It was of white Greek marble, in a very elegant taste, the hair before, gathered under a round crown-like ornament, which we see on the medals of Faustina, from which a veil fell down behind. The hair on the sides fell down in small curls on the shoulders. It was in a sitting posture, the two feet appearing from under the robe, one upon the other, in the attitude like the Agrippina the elder in the Farnese Gallery; but the pleats in the clothing were larger than those of the Agrippina.
The whole was in excellent taste. There was also brought me a piece of a basso relievo, probably belonging to the temple, likewise a half figure, that of a Neptune or Triton stretching his hand over a stormy sea, with a dolphin before him; all diligence was used, but it was impossible to find the other part.
The river is undoubtedly the Triton; it has no connection with the Palus Tritonidis; it rises in a plain called Chausæ, directly west, and near the palms it is divided; part continues its course by Jaara to the sea, part is conducted through the palms, after which it is again united, and continues its course to the sea, a small distance from the palms.
The 13th being calm, I observed the flux and reflux of the tide; the wind was from the S.W.; the tide rose on the bar at the mouth of the river 37½ inches perpendicular height. 14th, stormy, wind N.E. 15th, wind continued till 8 o’clock more easterly; fell calm at midday. The evening we could not measure, having a swell.
The full sea the next evening rose 41 inches perpendicular height upon the bar; no sea; the wind changed to N.W.; no swell.
Unfortunately, Captain Mouchez was unable to make any observations regarding the tide here during his recent survey, but he remarks that it rises as high as on any place on the Atlantic coast.
The plantations of Gabbs are laid out in the most advantageous as well as the most pleasant manner; between the palms the grape is made to run along cords of hair in festoons. Below, the plats are laid out in squares, in which is planted the Al-Henna,[269] the chief commodity of this place, a shrub like the myrtle, which the women use when dried to paint themselves with. It is packed in large oblong baskets of a caphise weight, and sells, according to its goodness, from seven to eight and a half piastres of Tunis (four and a half piastres being seven shillings English)[270] per hundredweight. This is cut every year and kept low; the ground around is bordered with roses. Between Menzil and Jaara is a castle, and under it encamps the Cayd of Amadis.(?) He has with him 100 spahis of Tunis and Zowawa; he collects the tribute from all the tribes of the south-east district of this kingdom, resembles a Bey, and has the greatest command in Tunis given to a subject. It extends to the frontiers of Tripoli.
Ottoman ben Mengsah was Cayd at this time; he was one of the descendants of a Portuguese renegade, now called Welled Hassan. Although considered as Turks, they were always abroad among the Moors. In the time of Ali Bashaw, whose relations they were, although in the wars of Younus he strangled eleven of their number in one night, as well as in the present reign, they were always employed in great commands among the Moors.
It is in this region, just below the thirty-fourth parallel of latitude, that M. Roudaire proposes to pierce the Isthmus of Gabes, which now separates the sea from the region of the Chotts, the ancient Bay of Triton. Thus he hopes to create an inland sea, and introduce fertility, commerce and life into the very heart of the Sahara.
The Governor-General of Algeria sent a mission in 1874 to examine the region south of Biskra; it was commanded by Captain Roudaire, and consisted of several eminent African geographers, amongst whom were Captain Parisot, and M. Henri Duveyrier. M. Roudaire announces that the basin capable of submersion in Algeria occupies an area of 150 kilometres long by 40 broad, or upwards of 6,000 square kilometres, comprised between latitude 34° 36′ and 33° 51′ N., and longitude (of Paris) 3° 40′ and 4° 51′ E. In the middle, the depression below the level of the sea is from 21 to 31 metres. On the north the slope is very gentle, so that there would only be two metres of water at six kilometres from the shore. None of the great oases, but at least three of the smaller ones, would be submerged.