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respectable streams, and with increasing volume will fall into the 
restored gulf. 
The southern slope of these mountains, i.e. one half the 
Regency of Tunis, and a large portion of Algeria, now a desert, 
with here and there an oasis due to a natural spring or Artesian 
_ Well, will enjoy a certain, perhaps a plentiful rainfall, and be 
covered with vegetation. 
This southern slope, with an inclination so gentle in many 
places as to form an immense plain, consists of an alluvium of 
remarkable fertility, which only requires water to produce many 
crops in the year. 
Nor would the south wind alone bear off the evaporation from 
_ this vast sheet of water. The other winds would also remove their 
_ share; and while that from the south fertilized the north, the 
eastern winds would carry moisture up the Valley of the Djedi, far 
away to the west. Here it would be condensed by the high ground 
of Algeria and Morocco. The River Djeddi, the ancient river 
Triton, would again acquire respectable dimensions, and drain an 
important and fertile valley, which is filled with a rich hard alluvial 
soil, in many parts of which barley is even now cultivated without 
_ artificial watering.* Whilst far away to the south, the oasis of 
_ Souf, and the country south of Chott Djerid and Tabaga Moun- 
_ tains, would be refreshed by an occasional shower. In this again, 
~ we take no account of the water which will disappear by subter- 
“ranean channels. This will no doubt be very considerable, and 
will go to render fruitful spots impossible to specify, and thus con- 
tribute, often in some unseen way, to the general fertility. 
At the present moment in parts of Algeria and Tunis, it is no 
_ unusual thing for the labours of months to be destroyed in a few 
hours by the sirocco, or southern wind. With such fierce furnace- 
ike heat does it leave the Sahara, that all tender vegetation 
: uccumbs before it—all moisture is absorbed, and it leaves the 
district it has traversed blasted, as though by absolute fire. And 
_ yet this same wind, when in spring it reaches France and Spain, 
_ laden with moisture from the Mediterranean, causes all vegetation 
* Tristram’s Sahara, p. 341. 
