Once the water-zone
of Gafsa is passed, every trace of cultivation vanishes. And yet, to judge
by the number of potsherds lying about, houses must have stood here in
days of old. An Arab geographer of the eleventh century says that there
are over two hundred flourishing villages in the neighbourhood of Gafsa;
and Edrisius, writing a century later, extols its prosperous suburbs, and
pleasure-houses.
Where are they now?
One of these villages, surely, must have lain near this fountain of Sidi
Ahmed Zarroung, which now irrigates a few palms and vegetables and then
loses itself in the sand; a second spring, sulphureous and medicinal, but
destructive to plants, rises near at hand. This is the one which the
gentleman of the _Ponts et Chaussees_ recommended me for bathing purposes.
But I saw no trace of ancient life here; there is only a muddy pond, full
of amorous frogs and tortoises, cold-blooded beasts, but fiery in their
passions; and a few Arabs that live in the large white house, or camp on
the plain around. They told me that the descendants of the holy man who
gave his name to the place are still alive, but they knew nothing of his
history beyond this, that he was very pious indeed.
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