Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/82

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TOWN AND BARRACKS—FORT NATIONAL By Permission

sight. The fertile slopes are given to the culture of the olive and the fig. Peaceful indeed is the scene, and delightful our slow ascent. We almost forget the blood that has been shed by France in penetrating this region to establish yonder post, and the hopelessly heroic defense of the brave Berber Kabyles, who from their mountain villages bore down upon the invaders and fought with a courage and determination born of the proud consciousness that never in the history of Barbary had their land been violated by a foreign foe. Roman, Vandal, and Arab had alike recoiled before the assault of these hardy mountaineers. But what all former invaders had failed to do, the French in 1857