12 JOURNEY FROM

CHAPTER II.

General description of Tripoly ; its Castle and Port — ^The Buildings of Tripoly commended by

Leo Africanus — Present condition of the City — Its existing ancient remains — Burial-ground

of the ancient City — Sepulchral urns of glass discovered there by Mr. Consul Warrington — Remarks of Leo Africanus on the soil and level of Tripoly, in the fifteenth and sixteenth

centuries — Accumulation of soil since that period — Advance of the sea, mentioned by Leo

Africanus, still observable on the coast of Northern Africa — These appearances adduced in

confirmation of Major Rennell’s remarks on the Lake Tritonis and the Lesser Syrtis — His-

torical sketch of Tripoly — Its actual state and improved condition under the present Bashaw

— Abolition of Piracy, and partial discontinuance of the Slave Trade.

The town of Tripoly has been built on a foundation of rock, and

is washed, to the northward, on two sides, by the sea ; while the

remaining parts, those to the southward and westward, are bounded

by a large sandy plain, which is notwithstanding partially culti-

vated*.

The form of the town is very irregular, but it is completely sur-

rounded by high and thick walls, which appear to have been once

very strong. They are now falling fast into ruin ; yet wherever any

part of the old work is seen, through the mud and irregular frag-

ments of stone, with which the ravages of time have been partially

concealed, it appears to be sohd and good f . The walls are besides

* Three sides of the town of Tripoly are said, in Tully’s Memoirs, to be washed by the sea, which is certainly not now the case.

•)* The noted corsair Dragut is said to have been the author of this defence, and two forts which were situated near the sea are also attributed to this person. But