The next morning all were in motion to their distant homelands. We met at the diligence office the agha whose son we had noticed so gallantly remounting his charger, bidding farewell to the lad, who was on his way from those wild plains to finish his education at a military school in Paris. The old warrior, decorated with the Legion of Honour on his burnous, and with yet more honourable scars beneath it, could scarcely preserve his Moslem composure. A crowd of attendant friends chimed in with their "Bismillahs" and "Aleikoum Salem," as the boy, thoughtful and downcast, received from his father more sage and weighty counsel than many an English schoolboy does from his. The old man's parting blessing was given and received with an emotion beyond the power of stoicism to conceal; and Tom Brown's father proved himself a better Mussulman on the occasion than the agha of the Arbaa. On expressing my surprise some time afterwards to a French officer at so great a native sending his son to a Christian (?) capital for his education, my companion significantly observed that he doubtless had good reason to do so, for his fidelity had been suspected, and he probably had received an unmistakable hint that his son would be safer under the guardianship of the Emperor than under his own. What miserable scepticism! As if the Arabs were not so cognisant of the value of French civilization as not eagerly to seek its advantages for their sons without any Government suggestion! CHAPTER III. Spahis -- Sunday at Medeah - Protestants in Algeria - First night in a tent Berrouaghuia Their organization - A strange petOpen forests-Water forgotten and well dry- A chace after our horses The Cheliff - Boghar - Panorama of the Sahara - Roman occupation of North Africa—Triple line of posts — Dependence of the nomads on the Tell-Musitazana — French system of military government-Statistics-Taxation-Bokhari -Arab café- Gardens Botanical garden — Silos, or underground granaries. OUR first lonely Sunday was passed at Medeah, for at Algiers we had the privilege of joining in worship with Mr. Weiss's little band of converts, as well as in the public services of the French Protestant "Oratoire." There are indeed a few Protestants at Medeah, as I met with a Genevese watchmaker who had been of the flock of C. Malan in his youth, and with a pious officer of Spahis; but the number is not sufficient to furnish an "Oratoire," for which the Government always requires a certain number of resident heads of families, and the only opportunity of public worship afforded is by a quarterly visit from the pastor of Blidah. It is not to be marvelled at if the numerous scattered Protestants of Algeria present too often an indifferentism greater than that of their Roman Catholic neighbours, and if their children lose all profession of any form of religion. Through the kindness of General Gastu and the Intendant Militaire we were supplied with means of transport and two clever soldiers belonging to the Military Train, who were to accompany us as far as Boghar -one day's journey to a light horseman, but which we with our baggage proposed to divide into three.. We did not make an early start; but at length our bât horse and three mules are laden with a crowning pyramid of hay surmounting each pair of canteens, and for one day our grumbling Arab must walk with the soldiers. The road winds for some way among mountains bleak and scantily clad with brushwood, but affords occasionally extensive views of valleys trending to the south-east, all carefully cultivated by the Arabs, and yielding rich harvests of barley. But there is no trace of human habitation; not a house, not an Arab gourbi, not a tent can be discovered. Their abodes, like their women, seem carefully to avoid the eye of the curious. At Djelilah, about eight miles from Medeah, the highest elevation in the journey to Boghar is attained, on a rocky ridge covered with gnarled and distorted pinetrees (Pinus Aleppensis). Near this spot, on the bare hill-side, we pitched our tents for the first time, and broke half our pickets in the effort. We supped on soup maigre and coffee, and found canvas a poor protection from the chills of an autumn night, even in Africa, at an elevation of 4800 feet. The next morning, having left the active soldiers to strike our tents and assist Omar in packing the baggage, I started alone to revisit some favourite haunts of the preceding year. As I descended the southern slopes, the scenery changed, the mountain-sides were clad with cork-trees, and numerous flocks were grazing under their shade. The ground was frequently carpeted with various kinds of orchis, among them a very fine and large variety of the Bee orchis, the Orchis lutea with its rich yellow blossoms, and O. longicorna, besides several others. A line of semaphore posts connects Medeah with Boghar; and guided by these, which are everywhere visible, a horseman may safely leave the track, and ride through the open woods. A little auberge lies hid under the semaphore of Berrouaghuia, to which I descended; neither man nor horse being loth to try the entertainment of mine host, an old sergeant of sappers, who rejoices like a lighthouse-keeper in the visit of a stranger. Twenty minutes' gallop across the turf brought me to the little fort of Berrouaghuia, the station of a squadron of Spahis. No military post can be conceived more isolated in the wilderness. The fort is simply a square redoubt, with large bastions at each corner. It is built just behind the site of a Roman town, and with its stones. The foundations of the buildings may yet be traced, but there are no inscriptions to indicate the name of the lost city, and a single disinterred column was the sole architectural relic observed. In a little ravine to the eastward, the banks of which are covered with juniper and small cork-trees, may be seen the tents of a considerable colony of Arabs, the families and dependants of the troopers. These are for the most part stationary, and the head-quarters of each troop of Spahis is permanent, so that the service is very light, and consequently most popular with the better class of Arabs. There are three regiments, one for each province, and each is divided into squadrons and troops, with distinct organization, and which are never camped together, except for occasional field-days, like that described at Medeah. The captain, one lieutenant, sergeant-major, pay-sergeant, and farrier, are always Frenchmen; and though the promotion is slow, yet the service is much sought after by those officers who prefer the freedom and independence of solitary command, with the opportunities the interior of the country affords for field sports, to the attractions and amusements of French garrison towns. By noncommissioned officers of the Chasseurs d'Afrique and other corps an appointment in the Spahis is always looked upon as promotion. The troopers are entirely recruited by voluntary enlistment, nor is there any lack of candidates for the service. Each man is obliged to provide his own horse, his accoutrements, and clothing, with the exception of the scarlet burnous furnished by government, and in lieu of forage he receives an allowance if he chooses to provide his own, and, his horse being his own property, the State does not suffer by thus commuting the supply of forage and corn. In return for his pay and allowances, the spahi is expected to reside at the station of his troop, and to be ready for service in Algeria whenever called upon; but excepting in war he cannot be compelled to serve out of his own province. He is also at liberty to quit the service at the end of each year, on giving notice of his intention, or providing a substitute. The duties of the spahis are practically those of mounted gendarmerie, and of staff attendants. They supply the place of the former, who are not employed beyond Medeah, the limit of the civil territory, and all official correspondence is carried on from the station, as far as the most southern outposts, exclusively by spahi couriers. Being in every respect a favoured .corps, the French government have found the spahis a most valuable instrument in suppressing the first symptoms of disaffection. So popular is the service that natives of the highest rank are eager to join it; and one of my most valuable Arab friends, the Sheik Bou Disah, eldest son of the agha of this district, and the owner of a rentroll of at least 80007. per annum, was, when I first knew him, serving as a simple private. In constant and familiar intercourse with their French officers, and connected by family ties with the whole surrounding district, |