61 M. RAILWAY. Express on Wed. only (back on Sat.), corresponding with
the steamers of the Comp. Gén. Transatlantique (R. 21), in 2½,
ordinary trains in 2½–3¾ hrs. (11 fr., 8 fr. 35, 5 fr. 90 c.).—The
HIGH ROAD (37½ M.) is recommended in the cool season only, as the
Medjerda flats are malarious.
From Tunis to (15 M.) _Djedeïda_, see p. 329. The train diverges here to
the N. from the main line to Algeria.
19 M. _Chaouat_; 24 M. _Sidi-Athman_, near the _Garaa Mabtouha_, backed
by the offshoots of _Jebel Kechbata_ (p. 354). We then run through hilly
country, to the W., to (31 M.) _Aïn-Rhelal_.
40½ M. =Mateur= (Rail. Restaurant; Hôt. de France, etc.; pop. 5000,
incl. 1600 Italians), a small town nearly 1 M. from the station, lies
pleasantly on a hill beyond the influx of the _Oued Tine_ into the _Oued
Jemine_ or _Joumine_, and is still enclosed by its old walls, built
partly out of the ruins of the Roman _Oppidum Matarense_. It is the corn
and cattle market for the fertile _Plaines de Mateur_, which were
densely peopled in ancient times, and for the Berber tribes of the
_Bejaoua_ and _Mogod Mts._
A railway runs from Mateur viâ (17 M.) _Jefna_, in the Nefza Mts., to
_Djebel-Abiod_ (p. 328), whence it is being extended to _Tabarca_ (p.
327).—Another line connects Mateur with _Béja_ (p. 328).
The train crosses the plain, to the N., towards the _Garaet Ichkeul_ or
_Achkel_, the _Sisara Lacus_ of the ancients, a freshwater-lake
abounding in fish, but very shallow and rapidly filling up. On the S.
side is a marshy tract where within the last few decades a large herd of
half-wild Italian buffaloes has sprung up. Above it towers _Jebel
Ichkeul_ (1667 ft.), noted for its marble, the chief landmark of the bay
of Bizerta.
50 M. _Oued-Tindja_ (Hôt. de la Gare) lies on the strip of land, barely
2 M. broad, between Lake Ichkeul and the =Lac de Bizerte= (Arabic
_Garaet Tindja_). The latter, the ancient _Lacus Hipponensis_, ca.
30,000 acres in area and 40 ft. deep at places, is now the chief French
naval harbour on the Mediterranean next to Toulon.
A strategic railway and a road (omn. 20 c.) lead to the E. from
Oued-Tindja to (2 M.) =Ferryville= (Hôt. de l’Amirauté; Hôt. de
l’Arsenal; pop. 3000, largely Italian dock-labourers), the youngest
town in Tunisia, named after Jules Ferry (p. 333), and to (2¾ M.) the
small bay of _Sidi-Abdallah_, on which, 9½ M. from the open sea, a
_Naval Arsenal_, with five large dry-docks, was built in 1899–1908.
The train crosses the _Oued Tindja_, the sinuous effluent of Lake
Ichkeul, and rounds the marshy W. bank of Lake Bizerta. 55½ M.
_Sidi-Ahmed_, opposite _Djezira el-Kebira_, the largest island in the
lake.
59 M. _La Pêcherie_, on the _Goulet_, a narrow arm of the sea to the N.,
which, with the new harbour-canal (p. 353), connects the dockyard with
the open sea. On the small _Baie Ponty_, now used as a torpedo-boat
station, rise the _Arsenal de la Défense-Mobile_ and the handsome
_Amirauté_.
A road leads to the S. from the station through olive-woods to (½ M.)
the =Barrage des Pêcheries=, two fish-dams about 1000 yds. long,
adjoining the S.W. end of the Goulet (here 55 yds. across), where the
fish descending from the lakes to spawn in the sea are caught in great
numbers. The yield, a few years ago ca. 580 tons, but now much
reduced, is sent to Tunis and Marseilles.
We pass the _Baie de Sebra_, the inner harbour of Bizerta, as yet little
used, and the _Artillery Arsenal_, intersect the new S. wall of the town
and the garden-suburb of _Bijouville_, and reach the station of (61 M.)
_Bizerta_, on the harbour-canal.
=Bizerta.=—_Railway Restaurant._—HOTELS (comp. p. 324).
*_Grand-Hotel_, Place d’Europe, in an open site near the station, R.
3–6, B. 1, déj. 3, D. 3½, pens. 10–12, omn. ½ fr.; _Hôt. de la Paix_,
_Hôt. de France_, etc.—CAB. Drive 30, for 3 pers. 40, with pair 50 c.;
hour 1–1¼ or 1½–2 fr.; ½ day (6 hrs.) 4, 5, or 7 fr.; whole day (12
hrs.) 6, 7, 12, or 14 fr.
BRITISH VICE-CONSUL, _Hon. T. Bourke_, Rue de Provence.
_Bizerta_, Fr. _Bizerte_, Arabic _Bent-Zert_ (pop. 17,300, of whom 9500
are Moslems, 5100 Italians and Maltese), a town strongly garrisoned with
7000 men, the ancient _Hippo Diarrhytus_ (_Zarytus_), was one of the
earliest Phœnician settlements on the Tunisian coast. It lies on the W.
shore of the _Bay of Bizerta_, between a range of hills on the N.W.,
culminating in _Jebel Kebir_ (900 ft.), and a strip of land (once
bounding the Bizerta Lake, and also fortified), to the S.E., beyond the
harbour-canal.
The old town, to which many Moors flocked after the fall of Granada (p.
75), and which was occupied for a short time by Charles V. on his way
back from Tunis in 1535 (p. 323) and was to a great extent destroyed by
a Venetian fleet in 1785, rises on the hill-side between the ruined
_Kasba_ and the _Fort d’Espagne_, both originally built by the
Spaniards. The _Old Harbour_, unimportant in ancient times, became in
the 16th cent. a favourite haunt of pirates, but is now used by
fishing-boats only. Of the _Old Harbour Canal_, completely choked up
with the mud of centuries, the mouth alone now exists. The new town,
with its busy market (Tues. and Thurs.), is still in embryo.
The _Avant-Port_, 215 acres in area, constructed by the Compagnie du
Port de Bizerte in 1890–5, is sheltered by two piers, the Jetée du Nord
(1337 yds. long) and the Jetée du Sud (1041 yds.), and by a new mole or
breakwater (670 yds.). The commercial harbour consists of the _New
Harbour Canal_, 1 M. long, 263 yds. broad, and 33 ft. deep, the entrance
to the Goulet (p. 352), and also of the Baie de Sebra (p. 352). Two
steam-ferries (bacs à vapeur; passage free) cross to the N.E. bank of
the canal, where there are large coal-stores near the village of
_Zarzouna_.
The HIGH ROAD FROM TUNIS TO (37½ M.) BIZERTA diverges to the N.,
between the Bardo (p. 339) and Kassar-Saïd (p. 342), from the road
connecting Tebourba with Medjez el-Bab (p. 328), intersects the Roman
*Aqueduct of Carthage (p. 348), which was here restored in the 16th
cent., and ascends through olive-woods to the saddle (269 ft.) between
the hills of Ariana (p. 338), on the right, and _Jebel Ahmar_ (1060
ft.), on the left.
10 M. _La Sebala_ lies on the S. edge of the marshy Medjerda delta (p.
129), now called _Sebala_. 16 M. _Fondouk el-Kantara_, a caravanserai
on the right bank of the Medjerda, near the old seven-arched bridge.
Just beyond (19½ M.) _Oued Cherchara_ a road branches off, to the
N.E., past the spurs of _Jebel Menzel Roul_ (541 ft.), once a cape, to
(2 M.) the ruins of =Utica=, the earliest Phœnician settlement in this
region. Before the rise of Carthage it was the richest trading town in
Barbary, and from 146 to 29 B.C. it was the capital of the province of
Africa and seat of the Roman proconsul. It was here that the younger
Cato committed suicide (46 B.C.) on the overthrow of Pompey’s party in
the civil war against Cæsar. The harbour, entirely silted up since the
middle of the 3rd cent., lay between the cape and a small island off
the coast. The sea is now 5½ M., and the mouth of the Medjerda, near
the Porto-Farina lagoon (p. 354), is nearly 10 M. distant. The Roman
town was destroyed by Hassan ibn en-Nôman (p. 322) in 698, at the same
time as Carthage. The ruins, now called _Henchir Bou-Chateur_, consist
chiefly of the aqueduct and cisterns, a theatre, a vast amphitheatre,
and large thermæ.
Beyond Jebel Menzel Roul the Bizerta road traverses a desolate plain,
strewn with Roman ruins. On the S.E. side of _Jebel Kechbata_ (1370
ft.), and also in the marshy plain beyond it, roads diverge to the
right (one 12½, the other 15 M.) to =Porto-Farina= (pop. 1400, incl.
320 Europeans, mostly Maltese), the _Ruscinona_ of antiquity, a
notorious pirates’ harbour in the Turkish period. In 1665 it was
destroyed by an English fleet, but it was restored and fortified by
Ahmed Bey (1837–55). Potatoes are largely cultivated in the
neighbourhood. The _Lac de Porto-Farina_, on the S. side of _Jebel
Nadour_ (883 ft.), once abounding in fish, has been filled up by the
deposits of the Medjerda since the middle of last century.
Beyond the dunes of _Aïn Bou-Ras_, where the new water-conduit of
Bizerta, 8½ M. long, has its source, our road runs close to the lake
of Bizerta, passes (34½ M.) _Menzel Djemil_, and ends on the old neck
of land on the harbour-canal of (37½ M.) _Bizerta_ (see p. 353).