This account is consistent with the above, and we have here some idea of what may be meant by the word formerly, in the passage first quoted, which is certainly somewhat indefinite.
[7]Part of the sandy plain to the south-eastward is, however, occasionally flooded during the prevalence of strong northerly gales, and there is a tract of marshy ground, to the westward of the town, between the cultivated parts and the sea.
[8](Leo Africanus in Ramusio, p. 72.)—With respect to the former extension of Tripoly to the northward, here mentioned by the African geographer, the observation is certainly in some degree correct, and consistent with the present appearance of other parts of the coast of Northern Africa; but we must at the same time observe that the town could scarcely have projected any farther to the northward than the sites of the French and Spanish forts; for beyond these we get into five and eight fathoms water.
[9]We must, however, confess, that we cannot altogether understand, why the loss of the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of Tripoly, said by Leo Africanus to have been flooded in his days, should have necessarily occasioned to the inhabitants of the town so great a scarcity of grain as that mentioned by this geographer. For the high grounds immediately beyond the parts which were overflowed, must at all times, we should conceive, from their rocky foundation, have been placed above the level of the sea at its greatest height, and might therefore have been cultivated as we find them to be at present; and the Gharian mountains, as well as the country of Tagiura, both of which are still very productive, are mentioned by Leo as places highly cultivated at the period of the overflow alluded to.
We may remark on this subject—that the coincidence of the former with the present state of the last-mentioned places, appears to be the more worthy of notice, from the circumstance of our finding the actual produce of other districts, both in Tunis and Tripoly, very different from what it appears to have been in earlier periods. Among other examples, in proof of this assertion, we may notice the great difference which has taken place in the produce and soil of Byzacium. This district was formerly much renowned for its fertility; and we are informed by Pliny that one grain of corn from the Byzacium was sent to the Emperor Augustus, which yielded four hundred shoots; and that three hundred and forty stems had been afterwards sent to Nero, produced equally from a single grain of corn[a]. 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.
“The 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. For 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 part with olive-trees, which flourish here in the greatest perfection. Neither is the inland country in a much better condition.”
[a]Misit ex eo loco Divo Augusto procurator ejus, ex uno grano, (vix credibile dictu) quadringenta paucis minus germina, extantque de ea re epistolæ. Misit et Neroni similiter CCCXL stipulas ex uno grano.—Nat. Hist. l. xviii. c. 10.
Again (lib. v. c. 4.) Ita (Byzacium) appellatur regio CCL. M. P. circuitu, fertilitatis eximiæ, cum centesima fruge agricolis fœnus reddente terra.
[10]Before we take leave of Tripoly it may be proper to recommend, for the information of those who may hereafter visit that country, the useful precaution of not subjecting themselves to the fluctuation which is usual in the exchange of the place. Money, in Tripoly, is in the hands of a few; and its possessors, who are by no means unacquainted with the most profitable methods of laying it out, are not at all times particularly remarkable for a liberal treatment of strangers. We found the exchange get more unfavourable as our demand for money increased; and having been obliged to make some comparatively heavy payments in Spanish dollars, the value of them rose in proportion as it was known we had occasion for them[a]. In order to remedy, or rather to prevent impositions of a similar nature, it would be advisable for travellers to take with them, in Spanish dollars, the amount of the sums they may have occasion for in Tripoly; for even if the exchange should be good on their arrival there, it would most probably lower as they were known to have occasion for money. Should this be inconvenient, bills might be drawn on Malta, and the money in Spanish dollars[] forwarded by the first secure vessel which might be sailing from that port to Tripoly.
[a]It must, however, be observed, in justice to the house of Messrs. Beaussier and Co., that we experienced a more liberal treatment from them than from any other house in Tripoly.