GEOGRAPHY OF THE JERID. 13 



east rises into the Jebel Sherb range of mountains. This escarpment, 

 known as 'the Draa-el-Jerid, runs nearly east and west. West of 

 Nefta it ends in a promontory extending between the Shott Jerid and 

 the Shott Gharsa. It is virtually the southern edge of an arid, gen- 

 erally stony plain, almost devoid of vegetation, which extends north- 

 ward to Gafsa and beyond, rising gradually into the elevated plateau 

 of central Tunis. This plain is intersected by desolate ranges of 

 hills and by deep ravines that contain water only at long, irregular 

 intervals. 



At the southern base of the Draa-el-Jerid bluffs, and sloping toward 

 the Shott Jerid, lie the three oases of Nefta, Tozer, and El Oudiane, 

 the first being the westernmost. Tozer is 15 miles east of Nefta and 

 El Oudiane about 6 miles east of Tozer. These three oases are well 

 sheltered from the north wind by the terrace behind them, but lie 

 open to the south. On the other hand, El Hamma, 5^ miles north 

 of Tozer, lies on the northwestern side of the Draa-el-Jerid, having 

 the Shott Gharsa to the west, and while protected on the south and 

 east sides it is much exposed toward the north and west. 



In general aspect all four oases are much alike. They consist of 

 almost unbroken forests of date palms, divided up into many gar- 

 dens that are separated by mud walls and intersected by innumerable 

 irrigation and drainage ditches. The total number of date palms in 

 the region, is variously estimated at from 600,000 to 1,000,000. It 

 has been estimated that the average annual production of dates in 

 the Jerid is about 34,700,000 pounds, of which somewhat more than 

 5 per cent are of the Deglet Noor variety. (See p. 63.) Of the 

 total product of other varieties, about one-third is consumed on the 

 spot, the rest being exported to various parts of northern Africa. 



In the shade of the palms (Pis. I; V, fig. 2, and VI) are grown 

 many other kinds of fruit trees oranges, olives, figs, apricots, 

 peaches, pomegranates, and jujubes interlaced with large grape- 

 vines that often hang in festoons from the palm trunks. Beneath 

 the trees are small plots of garden vegetables, barley, and alfalfa. 

 Neither date palms nor other trees are planted with any regularity, 

 and the growth is often so dense that the garden resembles a tropical 

 j ungle. 



Very beautiful are these gardens in the spring, when the apricot 

 and peach trees are in blossom here and there among the palms and 

 the figs and vines are putting forth their leaves. In autumn, when 

 the dates are ripening, the color effects, especially when the tops of 

 the palms are lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, are some- 



o By Dollin du Fresnel, Le Djerid Tunisien. Bui. de la Soc. de Geogr. Comm. 

 22: 38 (1900). 

 92 



