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In I loi, this town was taken by the Chriftians, and held by 

 Bertrand, fon of Raymond, count of Touloufe, as a county, 

 in which fituation it remained till the year 1288, when it 

 was taken by Melee Meffor, fultan of Egypt, who ordered 

 it to be razed to its foundation ; 75 miles N.N.W. of 

 Damafcus. N. lat. 34° 28'. E. long. 35° 36'. Vobiey's 

 Travels in Egypt, &c. vol. ii. 



Tripoli, in Mineralogy, a mineral originally brought 

 from Tripoli for the polifhing of ftones and metals, whence 

 it derives its name. It has a dull argillaceous appearance, 

 but is not corapaft ; it has a fine but hard grain, and does 

 not foften by water, or mix with it. The colours are grey, 

 inclining to red or yellow. From analyfis, it proves to be 

 principally compofed of filex. Tripoli appears to be of 

 two formations ; the one by fire, which has hardened Dates 

 or fand-ftones, and converted them into this fubftance ; the 

 other bywater, decompofing beds containing filex, clay, and 

 iron. The tripoli from Derbylhire, called rotten-ftone, 

 may be referred to the latter formation ; it occurs in the 

 upper part of the great fhale ftratum which covers the 

 mountain lime-ftone of that diftrift : it is dug near the 

 furface, and is fold for 60s. per ton. Farey's Derbylhire, 

 vol. i. p. 231. 



The tripoli of Poligne, near Rennes, in Brittany, is fufible. 

 It is of a red colour of different fhades. Trunks of trees 

 are found changed into tripoli in the middle of the beds, 

 which are covered by beds of fand-ftone in an inclined 

 pofition. 



The tripoli of Venice is the moft efteemed ; it comes from 

 the ifland of Corfu. It is fchiftofe, and has a yellowifh-red 

 colour. SaufTure has remarked in this tripoli, and in the 

 preceding, a multitude of fmall cylindrical pores. 



Tripoli is found at Menal, near Riom, in the department 

 of Puy-de-Dome. It occurs in beds which appear to have 

 been formerly fchifts changed by the action of volcanic fire. 

 This fubftance is found in the quarries of chalcedony of 

 Volterra in Tufcany, and is faid to be fo fituated as to ap- 

 pear evidently the refult of the decompofition of the chal- 

 cedony. It occurs in coal llrata at Poflchappel, in Saxony. 

 The tripoli from Billin, in Bohemia, occurs in thin beds, 

 which pafs infenfibly into pitch-ilone. Acids produce no 

 effervefcence with it, nor is it melted by the r )ft violent 

 heat, though it is fomewhat hardened. 



In faft, we fometimes find tripoli in volcanic mountains, 

 or in ftrata which contain beds of coal in a ftate of com- 

 buition ; and fometimes in beds foimed evidently by depo- 

 fition from water. It fhould appear that certain llrata, com- 

 pofed principally of filex in a ftate of extremely minute 

 divifion, and combined with iron and clay, are decompofed 

 by the agency of water, and the latter materials being in 

 a great part removed, the filex is left porous and friable, 

 and coloured by iron : it then forms tripoli ; and beds of 

 this mineral may have been fo formed, and afterwards 

 covered by ftreams of lava, where they occur in volcanic 

 mountains. Where filex is intermixed with a portion of 

 alumine and iron, as in fchifts, the alumine by expofure to a 

 great heat may be hardened and contract, and leave the 

 ftone in a porous or friable ftate. The fpecific gravity of 

 tripoli is ftated by Bucholz at 2.202, and its conftituent 

 parts 



The fulphuric acid and water are confidered as accidental. 



T R I 



For the method of imitating gems by means of tripoli, 

 fee Gems. 



TRIPOLIS, in Ancient Geography, a country of the 

 Peloponnefus, in Arcadia, fo called on account of its three 

 towns, according to Paufanias. — Alfo, a town of Phoenicia, 

 fituated about half a league from the fea, and 18 miles from 

 Orthofia. Diodorus and Strabo derive its name from thre* 

 towns of which it originally confifted, about a ftadium from 

 one another. 



Alexander the Great fubdued this city, which, after his 

 death, pafied to Ptolemy Soter, whofe fucceflfors retained 

 pofleftion of it till the reign of Antiochus the Great, king 

 of Syria, who made himfelf mafter of this town and the 

 whole of Phoenicia, towards the year 219 B. C. After its 

 fubjugation by Pompey, it paflt;d under the dominion of 

 the Romans, but was allowed the privilege of being a free 

 city, and of being governed by its own laws. Under the 

 empire of Vefpafian, Tripoli affumed the epithet of Flavian. 

 The territory of Tripoli was watered by many rivers and 

 ftreams, which deicended from Libanus. About two 

 leagues E. of Tripoli was a tomb formed in a rock, which 

 the Syrian Chriftians held to be the fepulchre of Canaan, the 

 father of the Phoenicians. 



Tripolis, a town or country of the Peloponnefus, in 

 Arcadia, which afforded an ample fupply both of men and 

 cattle, according to Paufanias. — Alfo, a country of Thef- 

 faly, in which were the towns of Pythium, Azorum, and 



Dolicha, according to Livy Alfo, a town of Afia, on the 



Meander, and capital of Caria. — Alfo, a town of Afia, on 

 the banks of the Euxine fea, W. of Trebifond. 



TRIPOLITANA Regio, or Tripoli, a country of 

 Africa, bounded N. by the Mediterranean fea, E. by the 

 river Cinyps or Cinyphus ; fituated in the midft of Libya 

 Interior, and W. of the river Triton. Procopius fays, 

 that Sergins was appointed governor of this province by 

 Juftinian, at whofe inftigation the inhabitants embraced the 

 Chriftian rehgion. They were called the " allies of the 

 Romans," becaufe they faithfully maintained peace with 

 them. Some have confounded PentapoHs with Tripolis. 

 See Tripoli, in Geography. 



TRIPOLIZZA, in Geography, a town of European 

 Turkey, in the Morea, the capital of a pacha, having about 

 12,000 inhabitants. In 1770, this town was befieged by the 

 Ruffians and revolted Greeks, but a numerous detachment 

 of Albanian cavalry coming up, the Greeks fled and left 

 the Ruffians to the conteft alone, of whom hardly one 

 efcaped. The Albanians afterwards, under a pretence that 

 the inhabitants had held a correfpondence with the enemy, 

 put three thoufand of them to the fword in lefs than two 

 hours, and then plundered and fet fire to the town ; 18 mile? 

 W. of Napoli di Romania. 



TRIPONTIO, or Triponzo, a town of the Popedom, 

 in the duchy of Spoleto, on the Nera ; 12 miles N.W. of 

 Norcia. 



TRIPONTIUM, in Ancient Geography, a place of Italy, 

 in Latium, on the Appian way ; which appears by the mili- 

 tary column to be at the 39th mile : it was repaired by the 

 emperor Trajan. The Goths conftrufted a tower in this 

 place. 



Tripontium, a town of Great Britain, in the fixih 

 Iter of Antonine, fuppofed to be Rugby. Drs. Gale 

 and Stukeley place it at Dowbridge, and the lail of 

 thefe authors derives its name from tre, a town, and pont, 

 a little valley, in which Dowbridge is fituated. Camden 

 and Baxter fix Tripontium at Towcefter, and Camden 

 derives its name from the Britifti words Tair-ponti, fignifying 

 I three 



