Beyond Gafsa the train crosses the Oued Baïech and beyond the oasis it enters the sandy and stony waste between the salt-marsh Garaet el-Oglal (on the right) and the chain of Jebel Rosfa (1411 ft.) and Jebel Jellabia (1346 ft.; to the S.). Beyond the dry bed of the Oued Melah the long range of Jebel Tarfaoui (p. [388]) appears far to the left.
We skirt the S. base of Jebel Stah (2953 ft.), Jebel Tarfai (2166 ft.), and Jebel Metlaoui (1805 ft.), all rich in phosphates. These hills, overgrown with alfa-grass only, are, like those near Gafsa, a favourite haunt of the gazelle; the maned sheep (p. [277]) also occurs.
151 M. Metlaoui (643 ft.; Hôt. Rey, R., déj., D., 3 fr. each, quite good), Arabic Metlâwi, on the S. slope of Jebel Seldja, not far from the Oued Seldja (p. [372]), lies in the heart of the S. Tunisian phosphate-region, which extends to Redeyef (p. [372]), to Aïn-Moularès (p. [372]), and to Jebel Mrata on the Algerian frontier. The phosphate is detached from the hill-sides by blasting (foudroyage) and then spread out to dry on the ground, where it is turned over several times by ploughs. The works employ about 5000 hands, mostly Italians and natives, and yield about 800,000 tons per annum. Adm. to the ‘Grande Recette’ of the works by leave of M. Bursaux, the manager.
Interesting walk or drive to the (3 M.) *Gorges du Seldja, a wild rocky defile (about 4½ M. long) between Jebel Seldja and Jebel Alima (2559 ft.).
For the new railways to Henchir Souatir, Redeyef, and Aïn-Moularès, see p. [372].
61. From Metlaoui to the Djerid.
Road viâ (35½ M.) Tozeur to (51 M.) Nefta (railway to the former under construction). A carriage may be hired at one of the inns at Metlaoui, but as the road is bad a mule is preferable. It is best to ride direct to Tozeur (carrying provisions, wine, etc.). Nefta may be visited from Tozeur, El-Oudiane best on the way back from Tozeur to Metlaoui (early start required).
The *Djerid (Arabic Belad el-Jerid), the narrow isthmus between the Chott Djérid (65–80 ft. above the sea), the largest salt-marsh in Barbary, and the Chott Rharsa (65 ft. below sea-level), with its four picturesque oases of Tozeur, Nefta, El-Oudiane, and El-Hamma (du Djérid), is the largest date-palm region in N. Africa. The number of palm-trees is estimated at about a million, but nearly half belong to the ‘hakhana’, an unfruitful species. The yield of dates is 12½–15,000 tons annually, of which 500 tons only are of the transparent variety. They are exported chiefly viâ Gafsa and Sfax. The mildness of the climate (p. [321]) adapts Tozeur in particular for winter residence, but malaria is prevalent in summer. The population (about 30,000), which is said to have included scattered remnants of Christian communities down to the 18th cent., is chiefly of Berber origin, but with the Arab nature fully developed.
Metlaoui, see above. The road leads to the S.W., through an almost bare waste, at first near the left bank of the Seldja and then down its dry bed.
15½ M. Bordj Gouïfla (269 ft.; no drinking-water), a deserted caravanserai, lies at the junction of the Gafsa road, beyond the influx of the Oued Seldja into the Oued Melah (p. [387]). We then skirt the spurs of Jebel Tarfaoui (p. [388]). The road to El-Oudiane (p. [388]) branches to the left.