Chapter 6 Chapter 6 From Gabes to Tozeur

On March 17, the expedition left Gabes from five o'clock in the morning, when the sun was rising over the horizon of the small sandbar and illuminating the long sandy plains of the Salt Lake region. It was a clear day, and a gentle breeze from the north swept across the sky, driving away a few puffy clouds that dispersed before reaching the opposite horizon. Also, winter is over.The climate in East Africa has remarkable regularity, with four distinct seasons, and the rainy season is almost exclusively from January to February.The temperature is overheated in summer, and from May to October, the monsoon is dominated by northeasterly to westerly winds.M. de Charette, therefore, set off with his entourage at a comfortable time.The survey must be completed before the extreme heat, when it is too difficult to move slowly across the Sahara.

It is said that Gabes has no port.The ancient Tenupo Bay was almost silted up with sand and could only be reached by boats with a shallow draft.This is the gulf, forming a semicircle between the Galganay Islands and the Rotofage Islands, which is called a small sandbar, and this small sandbar bay really worried the voyagers of the Grant. so many shipwrecks. The preparations for governance are at the mouth of the Wadi Mera, where the new port of the canal will appear.The ridge of Gabes is 20 kilometers wide and has a total of 22,000 cubic meters of soil and sand. After digging away, there is only a solid basin-shaped outer edge that retains the water of the bay.It will only take a few days to unblock the basin, but it goes without saying that this work can only be carried out at the last moment, when all the protection, excavation, and deepening of the salt lake area have been completed.In addition, it was foreseen that a bridge would be built to reach this area extending towards Gabes and the Tripoli border area with the railway from Kairouan to Friana and Gafsa.

The relatively short first canal of the Gabés Ridge cost a great deal of labor and money, since in some sections the Ridge has, apart from two breccias fifty to sixty meters high, A swell of 100 meters, here the sand is mixed with boulders that are difficult to mine. From the mouth of the Wadi Meera, the canal ran towards the plain of Djerid, sometimes along the northern and sometimes southern hills, and the detachment began its initial journey.From the 20th kilometer, enter the second section, try to walk along the North Mountain to reduce the inherent difficulties and dangers of the natural environment in the salt lake area.

Engineer Dessaray and Captain Aldigon walked at the head of the procession, escorted by a few North African cavalrymen.Behind them followed the convoy of provisions and supplies for the bivouac, under the orders of Sergeant Major Nicole.This was followed by a squad commanded by Lieutenant Viette, forming the rear guard. The goal of this expedition is to survey the traces of the entire process of the canal and confirm where the project is progressing. At first, Larsa was surveyed, and then to the Malegir Salt Lake. The survey had to be carried out slowly.Since the camel caravan really went from one oasis to another, detoured through the mountains and plateaus of Algeria and Tunisia in the south, and covered 400 kilometers in ten to twelve days, the engineer knew clearly that he had to work twelve hours a day. Hours and more as he contemplates the dire situation: the project has clues and old paths along the way.

We are not inventing, said M. de Charley, but rather in understanding the current state of the works left to us by our predecessors. That's for sure, my dear friend, Captain Aldigon responded to the engineer, and besides, there was nothing to be found in the Jared area for a long time.But, as for me, I am not displeased to make one last trip until the district changes!Does this area take advantage of the exchange? That's for sure, Captain, please come back here then after fifteen years No, I'm sure you'll soon discover the vibrancy of commercial life in places where you've only encountered deserts

This has its charms, my dear partner Yes, in case desolation and emptiness can intoxicate Thoughts like yours, not without doubt, replied Captain Aldigon, but who knows if the old, devoted admirers of nature regret these modifications which man has imposed on nature! Well, my dear Aldigan, do not be too sorry, because, even if the entire Sahara is lower than the Mediterranean sea level, believe me, we have to transform it into a sea from the Gulf of Gabes to the Atlantic coast!Like it should have existed during some geological period. Apparently, modern engineers don't respect anything anymore!The officer smiled and declared that if left unchecked, they would fill the sea with mountains, and our earth would be like an ostrich egg, a smooth ball, perfect for building railroads!

One can indeed think that the engineers and the officers did not see things from the same angle during the weeks of their travels through the Jared area.But they are still good friends. Cross the Oasis of Gabes and you are in the heart of a charming place.It is here, between the sand sea and the desert dunes, that there are various specimens of African flora.Botanists have collected 563 kinds of plants here.They should not envy the inhabitants of this blessed oasis, to whom nature spares her bounty.While banana, mulberry, and sugarcane trees are rare, at least one can find fig, almond, and citrus trees in abundance, thriving under the tall fans of innumerable date palms.Not to mention the hillsides full of vineyards and the endless wheat fields as far as the eye can see.What's more, there are more than one million date palm trees in the Jared area, the production area of ​​dates, and there are 150 varieties. Among them are luminous dates, whose pulp is transparent and of high quality.

Beyond the farthest edge of the oasis, the camel caravan traveled up the Wadi Mela to the arid ridge through which the new canal opened.This is where engineering takes a lot of labor.But despite the intricacies, low wages, and ultimately no shortage of workers, French companies abroad were able to recruit the Arabs they needed.Only the Tuareg tribe and a few other nomadic tribes came to the lagoon from time to time, refusing to take part in the digging of the canal. Mr. Descharais took notes as he advanced slowly.The slopes of the hills, and even the beds of the canals, were to be corrected to find again the slope calculated to obtain a sufficient flow, a sufficient flow, as Mr. Rudale had determined, to the point that the water would fill the basin so that its level Maintain a constant altitude and replenish the water that evaporates every day.

But in principle, how wide should the canal be?asked Captain Altegan. Only twenty-five to thirty meters wide on average, Mr. Descharais replied.It should be fixed so that the flow itself can widen.Although this is a relatively large project and therefore expensive, everyone must think that the width should reach 80 meters, as you can see today. There is no doubt, my dear friends, for the early flooding of the Sahara and the Malakir Salt Lake region That's for sure, and I stress this to you, we rely on the speed of the water to throw sand off the side, which will let a lot of water through the bay.

In short, at the beginning, Captain Aldigan said, didn't everyone say that the Sahara Sea could be brought to a normal water level within ten years? I know this, I know that Mr. Deschalay retorted, some people even think that the water will evaporate in the process of crossing the canal, and maybe not a single drop of water will reach the Sahara Salt Lake!Therefore, in my opinion, it would be better to follow the original fixed width and make the canal deeper, at least in its initial section.This is very practical and relatively economical.But, you know, that wasn't the only miscalculation of our predecessors.In addition, more accurate research on the foundation can also refute these claims, and it will definitely not take ten years to fill the Algerian depression.Merchant ships can travel from the Bay of Gabes through the New Sea to the farthest port of Malegil five years in advance.

The two sections of the first day were completed under good conditions. Every time the camel caravan stopped, the engineer needed to check the condition of the canal.It was about fifteen kilometers from Gabes, and about five o'clock in the evening, Captain Aldigan gave the signal to halt the advance for the night. Camp was soon set up in the shade of a small grove of date palms on the north bank of the canal.The knights got down to the ground and led their mounts to a meadow where there was plenty of grass.A brook wound through the grove, and it was believed to be cool and pure. Tents that were only used for sleeping were quickly put up.As for eating, everyone is in the shade of the trees.The engineer and the two officers were served by François, with food brought from Gabes.With only canned meat and vegetables, food for the camel caravan was guaranteed for a few weeks, and in the towns and cities of lower Tunisia and lower Algeria, near the salt lakes, supplies were always easy to come by. It is useless to say that the sergeant major and his men had an idea. They put up the tent in the blink of an eye after placing the two supplementary wagons at the entrance to the woods.Plus, Nicole loved the jokes, and Pistash couldn't stop laughing at the jokes, and Nicole was willing to think before he thought about himself.The venerable horse seemed content with his first day of crossing the Jered, answering his master with a long hiss that was mixed with a heart-cutting scream. It is self-evident that Captain Aldigon took all precautions against the camp.Moreover, the tranquility of the night was broken only by a few howls of wolves, clearly recognizable as coming from nomadic areas. The beast stayed at a distance, and the camel caravan ran into no trouble until sunrise. From five o'clock in the morning, everyone was down, and at ten past five, Monsieur François finished shaving in front of a small mirror hanging from the tent poles.The horses were gathered together, the wagons were loaded, and the detachment set out on the march as ordered the night before. Everyone walked along the steep bank of the canal, sometimes on this side of the river, sometimes on the other side of the river, and the terrain was no longer higher than the part of the Gabes ridge near the bay.It's just that the river bank is made of loose soil and weak sand. If the water flow is strong, the river bank will definitely not be able to withstand the impact of the water.At this point, as the engineers expected and the locals feared, the canal would widen itself, shortening the time it would take to fill the two lagoons.But, on the whole, the bed of the canal appears solid, as M. de Charley can attest.Fittingly, digging in the soft formations across the Great Lagoon region of Tunisia was faster than in the land along the small sandbars.After leaving the Gabes Oasis, what appeared in front of us was a desolate and barren land.Sometimes a few groves of date palms and clumps of stipa on the plains are the real wealth of the region. Since its departure, the expedition has followed the canal westward in order to reach the depression called Fejadi in order to reach the town of Rajama.This town should not be confused with another town of the same name on the easternmost edge of Larsa, which the expedition was to visit after passing completely through Feijdi and Djerid. On the 18th of March, after a day's walk of the prescribed distance between the two bivouacs, Captain Ardigan came to the town of Lahama on the south side of the canal to rent a room for the night. The various towns of this district occupy all the same places in small oases, like villages, surrounded by earthen walls, which can ward off the invasion of nomads, and even the attack of large African beasts. There are only a few hundred local residents, mixed with many French immigrants.A small band of native soldiers holds the fort, and these humble little houses overlook the center of town.North African cavalry, warmly welcomed by the inhabitants, were housed in Arab houses, while engineers and officers were hospitablely received in the home of a fellow countryman. When Captain Aldigon asked what he might know about the Tuareg chief who had escaped from the Gabes prison, the compatriot replied that he had never heard of it.Adiyar was not reported anywhere near Rahama.Moreover, everything leads to the belief that the escapees have returned to the Algerian Salt Lake region, bypassing Feijdi and seeking hiding places among the Tuaregs in the south.However, a resident of Lajama who had just returned from Tozeur heard that Gemma had made an appearance nearby, but in which direction she went afterwards, it was not known.In addition, it should be recalled that after Adiyar escaped from prison, he landed on the beach of the small sandbar, and after a brief reunion with his mother near the hermit's tomb (where the horses were prepared for him), his companions and fled with him by a road Gemma had not followed them. Early on the nineteenth of March, in a slightly overcast sky, which foreshadowed a mild day, Captain Altegan gave the signal for departure.About thirty kilometers have been traveled between Gabes and Lajama.It's only half way to Fejadi.This will probably take a whole day of marching, and at night, the squad will set up camp near the salt lake. On the last stretch to the town of La Hama the engineer had to stay away from the canal, and during the first half of the day he turned back to the canal where it entered the salt lake.Therefore, to pass through the long depression of Feijdi, one has to go through an area of ​​185 kilometers and an elevation of 15 to 25 meters above sea level, and the excavation work does not need to pay too much hardship. In the days that followed, the detachment was able to walk along the banks of the canal, on land that did not quite meet the required hardness. In the center of the depression, the probe sometimes sank by itself until it disappeared, and what happened to people happened to tools.This lagoon in Tunisia is the largest of all lagoons.Beyond the tip of Boabdala, Fajadi and Jarid (not to be confused with the namesake in the desert) form only a depression up to their westernmost point.Moreover, through Fejadi, starting from the village of Mtoxia, above the town of Lahama, the canal has been identified and needs to follow the canal's nearly straight line for 153 kilometers, from 150 It starts at three kilometers and curves south, parallel to the coast between Tozeur and Nefta. It's not at all surprising to find lake basins with names like lagoons and salt lakes.With regard to the basins, geographically named Djerid and Fejadi, no water is retained, not even in their central parts, and this is where M. Lieutenant Etter, spoke to them as if this happened to him often. We can't even see a patch of water due to a hard salt crust covering it.But the liquid level is only separated by this crust, which is such a miracle of geological formation that you will feel that our horses' hoofs rattle as if they walk on the back of the arch. Indeed, the lieutenant responded, this needs to be considered, whether the ground will suddenly sink Care should be taken, added the Captain, and I keep repeating this to our men, don't you see that sometimes, in the lowest places of these hollows, the water suddenly rises up to the breasts of the horses? Such a thing had already happened, while Rudale was surveying the lagoon.Has anyone ever heard of a case where the camel caravan suddenly got stuck when it was going to various towns in this area? A region, since it is not a sea or a lake, is not land in the true sense of the word land!Lieutenant Viette expressed such a view. What you don't have here in Jared, you'll find it in Larsa and Melagir, and Mr. Deschalay added that in addition to hidden waters, there is surface water in these salt lake basins below sea level Why, my dear sir, said Captain Aldigon, it is a pity that this salt lake does not meet these conditions!A thirty-kilometre canal is all it takes to bring the water out of Gabes Bay, and in a few years we'll be sailing in the Sahara Sea! This is a pity, M. de Charley asserts, in fact, not only because the duration and value of the project have been reduced in a considerable proportion, but also because the area of ​​Xinhai has been doubled.It is not 7,200 square kilometers, but 720,000 hectares, and Xinhai covers nearly 1.5 million hectares!Looking at the map of this area, we can see that the area of ​​Fejadi and Djarid is larger than that of Larsa and Malegir, and especially the area of ​​Malegir will not be completely submerged. In short, said Lieutenant Vieter, since we are walking on an unstable ground, will the ground subside one day, especially if the water seeps in for a long time?Since the Mediterranean Sea did not invade the region from east to west, who knows if the whole of southern Algeria and Tunisia would become one ocean basin due to slow or sudden changes in the land? This was our wandering friend Vieter, retorted the Captain, who was too impressed with the fantasies of the stories of the Arab imagination.He wants to beat the speed of our righteous Nicole's righteousness! Indeed, my captain, retorted the young officer, I thought anything could happen. So what is your opinion, my dear Descharais? I just like to draw such conclusions from hard facts, precise observations, engineers.In fact, however, the more I study the soil in this area, the more I feel that it is not normal and needs to be considered, what changes will occur over time and due to chance that we cannot foresee!But in the meantime, while preserving freedom of action, we can only achieve the grand scheme of the Sahara. After passing through the towns of Limagne, Seftimi and Bouadala, which lie on the tongue between Fejadi and Djerid, the expedition completed the exploration of the first canal to Tozeur, in Stopped at Tozeur on the evening of March 30.