65. From Tripoli to Alexandria viâ Benghazi and Derna.
Steamboats (agents at Tripoli, see p. [406]; at Alexandria, see p. [432]). 1. German Levant Line (cargo-boats), three times monthly (80 marks).—2. Steamers of the Banco di Roma (p. [406]) fortnightly viâ Malta, Benghazi, Derna, and Solum.—Between Tripoli, Lebida (occasionally), Mesurata, Benghazi, and Derna there plies a fortnightly steamer of the Società Nazionale (comp. R. 66).
Tripoli, see p. [406]. Skirting the flat, sandy coast, with its numerous oases, including that of Tajûra (p. [411]), we pass the small Râs Sotara, Râs el-Hamra (‘red cape’), and Râs Ligata.
In the fertile undulating plain to the E. of the small port of Ligata (lighthouse; sailing-boat from Tripoli in about 7 hrs. if the wind is favourable) lies Lebida, Lebda, or Khoms (pop. 3500; Brit. vice-cons.), in its oasis, a poor little seaport (for alfa) with open roads, relics of old fortifications, and an Italian school.
About 2 M. to the S.E. of Lebida lies the site of Leptis Magna, which fell into decay after the first irruption of the Arabs. In ancient times it was one of the richest trading towns in N. Africa. It was the starting-point of the coast-road to Carthage (see p. [407]) and also of the Limes Tripolitanus, the Roman frontier-wall, which down to the conquest of the Garamantes (p. [407]) and the Gætuli in the 2nd and 3rd cent. A.D. protected the province of Africa against the Sahara tribes. The ancient harbour, with its massive quays, at the mouth of the Kinyps, which was a copious stream in the Roman age (now a scanty brook, the Oued Lebda), is completely choked with sand. The once famous oasis and the grand ruins of the time of Septimius Severus (p. [407]) also, except the triumphal arch (comp. pp. [315], 316), are almost entirely buried in sand.
On the rocky coast, which here endangers navigation, we next pass the Râs et-Tabia, adjoined by the little port of Marsa Ugra, and then, situated in the oasis near the Râs es-Sahal, Slîten or Zelythen (pop. 7000), a seaport for alfa. Beyond the Râs el-Ihûdi we sight Cape Mesurata, the ancient Promontorium Trikeron (‘triple horn’) or Cephalus, a striking landmark.
The small port of Mesurata or Misrâta (pop. 3000), in its little oasis of palms, fruit, and olives, is noted for its carpets and woven stuffs.
Leaving the coast we now steer to the E. across the Syrtis Major, or Gulf of Sidra, the largest on the N. African seaboard.
The town of Benghazi or Bengâsi (Albergo Maffei, near the harbour, Italian; Brit. consul, J. F. Jones; pop. 20,000, incl. 1200 Europeans, mostly Maltese and Greeks, and 2500 Jews; garrison 3000) is the capital of the Turkish province (mutessariflik) of Benghazi or Barca, which was separated from Tripolitania in 1869. Its dazzling white houses extend beyond the isthmus of the Sebkha or salt-lake (with its large evaporating grounds) and over the broad corn-growing coast-plain bordering the plateau of Merj (p. [414]). The large Gasar or castle, now the seat of the governor (mutessarif), with barracks, together with the lighthouse and a windmill, form the chief landmarks as we make for the harbour.
The harbour, much silted up and very imperfectly protected by an unfinished breakwater, is sometimes rendered inaccessible for months in winter by the prevailing W. gales. The steamers have to lie to, under steam, some 3 M. off the coast, and passengers are landed in lighters or in rowing-boats.
The chief sight is the Market Quarter, where caravans from the interior are sometimes met with. The minarets, as at Tripoli, are in the Turkish style. The European colony is mainly Maltese, Greek, and Italian. The Italian School is attended chiefly by Jewish children. A branch of the Banco di Roma (p. [406]) and an Italian Post Office have been recently established.—To the E. of the town is a beautiful Palm Grove.
To the N.E. of Benghazi lie the ruins of Euhesperidae, or Berenice, as the town was called after the wife of Ptolemy III. Euhesperidæ, famed in Greek myth for the gardens of the Hesperides, was the westmost seaport-town of Barca, the ancient Cyrenaica, a fissured hill-region rising in terraces from the sea, which was colonized in the 7th cent. B.C. by Greeks, mostly Dorians from Thera (p. [417]) and Crete (p. [415]). From its loftily situated capital Cyrene (p. [411]), one of the richest and most brilliant cities in the Greek world, Greek culture spread rapidly over the whole coast-region, where the numerous seaports acquired also great wealth through the caravan-traffic with the interior. For a time (about 400–330 B.C.) the Cyrenians succeeded in repelling the attacks of the Carthaginians with their mighty fleet, but in 322 they succumbed to Ptolemy I. (p. [433]), who united the different parts of the district under the name of Pentapolis (‘five cities’). In 96 B.C. this region along with the Marmarica (p. [415]) fell into the hands of the Romans, and it was united by Augustus with Crete as a Roman province. In the great revolt of the numerous Jews who had settled in Egypt and Barca in the Ptolemaic age, 200,000 Greeks and Romans are said to have perished in Trajan’s reign. This terrible disaster was followed by the irruption of Berber tribes and of Arab marauders, and later (after 1551) by the misgovernment of the Turks. The ruin of the country was completed by a gradual subsidence of the coast which seriously prejudiced navigation. Though well supplied with rain, extremely fertile, and not too hot in summer, this region is now but thinly peopled (about 500,000), and the only towns of any size are Benghazi, Merj (p. [414]), and Derna (p. [414]). The highlands are occupied by hordes of nomadic Arabs, who often defy the Turkish authorities, and who are largely under the influence of the fanatical brotherhood of the Senussîyeh. The convents of the sect serve also as caravanserais. European goods are conveyed by the caravan-route to Kufra, the headquarters of the sect, and thence to equatorial Africa. Fire-arms are frequently smuggled into the country, especially from Greece. The chief exports are cattle (to Malta, Syracuse, etc.), goatskins, barley (to England), wool (to Marseilles and Genoa), and butter (to Constantinople). Large flocks of sheep are driven overland into Egypt.
Beyond Benghazi the steamer rounds Râs Adrian; whose name recalls the town of Adrianopolis founded by Hadrian. On a height, farther on, appears Tokra, a poor village near the ruins of the Greek twin-towns of Tauchira (Teuchira) and Arsinoë.
The next place on the coast, at the foot of a chain of high hills overgrown with brushwood, is Tolmeita (Ital. Tolemáide), the ancient Ptolemais or Tolometta, now the site of imposing *Ruins (Greek, Roman, and early-Christian). The Greek Kothon was the harbour of Barca, a thriving Greek colony on the margin of the plateau, about 15 M. inland, founded about 540 B.C. and temporarily destroyed by the Persians in 510. The town was still a place of some importance in the middle ages as a military station and a resting-place for Mecca pilgrims, but now, under the name of Merj or Medinet el-Merj, which has been given to the whole province, it has become a poor little Turkish garrison-town, inhabited by Arabs and Jews. No trace of its ruins is left.
Passing the rocky islet of Sarat and Râs el-Hamâma, the ancient cape Phycus, we reach the bold Râs Sem, the northmost point of Barca, about 10 M. to the N.W. of Cyrene (see below).
In a small plain on the coast, between the Râs Sem and Râs el-Hilil (the ancient Naustathmus), lies the poor seaport of Marsa Susa, recently colonized by Moslems from Crete. Near it are the ruins of Apollonia (later Sozopolis), once the harbour of Cyrene, but destroyed by the silting up of the coast.
From Marsa Susa a mule-track ascends to the S.W., through valleys with luxuriant vegetation and venerable olive-groves, past several ancient rock-hewn Granaries, and past a *Necropolis with countless rock-tombs, to (3–4 hrs.) the ruins of Cyrene (2002 ft.; now Krennah or Gurena), lying on the edge of a lofty plateau, with fine views all around. This was the capital of the Cyrenaica, founded near the fountain of Cyra about 620 B.C., but already spoken of in the 4th cent. A.D. as ‘urbs deserta’. The ruins have not yet been scientifically explored, but there are traces of streets, and, beneath a mantle of dense vegetation, scanty remains of the acropolis, the temples, and a Roman circus. Near them is a convent of the Senussîyeh, to which unbelievers are not admitted.
About 10 M. to the S.E. of Marsa Susa, on the caravan-route to Guba (or Mara), once lay the town of Ghermes, whose *Ruins are the best preserved in the Cyrenaica (town-wall, forum, stadium, etc.).
Beyond the bay of Marsa el-Hilil the coast is again rocky. Near a beautiful, richly wooded ravine are the ruins of Erythrum. We next steer past Râs Turba and then round the little Tsor Kersa Islands and the Râs Boasa (lighthouse).
Derna (pop. 4000), the Darnis or Darnae of antiquity, a small seaport to the E. of the headland, but entirely destitute of a harbour, is now the chief trading town in E. Cyrenaica. Vessels anchor in the open sea, over a mile from the landing-place. Near the Turkish fort and the custom-house are remains of American fortifications (comp. p. [408]) and a wireless telegraph-station.
The town itself lies on a plateau in the finest *Coast Oasis of Barca (yielding dates, figs, almonds, tobacco, etc.). In the principal square, near which the camel-caravans from the interior encamp, is the unpretending residence of the Turkish kaimakam. The shops in the busy market-street are mostly owned by Arabs and Greeks.
Beyond the Râs et-Tîn (Gr. Chersonesos), the coast recedes far to the S. The Gulf of Bomba, with its rocky islands, here forms a large natural harbour, open towards the E. only. Beyond Menelaus Island (now Susra Mesrâta) once lay the Portus Menelai. The Platea Island near it received from Thera, about 640 B.C., the first Greek colony in the Cyrenaica.
We next skirt the Marmarica; the coast-region between the gulfs of Bomba and Solum. In the deep-set bay of Tobruk (the ancient Antipyrgos) it possesses the best natural harbour between Bizerta and Alexandria, frequented chiefly by sponge-fishers.
The featureless and inconspicuous coast of Egypt is bounded by the low white dunes near the borders of the Libyan desert. Lastly we steer across the broad so-called Arabian Gulf, between the Râs ed-Dabba and the Nile Delta (p. [418]), and enter the harbour of Alexandria (comp. p. [418]).