Of boars there are no doubt plenty in Tunisia. They are fond of lying in the thickest brushwood, what the French call broussailles, and the main difficulty is to drive them out. It requires some one perfectly conversant with Arabic, and having some authority over the natives, to make them beat properly; otherwise, in a short time they will give over, and pretend that there is nothing there. The best localities for boar are near Solyman, in Tunisia, and Biserta, about fifty miles from Tunis. As for Algeria, 100 the country is now so much frequented by Europeans of all nations, who frighten, if they do not kill, the game, that one has to go a long way into the interior before any sport can be met with.
The French talk a great deal about “la chasseaux panthères” and “la chasse aux lions,” &c. &c.; but, in my humble opinion, their forte is “la chasse aux dames” or, in plain Saxon English, the success of the “salon.” Let me conclude with a few words regarding regimen. In this burning climate, above all things observe temperance. I do not mean by that expression that you must be a teetotaller, but the more you can abstain from heating liquids or solids, the better. The other extreme, too, is bad; too much lemonade, or water, or sherbet, is apt to produce diarrhœa. Nature seems to have indicated to the Arabs the best beverage in this zone, both to quench thirst and to preserve health, viz., coffee; but as on a march or out shooting you cannot always stop to have a fire lit, the next best drink is a little weak brandy and water, which you should carry from where you start in the morning, as the water of the rivers is pestiferous. To avoid fever or malaria, I would always take a small quantity of bark of quinine. During the time I was in Africa I enjoyed most excellent health, as I believe everybody may who takes the commonest precautions, and does not indulge, as he may with impunity in more northern climes.
Finally, let me give one piece of advice to the 101 sportsman. If he comes to these countries with the expectation that he can, as in England, go out with his gun of a morning and return with his bag full in the evening to a capital dinner, he had better stay at home. To do anything in this country, a man must make his mind up to long and fatiguing marches in the heat of the day, with miserable quarters often at night, in places infested by vermin of every description; in a word, he must be content to rough it. I will also candidly own that, from the accounts I had previously received, I was very much disappointed as regards the quantity of large game to be found in these parts; still, I was, to a certain extent, indemnified for this by the pleasure of visiting a beautiful country, a remarkable people, and magnificent scenery, the entire appearance of which is utterly unlike what one is accustomed to see in the hackneyed countries of modern continental Europe.
ITINERARY CARTE.
Route––from London to Marseilles, about forty-eight hours. Marseilles, Hôtel d’Orient.
Marseilles to Algiers, average passage, three days. Hotels––Hôtel de la Régence and Hôtel de Paris, both good.
Algiers to Blidah––horse or diligence––about five hours; Blidah to Medeah––horse or diligence––about eight hours; Blidah to Milianah, about fourteen hours. Blidah––Hôtel de la Régence; Medeah––Hôtel du Gastronome; Milianah––Hôtel d’Iffly.
Milianah to Teniet, two days, staying at Oued el Massin, caravanserai; Teniet to Boghar, two days; Boghar to Laghouat, extremity of French frontier in Great Sahara Desert, three days.