No. 490.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Hunter.
Tunis, April 16, 1879. (Received May 5.)
Sir: I have tile honor to inform the Department that on Monday, the 14th instant, I was present by invitation of the Bey at the formal opening of the Tunisian section of the French railway (Bone and Gonelma line). The Bey, accompanied by his ministers and officers, was received at the station in Tunis by the foreign consuls at 7½ a.m., and conducted through the shops by the officers of the company, after which the party’ passed over the line in a special train provided for the purpose.
At Mendjes-el-bab a collation was served, and the party returned to Tunis at 3 p.m. In the evening there was a display of lire works, and the city was illuminated in honor of the event. The road is a very fine one, is well built, with good station-houses, engines, and cars. The’ stations are Tunis, Manouha, Djideida-Tebourba, Mendjez-el-Bab, and L’Oued Largua. The distance from Tunis to L’Oued Largua is 86 kilometers. The line follows the valley of the Medjirda River nearly the whole distance. The grade is easy, and the country capable of great agricultural improvement. The line is being rapidly pushed forward toward Algeria, where it will connect with a French railway already in operation. The opening of this road, connecting Tunis with French Algeria, has an important political significance just at this time. Thousands of people, Arabs from the mountains and from the plains beyond the mountains, were collected at the stations to witness the opening ceremonies.
I hope in a short time to be able to furnish some facts and figures, which will be of historic interest as connected with this great enterprise, its cost, present status, and bearing upon French interests, which I have been for some time collecting.
I have, &c.,
United States Consul.