The French were quick to realize, however, that in a savage and hostile country, utterly destitute of roads, the heavily accoutred European troops, accompanied by artillery and baggage trains, could not hope to approach the mobility of the Arab light-horsemen. No sooner had the army landed, therefore, than the military engineers set about the construction of a great strategic highway system, which at first only linked the more important coast cities but was gradually expanded until it now consists of a main east-and-west artery running right across the country from Tunisia to Morocco with numerous branches which stretch southward to the towns along the edge of the Sahara. These highways, which now have a total length of nearly thirty-five hundred miles, comprise the _routes nationales_, the great state trunk roads, built and maintained by the government primarily for strategic purposes. In recent years the government has lent its aid in the construction of a number of other roads, partly of a strategic nature but for the most part built with a view to opening up new regions to commerce and colonization. These, with the ordinary country roads, make up a total of something over ten thousand miles, so that to-day there is not a single town of importance in Algeria which cannot be reached by motor over hard-surfaced highways. The _routes nationales_ of Algeria are like those of France as the latter were before they were ruined by the heavy traffic of the war: the curves and gradients scientifically worked out, planted wherever possible with shade-trees, the distances plainly indicated by kilometer-stones, and maintained in admirable condition. The Algerian highways are not so well posted as they might be, though the motorist rarely has any difficulty in finding his way; but in Morocco the French have erected the finest road-signs I have ever seen—great walls of whitewashed concrete, ten feet in height, with the route-numbers, the names of the towns, and the distances painted on them in staring black characters which can be seen a quarter of a mile away. In this respect, Morocco is far ahead of America. As a result of the general excellence of the Algerian roads the shipping of goods by motor-truck has been highly developed, transportation by roads being in most cases fully as rapid as by railway and considerably less expensive.