Till the opening of the new railway (81½ M.) in 1911, which diverges
from the line to Mehdia at Ouardenine (p. 369), this excursion must be
made by ROAD (79½ M.). Motor-omnibus or the Bône-Guélma Co., starting
from the station, in 6½ hrs. (in the reverse direction 7 hrs.), fare 7
fr. 50 c.; at El-Djem, halfway (fare 3 fr. 75 c.), the ½ hr. allowed
for visiting the amphitheatre barely suffices. Seats should be secured
beforehand; outside (impériale) preferable in fine weather. Diligence
at night, in 14 hrs., fare 12 fr. 90 c. (to El-Djem in 6½ hrs., 6
fr.), uncomfortable.—STEAMERS to Sfax, comp. R. 64.
_Susa_, see p. 366. The road leads round the town on the side next the
sea. It then ascends through the new industrial and villa quarters, and
past the _Jewish_ and the _Christian Cemeteries_ (on the left), to the
hill-country of the _Sahel_ (p. 366).
A little to the left lie the thriving villages of _Zaouïet-Sousse_ and
_Ksiba_, and to the right _Messadine_. The soil is extremely fertile;
the road is bordered with huge olive-trees and tall cactus-hedges.
To the right, also off the road, lies (7½ M.) =M’Saken= (154 ft.; Hôt.
de France; pop. 10,000), a station on the Mehdia line (p. 369), whence a
road leads to Kairwan (p. 372).
The country beyond M’Saken, one of the most fertile parts of central
Tunisia in ancient times, has become a mere desert since the Arab
irruptions. In the midst of the dreary steppe, scantily overgrown with
alfa, appear a few corn-fields and olive-plantations, the first signs of
renewed colonization. Here and there are seen Arabs with their camels,
belonging to the _Souassi_ tribe, now partly settled on the land,
descendants of the Hilalides (p. 323).
In the distance to the right, beyond _Bourdjine_, the only village
before El-Djem, appears the _Sebkha Sidi el-Hani_ (p. 370). 23 M. _Col
de Koudiat el-Goulal_ (525 ft.), the highest point on the road.
We are now in sight of the amphitheatre of _El-Djem_, whose enormous
pile dominates the landscape for miles around.
40 M. =El-Djem= (361 ft.; Hôt. de l’Amphithéâtre, R. 2–3, B. ¾, déj. 3,
D. 3¼ fr., humble, charges should be ascertained), a poor Arab village
with a few olive and cactus plantations, is the site of _Thysdrus_,
which in the late-Roman age was one of the most thriving towns near the
E. coast and the junction of seven roads.
About ¼ M. from the inn and the post-office (halting-place of the
motor-omnibus) is the **_Amphitheatre_, the grandest Roman structure in
Barbary (first half of the 3rd cent.), noted in history also as a
fortress. Here in 689, after the defeat of the united Byzantines and
Berbers by Zoheir ibn Kaïs (p. 322), the prophetess (kahina) Damia, the
legendary leader of the Berbers, is said to have still defied her
enemies. In 1685 the building, still almost intact, where many a rebel
had sought refuge, was blown up on the W. side by order of Mohammed
Murad Bey (p. 335). Since then it has served the villagers of El-Djem as
a quarry. The topmost story, consisting of an attica with Corinthian
pilasters, the tiers of seats, and the stone steps have gradually
disappeared. The ascent (not without the Arab keeper; ½ fr.) is very
toilsome.
The remaining three stories are 108 ft. high; the groundfloor is now
buried 10 ft. below the surface. The arches (once 60) of the lower and
upper stories are adorned with Corinthian mural columns; the central
story has composite capitals. The axes are 164 and 136 yds.
respectively; the arena where the gladiators and wild beasts fought,
unearthed in 1909, with its huge substructures (comp. p. 348), measures
71 by 57 yds. (This is the fifth in size of Roman amphitheatres:
Colosseum 205 by 170, the Capuan 186 by 153, that of Italica near
Seville 170 by 147, and that of Verona 167 by 134 yds.).
Recent excavations outside the village, whose dirty streets flank the
amphitheatre on two sides, have revealed vestiges of _Thermae_ (about
10 min. to the N.W.), of _Cisterns_, a _Circus_, and a small older
_Amphitheatre_. In the forecourt of a kubba, 6 min. to the S.W., are
placed several large Roman capitals.
Road from El-Djem to _Mehdia_, see p. 370.
We again traverse a very monotonous region, without a single village. On
the left is the _Sebkha m’taa el-Djem_, a salt-lake. Beyond it lies the
hill-country of the Arab _Metellit_ tribe, belonging to the _Terres
Sialines_ (see below).
Beyond (61½ M.) _Ste. Juliette_ we enter the olive-zone of Sfax. 71½ M.
_Kubba Sidi-Salah_, on the _Oued Sidi Salah_, which flows largely
underground and now partly supplies Sfax with water. Lastly the road
leads between garden-walls built of mud and fringed with Indian figs and
through the suburb of _Moulinville_ to—
79½ M. =Sfax.=—The RAILWAY STATION (Pl. C, D, 2), for Metlaoui (R. 60)
and for the new line to Susa (see p. 378), is close to the sea, ¼ M.
from the hotels or from the quay. Here at present the motor-omnibus
from Susa stops.
ARRIVAL BY SEA (comp. R. 64). The steamers of the Comp. Gén.
Transatlantique (office, Boul. de France 13), the Società Nazionale
(office near Douane), and the Navigation Mixte (office, Rue Emile
Loubet) moor at the quay. Harbour-dues 4 or 3 fr.; cabs, see below.
HOTELS (comp. p. 324). _Hôt. de France_ (Pl. a; B, 3), Rue Victor-Hugo
4, R. 3–6, B. 1, déj. or D. 3, pens. 9–10 fr., plain; _Hôt. Moderne_
(Pl. b; B, 3), same street, No. 6, R. 3–5, B. 1, D. 8, pens. 7½–10
fr.—CAFÉS. _Cristal_ and _Glacier_, Boul. de France.
POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE (Pl. 6; C, 3), Avenue de Paris.
BANKS (comp. p. 174). _Banque de l’Algérie_, Rue Michaud; _Comp.
Algérienne_ (No. 32) and _Comptoir d’Escompte de Paris_ (No. 15), Ave.
de Paris.—BOOKSELLERS. _Chabert_, Rue de la République 51; _Revol_,
same street, No. 17.
BRITISH VICE-CONSUL, _S. Leonardi_.—LLOYD’S AGENT, _E.
Carleton_.—ENGLISH PHYSICIAN, _Dr. P. Buckwell_.
CABS (stands near the Marché aux Céréales, p. 381, and in the Rue de
Thina, Pl. B, C, 3). Drive within a radius of 2 kilomètres (1¼ M.)
from Bâb Diwân, ½ fr.; with two horses, ¾ or 1 fr.; per hr. (one
horse) 1 fr. 30, (two horses) 1 fr. 50 or 1 fr. 70 c.; half-day (6
hrs.) 5½, 7, or 9 fr.; day (12 hrs.) 9, 12, or 15 fr.
DILIGENCE OFFICE (p. 173) in the theatre (Pl. C, 3).—MOTOR CARS, for
excursions, at _Garage Pasquier_, Rue Lamoricière (100–150 fr. per
day); _Central Garage_, Rue Charles-Quint.
The SIGHTS may be visited in 2–3 hrs.
_Sfax_, Arabic _Sfakês_ (pop. 70,000, incl. 6400 Europeans, of whom 3100
are Italians and 1300 Maltese), the second-largest town in Tunisia, is
also its chief seaport next to Tunis. It lies on the shallow N. shore of
the _Gulf of Gabes_, adjacent to the _Kerkenna Banks_ and opposite the
_Kerkenna Islands_ (p. 405). Many of the natives live in small houses
outside the town, amidst the beautiful orchards which girdle Sfax for
nearly 10 M. around. Beyond the gardens lies the olive-zone, like them
artificially irrigated, covering some 500 acres, and numbering three
million trees. It lies chiefly in the _Terres Sialines_, a region named
after the Siala family, but now owned by the state. After the Arab
incursions it became a mere desert, but modern cultivation has restored
its ancient prosperity. Sfax owes its rapid rise to the export of
olive-oil, almonds, figs, and vegetables from the interior, dates from
the Djerid (p. 386), alfa from the steppes, of which cables are made in
the Kerkenna Islands, and above all to its trade in the phosphates of
Metlaoui (p. 386) and Redeyef (p. 372). It is important also as a
fish-market and as a mart for the sponges of the bay, especially from
the Kerkenna banks. In the sponge-fishery Greeks, Maltese, and Sicilians
vie with the Kerkenna islanders.
[Illustration: SFAX]
Sfax, the ancient _Taparura_, which was one of the smallest seaports
on the bay of Gabes, is of little historical note. In the first half
of the 12th cent. it fell, along with Mehdia (p. 369), into the hands
of the Normans (p. 323), and in 1539 it was occupied for a time by the
Spaniards, who possessed also the Kerkenna Islands. Its harbour was
much benefited by the French occupation of Algeria, as the caravans
from the Sudan thereafter went to Sfax, Gabes, and Tripoli (p. 406).
It was not till 1832 that Christian merchants were allowed to settle
outside the Bâb Diwân, the sea-gate. When the French arrived in 1881
Sfax, like Kairwan, was a camp of the warlike nomads of central and S.
Tunisia, owing to whose resistance the town had to suffer a
bombardment and to pay a war-indemnity of 15 million francs. For that
disaster and for the decline of its trade with inland Africa the
colonization of the environs and the improvement of the harbour
(1895–7) have since made amends.
From the open roads at the end of the Kerkenna inlet, where larger
vessels formerly had to anchor, a _Harbour Canal_, 2952 yds. in length
and 44 in breadth, now leads into the =Bassin= (Pl. D, E, 4) of 25
acres, adjoining which is the _Bassin des Torpilleurs_ (Pl. C, D, 4). On
the quay bordering the town, 492 yds. long, are the _Douane_ and two
large warehouses. On the N.E. quay are the stores of the phosphate
railway, whence ships are loaded by means of a long shoot. The _Chenal
pour petits Bateaux_ connects the main harbour with the small _Darse_
(Pl. B, 4), the harbour for fishing-boats.
The mud-banks between the new harbour and the old quay (now Boul. de
France) have been artificially raised and converted into an area of 50
acres for building. The projected new quarter, with its straight and
shadeless streets, has made little progress as yet. Between it and the
older suburb, built since 1832, are the Avenue de Paris and the
palm-avenue of the BOULEVARD DE FRANCE (Pl. B, C, 3), where most of the
public buildings are situated.
In the Ave. de Paris are the Contrôle Civil (Pl. 1; C, 3), the Post
Office (Pl. 6; C, 3), and the _Hôtel de Ville_ (Pl. C, 3). The last has
a small museum (open daily except Sun.) containing Roman antiquities,
mostly from Thænæ (p. 383). Among the mosaics are fishing scenes, Arion
on the dolphin, and Pugilists.
Beyond the E. end of the Boul. de France and the Place Carnot (Pl. C, 2)
lies the _Jewish Quarter_. The Boul. de France leads to the W., past the
Rue de la République, the chief business street of the new quarters, to
the _Marché aux Céréales_ (Pl. B, 3), which may be reached also by the
Rue Victor-Hugo. Near this, adjoining the harbour of the fishing-boats,
is the _Marché_ (Pl. B, 3, 4) for pottery, where the large ‘jarres
d’huile’, made chiefly by the Metellits (p. 380), resemble the ancient
amphoræ.
The picturesque but not over-clean old town is still enclosed by its
battlemented *=Town Walls=, with their numerous towers and bastions. The
fortifications next the sea, the _Kasba_ (Pl. A, 3; barracks, no
admittance) and the _Bordj en-Nar_ (Pl. C, 2), were the chief objects of
attack by the French ships and troops in 1881.
The old town is entered by the _Bâb Djedid_ (Pl. A, 3), the _Bâb Diwân_
(Pl. B, 2), at the end of the Rue de la République, and the new _Porte
Delcassé_ (Pl. B, 2; 1903). Its main streets are the Rue de la
Grande-Mosquée, the shortest way to the Souks (see below), and the RUE
DU BEY (Pl. B, 2, 1).
In the Rue des Aïssaouas (No. 12), a few paces to the right of the Rue
du Bey, is the _Zaouïa Sidi ben-Aïssa_ (p. 373), with its fine portal.
The castigations practised by the sect may be seen here on Fridays, from
2.30 to 5 p.m.
In the Rue de la Driba, the third street to the right off the Rue du
Bey, No. 4, on the left, is the _Driba_ (Pl. 2; B, 2), a fine type of an
aristocratic mansion, with a picturesque colonnaded court on the first
floor (fee ½ fr.). Opposite, at No. 5 Rue Régulus, one of the _Portals_
has the geometric ornamentation so common in every part of the town.
At the end of the RUE DE LA GRANDE-MOSQUÉE rises the venerable _Chief
Mosque_ (Pl. B, 2), with its square whitewashed minaret, whose upper
half is of the 13th century. The main façade recalls Syrian types (Kalat
Simân), and the ten arcades of the interior are like those of the Sidi
Okba mosque (p. 374).
Just beyond the mosque are the =Souks=, or markets. Their centre is the
vaulted _Souk des Etoffes_ (Pl. B, 2), with a large assortment of
‘gadrouns’, the chief garment of the people of Sfax, blankets from
Gafsa, etc. Its continuation, the Rue des Teinturiers, leads to the _Bâb
Djebli_ (Pl. A, 1), the picturesque N.W. gate.
To the right the town-wall is skirted by the Rue des Forgerons (Pl. B,
1), with its balconies. To the left, Rue Abd el-Kader 62, is the
law-court of the _Ouzara_ (Pl. A, 1; sits Wednesday and Saturday
forenoons), with a pretty court.
Outside Bâb Djebli is the bustling cattle-market, enclosed by fondouks
or caravanserais, where we have a pretty view of several saints’ tombs
and palm-shaded gardens.
A pleasant glimpse of the country and its inhabitants is afforded by a
drive to the Toual el-Chridi (tariff, see p. 380; but bargain
advisable). Beyond the Bâb Djebli we pass the large _Feskias_, or
rain-water reservoirs, and then numerous _Nasrias_ or small cisterns.
The *Orchard Zone extends about 5 M. inland. Passing through
olive-groves and flanked with straight rows of trees the road ascends
to the (13½ M.) =Toual el-Chridi= (433 ft.), a hill with a geometric
signal, a kind of pyramid in steps, where we have an extensive view
stretching to the sea.
On the road to Gabes (p. 389), beyond the S.W. suburb of _Picville_
and the Rond-Point, is the _Jardin Public_, watered by large basins,
with the Jardin d’Essai, or botanic garden.
In the sea, nearly 1 M. outside the harbour, is a _Biological Station_
for the promotion of the sponge-culture (comp. p. 381).
From Sfax to _Gafsa_ and _Metlaoui_, see R. 60; to _Djerba_, see R.
62; to _Tunis_ by sea, see R. 64; to _Tripoli_ and _Malta_, see R. 64.