[sic]
, where St. Anthony, St. Paul, and other anchorets, had their cells. Beyond the Red Sea there is another desart, where the children of Israel lived forty years. The modern inhabitants are fine swimmers, handy, pleasant, and ingenious, but lazy. This kingdom was first governed by the Pharaohs; afterwards conquered by Alexander the Great; and in the sixteenth century, Selim, the Turkish Emperor, conquered the Mamulucks, or Saracens; for in the year 1516, defeating and killing Camson, Soldan of Egypt, and Tomumbey the next year after, Egypt was perfectly conquered by the Ottomans or Turks, who have governed it ever since by their Bashaws. The old religion of this country was idolatry, but now Mahometanism prevails most, through there are some few Christians.
An Account of BARBARY.
BARBARY is bounded by Egypt on the east, Mount Atlas on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the Mediterranean to the north. Though this country be under the Torrid Zone, yet the mountains and sea coasts, between the Straits of Gibraltar and Egypt, are more cold than hot. The men of this country are allowed many wives though they seldom are married to more than one. The women are always veiled in the presence of men; so that a man knows no more of the beauty of the woman he marries, than what he learns from her parents, till they are actually married. The people are of a good mild humour, and such as live abroad under tents, as the Arabians or shepherds, are laborious, valiant, and liberal; but they who live in cities are proud, covetous, and revengeful; and though they traffic much, know but very little, and have neither banks nor bills of exchange. Their commodities are beef, hides, linen, and cotton; raisins, figs, and dates. It is a rich country, and governed, part of it, as Fez and Morocco, by Kings; and the other, as Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, by Bashaws from the Grand Seignior
[sic]
. As for religion, they have the Christian, Jewish, and Mahometan, and they who live in the mountains and fields with their flocke
[sic]
, which are a great number, have hardly any at all. When any one dies, his friends have women that cry and scratch their faces, and take on seemingly with great grief for the deceased. They live mostly on rice, beef, veal, mutton; but wine is forbidden by Mahomet's law.
A Description of ZAARA, or the Great Desarts
of AFRICA.
THE air of this country is very hot, so that the people are forced to keep in their little huts, or seek refreshment in caverns, the most part of the day; these desarts have a great number of lions, tigers, and ostriches. The inhabitants are unpolished, savage, and very bold, for they will stand and meet the fiercest lion or tiger. They are divided into families or clans, each head of a family is sovereign in his own canton, and the eldest is always head; they follow the Mahometan religion, but are no strict observers of it. The country is a mere desart, as the name imports, and so parched for want of water, that the caravans from Morocco to Negroland are obliged to carry both water and provisions, the province producing hardly any thing for the support of life.