In several places, where deep cuttings had been made by winter torrents, I distinctly observed layers of alluvion several feet below the surface, underlying strata of water-worn stones and barren sand.
Still, in years when rain is very abundant, heavy crops are produced in some places. Mr. Wood, in a late commercial report, mentions single stalks of barley producing 80 and 120 ears, or 2,000 and 3,000 separate grains.
What the date is to the Sahara, the olive is to the Sahel; it thrives almost everywhere, and seems to content itself with the most brackish water, or even without any except that which falls from heaven during the winter months. All along the coast there are fine plantations, containing glorious old trees, but there is not the least sign of a young one being planted, or of anyone attempting to increase the size of the grove bequeathed to him by his ancestors. During all my travels in Tunis I only saw one solitary exception to this, in the plantation of General Kheir-ed-din before alluded to.
There need practically be no limit to the cultivation of the olive-tree in Tunis; the Sahel is its favourite region, but the mountains of the Tell are covered with wild trees of great size and beauty, and there is reason to believe that they would, if grafted, yield more abundantly than in the Sahel, in the same manner that the olive-trees of Kabylia in Algeria are more productive than those of the districts lower down.
The oil made in Tunis is inferior to that of Italy, and even to that now made in Algeria, but this is owing, not to any want of excellence in the fruit, but to the primitive manner in which it is manufactured, and to the want of cleanliness in subsequently storing it, in which no progress has been made during many centuries.
On our arrival at El-Djem we pitched our new tent, one of Edgington’s, for the first time, and were delighted with the ease with which it was put up, and with the great amount of accommodation it contained. I thought often of the dear friends at home who had sent it out to me; it proved an inestimable comfort during all our wanderings; but were I to make the journey again, I should be disposed to go without any tent at all, and with a much smaller amount of luggage than we took with us. It is rare that the traveller cannot find an Arab tent, an old ruin, or shelter of some kind at night, and the convenience of travelling lightly is so great as to outweigh all considerations of comfort.
At El-Djem, for instance, there was a fonduk, or caravanserail, in which a large party could find shelter; the accommodation is, of course, very simple, and the fleas abundant, but these are details which should not affect the traveller’s equanimity. The one great desideratum should be to reduce the number of baggage animals to the smallest possible number. We had sometimes to modify our journey, and to avoid places where there were interesting ruins, owing to the impossibility of obtaining sufficient barley for our horses.
There is nothing of interest at El-Djem, save its amphitheatre, which may be said to be all that remains to mark the site of the ancient city of Thysdrus, or Thysdritana Colonia. The modern village is built entirely from its ruins, and all that is visible of the city itself are a few foundations and tombs, towards the north-west.
This city is first mentioned in history by Hirtius.[129] After the defeat of Scipio at Thapsus it submitted to Cæsar, who condemned it to a fine of corn, proportionate to its small importance.[130] It is also mentioned by Pliny, by Ptolemy and in the tables of Peutinger. It was here that the pro-consul Gordian first set up the standard of rebellion against Maximin, and was proclaimed Emperor in A.D. 238, in his 80th year. He did not long live to enjoy his exalted dignity; he was defeated in battle by Capellianus, procurator of Numidia; his son was slain, and he perished by his own hands after having worn the purple for less than two months. Shaw thinks that the amphitheatre may have been founded by him in gratitude, and states that in one of the medals of the younger Gordian there is the representation of an amphitheatre, not hitherto accounted for by the medalists;[131] but the medal here alluded to is most probably one of Gordian III., bearing on one side the Coliseum at Rome, which was restored in his reign, with the inscription Munificentia Gordiani Aug.
The solidity of the masonry and the vast size of this building have induced the Arabs at various periods of their history to convert it into a fortress; it has frequently been besieged, and on each occasion, no doubt, to the great destruction of the fabric. The first instance on record is during the wars of the early Arab conquerors. After El-Kahina had defeated Hassan ibn Näaman, and driven him as far as Tripoli, the latter received considerable reinforcements from Egypt, and again set out for the conquest of Ifrikia, about 693. El-Kahina intrenched herself in the amphitheatre, where she sustained a long siege before being compelled to evacuate it. The name of Kasr el-Kahina—the palace, or fortress, of the sorceress—attached itself to the building for many ages after this event.