Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/196

 Viewed from afar, it commands the surrounding space with its lofty walls, the numerous cupolas of its mosques, and the superb three-storied minaret which stands north-east of the town, above the mosque of Sidi-Okbah. Tunis itself does not boast of such wealthy mosques and convents as this holy city, which possesses over eighty of these religious edifices. Amongst them is the Jemâ-el-Kebir, or "Great Mosque," which has no less than seventeen double parallel naves, and more than 400 columns of onyx, porphyry, marble, and other precious materials. Still more famous than the Great Mosque is that of the "Companion," so called because it contains, in a recess ornamented with marvellous arabesques, the tomb of a companion

of Mohammed, his barber, and also a still more precious relic — three hairs from the Prophet's beard.

The most powerful brotherhoods at Kairwan are those of the Aïssawa, the Tijaniya, and the Ghilaniya, Like so many other "holy places," Kairwan is also one of the most corrupt, and the class of the Tunisian dancing girls is mainly recruited from this city of mosques and religious confraternities. The inhabitants of the city of Okbah glory in living, as parasites, at the expense of the Faithful; they have consequently greatly degenerated, and are mostly afflicted by zymotic diseases. Cancer, scrofula, and infirmities of every description give the people a