It was an ancient Tyrian colony, and was fortified and provided with a new harbour by Agathocles in the fourth century before Christ. It was subsequently raised to the rank of a Roman colony, as is testified by an inscription built into the wall of Bordj Sidi Bou Hadid, containing the ancient name of the place.
COL. IVLIAE . HIPP. DIARR.
El-Bekri mentions that this place was conquered in A.H. 41 (A.D. 661-2) by Moaouia ibn el-Hodaidj. Abd el-Melek ibn Merouan, who accompanied him in this expedition, having been separated from the main body of the army, obtained shelter in the house of a native woman. When he became Khalifa, he wrote to his lieutenant in Ifrikia to take care of this woman and all her family—an order which was of course carried out.[117]
Marmol says that, although the city contained only 4,000 inhabitants, they frequently revolted against the Kings of Tunis and the Lords of Constantine, which was often the cause of their ruin. When Kheir-ed-din took possession of Tunis, they were the first to recognise him, and when he was expelled they killed the governor whom Mulai Hassan had sent with a garrison, and received a Turkish garrison into their fort. Mulai Hassan attacked the place by land, while Andrea Doria co-operated with him by sea, and so the place was taken by assault—‘et le Roy chastia rigoureusement les habitans qui s’estoient revoltez trois fois et qui n’avoient jamais gardé la foy ni par amour ni par crainte.’[118]
It can hardly be said that Bizerta is in a very flourishing condition; still, the presence of a hundred and fifty Europeans amongst its population of five or six thousand souls gives a certain amount of life and commercial activity to it, which no purely Mohammedan city appears to possess. There is no hotel of any kind in the place, and the few Europeans who visit it are dependent on the hospitality of their consuls. We were most cordially received by Signor Spizzichino, who is, as was his father before him, Vice-Consul of the United States. He also acts as Consular Agent of Great Britain, though he does not actually hold a commission as such.
The situation of the town is extremely picturesque, being built on each side of the canal which connects the lake with the sea, and on an island in the middle of it, principally occupied by Europeans and joined to the mainland on either side by substantial bridges. The town is entirely surrounded by walls, the entrance to the canal being protected by what in former times would have been considered formidable defences. That on the west is the Kasbah or citadel, and contains a number of residences both of private individuals and of public functionaries; on the opposite side is the fort of Sidi el-Houni, containing the shrine of that holy man. Between these the canal is embanked. The foundations are, no doubt, ancient, though the superstructure is modern. The west wall is produced as a breakwater, but it is very ruinous, and has evidently projected much further into the sea than it does at present. Its length is not sufficient to prevent the sand being drifted in by the north-west winds, whereby the canal has been so much filled up as to render it practicable only for light fishing-boats. Near the gate of the Kasbah may be seen the chain formerly used to protect the entrance. To the west of the town is an isolated fort, called Bordj Sidi Salim, built on a rocky promontory jutting out into the sea.
The only antiquities now remaining, besides the usual frusta of columns lying about and built into the corners of the street, are the two inscriptions recorded by M. Guerin,[119] one a remarkably fine milliary column in the warehouse of Hadj Mohammed Sfaxi, Janissary of the American Consulate, bearing the name of M. Aurelius Antoninus Pius (A.D. 161-180), and the other, which has already been mentioned, built high up in the wall of the Bordj Sidi Bou Hadid, and turned upside down, recording the ancient name of the place.
The important feature of Bizerta, however, is its lake, now called Tinja, formerly Hipponitis Pallus, which in the hands of a European Power might become one of the finest harbours and one of the most important strategical positions in the Mediterranean.[120] Its length from east to west is about eight geographical miles, and its width five and a half; the channel, which connects it with the sea, is at its N.E. angle and is about four miles long and half a mile broad; but the shallow portion which passes through the town is less than a mile in length, with a depth of from two to ten feet. Beyond, it widens out, and has a depth equal to that of the lake, from five to seven fathoms. A comparatively slight expenditure would be required to convert this lake into a perfectly landlocked harbour, containing fifty square miles of anchorage for the largest vessels afloat. At present the anchorage off the entrance is very insecure; vessels are compelled to remain in the open roadstead, and at a considerable distance from the town; there is no shelter from the prevailing bad weather, and if shipwrecks are rare, it is simply because the place is avoided by large vessels.
The lake teems with fish, which produce a yearly revenue of 180,000 piastres, or 4,500l., to the State. They are caught both by nets and in weirs of reeds erected at the narrowest portion of the straits, and are then carried on donkeys to Tunis for sale. They are not only most abundant, of excellent quality, very different from the mud-tainted produce of the Tunis lake, but of great variety. The inhabitants of Bizerta say that there are twelve principal kinds, one of which comes into season each month. This is by no means a modern idea; it is mentioned by El-Edrisi, who says: ‘When the month has expired, the species which corresponds to it disappears, and is replaced by a new one, and so on till the end of the year and every year.’[121] El-Bekri also mentions this succession of fishes, and adds a curious account of the manner in which any particular species is caught: ‘When the merchants come to buy fish, they indicate the kind and the exact number they require. The fisherman then takes a living female of the desired species, lets it loose in the lake, and follows it with his net; he is thus able to take almost the exact number he requires, and hardly ever makes a mistake.’[122]
A favourite means of catching the larger kind is for a man to station himself at the prow of a boat under one of the arches of the bridge, with a ten-pronged grane in his hand and a vessel of oil beside him. From time to time he sprinkles a few drops of oil on the surface to calm its ripples and enable him to see the larger fish passing, and these he spears with great dexterity. Wild fowl of all kinds are numerous on the lake, and for quail and snipe its banks are a sportsman’s paradise.