Agriculture in Algeria. 
459 
it very profitable. Be also found castor-oil extremely profitable, 
but did not grow it largely. The sugar-cane bad been tried suc- 
cessfully as an experiment ; and a person who bad grown it in the 
south of Spain with success said that it yielded more on the plain 
of Mina than in Spain. The General was paying 12s. per acre for 
the use of water, which he bad found indispensable to the summer 
crops. His wheat looked splendid ; his barley on the 14th of March 
Avas in full ear. He bad been fifteen years in Egypt, where he said 
the plain of the Kile very much resembled the plain of Mina, except 
that the annual deposit of the Nile made the land there ligliter. 
From Helizau, on the Mina, be (Mr. Caird) was travelling for 
nearly two days up the plain of the Shelliif, which was the principal 
river of Algeria, and ran through a very large extent of country. The 
soil was a deep loam all the way, and owing to heavj"- rains had 
become so sticky that it was almost impassable. There was not a 
single farm or settlement until he reached the base of the mountain 
on which stood Milianah, where he found some Arab culture, but no 
regular farming. The whole plain was very fertile. It was bounded 
on either side by mountains from 2000 to 4000 feet high. On the 
south was seen the distant range of the Atlas, the loftiest part of 
which was 7000 feet high, and there the snow was lying in patches. 
Milianah is situated about 2000 feet above the plain, on a bluff 
half-way up the mountain. There was an ascent of several miles, 
with gardens and streams continually in view. Nothing could be 
more beautiful than the position of the town. In olden times it 
was a Eoman settlement ; in our own times it was the capital of 
Abd-el-Kader, and the French had great difficulty in obtaining pos- 
session of it. From Milianah there was a splendid road — as good a 
one as any to be found in England. For three hours' driving there 
was a continual descent, and then be arrived at the edge of the 
plain of Metidja, in sight of the sea. The first place he came to 
was Bourkeka, at the. western end of the plain. It was first colo- 
nised as a convict settlement ; but the convicts all died. At the 
time of the French Eevohition, in 1848, it became a settlement of 
Parisian workmen, who almost all died from fever, or in conse- 
quence of their incapacity for the peculiar kind of work required. 
There had been no less than three populations in twenty years. In 
passing along he was struck with a very singular conti'ast between 
the industry of the native Arabs and that of the Fi ench population. 
There were a number of French and Arab carriers ; and while the 
former had each five mules in a high-wheeled, large, and strong 
cart, carrj'ing not less probably than four tons, the latter had a 
donkey with half a cwt. of vegetables. That seemed to him a 
striking illustration of the advantage of civilisation as regarded the 
economy of labour. The plain of Metidja is one of the largest in 
Algeria : it is 50 miles long and 12 broad, comprising 500,000 acres, 
and stretches to within a few miles of Algiers. The soil at the 
western end is black, like that of the prairies. At El Affrond, a 
very thriving settlement, it is redder, and is planted with vines and 
mulberries, as well as com. At Blidah he observed immense 
plantations of oranges, com, &c. Thence he proceeded to Algiers, 
