whither the inhabitants of better fashion retire, during the heats of the summer season. They are little white houses, shaded with a variety of fruit-trees and ever-greens; which, besides the shade and retirement, afford a gay and delightful prospect towards the sea. The gardens are all of them well stocked with melons, fruit, and potherbs of all kinds; and, what is chiefly regarded in these hot climates, each of them enjoys a great command of water, from the many rivulets and fountains which every where abound in this situation. The fountain water made use of at Algiers, universally esteemed for its excellency, is likewise brought through a long course of pipes and conduits, from the same sources.

Four miles to the S. E. of Algiers, we cross the river Haratch, the ancient Savus, that has a beautiful bridge lately built over it. Upon the banks, we meet with the ruins of a Roman city, which bids fairer than Algiers to be the ancient Icosium, placed by the Itinerary, as this is, XLVII M. from Tipasa, or Tefessad. Crossing afterwards the Hamaese, another considerable stream, we arrive at Temendfuse, or Metafus, a low cape with a tabled land, as the mariners call a flat hillock, that rises up in the middle of it. The Turks have here a small castle for the security of the adjacent roads, once the chief station of their navy, where we have still the traces of an ancient Cothon, with several heaps of ruins, of the same extent with those of Tefessad, and which have no less contributed to the fortifications of Al

giers.

giers. The distance of fifteen Roman miles, betwixt these ruins and those upon the Haratch, is the same we find in the Itinerary, between the Rusguniæ Colonia and Icosium. Rusgunia is the same with the Rustonium of Ptolemy, the Ruthisia of Mela, and the Rusconia of Pliny, and others. In an inscription at Sour, the ancient Auzia is called Col. Ruscuniensis.

After fording the rivers Regya, Budwowe, Corsoe, Merdass and Yisser, which run at no great distance from each other, and descend from the adjacent mountains of Atlas, we come to the little port Jinnett, from whence a great quantity of corn is shipped off yearly for Christendom. Jinnett is a small creek, with tolerably good anchoring ground before it; and was probably Edrisi's Mers' el Dajaje, i. e. Port of Hens. I was told that Jinnet, or Paradise, was given to this place, on account of a row-boat, which was once very providentially conducted within the creek, when the mariners expected every moment to have perished upon the neighbouring rocks. The sea shore, which from Algiers to Temendfuse, and from thence to this place, is very little interrupted with rocks and precipices, begins now to be very rugged and mountainous; and among these eminences, three leagues farther to the E. we have the mouth of the Booberak, the eastern boundary of this province.

CHAP

89

CHAPTER VI.

Of the most remarkable inland Places and Inhabi tants of the Southern Province; together with the correspondent part of the Sahara.

BLEEDA and Medea, the only inland cities of

this province, are each of them about a mile in circuit; but their walls, which are chiefly of mud, perforated all over by hornets, cannot much contribute to their strength and security. Some of their houses are flat-roofed, others tiled, like those of Maliana; with which they also agree, in being well watered, and in having all around them very fruitful gardens and plantations. A branch of an adjacent rivulet may be conducted through every house and garden at Bleeda; and at Medea, the several conduits and aqueducts that sup ply it with water, some of which appear to be of Roman workmanship, are capable of being made equally commodious. Both these cities lie over against the mouth of the Masaffran; viz. Bleeda, at five leagues distance, under the shade of Mount Atlas, and Medea three or four leagues on the other side of it. As Bleeda, therefore, and Medea, lie nearly in the same meridian; as they are situated at a proper distance from the Hamam Mereega, the Aqua Calida Colonia of the an

cients;

cients; as likewise there is little difference betwixt the modern and what may be presumed to be their ancient names, we may well be induced to take the one for the Bida Colonia, the other for the Lamida of Ptolemy.

That part of Mount Atlas, which lies betwixt these cities, and reaches as far as Mount Jurjura, is inhabited by numerous clans of Kabyles, few of which, from their rugged situation, have been made tributary to the Algerines. The Beni Sala and Haleel overlook Bleeda and the rich plains of the Mettijiah, whilst the Beni Selim and Haleefa sometimes descend into the pasture ground, near the banks of the Bishbesh, or river of fennel, a great quantity of which grows upon the banks of it. Further to the eastward, a branch of the Megrowa live, in a full prospect of the extensive plains of Hamza, over against Sour Guslan; and beyond them are the Inshlowa and Bonganie, who have below them, to the southward, the fertile plains of the Castoolah, noted for the feeding and breeding up of cattle. Not far from the Castoolah are the Kabyles of Mount Jurjura, of which the Beni Alia are the chiefest on the N. side, as the Beni Yala are on the S.

Jurjura, the highest mountain in Barbary, is as noted and conspicuous a landmark in this province, as Wannashreese is in the western. It is at least eight leagues long; and, if we except a pool of good water, bordered round with arable ground, that lies near the middle of it, the whole, from one end to another, is a continued range of

naked

naked rocks and precipices. In the winter season, the ridge of this mountain is always covered with snow; and it is further remarkable, that whilst the inhabitants of the one side of it carry on an hereditary and implacable animosity with those of the other, yet, by consent, this border of snow puts a full stop to all hostilities during that inclement season, which, like those of the cranes and pigmies, as related by the poet, are renewed with fresh vigour in the spring:

Περιαι δ' αρα ταιγε κακην εριδα προφέροντα. 11. γ. ν. 7.

Jurjura, as well from its extraordinary ruggedness, as from the situation of it betwixt Rusucurium, or Dellys, and Saldis, or Boujeiah, should be the Mons ferratus*, taken notice of by the geographers of the middle age.

If we return again to the westward, we shall find, at five leagues distance to the S. of Medea, the Titterie Dosh, as the Turks call Hadjar Titterie, or rock of Titterie, a remarkable ridge of precipices, four leagues in length, and, if possible, even more rugged than Jurjura. Upon the summit, there is a large piece of level ground, with only one narrow road leading up to it, where, for their greater security, the Welled Eisa have their granaries. Beyond the Welled Eisa are the encampments of the Welled In-anne, the principal Arabs of the district of Titterie, properly so called, which lies in the neighbourhood only of this mountain.

* Vid. Peuting. Tab. Æthic. &c.

It