34 



buildings, in places where now the fishes swim at 

 their ease, and on which the small boats, of these 

 countries, row to get at the coast." 



It is pretty generally known and believed that the 

 whole gulf of Tripoli has been formed by the sinking 

 or disappearance of all that part or portion of the 

 coast of Africa comprehended between Tripoli, or 

 cape Bon near Tunis and cape Ras-Sern near 

 Bern a ; and that too, long since the records of time 

 have been substantially authenticated. " This opi- 

 nion is supported," says Mi Bey, *' by the great 

 banks of Kerkena wbich are considered as the re- 

 mains of a country submerged."* 



Mr. Shaw, in describing the ancient city of Sher- 

 shell and its port, says that the present inhabitants 

 " have a tradition of the whole city being destroyed 

 by an earthquake ; and that the port, formerly very 

 large and commodious, was reduced to the miserable 

 condition it is in at present, from the arsenal and other 

 adjacent buildings which were thrown into it by the 

 shock." "The Cothon" he observes, "that had a 

 communication with the western port, is the best proof 

 of this tradition ; for, when the sea is calm and low 

 (as it frequently happens after strong S. E. winds) we 

 then discover, all over the area, so many massy pillars 

 and pieces of great walls, that it cannot well be con- 

 ceived how they should come there without some such 

 violent concussion. "f 



* All Bey's Travels. t See Shaw's Travels, page 39. 



