456 THE HUNTING GKOUNDS 



and Monsieur le Commandant Lebarte, of the 71st 

 regiment of the line, were of the most material ser- 

 vice. 



Took a box at the theatre for a ball given by the 

 town for the benefit of the poor, where we spent a 

 very agreeable evening. I counted forty-nine ladies 

 who danced, besides many others in the boxes. Ob- 

 served that crinoline has not gone down in Algeria, 

 whatever it may have done in Paris. 



Friday, 12tJi. — At six a.m. " our trap," if I may 

 so call the clumsy, rumbling, creaking vehicle which 

 came rolling down the street like a ship in a storm, 

 groaning as if it was aware of the rough treatment 

 it would receive before arrival at Constantine ; and 

 at seven our goods and chattels were hoisted on the 

 top, our vivandiere stowed in the coupe, and our- 

 selves snugly packed outside and in. Too-too-too ! 

 went a hunting-horn, crack went the whip, round 

 went the wheels, and our seven horses set off at a 

 hand-gallop, which lasted for a few hundred yards 

 past the barrier gates, when their pace sunk by 

 degrees into a shuffling walk , and at about four 

 miles from the town we were brought to a stand- 

 still, the ruts being nearly two feet deep. Our 

 driver, the queerest fish for a son of Jehu that ever 

 mounted a box, did not appear in the least discon- 

 certed : he flung down the ribbons, and, coolly dis- 

 mounting from his seat, opened a boot and took out a 

 quantity of pickaxes and spades, which he distributed 

 among the passengers, all of whom were expected to 



