Mr. W. T. H. Chambers's Month in Tripoli. 99 



Passing through the Bab-el-Bahr, or gate near the sea, the 

 traveller finds himself on the so-called " Pianora/' a sandy 

 expanse about a mile and a half long and half a mile in width, 

 whereon is held a weekly market attended by Arabs, who, from 

 a distance of even a hundred miles, bring the few native pro- 

 ductions to exchange for cheap European wares both useful and 

 ornamental. Crossing this plain, one enters a forest of date- 

 palms interspersed with gardens, which extend eastwards along 

 the sea-coast for about eight miles. It is but a narrow strip, 

 however ; for a ten minutes^ ride southwards brings one to the 

 borders of the desert which nearly surrounds Tripoli. Beyond 

 this desert, at a distance of twenty miles, is a fertile plain some 

 five-and-twenty miles in width, terminating at the foot of the 

 Ghrian hills, the continuation of the great Atlas range. These 

 hills, describing a semicircle round the plains and desert of 

 Tripoli, strike the sea about sixty miles to the eastward of the 

 town ; and, though regarded by the Arabs as high mountains, 

 they attain at most but an elevation of one thousand feet, ex- 

 panding into a vast undulating plateau, which becomes more 

 desolate and waterless as the traveller advances further south- 

 ward, till it joins the confines of the Great Sahara, at the dis- 

 tance of about twelve days' journey from Tripoli. With the 

 exception of occasional fertile spots, these hills are but thinly 

 cultivated by the Arabs, whose prosperity has sadly diminished 

 since the forced occupation of the country by the Turks. 

 Nothing could exceed the hospitality and kindness I experienced 

 at the hands of the Tripolitan Arabs, who hold Englishmen in 

 such high esteem that the fact of being one is the best passport 

 in the country. 



The evenings of the two days I spent in preparing for my jour- 

 ney I strolled to the Pianora, where I observed Cypselus apiis and 

 Hirundo rustica to be very plentiful, and sporting around the 

 ruins of the old castle. There is a tree growing in the court- 

 yard of the British Consulate which forms the winter roosting- 

 place of hundreds of Passer salicicola. Every branch and twig 

 of it is thickly covered with them ; and the noise they make is 

 perfectly deafening. Towards spring their numbers gradually 

 diminish, probably owing to the greater attractions the harvest- 



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