The magnesia in the water is
hostile to the majority of delicate European growths. Something, no doubt,
could be done in the way of improvement, but as a set-off to a visionary
project of this kind, which is averse to the whole spirit of French rule
in Tunisia, there would be a great rise in prices: Italians would form
their inevitable ring. The extent of the gardens has almost doubled since
1880, without their help.
As to the Arabs----
If the French looked to their prison system they would soon arrive at
better results. For childish thefts and such-like trespasses, committed
nearly always at the instigation of their parents, boys of ten and twelve
are now locked up with hardened criminals, often for considerable periods:
what is this but a State-aided manufacture of crime? Go to the prison of
Sfax, and you will realize that there may be some reason for the
absinthe-drinker's remark as to the "organized bands of assassins" at that
place. I speak of what I have seen with my eyes. I found the prison of
Souk-el-Arba, for instance, so tightly packed with men and young boys that
there was not room for all of them to lie down at night, and such furious
fights used to occur for the possession of places near the wall (the room
was in pitch-darkness) that the warder was obliged to enter, every now and
then, and restore order by beating those nearest the door about the head
with a club.
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