The plant grows spontaneously in isolated tufts on the most dry and barren soil; it extends itself in concentric layers, so that the youngest and best leaves are always outside, and therefore most easily plucked. At present it is principally employed for the manufacture of paper, and nearly all our British mills are being adapted to make use of it; but there appears no limit to the number and variety of manufactures in which it can be employed, either in its natural state or in the form of papier mâché. Hats, mats, brooms, baskets, &c., are made of the dried fibre, while a paste made from it has been employed by opticians (for telescopes), manufacturers of artificial limbs, shoemakers, tailors, house decorators, coopers (for making casks), and it has even been suggested to employ it in shipbuilding.
With the alpha generally occurs the diss grass (Empelodesmos tenax), which it greatly resembles, and which is the staple building material of the country. It makes an excellent and impermeable thatch, but the fibre appears not to be suited for papermaking.
Early on the morning of April 13, we started from our camping-ground. Our host, and the two extra spahis who had been sent from Kerouan to accompany us, rode with us part of the way, and after a hard day’s ride of twelve hours, upwards of thirty miles, we arrived at a douar of the Frashish tribe, some miles west of Djilma. The route lay along a wide plain, more undulating and accidenté than that from Kerouan, but almost totally uncultivated. Many parts of it were covered with brushwood, there were even groves of olive-trees in some places, and all along the route at short intervals we observed ruins of Roman stations, showing how extensive the occupation of the country had once been. This is the great highway, if such a name may be applied to a mere track, from Kerouan to the Djerid; and it is quite practicable for wheeled conveyances, although there are one or two rather difficult watercourses to be crossed.
We could not remain any time at Djilma; neither provisions for ourselves nor forage for our animals were to be obtained; so after a very cursory examination of the ruins we continued our route. The modern Djilma is the ancient Chilma or Oppidum Chilmanense, which does not appear to have played an important part in history; if it did, the record is lost. The ruins are not very interesting, though they cover a considerable extent of ground. The most important is a Byzantine fortress, which, as usual, is built of older materials. There can be no doubt that the modern name is merely a corruption of the ancient one; nevertheless, the Arabs have a way of their own of accounting for it. The water of the Oued Sbeitla, as we shall see further on, disappear in the sand a little south of the ancient city. A holy man undertook to make them reappear near Djilma, and on his miracle proving successful all the people flocked to see it, exclaiming in astonishment, ‘Dja el-ma!’ (the water has arrived!) There can be no doubt as to the authenticity of this miracle, as the Oued Djilma has contained an abundant supply of water ever since!
Our reception by the Frashish was by no means very cordial, but after the usual amount of wrangling and threatening we got what we absolutely required, food for our people and horses; our own provisions we always carried with us. They also gave us some goats’ milk, very highly flavoured by the wormwood and other aromatic herbs, which constituted their principal food, but by no means disagreeable in taste.
Early on the morning of the 14th we started for Sbeitla, where we arrived shortly after noon. The road passed along the crest of a low range of hills, following the left bank of the watercourse running between Sbeitla and Djilma, which is here quite dry. The country is as barren as any we had passed through, but it is covered with the remains of Roman posts and towns. One of the latter, now called Meksour Mediouna, about a mile from our camping-ground, occupies a very large area, and appears to have been a place of importance. Near it, on the left bank of a tributary of the river, are the remains of a wayside fountain, attached to which was another building, intended, no doubt, to enshrine a statue, fragments of which, in blue stone, are lying near it. This district, now so utterly barren and deserted, must have contained a large and prosperous population. We did not meet a single individual during our ride of twelve miles. Game is very abundant here, and my companion shot a fair supply of partridges and a lesser bustard or poule de Carthage.
FOOTNOTES:
[145]This railway, which leaves the main line at St. Barbe de Tlelat, twenty-six kilometres from Oran, proceeds thence to Sidi Bel Abbes. It was opened for traffic on June 10, 1877. It was constructed entirely by Mr. Harding, of Paris, and was transferred by him to a company only on the completion of the work.