"The population is estimated at 2,600,000, considerably more than half of them being Europeans, mostly French. About one-fifth of the country is under cultivation; and some of it is very fertile, especially in the river valleys. If you look at your maps you will see that the Barbary States--Morocco, Algérie, and Tunis--are crossed by mountain ranges quite near the coast, as on the west coast of South America, so that there can be no large rivers in them. "Algiers, Bona, and Oran are the principal cities. The provinces with these names are extremely fertile, and were formerly the granaries of Italy. The Southern parts are something like the desert of Sahara, which they border, but contain oases, which are part of the date country. "The climate in some parts is very hot, but it is cool on the seashore and cold in the high mountains. The thermometer averages sixty-three in this city. The productions are the grains, resin, timber, olives, and dates. Oxen, sheep, and camels are the animals. French is now the language of the people, though Arabic and Turkish are still spoken. In ancient days the eastern part was the country of the Numidians, and the western of the Moors, or a portion of what was called Mauritania." "My favorite name," added Mrs. Belgrave. "A pretty name, but with little to recommend it, madame," added the professor. "As Roman colonies these regions enjoyed their highest prosperity; but the conquest of the Vandals sent them back into a state of barbarism. The Mohammedans then got possession, and an improvement followed, and at one time the Arabian savants held the burden of the knowledge then in existence. "When Ferdinand and Isabella completed the conquest of Granada, the year that Columbus discovered America, they drove the Jews and Moors over into Africa. In revenge for the treatment they had received, they became pirates, and preyed upon their late oppressors. For this Ferdinand attacked them, and captured this city in 1509, fortifying the place. One of the Algerine princes called in Barbarossa, the famous pirate chief, to his assistance. He was a renegade Greek, and had become a Turk. This pirate turned his forces against the emir who had called him over, treacherously murdered him, and made himself Sultan. He was very successful in his wars; the Spaniards were alarmed, and marched out from Oran upon him. Barbarossa was taken prisoner and beheaded, and his brother was chosen his successor. He called in the aid of the Turkish government, whose armies drove the Spaniard out of the country. They established a system of despotism and piracy, which lasted till 1830. For three hundred years the nations of Europe warred against this piracy.