Map of central Tunisia.

• AREA, about 48,300 square miles.

• POPULATION,  census of March 22, 1931, 2,410,692, of which the European population was 195,293 (French, exclusive of the military, 91,427; Italian, 91,178; Maltese, 8,643); Natives, 2,215,399 (Arabs and Bedouins, 2,159,151; Jews, 56,242.)

• CAPITAL, Tunis, pop. 1931, 202,405 (French, 33,649; Italians, 46,457; Maltese, 5,529).

• Bey, Sidi Ahmed, succeeded his cousin Sidi Mohammed el Habib, who died in February 1929.

• French Resident General, M. Manceron, appointed June 2, 1929.

Tunis, one of the former Barbary states under the suzereainty of Turkey, is situate on the northern coast of Africa, with the Mediterranean Sea on the north and east, on the southeast Italian Libya, on the south the Sahara Desert and on the west Algeria.

The French were obliged to send a military force into the country in 1881 to protect Algeria from the raids of the Khroumer tribes, which resulted in a treaty signed May 12, 1881, placing Tunis under the protectorate of France. Most of the tribes have settled down to agriculture and stock raising. Difficulties of administration which followed the old Turkish system have been great, but the French have met them admirably and have made the country prosperous.

There are large fertile valleys in the mountainous north, excellent land for fruit culture in the northeast peninsula, high tablelands and pastures in the centre, and famous oases and gardens in the south, where dates grow in profusion. The chief industry is agriculture; over 5,000,000 acres are devoted to cereals and vegetables; 420,000 to 16 million olive trees; 47,000 to 2,600,000 date palms; 75,392 to vineyards; 2,725,000 to cork and pine forests; and 11,535,000 acres to pasturage.

The output from the rich phosphate deposits in 1932 was 1,678,000 metric tons (2,148,000 in 1931); of iron ore, 209,000 tons (447,000); of lead, 14,100 tons (19,112); and of zinc, 1931, 800 tons. About 300,000 tons of a high quality of marine salt is produced annually.

The railway mileage in 1931 was 1,266. Motor transport is increasing rapidly and in 1931, 7,910 vessels of 4,343,058 tons in the foreign trade entered the twenty-one ports, of which Sfax is the most important.

Recent ordinary budgets in thousands of francs were:

                   Revenues   Expenditures

1929 ............. 670,570       595,154

1930 ............. 518,691       518,625

1931 ............. 614,268       614,218

1932 ............. 878,380       878,221

The public debt, Dec. 31, 1931, was 526,133,957 francs.

The foreign trade in thousands of francs was:

                    Imports       Exports

1928 ............. 1,680,176     1,233,352

1929 ............. 1,984,455     1,408,433

1930 ............. 2,107,455     1,127,233

1931 ............. 1,872,524       835,872

-- source:  The World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1934

TUNIS, Tunisia

Population, 250,000

Hotels for Officers, (American plan) MAJESTIC, 36 ave. de Paris, tel. 2848, Fr. 80. TUNISIA PALACE, ave. de Carthage, tel. 0279, Fr. 80. TRANSATLANTIQUE, 106 rue de Serbie, tel. 0680, Fr. 70. CARLTON, 31 ave. Jules Ferry, tel. 2728, no restaurant. MAISON DOREE, 10 rue de Hollande, tel 0632, Fr. 55.

Seamen's Banks. Tunis banks let safe deposit boxes at from 50 Francs up a month.

Seamen's Agency. Virgil Prossen, agent, American Export Lines, 29 ave. Jules Ferry. Aliens may not work ashore.

Legal Aid. American Consulate.

Hospital. Hopital Civil Francais, Bab-el-Allouche, tel. 0117.

Venereal Disease Clinics. Centre de Prophylaxie, rue Paul Bourde 3, tel. 6566 (daily, 9 a.m.; free). Sadaki Hospital (Mon., Wed., Fri., 11 a.m.; free).

Physicians. Dr. Broc, 12 rue des Belges, tel. 0441. Dr. Masselot, 18 rue de Rome, tel. 1969. Dr. J. Demirleau, 1 rue Es-Sadikia, tel. 4990. Dr. Bouquet, 12 ave. Roustan, tel. 1244.

Dentists. Dr. E. Eigenheer, 25 ave. de Paris, tel. 3024. Dr. A. Guttieres, 21 ave. de Paris, tel. 1319. Dr. A. Raphael, 15 ave. de France, tel. 6634. Dr. Levy, 70 ave. Jules Ferry, tel. 0893.

Laundry. Blanchisserie Electrique, 24 rue Arago, office ave. de Paris.

Amusements. Municipal Theatre, ave. Jules Ferry. Moving pictures:  Le Paris, ave. Jules Ferry; Le Capitole, ave. Jules Ferry; Le Colisee, ave. Jules Ferry; Palamarium, ave. de Carthage; A B C, rue Thiers; La Mondial, rue Thiers. Swimming pool (Piscine Municipale), Belvedere Park, not open in winter. Tennis courts in Belvedere Park.

Points of Interest.  Old Arab City. Bardo (with museum, 2 miles, Fr. 3). Palace of the Bey. Belvedere Park. Cathedral. La Marsa. Mosque of Sidi Mahre (entrance forbidden to non-Moslems).

Excursions. (All fares are round trip) Carthage and Sidi-bou-Said, museum and ruins (10 miles, train, Fr. 7.35). Hammamet (45 miles, bus, Fr. 60). Dougga (65 miles, auto, Fr. 800). Kairouan (120 miles, train, Fr. 180).

Consulates. American consulate, 1 rue Es-Sadikia, tel. 1269. British Consulate General.

-- source:  The Seaman's Handbook For Shore Leave, pub. 1944.

     Sfax is the most active port due to the large amounts of phosphates, iron ore and salt loaded there. Two tug boats and a customs patrol boat are stationed in the harbor.

     Christians, Frenchmen and all foreigners are under the administration of the Governor-General (and thus appear in French courts, go to French prisons, etc.)

     Airfields exist at Bizerte, Djerba, Gabes, Sfax, and Tunis; all built by the French Army, but open to civil traffic. French naval patrol aircraft (Breguet S.8/2 Calcutta) are based in Bizerte; the Armée de l'Air aircraft are based at Sfax -- several squadrons of light bombers (Breguet 19), army cooperation aircraft (Potez 25), and one squadron of fighters (Nieuport-Delage 62); all of these aircraft are biplanes.

     The primary French military base in Tunisia is at Sousse, home of the 1st REC. Bizerte is a busy naval base, also home to the rusting remains of the Russian Imperial fleet -- the French government recognized the Soviet government in 1924, and transferred control of the fleet. However, by then the ships were considered beyond repair (most had ended the Great War in poor shape), and were gradually scrapped. The battleship General Alekseyev wasn't actually scrapped until 1936, for example.