Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/421

 The army of occupation, forming the nineteenth corps, comprises soldiers of all arms sent from France, besides a considerable proportion of local recruits. To these must be added three regiments of Turcos, or Algerian rifles, and one for Tunis, all native volunteers, mainly Kabyles and Saharians. Two regiments of the Foreign Legion are formed of Swiss, Belgians, Germans, und other Europeans, driven by want or the spirit of adventure to take service abroad. Four regiments of zouaves, including many volunteers, have been created in Algeria, besides three of spahis, or cavalry, and four of "Chasseurs d'Afrique." In the army are also

included the gendarmerie, about a thousand strong, and the Arab gûms, or contingents of horse equipped by the tribal chiefs.

The old Arab and Turkish fortificatious have almost everywhere disappeared. The kasbahs or citadels of the strongholds have either been razed to the ground or so modified that their original form can no longer be recognised; the square bastions, with their graceful flanking towers, the imposing gateways on which were spiked "the gory heads of traitors," have left little but a name, like that of the Bab-Azun at Algiers, which the army of Charles V. failed to capture. Even the ramparts raised by Abd-el-Kader have been destroyed, and the explorer finds near Tiaret scarcely a vestige of Tagdemt, at one time the central stronghold of his empire.

On the Saharian slope, where no European attack is to be dreaded, the French militaty posts, such as those of Biskra and Laghwat, are mere fortified barracks, or else ancient kasbahs adapted to the requirements of a French garrison. The