Robert Lambert Playfair

“ The former sends the wood for sale to Batna, Constantine and elsewhere; the latter supplies the public works in process of construction at Ain Khenchla, to which place there is a road practicable for carts. No more pleasant spot could be found for a halt. The traveller might fancy himself in one of the finest parts of Switzerland, but with a new and delightful sensation added, the scent of the freshly sawn cedar with which the air is embalmed. If he is a sportsman he may chance to get a shot at a lion. This is perhaps the only part of the Aures where they still exist. ”

“ Peaceful and smiling as this valley seems, it is occupied by a sturdy and truculent race, whom one would rather meet as friends than as foes, and it is the refuge of all the unquiet spirits who have made the plains of Tunis or the frontiers of Algeria too hot to hold them. While we were examining the ruins I have just described, a party of ill-looking fellows kept creeping up to us, dodging from tree to tree, to escape as much as possible our observation. ”

“ I said I was no Turk, but a poor Christian physician, a Derwich, that went about the world seeking to do good for the love of God, and was flying [293] from famine, which I had found in that country, and was going to Greece, where I might get bread. He asked me whether I was not a Candiot or Cretan? I said I had never been in Crete, but came from Tunis, and was going there to seek bread, having lost everything in the shipwreck of that vessel. I said this in so despairing a tone of voice that there was no doubting left with the Arab that it was true. ”

“ The court of the temples is full of fragments of capitals, cornices, and architraves, every one a gem, which he has thus ruthlessly broken up, and some of those yet unbroken have mineholes drilled in them ready for explosion. The fine paved road leading from the upper triumphal arch, which was tolerably complete when Guérin visited Sbeitla, is now almost annihilated; enough only remains to show its original size and direction. The fragments of slabs, broken up and ready to be calcined, still remain in heaps on the spot. ”

“ On the opposite side of the pass are Babor, Ta-Babor, crowned with their forests of cedar and pinsapo, and the mountains of the Beni Abbas complete the panorama, while the ever-present mamelon of Akbou, surrounded by a great stretch of level ground, thickly covered with olive groves, occupies the foreground to the south. The effects of light and shade at sunrise can never be forgotten. I have travelled through Algeria in every direction, and in most of the Regency of Tunis as well, but I know of nothing so grand as the view from the Col de Chellata and the short ride between Boni and Geläa. ”

“ Perhaps the most remarkable of the ruins is one due east of the citadel; it must have been a building of immense size, but it is impossible from its present appearance to form any conjecture as to its original destination. The walls, which were built of rubble masonry, of great thickness, have been rent asunder into huge masses, too large to have been moved by any mere mechanical power likely to have been employed, and yet they lie scattered about, without any apparent order, in every direction. ”

“ The hill which bounds the north side of this plain is Djebel Tella; at its foot is a small stream; and from its summit the first view is obtained of the sea and the Lake of Bizerta, along the eastern bank of which the road now runs. At thirty-two and a half miles from Tunis is Menzel-Djemil, well named the beautiful resting-place, despite of the filth with which it is surrounded. The narrow neck of land, which here separates the lake from the sea, is a perfect garden covered with plantations of fruit and olive trees and fields of corn. ”

“ The enormous amount and the magnificent character of the Roman ruins still existing in and around the Aures show how extensive their occupation of the country was. All the fertile plains and valleys must have been appropriated by them, and their hands being as prompt to suppress insurrection as to uphold military discipline, the native races were, no doubt, either entirely assimilated to their conquerors, or driven to mountains and deserts, where even the Roman power was unfelt. ”

“ What the date is to the Sahara, the olive is to the Sahel; it thrives almost everywhere, and seems to content itself with the most brackish water, or even without any except that which falls from heaven during the winter months. All along the coast there are fine plantations, containing glorious old trees, but there is not the least sign of a young one being planted, or of anyone attempting to increase the size of the grove bequeathed to him by his ancestors. During all my travels in Tunis I only saw one solitary exception to this, in the plantation of General Kheir-ed-din before alluded to. ”

“ His fears were too well founded: when we reached the right bank of the Oued el-Kebir, which enters the sea close to the island of Tabarca, we found it a deep and rapid river, over which no animal, far less a laden mule, could pass. And although we saw the island and the Bey’s fort not a mile beyond us, we had no alternative but to turn round and seek the hospitality of some douar of the dreaded tribe of Khomair. ”

“ May I dedicate to you the following pages, written to illustrate the earliest travels of your ancestor, James Bruce; and to make known a portion of that priceless collection of drawings, too long shut up in the muniment room of Kinnaird, which you have so kindly and so unreservedly placed at my disposal?
Although you are the sole heiress of the illustrious traveller, all the world are co-heirs with you in his fame and in the result of his explorations; and they will tender to you their sincerest thanks for restoring to them so important a part of their heritage. ”

“ When we had crossed a rather barren ridge we suddenly found ourselves in the plain of El-Badja, a continuous stretch of as fine corn-land as it is possible to see in any country. Not only is the soil naturally fertile, but the crops seem to be cultivated and kept clean with the greatest care. Altogether we pronounced it the best specimen of Arab agriculture we had seen in Tunis.
This town of El-Badja is the chief place of a district, which, together with the territory of the Bou-Salem and that of Tabarca, is governed by a Kaid, a fine old Miralai, named Si Ounas el-Adjaimi. ”

“ The very means which she took to arrest the progress of her enemies predisposed the minds of her people against her, and contributed to her downfall. She destroyed all the towns and farms in which the Arabs could obtain shelter, and burnt those magnificent forests, which made the whole country between Tripoli and Tangier one continuous garden. This would naturally have been put down as an exaggeration or mere tradition, but for the chain of Roman ruins still existing to prove how richly cultivated and how densely peopled the country once was, much of which is now all but desert. ”

“ Long years of misgovernment, of rapacity in high quarters, of brigandage encouraged for private ends, and of Mohammedan intolerance for everything like progress and civilisation, have produced their natural results. No nation can remain stationary; if it does not progress, it must rapidly retrograde; and nowhere is the contrast between ancient magnificence and present decadence more plainly visible than in the Regency of Tunis. ”

“ Here we were met by Si Ismael, the Kaid of Khenchla, quite a different type from any we had seen before. He is a young and handsome Lieutenant of Spahis, belonging to one of the best families in the province of Oran. He speaks French with perfect fluency, and both frequents and seems to enjoy European society.
This place takes its name from a beautiful and copious spring situated just on the edge of the forest, and at the top of a rich clearing, which it serves to irrigate. There is no village here, but both a civil and a military establishment for preparing cedar timber. ”

“ The streets were every night strewed with people dead or dying with hunger.
Bengazi was situated upon a promontory, which, having lost considerably to the sea, is now, where broadest, less than half-a-mile. Nothing now remains but its port, which, though dangerous in its entry, is certainly the best anywhere on the coast of the kingdom of Tripoli. ”

“ The French have done great things for Algeria, and the world owes them a deep debt of gratitude for having converted a nest of pirates and robbers into one of the most charming countries in the Mediterranean: but it is devoutly to be wished that they would do a little more for archæology, or rather establish a strict conservancy of all their venerable ruins, which otherwise will soon disappear everywhere as completely and as unnecessarily as they have done at Cherchel and Constantine. ”

“ The young lads of the village are as sturdy little fellows as one could meet anywhere, with clean and muscular limbs, of bold and independent carriage, and with none [80] of that shrinking timidity, which makes the children of an Arab village retreat behind the shelter of their dogs at the approach of a Roumi.
The inevitable dhiffa was, of course, awaiting us here; we had always to get through two daily; there was a strong family resemblance between them all, the staple dishes being the same, a sheep roasted whole, and piles of couscousou, washed down by beakers of milk ”

“ A favourite means of catching the larger kind is for a man to station himself at the prow of a boat under one of the arches of the bridge, with a ten-pronged grane in his hand and a vessel of oil beside him. From time to time he sprinkles a few drops of oil on the surface to calm its ripples and enable him to see the larger fish passing, and these he spears with great dexterity. Wild fowl of all kinds are numerous on the lake, and for quail and snipe its banks are a sportsman’s paradise. ”

“ Even in modern days the same destruction of forests has been continued, if not wantonly or for purposes of defence, as in the time of the early Arab conquerors, still as surely, by the carelessness of their descendants, who never hesitate to set fire to a wood to improve the pasturage, or to cut down a tree when timber is required, but who never dream of planting another, or even of protecting those which spring up spontaneously, from being destroyed by their flocks and herds. ”

“ The entire Regency of Tunis must, during the Roman occupation, have contained little short of twenty million inhabitants, while now, the most favourable estimate places the population at not more than a million and a half. Day after day, in traversing these arid and treeless plains, intersected by watercourses in which no water flows, the soil covered with sand and stones incapable of supporting vegetable life, we pondered over the causes which had turned a region once so fertile almost into a desert. ”

“ It has long been the custom to employ carts as a means of transport in Tunis. Bruce received a present of one from the wife of the Bey, ‘exactly like those of the bakers in England;’ this he found exceedingly useful for the transport of his instruments, and at times, for the feeblest of his attendants. Our Maltese friend was anxious that we should take karatonis for our baggage instead of mules, but I was too old a traveller to listen to his suggestions; they do well enough on the plains, but amongst the mountains they could not advance a mile. ”

“ Perhaps they might not have adopted such extreme measures; but it is quite certain, that there is not a man along the frontier line, who would permit a Frenchman to advance a step after he was observed; and even an Englishman would find it impossible to penetrate from Algeria. The Khomair are very like Arabs everywhere else when removed from civilisation, wild and fanatical while their suspicions are aroused, but as tractable as children when these are allayed. When a traveller can make them laugh, the victory is gained ”

“ I determined, however, to visit every ruin in Algeria and Tunis which he had illustrated, and so to plan my route as to include all that was most picturesque and instructive in a country hardly at all known to the modern traveller.
No traveller has ever had to contend against a greater amount of ill-deserved obloquy than Bruce. There is hardly an act of his life or a statement in his writings that has not been questioned or received with incredulity ”

“ A new and highly profitable branch of trade has sprung up within the last few years, the salting and preparation of sardines, which bids fair to become one of the staple industries of Algeria. But its former history interested us more than its actual condition. The traveller going from Bone to Tunis usually touches here for a short time, and it is right that he should know what an important part it once played in the relations between France and the Barbary States. ”

“ Doric order, frusta of columns without fluting of any description, soffits decorated with geometric forms, small entablatures, evidently belonging to the interior of the ruined part of the building, and fragments of the superior cornice. No doubt, the square pillars supported columns crowned with a pediment of some sort, and leaving between them an open vista to expose to view and protect some notable object, such as a statue or a sarcophagus.
The whole building is formed of beautifully cut stone, joined with great perfection. No trace of mortar can be perceived. ”

“ No man is a better judge of architectural drawings than my esteemed friend Monsieur César Daly. I submitted two of them only for his inspection, and these by no means the most remarkable of the series—the Triumphal Arch and the Capitol of Timegad, which we had visited together. His opinion is worthy of being recorded:—‘The architectural conscience of Bruce exceeds that of most of the best architectural draughtsmen of his time, which nevertheless was rich in talent of this nature. You may remember with what care I myself designed the triumphal arch at Timegad. ”

“ The city is full of dervishes, not only the half-witted creatures of both sexes, whose infirmity is supposed to be a sign of divine favour, but men of intelligence, who really are animated by a strong sentiment of religion, and of pure and humble life, who reckon every day lost till their entrance into the joys of paradise.
It is extremely difficult to form anything like an accurate estimate of the population of such a city as this. ”

“ Instead of encamping within the circle of the ruins there, we proceeded a little further on, and pitched our tent in a charming dell, full of clear springs and rich grass, and shaded by a grove of fig-trees, nearly south-west of the koubba of Sidi Ali ben Omar.
Here, again, the old scene of wrangling took place before we could get any supplies. The Khalifa of the district told us that the people were completely poverty-stricken, they had not wherewithal to nourish a single horse or mule. Sheep were as much a matter of ancient history as the Roman cities (the hills were covered with both!) ”

“ Shortly after crossing the summit of this hill the village of Menäa appeared in sight, and in a very short time we found ourselves under the hospitable roof of Si [76] Mohammed bin Abbas, the Kaid of the Aures. It is by no means as an empty term of compliment that I style him hospitable; he is a very grand specimen of Arab nobility, his ancestors being from Morocco, and not of Chawi descent. Every day he is said to feed 200 people, and he even keeps a French cook, the better to entertain the few Europeans who pass through his country. ”

“ Many have been detached from their setting, and have rolled down to the village. The deception was so perfect that at first sight we mistook it for Roman masonry of an unusually massive character.
The cultivation round all these villages is very similar, small square patches of corn-land forming perfectly level terraces, irrigated by canals derived from the river which flows along the bottom of the valley. They rise one above another as high as the water can be made to reach them, and are dotted over with, or sometimes bordered by fruit trees, which grow in great abundance and variety. ”