To their south lies the Saharan desert.
This depression is the termination of what is in all probability the bed of one of the dried-up Saharan rivers.
The Great, or Saharan Atlas contains some of the highest points in the country.
By an exception rare in Saharan settlements, there are no defensive works save the fort containing the government offices, which the French have built on the south side of the town.
Gabes lies at the head of the shat country of Tunisia and is intimately connected with the scheme of Commandant Roudaire to create a Saharan sea by making a channel from the Mediterranean to these shats (large salt lakes below the level of the sea).
