913 



TUNIS. 



TUNJA. 



914 



Africa, towards the end of the 7th century, when the conqueror Okbah, 

 or Akbah, with a view to secure the country for them, founded the 

 city of Cairoan, or Kairwan, as a place of refuge against the accidents 

 of war. It was here that the Arabians began to consolidate their 

 power in Africa, and they became so thoroughly intermixed with the 

 natives, that Christianity was extinguished, and the Africans have 

 remained a Moslem people to the present day. The Arabian viceroys, 

 at first under the name of Ameer, were in fact kalifa of Africa, and 

 established an independent government at Cairoan, which became the 

 c ipital of the country which now constitutes the regency of Tunis. 

 Here the Aglabita dynasty took its rise in the 9th century. The 

 Aglabites were succeeded by the Zeirides ; and these were in their 

 turn obliged to yield to the Almoravides, who established themselves 

 in Marocco, and soon extended their power over all the provinces of 

 Barbary, iucluding Tunis. But in 1206, Abu Ferez, who held the 

 delegated government of Tunis, assumed an independent authority, 

 and from him sprung the race denominated Lasais, who are consi- 

 dered the first kiutjs of Tunis, being the first who established a court 

 in the town of Tunis. Their dominion soon spread itself over Constan- 

 tino, Bona, and Tripoli ; and their vessels infested the Mediterranean, 

 and intercepted the succours sent to the Christians in the Holy Land. 

 Louis IX. of France undertook, in 1270, his cbivalric expedition 

 against this new power, which ended in his own denth, and the destruc- 

 tion of his troops by disease a-nong the ruins of Carthage. Muley- 

 Hassem was the last of these kings. He was deprived by stratagem 

 of hU throne in 1531, by the pirate Khairadeen, commonly called 

 Burbaroasa 1 1., who had been lately acknowledged as chief of Algiers 

 by the Turkish Sultan. Muley-Hamem was restored to his throne as 

 a tributary prince by Charles V. in 1535. But in 1574 the Sultan 

 Selim sent an expedition of 40,000 men from Constantinople, under 

 the command of Siuau Pasha; who made the country a dependency 

 of the Ottoman Porte. At first a Turkish Basha was appointed as 

 governor, aided by a divan, or council of military men, and by a body 

 of Janissaries ; but the rapacity of the latter disgusted the Moors, and 

 they obtained permission to elect a Dey from among themselves. 



It was in Tunis and its territory that Aroodge, the first Barbarona, 

 organised his maritime expeditions before he got possession of Algiers ; 

 and even after Algiers was established as the first piratical power, the 

 Algfrines moored and refitted their vessels in the ports and roadsteads 

 of Tunis. Her northern and eastern sea-fronts offered a convenient 

 refuge to the corsairs of all these states, whence they sallied forth in 

 every direction, plundering the ships of Christian nations, and mlring 

 slaves of their crews. This horrid warfare was at one time carried on 

 so successfully, that a Genoese renegade who commanded the galleys 

 of Biserta is taid to have reduced no lea than 20,000 person! to 

 slavery. The Tunisian corsairs continued their excursions at sea 

 until 1655, when Admiral ('.lake, with a powerful English sqnndron, 

 destroyed the castle* of Porto Farina and the Ouletta with his artillery, 

 and compelled the I!-y to promise that bis piratical subjects should 

 not commit further depredations on the English. France and Holland 

 soon followed the same course. These promises were afterwards often 

 renewed, but were never faithfully observed. At length, in 1816, in 

 consequence of an agreement between the European powers, Tunis 

 renounced for ever Christian slavery, under the threat of that punUh- 

 mriit which Lord Exmouth with a naval force inflicted upon Algiers. 



Of twenty-three Dcys who reigned at Tunis all were strangled or 

 otherwise assassinated, with the exception of five. Since the accession 

 of the present family in the person of Hassan ben Alt (the grandson 

 of a renegade Greek), who died in 1753, there have been few revolu- 

 tions in Tunis. His grandson Hammoodah, the fourth of his race, 

 came to the throne in 1782, and died in 1815. This prince was a man 

 of great talents, and his long reign is distinguished among those of the 

 Moorish dynasty by many acts directed to the public good. Hia 

 brother Othman reigned only three months, and was put to death. 

 Othman was succeeded by his cousin Mahmood, who died in 1825, 

 leaving the power in the hands of his son Hussain, who died in 1835. 

 Husmin was succeeded by his brother Mustapha, who was followed by 

 bis son Achmet, a man full of energy and intelligence, and an acute 

 !>olitician, who has done much for the advancement of his country. 



'I I'XIS, a large and flourishing city and port in north Africa, the 

 capital of the regency of Tunis, situated on the coast of the Mediter- 

 ranean, in 36 48' X. lat, 10* 11' K. long., in a beautiful and vast 

 plain, bounded at a distance of about 30 miles by an amphitheatre of 

 high mountains. It stands on the western side of a lagoon of an oval 

 shape, about 20 miles in circumference, which by a narrow outlet, 

 called the Goletta, defended by a castle, opens into the extensive Bay 

 and Gulf of Tunis. The city is encircled by a high wall with six 

 gates, around which is another wall encompassing the suburbs, having 

 eleven gate* or passes into the country, and measuring about five miles 

 in circumference. The town contains about 12,000 houses, and from 

 130,000 to 200,000 inhabitants, comprising Moors, Arabs, Turks, 

 negroes, probably 25,000 Jews, and about 8000 Christians. Although 

 each hqnse has its cistern of rain-water collected from the flat roofs, 

 the town is well supplied also with water from a neighbouring spring, 

 yed by an aqueduct, which was built when the country was 

 subject to the emperor Charles V. ; and no place enjoys by nature a 

 greater plenty of the necessaries of life. But the streets are narrow, 

 irregular, and filthy in the extreme, becoming after a few hours' rain 



0100. DIV. YOL. nr. 



a perfect marsh, and in summer still more intolerable from their dust, 

 rubbish, and vermin, and from the effluvia of the open drains. Conta- 

 gious diseases nevertheless are not prevalent. There are five principal 

 and many smaller mosques. The houses in general, according to 

 Moorish custom, are only one story high, with a court in the centre, 

 and usually without windows to the street. In the middle of the 

 city is an open space of no great extent, surrounded by shops for the 

 sale of manufactures. A mosque built in the reign of Hammooda 

 Bey, whose minister Yusuf brought columns and marbles from the 

 ruins in the interior, to decorate it, is the finest building in the city. 

 The Bey's palace is a modern building in the Saracenic style ; although 

 situated in a narrow street, it is a handsome edifice, with marble 

 courts and galleries. In different parts of the town are five extensive 

 barracks, built also by Hammooda Bey ; but the finest building is the 

 new barracks, erected by his successor Hussein, near the citadel. It 

 is a quadrangle of two stories, each comprising 134 rooms, and will 

 easily accommodate 4000 men. Tunis has a theatre, at which Italian 

 operas are sometimes acted. 



The chief manufactures of this city are linen and woollen cloths, 

 and embroidery, red woollen caps, famous all over western Asia for 

 colour, fineness, and strength. The bazaars and shops offer for sale 

 also essences of musk, rose, and jasmine, as well as spices, gold orna- 

 ments, precious stones, silver articles, marocco slippers, burnouses, 

 wearing apparel, horse accoutrements, shawls, silk kerchiefs inter- 

 woven with gold, embroidery of all kinds, straw mats, carpets, fire- 

 arms, daggers, and swords. Slaves from the interior of Africa are 

 brought to Tunis, but the practice of selling them openly in the 

 market-place is now discontinued, and they are no longer exported, 

 but individuals are still permitted to keep slaves. The Bey Achmet 

 emancipated all bis slaves in 1S41, and hU example has had great 

 influence throughout the regency, so that there ia a considerable 

 number of free blacks among the population. In the suburbs veget- 

 ables, fruit, butter, oil, meat, charcoal, wood, and skins are exposed 

 to salt*, as well as all sorts of cattle, horses, and poultry ; on all of 

 which duties are collected by officers of the bey. The town presents 

 considerable bustle. From sunrise to sunset, when the Moors retire 

 to rest, tha streets are filled with people, among whom are women 

 muffled up from head to foot to conceal their persons. A crier or 

 broker walks before each shop, calling out tho value of an article held 

 in his band, and inviting the passers-by to purchase it. Valuable 

 articles ore thus exposed in the most unreserved manner. 



Being more given to commerce, the government and people of 

 Tunis sre more civilised and more civil to foreigners than those of the 

 other towns of Barbary. They are very tolerant in matters of religion : 

 the Jews have their synagogues, the Greeks and Homan Catholics 

 have several places of worship, and the French government was 

 permitted in 1841 to erect a chapel among the ruins of Carthage, on 

 the spot where their king St. Louia died. The Maltose are the only 

 British subject! resident here; they are under the care of a few 

 Capuchin friars who have a convent in the city. At the principal 

 Moorish college the studies arc almost confined to theology and 

 jurisprudence; the operations requiring mathematical or philosophical 

 knowledge, as well as the profession of physic, being mostly iu the 

 hands of Europeans or Jews. The Jews manage the monetary affairs 

 of the government. There are a few minor schools for boys, at which 

 they arc taught reading and writing, and to repeat passages from the 

 Koran. The women, even of the upper classes, receive no education. 

 The old Turkish costume of the men has been laid aside for the 

 unbecoming blue jacket and European trowaers ; but the splendid 

 trappings of their hones are still preserved. 



Of the defences of Tunis little need be said. The gates in its 

 ruined walls are closed every night, and for two hours on every Friday 

 in the middle of the day, in consequence of a prophecy, that the 

 Christians will take possession of the city on that day of the week, 

 and in those hours. The citadel, called the Kasbah, ia of great 

 extent, but in a ruinous condition. The Bardo is a fortified palace of 

 the Bey, situated about 2 miles W. from the town. It is surrounded 

 by a high wall and a ditch, and is flanked with towers. Being the 

 usual residence of the court, it is fitted up with great luxury, and 

 even grandeur, and is said to contain upwards of 4000 inhabitants. 

 The lagoon, upon the banks of which the town is built, forma the 

 access from seaward to Tunis ; but as there ia not more than six or 

 seven feet of water within it, the town can only be closely approached 

 by boats. Even merchant-ships loading and unloading lie outside 

 the Goletta forts, Which guard the narrow entrance from the bay to 

 tho lagoon, and their cargoes are conveyed to and from the town iu 

 lighters. The Goletta castle is strongly fortified towards the sen, 

 and defends likewise the anchorage and the artificial harbour cut in 

 the isthmus which separates the lagoon from the bay, where there is 

 a dock and basin, in which the ships of war are built. 



Tho Gulf of Tunis comprehends a coast of 80 milea between Cape 

 Farina and Cape Bon, which are 39 miles asunder ; while the two 

 inner promontories, called Cape Carthage and Cape Zaphran, approach 

 each other within 12 miles, and form an inner bay, which is almost 

 circular, and has from 10 to 20 fathoms depth in the centre, gradually 

 decreasing towards the shore. The ground within this bay, which is 

 sometimes called the Bay of Carthage, holds well. 



TUNJA. [New GRANADA.] 



3 K 



