The Bordj, built by the Bach-Agha, under the direction of French engineers, consisted of a bastioned enclosure within which was his residence. This will be repaired, and will constitute a place of refuge for the colonists in case of necessity, and will contain the church, school, and other communal buildings. A beautiful spring issues from some Roman remains below the fort, and forms almost the only water supply of the village.
We pitched our tents close to this spring, and early on May 19 resumed our journey. The road still continued in a north-westerly direction, over rich plains, and eventually amongst picturesque mountain scenery; the valleys are everywhere highly cultivated, and the hills furnish excellent pasturage for sheep. After a ride of two hours and three-quarters we reached Theniet el-Khamis, a small village of stone huts, formerly the property of Mokrani, situated in a pass forming the limit between the Medjana and Kabylia. Immediately afterwards the scenery becomes more wild; Kabyle villages are seen crowning the crests of the hills; the land is more carefully cultivated, and every thread of water carefully employed for irrigational purposes. After a ride of four hours and a half we reached the fort or blockhouse of Boni.
Here we found M. Marchal, the interpreter of Akbou, awaiting us. He had been sent on by M. de Beaumont, the Commandant Supérieur, to arrange for our journey through his command, and we had every reason to congratulate ourselves on the good fortune which procured for us so pleasant and intelligent a companion.
The Bordj of Boni contains a suite of rooms and stabling, for the accommodation of such public functionaries as may have occasion to visit the district. It was built after the last insurrection, and forms a most convenient halting-place for the traveller, who, though he cannot claim admittance, is sure to be hospitably received. There is an excellent spring below the mound, and the views of the Djurdjura range from the summit are very grand.
The Sheikh of Boni had also come to conduct us to Geläa, where he resides. He is quite of the Bou-Dhiaf type—a genial and pleasant host, who feasted us royally.
From this to Geläa is a ride of not more than an hour and a half, through what is, perhaps, the most magnificent mountain scenery in Algeria. The road winds up and down steep hills in a most tortuous manner, sometimes passing over the intervening ridges, and at others encircling their sides. On the right hand is a deep abyss, beyond which is a mass of hills and valleys, clothed to their summits with verdure, resembling a tempestuous sea suddenly arrested and turned into rock. On the left the view is more extensive; the foreground is as wild, while range after range of mountains succeed each other in ever-changing variety of form and colour, till the extreme distance is shut in by the majestic snow-capped ridge of Djurdjura. No other peak can ever depose this from its place as the monarch of Algerian mountains. Chellia and Mahmel, in the Aurès, may be higher, but they rise from more elevated ground, and thus lose much of their grandeur, while for beauty of outline and richness of tints the Djurdjura range, seen from the south, with the Oued es-Sahel at its foot, is superior to them both.
Kaläa—or Geläa, as it is here pronounced, meaning a fortress in Arabic—is one of the most picturesquely situated villages in Kabylia. It is built on the extreme end of a mountain, more than 3,000 feet above the sea, surrounded on three sides by precipitous ravines, through one of which flows a tributary of the Oued Sellam. The cliffs descend in a succession of perpendicular scarps, separated from each other by narrow terraces, so as to be quite inaccessible. The fourth side, where the hill rises behind the village, can only be reached by a narrow winding path, which a few resolute men might defend against an army.
In former times this was a city of refuge for such as wished to escape the justice or vengeance of the Turks, who never succeeded in reducing its inhabitants to their sway.
Its proximity to the Biban, or Portes de Fer, itself a strong position, enabled the Beni Abbas to command that pass, and consequently the route between Algiers and Constantine, and they were in a position to exact a tribute from the Turks as the price of keeping open this communication.
The village of Geläa is divided into two portions, each ruled over by a Sheikh independent of the other. The lower portion belongs to the Oulad Aissa, and the upper to the Oulad Hamadoosh. It is the principal place of the Beni Abbas, a once powerful confederation, extending north and south from beyond the Oued es-Sahel to Boni, and east and west from the river of Geläa to the Oued Maghir. The villages in this district are well built, of stone, roofed with tiles, and very often they have small enclosures, or gardens, attached, while the interiors are finished off with great neatness, and even some rude idea of decorative art.