Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/153

 FLORA OF TUNIS. 126 accompanied by lightning. Thunder is scarcely ever heard, except on the moun- tains, and Ferrini assures us that there is not a single instance on record of its having been met with in the plains. At Tunis and in the suburbs it ha« been thought unnecessary to protect the buildings by lightning conductors. AtSfakes, however, the case is quite otherwise, and M. Gudrin states that a tower in this town was several times struck by lightning in 1882. Taken altogether, the climate of Tunis is one of the finest throughout the whole Mediterranean coastline. The military statistics between the months of August, 1883, and March, 1884, show that fewer soldiers were received into the Tunisian hospitals during that period than in any of the Algerian provinces, or even than in France itself. M. Bertholon considers that the coast of Tunis can boast of as fine a climate as Australia, but that in the inland valleys, where the atmosphere is not renewed by the north winds, endemic fevers are justly dreaded. Flora of Tunis. Belonging to the Mediterranean zone by the nature of its geological formations, rocks, and climate, Tunis is also comprised in the same geographical area, thanks to it« flora and fauna. Like Algeria, the Iberian coast, Lower Languedoc, and Lower Provence, Italy, and Greece, Tunis forms a part of the olive region, which Colu- mella considers to be " the first of all trees." The investigations of botanists show that the Flora of Tunis is almost identical in its special characteristics with that of Algeria ; still, the differences in the relief of the land and the climate have resulted in a far greater intermingling of species in the eastern than in the western region. In Algeria the boundary lines are clearly defined between the flora of the coast and of the uplands of the plateaux, and of the Sahara, whereas in Tunis they inter- mingle in the utmost disorder. The species common to the Sahara, following the coastline along the Gulfs of Cubes and Ilummamat, finally reach the maritime dunes close to Tunis and Bizerta. Wherever sand is to be found, the botanist is sure to observe ten or twelve varieties which he has seen in the Saharian ergs. Conspicuous amongst these is the drin, or arthratenim puuginn. On the other hand, there are found south of the 8hott-el-Jerid, in the same latitude as the southern- most oasis of the Algerian Suf, some plants belonging to the upland plateaux of S^tif. Cabes seems to form the meeting- point of the most diverse floras, comprising varieties from the sea-shore, from the sandhills of the desert, from the clayey beds of the weds and their alluvia, from the argilo-calcareoua plain, which skirts the foot of the mountains, and from those oases characterised by a Mediterranean and almost a European flora. Thanks to its position opposite Sicily, Tunis also pos- sesses a certain number of species common to Sicily and Italy, which are nowhere found in Algeria. Cape Bon, the boundary of the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean, also forms a barrier between two regions whose resjwctivo floras present some points of difference in detail. The entire flora of Tunis, which Dcsfontaines in