found, differed little from those of the same classes in Algiers. Before this intelligent officer left the place, many of the Mohammedans had returned to resume their occupations, while the peasantry, finding protection and encouragement, were again venturing to market with their corn, butter, poultry, and eggs. The inhabitants appeared, in his eyes, to deserve the reputation of courage; and having been allowed to retain their arms, they never laid them aside, however they might happen to be employed. The dealers in the shops had muskets by their sides; and the waiters in coffee-houses had a dagger or a pair of pistols suspended to their girdles. But, he adds, they never used them against the French.*

The Spaniards, during the first time they were in possession of this place, built several beautiful churches and large edifices in the style of the Romans; carrying their imitation so far as to carve upon the friezes and other convenient parts a variety of inscriptions in their own language. But neither at Oran nor Geeza, a small village about two miles distant from it, are there any antiquities, properly so called; the adjoining country having often changed masters, suffered much from war, and been long in the hands of Europeans, who have remodelled all its structures.

Leaving the village of Carastel and the port of Anze, the traveller in Barbary comes to Mostagan, a town separated from the plain by a circle of hills, and commanding a fine view of the sea. It is larger than Oran, and esteemed next to Tlemsan in point of wealth and consequence. Between Masagran and this city there are numerous gardens, orchards, and country-seats, ranged in beautiful variety all along the shore; the acclivities behind not only sheltering them from the hot scorching winds which sometimes blow in those directions, but also abounding in fountains of water, which refresh and cherish vegetation. The appearance of the walls and other portions of ancient architecture, removes all doubt that it must have been a Roman station of great importance, probably the Cartenna of Pliny and of the geographer Ptolemy.t

The next place of note on the coast is the Jol, or Julia Cæsa

Voyage dans la Régence d'Alger, tome_iii., p. 274. Eh bien! ils ne s'en sont jamais servis contre les Français. + Travels in Barbary, vol. i., p. 60, &c.

rea of the Italian historians. The ruins upon which it stood before the earthquake of 1738, were not inferior in extent to those of Carthage; and the judgment which might be thereby formed of its original magnificence was confirmed by the sight of the fine pillars, capitals, capacious cisterns, and beautiful mosaic pavements, that were everywhere remaining. The river, now named Hashem, was conducted, thither through a grand aqueduct, nearly equal in magnificence and workmanship to that of Carthage; several portions of which, scattered among the neighbouring valleys towards the southeast, display, in the height and strength of the arches, the most incontestable proofs of the grandeur of its design.

As this town was destroyed a few years after it was visited by Dr. Shaw, we sought with more eagerness in the pages of M. Rozet for information respecting its present state. We can learn no more than that it stands upon a little plain between the shore and the foot of the mountains; that the buildings are after the Moorish fashion, and exhibit the turrets of three or four mosques; that the sides of the hills appear well cultivated, having rich fields, pasture-lands, and gardens intermixed; and that the creek which serves for a port is defended by two batteries without guns. The aque duct he saw only through a telescope, at the distance of four miles, but he was satisfied that it must have had a Roman origin.*

About thirteen miles nearer Algiers are the ruins of Tefessad, the Tepasa of the old geographers, which extend more than half a league along the coast. Both at this place and Shershell are several arches and walls of brick, not commonly seen in other parts of Barbary; and on a large panelled stone found there is the following inscription, which carries its date beyond the Mohammedan conquest :—

C. CRITICO C. F.
QUIRIT. FELICI.

EX TESTAMENTO EJUS.

From this point to the capital, the breadth of the coast, generally speaking, is seven or eight miles, and is either mountainous or woody; thereby securing the fine plains which lie behind it from the northerly winds and the spray of

Voyage, &c., tome iii., p. 258.

the sea, both of which prove extremely unfavourable to the more delicate fruits of the earth. Crossing the Massafran, we find ourselves again within the territory of Algiers, the vicinity of which, though pleasant and interesting, does not admit of such a description as would prove suitable to our pages. The recent works of French authors abound with details, than which nothing could be more useful to those who intend to live in the country, or to estimate the chances of a profitable commerce; but, as they are necessarily minute, they would require an extent of space quite inconsistent with our object, and might be found rather embarrassing to the imagination than calculated to enlighten the understanding. We may remark, however, that M. Rozet, in visiting the garden of Mustapha Pacha, in the neighbourhood of the city, observed a superb aqueduct carried across a parched valley, and constructed for the purpose of conveying water to the inhabitants of the town. The architecture is decidedly Moorish, presenting two tiers of arches and other peculiarities which correspond to the taste of the country; but the foregoing cut delineates the structure so distinctly as to preclude the necessity of farther description.

In a periodical published at Paris, entitled "Annuaire de l'Etat d'Alger," which corresponds to our almanacs, there is an interesting account of the country under the French government, including a view of all the institutions-civil, ecclesiastical, commercial, and military-by means of which its affairs are transacted. The author, by dividing the southern district into Titteri and the Zaab, increases the number of provinces to five; admitting that his countrymen Occupy only three points on the coast-Algiers, Oran, and Bona-the first of which commands a territory of about nine miles in extent, while the two latter are confined to their respective walls. The Moors and Arabs, we are assured, are sufficiently disposed to submit to the government of France, because they feel the want of being protected against the inhabitants of the mountains. He therefore recommends that garrisons should be placed in all the seaports; encouragement given to such companies as would undertake the working of mines; that a regular intercourse should be kept up with Europe by the intervention of steamboats; and, above all, that the laws should be administered with vigour and impartiality. An attempt at colonization has