Robert Lambert Playfair

“ 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. ”

“ The admirably engineered, but bare and shadeless road, with its regular curves and gentle gradients, becomes intolerable after the wild and shady lanes and natural scenery in which we have travelled so long; and it is not without a feeling of relief that we reach Fort National, thence to proceed by the prosaic but convenient diligence to Algiers. We made one last protest against civilisation; instead of passing the night in the auberge at the fort, we pitched our tents on the historic battle-field of Icherridhen, and only arrived at the village next morning in time to catch the diligence. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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 ”