20
As we cannot suppose that the sea has retired since the time of the
author in question—(for we shall hereafter point out several instances
on the coast, between this part of Northern Africa and Alexandria,
in which it rather appears to have gained)—we must conclude that,
since the age of Leo Africanus, the land alluded to has been rising
in a'greater proportion than the sea.
This elevation of soil is, at the same time, by no means inconsistent
with the rise of the waters already mentioned; for, as the coast is here
sandy, we may venture to conclude, that the sea, notwithstanding it
continued to rise, threw up, from time to time, a sufficient quantity
of sand to raise the level of the country above it ; and we shall thus
have an additional confirmation of what appears to be actually the
taken place in the produce and soil o f Byzacium. This district was formerly much
renowned for its fertility ; and we are informed by Pliny th a t one grain of com from
thè Byzacium was sent to the Emperor Augustus, which yielded four hundred shoots ;
a n d tha t three hundred and forty stems had been afterwards sent to Nero, produced
equally from a single grain of corn *. But whatever be the cause of the change which
has taken place, we find the soil of the Byzacium to have greatly fallen off from its former
extraordinary fertility ; in proof of which we need only extract the following observations
from Shaw’s Travels in Barbary. -
'[’lie many parts which I have seen of the ancient Byzacium, or winter circuit, fall
vastly short in fertility of the character which has been attributed to them by the
ancients. Fo r such as are adjacent to the sea coast are generally of a dry, sandy nature,
with no great depth of soil in the Very best portion of them. This is called the Sahul,
and is planted for the most p a rt with olive-trèes, which flourish here in the greatest
perfection. Neither is the inland country in a much better condition.”
1 Misit ex eo loco Divo Augusto procurator ejus, ex uno grano, (vix credibile dictu) quadringenta
paucis minus genuina, extantque de ea re epistola:. Misit et Neroni similiter CCCXL stipulai ex uno
grano.—Nat. Hist. 1. xviii. c. 10.
Again (lib. v. c. 4.) Ita (Byzacium) appellatur regio CCL. M. P. circuita, fertilitatis exiuiise, cum
centesima fruge agricolis fcenus reddente terra.
È / L ^ L J f S n ,é (< É F \J lJ t
TR IPO LY TO .BENGAZI. 21
case on the coasts of the Greater Syrtis, and Cyrenaica, as well as of
the ingenious conjectures of Major Kennell with regard to the Lake
Tritonis and the Lesser Syrtis.
I t is well known that Tripoly, after the destruction of Carthage,
became a Boman province ; and that on the conquest of a great part
of Northern Africa by the Vandals, it passed into the hands of those
barbarians, from which it was rescued, in the reign of Justinian, by
the valour and abilities of Belisarius. The rapid and extraordinary
progress of Mahometanism, soon after the death of its founder,
involved Tripoly, together with the whole of Northern Africa, in
the general wreck of civilization and Christianity : since that period
it has remained, with few exceptions, in the hands of its Moslem
conquerors, passing successively from the government of the Caliphs
to the tyranny of Morocco, Fez, Tunis, and, the Porte. After
the erection of the walls of the town, already mentioned as the
work of Dragut, Tripoly became the secure resort of most of the
Corsairs who roved under Turkish colours ; and from that port they
continually make attacks and descents on the opposite shores of the
Mediterranean.
After the death of Dragut, the Porte continued to send Governors
to Tripoly under the titles of Sangiac and Bashaw ; and the castle
was garrisoned by Turkish troops while the Moors inhabited the city.
At length, in the year 1714, it was finally rescued from the oppression
of the Turks by the great-grandfather of the reigning Bashaw ; who,
having contrived to assassinate the whole of the garrison, took the
reins of government into his own hands, and obtained the title of