the earth for making the walls. From this, and some other substances, a cement was made of which the new city was built,-a manufacture which none now can imitate. The stately ramparts arose, and within them there was a mosque far surpassing any that existed in Tlemçen. Part of it was built by Mahometans and part by Jews. The former still stands, the latter has fallen. The name of Mansourah (the fortunate) was given to the new city, of which the ruins alone now remain. Its arms effected the destruction of Tlemçen, and then it fell itself. Such is the account which local traditionary history gives of these curious remains. It is unnecessary to criticise the details of the story. The Mansourah was, apparently, built by one of the sovereigns of Tlemçen in its palmy days, as a palace for himself. The area is an oblong, extending from north to south, but the north-west angle of the oblong is cut off, so that the whole forms an irregular pentagon, of which the circumference is not less than a mile or a mile and a half. The thickness of the walls throughout was not less than six feet, and their height about twenty-five. So much still remains, that it is plain there were square towers every thirty or forty yards, and that the whole circumference, wall and towers, was regularly battlemented. But in the north-west angle the ruins of the mosque afford the most wonderful sight of all. The minaret is split from top to

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WALLS OF ARTIFICIAL CONCRETE.

bottom, and half remains standing, more than one hundred feet in height. The mosque itself constituted a separate fortification. Its walls, as well as those of the circuit of the Mansourah, are perforated throughout, to admit of arrows being shot or spears protruded through the orifices.* The material of the whole is not stone, but an artificial concrete, which seems to have been made in large blocks. It is extremely hard, which no stone in the vicinity of Tlemçen is. The minaret of the mosque contained eight stories, which may be distinctly traced inside. Its outer face is elaborately ornamented in the best Arabian style; but in the lower part of the façade the ornamentation is effected by carved stones, which are, apparently, of Roman origin, and were, no doubt, brought from the ruins of one of the Roman towns in this neighbourhood after its destruction by the Vandals.

As the Mansourah lies upon the northern incline of the hills which back Tlemçen, the southern end of the oblong area is higher than the rest. From this upper side a single line of fortification extends up into the mountain which is close above, so as to form a barrier and prevent any one from passing to the north of the inclosure. The direction of the face of this towards Tlemçen may, perhaps, have formed the basis of the

* This is also the case with the ancient walls of Tlemçen, and also with the ruins at Souk-el-Mitou, about eighteen miles from Mostaganem.

TRACES OF FORMER GREATNESS.

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legend just related. But the sumptuous style of the mosque and the character of the building throughout would prove decisively (if proof were necessary) that the work was not effected for any temporary purpose, such as the taking a neighbouring town; and moreover, that it would never have been undertaken except by some one who had the command of very large funds.

But the whole story of Tlemçen is obscure. That it passed through great vicissitudes is obvious; but there is a break in its history, which up to the present time no one has been able to fill up. After Lieutenant Marty had left me in the afternoon, I set out by myself on foot to explore a portion of the ancient wall which seemed to be the lowest part of the widest circle of the old fortifications, and had especially attracted my attention by a handsome minaret which remained just outside it, apparently perfect, although every trace of the mosque to which it belonged had vanished. But beyond this enceinte there ran a brook, and beyond the brook there appeared a further fortification, possibly intended as an outwork. All was in ruins, but exhibited marks of strength far exceeding that of the most recent of the walls. The whole is in the midst of a grove of olivetrees growing on ruins, which the French have called the "Bois de Boulogne," and cut some paths in it for the benefit of promenaders. I found a couple of