, TUN 13. 



franc*. luly, Trit*. and Malta. A* port* of loading those of Sfax 

 and Sosa are preferred to Tunis, in consequence of tho distance ant 

 delay of transporting merchandise in lighten acros* the lake to the 

 Onlelta. wher* ship* generally lie; the commerce of the country U 

 eocwqucntly bwt earned on in veuel* under 150 tons burden. The 

 trade with Central Africa paases through Oadami*. (TRIPOLI.] Th. 

 caravans arrive at Toser, Cabw, and Sfax about twice in the year, and 

 barter their merchandise, which i* thence introduced in various direc- 

 tion* into Tunis. Besides tho article* already mentioned they bring 

 black slave*, and thry take in return date*, woollen-cloths, muslins, 

 silk*, colonial produce, skull-caps, arms, and such like. 



IWM. The next city in rank and importance after Tunis is Cairoan 

 or A'ainran, which was the principal station of the first Arabian con 

 iiueror*. It wa* founded by the Arabs about A.D. 669. It is situated 

 about 70 mile* to the south of the capital, and about 24 miles weal 

 of Susa. The town is large and ha* good houses, and i* surrounded 

 by a crenelated wall with four gate*. The great mosque, which is 

 teemed the most sacred a* well a* the most magnificent in all 

 Barbary, is supported by many marble or granite pillars, said to 

 amount to 500 ; but no Christian has ever been allowed to see them. 

 Csiroan is the holy city of Africa, and strangers are obliged to pass 

 through it in deep silence. It* kald is almost independent of the Bey, 

 hi* will being absolute in his own district ; and he commands no less 

 than 30,000 Arabs, b sides governing the 50,000 inhabitants which the 

 town i* supposed to contain. The inhabitants are famed for the beauty 

 of their yellow mnrocco boot* and slippers. 



Kaff'u the third city in riches and strength, and is the key of Tunis 

 on the western frontier. Its walls are kept in good repair, and the 

 fortre** mounts 132 pieces of cannon. Standing in a fertile country, 

 on the declivity of a rocky range of mountains, the view from it is 

 very fine. The town is not populous, but the ka'id commands a district 

 containing 50,000 males. 



The towns and villages are more numerous, and the population is 

 greater in tho northern parts of the state. The Dakhul, besides being 

 an agricultural district, abound* in game ; is the seat of a large fishery ; 

 and na* several small riven running into the sea, which fertilise the 

 country. At Uaiaman Leaf the bey has a palace, and at JIamman 

 Gkartu are mineral baths famous for curing rheumatism and cutaneous 

 disorden. Beyond these i* Ixtwhartah, where there are extensive 

 marble-quarries, which are said to have furnished the materials for 

 the building of Carthage and Utica. Zowan, or Zagwan, a flourishing 

 town built u|x>n the skirt* of a very high mountain of the same name, 

 about 30 mile* S. from tho city of Tunis, supplied water to the city 

 of Carthage by an aqueduct 52 miles long, some parts of which are 

 still standing. The stream is now employed in dyeing the woollen- 

 scarlet cap* worn throughout Turkey and the Levant; and this 

 mountain, a* well a* that of Kaff, furnishes ice for the^Bey's use in 

 summer. The site of Carthage is unoccupied, and on that of Utica 

 there arc only a few miserable huts, known by the name of Booihatcr, 

 tanding almost in a marsh. The banks of the Mejerdah are covered 

 with the site* of ancient places. 



The lion, the panther, the ounce, the lynx, the wolf, and the wild 

 boar, are the principal ferocious animals that inhabit the western parts 

 uf Tunis ; for to the eastward of the meridian of Tabarca the forests 

 ccaae, and the country is less woody. Flies, noxious vermin, mosqui- 

 to**, gnat*, ants, and the scorpion arc the torment of Europeans in all 

 part* of the country. 



Jnkalntatt.1'\a Tunisians are a mixed race of Turks, Moors, and 

 Jew*, in the towns, interspersed with a few Christians and renegades ; 

 while the people of the country are Arabs and Kabyles of different 

 tribe*. The Moon of Northern Africa are a white race. Whether 

 from a mixture with the Spaniard* during their abode in Spain, or 

 with the Turk*, who were afterwards their masters, or from the blood 

 of renegade* and female slaves taken during three centuries of war- 

 far* with European nation*, they are in Tuui* a comely people, and 

 many of their women would be reckoned handsome in any part of 

 the world. Although the people of this country are more civilised 

 than those of the other nations of Barbary, it being the principal seat 

 of refuge to which the Moon fled who were driven out of Spain, some 

 of whose manufactures have thriven amongst them, yet they are very 

 ignorant : their most instructed men have only a knowledge of read- 

 ing the Koran, writing, and a little arithmetic. The language is a 

 dialect of Arabic, but the Lingua Franca, a bastard Italian, used in all 

 tb* trading place* of the Levant, is spoken in the port* The inhabit- 

 ant* are strict Mohammedans. The Arab inhabitants of Tunis 



cmblr the Beduin* of Arabia in the way of life ; but they are 

 rude and unkind to strangers. Any attempt to manage them by mild 

 means would b* vain. The idea of the Bey'* power is so rooted 

 among them by the annual excursion of his troops through the 

 country, that his finnan or mandate and the appearance of a few 

 soldiers never meet with a direct opposition. The Kabylea live in the 

 mountain*, in village, made of hurdle, and clay. Like the Arab*, 

 they are simple and abstemious, ub*i*Ung on bread, milk, and dates. 

 [Autuc.] A. to that part of the country situated on the frontien 

 of Algien, the Kabyle. and Arab* who live there acknowledge no 

 obedience to i either government; and when they have committed a 

 lm, they have only to pass from one country to the other to place 

 UMowtlret in safety. Tn use of arm* is universal : the traveller, 



TUNIS. 



BI2 



the shepherd, the labourer, the camel-driver, the rich and poor, are 

 all prepared with dagger, gun, or pistol, to repel attacks, and some- 

 time* to make them. Although their country lies within tw 

 sail of the continent of Europe, the people have made little or no 

 advance in civilisation for 1000 years. The total eradic.it 

 Christianity may in some degree account for this. The number of 

 churches which formerly existed in Barbary is almost incredible. In 

 the 'Notitia Episcopatuum Eccleiiic Africans',' are the names of 132 

 episcopal sees, in the proconsular province alone. Never however 

 was a religion and its symbol so completely eradicated from any 

 country as that of the cross from Barbary. Egypt in its Coptic popu- 

 lation, and Turkey in its Armenian, Greek, and Maronite subjects, 

 still preserve remnants of it, but Barbary has none. 



The number of inhabitants of the state of Tunis is supposed to 

 amount to about two millions and a half ; amongst whom there may 

 be 7000 Turks, about 9000 Christiana (principally Roman Catholics 

 and Greeks), and perhaps 100,000 Jews. In its former prosperity this 

 country must have contained double this number, if we may judjn 

 from tho numerous sites of towns of ancient times and of the middle 

 ages which are now uninhabited. 



Produce. AH sorts of grain, except oats, are grown, as well 1x9 

 maize, beans, garbanzos, lentils, the cicer, or chick-pea, and the like. 

 The sugar-cane is easily reared, but the people have not learned to 

 extract the sugar. Tobacco, coffee, and cotton flourish, and might bo 

 turned to profitable account, yet they are imported in large <mantitii>~. 

 Olive-oil is the great staple produce, and is of excellent quality. All 

 the vegetables of Europe are easily raised. The artichoke and the 

 gourd, or calabash, are the common food of the people; and the 

 coriander and tomata are grown in great quantities, and serve as a 

 necessary relish in Moorish cookery. Among fruits the first is tho 

 produce of the palm- or date-tree. The date is the principal food of 

 the Arabs of the Sahara and the Atlas. Most European fruits, as well 

 as those of warm climates, such as the orange, the lemon, the pome- 

 granate, the jujube, the prickly-pear, the fig, the melon, and tho 

 grape, are common. The oleander and the geranium, roses, bulbs of 

 various sorts, pinks, and a number of aromatic herbs and rare plants, 

 which render the Tunisians renowned for distilled waters and honey, 

 grow luxuriantly. Game is plentiful, as well as all sorts of poultry. 

 Wool is produced in great quantities. The breed of horse*, formerly 

 so celebrated, is now entirely neglected. An extensive tunny fishery 

 is carried on by Sicilians off Capes Farina, Monastir, and Bon. Tho 

 Genoese, Neapolitans, and sometimes the French, fish for coral on the 

 northern coast near Tabarca. It is asserted that the mountains near 

 the capital contain ores of silver, copper, and lead. 



Antiquities. There are no vestiges of antiquity in the capital, 

 although ancient columns and capitals may be found in some of iU 

 buildings. The ancient sites on the banks of the Mrjerdah abound 

 in ruins, particularly at Dukhah (the ancient Tkugga), consisting of 

 temples, au arch, a number of cisterns, baths, barracks, gates, theatres, 

 an aqueduct, and many inscriptions. At Aytdrah is a handsome 

 triumphal arch dedicated to the emperor Septimius Severus, and 

 columns of various beautiful marbles. The walls of the town retain 

 their original height in some places, and have three gates ; yet anti- 

 quaries have not been able to assign to the place its ancient name. At 

 Kaf (Sicca), which, like Ayedrah, is on the western frontier, is still 

 to be seen a paved street like those of Pompeii, and here likewise 

 capitals, columns, and friezes are numerous. But the most stupen- 

 dous monument of ancient times is on the site of Tysdnts, now called 

 Kl-Jtm, a village situated midway between Susa and Sfax, and about 

 20 miles from the eastern coast. Here rises in its pristine majesty an 

 amphitheatre, which is one of the most perfect, vast, and beautiful 

 remains of former times that is known to exist. Its extreme length 

 measures 429 feet and its breadth 368 feet. Of the fourth or upper- 

 most story little remains, and one of the entrances was destroyed about 

 100 years ago : but with these exceptions it is in a complete state of 

 ^reservation, with its seats, arenas, and vomitories, and retains almost 

 ;he freshness of a modern erection. Sufctula, now called Sbeitla, 

 about 120 miles S. from Tunis, is the most remarkable place in Barbary 

 Tor the extent no less than the magnificence of its ruins. It stands 

 n a large plain totally abandoned by man. The principal ruins con- 

 sist of three contiguous temples, whose ornaments are very rich and 

 of excellent execution, two triumphal arches, another temple, and an 

 aqueduct which spans the clear stream on which the town stood. 

 h'azarccn (the ancient Colonia Scillitana), distant only a few leagues 

 'rom Sbeitla, has also the remains of an arch and other ruins of 

 minor interest. The great aqueduct which conveyed the water from 

 he mountain of Zagwan to Carthage, 52 miles in length, may yet be 

 traced by masses of stone and cement, which lie, like the vertebra: of 

 a huge winding serpent, along the whole of this distance ; and in its 

 (reserved portions it is still a mighty construction, rising in some 

 >Iaccs to 98 feet. [CARTHAGE.] 



Uittory. Tho town of Tunis, once known by the name of Tunes or 

 Tuueta, is of great antiquity. But whether it was founded by a Plmtni- 

 iian colony or by the native Africans seems to be an undecided point. 

 t was taken and retaken several times during the Punic wars. In 

 D. 439 it fell into the hands of tho Vandals; but in 533 was rescued 

 'rom them by Belisarius. It continued to be subject to the Greek I 

 imperors until the irresistible arms of the kalifs overran Northern I 



