Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/133

 East of these hills the ground fulls to a broad depression, through which will probably soon pass the line of railway intended to connect the shores of the Gulfs of Tunis and Hammamat. Beyond this point the land again rises in the Dakhelat-el-Mahuin peninsula to a height of over 1,000 feet. Here the Rus Fortas stands over against Cape Carthage on the opposite side of the Gulf of Tunis, while at the extremity of the peninsula the various spurs of the Ras Addur (Cape Bon) command the eastern entrance of the great gulf. Its western approach, some 40 miles distant, is indicated by the Rus-el-Khuir, more generally known as the Ras Sidi Ali-el-Makki, whose form, like that of the rock of Gibraltar, resembles a crouching lion. The western headland, formerly consecrated to Apollo, and the

eastern, on which stood an altar of Mercury, are both fringed with islets and reefs, and the former is continued seawards by the island of El-Kamala (Plane). Near it is the islet of Pilau, so named because its form resembles the dish of rice (pilau) commonly served at Eastern meals.

West of the Ras Addar rise the two islands of Zembra and Zembretta (Simbolo and Simboletto), Jamur-el-Kebir and Jamur-es-Sebir, the Ægimures of the ancients, both inhabited, and in Zembra attaining an elevation of over 1,320 feet. About 24 miles due east of this coast is the better-known volcanic island of Pantellaria, which however depends politically on Italy, and apparently belongs to the European geological system.