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Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia By: Norman Douglas (1868-1952) |
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FOUNTAINS
IN THE SAND RAMBLES AMONG THE OASES OF TUNISIA By Norman Douglas CONTENTS CHAPTER I. EN ROUTE II. BY THE OUED BAIESH III. THE TERMID IV. STONES OF GAFSA V. SIDI AHMED ZARROUNG VI. AMUSEMENTS BY THE WAY VII. AT THE CAFÉ VIII. POST PRANDIAL MEDITATIONS IX. SOME OF OUR GUESTS X. THE OASIS OF LEILA XI. A HAVEN OF REFUGE XII. THE MYSTERIOUS COUNT XIII. TO METLAOUI XIV. PHOSPHATES XV. THE SELDJA GORGE XVI. AT THE HEAD OF THE WATERS XVII. ROMAN OLIVE CULTURE XVIII. THE WORK OF PHILIPPE THOMAS XIX. OVER GUIFLA TO TOZEUR XX. A WATERY LABYRINTH XXI. OLD TISOUROS XXII. THE DISMAL CHOTT XXIII. THE GARDENS OF NEFTA XXIV. NEFTA AND ITS FUTURE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GAFSA AND JEBEL ORBATA ENTRANCE TO THE TERMID AT THE TERMID A STREET IN GAFSA HADRIAN'S INSCRIPTION THE LAST PALMS CAFÉ BY THE MULBERRY TREE MY FRIEND SILENUS NATIVES OF GAFSA THE ROMAN WALL OLIVES IN THE OASIS TOZEUR AND ITS OASIS THE WATERS OF TOZEUR THE SHRINE ON THE CHOTT MARABOUT IN THE NEFTA GARDENS A BEGGAR FOUNTAINS IN THE SAND Chapter I EN ROUTE
Likely enough, I would not have remained in Gafsa more than a couple of
days. For it was my intention to go from England straight down to the
oases of the Djerid, Tozeur and Nefta, a corner of Tunisia left unexplored
during my last visit to that country there, where the inland regions
shelve down towards those mysterious depressions, the Chotts, dried up
oceans, they say, where in olden days the fleets of Atlantis rode at
anchor.... But there fell into my hands, by the way, a volume that deals exclusively
with Gafsa Pierre Bordereau's "La Capsa ancienne: La Gafsa moderne" and,
glancing over its pages as the train wound southwards along sterile
river beds and across dusty highlands, I became interested in this place
of Gafsa, which seems to have had such a long and eventful history. Even
before arriving at the spot, I had come to the correct conclusion that it
must be worth more than a two days' visit. The book opens thus: One must reach Gafsa by way of Sfax. Undoubtedly,
this was the right thing to do; all my fellow travellers were agreed upon
that point; leaving Sfax by a night train, you arrive at Gafsa in the
early hours of the following morning. One must reach Gafsa by way of Sfax.... But a fine spirit of northern independence prompted me to try an
alternative route. The time table marked a newly opened line of railway
which runs directly inland from the port of Sousse; the distance to Gafsa
seemed shorter; the country was no doubt new and interesting. There was
the station of Feriana, for instance, celebrated for its Roman antiquities
and well worth a visit; I looked at the map and saw a broad road
connecting this place with Gafsa; visions of an evening ride across the
desert arose before my delighted imagination; instead of passing the night
in an uncomfortable train, I should be already ensconced at a luxurious
table d'hôte, and so to bed. The gods willed otherwise. In pitch darkness, at the inhuman hour of 5.55 a.m., the train crept out
of Sousse: sixteen miles an hour is its prescribed pace. The weather grew
sensibly colder as we rose into the uplands, a stricken region, tree less
and water less, with gaunt brown hills receding into the background; by
midday, when Sbeitla was reached, it was blowing a hurricane. I had hoped
to wander, for half an hour or so, among the ruins of this old city of
Suffetula, but the cold, apart from their distance from the station,
rendered this impossible; in order to reach the shed where luncheon was
served, we were obliged to crawl backwards, crab wise, to protect our
faces from a storm which raised pebbles, the size of respectable peas,
from the ground, and scattered them in a hail about us. I despair of
giving any idea of that glacial blast: it was as if one stood, deprived of
clothing, of skin and flesh a jabbering anatomy upon some drear
Caucasian pinnacle... Continue reading book >>
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