From the shore the most conspicuous objects in the landscape are the great dome of Sidi Bulbeba’s _kouba_ far away on the sand-hills, and the ruins of the _kisla_ which still cover the bodies of those who perished in the explosion. The palm groves only permit the spectator to see a faint outline of the two rival villages, Jára and Menzel. As we arrived at the small French camp, a battalion of the 107th and another of the 137th Regiment were preparing to march out to Ras-el-Oued to join the column. A walk of half a mile inland brought us to the village of Jára, which stands on the outskirts of the first oasis and on the banks of the Oued Sel. Its houses, mosques, and numerous _marabouts_ are built of large and well-fashioned blocks of stone, which evidently had done service twenty centuries ago in Tacape. My readers will remember that the people of Jára made their peace with the French as soon as they arrived, and while the Arabs of Menzel were still fighting amidst the embers of their homes. The dwellers in Jára belong to the _Soff_ or faction of the Shadid, while those in Menzel and in the adjoining village of Shinni are followers of Sidi Yusef, a saint, and not of the new French Caid. Ali Ben Hlifa, the leader of the national movement in Tunis, lived in Shinni, but party-feeling in Jára was stronger than their patriotism, and the destruction of the hated Menzel was an ample compensation for the triumph of the infidels. Although the French had been at Gabes five months when I visited it, the Arabs of Menzel and Shinni would never ask or accept _aman_. Two days before my arrival it had been decided to complete the destruction of both these places by gunpowder and dynamite. The Jáma Kabira, the Caid’s house, and all the public buildings of Menzel were soon reduced to shapeless heaps of ruins. Next morning Shinni and more particularly the great dwelling- house of the Hlifas shared the same fate. It was difficult to believe that the calcined rafters and blackened walls I visited, were now all that remained of a town, which half a year before contained 4000 inhabitants, and was one of the most thriving and prosperous marts of the rich province of the Djerid. The story of Menzel and Jára illustrates the extraordinary violence of local party-feeling amongst the Arabs of North Africa, and the powerful influence of the institution of the _Soff_. The force of faction had stood the French in good stead in Algeria, and it now seems likely to help them in Tunis. They are quite aware of the weak spot in the Arab armour, and while at Gabes I plainly saw that no pains were being spared to take every advantage of it. In matters of this kind the Caid Sidi Yusef is said to be an adept, and the Beni Zid clan was almost persuaded by him to bar Ali Ben Hlifa’s retreat to the Tripolitan frontier.