Koempfe says, that the male
flowers, if plucked when ripe, and cautiously dried, will even, in this
state, perform their office, though kept to the following year.
The Jereed is a very important portion of the Tunisian territory,
Government deriving a large revenue from its inhabitants. It is visited
every year by the "Bey of the Camp," who administers affairs in this
country as a sovereign; and who, indeed, is heir-apparent to the
Tunisian throne. Immediately on the decease of the reigning Bey, the
"Bey of the Camp" occupies the hereditary beylick, and nominates his
successor to the camp and the throne, usually the eldest of the other
members of the royal family, the beylick not being transmitted from
father to son, only on the principle of age. At least, this has been the
general rule of succession for many years.
The duties of the "Bey of the Camp" is to visit with a "flying-camp,"
for the purpose of collecting tribute, the two circuits or divisions of
the Regency.
I now introduce to the reader the narrative of a Tour to the Jereed,
extracted from the notebooks of the tourists, together with various
observations of my own interspersed, and some additional account of
Toser, Nefta, and Ghafsa.
CHAPTER IX.
Tour in the Jereed of Captain Balfour and Mr. Reade.
