combs and the small but interesting mu- 
seum of Roman and Phcenician antiqui- 
ties—mosaics, lamps, pottery, and coins. 
One o’clock comes all too soon, and 
the Djurjura sails on the minute. Just 
before sunset we come into Mahdia, 
where the wonderful Greek bronzes 
were fished out of the Mediterranean 
after remaining hidden for over 2,000 
years. 
THE PORT OF OLIVES 
After sending ashore some mail and 
unloading a few tons of cargo, we pro- 
ceed and enter the harbor of Sfax about 
g a.m. Sunday. Sfax is a hustling little 
town with a lot of business. It is the 
center of the cultivation of olives for 
olive oil and the port for shipping phos- 
phates from the mines above Gafsa, and 
quantities of esparto-grass are shipped 
from here to England to be made into 
paper. Great caravans of camels arrive 
almost daily loaded with bundles of 
esparto-grass weighing about 300 kilo- 
grams each 
The great olive orchards—forests, one 
might say—are worth driving or motor- 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
Photo by Marie Helms 
AT THE POTTERY-MAKERS: KNEADING THE CLAY BY TREADING UPON IT 
ing out to see at Toual-el-Cheridi, and 
the government sponge fisheries are 
worthy of an article to themselves. 
Here in the clear, shallow water of the 
Mediterranean, about a kilometer outside 
the harbor of Sfax, is situated a small 
biological laboratory for the scientific 
study of sponges. It is unique in the 
world. Here they watch the develop- 
ment from the tiny larva, so small that 
it can only be studied under a micro- 
scope, until five years later it has de- 
veloped into a perfect sponge—a sponge 
that in the markets of the world fetches 
the highest price. They do not tear and 
are fine. Diseases of the sponge are 
studied and records of each sponge kept 
on file. Of the Greek sponge fisheries 
and divers we must pass over. Only be 
sure and take a walk through the Arab 
town and see the souks. They are 
smaller than those of Tunis, but the Ori- 
ental mass of color cannot be described. 
Gabes is a small French town with 
three large oases of superb palm trees 
and fertile gardens. Landing in small 
boats from the steamer is not easy when 
the sea is rough. 
