FOOTNOTES:
[96]See Murray’s Handbook to Algeria, p. 28.
[97]Bull. Soc. Géog. (Paris), viii. 117.
PART II.
CHAPTER XV.
START FROM ALGIERS ON SECOND EXPEDITION — EARL OF KINGSTON UNDERTAKES PHOTOGRAPHIC DEPARTMENT — ARRIVAL AT TUNIS — SEBKHA ES-SEDJOUNI — MOHAMMEDIA — AQUEDUCT OF CARTHAGE — OUDENA — ZAGHOUAN.
My second expedition in the footsteps of Bruce was made in the spring of 1876, and on this occasion I confined my explorations to the Regency of Tunis. I was accompanied by only one companion, the Earl of Kingston, who undertook to make photographs of all the buildings which Bruce had figured, so as to enable a careful comparison of each to be made at leisure, for the drawings themselves were too precious to be trusted on so hazardous a journey. He succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectation—there are naturally degrees of excellence amongst them, but we had not to deplore a single failure. It was a very anxious subject during the whole course of our journey; the plates were all dry, so the result could not be known till our return to Algiers. There were a thousand dangers and difficulties to be overcome—dangers from clouds of fine penetrating dust, dangers from the tendency that our baggage always had to slip off in the middle of a river, too much light on one occasion, not enough on another. My companion devoted himself to his plates like a mother to her firstborn child, and the result was, that after six weeks’ continuous travelling over a country containing almost every possible element of difficulty and danger (from a photographic point of view), not a plate was broken, and not a picture appeared too much or insufficiently exposed. I regret that I cannot publish as many of them as I could desire, but the aim of my journey was to illustrate Bruce, and even his drawings are far too numerous for reproduction. I must gladly acknowledge that Lord Kingston’s camera ensured the success of the expedition, and certainly his companionship contributed greatly to the pleasure of it.
We debated anxiously whether we should commence our journey from the Algerian side of the frontier line or proceed direct to Tunis; but the difficulty of obtaining horses, mules, and escort, at places remote from the capital, decided us on adopting the latter course. We proceeded to Tunis by the Valery steamer, and arrived there on March 26. Personal allusions in works of travel are generally better omitted, but I hope my esteemed colleague, Mr. Wood, will pardon me if I take this opportunity of acknowledging with gratitude the more than friendly reception we met with from himself and his family, the readiness and solicitude with which he forwarded our views and helped us in our preparations, and the warm hearts, as open as their house, which make the Consulate at Tunis not only the centre of social life, but a haven of rest to all who are in difficulty or trouble.
To describe Carthage or Tunis would be to tell a thrice-told tale. My hero passed over both with commendable brevity, and I will do no more than quote his words regarding them:—