From the Porte de France, where Europe comes to an abrupt end and the Orient dramatically begins, the walls and roofs of Old Tunis rise like terraces, one above the other, to the Kasbah, which, as in the case of all Oriental citadels, occupies the highest point, so that in the event of a revolt its guns may sweep the city. In the days when Tunis was a corsair stronghold, its swift-sailing galleys the terror of the Mediterranean, the Kasbah was the seat of power, its massive ramparts inclosing the palaces of the beys, the barracks of the Janizaries, and the bagnios in which were confined the Christian slaves. To-day, however, there is little about the Kasbah to suggest its one-time importance, for only the exterior wall remains, and the old buildings have disappeared to make room for the _casernes_ in which are housed the troops of the French garrison. Yet few areas of like size in the world have witnessed so much bloodshed, cruelty, and suffering. At the height of the pirate power the Christian captives in Tunis alone numbered upward of ten thousand; they were treated like wild beasts; worked like draft-animals, and sold like cattle to the highest bidder. But they had their revenge, for when, in July, 1535, the Spaniards under Charles V besieged Tunis, the Christian slaves confined in the citadel suddenly rose in revolt, massacred their guards, and helped to secure the victory of the emperor. This reverse was very far from crushing the power of the corsair chiefs, however, and a few years later found them again ravaging the seaboards of Italy, France, and Spain, exacting tribute from every seafaring nation. Even the European coastwise traffic was not immune. In the closing years of the sixteenth century a young Frenchman of a religious turn of mind, while voyaging from Marseilles to Narbonne, was captured by the corsairs, taken to Tunis, and sold at public auction. His heart stirred with pity by the sufferings which he witnessed during his two years of captivity in the city, he dedicated the remainder of his life to ameliorating the wretched lot of Christian captives and galley-slaves. In recognition of the great services which he rendered to suffering humanity, he was canonized by the Church of Rome, being known to history as St. Vincent de Paul. Though vanished are its glories, the Kasbah is well worth visiting if for no other purpose than to view the superb panorama commanded by its ramparts. Seen under the morning sun, the Tunisian capital is a pearl-white city, though its whiteness is relieved from monotony and glare by numerous patches of green—the palms and orange-trees in the gardens of the Dar-el-Bey, the shade-trees along the Avenue Jules Ferry, the Avenue de France, and other thoroughfares, and the blue-green tiles used so effectively in the decoration of the mosques, particularly on their domes and pointed minarets.