300 BENGAZl.

reconcile us to evils, which, to those not inured to them, would be intolerable. The “ fierce impatience” which formerly characterized the Jews of the Cyrenaica has disappeared with the probability of its being successfully exerted ; and poverty is now almost the only evil to which they will not quietly submit The trade of Bengazi is not, however, wholly confined to the Jews ; for, besides the Bey himself, who may be considered as the first merchant, there are several other very respectable Mahometan traders f ; the Bazaar, notwithstanding, presents little more than the articles in greatest request among the Bedouins ; amongst which may be seen bundles of rusty nails, horse-shoes, musket-balls, and large flints, which form the chief objects of their visits, and are exposed for sale, on boards, at the doors of a few of the most industrious Arab inhabitants of the town, and bargained for with as much seriousness and vehemence, as if they were the most costly goods. The produce of the interior consists chiefly in corn, wool, and manteca, with which the merchants freight the different foreign vessels which purposely touch at Bengazi. This is done in preference to employing the small vessels of the country ; first, because the foreign vessels are much better navigated, and secondly, because in sailing under European * “ This fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome continued, on the part of the Jews, from the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius.”— (Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 384.)

“ In Gyrene the Jews massacred two hundred and twenty thousand Greeks ; in Cyprus two hundred and forty thousand; in Egypt a very great multitude.” — (See Dion Cassius, as cited by Gibbon.)

t Among the most conspicuous of these was Hassan Larkoum, to whom we had brought a letter of recommendation from the ex-minister at Tripoly, Mahommed D’Ghies, and who treated us with the greatest civility and attention.