228 Phyfical and Mifcellaneous 



Regularity, the ftudy of Soil and Compofts, or the aiming 

 at any new Improvements and Difcoveries, would be fo many 

 Deviations from the Praolice of their Anceftors, whofe Foot- 

 fteps they follow with the utmoft Reverence and Devotion. 



the ski'/'fy The Soil which fupports all thefe Vegetables, is, for the moft 



of r eio,. p^j^.^^ of fuch a loofe and yielding Contexture, that an ordinary Pair 

 of Oxen is fufficient, in one Day, to plow an Acre of the ftiffeft 

 Sort of It. The Colour of It is not always the fame ; for in the 

 Plains of Zeidoure &c, it is blackiih ; whilft in thofe of El- 

 mildegah &c. it inchneth to be red; though both of them are e- 

 qually fruitful, and impregnated alike with great Quantities of 

 Salt and Nitre. 



Salt Pctre In thc Salt Tetre Works of Tlemfan they extradt about βχ 

 Ounces of Nitre from every Quintal of the common Mould, 

 which is there of a dark Colour; and at 'Ooiifan, Kairwan and 

 fome other Places, they have the like Quantity from a loamy 

 Earth , of a Colour betwixt red and yellow. The Banks of 

 feveral Rivers, to the Depth fometimes of two or three Fa- 

 thom, are ftudded, in Summer Time, with nitrous and faline 

 Knobbs and Exudations ; which, befides the Depth of the Soil, 

 fhew us likewife how well it is faturated with thefe Minerals. 

 For to this grand and inexhauftible Fund of Salts, we may in 

 a great Meafure attribute the great Fertility, for which this 

 Country hath always been remarkable ', and ftill continueth to 

 befo, without any other Manuring, than the burning, in fome 

 few Places, of the Stubble. Though it is fomewhat extraor- 

 dinary that the Province of Bizac'mm \ which was formerly 

 held in fo much Repute for If s Fertility, iliould be at prefent 

 the moft barren and unprofitable Part of Thefe Kingdoms. 



sak the pre- It appcars farther, that Salt is the chief and prevailing Mineral 

 nerai!:^ ' of thefe Kingdoms, as well from the feveral Salt Springs and 

 Mountains of Salt, as from the great Number of Salinas and 

 Shibkas^XhsX are one or other to be met with in everyDiftri6t. The 

 Wed elMailah near the weftern Frontiers of the Kingdom ο,ϊΑΙ 

 gierSy and the Serratt upon the eaftern ; the HammamMellwan, 

 nine Leagues to the S.S.E. οϊ Algiers ; the Salt River of the Beni 

 AbheJSy which runneth through the Beehan ; that of the Urhyahy 



I Non quicquid Libyces terit 



Fervens area meffibus. Settee, in Thycil. 



Frumenti, quantum metit /^hV^. Hor. Sat. 1. 2. Sat. 3. 



Poifideat jLji/Vrfi meffes. M<j?i. Epigr. \.6. 85. 



2 Vid. Not. I, p. 220. 



near 



