Saïda, that is to say, the Saïda of yesterday,--for the present settlement is entirely French,--was heroically defended by Abd-el-Kader, and, as we drove home, we saw the ruined walls of the old town and the deserted camp of the French soldiery. Throughout the entire province of Oran, indeed, you are reminded of Abd-el-Kader, whose career has a wild, sad, Saracenic pomp about it not at all in harmony with our present civilization.
The French garrison of Saïda consists now of 800 men; and they have sixteen pieces of cannon only. We saw no more of our driver after that day. The superb air and savage plenty of such places as Saïda seem to make people magnanimous, for he went off to Géryville next day, never concerning himself about being paid for his services; and we were constantly receiving little presents from some one or other during our stay, ostriches’ eggs, beautifully polished stones, wild boars’ horns, &c., &c.
Saïda is a land of Goshen in the matter of game, and there is plenty of sport too. Jackals, hyenas, wild boars, abound in these rocky wildernesses; there are also panthers and gazelles, though they are found rarer. If it were not for the hunt and the chase, what would become of the officers under exile?
Next day, M. le Commandant showed us his pretty garden, planted with apple-trees by way of recalling his native Normandy, and promising to be very beautiful by-and-by, when the rich tropical flowers should be out. Then he went with us to a very savage and splendid gorge called _La Source_. Here, issuing from a tiny aperture in the rock, a stream of clear, rapid water had cleft its way through the rich red heart of the mountain, and tossed and tumbled amid oleanders and tamarisks as far as the eye could reach. The rock, piled in lofty masses on either side, made natural ramparts to the little town of Saïda which lay a mile off, forming the haunts of wild beasts and birds and Arab thieves.
“I have placed sentinels here for several nights of late,” said M. le Commandant, “for the Arabs are like the jackals and steal down at night to scavenge where they can. My Spahis will come here as soon as it is dusk, and this precaution I must take till the thief or thieves are caught.”