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Rh sanctuary for debtors. East of the mosque, which dates from the 17th century, and just without the inner city walls, here demolished, is the Protestant cemetery of St George, used during the 17th, 18th and the greater part of the 10th centuries. Here are buried several British consuls. Here also was the grave of John Howard Payne, author of “ Home, Sweet Home ” and consul for the United States, who died at Tunis in 1852. In 1883 the body was disinterred and removed to America, but a monument has been placed on the spot similar to that erected over the new tomb at Washington.

Population.—The population of the city at the census of 1906 was returned at 227,519. The “natives”—Arabs, Berbers, “Moors,” Turks and negroes-were estimated at 100,000, Tunisian Jews at 50,000, French 18,000, Italians 52,000, Maltese 6000. Greeks 500 and Levantines 1000. The French language is predominant in the European quarter.

History.—Tunis is probably of greater antiquity than Carthage, of which city however it became a dependency, being repeatedly mentioned in the history of the Punic Wars. Strabo speaks of its hot baths and quarries. The importance of Tunis dates from the Arab conquest, when, as Carthage sank, Tunis took its place commercially and politically. It became the usual port for those going from the sacred city of Kairawan to Spain, and was one of the residences of the Aghlabite dynasty (800-909). In the 10th century it suffered severely, being repeatedly pillaged in the wars of the Fatimite caliphs Al-Qaim and Abu Tahir Isma'il el Mansur with the Sunnite leader Abu Yazid and the Zenata Berbers.

 TUNISIA (Regency of Tunis), a country of North Africa, under the protection of France, bounded N. by the Mediterranean, W. by Algeria, E. by Tripoli and S. by the Sahara. Tunisia reaches farther north than any other-part of Africa, Ras-al-Abiadh (Cape Blanc) being in 37° 20′ N. On the south the boundary of the Tunisian Sahara is undetermined, but it may be roughly placed at 31° N. This would give, therefore, a greatest length of something like 440 m. The country lies between 11° 40′ E. and 7° 35′ E. The average length is about 300 m., and the average breadth 150 m.; consequently the area may be estimated at 50,000 sq. m. (For map, see .)

Physical Features.—Geographically speaking, Tunisia is merely the eastern prolongation of the Mauretanian projection of northern Africa, of that strip of mountainous, fertile and fairly well-watered. country north of the Sahara desert, which in its flora and its fauna, and to some extent in its human race, belongs rather to Europe than to Africa. Tunisia is divided into the following four fairly distinct regions:—

1. On the north and north-west the Aures mountains of Algeria are prolonged into Tunisia, and constitute the mountainous region of the north, which lies between the Majerda river and the sea, and also includes the vicinity of the city of Tunis and the peninsula of the Dakhelat el Mawin, which terminates in Ras Addar (Cape Bon). This first division is called by the French “the Majerda Mountains.” It includes within its limits the once famous district of the “Kroumirs,” a tribe whose occasional thefts of cattle across the frontier gave the French an excuse to invade Tunisia in 1881. The highest point which the mountains attain in this division of Tunisia is about 4125 ft., near Ain Draham in Kroumiria. The country, however, about Bizerta is very mountainous, though the summits do not attain a greater altitude than about 3000 ft. The district between Bizerta and the Gulf of Tunis is a most attractive country, resembling greatly the mountainous regions of South Wales. It is well watered by streams more or less perennial. The principal river, the Majerda, is formed by the junction of the Wad Malleg and the Wad Kkallad. It and its 