Now we come to the two other dwellings—V. and VI. In one lived a cousin of the Khalifa; the other was occupied by an old fellow called Uncle Srair Feteish, under the same conditions as the courts already mentioned.
A little farther off was the dwelling occupied by the Khalifa and his third wife; this was also composed of subterranean rooms, two on either side. One of these chambers was occupied by the Khalifa and his third wife, one by an Arab servant, another was used to keep clothing in, a fourth as a kitchen, two others as stores for dates, and the last as a writing-room.
Owing to his official position, the Khalifa has a certain amount of correspondence, and therefore requires a proper place in which to preserve documents. These are all written in Arabic characters; the Berber alphabet being unknown in Hadeij, and but little, I believe, in the whole of Southern Tunisia. Though in many villages the Berber language is spoken, it is not in Hadeij, where it appears to be forgotten in spite of the natives being Berbers.
The above-mentioned dwellings are far from being the only ones possessed by the Khalifa, for both in Hadeij proper and in the environs he owns several houses occupied by his retainers. He also owns caves, reserved for his occasional use, in the vicinity of his distant groves of palms and olives, when, as in harvest time, the trees have to be watched.
The caves that I saw in the Matmata mountains were, with few exceptions, of the same description. Of these exceptions may be mentioned the caves I found in Sid ben Aissa. To these led uncovered ways, so that one had a direct view into the courtyards from the outside. Also at Beni Sultan I observed steps that sloped from the upper surface to the courtyard. The rooms in this instance were not so symmetrical; many of them were not excavated on the same level as the court, but were raised a few steps above it. This very irregularity rendered these caves more picturesque and interesting than those of Hadeij.
In the enclosures were several tanks, and in the rooms I saw women spinning with wheels.
The approach to these houses was by means of steps cut in the calcareous soil; where the steps terminated was a gate by which one passed into a fine vaulted underground chamber, and thence into the courtyard.
The Sheikh of Beni Sultan owned also an oil mill, erected in an underground cave, that, with its vaults and colonnades, closely resembled the crypt of a church. In one of these vaults I saw the mill, which is worked by a donkey or a camel, and is composed of a large round stone turning on a broad low stone cylinder. In a neighbouring vault close by was erected a primitive oil press.
In Duirat, the most southern village of Tunisia, I found caves of a rather different description. These were of the same dimensions as the chambers already described, and were cut in the sides of cliffs. Before the door of the caves an enclosure was frequently made, and within this stood a house, through the centre of which was a passage leading into the cave.
This style of building has the advantage that in summer the natives can seek the shelter of the cave, where it is cooler than in the house; and, again, should the house be attacked, they could retire into the cave, the entrance being easy to defend.