bafalt by the Italians, and jalper of various kinds: with thpaz, or the
chryfolite of the ancieüts, amethyft, fock.cryftal, calcédöny, onyx, carne-
lïanjTfeliotfope,- obfidian, lazulite; ' but there’fee m to, 'b'ë hone of emerald.
Many are of-bafalt, of the Ethiopië ftone of Herodótus and
Strabo ; 'Pliny adding- that the native-word means iron : the Egyptian
is fometimés a grunften, being black hornblende with veinè-of feïffar;
and particles of hornblende are vifible in all thefe bafalts: Théfe notices
become interefting, as.the Egyptians were the firft inventors'bf fedpt'ufe
and architcaure, and the originalmaterials may juftly excite curibfity.
Befides the natron lakes, there are fame mineral’ fprittgs, and pM?bfifak
water hear Cairo, which isfuppofed to havfe medical virtues. The whole
country may be regarded as due natural curiofity.
Between Egypt and Abyffinia is an r e^enC^e tra£t, ajjo^^'oi
mllps in length, and 500 in breadth, hy.^^^ci^ajmyl^^t^io-
pia, but more precifely by the Arabian geographers' cined'I^I^|^ fS’he
ifle of Meroe was formèd_bythe jundion of the, Aftaboras with-the
Nile • and it is not improbable that a foutnerm channel^ delcribediby
Ptolemy, may fince have been dried up by the encroachingtfeie’rt.
The greatéft part of Nubia is occupied by -wide deferts' on*. "fee
eaft and weft: but oh the Nile* are “two ftates of'itMe%tsfe.ffii-hfe-
quence, Bongola on the^ north, and Seifflaar* öh'«ph@?^^h®jTu§èhhaar
was in a ftate of fervile war, thé flaves having ufurp'ed fhè gövérrinïènt,
when Mr. Browne vifited Darfur. Bruce defcxibes his interview vsyth
the king, or rather chief, and his diftinguilhed haram. Tn Auguft and
September the country around the city prefents a pleafaiit verdure : out
the peopleware deceitful and ferocious. The general drefs is a long blue
-fhirt ; and the food moftly millet, though there be no want of cattle.
Dongola does not merit a defcription : and the whole of Nubia is -a minferable
country, inhabited by a miferable people
* See the Travels pf’Ppncet, a Trench phyfician, 1698.. in Lockman’B Travels of the Jefuits,
1. 192. Near Sennaar were forefts o£ acacia, foil of paroquets. T h e trees, p. 203, feem' to be
the cotton trees of America.
M AH O M*ET A NI S T A T E S/ ’tec. 739
- MAHOMETAN STATES I N THE NORTH
j j
T r x p o l t .-— T u n i s .— A l g i e r .— M o r o c c o . ] g | |
THESE 'are’^ipbf?/ ^unisf' Algibr, iöd'iVp^Qcéof^’Of thefe 1 rigdjif
is ïnë molt add the I^^wTsto i 'f'Tlib'éei^l^^es^fëa'ch from
t^^pdlpb °^5^^es, fn^leffer^ Syrlif, oP'ahtiqi|ity,? ’ t^é’Ty nimves* 'óf
Efftpt, '^èirfg-' chï'eflyf the and ÈVbta^^il|^^öijdè^s, 1
vjlg a ^^^t_part is'defërt. T'ripèi^cïSes' ^appeac'Hxi befSnci^n^, ihe*
the.^ablM ' white' p’erthe
Po r t 1 'o f
p P faVAfricf l^as^Iairolf; about inilc^to the,S\j?)^un^ where"
j^m-en the gofyWnorfr appointed by the Califs* of Damafcus : and abput
&op Wej: afliimed' r^lr^htho^. an'd t^dynafty qfthe Fa-
t^ites>paffedfrom'mricaro^^ypt. ^be^l^ifëfaftervraMsreigned*at*
^ffioan.( *’Tripoli wls^ffégèlf-by the Egyppa^s,A. D.?P#^afld A. D.
i ?£o. In 1146 it'w'as, Feiz'ecl' by the Normans j^bo. Held
tln&èoaft till 1 159. Tl^e power'of the Turks^^ep^nTy’
1514, when Barbarofla feized" Algier; But ^"has continued more’ peculiarly
at Tripoli where 'the Bey was confidere|d as immediately fub-
je£t toAthe Porte, a Turkilh Paflia fuperintending his condud ^ and the
^fepined. taxations nave effedually ruined thé country. Famine is aTlt?
no unilfuaPcircumftance; and the depredations or£the Arabs form an
additional calamity. TJjie town of Tripolies In a low frtuatiofy gut to
the, S. are plantations' of date trees' and verdant hills, which relieve the
tamenefs öf the feene \ It is in a ftate of rapid dfecay^rcafcèly Yqur fnlfes
* It was prpilt after the age of that geographer, .btft .isf mentioned as.jhe bisth-p&ce pfithe,
emperor Severus. The name according to'X)’Anville was prigiftally that ofggre'prqiffncA as
containing three cities. When the Arabs entered Africa in the feventh' century they’ encountered
confijlerable refiftance at Tripoli, '"^ee Gibbon..i^vi^p.
f The emperor Charles V. too^. Tripoli, and refigned it to the knights of Malta, who foon;
loft this poffeiEon, but their jjïóiimity has ftifled the piracy of the Tripolitans. 6 In i& $ 6 this
*ity was humbled by the bombardment of a French fleet, and.fent an embaiEy offubmiffion to'
Louis X IV.
Lucas in the Proceedings of the African Society,1790, /(.to. p. a.81 j
5 b j in
Trip >li.