odours. Most +of the Frenchmen grumbled loudly at the miserable +accommodation afforded in return for their money. +Steaming along past a fine coast, we reached Dellis about +eight o’clock. I got Angelo to bring me my sheepskin +and cloak, and preferred sleeping on deck to passing the +night in a locality which, for the horrors it contained, +might have figured as a scene in Dante’s “Inferno.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span></div> +<p>The gentle music of the sailors, swabbing the +deck, awoke me next morning. I found we were off +Bougie, a most beautifully-situated place, entirely +surrounded by snow-covered mountains. Here are +distinctly to be seen the ruins of the old wall supposed +to have been built by the Vandals. A rather tedious +day on board, but the occupation of watching the +coast, which is very fine, varied the monotony of the +voyage. We passed Djigelli at about twelve, and +Philippeville at nine in the evening, when I retired +to rest, and, the Fates be thanked, it was in a fresh +cabin.</p> +<p>There was a Jewess on board, a rather pretty personage, +who slept in the same cabin with six men, +most of them French officers, with a coolness that +astonished me. Her husband was in the berth opposite +her; she did not appear to feel the discomforts of her +position, but chatted away gaily in Arabic and French +throughout the whole passage. I don’t think she +quitted her berth once.</p> +<p>At half-past six on Saturday, the 25th of March, +came Angelo to announce to me that we were off +Bona. This is a very strongly fortified place. We +were rowed ashore by Maltese boatmen, and, amid a +great crowd and bustle on the quay, landed, and went +to the Hôtel de France. The proprietors were very +civil, and assigned us a room at the top of the house, +looking out on the place. We sallied forth in quest +of horses to take us to the market-place. An Arab, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span> +who spoke some very broken and dilapidated Italian, +took us round the market and through the streets, +shouting “Reel Ain Mokra!” Several Arabs came up +and offered us their horses, but the steeds had such +a forlorn look, that we declined the accommodation, +and settled to start by carriage next morning.</p> +<p>Accordingly, on Monday, the 26th of March, we +set out at five o’clock, on a most wretched morning. +The vehicle was the most miserable locomotive contrivance +I ever saw. Drawn by two horses, it pounded +and churned along a most detestable road. We were +obliged to get out several times, and in one place we +stuck in the mud for twenty minutes. It was only +by dint of putting our united shoulders to the wheel, +that we succeeded in extricating our unhappy chariot +from its stationary position. At length our eyes were +gladdened by the sight of the defile which opens on +the lake Metitza, where Count Z–––’s property is +situated. Though of Polish origin, the Count is an +Englishman, and has, I believe, been an officer. +Right gladly we alighted from the carriage, and, loading +our guns, prevailed on some Italian fishermen to +take us out in a boat for a pop at the wild ducks which +we saw flying about by hundreds, bagged a few, and +then returned to find that the Count’s keeper had +come down, under the impression that we were +poachers, with a firm determination to take us into +custody there and then. The production of our letter +of recommendation brought him back to civility, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span> +produced an offer to take us out shooting; Count +Z––– himself was absent in London.</p> +<p>There is an establishment here for the manufacture +of oil from putrid fish, which agreeable occupation +announced itself in the shape of such an overpowering +odour, that I seized a glass of cognac, and fled precipitately, +taking my way towards the caravanserai of +Ain Mokra. Poor old Nero, whom I had brought +with me, got into a scrape here, and narrowly escaped +being drowned. It appears that the putrid entrails of +the fish are thrown into a kind of pond, which is thus +filled with a slimy mixture resembling clay, and +exhaling a most horrible odour when exposed to the +sun’s rays. Nero contrived, in some way or other, to +slip into this delectable compound, and there he would +have remained, had I not laid hold of him and pulled +him out by main force. I at once had him washed +and scrubbed, and even emptied some scent on him, +but in vain; for days afterwards, poor Nero carried +about with him a reminiscence of his odoriferous adventure, +which rendered his absence most desirable to +the comfort and well-being of his friends. I sallied +forth about four miles from Ain Mokra, and lay in +ambush for boars, but none appeared, and only shot +some jackals––a very poor substitute for the nobler +game I had missed.</p> +<div style='width:500px; margin:auto;'> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/i049.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='317' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +R. Pheney, lith.<span class='super' style='visibility:hidden;'> </span><span style='display:inline-block; float:right; width:auto;'>M. & N. Hanhart, Imp<span class='super'>t</span>.</span></p><p class='caption' style='clear:both;'>SHOOTING WILD DUCKS NEAR AIN MOKRA, PROVINCE OF CONSTANTINE, ALGERIA.<br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>At five, next morning, I went out to shoot on the +lake. I got Angelo to row a boat slowly among the +reeds, and soon saw hundreds of wild ducks, teals, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span> +and large white birds of whose name I am ignorant; +they looked to me like flamingoes. I could only +succeed in bagging a few, as they were exceedingly +shy, and made off as soon as the boat approached; +moreover, the rushes were not thick enough to afford +us an effectual concealment. As the miasma from the +lake was sufficiently powerful to threaten fever, we +returned to the caravanserai, where we breakfasted, +and, after shooting a few quails, returned in our +carriage, at one o’clock, to Bona. My driver, who sat +beside me, was a very loquacious old soldier, who had +served in the campaigns against the Arabs under +Baraguay d’Hilliers and Youssouf, and been present +at the capture of Milianah and Medeah. The Arabs, +he said, never met the French fairly <i>en bataille rangée</i>, +but always fired from ambush at the rear-guard, and in +this way killed a great number of men. He described +the conduct of the Arabs to their prisoners as very +merciless. They never gave quarter, and frequently +mutilated their captives; the women, in this particular, +being more cruel than the men. I was informed, +on my return, that the party who came out last year +to shoot, had only killed four lions in as many months, +though they had “all appliances and means to boot,” +and always kept several Arabs in their pay.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_VIII_ON_TO_TUNIS' id='CHAPTER_VIII_ON_TO_TUNIS'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>ON TO TUNIS.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Algeria in general.––The Arabs and their Conquerors.––Antagonism +between the Two Races.––Social Condition of the Arabs.––The +Oasis steamer.––Arrival at Tunis.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On the 28th of March I left Bona in the steamer +<i>Oasis</i>. The engine broke down shortly after leaving +the port, and, as the sails were absolutely useless, we +had the pleasant consciousness of drifting towards a +lee shore; but in a short time the damage was luckily +repaired, and we proceeded on our voyage.</p> +<p>The accounts I had heard of Algeria had not prepared +me to find such a flourishing state of affairs as I +really found to exist in the community. The colony +possesses fine harbours, a magnificent soil, and a +glorious climate; numerous towns, with good hotels, +are springing up in the interior. It is true that many +of the immigrants are not French, but the majority +are of that nation; and all the inhabitants, after a few +years, adopt the French manners and language. The +non-Gallic population are chiefly Spaniards, Italians, +Maltese, and Germans. I met only one party of +English at Bona, where a community of eighteen souls +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span> +have been brought over by a Mr. Vincent; they +appear to thrive very well. I was told that Count Z––– +intended establishing an English village near Bona.</p> +<p>From the general prosperity, I, of course, except +the Moors and Arabs, who will never, I believe, adopt +European civilisation; they seem to recoil from before +it, like the wild beasts of their native deserts.</p> +<p>The French people certainly pointed out to me in +the towns one or two <i>Europeanised</i> Arabs, and laughed +at the idea of their ever becoming “<i>Français</i>.” From +what I saw, the natives merely adopted the vices without +the good qualities of the dominant race. If to be +civilised consists in sitting in the <i>cafés</i>, drinking +absinthe, playing cards, and speaking bad French, I +certainly saw one or two most unquestionable specimens +of the Arab adaptability to Gallic impressions; +but, with the exception of these brilliant results, I +never saw the least token of intercourse between the +Moors and their conquerors; indeed, each nation may +be said entirely to ignore the existence of the other. +The peculiarity of Mussulman habits, with regard to +women, entirely precludes all prospect of a future +mixture of the two races––such an amalgamation, for +instance, as occurred in our own country between the +Norman-French conquerors and the conquered Saxons. +So well are the French aware of this impossibility, that +I have seen the question of the expediency of utterly +expelling the Mussulmans from Algeria gravely discussed +in the French journals.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span></div> +<p>Another method proposed was, that the young +Arabs who had attained the military age of from +eighteen to twenty-two years, should be transferred to +France, there to pass their period of service as infantry +soldiers only, that opportunities might be found, during +their “soldiering years,” for instructing them in agriculture, +and the rudiments of civilised education. +This appears to me a sufficiently feasible plan; but I +suspect that the Arab converts to civilisation would, +on their return to their native land, quickly relapse +into their old idle, roving habits, their primitive mode of +life, and their inborn hatred of the infidel, whom they +now regard as an instrument sent by Providence to +inflict vengeance on the true believer for his apathy, +and culpable neglect of his religious duties, including +the propagation of his faith by fire and sword. Still, +they believe the time to be approaching when every +true son of the prophet shall “hae his ain” again; +and it is past the power of mortal man to shake a +Mahometan’s trust and reliance on Destiny.</p> +<p>For the rest, the French behave with the greatest +toleration towards all members of the Moorish faith, +who are allowed to perform every rite of their religion, +and polygamy even is permitted to prevail among the +Mussulman population. At Bona, a very handsome +mosque is being erected on the Grand Place by the +Government. Tolerant themselves, the French refuse, +with perfect justice, to suffer any display of bigotry or +fanaticism on the part of the Mahometans towards the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span> +Christian community; the consequence is, that the +mosques and other resorts of Mahometans are all +thrown open to European visitors.</p> +<p>My dog Nero was a most decided favourite on +board the French steamer, <i>Oasis</i>. Everybody was +caressing and patting him, from the captain to the +stewardess, rather a nice young female, from Germany, +who took him under her especial protection, and looked +after his creature-comforts in a way that must have +aroused the most lively gratitude in the canine bosom +of the said Nero. Poor old dog! he seemed quite +bewildered at the attention he received, not only here, +but also on board the French man-of-war, the <i>Tartar</i>, +where the French soldiers and sailors were crowding +around him all day long, and overwhelming him with +favours, in the shape of bits of meat, when they took +their meals. A number of Arabs were sleeping about +the deck. These children of the desert used to excite +Nero’s especial wonder. Whenever he was let loose, +he was sure to be sniffing about among the prostrate +figures, examining their faces and <i>bournouses</i>, and +often waking them up with a start, to the intense +delight of the French tars.</p> +<p>On our arrival off La Goulette, the only anchorage +for ships, situated about eight miles from Tunis, by +sea, and nine miles by land, we were greeted by a +scene of the most tremendous confusion. All the +feluccas were rowed by Arabs, and their shouting, +swearing, and gesticulation exceeded all my former +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span> +experiences of the kind, Stamboul not excepted. A +little patience, and a good deal of backsheesh, enabled +us to pass our baggage through the Douane; and we +sent it on by boat to Tunis, whither we proceeded by +land in a carriage, and a drizzling rain. Once on the +way we stopped, at what the inhabitants term the +“Carthaginian cistern,” to take in some exceedingly +dirty water, from a fountain of old-fashioned appearance. +The carriage windows were closed on account +of the rain––an arrangement which interfered a good +deal with my view of the surrounding country. +Twice only, before we arrived at Tunis, my companion, +a Russian, opened the window––to spit! On +the first of these occasions, I got a glimpse of a large +heap of immense stones, which were pointed out to +me as the ruins of Carthage, and a grove of olives, +looking dismal exceedingly in the drizzling rain. On +the second occasion, I saw the lakes, and a solitary +Tunisian sentinel. This soldier was dressed much in +the Turkish costume, and I should scarcely have +known him from an Osmanli, but that he wore the +brass plaque in the front of his scarlet fez, instead of +at the top.</p> +<p>As we approached Tunis, we became involved in +an increasing crowd of loaded asses and mules; and, +amid a great deal of screeching and shouting, we made +our entry into the city, and drove to the Hôtel de +France, where we obtained such a complete view of an +old wall, that it effectually prevented us from seeing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span> +anything else. The rooms, or rather holes, assigned to +us, were so miserable, that we tried the solitary +opposition shop the place can boast––the Hôtel de +Provençe––but found that here we should fare rather +worse than in the Hôtel de France. There was a +third establishment––a tavern, rejoicing in the magniloquent +title of “Hotel of the Britannic Isles”––but +as this hostelry was entirely occupied by sailors and +Maltese skippers, we declined to avail ourselves of the +“Britannic” accommodation. There was a great crowd +of rather miscellaneous company at the <i>table-d’hôte</i>. +One French female, whom, without offence to gallantry, +I may be permitted to describe as the ugliest woman +I met in my travels, excited my especial horror. This +charming person actually amused herself, and disgusted +her neighbours, by indulging, <i>across the table</i>, +in an amusement generally associated in men’s minds +with the chewing of tobacco! I discovered, however, +that she was only a servant maid.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_IX_MARSA' id='CHAPTER_IX_MARSA'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h3>MARSA.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Angelo’s Horsemanship.––The Bey’s Palace at Marsa.––The Arabs and +their Love of Tobacco.––The Friendly Moor at Camatte.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On the first of April I rode to Marsa, a little town on +the seashore. Angelo’s horse seemed rather fresh, +and my servant was evidently no Centaur. He came +up to me in an olive wood, where I made a halt for +about five minutes. He was holding on hard by the +mane, his trousers were up to his knees, and his face +was horribly pale. On my asking him why he loitered +behind so, he owned, with a dismal sigh, that he was +half afraid of the horse. “Afraid of the horse, sir!” +was poor Angelo’s lament: “Very wicked horse, sir––fell +from a horse, sir––at Scutari, sir––broke three +ribs, sir––and in hospital five weeks, sir!”</p> +<p>I told him to be of good cheer, for the horse would +soon be quiet after a good gallop; and, tying the +horses to some olive trees, I bade Angelo wait for me +by the side of a little hillock in the plain, where I +could readily find him on my return, and went away +into the forest with my gun. The ground was covered +with long, thick, pointed grass, very wet with the dew. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span> +I saw some quails, and shot a few; then returned to +where Angelo was waiting, and galloped on to Marsa. +At this place, the Bey, and the principal inhabitants +of Tunis, have summer residences, to which they resort +for the sake of sea-bathing. On the way, I +encountered a number of Arabs, mounted on mules. +The foremost shouted out to me in Arabic, as I passed, +asking me to stop and give him some tobacco. I +understood the word “tobacco,” which seems to have +nearly the same sound in all languages, and knowing +this request to be often a “dodge” on the part of the +Arabs, who want an opportunity to rob, if not to +murder, the traveller, I pointed to Angelo, who was +following, about fifty paces behind me, with my gun, +and shouted out that <i>he</i> would find tobacco for them. +They evidently understood my meaning; for they all +set up a loud laugh, and my friend the tobacconist––or +rather the tobacco-less––looked exceedingly “sold.”</p> +<p>I found Marsa very prettily situated, opposite to +the bay of Tunis, near the ruins of old Carthage. The +Bey’s palace is a handsome building. The English +and French consulates are also well built. I proceeded +to a small Italian <i>locanda</i>, to get breakfast; but the +old lady, who seemed the presiding genius of the +place, obstinately refused to let us have anything. +“<i>Io han niente</i>,” was her unanswerable argument. +But I rather ostentatiously pulled out my watch, whose +golden blink somewhat softened the old lady’s mood, +and caused her to remember that she might have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span> +certain eggs, and some bread, and salad, though a +moment before she had been protesting that she had +not even such a thing as bread in the house. Her son, +a handsome young Italian, returned at this juncture, +and we soon had an excellent <i>déjeûner</i> of sausages, +salad, spinach, omelette, and cheese, with very good wine +and coffee. I went down to the seaside and bathed, +first burying my watch and purse in the sand; for the +Arabs have a weakness for occasionally coming down +under such circumstances, and stealing one’s clothes.</p> +<p>Past a ruined temple, down an avenue into +Camatte, where I got an Arab to show me the way to +a house formerly occupied by an Englishman. Here, +for a wonder, I met a Moor, who spoke very good +French, and was very civil. He asked me how I liked +Africa, and laughed cordially at my open avowal, that +it was “<i>un peu bizarre</i>.” After gathering a few +delicious oranges for me in the garden, he took me into +the interior of the house. I found it a most charming +residence, with a deliciously cool marble reservoir in +the centre, full of gold and silver fish.</p> +<p>I rode back by the margin of the lake, but saw +only small game till I got to a large olive forest, where +a jackal made his appearance. I gave chase, and, +after a rattling gallop, lodged him among some cactus +bushes, where I could get near enough to shoot him; +and so back to Tunis.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_X_ABOUT_BOARSHOOTING' id='CHAPTER_X_ABOUT_BOARSHOOTING'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<h3>ABOUT BOAR-SHOOTING.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Sleeman.––The Oued el Ahwena.––Its Scenery and its Dangers.––Beauty +of the Landscape on its Banks.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I started next day with the Umbra, who was +remarkable for a long scimitar, and spurs nearly as +long. Each time I put my horse to a gallop, he was +under the impression that I wanted to ride a race +with him, and went on at full speed, till I restrained +his ardour. We arrived duly at Sleeman, where the +Caid had everything prepared very comfortably for us. +My friends B––– and F––– arrived later, in a carriage. +We had a good Arab dinner, with the national +kouskous, followed by a chibouk.</p> +<p>There was a river about six miles off, where boars +were rumoured to make their abode. I rose early +next morning, and, proceeding to this stream, hid in +the thicket on the banks, while the Arabs beat the +bushes. After waiting a long time, I managed to +“pot” a wild boar, which came rushing past me at full +speed. After this, the Arabs refused to beat the +bushes any more, declaring that the dogs were tired, +though the real reason was that they wanted their own +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span> +dinners, so I was obliged to give up the sport and +return. The wild boar was dispatched as a present +to the consul.</p> +<div style='width:500px; margin:auto;'> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/i068.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='315' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +R. Pheney, lith.<span class='super' style='visibility:hidden;'> </span><span style='display:inline-block; float:right; width:auto;'>M. & N. Hanhart, Imp<span class='super'>t</span>.</span></p><p class='caption' style='clear:both;'>HOG-SHOOTING ON THE BANKS OF THE OUED EL AHWENA, IN TUNISIA.<br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The river which we visited to-day is called the +Oued el Ahwena. It runs through a rich valley, +bordered on both sides by mountains which rise up +gradually, and are covered to their very foot with +trees of various descriptions. The plain itself is +fragrant with myrtles, orange trees, and olives. The +beauty of the scene amid which this river falls into +the sea is beyond description. Here the water is +hissing wildly among osiers and furze bushes; there +it skips along like a young goat over the small pebbles; +and yonder, again, it winds like a serpent among the +sand hills on the sea-shore. The dark olive-trees on +the bank seem to look seriously on, like a father +watching the pranks of a favourite child. The large +ash-trees shake and quiver, like old aunts, all in a +tremble at the dangerous hops and vagaries of a lively +niece; while the gay-plumaged birds of the air ring +out their wild applause, and the flowers on the bankside +murmur tenderly, “Oh, take us with you, dear +sister!” But the joyous, sparkling river rushes on +like a coquette, bounding and skipping towards its +goal.</p> +<p>Such is the river Ahwena in the glorious month +of April: fair without, like many a gay flirt, she can +yet inflict wounds incurable, if not death, upon those +whom her wiles entrap. Woe to the traveller or +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span> +hunter who, oppressed by thirst in this burning +climate, ventures to taste the sparkling water that +bubbles up like champagne, invitingly at his feet! +Cholera and death would be the probable result. The +waters are redolent of cholera, and the banks of fever. +No man may pitch his tent in safety for a single night +on the banks of this death-dealing water; not even +the Bedouins, who avoid the locality as if it were +plague-stricken, for fever is in the very air. Strange +that so fair an exterior should veil so baneful a +mystery. Those bright, sweet-smelling flowers conceal +snakes and reptiles whose bite is almost instantaneously +fatal, and the place might be appropriately termed +the Valley of Death. Among yonder fair trees lurk +the treacherous panther and the slinking hyena.</p> +<p>Yet, in this world, amid present impressions of +pleasure, we have little time to think of the danger +veiled beneath the smiling outward shape. So, at +least, it was with me, as I reclined on the carpet of +soft grass, after slaying the boar, placidly discussing +my breakfast, and enjoying the beauty of the scene +around, with the azure-rippling sea about two miles +off, the magnificent mountains around me, the sparkling +river at my feet, and, across the bay in the far +distance, the ruins of the once mighty city of Carthage, +with the birds singing merrily overhead in the bright +sunshine. There is exquisite pleasure in the sensation +of the external world thus melting away, as it were, +into a little world of our own, and when the green trees, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span> +the azure sky, the perfumed plants, all take their places +in an exquisite picture of Nature’s own painting. +Women, perhaps, most indulge this feeling; hence +they often smile with an amiable incredulity when +they hear the “lords of the creation,” proud of their +scholastic lore, discussing and settling everything, +priding themselves upon having divided all things so +cleverly into <i>subjective</i> and <i>objective</i>, and boasting that +they have furnished their wise heads with so many +drawers (like a chemist’s shop, forsooth), with reason +located in one, good sense in another, understanding +in a third, and so on to the end of the chapter.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XI_SPORTING_EXPERIENCES' id='CHAPTER_XI_SPORTING_EXPERIENCES'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<h3>SPORTING EXPERIENCES.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>El Greesh.––Shooting Hyenas.––An Expedition with the Arabs.––The +Caid and his Family.––Another Wild Boar.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The next day I rode on to a place called El Greesh, +about twenty miles from Sleeman. I wanted to pitch +my tent at the base of the purple mountain, outside +the village, where I was sure we should have got a +great deal of game, as the mountains were covered with +thick underwood. A–––, however, and the rest were +opposed to it, so I yielded, and pitched my tent +in the village itself, where I soon had the entire tribe +around me, examining me and my arms, my gestures, +and everything, as if I was an event. After a cup of +coffee, I determined to start in search of game, and, +with a little backsheesh, got an Arab to accompany us +to one of the neighbouring defiles, where, after waiting +about an hour and a half, I managed to bag a very +fine hyena. He was just sneaking out of his hole, +and was about 150 yards off. On my return, the +natives manifested great joy, shook my hands, made a +circle round me, tapped me on the back, &c., to +my chagrin. As I was tremendously fatigued, I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span> +retired to my sheepskin in my tent with great satisfaction. +The natives all slept around our tents on the +ground, and some of them kicked up a most infernal +noise till about two in the morning, singing a sort of +chorus. The following morning the whole tribe +collected around our tents and watched <i>our toilette du +matin</i> with the most intense eagerness.</p> +<div style='width:500px; margin:auto;'> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/i023.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='311' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +R. Pheney, lith.<span class='super' style='visibility:hidden;'> </span><span style='display:inline-block; float:right; width:auto;'>M. & N. Hanhart, Imp<span class='super'>t</span>.</span></p><p class='caption' style='clear:both;'>SHOOTING HYENAS ON THE PURPLE MOUNTAINS NEAR EL GREESHE.<br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The greater part of them had brought their matchlocks, +as the day was to be a grand field-day, and they +were all in the highest spirits, laughing, and cracking +jokes to an extraordinary amount. We started about +seven <span class='smcaplc'>A.M.</span>, and I remained till eleven <span class='smcaplc'>A.M.</span>, till which +time they had not succeeded in driving anything out +of cover. Here I sprained my ankle in descending a +broken gully, and was obliged to return to the tent. +I came back about four <span class='smcaplc'>P.M.</span>, with only small game. +After sun-down we went out a second time in ambush +after hyena. A lion or panther came, a little after +sunset, and frightened the horses so that they broke +loose, and we returned to the tents about eleven <span class='smcaplc'>P.M.</span></p> +<p>The next day we started early, in order to return +to Sleeman. We stopped an hour on the +banks of our old friend, the river Oued el Ahwenah, +for luncheon, where I shot several quail and snipes, +and a large bird, whose name I ignore, also a hare, +the only one I saw in Tunisia. About four <span class='smcaplc'>P.M.</span>, I +reached the Caid’s house; a woman, for a wonder, +opened the door. As the Caid was there, I looked +anywhere but at her. The next day we went out all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span> +day, after boar, to the river, with an Italian and some +Arabs. I stood up to my knees in the river for about +an hour in the brush-wood, when one rushed by; I +fired, and he rushed forward badly damaged. The +rest fired, and he was found dead a few yards off. +The Italian’s steed broke loose, and he left us in +search of it. I broke from my <i>corps de garde</i>. My +horse lost a shoe, and then broke loose, and I had to +follow him for more than a mile. I had a kind of +dumbshow conversation with the Caid’s son on my +return, a very fine, handsome lad, about seventeen. +I hear his sister is most beautiful, and I promised to +send him a present, on getting to Tunis, and he is to +write to me and tell me if he receives it. After dinner +the Caid came and smoked two or three pipes, drank +coffee, and wished us adieu in a most gracious +manner.</p> +<p>We had considerable difficulty in bringing home +the boar, as our Arabs all deserted us on account of +its being the Ramadhan; but Angelo and B––– +managed to carry it back between them. I returned +to Tunis next day.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XII_TUNIS_AND_ITS_GOVERNMENT' id='CHAPTER_XII_TUNIS_AND_ITS_GOVERNMENT'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<h3>TUNIS AND ITS GOVERNMENT.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Picturesque Situation of Tunis.––The Horse Market.––Effects of +Race.––The Bazaars.––Mohamed Medea.––The Bardo.––The Bey +of Tunis.––His Mode of administering Justice.––Prince Puckler +Muskau’s Account of his Interview.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Tunis is situated on the borders of a lake, or rather +inlet of the sea. It is surrounded by a crenelated wall, +which resembles very much that of Constantinople. +Like that city, too, Tunis, from the exterior, presents +a very imposing aspect; but enter the city, and the +illusion vanishes; there is the same dirt, the same +narrow and filthy streets, as in the Turkish capital. +The dogs alone are wanting to make the comparison +perfect. An ancient historian has called this place +<i>Tunis the white</i>; but, like other whited sepulchres, it +is very foul within. The horses, the really thorough-bred +ones, are the finest objects in Tunis. As in the +canine and human, so in every other race, blood will +tell. The Arab horse, though by no means so swift +for a short distance as his English cousin, has a most +marvellous power of endurance. He is also extremely +sure footed, and scarcely ever comes down. I weigh +over thirteen stone, yet have frequently ridden the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span> +same horse forty English miles per diem, over country +that would infallibly cut up your English two hundred +guinea hunter. They also, so to speak, live on air. +Their chief drawback is that they are, with few exceptions, +stallions, and, consequently, when tethered or +standing near each other, are very apt to fight most +desperately, or else break loose from their tetherings, +when a long and wearisome pursuit is the necessary +result. It is very difficult to come across the best <i>pur +sang</i> horses, as the Arabs are afraid of the Bey’s taking +a fancy to them, and taking them by force; and, consequently, +they often purposely mutilate them, lest he +should seize them to himself. There are also some +very fine bazaars at Tunis, and the otto of roses there +is especially excellent. Our Consul has a very fine, +large house, and dispenses his hospitalities, &c., very +generously to his compatriots. His lady is also a +most amiable person. Tunis is, I hear, celebrated for +the manufacture of the red cap, usually termed “fez,” +which is worn generally throughout Mussulman countries, +and universally by the military. The Tunisian +soldiers wear the plaque in front of the fez, in lieu of +on the top, like the Turkish. As soon as I had +selected my horse, a fine black thorough-bred Arab +(whose price was four hundred francs only), I used to +make excursions every day into the country, sometimes +alone, sometimes attended, always armed, as the +Francs of Tunis told me many stories of the dangers +arising from going out in the country unarmed, among +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span> +the Arabs. I think a great number of them were very +much exaggerated. One of the places I was fond of +riding to was Mohamed Medea, about twelve miles +from Tunis, very prettily situated, where there was a +very fine ruin of a Roman aqueduct, and eke a +French restaurant, where a <i>déjeûner</i>, made more +agreeable by a twelve miles’ ride, was served in quite +Parisian style. The reason of there being a French +restaurant is this:––The present Bey, on his accession, +determined to build a fresh palace at this place; +and, being under a sort of douce compulsion, employs +nothing but French architects and operatives, who +make the hotel their head-quarters, it being about the +only Christian house in the entire place. Quail +abounded in this vicinity, and there were <i>pas mal de +sangliers</i>. To escape from the <i>ennui</i> of the <i>table d’hôte +déjeûner</i> at Tunis, occupied by French bagmen and +milliners, and served in a stuffy hole of a back +kitchen, I used frequently to make Angelo put my +breakfast in my <i>sacoche</i> (saddle-bag), consisting of +a piece of cold meat and some <i>vin du pays</i>, and +then ride out, dismount, and breakfast <i>al fresco</i>, or +rather <i>al bosco</i>; sometimes I am sorry to confess to +breaking the eighth commandment, as I helped myself +to my dessert of oranges, from the trees near or under +which I sat. The Arabs, <i>malgré</i> the ogre histories I had +heard of murder and robbery, were always most civil, +and would accept, in spite of the prophet, a glass of +wine from my hands though our conversation was of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span> +course of the most limited description, unless Angelo +was present to interpret. It is true I always was +armed.</p> +<p>The Bardo is one of the lions of Tunis. It is +the country residence of the Bey, and, besides the +harem, contains a hall of justice and barracks. +It is at Bardo that the Bey holds his court of +justice, in which the cases are decided very quickly, +and with great precision. The interior of the harem, +according to a French traveller, who had visited it, is +fitted up very gracefully. There is a magnificent <i>jet +d’eau</i> in the marble court of the interior. The +gallery running round this court on the second storey +is furnished with a very artistically elaborated railing, +or grating, part of which is painted green, part gilt. +Behind this railing the ladies of the harem get a sly +peep at those who visit his highness. The vast saloon +in which the Bey receives his visitors is hung with +crimson velvet, embroidered with gold, and the +ceiling is also gilt and painted over in brilliant +colours. From the two sides of the wall are suspended +different descriptions of arms, richly manufactured; +on the right, they consist of swords and +poniards; on the left, of various kinds of muskets +and pistols. Gold, silver, and precious stones sparkle +out from these arms. Under these weapons are ranged +three rows of divans, covered with a thick sort of red +silk. The centre of the apartment is furnished with +magnificent Persian carpets. On the lowest of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span> +divans, the principal courtiers seat themselves, on +solemn days of reception, in double file; while at the +extremity, the Bey reclines on an ottoman placed +crossways, and covered with white satin. In Europe, +we might, with great advantage, take a wrinkle or +two from this semi-barbarian prince as regards the +administration of justice with expedition. The +Bey of Tunis is, at one and the same time, the +chief governor of the realm, the administrator of +the public revenues, and the final judge of all grand +cases. From his immediate authority depends the +administration of the police, the imposition of taxes, +the various diplomatic relations, and the superintendence +of the army and navy.</p> +<p>We Europeans can scarcely comprehend how one +man can look after so many different details, or +direct them with order and precision. But in this +country, mark, oh! red-tapeists, everything relating +to interior administration is reduced to the greatest +simplicity, and from this simplicity, freed from the +complicated system of European red-tapeism and +bureaucracy, results, it is to be hoped, a strict economy +in public expenses, and a rapid process in the +courts of justice and other Government affairs. Where +a European prince would require a hundred different +<i>employés</i>, here five or six clerks suffice. Besides the +celerity and economy resulting from such a system, a +third no less important advantage is derived, viz., the +facility with which the Bey is able to superintend the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span> +conduct of the ministers, being so few in number, and +immediately detect and punish those in whom any act +of embezzlement or fraud has been detected; and +punishment in this country immediately follows detection. +Verily, there are advantages in autocratic as +well as in constitutional dynasties!!</p> +<p>In the administration of justice, too, the Bey is +supreme judge, from whom there is no appeal. The +celerity with which causes are tried and judged, is, I +am told, perfectly astounding. The case merely consists +in a simple exposition of the facts, and such is +the wonderful power of discernment of the merits of +the case which the Bey thinks he has obtained from +long habit, that it is said he rarely deliberates. The +court is open to the public––even to Christians! I +did not go; but Prince Puckler Muskau has left an +account of his presence there. After giving a description +of the room, &c., and the Bey’s entry, the +Prince proceeds:––“The Bey was now presented with +a magnificent pipe, which was at least ten feet long. +After a few puffs, the audience commenced. The civil +and criminal procedure is so summary, that a great +majority of cases were decided in as many minutes as +they would have taken years in Europe. The subject +of the causes was frequently very trivial, yet the +patience of the sovereign was by no means exhausted. +I thought, in general, that the pleaders were satisfied +with the Bey’s decision. One sees, by this, that the +Bey’s place is no sinecure; and I am told that few +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span> +monarchs in Christian countries have so much personally +to do. The Bey sits every day in the court, +from eight in summer, and from nine in winter, till +mid-day; and illness, or absence from town, is his only +excuse for non-attendance. His other governmental +duties occupy pretty well the rest of his day.”</p> +<p>Each country has an “idea,” I suppose, that its +own Government is best, and perhaps it is as well it +should be so. The man who travels much sees the +defects and the advantages of each. Our Parliament +would certainly not easily be acclimatised in Barbary, +nor would a Bey exactly do to grace the British throne. +What, for instance, would we think of such a proclamation +as this in the <i>London Gazette</i>, on a king’s accession? +It was issued by Mustapha, the father of the +present Bey, to the consuls of Christian powers:––“Glory +to princes of the religion of Messiah. To the +chosen by the great of the nation of Jesus, our most +honoured, most longed for, most magnificent, and +most powerful friend, the King of –––, we make +known, friendly, the following: On Wednesday, 23rd +of the month of Moharrem the sacred, of the present +year 1251, at the moment when the sun illumined the +horizon, the hour marked by destiny having struck +for my most honoured brother, Hassein Basha, he +emigrated towards the mansion of eternity,” &c. &c.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIII_THE_RUINS_OF_CARTHAGE' id='CHAPTER_XIII_THE_RUINS_OF_CARTHAGE'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<h3>THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Reflections on Ancient Carthage.––Hannibal and his Career.––An +Arab Domicile.––Picturesque appearance of the Ruins.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I went three times to the “Ruins,” and therefore +should have been lucky. I was, however, the reverse, +both as to seeing anything of the ruins, and also the +particular object which brought me there. I think, +myself, proverbs are very deceitful, and should, like +dreams, be read by contrary; some are utterly unintelligible; +as, for instance––will any one tell me +what this one signifies?––“Sweet words butter no +parsnips.” I thought parsnips (and, being fond of +vegetables, I should like to know) were generally +seasoned with pepper or vinegar. I am, perhaps, too +stupid to comprehend it, and, like stupid people, +abuse what I don’t understand. Therefore, don’t let +any one expect a long description of how this part is +Phœnician, and is supposed to be where the Carthaginian +parliament was held; or their dandies and +“fast” of both sexes met to polka of a night, or +drink Punic punch; or a “<i>cabinet de lecture</i>,” or +club, where the <i>Times</i> or the <i>Globe</i> gave the latest +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span> +telegram from Italy; as how Hannibal obtained a +glorious victory over the Roman troops at Thrasymene, +or that the commissariat was bad; then, perhaps, +old grumblers decried the dissipation at Cannæ, +and the expense of the war; and ancient merchants +on ’Change complained of the rising importance of +the Roman navy, whose ships had just captured the +large Phœnician brigantine <i>Argo</i>, from Sidon, laden +with a valuable freight, otto of roses, and bound for +Carthage––<i>apropos</i> of which I will remark, there is a +military Rome and a mercantile Carthage in modern +times. Take care we be not the Carthage; let us +remember that it was from a stranded Punic vessel +the Romans learnt the maritime art, in which, at last, +they excelled their enemies. Hannibal appears to me +always the greatest man of any age, ancient or +modern––Napoleon not excepted––and perhaps the +most unfortunate. His character comes to us, as his +exploits, from foreign and hostile sources; for I believe +there exist no Phœnician records; so that there +remains a great deal of discount to take off in the +way of disparagement, depreciation, &c. &c. It is as +if the future Australian, standing on the ruins of a city +mightier than Carthage, could obtain no account of +Napoleon, but through partial and depreciatory fragments +from the pages of Sir Walter Scott’s life of that +extraordinary meteor. Napoleon, it is true, crossed +the Alps, but Hannibal traversed the Alps and +Pyrenees too, and I fancy the last are the more impassable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span> +of the two. It is true I have not copied +Albert Smith, or our other heroic youths, but I have +climbed the Malodetta, which well becomes its appellation. +Then, Napoleon had a friendly population +at any rate behind him, to bring supplies, &c. +Hannibal was everywhere surrounded by hostile tribes, +besides having had the disadvantage of a march through +enemies’ countries of several hundred, if not thousand +miles. I hope the living in Spain, for his sake, did +not then consist of <i>olla podrida</i>, with a variation of +garlic and acid wine.</p> +<p>Perhaps there existed in these days some machine, +or some marvellous powder, by which real mountains +might be removed (as spiritual ones by faith) at +pleasure, and replaced in their original position; +but as history makes no mention thereof, it is but fair +to conclude not. No, the only machine used, the +only mine, was the invincible and iron will of the +Carthaginian hero. He, too, if I mistake not, lived +under parliamentary <i>régime</i>, in the shape of a senate, +a great hamper on military manœuvres, where all +should be done quickly, secretly, and unanimously. +Napoleon was his own master, with a devoted people. +I wonder if parliamentary debates, in Punic days, were +as long and insipid as in modern; that is, I have not +been to them, but judge by what one reads in that +modern tyrant, the <i>Times</i>. Oh, mighty <i>Times</i>! how +we abuse you, and yet how should we relish our breakfast +without you? who ever comes up to all we look +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span> +for when great occasions call for your wonderful pen, +stirring us to the quick; or whether, in an idle mood, +we seek to while away the passing hour by a description +of the last new folly, or the latest odour of the +Thames, or anything else instructive and amusing. +By the way, if the senate of Carthage took quarter as +long sending supplies to their general as the Commons +discussing the way to purify the Thames, I fancy he +would not have crossed the Pyrenees.</p> +<p>I said I went three times to Carthage; the first +time, an English friend was leaving that day by a +sailing ship, and I had promised to lunch with him at +Goulette, and then see him on board, the first of which +I did in a small house dignified by the name of +<i>locanda</i>, or <i>Hôtel Français</i>, where some Maltese +captains were breakfasting, who had a strong odour of +onions and garlic, and at another table a Savoyard was +discussing the question of annexation with a Provençal, +in what I may term <i>moitié Français moitié Italien</i>. +They gave us soup made of, I don’t know what, but +the pepper was very strong, or rather, I may say, +would have been, if it were not for the strong taste of +the water, and <i>vice versâ</i>; after that, some dried fish, +called sardines, which they said had just been caught. +For second course, we had a sort of <i>gigot de mouton</i>, +which, in form, resembled the temple of Neptune at +the “ruins,” and you might almost have sworn they +had cut it into that shape on purpose; and quails, very +excellent; and we finished with cheese, which might +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span> +have been manufactured from goat’s milk, or cow’s +milk, or camel’s milk, or all three, or any other milk, +but was dignified by the appellation of <i>Chesterrre</i>, and +was decidedly not Stilton, and eke delicious oranges. +In this dinner we meet, as in life, with much good to +counteract the evil, as the delicious quails made up +for rancid flesh of sheep or horse; so, when next Lady +Julia Plantagenet jilts me, I will remember Jessie +Jones; or, again, as these fragrant oranges, redolent +of the East, caused me to forget the nauseous <i>fromage</i>, +so shall the friendship and good opinion of Brown +console me for the putty eye and freezing regard of +the fashionable Fitznoodle, when next we meet, not at +Philippi, but in the park! After lunch, and adieux, I +mounted my horse for the ruins, as my friend’s vessel +did not start as expected that day, owing to the +calm.</p> +<p>On passing the gate of Goulette, several Arab +convicts, in chains, shouted at me for something; +what it was, I ignore; perhaps they asked for backsheesh, +or tobacco, or powder, fine or coarse; or, may be, +they called me a dog of a Giaour, and cursed my +relations and their limbs. This Goulette appears to +be the chief place for the Arab malefactors, and they +are mainly employed in improving the high road +between Goulette and Tunis, and also in repairing the +fortifications.</p> +<p>The afternoon was beautiful, though hot. As it +wanted some time to dinner at Tunis, I made a <i>détour</i> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span> +on my return to the ruins, and it requires a fine air +to make you enjoy fine scenery. There was scarcely +a ripple on the blue Mediterranean. Beautiful trees +of every description, olive and orange trees, oleanders, +and others, grew to the very base of the mountain, +and sent up a delicious perfume. I visited the chapel +of St. Louis, from which one enjoys a most delicious +prospect. It is built over some god’s temple––whose, +I forget, or even whether a Roman or Punic one; but +this is dedicated to the true God and Christian worship, +in remembrance of that venerable French king, who +is said to have perished here, while on his way to +Palestine, to fight the Moslem. Peace to his ashes! +However, I soon left the hill to re-descend, for I was +very thirsty; all of a sudden, behind an olive bush, I +saw a head, black as ink, pop out; I hallooed to it +first in English, then in Italian. No effect. I saw a +female figure disappear behind a cottage, and out +rushed a fine tall Arab, with menacing gesture, and +more menacing language. I was in his garden. “A +glass of water, please,” said I, in Italian. Still no +effect. I thought he was going to be savage, when, +from behind the house popped, or rather rolled out, +another little naked, curly-headed, black ball––a +triennial by his looks––the Arab’s only boy, no doubt. +He was so irresistibly comic in appearance, that I burst +into a fit of laughter. The man’s face changed in a +moment. I suppose he thought I was admiring the +child. He immediately understood what I required, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span> +which he brought in such a large cup, that I thought +it was intended for a pail. I nearly emptied it, however. +He then volunteered bread and olives, which, +however, I declined, to spoil my dinner. We then +made mutual signs of greeting, and parted. Had +I been able to talk, I would have stopped longer. +There was a sudden friendship sprung up between me +and that poor unlettered infant of the desert.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIV_THE_RUINS_AGAIN' id='CHAPTER_XIV_THE_RUINS_AGAIN'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<h3>THE RUINS AGAIN.</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>Great Extent of the Ancient City.––Marsa, on the Sea-shore.––Carthaginian +Catacombs near Camatte.––Quail Shooting.––Trait of Honesty +in the Arabs.––The Arab Character.––Anecdotes concerning them.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The second time I went to the ruins I went, like Scipio, +to weep, not over Carthage, but the loss of my breakfast; +and the more so that it was to have been a very good one––a +regular pic-nic, or <i>fête champêtre</i>––under olive-trees, +or orange-trees, or palms, shaded from the scorching +rays of Phœbus. Champagne, Burgundy (my favourite +wine), were to crown the repast. Nor was the food +to be only corporal, but eke mental, as the great explorer––the +great excavator––was to be there, to have +explained that this was a theatre, that an aqueduct; the +god to whom this temple or that altar was dedicated; +and how many four-in-hands, driven by fast young +Phœnician guardsmen, would have been able to pass +each other down that “<i>via longa</i>.” How many stones +made up that house; and that this was a bath, and not +a harem; and that a certain statue of some celebrity––whose +name I had never heard, and never shall––was, +by some, supposed to lie 100 feet under this marble +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span> +pillar, though, according to others, he might be +102 feet deep interred––for all of which, I daresay, +I should have been the wiser and the better; +but I was sufficiently mundane to regret my <i>déjeûner</i> +the most. The fact is, A–––, whose back was +not sufficiently recovered to accompany me riding, +and the American Consul and Davies, had gone +with the edibles and beverages in a carriage, and +were to have met me at the temple of some god. +But, unfortunately, I mistook the deity’s name, and +afterwards found that their shrine lay ten miles +off from the one I worshipped at. This will give one +a good idea of the vastness of the ancient city, and +struck me more than all the lectures and description +in the world. Where people were crowded like bees, +as in our London, buying and selling, and riding and +driving, some 2,000 years past––occupied then, as +now, in all the frivolities of this empty world––to find a +complete solitude––a desert nearly––where wander +the jackal and hyena! A very clever people, no +doubt, these same Phœnicians were, to judge by their +edifices; yet they had not discovered the theory of +water finding its own level, as the peculiar construction +of an aqueduct proves, the remains of which still +exist, and which was to convey water some forty miles +from the interior. There was a Roman city built over +the Punic one, and the latter alone, of course, interests, +as the former is seen any day, at Pompeii, in better perfection. +Besides Angelo and myself, there was not a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span> +human being in view––yes, there are three Arab +youths reclining behind that ruin of a wall, motionless +as statues; I thought they were statues at first. Two +have long flint guns, perhaps to keep crows off the +corn, or shoot quails; or, perhaps, to shoot me if they +can; for I have a fine gold chain, not to mention a +ring, which would maintain them till they died of old +age––which could keep them in ease and elegance for +a couple of years, at the least. You have yet to learn, +if you know it not, that ten Arabs, fine men though +they be, with such rusty weapons as yours, are barely +a match for one European with an arm such as mine. +But, my poor boys, there is no chance for you. I +have, you see, a revolver with six barrels. When you +see that, your brow droops as much as your eyes +sparkled when you saw the chain. It is fancy, on my +part, most probably; so, off my horse, and off with +my clothes. The sun was scorching, and I took a +delicious swim in the sea, and then rode on to Marsa, +where is a ruin (everything is in ruins here) of modern +date––the late Bey’s palace––a most superb edifice. I +said a ruin, yet it is scarcely a ruin, though fast becoming +so. Marsa is a sort of watering-place for the Christians +of Tunis during the heat of summer. A–––’s description +of the part he visited I will give: “I went with Davies +and the Yankee Consul to see the catacombs of Carthage, +near Camatte, which completely undermined a large +mountain by the sea coast. They contain rows of niches +for the coffins, and each chamber communicates with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span> +others. They hold some twenty coffins each. Some +skeletons have been found, and nails; the former crumbled +to pieces immediately, on being exposed to the air. +These catacombs are now inhabited by hyenas and +jackals, and had a strong odour of those animals.” It is +supposed they extend for miles, but the impurity of +the atmosphere precludes entrance to any distance.</p> +<p>My third visit was to shoot quails on ground where, +centuries ago, Hannibal had passed at the head of +his bronzed legions, amid admiring groups of citizens, +the bands playing, perhaps, “<i>Partant pour l’Italie</i>.” +The migration of quails takes place at this season, +and, with a good retrieving spaniel, hundreds may be +shot. But they lie very close, and require a dog to +put them up. They are by no means easy to shoot, +and require snipe shot. They lie in the young corn, +which is very thick and thriving here as on the field +of Waterloo. As I had put up No. 6 shot by mistake, +and had no spaniel, I bagged but few comparatively, +some twenty. A great number of these quails are sent +alive to England, and on board the Italian steamer from +Sicily there were about twenty large cages, containing +about fifty live quails each, which they told me were +going to Britain; they had been caught like larks by +the net.</p> +<p>By the way, I had here a proof of Arab honesty, +refreshing as an oasis in the desert. Riding back +through a village to Goutelle (where I was staying, +previously to embarking for Malta), I dropped my +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span> +powder-flask, unawares to myself. I had not passed +two minutes when I heard a loud halloo, and turning, +perceived an Arab running at full speed to me with +my powder-flask. Now, powder is what Arabs prize +more than gold even, precious stones, or tobacco, yet +they might easily have taken this without my knowing +anything. On my offering him coin worth about sixpence, +the Arab, in broken <i>lingua Franca</i>, made me +comprehend he preferred a few charges of powder, +which I immediately gave, and which he carefully +wrapped up in some old paper. I record this, because +at Tunis and elsewhere, we hear of nothing but Arab +dishonesty and thieving propensities. Is it true, and +this exception a proof of the rule? or are all these +stories false? It is hard to say.</p> +<p>They are a curious race, apparently a mass of +contradictions. One thing is certain; you must not +treat them in the <i>du haut en bas</i> style. They are very +proud, and naturally regard every Christian <i>ipso facto</i> +as individually inferior to the Mussulman, more +specially in the far interior, where Christians have +not as yet penetrated. A––– and his party had +started for Kef, <i>malgré</i> my dissuasions. The fact of a +man going to explore Punic ruins with one going to +discover Mauritanian lions, was, to my mind, like +mixing oil and vinegar, or fire and water, or eating +meat with your knife, or soup with a fork, or taking +two helpings of soup, or anything else incongruous. +D––– was to be their interpreter. The Arabs there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span> +told them that a lion can carry away a camel on his +back, but not lift a sheep. This they firmly believe. +The reason assigned is, that in former times (when +animals spoke), the lion said, “I will carry off this +sheep, with or without the consent of Allah;” and +Allah said to the lion, “You shall not;” and from +that time the monarch has never been able to lift a +sheep. At one time the man and the lion were great +friends, and the lion did not know he was stronger +than the man. One day, as they were out walking +together, a thorn ran into the lion’s foot; he limped, +and stopped to pull it out, when the man, in derision, +said, “What! so strong a creature hurt with a thorn?” +Then the lion in anger ran the thorn into the man’s +eye, who cried out with pain. This proved to the +lion the man’s inferiority, and ever after they were +declared enemies. At a place called Tibursok, +where A–––’s party passed on their road to Keff, +not a Christian, or even a Jew, were to be seen, +consequently the Arabs were very intolerant. D––– +walked into this town alone, in front of the party, +and, speaking Arabic well, questioned one of the +Arabs about some ruin, when another came up and +said, “Why do you attend to that dog of a Christian?” +D––– took no notice, when the other shouted out, +“Cursed be your father, your mother, and all the +members of your house.” D––– then collared him; +the Arab inquired, “What for?” “Because you +cursed my relatives,” said D–––, seeing the rest of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span> +the party with the Bey’s escort coming up, “and now, +just show me the Caid’s residence, and I will have you +bastinadoed.” However, as some of the other Arabs +crowded round and begged for mercy, D––– thought +it better to let him off.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XV_HOME' id='CHAPTER_XV_HOME'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<h3>HOME!</h3> +</div> +<blockquote> +<p>My fellow-passenger, the Sportsman.––Passage from Tunis to Malta +in a Sailing Vessel.––Disagreeables of the Passage.––Home, +Overland.––Conclusion.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On the steamer <i>Meludiah</i>, for Malta, I found a +sporting Frenchman on deck. He had been my +fellow-passenger from Bona to Tunis, and carried a +revolver and a gun; the first for porpoises, the second +for gulls, &c. He recounted to me, with great glee, +how he had shot a grosbeak, and some other small +birds, near Tunis, and given them to the cook on +board for our dinner. It was a Mussulman steamer, +and, being Rhamazan, they did not serve dinner till +after sunset. I was nearly famished. The first course +was salad served with rancid oil, which immediately +brought me and the Frenchman on deck. During +the rest of the passage I made Angelo serve my +repasts. The Frenchman was a character. “<i>Je +viens de perdre ma femme</i>,” he said; “<i>il y a des +femmes mechantes vous savez, Monsieur, et des femmes +bonnes; la mienne était bonne! mais bonne! Tenez, je +l’ai mis dans le cercueil moi même, et maintenant je suis +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span> +ici pour me distraire, car je n’en trouverai pas une +comme celle-là, allez. Je ferai le voyage, j’irai en +Alexandrie––n’importe où, travailler j’irai à l’Isthme de +Suez.</i>” At last we arrived in Malta. It is a pity for +officers and others there is no regular communication by +steam between Malta and Tunis; for the <i>désagrémens</i> +of a sailing-vessel are by no means despicable. Witness +a friend of mine’s report thereon:––</p> +<p>“25th.––Came on board the <i>Gemo</i> at seven <span class='smcaplc'>A.M.</span>; +went on shore again at nine, and stopped all day. +Dined and slept on board; rough living here, but no +cattle, which is a great thing.––26th. Set sail at eleven +<span class='smcaplc'>A.M.</span>; fair wind; fine day, and very hot.––27th. Rain +all night; wind light and variable, and one made but +little progress. Cape Bona still close to us this morning. +We are only going at three and three-quarter +knots per hour. A fine breeze got up at twelve, and +at seven we passed Panteleria Isle, going at seven +knots.––28th. Wind fell away early this morning, +and about eleven blew strong from the east: the worst +quarter it could for us.––29th. This accursed wind has +lasted all night, and blows harder this morning; the +sea, too, is very high. It is intensely miserable; +rough sea, bad grub, no one to talk to, no books, and +no idea when we shall reach Malta.––30th. East wind +still; an almighty swell on; one can neither sit, lie, +nor stand with comfort. The coast of Sicily is very +plain this morning. We are about forty-five miles +from Malta, but no one can say when we shall reach +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span> +it. Fresh provisions have nearly come to an end. Let +any one ever catch me on board a sailing-ship again, +unless I am forced.––1st. Half a gale, and a heavy +sea last night; got no sleep, as the ship jumped so; +and the <a name='TC_4'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'mattrass'">mattress</ins>––fancy now!––is stuffed with sticks, +and is so cursedly hard, that, after five days of it, one’s +bones ache all over. A very fine day; but this awful +wind still east. At eleven <span class='smcaplc'>A.M.</span> we were off Gozo, +only twenty miles from our destination; but it was +impossible to get there. The diet and food on board +are awful; I am nearly starved. There was only one +thing amusing. A Maltese, who slept in the other +berth near me, sneezed nine times in as many minutes; +and, after each sternutation, he went through a short +formula of prayer, beginning ‘Santo Something,’ to +keep the devil to leeward, I suppose; and, egad, I +think he must have been on board <i>in propriâ personâ</i>, +under some disguise, to have caused us so bad a passage. +This afternoon, to vary the programme pleasantly, we +had a dead calm. Our miseries seem to have no end. +I begin to think I shall rival the ‘Flying Dutchman,’ +and never make my port, but sail on for ever.––2nd. +A north-west wind sprang up at five <span class='smcaplc'>P.M.</span>, and we +reached Malta at seven.”</p> +<p>Thus, the sailing-vessel took seven days to do what +I did in thirty hours on the steamer. After the usual +amount of driving, dining, &c., at Malta, in the words +of the poet I bid</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span></div> +<table summary=''><tr><td> +<p class='cg'>Adieu to joys of La Valette,<br /> +Adieu, sirocco, sun, and sweat;<br /> +Adieu, ye females without graces,<br /> +Adieu, red coats and redder faces;<br /> +Adieu, the supercilious air<br /> +Of those that strut <i>en militaire</i>.</p> +</td></tr></table> +<p>And now the word is “homeward;” and across a +track well known to the English tourist, we journey +onward, till</p> +<table summary=''><tr><td> +<p class='cg'>The mountains of Trieste afar are seen,<br /> +And farther yet, the Alps, whose highest peak<br /> +Now glitters with a gay and snowy sheen<br /> +In the bright sun; as quick our sailors seek<br /> +An anchorage in the port, where Turk and Greek,<br /> +Swede and Levantine, and full many more,<br /> +The haughty Spaniard, and the German sleek,<br /> +All races, from the Nile unto the Nore,<br /> +Into Trieste, in many a varied costume pour.<br /> +<br /> +Along thy silent streets I wander now,<br /> +Venice, once queen, aye, empress of the sea!<br /> +Fairest in art as clime, yet sunk so low<br /> +Beneath the despot Teuton’s rule, I see<br /> +Thy halls deserted, fallen, yet in thee<br /> +Much splendour to admire there still exists.<br /> +Well could I quit my native land, and flee<br /> +The rugged northern clime, the vapid mists,<br /> +With thee to dwell, did I that only what me lists.<br /> +<br /> +The fiery car speeds on her iron way,<br /> +Through hill, o’er valley quickly do we fly.<br /> +There lies the grot of Adelberg, and day<br /> +Sees us past Gratze’s fortress hasten by<br /> +Like lightning’s flash, nor stop until we spy<br /> +St. Stephen’s dome from out the darkness peer.<br /> +Like <i>bas reliefs</i> her turrets in the sky<br /> +O’ertop Vienna, great the pious fear<br /> +Of holy men, who such vast beauteous structures rear.<br /> + +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span><br /> +There Cœur de Lion lived and almost died,<br /> +In yonder ruin gray o’erbent by time,<br /> +But that a troubadour, a servant tried,<br /> +His well-loved master sought through every clime;<br /> +Nor sought in vain, for by a simple rhyme,<br /> +A soft tuned sonnet, in a dungeon cold,<br /> +Imprisoned here he found him for no crime,<br /> +And saved. The ruins past, I now behold<br /> +Prague’s lofty palaces arise, and turrets old.<br /> +<br /> +The scene is changed by many a lovely vale:<br /> +Upon the Elbe my rapid way I went,<br /> +Where Nature reigns supreme, nor aught avail<br /> +’Gainst her the charms a Raphael’s touch can lend<br /> +To Art’s supremest works; these all depend<br /> +On light, on colour, on the master’s hand;<br /> +Nature’s own work, so thought I, as I bend<br /> +My steps through Dresden’s galleries, and stand<br /> +Before Art’s fairest deeds in this fair Saxon land!<br /> +<br /> +Swift be my verse, and swifter still my pace<br /> +(Oh, pardon me, for I’ll be sworn I bore)<br /> +By Berlin’s quays, past oft a plain, I race<br /> +To Hamburg’s crowded port, until the roar<br /> +Of ocean’s wave is heard again once more.<br /> +Once more upon the deck I stand and view<br /> +Behind that cloud arise old Albion’s shore––<br /> +Shore that I love, roast beef, plum-pudding too,<br /> +Pale ale, the <i>Times</i>, and scandal, like a Briton true.</p> +</td></tr></table> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span> +<a name='NOTES_FOR_THE_SPORTSMAN_OR_TOURIST_IN_NORTH_AFRICA' id='NOTES_FOR_THE_SPORTSMAN_OR_TOURIST_IN_NORTH_AFRICA'></a> +<h2>NOTES FOR THE SPORTSMAN OR TOURIST<br />IN NORTH AFRICA.</h2> +</div> +<p>The best time to go to Algeria or Tunis is October, +when the heats of summer begin to become cooler. +By all means, let the traveller, if he wish to be independent, +travel on horseback. In Algeria he will meet +with accommodation everywhere, and proceed as safely +as in London, or any part of England.</p> +<p>He can go to Boussada or Laghouat, about six days’ +journey from Algiers, staying every night at caravanserais +<i>en route</i>. Boussada I did not visit myself, but +from rumour, I believe, there is excellent gazelle +shooting in the neighbourhood. By the plains of +Boussada, the tourist can pass into Tunisia over the +French frontier. At Algiers, the best hotels are the +Hôtel d’Orient and the Hôtel de la Régence, on the +Grande Place. For ammunition, I recommend Huèt, +armourer, near the English Consul’s; and for horses––François +or Francisco, a Maltese, who speaks French +and English. The grand thing to be considered is +economy of space. Let every necessary for clothing, +if possible, be crammed into the saddle-bags attached +to one’s saddle, as ammunition, guns, &c. &c., must +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span> +be placed on the other horses. Well did the Romans +call baggage by the appellation of <i>impedimenta</i>. In +this country it is so literally, not figuratively. It is +absolutely necessary to have an interpreter who can +talk Arabic; for though in Algeria there are many +natives who jabber broken French or Italian, even this +<i>lingua Franca</i> is so disguised that it is almost impossible +to comprehend them; and in the interior there +are very few “indigènes” who understand anything but +Arabic. In Tunisia nothing but Arabic is of any use +whatever.</p> +<p>To travel in the interior of Tunis, it is necessary to +have a mounted escort, and also a letter of recommendation +to the “Caids” (mayors) of the different +towns through which you pass. Here you must expect +a great want of comfort, as there are no beds, and you +generally have to sleep on the floor. On the Lake of +Tunis, close to the city, there is very good flamingo +shooting. The flamingoes sit on the water in rows like +a regiment, and the method I employed in shooting +them was as follows:––I used to take a boat with my +gun loaded with buckshot (chevrotine), and my rifle. +I fired my rifle at the line of flamingoes when about +400 yards off, which used to bring them flying over the +boat for curiosity, when I managed, generally with my +gun, to bring down one or two. This is, I am sure, +the best way of shooting them, though several Europeans +told me at Tunis I could shoot them with the +rifle.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span></div> +<p>The shortest way direct to Tunis is by Malta; and, +in passing, let the sporting tourist visit Gozo, where, +in April and September, there is excellent quail +shooting.</p> +<p>The inhabitants of this isle are a simple, primitive +race of people, very lively and intelligent; they speak +nearly a pure Arabic. They live chiefly by fishing, +and also serve as sailors in foreign vessels, where they +remain sometimes entire years without being heard of +by their families. In this way they often find a watery +grave; and in the isle I met some females, whose male +relations had all perished in this way.</p> +<p>Navigation appears to have a great charm for these +simple islanders; and when they sail along these +southern waters, where the sun shines with a brilliant +lustre, and the moon with a fairy splendour, they +forget not the simple home where the members of +their family are crouched side by side, enveloped in a +sort of bournouse, and drinking perhaps tea which +differs only nominally from the tepid waters of the +surrounding ocean, and gabbling a jargon which one +can scarcely believe that they understand themselves. +The charm which binds these poor people together in +their sober and modest existence is less the <i>penchant</i> +of natural and intimate affection, than the chain of +habit, the necessity of a life of fraternal community +and sentiment. A certain equality of position and +social development gives them the same desires, the +same ends of existence, and like ideas produce an +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span> +easy mutual understanding. Each one reads, as it +were, in the eye of the other; and when they talk, +each knows what the other will say almost before he +has opened his lips. All the ordinary relations of life +are thus present to their memory; and so, by a simple +intonation of the voice, by the expression of the +visage, by a mute gesture, they excite, <i>inter se</i>, as +many smiles or tears, more joy or vexation, than we, +among our equals, could perhaps evoke by the longest +demonstrations or declarations. For we civilised ones +live, on an average, in intellectual solitude; each of +us, thanks to our particular form of mind or education, +has received a different bias of character; each of +us, morally weighed, thinks, acts, and believes differently +from his neighbour; and hence misunderstandings +arise so frequently among us, that, even in the +largest families, life in common becomes difficult, and +we are often, as it were, apart, utterly unknown one +to another, and everywhere feel ourselves as on strange +territory.</p> +<p>Races, indeed, have lived––aye, for centuries––in +a state of community of ideas and sentiments +such as I have described in the Isle of Gozo. +Perhaps, but only perhaps, the Roman Church of the +Middle Ages wished to establish among the nations +of Catholic Europe such a state of equality and uniformity +of spirit. Hence, no doubt, the reason why +she took under her guardianship all the social relations, +all the force and manifestations of this life––in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span> +fine, man himself, moral and physical man. I will +not deny, nor will any one else, that much peaceful +happiness, much piety has been established by these +means; that human existence in the Middle Ages took +an expression of greater fervour and intimacy; that +the arts, like flowers, mysteriously developed, unfolded +then, and showed to the day a beauty we now +admire and deplore, and that the rash and unquiet +spirit of modern days cannot imitate. But mind has +its rights from all eternity; mind will not be fettered +by dogmas, or lulled to sleep by the ringing of a bell; +mind has cast aside his swaddling-clothes, and broken +the string by which his nurse (the Roman Church) +held him, and, in the madness and intoxication of +his holiday, has rounded the globe, has traversed all +nations, has scaled the Himalayas, and, returning +again to Mother Earth, has begun to meditate over +the wonders of creation by day, and the stars of +heaven by night. We know not, indeed, nor ever +shall, perhaps, the number of the stars that shine in +the canopy of heaven; we have not yet unveiled the +dread mysteries of earth or of sea. Enough: many +enigmas are resolved; we know much––we guess at +still more. There remains one question unsolved––it +is this: Is there more real felicity in our minds now +than there was in ancient times? I will confess that +if we look at the many, now-a-days, we could scarcely +answer this question in the affirmative; yet, it must +also be remembered that happiness, which is in part due +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span> +to mental tyranny, is scarcely true happiness, and that +in the few moments of real intellectual dignity some +educated man can enjoy more real felicity than the +uneducated coal-heaver during many years of uninquiring +tranquillity.</p> +<p>But while, with a certain benevolence, I was dilating +on the intentions of the Roman Church, I find myself +all of a sudden seized with a zeal worthy of Exeter +Hall. So I return to my Gozo friends. Living among +these simple, Christian islanders, of Moorish descent, one +is apt to meditate on the mighty transformations which +have swept over Europe and left them untouched.</p> +<p>The reason I recommend the route <i>viâ</i> Malta and +Tunis, instead of passing by Algiers, as I did, is the +miserable accommodation on board the steamers between +Tunis and Algiers. The passengers on these boats +are chiefly bagmen and colonists of different nations. +We had a Savoyard, a Spaniard, and two or three +Frenchmen and Italians at one table; and the noise, +and row, and heat after dinner were very edifying. +Bottles were quickly emptied, and heads as quickly +filled. One of the guests sung songs; another +neighed; a third shouted in tragic verse; a fourth +spoke Latin; and a fifth preached temperance; a +sixth gave himself out for a professor, and his lecture +was nearly as follows:––“The earth, my friends, is a +cylinder, and men are but little diminutive dots +spread over its surface, apparently at hazard; but +<i>voilà</i>, the cylinder takes a fancy to turn, the little +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span> +dots are hustled about, some here, others there, and so +emit a sort of vibratory sound, some frequently, others +more rarely; and this is the marvellous, complicated +music that men call universal history,” &c. &c. A +fat-looking German, who kept his nose continually +dipped in a glass of punch, inhaling the steam with a +very gratified look, observed that he felt as though he +was in the refreshment saloon of the Berlin theatre; +while the Savoyard kept looking at us through his glass, +as though it were a <i>lorgnette</i>, and the red wine streamed +down his purple cheeks into his gaping jaws.</p> +<p>And now to proceed to matters of sport. With +regard to small game, partridges, ducks, quails, +rabbits, &c., there is abundance to be found in +Algeria. Near Algiers there is hawking of partridges +and hares among the Arab tribes; and, before the +French occupation, falconry was the especial amusement +of the Arab aristocracy. For shooting of +small game I would more especially recommend +a caravanserai called Oued el Massin, about half +way between Milianah and Teniet. Partridges +and woodcock abound there; the quarters, moreover, +are remarkably good, and the <i>cuisine</i>, +superintended by my friend, Mr. Ball, is by +no means despicable. From Oued el Massin, a +day’s journey beyond Milianah, I am convinced +excellent shooting may be obtained with a couple of +good pointers. Quails are also very numerous. +Aquatic birds abound in Algeria, more especially on +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span> +the lake Fetzara, near Bona, in the province of Constantine. +Nothing is more beautiful than the lake +Fetzara at sunrise; on its banks are a thousand plants +and flowers of every colour and hue, and on its waters +repose birds of every description and plumage. As +yet it is dusk; everything animal and vegetable is in +repose; but with the first ray of the sun come +sounds and cries of every imaginable description, and +thousands, aye, myriads, of birds are everywhere on +the wing. In the impetuosity of their flight, they +shake, as it were, the plants and flowers on the border +of the lake, who thus pay their morning salute to the +sun of Africa. A small barque, however, advances +(<i>vide</i> picture), and from this frail skiff suddenly +appears the flash of a gun. In a moment the whole +air is in motion; grebes with their beautiful plumage, +flamingoes with flaming wings, wild swans, and ducks, +and teals, by thousands whirl through the air.</p> +<p>Is it really to be believed that Nature has affixed (so +to speak) some danger to everything charming? One +is almost tempted to say so, after examining the enchanting +borders of this lake, whose azure waters flow +from the mountainous frontier of Tunisia to the opulent +plains of Bona. You botanists, who are attracted by +the singular colour or strange beauty of some plant or +flower here, beware how you approach. Under this +magnificent vegetation a trap––a mortal trap––is laid: +the banks are of quick-sand! One step, and you meet +death––a horrible death. The earth gives way, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span> +you disappear without a trace, for those delicious +flowers and plants close up their ranks again, like +immortelles over your sepulchre. Listen:––A French +cavalry officer came from Bona to shoot flamingoes +on this lake. He was accompanied by his servant, also +on horseback. He shot a flamingo, who tumbled just +on the border of the lake, and dispatched his servant +to fetch the bird. At three or four yards from the bird, +the soldier disappeared with his horse; and some Arabs, +coming up, at the cries of the officer (for the Mussulman +believes that the genius of the lake, propitious to +Mahometans, devours the profane European), with +difficulty saved his servant. As soon as the soldier +was out of danger, he cried out, with all the gasconade +of a Frenchman, “<i>Je ne laisserai pas là ce maudit +oiseau, cause de ma mésaventure!</i>” In spite of the +energetic dissuasions of the natives, whom, by the +way, he could not understand, he advanced on foot; +but the earth opened again––he disappeared. One +moment his head remained above this liquid ground, +one moment he cried for aid, and the abyss had +swallowed its prey. However, at certain points, this +lake is quite approachable; and, there being several +barques, excellent sport may be had. I would, however, +recommend sportsmen to procure a letter of +introduction to some neighbouring grandee. There is +an excellent caravanserai close by, at Ain Mokra. +For gazelles one must go quite into the interior of the +desert––to Boussada and Laghouat––in the great +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span> +Sahara desert. Ghazella is, in the Arab language, +the synonym for beauty and velocity.</p> +<p>Those persons who really desire sport, however, I +would recommend to travel from Algiers to Tunisia by +land, and, if possible, let them pass by Kef, which is +the frontier town. In the vicinity of this town there are, +no doubt, plenty of lions; and my friend (who visited +it with Dr. Davies, the celebrated explorer and excavator +at Carthage) heard of several there, though his +stay was so short that he did not succeed in bagging +one. For lion-hunting, as for many other things, “<i>il +faut bien de la patience</i>.” Thus it very frequently +happens that a man may search without success for +months and months for the whereabouts of a lion, and +then, suddenly, when your hunter is least prepared for +it, and perhaps unarmed, the monarch of the desert +will present himself to his astonished gaze. Notwithstanding +the formidable character attributed to the +lion, he will rarely attack any man unless previously +molested. There are three sorts of lions in North +Africa––the black, the tawny, and the grey, though +the latter is by some supposed to be the same genus as +the tawny, only grizzled by age. There are two ways +of hunting the lion, by day and by night. That by +day is by battue, when a whole tribe turns out to +“beard the lion in his den” and make him break +cover. Those who are well armed are posted at the +outlets of the cover or beaten tracks by which the lion +generally passes; any Europeans who assist are usually +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span> +so stationed; they, however, need have but little fear, +for the monarch almost always attacks the <i>tawny</i> native +by preference. Is it from sympathy of colour, <i>similia +similibus gaudent</i>, or from a sort of instinct that the +European is better armed, or because he supposes the +Arab will make a better repast? The other way of +killing the lion is in ambuscade, of which there are +two or three kinds. Sometimes the hunters dig a hole +in the ground near the spot where the lion is in the +habit of passing by night; over this hole they throw +branches of trees, which they cover with stones and +mortar; they then place some bait near, which can +be commanded through holes made in the covering, +and when the lion approaches to examine the carcase, +he is immediately brought down. Another way of +shooting is from a tree. My friend, Count Zamoyski, +who has a residence at the Lake Fetzara, shot several +in this way. I will, however, refer the reader to +Jules Gérard’s book for a description of this kind of +sport. I did not stay long enough in North Africa to +be able to judge of it myself. What I recount now +with regard to lion hunting is from hearsay, not from +personal experience.</p> +<p>The panther is a more dangerous animal than the +lion, and much more cunning. Like his relative, the +cat, he is very difficult to kill, and it must be a well-directed +ball through the head or heart that will +prevent him from avenging his wound. For the rest, +he is hunted much as the lion. I will not mention +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span> +the jackal and hyena, both of which animals can be +shot after dusk from the tent or hut, by throwing out +some carcase or bait before sunset to attract them. +Let us pass to that animal which, in my opinion, of all +creatures presents by far the best sport on the coast of +Barbary––I mean, of course, the wild boar, or halouf, +as he is called in the Arabic language.</p> +<p>I had long had a desire to hunt the halouf. On +my arrival at the Caid’s house at Solyman (about +twenty miles from Tunis), an old Arab named +Mahmoud was sent for, who was reported to be, like +Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord and before +the tribes.</p> +<p>The next day we started before sunrise to the +river, where the boar was supposed to be.</p> +<p><i>En route</i> I questioned my Arab by interpreter. +“The halouf,” he replied, “when wounded, is as dangerous +as the lion. I have,” he continued, “myself +seen a boar repulse the attack of a young lion.”</p> +<p>Of boars there are no doubt plenty in Tunisia. +They are fond of lying in the thickest brushwood, +what the French call <i>broussailles</i>, and the main difficulty +is to drive them out. It requires some one +perfectly conversant with Arabic, and having some +authority over the natives, to make them beat properly; +otherwise, in a short time they will give over, +and pretend that there is nothing there. The best +localities for boar are near Solyman, in Tunisia, and +Biserta, about fifty miles from Tunis. As for Algeria, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span> +the country is now so much frequented by Europeans +of all nations, who frighten, if they do not kill, the +game, that one has to go a long way into the interior +before any sport can be met with.</p> +<p>The French talk a great deal about “<i>la chasseaux +panthères</i>” and “<i>la chasse aux lions</i>,” &c. &c.; but, +in my humble opinion, their forte is “<i>la chasse aux +dames</i>” or, in plain Saxon English, the success of the +“<i>salon</i>.” Let me conclude with a few words regarding +regimen. In this burning climate, above all things +observe temperance. I do not mean by that expression +that you must be a teetotaller, but the more you +can abstain from heating liquids or solids, the better. +The other extreme, too, is bad; too much lemonade, +or water, or sherbet, is apt to produce diarrhœa. +Nature seems to have indicated to the Arabs the best +beverage in this zone, both to quench thirst and to +preserve health, viz., coffee; but as on a march or +out shooting you cannot always stop to have a fire lit, +the next best drink is a little weak brandy and water, +which you should carry from where you start in the +morning, as the water of the rivers is pestiferous. To +avoid fever or malaria, I would always take a small +quantity of bark of quinine. During the time I was +in Africa I enjoyed most excellent health, as I believe +everybody may who takes the commonest precautions, +and does not indulge, as he may with impunity in +more northern climes.</p> +<p>Finally, let me give one piece of advice to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span> +sportsman. If he comes to these countries with the +expectation that he can, as in England, go out with +his gun of a morning and return with his bag full in +the evening to a capital dinner, he had better stay at +home. To do anything in this country, a man must +make his mind up to long and fatiguing marches in +the heat of the day, with miserable quarters often at +night, in places infested by vermin of every description; +in a word, he must be content to rough it. I +will also candidly own that, from the accounts I had +previously received, I was very much disappointed as +regards the quantity of large game to be found in +these parts; still, I was, to a certain extent, indemnified +for this by the pleasure of visiting a beautiful +country, a remarkable people, and magnificent scenery, +the entire appearance of which is utterly unlike what +one is accustomed to see in the hackneyed countries +of modern continental Europe.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span> +<a name='ITINERARY_CARTE' id='ITINERARY_CARTE'></a> +<h2>ITINERARY CARTE.</h2> +</div> +<p><span class='smcap'>Route</span>––from London to Marseilles, about forty-eight +hours. Marseilles, Hôtel d’Orient.</p> +<p>Marseilles to Algiers, average passage, three days. +Hotels––Hôtel de la Régence and Hôtel de Paris, +both good.</p> +<p>Algiers to Blidah––horse or diligence––about five +hours; Blidah to Medeah––horse or diligence––about +eight hours; Blidah to Milianah, about fourteen +hours. Blidah––Hôtel de la Régence; +Medeah––Hôtel du Gastronome; Milianah––Hôtel +d’Iffly.</p> +<p>Milianah to Teniet, two days, staying at Oued el +Massin, caravanserai; Teniet to Boghar, two +days; Boghar to Laghouat, extremity of French +frontier in Great Sahara Desert, three days.</p> +<p>From there visit Boussada for Gargelles, thence to +Constantine, five days; Constantine to Lake Fetzara +and Bona, one day. Bona––Hôtel de France.</p> +<p>Another way, is to return to Algiers and proceed by +sea to Bona, passing Boujie, and Djidjelli, and +Philippeville, about forty-eight hours.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></div> +<p>From Bona to Tunis, by sea, about eighteen hours; +or by land, <i>viâ</i> Keff, the frontier town of Tunisia +and Algeria, about six days; an escort required. +Tunis––Hôtel de France.</p> +<p>Tunis to Solyman, four hours; Tunis to Biserta, +fourteen hours.</p> +<p>On horseback, take two flannel shirts, one change of +boots, and bournouse, &c. Average expense per +diem, with horse and servant, twenty-five francs. +I had three horses and one interpreter, and my +expenses averaged £1 10s. <i>par jour</i>.</p> +<p style='font-size:1.2em; text-align:center; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:2em;'>THE END.</p> +<hr class='mini' /> +<p style='font-size:0.8em; text-align:center; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:5em;'>PETTER AND GALPIN, BELLE SAUVAGE PRINTING WORKS, LUDGATE HILL, E.C.</p> +<hr class='pb' /> +<div class='trnote'> +<p><b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'>Illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs. +The page numbers in the List of Illustrations do not reflect the new +placement of the illustrations, but are as in the original.</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'>Author’s archaic and variable spelling and hyphenation is preserved.</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'>Author’s punctuation style is preserved.</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'>Any missing page numbers in this HTML version refer to blank or un-numbered pages in the original.</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'>Typographical problems have been changed and these are +<ins class="trchange" title="Was 'hgihligthed'">highlighted</ins>.</p> +<p style='margin-top:2em;'><b>Transcriber’s Changes:</b></p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'><a href='#toc'>Page 5</a>: Original Table of Contents lists Chapter III as page 17.</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'><a href='#TC_1'>Page 8</a>: Was ’unhapy’ (his cutting sarcasm, and the <b>unhappy</b> frivolity which defaces the works of the man)</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'><a href='#TC_2'>Page 30</a>: Was ’Kadir’ (<span class='smcap'>Further Experiences</span>:––Abd-el-<b>Kader</b> (but not the Emir)––Difficult Road)</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'><a href='#TC_3'>Page 33</a>: Was ’twent’ (The Arab had fired at the brute at <b>twenty</b> paces, but missed his aim.)</p> +<p style='margin-left:1.0em'><a href='#TC_4'>Page 85</a>: Was ’mattrass’ (and the <b>mattress</b>––fancy now!––is stuffed with sticks, and is so cursedly hard)</p> +</div> + +<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: 3.15 --> +<!-- timestamp: Tue Nov 17 19:24:01 +0700 2009 --> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes in North Africa, by W. 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