16 JOURNEY FROM

to the eastward of these, all of which make together a very good

shelter. In the deepest part, however, there is very little more than

five and six fathoms water.

At the extremity of a rocky projection to the northward, forming

part of the first-mentioned reef, are two batteries, called the New,

and Spanish, forts ; and to the westward of these, on an insulated

rock, is a circular one called the French fort. Besides these, there

are two others on the beach to the eastward, which, with the New

and Spanish forts, would prove of considerable annoyance to hostile

vessels entering the harbour. The forts are in better condition than

the walls and ramparts, which we have already stated to be very

much dilapidated, and the guns very little attended to.

The mosques and baths of Tripoly, with its coffee-houses, bazars,

^c., as well as the manners and customs, dresses, prejudices, and

other peculiarities, of the people who are in the habit of fre-

quenting them, have been so amply, and so well described in

other publications, that we need not here attempt any account of

them *.

We may, however, be allowed a few words on the peculiarities

of soil, at present observable in the neighbourhood of Tripoly, as con-

trasted with those which appear to have existed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

It has been observed by Leo Africanus, (who flourished during

* We allude principally to the works of Consul Tully and Captain Lyon, and to

Blaquiere’s Letters from the Mediterranean.