Twenty years around the world

by John Guy Vassar

The Arabs in this part of the country are now turning their attention to agriculture; the plough merely scratches the surface, and without doubt, is the same used in the primitive days of Abraham. Herds of sheep and goats are seen in the mountains with Arab boys and dogs.

CXXX.

Constantine, Africa, Feb. 27, 1858.

Returning from Medeah to Algiers, I embarked on board of a French government steamer for Stora. We landed troops at Delys, Bougie, and Dzidzelle, and after a two days’ run, arrived at Stora, and proceeded to Philippeville to procure a conveyance for this city, which is situated some seventy miles in the interior.

Constantine is the Cirta of the ancients, the Cossentina of the Arabs. It is situated upon the river Rhumel, at the point where the torrent crosses the elevated mountains to penetrate the upper basin of the plains of Milah. The ancient capital of Jugurtha is now the chief city of the eastern province of Algeria. It lies some eighteen hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean, upon a triangular plateau. This plateau is surrounded by the two branches of the river, and crowned by the heights of Mausourah and of Sidi-Merid, from which it is separated by deep chasms and precipices, at the bottom of which courses the Rhumel, with its wild and magnificent cataracts. It has the aspect of a lofty island, with its high rocks, almost perpendicular, rendering the city almost, or quite, invulnerable, with its strong gates and fortifications. Constantine has been the scene of great events in the grand history of Africa. The founder of the city was said to have been a Greek adventurer, 250 years B.C. Marva reigned over the Mumides. It was in turn occupied by Masinissa and his sons. Juba sided with Pompey, and was chased by Bogad, king of Sittius, who founded a Roman colony.

Cæsar undertook great works, and one finds many of the old walls, ramparts, and inscriptions remaining. The ancient aqueducts, the ruins of which still stand, some forty feet high, about a mile from the city, are said to be the work of the emperor Justinian. The invasion of the Arabs destroyed the opulent city, and it passed from one to another among all the African conquerors; it was in the hands of the Turks in the sixteenth century, and afterwards in the hands of the Deys of Algiers, many of whom were assassinated.

The last, Hadz-Ahmed Dey, kept it the longest, but it was by oppressing his subjects. From 1826 to 1830 he cut off the heads of some three thousand of his people, and committed the most revolting deeds. At that time the French government denounced his acts, and named the brother of the Bey of Tunis his successor; but he managed to keep possession until 1836, when Marshal Clausel attacked them, at the head of an insufficient army, but was driven back from this stronghold, and obliged to retreat.

The next year, however, a body of ten thousand men, with the second son of Louis Philippe in the avant garde, took the city by assault, General Damremont losing his life in the attack. I find his monument in an inclosure of the ancient casbah or fort, near the caserne and hospital grounds, which are now crowned by large structures. I have just visited them in company with my present travelling companion, a captain in the Russian army, sent out for general observation. The French officers have shown us much civility and attention, making our stay here agreeable.

The reservoirs constructed by the Romans upon the summit are repaired thoroughly, and contain a full supply of water for a long siege. The view from these points is of the boldest character. The city is now divided in two quarters, Arab and French, and offers the most striking contrast.

The Arabs said that Constantine was a rock in the middle of a river, and that it would require as many French to take it as ants to take an egg from the bottom of a pot of milk; but in this they found their error, and concluded it was the will of the Prophet. The trade of the city with Biskarah is large in dried dates, and with Setif and other ports in wool; ostrich feathers, elephants’ tusks, and gold dust are seen in small quantities. At Philippeville, on the coast, I found some English officers who came out to join the famous Jules Gerard, the lion slayer. They were going to form a camp in the neighborhood of Bona, further up the coast. I shall probably meet them again when I get up there, and learn what success they meet with. The conductor of our stage has assured us that at one point near El Cantour, a dreary mountainous country, lions are known to follow the vehicle when driven to extremity for want of food. Not a very pleasant prospect for a traveller. I saw the skin of a famous fellow, some sixteen feet in length, recently killed. The jackals, hyenas, and wild boars are abundant; the latter may be seen in quantities in the market places, filled with olive oil, which is brought on the backs of camels. We passed through sections of the country entirely uninhabited, where the wild olive and cork wood grow in abundance. In the settlements they engraft the domestic olive, which does well.