Agriculture in Algeria. 
found very nnlicalfliy. The French had, owing to tlie necessities 
of their position there, drawn their supply of water from a neigh- 
bouring and extremely muddy river ; whereas there were remains, 
in excellent preservation, of an aqueduct thirty miles long, Avhich 
had supplied that town with good water from a great distance, and 
no doubt materially aided in promoting its prosperity. He need 
not enter into the history of the changes which had taken place in 
Algeria from the time of the Eoman occupation down to the present 
day. Suffice it to say, that it was overrun by the Vandals, con- 
quered by the Saracens in the seventh century, afterwards conquered 
by the Spaniards, and then by the Turks. In 1810 Algiers was 
bombarded by Lord Exmouth. In 1830 it was captured by the 
French army, and since that period the country has been gradually 
reduced under the French rule. 
The whole population was about 3,000,000, of which aboiit 250,000 
"was European. There had been a considerable increase within 
the last five years — not less than 470,000 in the native, and 33,000' 
in the European popiilation, indicating a gradual advance in pros- 
perity under French rule. Of the French population a very large 
portion is military; but it also provides hotel and cafe-keepers, 
many excellent farmers, porters, and cabmen, who were extremely 
civil, but- not any great supply of labour to colonists who embarked 
their capital in the cultivation of the soil. The Spaniards who 
came over from the neighbouring country comprised a very numerous 
and excellent class of labourers, cleanly and well dressed, good 
farmers, road-makers, cabmen, and skilled labourers in an agricul- 
tural point of view. Then, on the neighbouring border of Morocco, 
there were Moroccans, a very fine stalwart race of men, in personal 
appearance not second to any that he had seen, excellent labourers 
at hard work, but very deficient in skill. The Arabs, who were 
the most numerous portion of the population, have the same habits 
which were ascribed to the old inhabitants by Sallust, in his account 
of Numidia — modern Algeria — during the time of the Jugurthine 
war. Sallust describes also the higher soils of the country as 
healthy, and the lower as the reverse, a description wliich is still 
applicable. The higher parts of the country are si ill healthy; 
but the plains, which are the richest tracts of country within the 
borders of Algeria, have been found by Eurojoeans to be generally 
unhealthy. No doubt drainage, and the extension of agricultural 
enterprise, would alter that state of things. Already, indeed, in 
the great plain of Metidja, wliich lies 50 miles to the south-west of 
Algiers, a most beneficial change had taken place. Fifteen or 
twenty years ago that seemed to be the grave of the French 
colonists ; now at difterent parts there were to be seen thriving and 
healthy colonies, having luxurious vineyards, orange-groves, and an 
immense breadth of corn. Although it was not a matter of any 
practical interest, he might perhaps be allowed to mention that he 
had received an invitation to dine with an Arab chief in his tent. 
He was presented, as all sti-angers were, with goats' milk, and en- 
joyed the distinction of having a whole sheep roasted for himself 
