From Tunis to Cape Bon, see p. [153]. Our steamer, generally at night, next skirts the steep E. coast of Cape Bon, passes Râs el-Mirh, and off Râs el-Mustapha steers to the S.S.W. for Susa. On the latter headland lies the little town of Kelibia, the ancient Aspis or Clupea, whose castle-hill is crowned with a lighthouse. The flat coast of the Gulf of Hammamet (p. [364]) recedes from view; beyond it, in the background, are the distant Jebel Zaghouan (p. [359]), Jebel Zeriba (2412 ft.), and Jebel Fadloun (1306 ft.).
Nearing Susa (p. [366]), we have a pleasant view of the olive-clad hills of the Sahel, while the town itself presents a most striking picture with its great expanse of white houses.
Leaving the coast, where the low dunes conceal the salt-marshes of the Sebkha de Sahline, we steer to the E.S.E. towards the Pointe de Monastir, the S. limit of the bay of Hammamet.
The little town of Monastir (82 ft.; Hôt. de Paris, Hôt. de France, both primitive; Brit. vice-cons., A. B. Geary; pop. 9000, incl. 600 Europeans) lies superbly on the olive-clad headland. It owes its name to a monastery, which in early Moorish times still existed as the sole relic of the Roman seaport of Ruspina.
From the steamer we first sight the white pinnacled town-wall and the numerous shrines outside of it. Then, as we pass between the headland and the three islets off the coast (Djezira Sidi el-Rhedamsi or Ile Egdemsi, etc.), appears the dilapidated Moorish Kasba with the tower of En-Nadour. To the E. in very clear weather we descry the lighthouse on the distant Kuriat Islands.
After a short stay in the Bay of Monastir, on the S. side of the town, we steer to the S.E., past the Dahar Cliffs (on the left), and across the bay; then, beyond the Râs Dimas, along the coast to Mehdia (p. [369]), where the steamer seldom stops long enough to admit of our visiting the town.
Next (generally at night) we pass Râs Kapoudia (p. [370]), the N. limit of the Gulf of Gabes (the ancient Syrtis Minor), where the discrepancy between flow and ebb (6½ ft.) is greater than in any other part of the Mediterranean. Avoiding the silted Kerkenna Passage, the vessel steers round the Kerkenna Islands (Ile Chergui and Ile Gharbi, the ancient Cercina and Cercinitis).
The steamer usually arrives at Sfax (by way of the harbour-canal, p. [381]) early in the morning. Beyond Sfax the vessel skirts the uninteresting coast as far as Râs Tina (p. [383]), and then steers to the S.S.W. across the bay to Gabes (p. [389]), where it generally allows time for a short visit to the oasis.
Leaving Gabes we may in clear weather descry the Monts des Ksour (p. [390]) bounding the horizon. We then steer to the E. to the sandy N. coast of Djerba (p. [393]), and anchor in the open sea off Houmt-Souk (p. [393]). The process of going ashore and returning takes so long that it is hardly ever possible to visit the place.
After losing sight of the lighthouse of Râs Taguermess (or Turgoeness), the E. cape of Djerba, we steer for a long time to the E.S.E., at some distance from the sandy coast with its salt-marshes, where the Râs Adjir marks the frontier of Tripolitania.