The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-28

ALL AROJT CONSTANTINE, THE
q CITY OF THE AIR, WHICH
d STANDS ON ROCK ONE THOU
d SAND FEET HIGH
N A Great Fertilization and It's Eighty
NJ Sicges-Amongst the Sky DwelIcrs
@ Mohammedans, Arabs and Jews
Z How the Arabs Make PIows
& sheepsheads as Daintics-The Old
Bcy and His Three Hundred Wives.
How Mohammcdan Eve Was Pun
u ishcd.
q (Copywright, 1907 by Frank G. Car
penter.)
Constantine
8 Have you ever heard Of this famous
City Of the Air? 1t lies here In the
heart Of North Africa about 800 miles
q east Of Algiers, 80 miles south of the
Haijterranean and 125 miles north of
the Desert of Sahara. 1t is built up
i on an enormous rock at an altitude of
1000 feet above the sea, and there is
q mighty gorge q thousand feet deep
II running around it.
II YOU could take one of our Ameri-
can towns of $4,000 inhabitants.
crowd its houses together so that they
would not cover more than the area
Of a half section farm and then lift
the bed rock on which they stand
straight up in the air for 1000 feet
you might have some Of the condi-
lions which exist here at Constantine.
You would have 20 put the houses
"n a mighty stone platform. and on
three sides of it have rocky walls
falling precipitately down to a valley
of a depth almost twice the height
of the Washington monument. You
would need rushing, foaming river
to ow thrOflugh the gorge thus made,
"a Or
country ending in the desert-lil<e
mountains of the great Atlas chain. 1
doubt whether there is another such
city on earth. 1t is called by the
Arabs THE City of Air 1t is the
mightiest roof garden known to man.
\ Mighty Fort.
Constantine, however, is far more
than roof garden. 1t is a fortifica-
tion as well. For almost 1000 years
it has been the site of a camp
barracks for soldiers and the story
of its adventures is written in blood.
1t has successfully withstood eighty
sieges, and when the French took it,
about seventy years ago, they en-
plOYed an army of 10000 men. At
that time hundreds of its Arab inhab-
itantS who tried TO escape by letting
themselves down over the rocks were
dashed to pieces in the gorges Glow,
and so many Mohammedan women
thus committed suicide that the river
q ran blood
The Kasbah or citadel. which was
81 then the chief fort of the Arabs, is
81 now occupied by several thousand
81 French troops. 1t commands the
81 highest point on the rocky plateau,
and is right over the most precipitous
part of the gorge In it there are
stone cisternS and granarfeS built by
The Romans, and not far from it is
great stone aqueduct which the Ro
mans made to supply the place with
water in times of peace
Constantine was a city in the days
Of Phoencians, and under the name
Of Cirta it was the capital of Car
thaginian province ruled b. Hanni-
balls brother-in-law. Later on it be-
eame the capital of Numidia. and as
such furnished the famous Numidian
lions for the gladiaorial shows of
old Rome. 4 little more than 800
years after Christ it was called Con-
stantine. in honor of the Roman en-
peror Of that late, and when the
Arabs came in it WAS made one of
their capitals
Notwithstanding all this the city
could be easily battered to pieces
Modern guns, placed on the opposite
heights, would shatter the buildings,
and in a few hours would sweep the
rock clear of both houses and people.
m the warfare of the past, however,
IL was almost impregnable, and the
great canyons by which il is surround
cd formed a barrier which no army
could scale.
In the Gorges.
If YOU would realize how great
barrier they were, come with me down
into the gorgeS. Steps have BEEN
gouged out of the rocks by the
French. There are hanging walks
along the sides of the cliffs, and we
can climb a thousand feet down &c
rFris ~ ID I)o,Iy oil ly
theRivec of Sands, runs rushing and
t"aming along on its way to the Medi-
ttrranean sea.
We take carriages and driv- Lar UP
t. valley, and then cross, anl come
4 the LADDERS. The way frorn here
"U is rough and tiresome, Tut We
r!mJ down, do vn, down, until at
last We aye near III" water, far .ii:'!er
the city. both sides of us rise pre-
s.ltfous LACK Wa. stained by seA-
e.~ and .-crings, and roofen hy lie
''>
Ih- gorge is abcpt 200 feet ,vide,
'.'loWirs in places to $50 feet o"
less. The rocks rise almost straight
uE from the river, and we are MAX
ing our way about through nai-
loW canyon along this foamlng
Sire m. Down here in the gorge one
hears nothing, the noises of the city
ar. unknown. d it is as s:lcEt as
-.ath. There IS only the Whir"ing OF
.t.- wings % jha crows, StOrkS ano
oaor birds, as they fly across to
,a"ir nests in one wall or the other,
and the roaring of the foaming river,
j. dasheH on through the rocks.
Ihe gprge changes in character as we
s. through il. Here the cliffs are
ghty pillars of stone, 500 feet high;
0."rr they look lie great battlements,
a't farther on they almost meet over
lrau.
~ The lover end of the gorge, al
-1'~t under the -kasah. is natural
u -4Ge, somewhat like that of Virginia.
ross it runs an aqueduct, built by
u "e Romans, and at the same place
'.e the remains of the Roman road
~alch Joined the city to the mainland
lA.S old bridge is still in good oondi-
~"n- 1t is right under the iron
81 @FtHsc of Kantara, which now forms
4" chief highway to the city on the
Amongst the Sky Dwcllcrs.
came here from the Desert of Sa-
.r''@ by transferring at Ell Guerra to
8 -, failr"ad which runs from Algiers