our movements. Then did I fasten my handkerchief to the end of a stick, and agitated it in the air, running with all my might towards the French. My signal was quickly understood, and another was given, informing me that I might approach without fear. I was now close upon the advanced sentinel. The general, Baraguy d'Hilliers, who had been advised of my approach, came forth to meet me with his staff; I was an object of curiosity to all. A priest in the middle of the Atlas, coming from the enemies' camp! It was a mystery to them, for they knew nothing of my journey.-'But where do you come from, then?' said the general.

'From Abd-el-Kader,'

Alone, General.' He

'Yes, excepting my

interpreter.' The astonishment of all the officers was at its height: the soldiers, eager to hear me, formed a dense circle around us. When I had duly replied to a thousand questions concerning those I had just visited, the kind of life I had had amongst the Arabs, and the dangers I had run, I begged the general to send for my poor guide, who was half dead with fear where I had left him. As to my interpreter, he was also surrounded with the curious, and rewarded himself with an ample breakfast, after his fatigues of travel.

"I was hardly to be recognised; my long beard, my face and hands burnt by the sun, my cassock torn from one end to the other, gave me the air of a regular savage,-a complete Bedouin. After a short halt, I said to the general, I am your prisoner, but if you will set me at liberty I will again return to the enemy, for with my guide alone, I should reach Blidah more securely than with a French escort.' He easily believed it, and allowed me to depart. A quarter of an hour afterwards I fell in with some Arabs in ambush, who received me with joy and conducted me to a fountain, where I satisfied my thirst and reposed awhile with them. I visited, not far from thence, a cross carved in the rock, above a grotto discovered by the army on its first passage this way. Without doubt it served formerly as a retreat to some holy hermit, in the age when Christianity flourished in this now deserted and unhappy country. At a short distance off are copper mines, long since unworked.

"We now ascended the Teniah Mouzzaïa, so famous for the deeds of arms of our troops. Arrived at the summit, I cut a small branch of olive, as a souvenir of my peaceful passage across a mountain which our soldiers with difficulty scaled at the expense of immense bloodshed. I detached also a piece of bark from an oak beneath

which I was told a young officer had died, a victim to this African war. I prayed for him, and for all our brave soldiers buried upon this field of battle. Willingly would I have planted a cross upon this solitary tomb, had I not feared its desecration at the hands of the Arabs, who in spite of our victories are still lords of this rock. From this summit the view is magnificent. The vast plain of the Metidja, traversed by divers rivers, such as the Oued-el-Kebir, the Oued-Ger, and the Chiffa; then, in the distance, the Sahel, with its little heights bordering the sea-coast from Algiers to Mount Chenouan; and opposite, upon the slopes of the Sahel, Coleah, with its white minarets, may be seen. In the middle of the desert plain, Bouffarik lies like a beautiful oasis; upon the right is Blidah, with its orange-groves and its blockhouses, encircled by its vast ditch; then upon the horizon to the North-east one may perceive indistinctly the 'Fort de l'Empereur' and some country houses, in the vicinity of Algiers; the view at last losing itself upon the waves of the Mediterranean.

"We had now descended into the plain, and approached Blidah. Hardly were we a quarter of a league from that town, and the interpreter had already ridden on to advise General Bedeau, the commandant of the place, of our approach.

Alone with my guide, I proceeded, rejoicing to have reached so nearly the termination of my journey, when suddenly six Arab brigands, armed to the teeth, dashed forth from a deep ravine bordering upon the route, and ranging themselves in order of battle before me, prepared to fire a volley. My guide stood motionless with surprise and fright; as for myself, seeing that I was condemned to die within sight of the French camp, at the instant of having accomplished my undertaking prosperously so far, I recommended myself again to the Virgin, the guardian of Christians, and advancing hardily towards the chief of the band cried out, 'God defend you from an evil deed:

rather may He pour forth His blessing upon you!' At these words they looked upon me with an astonished air, lowered their arms, and dashed off. A few minutes afterwards I was in the church at Blidah, returning thanks to God for the happy issue of my singular mission. And the following week I embraced at Algiers the Captain Morissot, who had just arrived from his captivity, together with his companions."

CHAP. XIX.

EXTRACTS FROM THE AUTHOR'S JOURNAL, ON A RIDE THROUGH

THE PROVINCE OF CONSTANTINE TO THE OASIS OF BISKRA.

Constantine, October, 1846.-At last I have arrived at the vast table-rock occupied in days of yore by that most ancient city, the royal Cirta. A classical imagination may doubtless picture me as having approached this venerable site of the capital of Numidia in its palmy days with feelings of great veneration, with visions of Syphax, Sophonisba, and other mountain-heroes and heroines of their day, floating in my brain. Egregious error! Historical reminiscences are delightful enough when basking in the sun upon the housetop, or when reclining upon a sumptuous divan, inhaling from the jasmine chibouk the perfumed weed of Latikia. Such, however, was not my condition; such were not my visions, as my horse's hoofs spurned the rocky road leading up to Constantine. Au contraire, the ultima thule of my desires was to find shelter within her gates, and the most vivid of my visions bore a very gastronomic character.

Twenty-four hours' fasting on dirty water and