TUNIS TUNNY. 



695 



base ; provided with from six to nine osculi, disposed in a circle 

 Ht the apex. 



Synoicum (urgent, The Swollen 

 Synoicum. Furnished with nu- 

 merous, simple, cylindrical, fleshy 

 projections, and osruli disposed in 

 a circular form at the apex. In- 

 habits the coasts of Spitsbergen. 



Euccelium. Animals biferous, aggregated, living in a com- 

 mon mass, extended in the form of a spungy or sub-gelatinous 

 crust, with scattered mammill'E at the surface ; having only 

 one apparent opening externally ; the gemmiferous sac single 

 and lateral. 



The common crust of this genus is of a whitish ljue, spread 

 over marine bodies, and covered with small papula?, either 

 crowded or in quincunx order. Their summit is perforated by 

 an opening, the margin of which is divided into six rays, which 

 are sometimes hardly perceptible. The body of the animal is 

 divided into two unequal inflations, forming two distinct cavi- 

 ties ; the gemmiferous sac is lateral. 



Aplidium. Animals biferous, aggregated, very small, living 

 in a common convex fleshy body, adherent, and without exhi- 

 biting particular systems ; mouth furnished with six tentacula ; 

 with "no apparent external anal opening. 



TUNIS; one of the Barbary states in Africa, 

 bounded north by the Mediterranean, east by the 

 Mediterranean and Tripoli, south by Tripoli and 

 the deserts, and west by Algiers. It consists 

 chiefly of a large peninsula, stretching into the 

 Mediterranean in a north-east direction, and coming 

 within a hundred miles of the coast of Sicily. It 

 has an extent of about 500 miles of coast on the 

 Mediterranean ; and the cultivated part reaches 200 

 or 250 miles into the interior, till it terminates with 

 the chain of Atlas and desert plains. Square miles, 

 about 72,000; population variously estimated from 

 one to two millions, of which about 100,000 are 

 Jews. (See Barbary States.') Tunis is watered 

 by the river Mejerdah, or Bagrada, on the banks of 

 which are many towns arid large villages. Its 

 banks, and the country to the eastward, are fertile, 

 of great natural beauty, and are the best cultivated 

 parts of the country. The western part is more 

 thinly inhabited, and, in many places, is almost a 

 desert. The mountains of Tunis contain mines of 

 silver, copper, lead and quicksilver, but they are 

 not wrought. The situation of the country is very 

 favourable for commerce, and the amount is consi- 

 derable. The exports consist of grain, the princi- 

 pal article, next olive oil, wool, soap, sponge and 

 orchilla weed ; also, gold dust, ivory, and ostrich 

 feathers, brought by caravans from Timbuctoo. 

 The imports are European manufactures, colonial 

 produce, and East India cottons. Tunis, the capi- 

 tal, has a population estimated at from 100,000 to 

 150,000, of which about 30,000 are Jews. It is 

 300 miles east of Algiers. It is situated at the 

 bottom of a large bay, about ten miles south-west 

 of the site of ancient Carthage, on a plain, sur- 

 rounded on all sides, except the east, by consider- 

 able heights, encircled by lakes and marshes. It is 

 built in a most irregular manner, and the streets 

 are extremely narrow and filthy. The principal 

 structure is the palace of the bey. There ia one 

 great mosque, and a number of smaller ones, with 

 several colleges and schools ; and near the centre is 

 a piazza of vast extent, said to have formerly con- 

 tained 3000 shops for the sale of woolen and linen 

 manufactures. The houses belonging to European 

 consuls are all insulated habitations, resembling 



jnsons. The Moorish houses are of only one story, 

 with flat roofs, and cisterns for the purpose of col- 

 ecting rain water. The city is well supplied with 

 water, by an aqueduct. Large sums have been ex- 

 pended in the construction of forts, and in sur- 

 rounding the city with a high wall ; yet it is by no 

 means a strong place. The citadel, called El Gassa, 

 .s much out of repair. Six miles to the west is the 

 Goletta, the harbour and citadel of Tunis, and the 

 naval and commercial depot of the state. It is 

 strongly fortified. A basin has been formed suffi- 

 cient to receive all the vessels of war and merchant 

 ships belonging to Tunis. A lake extends from 

 the city to the Goletta. Tunis has a more exten- 

 sive commerce than any other town in Barbary. 

 After Tunis, Cairwan is the chief commercial place : 

 it contains a large mosque, considered the most holy 

 in northern Africa. At Bersach (perhaps Byrsa, 

 the ancient citadel of Carthage) are seen the ruins 

 of a Carthaginian aqueduct. After the destruction 

 of Carthage, the Romans built a new city, near the 

 site of the modern Tunis : it was peopled with 

 Roman colonists, and soon became one of the most 

 important cities of the ancient world. This being 

 destroyed by the Saracens, Tunis, before an insig- 

 nificant place, rose to importance. The Normans 

 of Sicily afterwards possessed themselves of the 

 city, but they were driven out of the country by 

 Abdalmamum of Morocco. In 1530, the state 

 was disturbed by domestic troubles, of which 

 Charles V. availed himself to undertake his cele- 

 brated expedition to Africa. He defeated the 

 Turks, who had made themselves masters of Tunis 

 under Hayradin Barbarossa, and forced his way 

 into the city. (See Barbarossa, Charles V., and 

 Barbary States.} In 1574, the Algerine Turks 

 obtained possession of Tunis, and established a 

 Turkish regency and a military constitution. An 

 aga presided over the divan, or principal council, 

 and a pacha exercised the supreme power in the 

 name of the grand seignior. A military revolution 

 soon after occurred, which placed the chief power 

 in tne hands of a dey. At present, the head of 

 the government is styled bey; the present bey, 

 Sidi Hassan, succeeded Hamonda Bey in 1824. 

 The bey of Tunis acknowledges the sovereignty 

 of the grand seignior, by the. annual payment of 

 tribute under the name of a present ; but the lat- 

 ter has no authority in the government. The re- 

 venue is estimated at about 900,000: the land 

 force amounts to 15,400 men, and the navy con- 

 sists of about twenty corsair ships. In case ot 

 emergency, the bey can raise 50,000 irregular Be- 

 douins. See Ottoman Empire, and Turkey. 



TUNKERS, AND TUNKERSTOWN. See 

 Ephrata. 



TUNNY ; a fish belonging to the family of the 

 mackerel, or the genus scomber of Linnaeus. It 

 attains large dimensions, weighing a hundred 

 pounds, and often considerably more. The body 

 is covered with small scales; is thick, rounded, 

 spindle-shaped, and has a prominent carina, or keel, 

 on each side of the tail. The colours are brilliant, 

 but not much varied : the back resembles polished 

 steel ; the under parts are silvery ; all the fins are 

 yellow except the first dorsal. These fish live in 

 shoals, in almost all the seas of the warmer and 

 temperate parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Ameri- 

 ca, but are not equally common in every season or 

 in all parts of the seas which they frequent. Im- 

 mense numbers enter the Mediterranean by the 

 straits of Gibraltar, and immediately divide, one 



