ES-SABALA — THE MEDJERDA — DRAGONS OF THE ATLAS — BIZERTA —
IMMENSE LAND-LOCKED HARBOUR — FISH IN LAKE — DJEBEL ISHKUL —
WILD BUFFALOES.
As we had still two days to spare after our return from Zaghouan
before we could have an audience with the Bey, we determined to
utilise them by a visit to Bizerta. The distance is about the same
as our last excursion, and though this journey also can be made in
carriages, the road is extremely bad, and after much rain must be
quite impracticable.
We left Tunis by the Bab el-Khadhera, passed under the Spanish
aqueduct behind the Bardo, the ancient palace of the Beys, and the
Kasr Saeed, the present sovereign’s favourite residence, and soon
entered a vast olive wood. The trees are extremely ancient, contorted
in every possible manner, and seemed actually to have been turned
inside out, and cut up into fantastic fretwork. At eight miles from
Tunis is a wayside fountain and Arab coffee-shop, called Es-Sabala,
near a palace built by the celebrated Saheb et-Tabäa, under Hamouda
Pacha, now the property of General Kheir-ed-din. This is the only
place in all the Regency of Tunis where we ever saw a plantation of
young olive or any other trees, and I examined them with peculiar
interest, as I felt sure beforehand that in this country, as in
Algeria, the principal cause of its decadence was the destruction
of its ancient forests.
Beyond this commences a long alluvial plain, which, broken up by
several low ranges of hills, extends to the very gates of Bizerta;
it is of great fertility, and tolerably well cultivated.
About six miles and a half beyond Es-Sabala, the Medjerda is crossed
by a bridge which was built about twenty-five years ago, on the
site of an old Roman one. It is a solid structure of seven arches,
with a niche between each pair, pierced so as to admit the passage
of water when the floods are high. The original structure was entire
when Peyssonnel visited it in 1724; it was a tolerably good one, he
says, but the arches were badly constructed.[113] This river rises
in the beautiful valley of Khamisa, in Algeria, amongst the ruins
of Thubursicum Numidarum,[114] and traverses some of the richest
parts of Tunis, districts rendered celebrated by many of the most
stirring events in Roman history. It is none other than the far-famed
Bagradas, on the banks of which took place the combat between the
army of Attilius Regulus and the monstrous serpent, 225 years before
Christ. Pliny repeats the fable as one well known in his day. They
besieged it, says he, with ballista and implements of war, as one
would have done to a city. It was 120 feet long, and its skin and
jaws were preserved in a temple at Rome until the Numantine war.[115]
The tradition of such animals appears to have lingered long in the
country. Leo Africanus says that ‘the Caves of the Atlas contain
many huge and monstrous dragons, which are heavy and of a slow
motion, because the midst of their body is grosse, but their necks
and tails are slender. They are most venemous creatures, insomuch
that whosoever is bitten or touched by them, his flesh presently
waxeth soft, neither can he by any means escape death.’ Marmol’s
account of these marvellous animals is even more amusing. He also
says that they are very numerous in the caverns of the great Atlas;
their bite and touch are mortal, but they are so heavy and so badly
made that they can hardly move, for their body is very thick about
the stomach, and the rest slender. They have the head and wings of
a bird, the tail and skin of a serpent, the feet of a wolf; they
are spotted with divers colours, and they have not strength to lift
their eyelids. This pleasant animal is called by the Arabs Taybin,
and is supposed to result from the amours of a female wolf and a
male eagle.[116] The word _Taybin_ is evidently _Thäaban_, the
ordinary Arabic word for a serpent; and it is quite possible that,
as wolves and bears have become extinct in the country, so there may
have been larger species of serpents, like the python or the boa,
which no longer exist.
The Medjerda has greatly changed its course within the limits
of history; indeed, it is constantly cutting through the banks
of alluvion, and depositing the _débris_ elsewhere. Even at this
season a considerable body of water enters the sea, but it is a mere
thread in comparison to the width of its bed after continued rain. A
passing shower will sometimes suffice to produce a torrent capable
of washing away sheep and cattle, and even travellers.
The plain on the right bank of the river at this place goes by the
name of Outa el-Kebir, or the large plain; that on the left is Outa
es-Segheir, or the smaller one, while the crossing itself is called
El-Fonduk, from an inn on its bank, more dirty and repulsive than
such places generally are.
At seventeen miles from Tunis a second and smaller bridge is passed,
spanning a watercourse running along the southern base of Djebel
Zana. From this point the road to Bou-Shater, the ancient Utica,
branches off. We saw it in the distance, and thought of the
unnecessary self-sacrifice of Cato, but had not time to visit
it. Bruce, however, did so. He says—
I went to visit Utica, out of respect to the memory of Cato, without
having sanguine expectations of meeting anything remarkable there;
and accordingly I found nothing memorable but its name. It may be
said that nothing remains of Utica but a heap of rubbish and small
stones; without the city, the trenches and approaches of the ancient
besiegers are still very perfect.
Beyond Djebel Zana is another wide plain, called Bahirah Gournata,
in the middle of which is a well. To the right is seen Ghar el-Melah,
or Porto Farino, formerly an important naval station and arsenal,
now neglected and almost in ruins. While we stopped to prepare our
breakfast here, Lord Kingston strolled into a neighbouring swamp,
and soon returned with several brace of snipe. We did not require
them on this occasion, but many a good dinner did his gun find us
afterwards, when we would otherwise have been reduced to hard-boiled
eggs, or the remarkably tough and stringy animals which are in the
habit of producing them.
The hill which bounds the north side of this plain is Djebel Tella;
at its foot is a small stream; and from its summit the first view is
obtained of the sea and the Lake of Bizerta, along the eastern bank
of which the road now runs. At thirty-two and a half miles from Tunis
is Menzel-Djemil, well named the _beautiful resting-place_, despite
of the filth with which it is surrounded. The narrow neck of land,
which here separates the lake from the sea, is a perfect garden
covered with plantations of fruit and olive trees and fields of corn.
Bizerta itself is thirty-six miles from Tunis. Its name is a
corruption of the Arab one, Benzerte, which is as evidently derived
from its ancient one, Hippo Zarytus, or Hippo Diarrhytus, the adjunct
being necessary to distinguish this city from its neighbour Hippo
Regius, the modern Bone.
It was an ancient Tyrian colony, and was fortified and provided
with a new harbour by Agathocles in the fourth century before
Christ. It was subsequently raised to the rank of a Roman colony,
as is testified by an inscription built into the wall of Bordj Sidi
Bou Hadid, containing the ancient name of the place.
COL. IVLIAE . HIPP. DIARR.
El-Bekri mentions that this place was conquered in A.H. 41
(A.D. 661-2) by Moaouia ibn el-Hodaidj. Abd el-Melek ibn Merouan,
who accompanied him in this expedition, having been separated from
the main body of the army, obtained shelter in the house of a native
woman. When he became Khalifa, he wrote to his lieutenant in Ifrikia
to take care of this woman and all her family—an order which was
of course carried out.[117]
Marmol says that, although the city contained only 4,000 inhabitants,
they frequently revolted against the Kings of Tunis and the Lords
of Constantine, which was often the cause of their ruin. When
Kheir-ed-din took possession of Tunis, they were the first to
recognise him, and when he was expelled they killed the governor
whom Mulai Hassan had sent with a garrison, and received a Turkish
garrison into their fort. Mulai Hassan attacked the place by land,
while Andrea Doria co-operated with him by sea, and so the place was
taken by assault—‘et le Roy chastia rigoureusement les habitans
qui s’estoient revoltez trois fois et qui n’avoient jamais gardé
la foy ni par amour ni par crainte.’[118]
It can hardly be said that Bizerta is in a very flourishing condition;
still, the presence of a hundred and fifty Europeans amongst its
population of five or six thousand souls gives a certain amount of
life and commercial activity to it, which no purely Mohammedan city
appears to possess. There is no hotel of any kind in the place, and
the few Europeans who visit it are dependent on the hospitality of
their consuls. We were most cordially received by Signor Spizzichino,
who is, as was his father before him, Vice-Consul of the United
States. He also acts as Consular Agent of Great Britain, though he
does not actually hold a commission as such.
The situation of the town is extremely picturesque, being built on
each side of the canal which connects the lake with the sea, and on
an island in the middle of it, principally occupied by Europeans and
joined to the mainland on either side by substantial bridges. The
town is entirely surrounded by walls, the entrance to the canal
being protected by what in former times would have been considered
formidable defences. That on the west is the Kasbah or citadel,
and contains a number of residences both of private individuals and
of public functionaries; on the opposite side is the fort of Sidi
el-Houni, containing the shrine of that holy man. Between these the
canal is embanked. The foundations are, no doubt, ancient, though the
superstructure is modern. The west wall is produced as a breakwater,
but it is very ruinous, and has evidently projected much further into
the sea than it does at present. Its length is not sufficient to
prevent the sand being drifted in by the north-west winds, whereby
the canal has been so much filled up as to render it practicable
only for light fishing-boats. Near the gate of the Kasbah may be
seen the chain formerly used to protect the entrance. To the west
of the town is an isolated fort, called Bordj Sidi Salim, built on
a rocky promontory jutting out into the sea.
The only antiquities now remaining, besides the usual frusta of
columns lying about and built into the corners of the street, are the
two inscriptions recorded by M. Guerin,[119] one a remarkably fine
milliary column in the warehouse of Hadj Mohammed Sfaxi, Janissary
of the American Consulate, bearing the name of M. Aurelius Antoninus
Pius (A.D. 161-180), and the other, which has already been mentioned,
built high up in the wall of the Bordj Sidi Bou Hadid, and turned
upside down, recording the ancient name of the place.
The important feature of Bizerta, however, is its lake, now called
Tinja, formerly Hipponitis Pallus, which in the hands of a European
Power might become one of the finest harbours and one of the most
important strategical positions in the Mediterranean.[120] Its length
from east to west is about eight geographical miles, and its width
five and a half; the channel, which connects it with the sea, is at
its N.E. angle and is about four miles long and half a mile broad;
but the shallow portion which passes through the town is less than
a mile in length, with a depth of from two to ten feet. Beyond,
it widens out, and has a depth equal to that of the lake, from
five to seven fathoms. A comparatively slight expenditure would be
required to convert this lake into a perfectly landlocked harbour,
containing fifty square miles of anchorage for the largest vessels
afloat. At present the anchorage off the entrance is very insecure;
vessels are compelled to remain in the open roadstead, and at a
considerable distance from the town; there is no shelter from the
prevailing bad weather, and if shipwrecks are rare, it is simply
because the place is avoided by large vessels.
The lake teems with fish, which produce a yearly revenue of 180,000
piastres, or 4,500_l._, to the State. They are caught both by nets and
in weirs of reeds erected at the narrowest portion of the straits,
and are then carried on donkeys to Tunis for sale. They are not
only most abundant, of excellent quality, very different from the
mud-tainted produce of the Tunis lake, but of great variety. The
inhabitants of Bizerta say that there are twelve principal kinds,
one of which comes into season each month. This is by no means a
modern idea; it is mentioned by El-Edrisi, who says: ‘When the
month has expired, the species which corresponds to it disappears,
and is replaced by a new one, and so on till the end of the year and
every year.’[121] El-Bekri also mentions this succession of fishes,
and adds a curious account of the manner in which any particular
species is caught: ‘When the merchants come to buy fish, they
indicate the kind and the exact number they require. The fisherman
then takes a living female of the desired species, lets it loose in
the lake, and follows it with his net; he is thus able to take almost
the exact number he requires, and hardly ever makes a mistake.’[122]
A favourite means of catching the larger kind is for a man to station
himself at the prow of a boat under one of the arches of the bridge,
with a ten-pronged grane in his hand and a vessel of oil beside
him. From time to time he sprinkles a few drops of oil on the surface
to calm its ripples and enable him to see the larger fish passing,
and these he spears with great dexterity. Wild fowl of all kinds
are numerous on the lake, and for quail and snipe its banks are a
sportsman’s paradise.
To the S.W. of this lake is another nearly as large, but with a depth
of from two to eight feet only. It is the ancient Sisara, now called
the Gharat Djebel Ishkul, or lake of Mount Ishkul, a remarkable
hill of 1,740 feet high, situated at its southern extremity, the
Kirna Mons of Ptolemy. This, no doubt, was originally an island, as
it is now only separated from the mainland by a stretch of marshy
ground. The water is almost sweet in winter, when a considerable
body is poured into it by the Oued Djoumin or river of Mater, but in
summer, when the level sinks, the overflow from the salt lake pours
into it by the Oued Tinga, a tortuous canal which connects the two,
and then its waters are not potable. The water is generally very
turbid, owing to the washing of the clay banks on its margin, and
the muddy streams flowing in from the plains of Mater. This lake
also abounds in fish, principally barbel and alose (_clupea finta_),
which are held in no esteem by the natives.
Lieut. Spratt observes: ‘Fresh-water shell-fish are rare in this
lake, but I procured a species of _unio_ from one of the streams
flowing into it. In some of the clay banks along the north and east
shores are abundance of marine fossils, principally a _carduum_,
which, by the wasting of the cliffs, are washed along the shore, the
sands of which in consequence present the singular appearance of a
sea beach encircling a freshwater lake; and, until I discovered the
localities whence they were derived, I was led to suppose that they
had been living inhabitants of this lake at no very distant period
of time, when, of course, the waters were salt, and the scarcity
of fresh-water shells leant to the idea of its recent conversion
from a salt to a fresh lake. The Oued Tinga is navigable for boats
of not more than two feet draught. Its general depth is six feet,
and its breadth 25 yards, but at the entrance to the lake of Djebel
Ishkul there are shallows with a very rapid current, against which
our boat had great difficulty in contending. Above the shallows
there is a ferry, opposite the marabout of Sidi Ali Hassan, which is
completely enveloped by a small grove of trees. This spot appears
also to have been the site of an ancient town of some importance,
as there are considerable remains on both sides of the ferry.’[123]
The vicinity abounds in game, and on Djebel Ishkul itself there are
a number of wild buffaloes, introduced by a former Bey, which are
very strictly preserved.
At the eastern base of Djebel Ishkul there are several mineral
springs, which are held in great repute amongst the natives, who
bathe in small pools, made by hollowing out the sand, and in these the
water bubbles up from the ground. The temperature is about 110° Fahr.
The people about Bizerta seem to affect an exaggeration of the tight
and ungraceful costumes with which the Tunisians disfigure themselves;
and in addition they have adopted a peculiarly fashioned jacket
of white wool with a hood, which they usually wear over the head,
leaving the sleeves to dangle unused at the sides.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 113: Peyssonnel, ap. Dureau de la Malle, i. p. 232.]
[Footnote 114: See Murray’s _Handbook to Alg._ p. 185.]
[Footnote 115: Pliny, viii. c. 14. Gellius, vi. 3.]
[Footnote 116: Marmol, trad. d’Ablancourt, i. p. 62.]
[Footnote 117: El-Bekri, trad. de Slane, p. 140.]
[Footnote 118: Marmol, trad. d’Ablancourt, ii. p. 437.]
[Footnote 119: Guérin, vol. ii. p. 22.]
[Footnote 120: This lake was surveyed by H.M.S. _Beacon_ in 1845,
and an excellent memoir on it published by Lieutenant (now Admiral)
Spratt in the _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, xvi. 1846,
p. 251.]
[Footnote 121: El-Edrisi, _Geog._ trad. Jaubert, i. p. 265.]
[Footnote 122: El-Bekri, trad. de Slane, p. 140.]
[Footnote 123: Spratt, _l.c._]