MISCELLANIES. 



6'33 



master of the fiiinily onls-. If 

 any of the Christian gentlemen 

 are obliged to go out on bu- 

 siness during this interval, be- 

 fore the houses are closed, a 

 guard walks before and one be- 

 hind, to prevent any j)erson ap- 

 proaching too near J and, on re- 

 turning, the guards are put into 

 qvtarantine for some days. With- 

 out these precautions, it would 

 be impossible to escape this dread- 

 ful disorder, the rage of which 

 increases every hour. 



May 28, 1783. 



It is impossilde to give you a 

 just description of this jiJace at 

 present ; the general horror that 

 pievails cannot be described, 

 lladgi Abderrahman sailed from 

 the harbour of Tripoli on the 

 20th of this month, as ambas- 

 sador tn Sweden and England. 

 From the state Tripoli is in, sink- 

 ing under plague and famine, the 

 departure of the ambassador from 

 liis handsome Greek, Amnani, and 

 her chikh'en was dreadful. He 

 made up his mind to see but fcAv 

 of them again, and with reason : 

 the dire infection had entered his 

 walls, nor was it to be imagined, 

 that even his own suite could em- 

 bark untainted with the same. 

 If he is so fortunate as not to fall 

 a victim to the plague before he 

 reache-i J.Ialta, he will j^erform 

 tliere a heavy quarantine of ninety 

 dajs at least. Tliey perceived be- 

 fore they (piitted the harbour, one 

 of his people, a .lew lirokcr, se- 

 vei'cly attiicked witii tlie jdague ; 

 and tliey put him on sliore before 

 they sailed. Abderrahman is so 

 much l)el!)ved, that the ])eople in 

 general paiticii)ate in his sufi'er- 

 ings, and tlie screams for the 

 calamity of his family, which be- 



gan before he «a'le;l from the 

 harbour of Tripoli, have conti- 

 nued to the present moment, and 

 are still augmenting from in- 

 creasing deaths. At this awful 

 period, the care of Lilla Amnani, 

 ids wife, and his favourite eldest 

 daughter, devolves on his bi'otlier 

 Hadgi Mahmute, who is dying in 

 torments unheard of, from the 

 singular instance of the plague 

 having at first seized him in his 

 mouth, producing violent tu- 

 mours, by \vhich he is now staiv- 

 ing : he is at times so raving that 

 many peojile are required to se- 

 cure him. Though none of his 

 family were ill when his brother 

 sailed for Europe, his wife and 

 children (one already buried), 

 with many more relations of Ab- 

 de;rahman's family, are dying 

 very fast. Lilla Amnani, Abder- 

 rahman's daughter, and his niece, 

 are all the ladies tliat remain of 

 his family. Of his shives and at- 

 tendants only an old black eunuch 

 lives, who is confined with the 

 plague for the third tioie. In the 

 short space that has elapsed since 

 the ami>assador left Tripcdi, only 

 eight days, nearly one hundred 

 persons have died belonging to 

 him ; and consequently, it is 

 thought, not one will remain of 

 his family to give him an account 

 of these sad times. 



The plague now depopulating 

 this place is said to be more se- 

 vere than has been known at 

 Constantinople for centuries past, 

 and is proved by calculation to 

 destroy twice the number of peo- 

 jile in proportion to those who 

 died of the same disorder lately 

 at Tunis, when five hundred a 

 day were carried out of that city. 

 To-day upwards of two hundred 

 have passed the town gate. The 



city 



