Beyond the market are a barracks quarter (Kishla) and the suburb of Dahra, inhabited by Turks, Arabs, and Maltese, with a strange-looking mosque and a Catholic nunnery-orphanage. A little to the S., on the road to Másri (p. [411]), is a Negro Village with conical reed-huts.—To the E. of the market, close to the sea, lies the Giardino Pubblico (Pl. E, 3, 4; bands on Frid. and Sun.).
The Menshia or Mnshîa (pop. about 14,000, mostly Berbers), the coast-oasis of Tripoli, once far more extensive, stretches 7½ M., with a breadth of 1–2½ M., as far as the dunes bordering the Jefâra Steppe. In spring it is one sea of blossom. To the S. of the steppe rise the limestone hills fringing the Sahara (Shára, desert), commonly called the Jebél (mountain; 1300–1650 ft. high). The deep ravines, filled with considerable streams during the winter rains (14 in. per annum at Tripoli, but considerably more in the Jebél), continue to send down a supply of water underground even during the dry season. This water is obtained from countless draw-wells (sânia), bordered with white walls, and generally shaded by tamarisks (Arabic âtel). Day and night oxen or donkeys toil at the drawing of the water, which is then collected in reservoirs and conducted thence to the fields.
In spite of this imperfect mode of irrigation and the primitive wooden agricultural implements used by the natives the excellent soil is wonderfully productive. Beneath the fruit-trees of every variety, olive-trees, mulberry-trees, and alcanna-shrubs (henna, Lawsonia inermis; p. [108]), which thrive under the tall overshadowing date-palms, the soil still gives sustenance to barley (Arabic shaîr), wheat (gammah), maize, lupins, tobacco (dokhàn), madder, rose-geraniums, red pepper (filfil ahmar), onions, tomatoes, spinach, beans, melons, etc. The excellent early potatoes are sent to Europe under the name of ‘Malta potatoes’. The fields and gardens are enclosed by mud-walls 3–7 ft. high, overgrown with Indian figs (prickly pears; Opuntia Ficus indica; Arabic ‘hind’), which prevents them from collapsing in wet weather. It is harvest all the year round. From April to June almonds, apricots, and corn are gathered in, then in July and August peaches (khûkh), from July to September figs and luscious grapes, from October to December dates and olives, from November to April excellent oranges, and at almost any season lemons. In autumn the nomadic Arabs of the steppe pitch their dark goats’-hair tents (beit shâar, house of hair) in the vacant fields in order to gather the fresh yellow dates. The dates of the coast are, however, inferior in flavour to those of the Sahara oases and unsuitable for exportation.
The following Excursion takes about 2 hrs. (best to drive or ride; see p. [406]). From the Sûk el-Khobsa (p. [410]) the road leads to the S.W., cutting through a Moslem cemetery destroyed by an inundation in 1904, to (1¼ M.) Bumeliâna, where a pumping-station supplies several public fountains in the town. It then runs to the E. to (1 M.) Másri, with its large artillery and cavalry barracks, where the dunes command a fine view of the steppe, visible in clear weather as far as the distant Jebél. Turning to the S.E., and passing the mud-built fort, Gasr el-Hâni, we come to (2½ M.) the road leading to the N. to the (¾ M.) official house of the Sheikh of the Menshia (Hôsh esh-Skiûkh; fine view towards the sea from the balcony). About 1¼ M. to the N.E. are the Sûk el-Jêma (Friday market) and the extremely dirty village of Amrûs, inhabited by about 600 Jews, mostly smiths. Thence back to Tripoli 3 M.
On the Sherrashhet, the road leading from Dahra (p. [410]) near the coast, are several country-houses and (about 2 M.) the largest Mohammedan Cemetery, containing two dilapidated domed tombs (of the Karamanli dynasty, p. [408]), visible from Tripoli. Near it, close to the sea, is the Protestant Cemetery, where we have a charming view of Tripoli. About 7½ M. farther, on the caravan-route to Lebida (p. [412]), are the village of Mélaha and the oasis of Tajûra, with its colonnaded mosque.
The W. end of the Menshia is 1½ M. from the town. We may thence cross the undulating steppe, past several mud-built forts, to the small oasis of (4½ M.) Gergârish, with its old sandstone quarries and ruined watch-tower (Gasr Jehalî, tower of the ignorant), originally Roman.
From Tripoli the steamer proceeds to the N.N.E. to Malta (p. [399]). Off the abrupt S. coast of the island, with its numerous caves, lies the uninhabited rocky islet of Filfola, which forms a target for the artillery practice of the British Mediterranean fleet (p. [399]). Farther on we obtain a striking view of the barren E. coast, with the bay of Marsa Scirocco, bounded by Benhisa Point and Delimara Point. On a height rises the old Fort St. Lucian.
Beyond St. Thomas’s Bay, with the old castle of St. Thomas and the bay of Marsa Scala, the steamer rounds the Ponta tal Zonkor, the N.E. point of the island, and soon reaches the entrance to the Grand Harbour of Valletta (comp. p. [399]).
The Voyage to Syracuse is performed at night. We steer to the N.N.E. towards Cape Passero (the ancient Promontorium Pachynum), the fissured headland at the S.E. point of Sicily, with its lighthouse and two small harbours (Porto d’Ulisse and Porto Palo).