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outraged by having their tombs and marabuts destroyed to form the material of the road.

With the climate of Algiers I was, I confess, disappointed. No doubt, in comparison with England, it is far superior, but it cannot be spoken of as approaching, in any way, to that of Madeira or the Canaries. The daily temperature ranged during our stay from 57° at 9 A. M. to 63° at 3 P. M.; the average mean temperature during the day was about 60°. But the nights are cold, falling as low as 54° or 53° in the evening. The dews are very heavy, but the people all congratulate themselves upon the fineness of this season, rarely remembering a Christmas without heavy rain. In the summer, the heat rises from 85° to 90°, and when southerly winds prevail, it is very trying; the most wholesome are the north and west. The rainy season is November, and the coldest January and February, when they have generally a white frost on the ground in the mornings. The society and amusements, so necessary to an invalid, are not to be found here, and its present unsettled condition and want of accommodation render it by no means so attractive as other spots in the Mediterranean. You have not the same power of varying your climate as in those insular mountain countries I have mentioned, and the glare of the whitewashed houses is very disagreeable. I have no doubt, however, that if the French retain this country a few years longer,

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A SHOOTING EXCURSION.

Algiers will be extolled as a place of repute for the invalid, when it possesses all the luxuries of France; being, besides, the only available spot on the African side of the Mediterranean.

On the 26th, we crossed the bay to the river Haratoh. With much difficulty we forced the boat over the bar, and proceeded some way up this muddy stream, which is scarcely deep enough to float a gig of any size. The banks were clothed with underwood, oleanders, reeds, and cacti. At the entrance, the French have erected two forts. Game of every kind is in the greatest abundance along the banks. We left our boat at a bridge some way up, and commenced our shooting excursion on the plain of Metijah, the part of which bordering Algiers has been portioned out to the French, who so far from being able to cultivate, dare not even visit it without an armed escort. The marshes along the border swarm with snipe, which got up in flocks of hundreds; but the walking was very fatiguing, being up to our knees in water, suffocated by the reeds and bushes around, which prevented us seeing twenty yards in any direction, and a scorching sun overhead. There were red-legged partridges, larger than any I ever saw before; plover, and a small bustard called poule de Carthage, and two descriptions of woodcock, a large and a small, bearing the same proportions to each other as the jack does to the common snipe. I inquired, but could not hear of the double or

GAME.

solitary snipe being found.

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Prodigious flocks of starlings rise from the reeds; flamingoes are occasionally got in the marshes, and I observed two or three specimens of the tinto negro here, as well as at Teneriffe. In all probability, this is an African bird, and was thence imported to Madeira, where it forms the chief ornament of their woods and gardens. I saw two land rails, and was informed that they did not emigrate. Teal, widgeon, and other waterfowl are in the greatest abundance.

In the more upland country we met jackals, and the ichneumon and porcupine; the latter considered a great delicacy, and exposed in the markets, as at Rome. Wild boars abound in the thickets, but though we saw numerous tracks, we were not fortunate enough to meet with any. The greater part of the plain we passed over is covered with the yellow narcissus, as well as the squill and asphodel. While in the jungle, a herd of small cattle, with a fierce aspect, started up, and completely surrounded me, bellowing loudly, frisking their tails, and showing every disposition to mischief. Some Arabs in the neighbourhood, scarcely less savage in appearance, came providentially to my rescue, and beat them off. Probably no country in the world presents such inducements to the sportsman. In addition to the minor game, there is said to be lion and panther shooting along the borders of the Atlas mountains, and hyenas are common. The dromedary is a smaller and darker

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OCCUPATION BY THE FRENCH.

breed than that of the Canaries. The rocks are principally micaceous schist.

The houses and public buildings are constructed principally of bricks, but the French have opened a quarry near the town. I was struck with the manner of constructing the mole used by the Algerines. A number of large, square, wooden cases were filled with a concrete, composed of the finest mortar and stones, broken as small as those used in road-making. It remained in this state till it hardened, when the cases were removed, and the mass left exposed to the air some time longer. Some of these measured ten or twelve feet square. Levers were now placed under them, and they were shoved down into the sea, without ever breaking.

It is time to ask ourselves the important questions-"What have the French done for Algiers? --and how has its change of masters affected England?" To the first, I think every conscientious writer must answer, nothing. The eyes of Europe have been turned upon it for some time, anxiously waiting the result. The French, to be sure, have made a great noise about its capture, and their possessions in the north of Africa; but it is already beginning to appear, even to themselves, a bad speculation. No doubt they were called on to resent the insult offered to their consul, whom the Dey struck in the face with his fan, as well as other aggressions of the natives. But as to their talk of philanthropy,

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and abolishing slavery, it is sheer nonsense; it being a well-known fact, that since our treaty in 1816, and enforced in 1823, there has been little or no Christian slavery in Algiers. They have now been in possession eight years, during which time they have put a new lantern on the lighthouse, made one or two roads, widened a few of the streets, and erected a small pillar opposite the lazaretto, to commemorate their glorious victory!!

Confidence has not been restored; there is no faith between them and the natives, no intercourse whatever with the interior, and during the period of my visit the self-constituted chief, Abd-el-Kadir, whom the French policy acknowledges, was on the hills with large bands of Arabs, threatening war unless he be allowed to have the American consul his political agent at Algiers—a trick worthy the wily Arab, who thus hoped to possess the means of ascertaining the French movements, without the chance (in case of war) of his agent being obliged to depart. True it is, the towns of Boojeiah and Constantina have fallen into their hands, but are they in possession of the territories attached to those places? No; they have conquered the cities, but not colonized Algiers. Achmet Bey, the powerful chief of Constantina, is still in existence, but as yet his treasure (one of the greatest in the world) lies buried in the citadel of his late city, he having concealed

VOL. I.

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