to the eastward of these, all of which make together a very good
shelter. In the deepest part, however, there is very little more than
five and six fathoms water.
At the extremity of a rocky projection to the northward, forming
part of the first-mentioned reef, are two batteries, called the New,
and Spanish, forts; and to the westward of these, on an insulated
rock, is a circular one called the French fort. Besides these, there
are two others on the beach to the eastward, which, with the New
and Spanish forts, would prove of considerable annoyance to hostile
vessels entering the harbour. The forts are in better condition than
the walls and ramparts, which we have already stated to be very
much dilapidated, and the guns very little attended to.
The mosques and baths of Tripoly, with its coffee-houses, bazars,
^•c., as well as the manners and customs, dresses, prejudices, and
other peculiarities, of the people who are in the habit of frequenting
them, have been so amply, and so well described in
other publications, that we need not here attempt any account of
them *.
We may, however, be allowed a few words on the peculiarities
of soil, at present observable in the neighbourhood of Tripoly, as contrasted
with those which appear to have existed in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.
I t has been observed by Leo Africanus, (who flourished during
* We allude principally to the works of Consul Tully and Captain Lyon, and to
Blaquiere’s Letters from the Mediterranean.
the pontificate and under the protection of Leo the Tenth,) that
there was at all times a scarcity of grain in Tripoly, and that the
country about it was incapable of cultivation;, but it will appear from
the passages which we have quoted below, as well as from the.actual
state of the place, that it is merely the want of rain (which is occasionally
experienced) that now prevents the soil in question from
producing good crops very regularly *.
When we inquire into the cause of this difference, a more inter-
* “ Tn our way home” (says the artless and amiable writer of Tully’s Memoirs) Û we
passed through a street noted for its corn-wèlls, or rather caverns, dug very deep into
the earth. They are situated-on each side of the street, a t about thirty yards’ distance.
They were designed for magazines to lay up corn in, where they say it will keep perfectly
good for an hundred years. Happy were it for the inhabitants of this country if these
caverns were filled now as they were formerly when the country was so rich in the produce
o f corn, that it was from hence exported to many parts of the world, and prized
almost above any other. The barley when sown here yields twice as much as it does in
Europe. When it grows properly, they reckon thirty and thirty-five ears for one an
ordinary produce ; while in Europe fourteen or fifteen is considered as a good re tu rn .”
In dry seasons, however, which frequently occur, the case appears to be far otherwise.
“ The times are so much altered now,” (continues the authoress above mentioned,)
“ . th a t corn is imported a t an immense expense. This melancholy change is attributed
to the want o f rains, which have failed for several years past. There have not been
more than one or two good harvests for thirty years. I f cargoes of wheat do not soon
arrive from Tunis, the state of this place will be dreadful beyond description.”—T u llfs
Narrative, p . 49.—Again, the same w riter says, p. 67, “ I t has been ascertained by the
Bashaw to-day, that there is only barley for sale a t two bazars, or market-places, left
In the place. A few years sincethe. barley here grew scr favourably, that it produced in
return, three times as much as in any p a rt, o f Europe. Such quantities o f it wei'e
exported, that Tripoly was enriched by its sale ; b u t the failure of rain has left the
country for several years without one good harvest.”
This account is consistent with the above, and we hâve here some idea of what may be
meant by the word formerly, in the passage first quoted, which is certainly somewhat
indefinite.