The face of the country can be conveniently divided into four regions or districts, viz., the Volcanic or mountainous, the Tell or highlands, the Coast, and the Desert. In the neighbourhood of Kef, in Western Tunis, the traces of extinct volcanoes and lava are unmistakable. Mount Betoum in the Khamír or Khroumír country emitted smoke and flames forty years ago. The north and especially the north-west part of the Regency is very hilly, and the richness of its luxuriant oak forests vies with that of the unexplored iron and lead mines which are known to lie beneath them. The coast is generally low and sandy, but the land which immediately borders it is almost invariably fertile and productive. The salient features of the Tunisian Tell are vast expanses covered sometimes with esparto grass and sometimes with a layer of thin soil. In the winter the vegetation is abundant and luxuriant; in the summer everything is scorched up by the pitiless African sun. The Tell slopes gradually towards the great marsh-lakes of the far south. The Tunisian Sahara is perhaps richer than any part of the desert in fertile oases. To follow the course of recent events, some slight description of the interior of the country is indispensable. Each of its four natural divisions must be considered briefly in respect of its inhabitants and its resources. The volcanic or mountainous district consists almost entirely of the basin of the Medjerdah river, which first enters the Regency in the vicinity of Kef. During the winter rains the Medjerdah becomes a wild mountain torrent, and carries down to the Mediterranean with the noise of distant thunder large quantities of mud and stones. As it approaches the sea it traverses a series of fertile valleys, which bear the names of Dakhla, Maïcera, Bizerta, and Tebourba. Another river, the Oued Tin, rises near Beja (the Roman Vaga or Vacca), and finds its way across the fruitful plains of Mater into the Chott Eshkel or inner Bizerta lake (the ancient Sisara Lacus). The town of Mater is built on rising ground and commands the surrounding country. It in no way merits any further description. Roman ruins abound in its vicinity. The tribes which dwell on the banks of the Tin belong to the great Algerian clan of Ali Ben Amar.