Notes in North Africa Being a Guide to the Sportsman and Tourist in Algeria and Tunisia — Text and Context

THE VOYAGE OUT:--Paris in 1860--Notre Dame--Our Hotel--Nero and the Groom--The Steamer for Algeria--Gallic Peculiarities--Life on Board 7

DESCRIPTION OF ALGIERS:--Arrival in Algeria--Murray's Guide-books, and their Amenities--Disembarkation in the Port of Algiers--Our Fellow-travellers--Algiers and its Inhabitants--The Dey's Palace--Cause of the French Invasion 13

LIFE IN ALGIERS:--Algerian Society--A Soiree at General Martinprez's--The Sirocco--My Maltese Companion--The Theatre--General Youssouf and his Career 19

"UP THE COUNTRY:"--Departure from Algiers--Blidah--The Zouave Officers and their Companions--Government Establishment of Horses--Joseph, the Horse-dealer--To Arbah--The Caravanserai--Journey towards Oued-el-Massin 25

FURTHER EXPERIENCES:--Abd-el-Kader (but not the Emir)--Difficult Road--Perils of the Way--Prospect of Sport--The First Boar--The Chasseurs d'Afrique--Mine Hostess of the "Scorpion"--Teniet 30

FURTHER PROGRESS--RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES:--Cold Weather--Milianah--Vezoul--The Aubergiste--El Afroun--The Rhamazan--Dancing Dervishes 36

BONA AND ITS VICINITY:--Passage to Bona--State of Affairs on Board--Bona--The Lake Metitza--Ain Mokra--Wild Duck Shooting on the Lake 41

ON TO TUNIS:--Algeria in General--The Arabs and their Conquerors--Antagonism between the Two Races--Social Condition of the Arabs--The _Oasis_ Steamer--Arrival at Tunis 46

MARSA:--Angelo's Horsemanship--The Bey's Palace at Marsa--The Arabs and their Love of Tobacco--The Friendly Moor at Camatte 52

ABOUT BOAR SHOOTING:--Sleeman--the Oued el Ahwena--Its Scenery, and its Dangers--Beauty of the Landscape on its Banks 55

SPORTING EXPERIENCES:--El Greesh--Shooting Hyenas--An Expedition with the Arabs--The Caid and his Family--Another Wild Boar 59

TUNIS AND ITS GOVERNMENT:--Picturesque Situation of Tunis--The Horse Market--Effects of Race--The Bazaars--Mohamed Medea--The Bardo--The Bey of Tunis--His Mode of administering Justice--Prince Puckler Muskau's Account of his Interview 62

THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE:--Reflections on Ancient Carthage--Hannibal and his Career--An Arab Domicile--Picturesque Appearance of the Ruins 69

THE RUINS AGAIN:--Great Extent of the Ancient City Marsa, on the Sea-shore--Carthaginian Catacombs near Camatte--Quail Shooting--Trait of Honesty in the Arabs--The Arab Character--Anecdotes concerning them 76

HOME:--My Fellow-passenger, the Sportsman--Passage from Tunis to Malta in a Sailing Vessel--Disagreeables of the Passage--Home Overland--Conclusion 83

NOTES FOR THE SPORTSMAN OR TOURIST IN NORTH AFRICA 88

NOTES IN NORTH AFRICA.

Paris in 1860.--Notre Dame.--Our Hotel.--Nero and the Groom.--The Steamer for Algeria.--Gallic Peculiarities.--Life on Board.

_In medias res._ I will not stop to describe my journey to Paris, _via_ Folkestone, nor to chronicle the glasses of pale ale--valedictory libations to _perfide_ Albion, quaffed at the Pavilion--nor to portray the sea-sickness of "mossoo," nor the withering indignation of the British female when her wardrobe was searched. Briefly, kind reader, be pleased to understand that we arrived in safety--guns, rifles, "and all"--at the Hotel du Louvre, in Paris, at about eleven o'clock on a certain day in February, 1860.

The next day was Sunday, and I went to hear vespers at Notre Dame. How I love the old gothic cathedrals, that seem to remove one at once from this work-day world--the fanes wherein the very air seems redolent of devotion, and peopled with phantoms of the past! 'Spite of all disparagement, there is something grand and solemn about them. After service, I ascended one of the towers to the gallery immortalised by Victor Hugo's wonderful romance. The day was declining, and sunset had already commenced. The galleries were crowded with students and respectable operatives and _bourgeois_, with their wives and children. Every face was bathed in the purple light of the departing sun, and many eyes lifted up in silent meditation.

I was aroused from the reverie into which the contemplation of this glorious sight had thrown me, by hearing a female voice exclaim, "How beautiful is Nature--how magnificent!" I turned, and saw two ladies, evidently mother and daughter, of sufficiently pleasing appearance. It was from the elder that the exclamation had come, which brought me back from my dream to this nether world. Conquering the shyness which appears to be the Englishman's birthright, I made some remark on the beauties of sunset. Like the earth, we revolved round the sun; but, unlike that planet, we quickly diverged into other orbits. I dimly remember that we talked of Angola cats, Dresden china, Turkish chibouques, maccaroni, and Lord Byron, with whose poems this lady seemed sufficiently familiar. I improved the occasion, as the right thing to do, when talking with ladies about Byron, to find fault with his impiety, his blasphemous scepticism, his cutting sarcasm, and the unhappy frivolity which defaces the works of the man, who, with all his faults, was undoubtedly the greatest poet the nineteenth century has yet produced.