extent than the space thus denuded. Ten acres of cork trees will be
thoughtlessly burned to make one of fig-orchard. And this evil rather
increases than lessens, prevention being difficult by reason of the want of
good roads for reaching the delinquents.... In six hours' march we reached
Toudja, at the foot of Mount Arbalon, in the most delicious oasis
imaginable. The soil, threaded by clear and cool rivulets which spring in
abundance from the rocks forming the base of the mountain, is wonderfully
fertile. We are surrounded by more than a square league of tufted verdure,
composed in great part of orange and lemon groves, mingled with some palms
and immense carob trees. The houses are well built, and even show fancy in
their designs. Vines bending with enormous clusters of grapes festoon
themselves from tree to tree, tasselling the topmost branches with fruit
and tendrils. It is not uncommon to see four or five large trees taken
possession of by a single vine, its trunk as large as the body of a man.
The grapes are mostly of a light-red color, large and sweet."

[Illustration: REPOSE.]

All this indicates that France did not deceive herself as to the
capabilities of Algeria, and that her conquest of it was inspired by
considerations more solid than the glory she has been accused of
recognizing as an all-sufficient motive. She has made the country much
more valuable to the commerce of the world than any other part of Barbary.
Had she done nothing more with it than hold it prostrate and put an end to
its existence as a den of pirates, she would by that alone have earned the
gratitude of the nations. She has done a great deal more. European
civilization has discovered a penetrable spot in the dense armor of
African barbarism. It has effected a lodgment in the darkest and most
hopeless of the continents. Should the movement fail, like so many before
it, to extend itself, and become localized after a period of promise, the