so much astonished at the easy conquest of so fine a camp, and so much booty, that they became suspicious of some ambuscade, and preferred retiring with their spoil to the risk of farther pursuit.

This dastardly conduct of the bey's people is said to have arisen from a fear that they were betrayed. Great jealousy reigned in the camp between the two chief leaders.They disputed between themselves who should be bey of Constantine, which as yet they had not taken. During this dispute, an advanced guard of the Algerines came to reconnoitre. Each party of the Tunisians, suspicious of the other, believed themselves betrayed, and in spite of every persuasion, betook themselves to flight.

The bey with wonderful speed repaired his losses, and again, in July, took the field with his army. On the 13th of that month they were at a distance of only fifteen miles from the army of the dey. The heat was excessive, and the bey's troops were not only fatigued, but also without water. The sapatapa, to whom the bey had given the chief command of the army, made a halt until the next day, during which he sent out a party in search of water. For this purpose he ordered the tents to be pitched, formed his camp, with the cavalry on the skirts, and the infantry in the centre, and placed four of his sixteen field-pieces at each angle. The advanced guard was then sent forward for water, which they knew was to be found at a river about half-way between the two armies. In their way, they fell in with a party of the enemy, which frightened them to such a degree, that they retreated in the most disorderly manner to the camp. Here the whole army took the alarm, and in the greatest confusion began to fly. Indeed, the cavalry set off, and the infantry were preparing to follow. The sapatapa, at this crisis, distracted with the confusion around him, knew not on what course to determine. His troops were flying in every quarter, and from the immense clouds of dust occasioned by the cavalry, he could not discover whether those who advanced were friends or foes, or what might be their numbers. It was the cry of all around him that they were friends; but a Greek slave who had charge of the artillery,

convinced that they were the Algerines, contrary to the orders of the commander-inchief, applied the match to one of the pieces. Fortunately, this shot killed the horse of one of the first assailants, and did some other trifling damage. The Algerines, in their turn, became frightened, pulled up their horses, and receiving a discharge from the remaining three guns, which the Greeks commanded, loaded with round and grape shot, wheeled round, and also took to flight. The bey's cavalry, who were yet at no great distance, seeing this, recovered from their fears, and returning to their duty, pursued the Algerines to their camp.

In the morning of the 14th, the two armies came in sight of each other, on the margin of the river before mentioned, but kept at a safe distance. A kind of irregular fighting continued from day-break till sunset, without injury on either side; and they appeared more inclined to menace each other than to come to close action. In the evening the Algerines fired a gun without ball. This is understood among these warriors to be a signal that they are inclined to leave off till the morning. No more shot was fired, and the battle of this day was concluded.

Some of the bey's cavalry, however, whom Soliman Kaiya had under his command, being seen on the mountains at sun-set, the Algerines, fearing that it was the intention of the Tunisians to surround them before the morning, again took alarm; fled during the night with as great precipitation as the bey's troops had done in the spring, and left behind them the whole of their stores, camp, and camels. The camels are said to have amounted to ten thousand. The Tunisians took also the whole of the Algerine artillery, consisting of twenty field-pieces, and four mortars. But, being contented with what they had gained with so little fighting, they refused to avail themselves of the prospect which opened to them of taking Constantine; an opportunity which they may never again enjoy. Its gates were open for their. reception, and some of the boldest of the cavalry even rode into the city. The sapatapa, willing to secure the victory he had so gloriously gained, returned satisfied to Tunis, to enjoy the fruits of his heroism. It was

now too late in the season for the Algerines to form another camp, and they did not again take the field. In these engagements, it will not excite wonder that very few men were killed, taken prisoners, or even wounded. The distance at which they fought rendered their warfare comparatively harmless. Of the conduct of the sapatapa during these several encounters, different reports are circulated. Some say that he shewed great signs of cowardice; but others, who were on the spot, affirm that his conduct displayed

more cool courage and humanity than was expected from him, and that the reason why he so long prevented the Greek slave from discharging the artillery, was, that some of his own men were between him and the enemy; a circumstance which the machiavelian Greek did not think of sufficient importance to deter him from firing. After the battle he gave the choice to the prisoners, either of entering the bey's army, or of returning quietly to their own country.

THE kingdom of Algiers comprehends part of the ancient Mauritania, particularly that which was called Mauritania Cæsariensis, and the ancient Numidia. It forms one of the most considerable districts of that part of Africa which lies on the northern coast, and which in later ages has been denominated Barbary. The country derives its name from the metropolis, which is called by the Turks Algezair, or The Island, because there was an island before the city, to which it was afterwards joined by a mole. Its length is 460 miles, from sixteen minutes west longitude, to nine degrees sixteen minutes east longitude. The breadth of the kingdom is very unequal in different parts; for in the vicinity of Tlemsan it is not more than forty miles; near the sources of the rivers Sigg and Sheliff it is about sixty miles; to the east of Algiers its breadth is much more considerable, particularly in the meridians of Boujeiah and Bona, where it extends above one hundred miles. The Algerine dominions beyond the Zell, or more advanced parts of Atlas, are very precarious, and not easily defined: so that the northern skirts of the Sahara, or desart, seem to be the proper boundaries on that side. Algiers

may therefore be considered in general as bounded on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by the river Zaine, which divides it from Tunis; on the west by Tirnut and the mountains of Trara, which separate it from Morocco; and on the south by the Sahara, or Numidian desert. The extent of the whole kingdom is estimated at 4262 geographical square miles. It contains three principal divisions:-the province of Tlemsan, or Tremecen, to the west; Tideri to the south; and Constantine to the east. The western province comprehends the towns of Oran, Mustyganuim, Tremecen, Mascara, Shershall, and Tehez, besides several inconsiderable places. The principal rivers of this province are the Maloa, the Salt River, Tafua, Sigg, Hebra, Massafran, and Sheriff. The southern province has no towns along the coast, but in the interior of the country the chief towns are Belida and Medea. The mountains are branches. of the Atlas, the Bougereah, the Anwall mountains, on the river Yisser, and those of Jur-Jura and Felizia. The rivers are the Haratch, Hamaeze, Regya, Budwowe, Corsoe, Merdas, and the Yisser, of which the last is most considerable.

The Algerines inhabiting along the sea coasts are a strange mixture of various nations, but for the most part Moors and Moresives, driven from Catalonia, Arragon, and other parts of Spain. The Jews, the Turks, and the Berebbers, whom we have already described, form the greater part of the population. In former times the towns were crowded with Christian slaves taken at sea, and some of the streets were occupied by Christian merchants.

The innumerable and wandering tribes who encamp in the outskirts and wildernesses of the kingdom are a miserable race. Their adours, or encampments, are a perfect emblem of distress and uncleanliness; and their tents are so poorly furnished, that a hand-mill to grind their corn, a few earthen pitchers in which they keep their oil and flour, and a few mats to sit and lie upon, are all the household goods they contain. Yet they are sufficiently large to contain two or three families, parents, children, servants, horses, cows, goats, and dogs. The last of these animals is necessary to watch, and bark the approach of lions, foxes, and other beasts of prey, and to drive away serpents and other noxious animals. The shaik, or cheyk's, tent is only distinguished from the rest by its height, and being pitched in the centre of the rest. These huts are supported by two large posts, and form a kind of pavilion, the door of which is made of the boughs of trees. The middle is a small square which divides the apartments of the Moors from the places allotted to their beasts; in the centre is the hearth, on which they bake their cakes, boil their rice, and prepare their other food; and round the sides are spread mats of palm trees, which serve for beds and tables. The tents are covered with sheep's hides, black, white, or speckled; and every thing is mean, filthy, and loathsome.

Their dress is as mean as their food: that of the men consists only of a haick, or coarse piece of cloth four or five ells long, which is wrapped about their shoulders, and comes down to their ancles, to which they add a cap of the same cloth, or some rag which they twist about their heads. The shaik's dress is a shirt and a cloak all of one piece, which come down to the calf of his legs, and

a cowl upon his head of a finer sort of cloth. Girls as well as boys go quite naked till they are about eight years of age, when they tie a rag or two about them, rather for ornament than decency. While they are suckling, the mothers carry them, though they are often twins, in a bag tied behind their backs, when they go to fetch water or wood, but they generally are able to walk before they are six months old.

The capital of the kingdom, Algiers, is the constant residence of the dey, the post of the main body of the Turkish soldiery, and the station of the gallies. It lies in thirty degrees thirty minutes of north latitude, and three degrees five minutes of east longitude. It was originally built by Juba II. the father of Ptolemy, who gave it the name of Julius Cæsarea, as a public and perpetual acknowledgment of the favours he had received from the emperor Augustus. The situation of the city is between the provinces of Tenez and Bugia, or Bujeyan; it is washed towards the north by the Mediterranean sea, and is about a league in circumference, forming a cumference, forming a grand amphitheatre from the declivity of the hill on which it stands to the sea-shore. The sea commands a magnificent and perfect prospect of the houses, and their terraces, the latter of which are regularly washed or painted white, and present at a distance the appearance of a bleacher's ground covered with linen. The height of the walls is only thirty feet on the interior side, owing to the steepness of the declivity, but the lower sides and ends looking towards the sea are not less than forty feet in elevation. They are twelve feet thick, and flanked with square towers, and are supported by additional outworks. They are surrounded by a ditch twenty feet wide and seven deep, and mounted with a very considerable number of heavy cannon. The city has six gates, each of them guarded by an outwork. The whole city is overlooked by a ridge of hills on the northern side, which run almost on a level with the bab cassaubau, or uppermost gate. Upon it are built two strong forts, one of which, from its five acute angles, is called the Star castle; it stands about a furlong from the gate just mentioned, and commands the Sandy bay,

and the mouth of the river Elved. The other, called the Emperor's castle, stands about half a mile south from the cassaubau gate, and commands the Star fort, the whole ridge of the Sandy bay, and the mouth of the river Rabat on the south of the city. Such is the situation and strength of Algiers to the landward; but it is much better fortified and capable of making a much better defence towards the sea-side.

The strongest defences of the town are situated in the mole which was built by the celebrated Cheridin, the son of Barbarossa. Until his time the port of Algiers lay quite open, and had more the appearance of a road than of a harbour. As soon as Cheridin became master of the place he began to build and fortify it, and compelled the Christians to labour with so much assiduity, that he saw it completed in three years, without the slightest expence. It is built on the small island that faces the town, in form of a large semicircle, extending itself from the dowan, or mole gate, to one of the extremities of the island, and from the other extremity of it towards the walls of the town, leaving a handsome opening into the haven, where the largest vessels may ride in safety from the violence of the waves. The mole is about one hundred paces in length from the castle that defends it, to the mole gate above-mentioned, and about six or seven wide, having on one side a stone quay, and on the other a sandy rocky bank from end to end. The whole is defended at one angle by an old round castle, formerly built by the Spaniards, when they were masters of the place. It is called the fanal castle, or light-house fort. It stands upon the solid rock, and the fire is carefully maintained in it for the security of the ships. It has three batteries of fine cannon. At the south end of the island is another fort, consisting of three batteries, to defend the entrance of the harbour, which is so capacious as to contain a good number of large ships, and is seldom or never without merchantmen, corsairs, and other vessels riding in it. The misfortune is, that when the wind sets in from the northward, which is quite across the road, it causes such a swell in the harbour, that they commonly fall foul on rocks, which obliges them to lash

the ships close together. The slaves of the deylik are employed the whole year in bringing large blocks of stone from a neighbouring quarry, and laying them on the sand, to secure the mole from the impetuosity of the waves; a labour which must be continually repeated, because the sea gradually washes those stones away, and makes such a constant supply necessary.

The embrasures of the castle and batteries here are all employed; the cannon is of brass, and their carriages, and other utensils, kept in good order. The battery of the mole gate, upon the east angle of the city, is mounted with several long pieces of ordnance; one of which has seven cylinders, each of them three inches in diameter: half a furlong to the W. S. W. stands the battery of the fisher's gate, called also the sea gate, which consists of a double row of canuon, and commands both the entrance into the port and the road. There stand besides two or three forts more along the sea-coast; the one on the south side of the city, called the castle of the renega, does; the other two on the north side; viz. Setteet-aco-leet, a regular pentagon, and able to annoy an enemy either in their landing, or lodging themselves on the Bakiras, or adjacent plain; the other, called the English castle, inferior in extent and strength, which commands the high road to River's gate, on the same direction.

The town is computed to contain 95,000 Mahometans; there are also a few renegadoes, 15,000 Jews, and 2000 Christian slaves, besides European and other strangers. There is but one handsome street, which reaches from the east to the west end, and is wider in some parts than in others, but in all much broader than any of the rest. It has on the widest part handsome shops, and the chief merchants' houses, and the markets for corn and all provisions are kept in it. All the other streets are so narrow, that two persons can hardly walk &-breast; and the middle being so much lower than the sides, which form a kind of parapet, or passage for the water which runs through them, added to their usual uncleanliness, makes it very disagreeable to walk through them; espe cially as camels, horses, mules, and asses are continually passing and repassing, to

which you must give way at the first warning, by squeezing yourself against the houses. It is still more dangerous to meet with a Turkish soldier in the streets; for the wealthiest Christian must take care to give him the way, and stand close till he has passed, or be in danger of feeling some shocking effect of his brutal resentment. The narrowness of those streets is commonly thought to be designed as a shelter from the heat. But a better reason may be found in the frequent earthquakes it is subject to, since the fronts of almost all the houses are propped up by pieces of timber from one to the other across the streets.

The houses, which are computed to amount to about 18,000, are built of brick or stone, and mostly square, with a large paved court in the middle, not unlike our common inns. The galleries round the court are supported by columns, and over them runs a second range supported in the same manner. The folding doors to the apartments are commonly of the height of the ceilings; and over the uppermost gallery are the terraces, which serve them either for walking or drying of linen. Some have pleasant gardens, and generally a neat summer-house on the terrace, to shelter them from the weather whilst at their work, or gazing towards the sea whether their corsairs bring them any prizes. Their very chimnies contribute to adorn the houses, are always kept clean and whitewashed, and rise in form of a cupola on the four corners of the terrace. The apartments have. no windows towards the streets, except some small grated ones, to admit a little light and air into their pantries, and the servants' chambers, which are built along the great stair-case, but do not open to it; so that all the light the rest of the rooms have is only from the folding doors and small windows that open to the inner court. They are all obliged to white-wash their houses inside and outside at least once a year, but commonly do it against the approach of their grand festivals ; and this is all the elegance you find in them; for as to their furniture it is plain and mean, consisting only of a few utensils, mostly of earth or wood, and a mat and two quilts, laid over two or three sticks, to serve them for a bed. As there are no squares or gardens in

the town, but the houses are contiguous, we may walk from one end of it to the other over those terraces, as ladders are raised on purpose, where the houses are of an unequal height; and it is common for them to visit their neighbours, and spend their evenings in frolic with each other upon them. Yet thefts are seldom known; because a stranger that is caught in any house, without having first sent in his name, is sure to be severely punished. But though the houses of private people are so mean within, there are many belonging to persons in high and public stations, which are quite elegant, and paved with marble; the pillars are of the same material, and the ceilings finely carved, painted, and gilt.

The most magnificent of all is the dey's palace, which stands in the heart of the city. It is a spacious stately edifice, surrounded with two noble galleries, one over the other, supported with marble pillars, and has two spacious halls, in one of which the dowan meets every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The barracks for the Turkish soldiery, five new structures of which were added to the old ones in 1650, are likewise very grand structures, and kept very clean by the slaves that attend them, at the charge of the government. Every barrack contains six hundred Turkish soldiers, each of which has a spacious apartment allotted to him; and all the courts of these barracks have fountains to wash in before they go to prayers.

It is to be observed that married men, who are mostly renegadoes, are excluded the benefit of these barracks, and obliged to provide themselves lodgings at their own expence in some other parts of the town; and so are likewise the single men that will not conform to the regulations of these public buildings. In either case they may hire private houses, or, which is more usual, take up their quarters in one of the four fondicas or albergas of town.

These are large commodious edifices, be longing to private persons, consisting of several large courts, in which are large warehouses, and a variety of apartments to let; and, on account of their conveniences for men and goods, are also much frequented by the Levantine merchants; for neither