To the S.W. of this lake is another nearly as large, but with a depth of from two to eight feet only. It is the ancient Sisara, now called the Gharat Djebel Ishkul, or lake of Mount Ishkul, a remarkable hill of 1,740 feet high, situated at its southern extremity, the Kirna Mons of Ptolemy. This, no doubt, was originally an island, as it is now only separated from the mainland by a stretch of marshy ground. The water is almost sweet in winter, when a considerable body is poured into it by the Oued Djoumin or river of Mater, but in summer, when the level sinks, the overflow from the salt lake pours into it by the Oued Tinga, a tortuous canal which connects the two, and then its waters are not potable. The water is generally very turbid, owing to the washing of the clay banks on its margin, and the muddy streams flowing in from the plains of Mater. This lake also abounds in fish, principally barbel and alose (clupea finta), which are held in no esteem by the natives.
Lieut. Spratt observes: ‘Fresh-water shell-fish are rare in this lake, but I procured a species of unio from one of the streams flowing into it. In some of the clay banks along the north and east shores are abundance of marine fossils, principally a carduum, which, by the wasting of the cliffs, are washed along the shore, the sands of which in consequence present the singular appearance of a sea beach encircling a freshwater lake; and, until I discovered the localities whence they were derived, I was led to suppose that they had been living inhabitants of this lake at no very distant period of time, when, of course, the waters were salt, and the scarcity of fresh-water shells leant to the idea of its recent conversion from a salt to a fresh lake. The Oued Tinga is navigable for boats of not more than two feet draught. Its general depth is six feet, and its breadth 25 yards, but at the entrance to the lake of Djebel Ishkul there are shallows with a very rapid current, against which our boat had great difficulty in contending. Above the shallows there is a ferry, opposite the marabout of Sidi Ali Hassan, which is completely enveloped by a small grove of trees. This spot appears also to have been the site of an ancient town of some importance, as there are considerable remains on both sides of the ferry.’[123]
The vicinity abounds in game, and on Djebel Ishkul itself there are a number of wild buffaloes, introduced by a former Bey, which are very strictly preserved.
At the eastern base of Djebel Ishkul there are several mineral springs, which are held in great repute amongst the natives, who bathe in small pools, made by hollowing out the sand, and in these the water bubbles up from the ground. The temperature is about 110° Fahr.
The people about Bizerta seem to affect an exaggeration of the tight and ungraceful costumes with which the Tunisians disfigure themselves; and in addition they have adopted a peculiarly fashioned jacket of white wool with a hood, which they usually wear over the head, leaving the sleeves to dangle unused at the sides.
FOOTNOTES:
[113]Peyssonnel, ap. Dureau de la Malle, i. p. 232.
[114]See Murray’s Handbook to Alg. p. 185.
[115]Pliny, viii. c. 14. Gellius, vi. 3.
[116]Marmol, trad. d’Ablancourt, i. p. 62.