Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/125

 HISTORIC RETROSPECT. 101 Although cojnprisin<2^ not more than a thirteenth or a fourteenth of the whole of Mauritania, the relative density of its population gives to this region an importance out of all pro|)ortion with its actual extent. Doubtless the population itself must remain somewhat doubtful, pending accurate official returns, and recent estimates have varied as much as from one to two millions ; but Hince the French occupation there ie a general consensus that one million five hundred thousand is about the most probable figure. IJut even accepting the lowest estimate, of one million, Tunisia would still contain a relatively much larger population than either Algeria or Marocco. Historic Retrospect. Nevertheless, even allowing for the consequences of a capricious Government, and for the general displacement of political power, it still seems strange that a country so fortunately situated as Tunisia should liave so greatly retrograded, and that it should have been almost completely effaced as a factor in the historic evolution of the Mediterranean lands. Placed at the very centre of the inland sea, at the eastern extremity of Mauritania over against Sicily, possessing a long coastline with deeper inlets and better ports than those of Algeria and Marocco, endowed also with a healthy climate and fertile territory, Tunisia enjoys natural advantages which fonnerly enabled it to take a leading part amongst the Mediter- ranean states. In the interior the relief of the land is no less favourable than its general outlines. The longitudinal zones, elsewhere sharply defined in Mauritaniu, here lose their abrupt contrasts, while the great inlet of the Gulf of Tunis com- pletely turns the rugged coast range, giving access to the inland plateaux through the Mejerda and Melleg vallej's. On the east coast, also south of the Gulf of Hammamat, the marine basin penetrates far inland towards the central regions of Algeria, while the great trade route across the desert has its terminus on the Gulf of Cabes. Through these very gulfs and eastern plains, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Greeks and Arabs found access to the interior, Asiatic and European influences thus penetrating beyond the seaboard into the very heart of Mauritania. On the very shore of the Gulf of Tunis, commanding at once the central channel of the Mediterranean and the natural approach to the Libyan continent, stood the city of Carthage, which became the emporium of the Old World, and which long arrested the destinies of Rome. Even after its reduction, the province of " Africa," now a European settlement, by its commercial, industrial, and intellectual life, caused its name to be applied to the whole continent. Again, in mediaeval times, Tunisia had its period of culture and prosperity. To a near future therefore belongs the duty of restoring it to the place amongst the nations to which its geographical position naturally entitles it. For the Mediter- ranean trade it is better situated than Algiers, better even than Naples or Messina ; while for the communications with the Niger basin the Lesser offers greater advan- tages than the Greater Syrtie, thanks to its more advanced position and less dangerous navigation.