Since writing the text I have had access to a source of very valuable and authentic information about the people and country whose name became almost synonymous with the earlier phases of the Tunisian Expedition. Prior to the month of April 1881, the Khamír districts were totally a _terra incognita_ to European travellers: all existing maps were based on the dubious authority of Arab description and native legends, and, as afterwards turned out, had no practical value. The very charts used during the advance were but an illustration of the blind leading the blind, and proved to be wholly fallacious and misguiding. One of the most striking of the vulgar errors existing about the Khamírs relates to the question of population. They have been generally reckoned at about three times their real number, and other neighbouring tribes, such as the Ouchtetas, have been more or less confounded with the Khamírs proper. The only detail not overpainted and exaggerated seems to be the natural difficulties of the country itself. The essential features of Khamír-land are mountains with steep sides and razor-like ridges, dense forests of oak and impenetrable tangle, and an entire absence of roads or paths. Under these circumstances, wholly apart from the Khamírs themselves, the military movements were both arduous and remarkable, especially when we consider that they were to a great extent performed during the fall of torrential rain. One of the few results of the campaign has been a minute survey of the whole province, and a sufficient knowledge of the people who live there. The Khamírs are grouped into _three_ great tribes, containing many divisions and subdivisions. The following exhaustive table was drawn up by an able officer on the staff, who was one of the first French soldiers to enter, and the last to leave, the Khamír country:— _Selloul._ Huts or Tents, 208 } } Inhabitants, 892 } Nine divisions, one of them having three and } another two subdivisions. Guns, 384 } _Slelma._ Huts or Tents, 620 } } Inhabitants, 2751 } Six divisions, two of them having three and } one two subdivisions. Guns, 866 } _Tedmaka._ Huts or tents, 1007 } } Inhabitants, 3674 } Six divisions, one having six, three having } four, and two having three subdivisions. Guns, 1030 } Total, Huts or tents, 1835. Inhabitants, 7317. Guns, 2270. It is strange to notice that Commandant Villot, in his brochure, estimates the fighting men alone of these three tribes at 9900! (See _ante_.)