12 
JOURNEY FROM 
CHAPTER II. 
General description of Tripoly ; its Castle and Port — ^The Buildings of Tripoly commended by 
Leo Africanus — Present condition of the City — Its existing ancient remains — Burial-ground 
of the ancient City — Sepulchral urns of glass discovered there by Mr. Consul Warrington — 
Remarks of Leo Africanus on the soil and level of Tripoly, in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries — Accumulation of soil since that period — Advance of the sea, mentioned by Leo 
Africanus, still observable on the coast of Northern Africa — These appearances adduced in 
confirmation of Major Rennell’s remarks on the Lake Tritonis and the Lesser Syrtis — His- 
torical sketch of Tripoly — Its actual state and improved condition under the present Bashaw 
— Abolition of Piracy, and partial discontinuance of the Slave Trade. 
The town of Tripoly has been built on a foundation of rock, and 
is washed, to the northward, on two sides, by the sea ; while the 
remaining parts, those to the southward and westward, are bounded 
by a large sandy plain, which is notwithstanding partially culti- 
vated*. 
The form of the town is very irregular, but it is completely sur- 
rounded by high and thick walls, which appear to have been once 
very strong. They are now falling fast into ruin ; yet wherever any 
part of the old work is seen, through the mud and irregular frag- 
ments of stone, with which the ravages of time have been partially 
concealed, it appears to be sohd and good f . The walls are besides 
* Three sides of the town of Tripoly are said, in Tully’s Memoirs, to be washed by 
the sea, which is certainly not now the case. 
•)* The noted corsair Dragut is said to have been the author of this defence, and two 
forts which were situated near the sea are also attributed to this person. 
But 
