Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/174

 144 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. occurrence between Jara and Menzel : hence, as has been jocularly remarked, the name of Arad, or " Discord," which has been given to the province. Thanks to their orchards and fields, the people of Cabes may be looked upon as the most highly favoured of all other Tunisian communities. The land, rendered fruitful by the irrigating works, is divided into countless plots, separated from each other by hedges of cactus, earth walls, and thickset palms. Fig, almond, orange, and other fruit-trees grow in wild profusion beneath the fan-like leaves of the palms swaying in the breeze above them ; the vine twines its slender tendrils around the branches of the trees, and barley ripens in the shade of the overhanging foliage. But neither the banana nor the sugar-cane, which composed the wealth of Cabes in the eleventh century, are any longer cultivated, and of its ancient forests of mulberry-trees but a few specimens now remain. The fertility of the surround- ing lands has made Cabes the most important port of call along this portion of the coast ; it also exports the alfa grass coming from Central Tunis, and it is, moreover, of considerable strategical importance. Situated at the eastern extremity of the depression which, through the Shott-el-Jerid, penetrates far inland, Cabes enables caravans and expeditions, by journeying from oasis to oasis, to skirt the southern foot of the mountains and plateaux of Tunis and Algeria. During the Algerian insurrections, it was through this town that weapons and supplies were obtained. A large smuggling trade thus sprang up along this route, which threatened to become extremely dangerous to the security of French power on the Saharian frontier, liy taking possession of Cabes, the French have thus secured one of the gates of Algeria. But Cabes has, unfortunately, no port. The ancient crook of Tacapa, which, however, was only available to small vessels, has been choked up by the sands, and depths sufficient for vessels of heavy tonnage must be sought at some distance from the shore. The creation of an arti- ficial port by means of jetties and dredgings has recently been proposed ; its probable site has already been selected, near the mouth of the Wed Melah, or " Salt River," which receives the waters of the mineral springs of Ain Udref. An artesian well recently sunk near the Wed Melah, about half a mile from the Mediterranean, is over 400 feet deep, and supplies an abundant stream of water, which rises 13 feet above the ground. This projected harbour is to be completed by a railway which will be connected with the Algerian system through Gafsa, Tebessa, and Suk-Ahras. Bona and Cabes would thus become two corresponding ports, the traffic between which would be directly conducted overland, and the merchants would be no longer compelled to skirt the Tunisian promontories to the north. AV^hen Cabes is able to receive vessels of heavy tonnage, no other town of all the French possessions will present greater advantages as a terminus on the coast for a railway crossing the Sahara to Lake Tsad. From the same place will also start the longitudinal line running from sea to sea south of the island of Maghreb. The new town already enjoys a considerable trade, exportitig alfa, dates, and henna by a regular service of steamboats. West of Cabes, and near the southern shore of the Sho£t-el-Fejej, several