and lying
aboard that night, we set sail by daybreak the next morning, having a
very fair gale off the land; and no ships in the world being better than
these galleys for swiftness, we made an excellent good passage, so that
ere we conceived ourselves half over the voyage, we sighted Alger
looking like nothing but a great chalk quarry for the white houses built
up the side of the hill.

We landed at the mole, which is a splendid construction some fifteen
hundred feet or thereabouts in length (with the forts), forming a
beautiful terrace walk supported by arches, beneath which large,
splendid magazines, all the most handsome in the world, I think. Thence
our captain led us to the Cassanabah, a huge, heavy, square, brick
building, surrounded by high, massive walls and defended by a hundred
pieces of ordnance, cannons, and mortars, all told. Here the Dey or
Bashaw lives with his family, and below are many roomy offices for the
discharge of business. Our captain takes us into a vast waiting-hall
where over a hundred Moors were patiently attending an audience of the
Dey's minister, and there we also might have lingered the whole day and
gone away at night unsatisfied (as many of these Moors do, day after
day, but that counts for nothing with these enduring people), but having
a hint from our friend we found occasion to slip a ducat in the hand of
a go-between officer, who straightway led us to his master. Our captain
having presented us, with all the usual ceremonies, the grandee takes
our letter from Sidi ben Ahmed, reads it, and without further ado signs
and seals us a trader's pass for twenty-eight days, to end at sunset the
day after the festival of Ranadal. With this paper we went off in high
glee, thinking that twenty-eight hours of safe-conduct would have
sufficed us. And so to an eating-house, where we treated our friendly
captain to the best, and greasing his palm also for his good services,
parted in mighty good humour on both sides.

By this time it was getting pretty late in the day; nevertheless, we
burnt with such impatience to be near our dear Moll that we set forth
for Thadviir, which lies upon the seacoast about seven English leagues
east of Alger. But a cool, refreshing air from the sea and the great joy
in our hearts made this journey seem to us the most delightful of our
lives. And indeed, after passing through the suburbs richly planted with
gardens, and crossing the river, on which are many mills, and