BONA AND ITS VICINITY.
Passage to Bona.--State of Affairs on Board.--Bona.--The Lake
Metitza.--Ain Mokra.--Wild Duck Shooting on the Lake.
We bade adieu to B----, who had given us letters of recommendation to
the Admiral, for a first-class cabin to Bona--a thing difficult to
achieve on board the steamers here, as civilians are only allowed
second-class accommodation, the state cabin being reserved for the use
of naval and military officers, as the steamers on this line rank as
men of war. The boat was much crowded with soldiers, sailors, and
Arabs, and we had to share a most miserable berth with eight other
occupants. We had arrived too late to procure cabin places, and were
obliged to dine in an unsavoury den, reeking with pestilential odours.
Most of the Frenchmen grumbled loudly at the miserable accommodation
afforded in return for their money. Steaming along past a fine coast,
we reached Dellis about eight o'clock. I got Angelo to bring me my
sheepskin and cloak, and preferred sleeping on deck to passing the
night in a locality which, for the horrors it contained, might have
figured as a scene in Dante's "Inferno."
The gentle music of the sailors, swabbing the deck, awoke me next
morning. I found we were off Bougie, a most beautifully-situated
place, entirely surrounded by snow-covered mountains. Here are
distinctly to be seen the ruins of the old wall supposed to have been
built by the Vandals. A rather tedious day on board, but the
occupation of watching the coast, which is very fine, varied the
monotony of the voyage. We passed Djigelli at about twelve, and
Philippeville at nine in the evening, when I retired to rest, and, the
Fates be thanked, it was in a fresh cabin.
There was a Jewess on board, a rather pretty personage, who slept in
the same cabin with six men, most of them French officers, with a
coolness that astonished me. Her husband was in the berth opposite
her; she did not appear to feel the discomforts of her position, but
chatted away gaily in Arabic and French throughout the whole passage.
I don't think she quitted her berth once.
At half-past six on Saturday, the 25th of March, came Angelo to
announce to me that we were off Bona. This is a very strongly
fortified place. We were rowed ashore by Maltese boatmen, and, amid a
great crowd and bustle on the quay, landed, and went to the Hotel de
France. The proprietors were very civil, and assigned us a room at the
top of the house, looking out on the place. We sallied forth in quest
of horses to take us to the market-place. An Arab, who spoke some
very broken and dilapidated Italian, took us round the market and
through the streets, shouting "Reel Ain Mokra!" Several Arabs came up
and offered us their horses, but the steeds had such a forlorn look,
that we declined the accommodation, and settled to start by carriage
next morning.
Accordingly, on Monday, the 26th of March, we set out at five o'clock,
on a most wretched morning. The vehicle was the most miserable
locomotive contrivance I ever saw. Drawn by two horses, it pounded and
churned along a most detestable road. We were obliged to get out
several times, and in one place we stuck in the mud for twenty
minutes. It was only by dint of putting our united shoulders to the
wheel, that we succeeded in extricating our unhappy chariot from its
stationary position. At length our eyes were gladdened by the sight of
the defile which opens on the lake Metitza, where Count Z----'s
property is situated. Though of Polish origin, the Count is an
Englishman, and has, I believe, been an officer. Right gladly we
alighted from the carriage, and, loading our guns, prevailed on some
Italian fishermen to take us out in a boat for a pop at the wild ducks
which we saw flying about by hundreds, bagged a few, and then returned
to find that the Count's keeper had come down, under the impression
that we were poachers, with a firm determination to take us into
custody there and then. The production of our letter of recommendation
brought him back to civility, and produced an offer to take us out
shooting; Count Z---- himself was absent in London.
There is an establishment here for the manufacture of oil from putrid
fish, which agreeable occupation announced itself in the shape of such
an overpowering odour, that I seized a glass of cognac, and fled
precipitately, taking my way towards the caravanserai of Ain Mokra.
Poor old Nero, whom I had brought with me, got into a scrape here, and
narrowly escaped being drowned. It appears that the putrid entrails of
the fish are thrown into a kind of pond, which is thus filled with a
slimy mixture resembling clay, and exhaling a most horrible odour when
exposed to the sun's rays. Nero contrived, in some way or other, to
slip into this delectable compound, and there he would have remained,
had I not laid hold of him and pulled him out by main force. I at once
had him washed and scrubbed, and even emptied some scent on him, but
in vain; for days afterwards, poor Nero carried about with him a
reminiscence of his odoriferous adventure, which rendered his absence
most desirable to the comfort and well-being of his friends. I sallied
forth about four miles from Ain Mokra, and lay in ambush for boars,
but none appeared, and only shot some jackals--a very poor substitute
for the nobler game I had missed.
[Illustration: R. Pheney, lith.
M. & N. Hanhart, Impt.
SHOOTING WILD DUCKS NEAR AIN MOKRA, PROVINCE OF
CONSTANTINE, ALGERIA.]
At five, next morning, I went out to shoot on the lake. I got Angelo
to row a boat slowly among the reeds, and soon saw hundreds of wild
ducks, teals, and large white birds of whose name I am ignorant; they
looked to me like flamingoes. I could only succeed in bagging a few,
as they were exceedingly shy, and made off as soon as the boat
approached; moreover, the rushes were not thick enough to afford us an
effectual concealment. As the miasma from the lake was sufficiently
powerful to threaten fever, we returned to the caravanserai, where we
breakfasted, and, after shooting a few quails, returned in our
carriage, at one o'clock, to Bona. My driver, who sat beside me, was a
very loquacious old soldier, who had served in the campaigns against
the Arabs under Baraguay d'Hilliers and Youssouf, and been present at
the capture of Milianah and Medeah. The Arabs, he said, never met the
French fairly _en bataille rangee_, but always fired from ambush at
the rear-guard, and in this way killed a great number of men. He
described the conduct of the Arabs to their prisoners as very
merciless. They never gave quarter, and frequently mutilated their
captives; the women, in this particular, being more cruel than the
men. I was informed, on my return, that the party who came out last
year to shoot, had only killed four lions in as many months, though
they had "all appliances and means to boot," and always kept several
Arabs in their pay.