THE MEDITERRANEAN, PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL. 273 



some of whom had never been subdued since the fall of the Roman 

 Empire, and the world owes France no small debt of gratitude for hav- 

 ing transformed what was a savage and almost uncultivated country 

 into one of the richest as well as the most beautiful in the basiu of the 

 Mediterranean. 



What has been accomplished in Algeria is being effected in Tunisia. 

 The treaty of the Kasr-es-Saeed, which established a French protecto- 

 rate there and military occupation of the regency, were about as 

 highhanded and unjustifiable acts as are recorded in history; but 

 there can be no possible doubt regarding the important work of civil- 

 ization and improvement that has resulted from them. European 

 courts of justice have been established all over the country, the 

 exports and imports have increased from twenty-three to tifty-one 

 millions of francs, the revenue from six to nineteen millions, without 

 the imposition of a single new tax, and nearly half a million per annum 

 is being spent on education. 



Sooner or later the same thing must happen in the rest of north 

 Africa, though at present international jealousies retard this desirable 

 consummation. It seems hard to condemn such fair countries to con- 

 tinued barbarism in the interest of tyrants who mis-govern and oppress 

 their people. The day can not be far off when the whole southern 

 shores of the Mediterranean will enjoy the same prosperity and civil 

 ization as tlie northern coast, and when the deserts which are the 

 result of mis-government and neglect will assume the fertility arising 

 from security and industry, and will again blossom as the rose. 



It cannot be said that any part of the Mediterranean basin is still 

 unknown, if we except the Empire of Morocco. But even that country 

 has been traversed in almost every direction during the past 20 

 years, and its geography and natural history have been illustrated by 

 men of the greatest eminence, such as Gerhard Kohlfs, Monsieur Tissot, 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, the Vicomte de Foucauld, Joseph Thomson, and 

 numerous other travellers. The least known portion, at least on the 

 Mediterranean coast, is the Kiff country, the inhospitalitj" of whose 

 inhabitants has given the word "ruffian" to the English language. 

 Even that has been penetrated bj^ De Foucauld disguised as a Jew, 

 and the record of his exploration is one of the most brilliant con- 

 tributions to the geography of the country which has hitherto been 

 made. 



Although, therefore, but little remains to be done in the way of 

 actual exploration, there are many by-ways of travel comparatively 

 little known to that class of the community with which I have so much 

 sympathy, — the ordinary British tourist. These Hock every year in 

 hundreds to Algeria and Tunis, but few of them visit the splendid 

 Roman remains in the interior of those countries. The Oyrenaica is 

 not so easily accessible, and I doubt whether any Englishmen have 

 travelled in it since the exploration of Smith and Porcher in ISGl. 

 H. Mis. 129 18 



