For a number of years the Moors harried the commerce, ravaged the coasts, and carried off the subjects of King Ferdinand, but their activities were brought to an abrupt end by the daring and determination of a churchman, Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros, archbishop of Toledo and inquisitor-general of Spain, who at his own expense equipped an expedition which in 1505 captured Mers-el-Kebir, and who four years later himself led a second expedition which took Oran by storm. This zealous priest, soldier, and statesman, for he was all three combined, introduced Africa to the terrors of the Inquisition—its palace may still be seen in the Place de l’Hôpital of Oran—and also restored and extended the fortifications, building on the heights above the town the massive Castle of the Saints, now replaced by Fort St. Philippe. Oran became the penal settlement of Spain, but neither the convicts nor the noblemen in disgrace who were banished thither seem to have been very rigorously treated, if contemporary accounts are to be believed. [Illustration: NO, IT IS NOT ALWAYS HOT IN AFRICA As is shown by this picture, which was taken in Algeria shortly before Easter] Meanwhile the Turks under the Barbarossas had made themselves masters of Algeria, having ousted the Spaniards from all their possessions in Barbary save Oran, which was now besieged by a formidable force under the powerful bey of Mascara. The terrible earthquake of 1760, which killed hundreds of citizens and all but destroyed the town, provided the Spaniards with an excuse for withdrawing from a position which had become untenable, and a few months later the regiments of his Most Catholic Majesty marched out and the squadrons of Mascara came riding in. Oran remained the capital of the beys of Mascara for 140 years; but upon the capture of Algiers by France the ruling bey sent in his submission, and in 1831 the ancient city was treated to another military triumph and witnessed another change of masters, as France’s red-trousered soldiery entered its gates to the blare of bugles and the roll of drums. That it has prospered mightily under French rule is shown by the fact that a census taken in 1832 showed that it had but 388 inhabitants, two thirds of whom were Jews, whereas its present population is not far from one hundred and fifty thousand.