"  BORNOUS  of  the  Prophet "  is  the  name  which  the
faithful  give  to  the  capital  of  Tunis.  With  a  mind
truly  Eastern  they  fancy  to  see  in  the  form  of  the
town  which  gently  rises  towards  a  hill  the  shape  of
an  extended  bornous,  of  which  Kasba,  the  citadel,
situated  on  the  top,  is  said  to  be  the  hood.  As  the
Mohammedan  connects  everything  with  his  religion
and  its  founder,  this  bornous  could  only  be  the
bornous  of  the  Prophet

The  town  extends  on  the  east  side  of  a  narrow
strip  of  land,  which  separates  two  large  salt  lakes.
Of  these  latter  the  eastern  one  is  El  Bahireh  (so  rich
in  flamingoes  and  pelicans),  which,  near  Goletta  in
the  east,  is  directly  connected  with  the  Gulf  of
Carthage,  and  through  this  with  the  Mediterranean.
The  western  lake,  called  Sebeha-el-Sedchum,  is
scarcely  more  than  a  morass,  dry  for  several  months
of  the  year,  while  filled  with  salt  water  during  winter,
and  it  is  surrounded  to  a  great  extent  by  high  pic-
turesque mountain -chains.  To  the  north  of  this
morass  is  situated  the  Manoubia,  a  town  of  villas,


THE  BORNOUS  OF  THE  PROPHET.
and  the  quarter  of
the  Tunisian  gran-
dees, as  well  as  the
Bardo,  the  official
residence  of  the  Bey
of  Tunis.
The  narrow  space
on  the  above-men-
tioned strip  of  land
was  the  cause  of  the
town  not  extending
evenly  on  all  sides,
and  of  the  two
suburbs  north  and
south  only  develop-
ing themselves
under  the  walls  of
the  old  town,  enclos-
ing the  "city"  like
two  large  semicircles.
