Jeppe (F.), Transvaal Book, Almanac, and Directory, published annually. Pretoria, 1884.

Jeppe (F.), Transvaalsche oder Süd-Afrikanische Republik, in Petermann's 'Mittheilungen,' Ergänzungsheft, No. 24.

Norris Newman (C. L.), With the Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State in 1880-81. London, 1882.

Penning (W. H.), Transvaal Goldfields, in Journal of the Society of Arts, Vol. XXXII. London, 1884.

Rehman (Dr. Anton), Das Transvaal-Gebiet des Sudlichen Afrikas, in Mittheilungen der K. K. Geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien. Band xxvi. Vienna, 1883.

Roche (H. G.), On Trek in the Transvaal. London, 1878.

Sandemann (E. F.), Eight Months in an Ox-Waggon. London, 1880.

Silver's Handbook to the Transvaal. London, 1877.

Silver's Handbook to South Africa. London, 1880.

Weber (Ernest de), Quatre ans au pays des Boers. Paris, 1882.

TUNIS.

(AFRIKIJA.)
Bey.

Sidi Ali, son of Bey Sidy Ahsin, born October 5, 1817. Succeeded his brother, Sidi Mohamed-es-Sadok, October 28, 1882.

The reigning family of Tunis, occupants of the throne since 1691,. descend from Ben Ali Tourki, a native of the Isle of Crete, who, by force of arms, made himself master of the country, acknowledging, however, the suzerainty of the Sultan of Turkey, in existence since 1575. As such they assumed the title of Bey,' or Regent.. This suzerainty remained in force, with short interruptions, till the reign of the last Bey, who succeeded in obtaining an Imperial firman, dated October 25, 1871, which liberated him from the payment of the tribute paid by his predecessors, but clearly established his position as a vassal of the Sublime Porte.

Government, Revenue, and Army.

After the French invasion of the country in the spring of 1881, the treaty of Kasr-es-Said (May 12, 1881) confirmed by decrees of April 22, 1882, placed Tunis under the protectorate of the French. The French Resident is called Minister Resident, and with two secretaries practically administers the government of the country under the direction of the French Foreign Office, which has a special 'Bureau des Affaires Tunisiennes.' In August 1882, the appointment of a staff of French judges was announced. From January 1884 they superseded the Consular Courts, and to this arrangement the Great Powers have given their adhesion.

The events of 1881-2 so unsettled Tunisian finance that no figures given as to the revenue and expenditure of the Regency can be regarded as trustworthy. The French Chargé d'Affaires issued in December 1882 a statement carefully scheduled like a French budget, and showing an apparent surplus of income over expenditure. The following figures are taken from the Official Statement: Revenue for the financial year ending June 30, 1882, 502,5101.; expenditure, 390,4007. The expenditure for 1883 was officially stated to be 454,960l., and the estimated expenditure for 1884 408,4807. The estimated revenue for 1885 is 593,550l. and expenditure 591,5917.; the latter includes the sum of 263,6197. for the service of the debt. An extraordinary credit of a million sterling was granted by the French Chambers for the expenses connected with the occupation of Tunis in 1883.

The public liabilities were mainly contracted between the years

1856 and 1868, and at the latter date amounted, exclusive of a floating debt, to 182,000,000 francs, or 7,280,000l., a portion of it contracted in Tunis, but the greater part in foreign countries, mainly France. No interest being paid to the creditors, the French and other Governments made reclamations, in pursuance of which the Bey consented to establish an International Finance Commission, to provide for the settlement and gradual extinction of the public debt; with this arrangement the French, since the annexation, have not interfered. Called into existence in 1869, the Commission worked up to 1884 with satisfactory results to both Tunis and its creditors.

Under the arrangements made by the International Finance Commission, the total public debt of Tunis stood fixed in 1884 at 125,000,000 francs, or 5,000,000l., the whole bearing interest at five per cent., besides a floating debt of 822,4681. By a decree of the President of the French Republic of May 28, 1884, and a similar decree of the Bey of Tunis of May 27, a loan was guaranteed by the French Government by which the Tunisian debt has been consolidated into a sum of 125,000,000 francs, or 5,000,000l., and the floating debt 17,550,000 francs, or 702,000l., or a total of 5,702,000. The loan was emitted as a perpetual 4 per cent. rente of 6,307,520 francs, or 252,300l., divided into 315,376 obligations of a nominal capital of 500 francs. These were to be sold by preference to the holders of 5 per cent. Tunisian obligations at the price of 462 francs. The International Commission has been succeeded by a staff of French civilian controllers.

The general administration of the country costs far more than it did before the French occupation, when the total was set down at 60,0531. The cost of maintaining the French army corps of occupation is entered in a Budget Extraordinaire as amounting to 1,500,000 francs, or 60,000l. The corps of occupation, according to the budget statement for 1885, consists of 16,000 men. cost of maintaining this force is to be borne partly by the war and colonial budgets of the Republic, and in part by the Regency, but in what proportions the expenditure is to be divided has not yet been stated. For religious purposes the whole of the Regency is included within the Archbishopric of Algiers.

Area, Population, and Trade.

The

The kingdom or 'Regency' of Tunis, formerly one of the so-called Barbary States, comprises the tract of country included in the ancient Roman provinces of Zeugitana and Byzacium. It takes its present name from its modern capital Tunis, the Roman Tunes, the Aɛv Túvnra of Diodorus of Sicily. The present boundaries are on the north and east the Mediterranean Sea, on the west the Franco

Algerian province of Constantine, and on the south the great desert of the Sahara and the Turkish Pachalik of Tripoli; and reckoning its average breadth from west to east to be 100 miles, it covers an area of about 42,000 English square miles, including that portion of the Sahara which is to the east of the Beled Djerid, extending towards Gadamés.

The number of inhabitants is only known by estimates, no attempt of enumeration having ever been made. It is stated in the Almanacco Tunissino' for 1877, that the total population is calculated to number 2,100,000, comprising 2,028,000 Mahometans, 45,000 Jews, 25,100 Roman Catholics, 400 Greek Catholics, and 100 Protestants. But according to other and more trustworthy reports, there are, at the utmost, 1,500,000 inhabitants. According to all accounts, the population, which numbered 17 millions in the tenth century, and 5 millions in the middle of the eighteenth century, is gradually decreasing. The majority of the population is mainly formed of Bedouin Arabs and Kabyles.

The capital, the city of Tunis, is situated 10 miles southeast of the site of ancient Carthage, built on the western side of a lake, some 20 miles in circumference, which separates it from its port Goletta. The city walls measure five miles in circumference, and the inhabitants are variously estimated from 100,000 to 120,000, comprising Moors, Arabs, Negroes, and Jews; there are 20,000 Christians.

There are twelve ports open to foreign trade, but the bulk of the commerce passes through Tunis-Goletta. The total foreign trade averages 2,400,000l. per annum, comprising 1,100,000l. imports, and 1,300,000l. exports. The exports in 1883 amounted to 846,774l., the imports being 1,153,8437. The principal articles exported are wheat, esparto grass, olive oil, wool, skins, dates, and barley. The principal imports are cotton, silk and woollen goods, liquors, sugar, and flour. The foreign trade is carried on mainly with Italy, France, and Great Britain.

In the returns of the Board of Trade the commerce of Great Britain with Tunis is thrown together with that of Tripoli, and is as follows for the five years from 1879 to 1883 :

Years

The principal article of export from Tunis and Tripoli to Grea Britain in the year 1883 was esparto grass, for making paper, the value of 409,5927., while the principal article of import of British produce consisted in cotton manufactures, of the value of 147,9451.

A report from the British Consul-General states that these estimates of the Board of Trade are much understated; the impors from Great Britain and her colonies amount to about two-thirds d the whole imports of the country. The exports from Tunis to Great Britain in 1882, according to the Consul-General, amounted to 1,119,3967., and the imports from Great Britain to 796,3371. The trade in esparto grass will probably increase considerably under the operations of an Anglo-French company, who have obtained large concessions in the south of the country.

In 1883 3,768 vessels of 1,524,429 tons entered Tunisian ports, of which 1,222 of 1,018,535 tons were French.

Tunis has several lines of railway, running from the capital to Goletta, and other places in the environs, with a line to the Algerian frontier; in all 200 miles in 1883.

There were 2,500 miles of telegraphs in operation at the end of 1883.

British Political Agent and Consul-General.—Thomas F. Reade.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Tunis, and the British equivalents, are as follows:

The Piastre, of 16 karuhs.

MONEY.

average value 6d.

The gold and silver coins of France and Italy are in general use.

The pic, or principal long measure, is of three lengths, viz., 0·7359 of a yard for cloth; 0·51729 of a yard for linen; 0·68975 of a yard for silk.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Tunis. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Correspondence respecting the establishment of French tribunals, and the abrogation of foreign Consular jurisdiction in Tunis. London, 1884. Journal Officiel of Tunis. 1884.

Report by Mr. Consul-General Wood on the trade, industry, and finances of Tunis, dated Tunis, September 27, 1875; in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls. Part I. 1876. 8. London, 1876.