These details, as well as the following, certainly wound my modesty a little, but I cannot make up my mind to pass them over in silence; hence, I must beg the reader to accept them as a mere picture of manners. I declare, too, that the thought never entered my mind of having deserved such praise, and yet I cannot refrain from feeling as much flattered as grateful for this homage, and regarding it as the most precious souvenir of my professional career. This declaration made, I will furnish a translation of the address, in the words used by the caligrapher himself: “Homage offered to Robert-Houdin, by the chiefs of the Arab tribes, after his performances given at Algiers on the 28th and 29th of October, 1856. “GLORY TO GOD, who teaches us what we know not, and enables us to express the treasures of the mind by the flowers of eloquence and the signs of writing. “Generous-handed destiny has sent down from above, in the midst of lightning and thunder, like a powerful and fertilizing rain, the marvel of the moment and the age, him who cultivates the surprising arts and marvellous sciences--the _Sid_-Robert-Houdin. “Our century has seen no one comparable with him. The splendor of his talent surpasses the most brilliant productions of past ages. Our age is the more illustrious because it has possessed him. “He has known how to stir our hearts and astonish our minds, by displaying to us the surprising facts of his marvellous science. Our eyes were never before fascinated by such prodigies. What he accomplishes cannot be described. We owe him our gratitude for all the things by which he has delighted our eyes and our minds; hence, our friendship for him has sunk into our hearts like a perfumed shower, and our bosoms preciously conceal it. “We shall in vain attempt to raise our praises to the height of his merit; we must lower our brows before him and pay him homage, so long as the benevolent shower fertilizes the soil, so long as the moon illuminates the night, so long as the clouds come to temper the heat of the sun. “Written by the slave of God, “ALI-BEN-EL-HADJI MOUSSA. “Pardon us for presenting thee with,” &c. &c. Then follow the seals and signatures of the chiefs of the tribes. After the ceremony was over, and the Arabs had left us, the marshal-governor, whom I had not seen since my performances, being desirous to give me an idea of the effect they had produced on the minds of the natives, quoted the following incident: A Kabyle chief, who had come to Algiers to make his submission, was taken to my first performance. The next day, at an early hour, he went to the palace, and asked to speak with the governor. “I have,” he said to the marshal, “to ask your permission to return immediately to my tribe.”