The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-26

(CopyrBht lyUf, by Franz c. Carpenter) ] " oNsTANTINE, May 25.-Have you
 ever heard of this famous City O of the Air? It lies here in the heart of North Africa about 300 miles east of Algiers, 50 miles south of the Mediterranean and 125 miles north of the Desert of Sahara. It is built upon an en- ormous rock at an altitude of 2000 feet above the sea- and there is a mighty gorge a thousand feet deep running round it.
 If you could take one of our American towns of 50000 inhabitants, crowd its houses together so that they would not cover more than the cart of a half sec ton farm and then lift the bed rock on which they stand straight up in the air for two thousand feet you might have some of the conditions which exist here at Constantine. You would have to put the houses on a mighty stone platform, and on three sides of 1t have rocky walls falling precipitately down to a valley of a depth almost twice the height of the Washington monument. You would need a rushing. foaming river to flow through the gorges thus made, and about every side a rolling coun- try ending in the desert-like mountains of the great Atlas chain. I doubt whether there is another such city on earth. It Is called by the Arabs The City of the Air" It is the mightiest roof garden known to man.
 Mighty Fort.
 Constantine, however, is far more than a roof garden. 1t Is a fertilization as well. For almost 5000 years 1t has been the site of camp or barracks for soldiers. and the story of it's adventures Is writ ten in blood. It has successfully with stood eighty seges, and when the French took 1t, about seventy years ago. they employed an army of 10000 men. At that time hundreds of it's Arab inhabitants who tried to escape by letting themselves down over the rocks were dashed to pieces in the gorges below. and SO many Mohammedan women thus committed sul- eide that the river ran blood.
 The Kasbah or citadel, which was then the chief fort of the Arabs, Is now oe- cupied by several thousand French troops It commands the highest point on the rocky plateau, and Is right over the most precipitous part of the gorge In 1t there are stone cisterns and granaries built by the Romans, and not far from it Is q great stone aqueduct which the RomanB made to supply the aplace with water in times of peace.
 Constantine was a city in the days of the Phoenicians, and under the name of Cirta 1t was the capital of Garth aginian province ruled by HannibaTs brother-in-law. Later on it became the capital of Numidia, and as such fur
 
 the gladiatorial shows of old Rome A little more than 300 years after Christ 1t was called Constantine. in honor of the Roman emperor of that date, and when the Arabs came in it was made one of their capitals.
 Notwithstanding all this the city could now 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. In the war fare of the past, however. it was almost impregnable. and the great canyons by which 1t is surrounded formed a barrier which no army could scale.
 In the Gorges.
 If you would realize how great a barrier they were. come with me down into the gorges. Steps have been gouged out of the rocks by the French There are hang ing walks along the sides of the cliffs, and we can climb a thousand feet down to where the River Roummel, known also the River of Sands, runs rush. ing and$foaming along on It's way to the Mediterranean sea-