Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/203

 NABEL— KELTBIA. 166 nock of the north-eastern peninsula of Tunis. These advantages have endowed it with a certain strategical importance, and made it an indinpensable station for traders and travellers. At this point travellers coming from Tunis reach the shores of the eastern sea, and they have naturally named the bay after the place where the inland route terminates. But industrial and commercial life has moved farther east to the town of Nahely which dates from pre- Arab times, as is indicated by its slightly modified Greek name of Neapolis. Notwithstanding this designation of " New Town," it is a place of vast antiquity. In the ruins of Nabel-el-Kedim, or " Old Nabel," are still found traces of Carthaginian structures, and the Periplus of Scylax already mentions this African " Naples." The soil of the plain, where a " new town " constantly sprang up on the ruins of its predecessor, is strewn with potsherds and broken vases, and at the present time numerous workshops are still surrounded with broken utensils, similar to those rejected by the old potters of Neapolis, showing that the local industry has undergone no change for the last two thousand years. From Nabel more especially come the waterbottles, pitchers, jars, flower- pots, perfume- vases, and terra-cotta lamps which are sold in the markets of Tunis, and which even find their way to Algeria and Tripoli. Nabel also manufactures textile fabrics, while the flowers of its gardens are used in the preparation of essences. Of late years Nabel has acquired a certain reputation as a " winter retreat " for consumptive patients. AV^ell protected from the northern winds by the hills of the north-eastern peninsula, it faces the Gulf of Ilaramamet, which is seldom tempest-tossed like the waters on the northern side of the headland. Hence the streets are seldom exposed to the furious blasts which raise clouds of dust on the highroads of Tunis. North of Ilaramamet, the Vandal kings had a " Paradise ; " but where once stood those magnificent pleasure grounds, scarcely a tree is now to be seen. The sand daily encroaches more and more upon the surrounding plantations and cemeteries. One of the most populous regions of Tunis is the Dakhclat-el-Mahuin, as the peninsula terminating the Has Addar is called. Small towns and large villages surrounded by gardens, orchards, and olive groves, follow in succession along the high cliffs, at some distance from the eastern coast. The shore route traverses Beni-Khriar, Kurbn, Kurahin, Mcnzel'Tcmiii, and Kelibio, this latter the successor of the ancient Clypwa, in Greek Aspis, so called from the shield-shaped hill on which stood the acropolis. Situated near a cape, at the point where the coast curves to the south-west, thus offering a refuge for vessels against the north winds, Kelibia was always of some maritime importance, and, although its two ports are now choked up, small craft overtaken by tempests still seek shelter under its walls. The north side of the peninsula washed by the waters of the Gulf of Tunis is less densely peopled than the opposite side, owing to the narrowness of the cultivable zone comprised between the hills and the sea. Soliman, and the menzel or the northern part of the plain which connects the shores of the Gulf of Tunis
 * ' station " called Mcnzel-Bu-Zalfa, the largest centres of population, are situatetl in