situated, and contains some beautiful churches and other edifices, which have been built by the Spaniards at different periods: it contains 20,000 inhabitants. Algiers, the metropolis of the kingdom, is situated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, midway between the frontiers of Morocco and Tunis; the Turks call it Algezira, or The Island, because there is an island lying to the Eastward of the city, and directly opposite to it. When the Spaniards first gained possession of Algiers, they erected a strong fort upon this island, which effectually prevented the Algerine corsairs from sailing into the harbour, or out of it. This fort was taken by Hayradin, the successor of Barbarossa, who united the island with the city by a mole, and thus rendered Algiers a commodious harbour, by sheltering it from the weather and rough seas: this barbarian employed no less than 30,000 Christian slaves in the building of the mole, which was completed in three years, and has materially added not only to the convenience but to the strength of the city. Algiers is surrounded with a wall about three miles in circuit, 12 feet thick, and from 30 to 40 feet high: it has likewise several castles, but all its fortifications on the land side are but of little avail, the harbour alone being well defended. It is built on the declivity of a hill, on which the houses rise gradually in the form of an amphitheatre, terminating nearly in a point at the summit, and presenting, when viewed from the sea, a magnificent spectacle. The houses are generally three stories high, and occupied by several families: they are all regularly whitewashed at stated periods, and have flat roofs, arranged in such a manner as to form a convenient promenade, and hence visits to a considerable distance can be performed on the tops of them. At the time when Algiers was bombarded by the British, it was estimated to contain nearly 200,000 souls; but since that catastrophe, the number of inhabitants in the city has diminished considerably more than one half. To the Eastward of Algiers lies the sea-port of Bujeya, or Bougia, at the mouth of the R. Hamza; the harbour is commodious and well defended, and the town one of the few places in the country where the Algerines maintain an effective garrison. Still farther Eastward, on the coast, lie Stora, Bona, and La Cala, the last of which is close upon the borders of Tunis: they are all convenient harbours, but owing to the barbarous policy of the government they are now little visited by Europeans. The province of Cosantina is the Easternmost of the three composing the kingdom of Algiers, to which it became annexed during the last century, having been previously dependant on Tunis. It derives its name from the town of Cosantina, which is situated in the interior of the country, on a branch of the river Kebir, about 35 miles distant from the sea coast; it is one of the most important places in the kingdom, being naturally very strong, and otherwise well defended. It occupies the situation of the ancient Cirta, but covers a much less extent of ground, a great part of the space within the walls being covered with the splendid ruins of the old city: its present population does not exceed 35,000 souls.

THE REGENCY OF TUNIS.

77. The Regency, or kingdom of Tunis, is bounded on the W. by Algiers, on the N. and E. by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the S. by Tripoli and the great desert of Sahara: it contains about 38,500 square miles, and 2,500,000 inhabitants. After the Vandals and Goths had been driven out of this country, it fell under the power of the Saracens, when it was governed by viceroys, called emirs, who fixed their court at Kairwan. The emperor of Morocco afterwards reduced it to subjection, subsequent to which it became an independent and powerful kingdom, and remained so for a long period of time. It was overrun by Barbarossa in the year 1538, and was finally made a province of the Ottoman Empire, under the dominion of Selim 2d. The protection of the Sublime Porte, however, soon displayed those features of oppression and tyranny for which it has always been distinguished; and the rapacious extortion of its bashaws obliged the Tunisians to shake off the yoke of the Grand Seignor, and to form a government of their own. This government they settled in such a manner, that their Deys, as they were then called, could do nothing without the advice and consent of the Douwan, or Divan; but they have found means, in time, to rid themselves of this uneasy clog also, though they still retain a kind of form or shadow of both. The Porte has still a bashaw residing here, but in power and influence he is a

mere cipher, serving only to remind the Tunisians of their having been once subject to the Turkish Sultans. At the first settling of this new form of government, the deyship was the supreme dignity, as it is still at Algiers, that of Bey being next in rank, and wholly subordinate to it: however, having since built their power upon the ruins of the deys, they have, by degrees, raised the beyship to be despotic and independent. The Bey has now power to name which of his sons he pleases for his successor; or in case he does not think any of them worthy, be may appoint a brother or a nephew to the succession: but the dignity generally falls to the share of that son, who has been able, by his address, to form the strongest party, than to him who had been appointed by the father. Hence it is, that whenever the throne becomes vacant, whether in the course of nature, or by open treason and rebellion, it is seldom filled up again without a great deal of bloodshed, rapine, and violence, in proportion to the number of competitors. The Douwan is now completely nugatory; for being chiefly composed of friends and creatures of the Bey, it is rather assembled to give a forced approbation to certain measures already resolved upon, and not in any way to be consulted about their justice or expediency. The whole kingdom is at present divided into two circuits, the summer and the winter circuit, which the Bey makes in person through his dominions at those seasons. He likewise annually sends a small army to collect the tribute from such tribes as dwell far in the interior, and would not pay it bat for the military force by which it is demanded. The Western frontier of Tunis is frequently exposed to the incursions of the Algerines, who, during the last century, took from it the important province of Cosantina, and are said to aim at subduing the whole kingdom. The religion of Tunis is Mahometanism, of a very superstitious and bigoted character.

78. Bizerta, or Benzert, is the Northernmost town in the kingdom of Tunis, and occupies the site of the old Hippo Zarytus, from which it has derived its present corrupted appellation: it stands on a little gulf of the Mediterranean, noW known as the Gulf of Bizerta, and on the banks of a channel leading to that large inland sea, which the ancients called Hipponitis Palus. Bizerta is about a mile in circuit, and is well defended: it contains 8,000 inhabitants, and its harbour, once the first on the whole of this coast, is still much resorted to, though gradually filling up. Tunis, the metropolis of the kingdom, is situated midway between Bizerta and Cape Bon, about 12 miles to the South Westward of the famous city Carthage, of which it may be properly considered as the successor. It stands on the Western side of a small bay, called the Bay of Tunis, which is nowhere more than a fathom deep, and communicates, by means of the Goletta Channel, with the Gulf of Tunis, or that arm of the Mediterranean Sea extending between C. Bon and C. Farina, near the mouth of the R. Mejerdah. The channel of The Goletta is well fortified, and its entrance defended by a castle of the same name; on its Western side are the docks and great storehouses belonging to the king lom. The city of Tunis, though large, is built in the most irregular manner, and the streets are so extremely narrow and filthy, that they can with difficulty be passed through: it has high ground to the North and South, but an extensive marsh on the West, and the shallow bay on the East, which do not, however, render it very unhealthy. The citadel, called El Gaspa, is on the Western side of the city, but is much out of repair, and is moreover completely commanded by the neighbouring heights: it was begun by Charles 5th. of Spain, who improved and embellished the whole city, and was finished by John of Austria. The fortified palace of the Bey is called El Bardo, and is situated about two miles to the N. W. of the city. Tunis carries on a much more extensive commerce than any of the other Barbary cities, owing not only to its admirable situation, but to the zealous encouragement afforded by its sovereigns to foreign merchants: its present population is estimated at 130,000 souls. To the S. of Cape Bon, on the Eastern coast of Tunis, lie the towns of Mahmur, Hammamet, which has given name to the Gulf of Hammamet, and Mahedia or Africa. To the N. W. of the last mentioned place, nearly twenty miles from the sea-shore, is Kairwan, or Cairoan, once the capital of the whole country, and still only inferior to the city of Tunis itself, both as regards its population and the extensive traffic which it carries on. It lies, however, in the midst of a barren, sandy district, and has no supply of water excepting what is collected in ponds during the rains; owing to which it suffers severely from drought during the heat

of summer. Kairan contains several handsome edifices, many of which are of Roman construction, the town being supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Vicus Augusti: its great mosque is reckoned the most sacred as well as the most magnificent in all Barbary, and is said to be supported by five hundred granite pillars. The number of its inhabitants is stated to be 50,000. Cabes, or Gabs, is situated near the South Eastern extremity of the kingdom, on the shores of the Little Syrtis, or Gulf of Cabes as it is now usually called: it occupies the site of the ancient Tacape, at the mouth of the R. Triton, which has lost all the importance once attached to it in connection with the Gardens of the Hesperides, and is now chiefly valued from its irrigating the plantations of henna, the leaves of which are so much used by the Eastern ladies in tinging their fingers and hands.

THE REGENCY OF TRIPOLI.

79. The Regency, or kingdom of Tripoli, including its dependancy of Barca, is bounded on the W. by Tunis, on the N. by the Mediterranean Sea, on the E. by Egypt, and on the S. by Fezzan and the Great Sandy Desert: it contains about 141,900 square miles, and 3,250,000 inhabitants. The habitable part of the kingdom consists chiefly of the coast, which for a few miles inland is generally fertile and well cultivated, but the interior of the country is little else than a sandy and barren desert, occasionally traversed by rocky ranges of hills. This state, as well as the rest of Barbary, after having been freed from the Roman yoke, fell successively under the power of the Vandals, Saracens, and the kings of Morocco, Fez, and Tunis; till, weary of their slavery and oppression, they resolved to have a monarch of their own, whom they accordingly chose from amongst themselves. Their new sovereign governed them at first with great equity and moderation, but he no sooner saw himself out of danger, than he began to play the tyrant in his turn, and was murdered: this act of violence led to others, which terminated in the subjection of the kingdom by the Spaniards, and its subsequent possession by the Knights of Malta. The latter successfully defended themselves for some time against Barbarossa in this their new acquisition, but they were at last induced to surrender it to the Turks, during the reign of Solyman, after which it continued dependant on the Ottoman Porte till the beginning of the last century. At this period, one of the viceroys sent from Constantinople, refused to receive or acknowledge any bashaw appointed by that court: he took the reins of government wholly upon himself, not indeed as independent, but as vassal and tributary to the Grand Seignor, to whom he obliged himself to pay tribute and homage, as an acknowledgment of his subjection and dependance. It is owing to this and the other exigencies of the regency, that the Bashaw of Tripoli loads his subjects with such heavy taxes and extortions, as have reduced the greatest part of the kingdom to the lowest indigence and misery: he is only able to collect them by sending a flying camp of troopers against the poverty-struck natives, for nothing but force, and sometimes exemplary severity, can extort tribute from them. It is likewise owing, as it is thought, to this hazardous dependancy on the Sublime Porte, and to a consciousness of its own internal weakness, that the regency of Tripoli has shown itself so scrupulously observant of all treaties with other nations, in the midst of the brutal and faithless pirates by whom it is surrounded: it has studiously cultivated the alliance of Great Britain, and such a friendship with other European Powers, as might lead to an interchange of manufactures and merchandize at once mutual and beneficial. The government and religion of Tripoli are in a great measure the same as those of Algiers and Tunis: the sovereign, or Bashaw as he is called, makes shift, by means of the protection he derives from the Porte, to keep up a despotic power, which is frequently stained with every species of crime. He is nominally, indeed, the subject of the Grand Seignor, by whom, at the commencement of his reign, his succession to the crown must be confirmed; but the authority of the Sublime Porte is so little regarded, that he does not hesitate to carry on a system of piracy against its vessels.

80. Tripoli, the metropolis of the whole Regency, stands near its Western extremity, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea: it is built in a low situation, on a narrow neck of land, and is tolerably extensive, but a large portion of the

space included within its walls is unoccupied. The caravansaries, mosques, bazars, houses of foreign consuls, and of the higher ranks of the natives, are mostly built of stone, and regularly whitewashed twice a year; they are generally two stories high, but not equal to those of the same class in Algiers and Tunis, The lower orders construct their houses of earth, small stones, and mortar; they never exceed one story, and have all flat roofs, which serve as a promenade. Tripoli is tolerably well fortified for a Mahometan town, though it could not long resist the attack of a regular army; its castle is an irregular square pile, of more confusion than strength. The population of the town does not exceed 25,000, but it varies very much at different times, owing to the intercourse which exists between it and several great cities, as Morocco, Tombuctoo, and Mecca Farther Eastward are the inconsiderable towns Lebida and Mesurata, the latter of which has given name to Cape Mesurata, forming the Western extremity of the Greater Syrtis, or Gulf of Sidra as it is now called. The shores of this gulf are lined with a number of towns and villages, amongst which Isa, Zafferan, Boosheida, and Karkora are the most important: they are inhabited mostly by pirates and fishermen, who are reduced to the lowest degree of misery and wretchedness, through the exactions of the Bashaw, and the depredations of the Arabs.

81. The Eastern part of the Regency of Tripoli is called Barca, and is governed by a Bey, who is dependant upon the Bashaw, and appointed by him. On its coast, a little above the N. E. extremity of the Gulf of Sidra, lies Bengazi, the capital of a province of the same name; it has derived its name from the ancient Berenice, on the site of which it stands, and was formerly a very flourishing place, though now so much reduced that its population scarcely amounts to 5,000 souls: it stands in the midst of a fertile little district, at the mouth of a small river, fancied by some of the ancients to be the Triton of their mythology, which fertilized the beautiful gardens of the Hesperides. Farther Eastward are Teukera and Dolmetta, formerly two of the most important towns in the ancient province of Cyrenaica; they have now lost all their consequence, as has also Barca itself, which lies a few miles in the interior of the country to the South of Dolmetta, and has given name to the Desert of Barca. Cape Rasat, or Ras Sem, is the Northernmost extremity of Barca, and only a short distance from the famous city Cyrene, the ruins of which are now known by the name of Kuren, or GrenNA : hard by is its port Marsa Susa. Derna, the capital of a district of the same name, and the metropolis of all Barca, is situated about 50 miles to the Eastward of C. Rasat, and derived its name from the ancient Darnis, on the site of which it stands; it is the residence of the Bey appointed by the Bashaw to manage the affairs of the province, and is said to have been greatly increased and ornamented by the Moors, who settled here after their expulsion from Spain: it contains about 6,000 inhabitants. Beyond this is the Gulf of Bomba, so called from a town and island of the same name: betwixt it and the frontiers of Egypt lie several villages and towns upon the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, but they are all very small and unimportant. In the Southern part of Barca is the district of Augela, which is nominally included under the dominion of Tripoli, though the Bashaw's authority is only acknowledged in the presence of his troops: its chief town is likewise called Augela, and though in itself a place of but little importance, derives some consequence from lying on the great caravan road between Egypt and Fezzan. Some distance to the Eastward of it, on the Eastern frontiers of the kingdom, is the Oasis of Siwah, a fertile and well watered valley of some extent, hemmed in on every side by barren rocks: it derives all its interest from being the site of the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

EGYPTUS.

1. Ægyptus' was bounded on the W. by the Libyan Desert, on the S. by Æthiopia, on the E. by the Arabian Gulf and the Isthmus of Suez, and on the N. by the Mediterranean Sea. It contained 122,000 square miles, but not more than one sixth of this space was inhabited, the remainder being a barren desert. It is still called Egypt by us Europeans, although the natives themselves, as well as the Turks and all the oriental nations, only know it by the name of Misr. This latter appellation is merely a corruption of Mizraim, who was a son of Ham, and settled together with his father in this country, to which he gave his name; hence we generally find Egypt called Mizraim in the Old Testament, although it is sometimes mentioned as the Land of Ham, and Plutarch has observed that the Egyptians, in some of their sacred writings, styled their country Chemia, or Chamia, which is plainly_derived from the name of Ham. The origin of the term Ægyptus (Aïyvπтos) is deduced from Ai Captor, or the Country of Caphtor, by which name also, as well as by that of the Caphtorim, we find Egypt alluded to in the Old Testament; and as the Greeks are thought to have derived their word Ala terra, from the Hebrew Ai, so they may have converted Captor into Kóтos, and thus faithfully rendered the original Ai Captor by Ala Kónтоʊ, or Aïкoñтos, the land of Coptus, which they afterwards softened into Aiyunтоs Ægyptus. Indeed the original natives of Egypt are called Copts at the present day, to distinguish them from the Arabs and Turks: hence the translation of the Bible used by them (for they profess Christianity, although their worship is degraded by a number of superstitious practices) is called the Coptic translation.