Part 61

From the Piazza (Pl. B, 2; Arabic Mussâiya) near the church the Strada del Consolato Italiano leads to the S. to the Sûk el-Harrâra (Pl. B, A, 2, 3), the chief thoroughfare between the Marina (p. 408) and the W. gate, _Bâb el-Jedîd_ (Pl. A, 3; ‘new gate’), opened in 1860. This sûk contains the shops of the cloth and silk weavers and several curious antiquated _Bakeries_, with millstones turned by camels.

A road from the W. gate leads to the W., past several wells (p. 410), to the (8 min.) extensive _Jewish Cemetery_; another, to the N., to the ancient _Necropolis_ (Pl. A, 2), on the abrupt coast (82 ft.), not far from the town-wall, containing many rock-tombs and cisterns.—The _Greek_ and the _Catholic Cemeteries_ (Pl. A, B, 1) lie between the Lazaretto and the lighthouse.

The busiest streets in the S.E. quarter are the Zanga Sûk et-Turk (Pl. B, 2, 3) and, diverging from it at the Piazza dell’Orologio, the Sûk el-Khadra or Sûk Urba (Pl. B, C, 3). The tasteless three-storied _Torre dell’ Orologio_, Arabic _Sâa_ (Pl. B, 3), which tells Turkish time, was built in 1870. In front of the Arab cafés here auctions are held on Friday forenoons.

The SÛKS (p. 335) consist here in part only of vaulted passages; many have wooden roofs with vine-trellises. The wares are mostly Tunisian or European, and therefore seldom worth buying here. A side-entrance adjoins the _Jâma el-Bâsha_ (Pl. C, 3), the chief mosque.

The massive pile of buildings by the sea, a few paces to the E. of the clock-tower, is the _Serai_ (Pl. C, 2, 3; Arabic Kasba), originally the Spanish citadel. It now contains barracks, many courts, several prisons (habbês), partly underground, and the government offices. The terrace next the sea affords a fine view of the harbour and towards the oasis.

Outside the S. gates, Bâb el-Khandek and Bâb el-Menshia or el-Mnshîa (Pl. C, 3; oasis gate), rises the _Fontana Maggiore_, an elegant well-house in the Turkish rococo style. Near it is the _Circolo Militare_ (Pl. C, 3; p. 406), a fashionable resort, especially when the military band plays (Sun. and Frid., 5 or 8 p.m.). The pretty little garden, whence we survey the Moslem cemetery (p. 411), contains four fine antique statues in marble, all of them torsos from Leptis Magna (p. 412).

Outside the S. gates lies the featureless NEW TOWN (_Città Nuova_), in which among other buildings are situated the _Town Hall_ (Beledîa; Pl. C, 3), the _Azizia_ (Pl. C, D, 3, 4), erected under Abdul Aziz as a residence for the commandant, the new _Vali’s Residence_ (Pl. C, 4), and the _Technical School_ (Pl. D, 4). The _Sûk el-Khobsa_ or bread-market (Pl. C, 3), with its fondouks (inns), is worth seeing in the early morning.

The sandy beach, nearly ¾ M. long, is the scene, early on Tuesday mornings, of a great *WEEKLY MARKET (_Sûk et-Tlett_; Pl. D, E, 3, 4), attended also by camel caravans from the interior. Among the many products of the country offered for sale here are fruit and cereals from the oases (see below), olive-oil (Arabic zeit), henna (see below), alfa or esparto, reed-mats, pottery, leather goods (such as the girbas, water-skins in goat-leather for journeys in the desert, made at Ghadâmes). It is a market also for pack-camels (Arabic jemél), donkeys (hmâr), sheep, and goats.

Beyond the market are a barracks quarter (_Kishla_) and the suburb of _Dahra_, inhabited by Turks, Arabs, and Maltese, with a strange-looking mosque and a Catholic nunnery-orphanage. A little to the S., on the road to Másri (p. 411), is a _Negro Village_ with conical reed-huts.—To the E. of the market, close to the sea, lies the _Giardino Pubblico_ (Pl. E, 3, 4; bands on Frid. and Sun.).

The =Menshia= or _Mnshîa_ (pop. about 14,000, mostly Berbers), the coast-oasis of Tripoli, once far more extensive, stretches 7½ M., with a breadth of 1–2½ M., as far as the dunes bordering the _Jefâra Steppe_. In spring it is one sea of blossom. To the S. of the steppe rise the limestone hills fringing the _Sahara_ (Shára, desert), commonly called the _Jebél_ (mountain; 1300–1650 ft. high). The deep ravines, filled with considerable streams during the winter rains (14 in. per annum at Tripoli, but considerably more in the Jebél), continue to send down a supply of water underground even during the dry season. This water is obtained from countless draw-wells (sânia), bordered with white walls, and generally shaded by tamarisks (Arabic âtel). Day and night oxen or donkeys toil at the drawing of the water, which is then collected in reservoirs and conducted thence to the fields.

In spite of this imperfect mode of irrigation and the primitive wooden agricultural implements used by the natives the excellent soil is wonderfully productive. Beneath the fruit-trees of every variety, olive-trees, mulberry-trees, and alcanna-shrubs (henna, Lawsonia inermis; p. 108), which thrive under the tall overshadowing date-palms, the soil still gives sustenance to barley (Arabic shaîr), wheat (gammah), maize, lupins, tobacco (dokhàn), madder, rose-geraniums, red pepper (filfil ahmar), onions, tomatoes, spinach, beans, melons, etc. The excellent early potatoes are sent to Europe under the name of ‘Malta potatoes’. The fields and gardens are enclosed by mud-walls 3–7 ft. high, overgrown with Indian figs (prickly pears; Opuntia Ficus indica; Arabic ‘hind’), which prevents them from collapsing in wet weather. It is harvest all the year round. From April to June almonds, apricots, and corn are gathered in, then in July and August peaches (khûkh), from July to September figs and luscious grapes, from October to December dates and olives, from November to April excellent oranges, and at almost any season lemons. In autumn the nomadic Arabs of the steppe pitch their dark goats’-hair tents (beit shâar, house of hair) in the vacant fields in order to gather the fresh yellow dates. The dates of the coast are, however, inferior in flavour to those of the Sahara oases and unsuitable for exportation.

The following EXCURSION takes about 2 hrs. (best to drive or ride; see p. 406). From the Sûk el-Khobsa (p. 410) the road leads to the S.W., cutting through a Moslem cemetery destroyed by an inundation in 1904, to (1¼ M.) _Bumeliâna_, where a pumping-station supplies several public fountains in the town. It then runs to the E. to (1 M.) _Másri_, with its large artillery and cavalry barracks, where the dunes command a fine view of the steppe, visible in clear weather as far as the distant Jebél. Turning to the S.E., and passing the mud-built fort, _Gasr el-Hâni_, we come to (2½ M.) the road leading to the N. to the (¾ M.) official house of the Sheikh of the Menshia (_Hôsh esh-Skiûkh_; fine view towards the sea from the balcony). About 1¼ M. to the N.E. are the _Sûk el-Jêma_ (Friday market) and the extremely dirty village of _Amrûs_, inhabited by about 600 Jews, mostly smiths. Thence back to Tripoli 3 M.

On the _Sherrashhet_, the road leading from Dahra (p. 410) near the coast, are several country-houses and (about 2 M.) the largest _Mohammedan Cemetery_, containing two dilapidated domed tombs (of the Karamanli dynasty, p. 408), visible from Tripoli. Near it, close to the sea, is the _Protestant Cemetery_, where we have a charming view of Tripoli. About 7½ M. farther, on the caravan-route to Lebida (p. 412), are the village of _Mélaha_ and the oasis of _Tajûra_, with its colonnaded mosque.

The W. end of the Menshia is 1½ M. from the town. We may thence cross the undulating steppe, past several mud-built forts, to the small oasis of (4½ M.) _Gergârish_, with its old sandstone quarries and ruined watch-tower (Gasr Jehalî, tower of the ignorant), originally Roman.

* * * * *

From Tripoli the steamer proceeds to the N.N.E. to =Malta= (p. 399). Off the abrupt S. coast of the island, with its numerous caves, lies the uninhabited rocky islet of _Filfola_, which forms a target for the artillery practice of the British Mediterranean fleet (p. 399). Farther on we obtain a striking view of the barren E. coast, with the bay of _Marsa Scirocco_, bounded by _Benhisa Point_ and _Delimara Point_. On a height rises the old _Fort St. Lucian_.

Beyond _St. Thomas’s Bay_, with the old castle of _St. Thomas_ and the bay of _Marsa Scala_, the steamer rounds the _Ponta tal Zonkor_, the N.E. point of the island, and soon reaches the entrance to the _Grand Harbour_ of _Valletta_ (comp. p. 399).

The VOYAGE TO SYRACUSE is performed at night. We steer to the N.N.E. towards _Cape Passero_ (the ancient _Promontorium Pachynum_), the fissured headland at the S.E. point of _Sicily_, with its lighthouse and two small harbours (_Porto d’Ulisse_ and _Porto Palo_).

Next, on the E. coast of Sicily, stands forth the _Penisola della Maddalena_ (177 ft.), once a coast-island but now joined to the main island by the deposits of the _Ciani_ and _Anapo_. It ends in the _Capo Murro di Porco_, with a lighthouse on the top.

Entrance to the harbour of _Syracuse_, see p. 162.

65. From Tripoli to Alexandria viâ Benghazi and Derna.

STEAMBOATS (agents at Tripoli, see p. 406; at Alexandria, see p. 432). =1.= _German Levant Line_ (cargo-boats), three times monthly (80 marks).—=2.= Steamers of the _Banco di Roma_ (p. 406) fortnightly viâ Malta, Benghazi, Derna, and Solum.—Between Tripoli, Lebida (occasionally), Mesurata, Benghazi, and Derna there plies a fortnightly steamer of the Società Nazionale (comp. R. 66).

_Tripoli_, see p. 406. Skirting the flat, sandy coast, with its numerous oases, including that of _Tajûra_ (p. 411), we pass the small _Râs Sotara_, _Râs el-Hamra_ (‘red cape’), and _Râs Ligata_.

In the fertile undulating plain to the E. of the small port of _Ligata_ (lighthouse; sailing-boat from Tripoli in about 7 hrs. if the wind is favourable) lies _Lebida_, _Lebda_, or _Khoms_ (pop. 3500; Brit. vice-cons.), in its oasis, a poor little seaport (for alfa) with open roads, relics of old fortifications, and an Italian school.

About 2 M. to the S.E. of Lebida lies the site of =Leptis Magna=, which fell into decay after the first irruption of the Arabs. In ancient times it was one of the richest trading towns in N. Africa. It was the starting-point of the coast-road to Carthage (see p. 407) and also of the Limes Tripolitanus, the Roman frontier-wall, which down to the conquest of the Garamantes (p. 407) and the Gætuli in the 2nd and 3rd cent. A.D. protected the province of Africa against the Sahara tribes. The ancient harbour, with its massive quays, at the mouth of the _Kinyps_, which was a copious stream in the Roman age (now a scanty brook, the _Oued Lebda_), is completely choked with sand. The once famous oasis and the grand ruins of the time of Septimius Severus (p. 407) also, except the triumphal arch (comp. pp. 315, 316), are almost entirely buried in sand.

On the rocky coast, which here endangers navigation, we next pass the _Râs et-Tabia_, adjoined by the little port of _Marsa Ugra_, and then, situated in the oasis near the _Râs es-Sahal_, _Slîten_ or _Zelythen_ (pop. 7000), a seaport for alfa. Beyond the _Râs el-Ihûdi_ we sight _Cape Mesurata_, the ancient _Promontorium Trikeron_ (‘triple horn’) or _Cephalus_, a striking landmark.

The small port of =Mesurata= or _Misrâta_ (pop. 3000), in its little oasis of palms, fruit, and olives, is noted for its carpets and woven stuffs.

Leaving the coast we now steer to the E. across the _Syrtis Major_, or _Gulf of Sidra_, the largest on the N. African seaboard.

The town of =Benghazi= or _Bengâsi_ (Albergo Maffei, near the harbour, Italian; Brit. consul, J. F. Jones; pop. 20,000, incl. 1200 Europeans, mostly Maltese and Greeks, and 2500 Jews; garrison 3000) is the capital of the Turkish province (mutessariflik) of _Benghazi_ or _Barca_, which was separated from Tripolitania in 1869. Its dazzling white houses extend beyond the isthmus of the _Sebkha_ or salt-lake (with its large evaporating grounds) and over the broad corn-growing coast-plain bordering the plateau of Merj (p. 414). The large _Gasar_ or castle, now the seat of the governor (mutessarif), with barracks, together with the lighthouse and a windmill, form the chief landmarks as we make for the harbour.

The harbour, much silted up and very imperfectly protected by an unfinished breakwater, is sometimes rendered inaccessible for months in winter by the prevailing W. gales. The steamers have to lie to, under steam, some 3 M. off the coast, and passengers are landed in lighters or in rowing-boats.

The chief sight is the _Market Quarter_, where caravans from the interior are sometimes met with. The minarets, as at Tripoli, are in the Turkish style. The European colony is mainly Maltese, Greek, and Italian. The _Italian School_ is attended chiefly by Jewish children. A branch of the _Banco di Roma_ (p. 406) and an _Italian Post Office_ have been recently established.—To the E. of the town is a beautiful _Palm Grove_.

To the N.E. of Benghazi lie the ruins of _Euhesperidae_, or _Berenice_, as the town was called after the wife of Ptolemy III. Euhesperidæ, famed in Greek myth for the gardens of the Hesperides, was the westmost seaport-town of Barca, the ancient =Cyrenaica=, a fissured hill-region rising in terraces from the sea, which was colonized in the 7th cent. B.C. by Greeks, mostly Dorians from Thera (p. 417) and Crete (p. 415). From its loftily situated capital _Cyrene_ (p. 411), one of the richest and most brilliant cities in the Greek world, Greek culture spread rapidly over the whole coast-region, where the numerous seaports acquired also great wealth through the caravan-traffic with the interior. For a time (about 400–330 B.C.) the Cyrenians succeeded in repelling the attacks of the Carthaginians with their mighty fleet, but in 322 they succumbed to Ptolemy I. (p. 433), who united the different parts of the district under the name of _Pentapolis_ (‘five cities’). In 96 B.C. this region along with the Marmarica (p. 415) fell into the hands of the Romans, and it was united by Augustus with Crete as a Roman province. In the great revolt of the numerous Jews who had settled in Egypt and Barca in the Ptolemaic age, 200,000 Greeks and Romans are said to have perished in Trajan’s reign. This terrible disaster was followed by the irruption of Berber tribes and of Arab marauders, and later (after 1551) by the misgovernment of the Turks. The ruin of the country was completed by a gradual subsidence of the coast which seriously prejudiced navigation. Though well supplied with rain, extremely fertile, and not too hot in summer, this region is now but thinly peopled (about 500,000), and the only towns of any size are Benghazi, Merj (p. 414), and Derna (p. 414). The highlands are occupied by hordes of nomadic Arabs, who often defy the Turkish authorities, and who are largely under the influence of the fanatical brotherhood of the Senussîyeh. The convents of the sect serve also as caravanserais. European goods are conveyed by the caravan-route to Kufra, the headquarters of the sect, and thence to equatorial Africa. Fire-arms are frequently smuggled into the country, especially from Greece. The chief exports are cattle (to Malta, Syracuse, etc.), goatskins, barley (to England), wool (to Marseilles and Genoa), and butter (to Constantinople). Large flocks of sheep are driven overland into Egypt.

Beyond Benghazi the steamer rounds _Râs Adrian_; whose name recalls the town of _Adrianopolis_ founded by Hadrian. On a height, farther on, appears _Tokra_, a poor village near the ruins of the Greek twin-towns of _Tauchira_ (_Teuchira_) and _Arsinoë_.

The next place on the coast, at the foot of a chain of high hills overgrown with brushwood, is _Tolmeita_ (Ital. _Tolemáide_), the ancient _Ptolemais_ or _Tolometta_, now the site of imposing *Ruins (Greek, Roman, and early-Christian). The Greek Kothon was the harbour of =Barca=, a thriving Greek colony on the margin of the plateau, about 15 M. inland, founded about 540 B.C. and temporarily destroyed by the Persians in 510. The town was still a place of some importance in the middle ages as a military station and a resting-place for Mecca pilgrims, but now, under the name of _Merj_ or _Medinet el-Merj_, which has been given to the whole province, it has become a poor little Turkish garrison-town, inhabited by Arabs and Jews. No trace of its ruins is left.

Passing the rocky islet of _Sarat_ and _Râs el-Hamâma_, the ancient cape _Phycus_, we reach the bold _Râs Sem_, the northmost point of Barca, about 10 M. to the N.W. of Cyrene (see below).

In a small plain on the coast, between the Râs Sem and _Râs el-Hilil_ (the ancient _Naustathmus_), lies the poor seaport of _Marsa Susa_, recently colonized by Moslems from Crete. Near it are the ruins of _Apollonia_ (later _Sozopolis_), once the harbour of Cyrene, but destroyed by the silting up of the coast.

From Marsa Susa a mule-track ascends to the S.W., through valleys with luxuriant vegetation and venerable olive-groves, past several ancient rock-hewn _Granaries_, and past a *_Necropolis_ with countless rock-tombs, to (3–4 hrs.) the ruins of =Cyrene= (2002 ft.; now _Krennah_ or _Gurena_), lying on the edge of a lofty plateau, with fine views all around. This was the capital of the Cyrenaica, founded near the fountain of Cyra about 620 B.C., but already spoken of in the 4th cent. A.D. as ‘urbs deserta’. The ruins have not yet been scientifically explored, but there are traces of streets, and, beneath a mantle of dense vegetation, scanty remains of the acropolis, the temples, and a Roman circus. Near them is a convent of the Senussîyeh, to which unbelievers are not admitted.

About 10 M. to the S.E. of Marsa Susa, on the caravan-route to Guba (or Mara), once lay the town of _Ghermes_, whose *Ruins are the best preserved in the Cyrenaica (town-wall, forum, stadium, etc.).

Beyond the bay of _Marsa el-Hilil_ the coast is again rocky. Near a beautiful, richly wooded ravine are the ruins of _Erythrum_. We next steer past _Râs Turba_ and then round the little _Tsor Kersa Islands_ and the _Râs Boasa_ (lighthouse).

=Derna= (pop. 4000), the _Darnis_ or _Darnae_ of antiquity, a small seaport to the E. of the headland, but entirely destitute of a harbour, is now the chief trading town in E. Cyrenaica. Vessels anchor in the open sea, over a mile from the landing-place. Near the Turkish fort and the custom-house are remains of American fortifications (comp. p. 408) and a wireless telegraph-station.

The town itself lies on a plateau in the finest *_Coast Oasis_ of Barca (yielding dates, figs, almonds, tobacco, etc.). In the principal square, near which the camel-caravans from the interior encamp, is the unpretending residence of the Turkish kaimakam. The shops in the busy market-street are mostly owned by Arabs and Greeks.

Beyond the _Râs et-Tîn_ (Gr. _Chersonesos_), the coast recedes far to the S. The _Gulf of Bomba_, with its rocky islands, here forms a large natural harbour, open towards the E. only. Beyond _Menelaus Island_ (now _Susra Mesrâta_) once lay the _Portus Menelai_. The _Platea Island_ near it received from Thera, about 640 B.C., the first Greek colony in the Cyrenaica.

We next skirt the _Marmarica_; the coast-region between the gulfs of Bomba and _Solum_. In the deep-set bay of _Tobruk_ (the ancient _Antipyrgos_) it possesses the best natural harbour between Bizerta and Alexandria, frequented chiefly by sponge-fishers.

The featureless and inconspicuous coast of _Egypt_ is bounded by the low white dunes near the borders of the Libyan desert. Lastly we steer across the broad so-called _Arabian Gulf_, between the _Râs ed-Dabba_ and the _Nile Delta_ (p. 418), and enter the harbour of _Alexandria_ (comp. p. 418).

66. From Tripoli to Constantinople viâ Derna and Crete.

Between Tripoli and Constantinople there is a fortnightly service by the _Società Nazionale_ (Line VIII: Catania, Syracuse, Benghazi, Constantinople; comp. R. 64). Dep. from Tripoli every second Mon. aft., from Mesurata Tues. morn., from Benghazi Thurs., from Derna Frid. noon, from Canea Sat. night, from Candia Sun., from Smyrna Mon. midnight, arr. at Constantinople Wed. morn. (returning from Constantinople Mon. night, arr. at Tripoli the second Wed.); fare 117 fr. 60 or 78 fr. 40 c.—From Canea to the Piræus (for Athens) there are corresponding steamers of the Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co., of the Thessalian line of the Austrian Lloyd, and of Line X (p. 493) of the Società Nazionale.

For the voyage from Tripoli to _Derna_, see R. 65. The steamer next touches at =Crete= (Gr. _Krētē_, Turk. _Kirid_, Ital. _Candia_), the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean (5402 sq. M.; 303,550 inhab.), formerly Turkish, but nominally independent since 1908.

Nearing the island we first sight the _Aspra Vuná_ (_Madaraes Mts._, 7907 ft.), generally snow-clad, the ancient _Leuka Orē_ (White Mts.). The vessel steers round _Cape Krio_, the S.W. point of Crete, and _Cape Busa_, the N.W. point, and passes the island of _Grabusa_.

We next proceed to the E.N.E., past _Kisamo Bay_ and _Cape Spada_ (_Psakon_), the N. point of the island. Beyond the cape opens the broad _Bay of Canea_ (Gr. _Chanía_).

In favourable weather the steamer anchors in the open roads of =Canea= (Hôt. de France, pens. 8–10 fr.; Hôt.-Restaur. Bristol, pens. 5–8 fr.; at both it is advisable to ask charges; Brit. cons.-gen., R. Peel; pop. 21,000), the capital of Crete, on the site of _Kydonia_. The remains of the Venetian fortifications are interesting. Fine view from the lofty reservoir of the waterworks. Most of the consuls reside at _Chalepa_, the E. suburb.

In stormy weather the steamers round the broad headland of _Akrotiri_ (once _Kyamon_) and anchor in _Suda Bay_, the only good harbour in the island. (Road to Canea.)

After leaving Canea and passing _Cape Drépano_ we have a pleasant view of _Harmyro Bay_ and _Rethymno_, Ital. _Rétimo_ (pop. 9300), the ancient _Rhithymna_, now the third-largest town in Crete. In the heart of the island tower the _Psiloriti Mts._, the ancient _Ida_, often snow-clad, culminating in the _Stavros_ (8065 ft.).

Farther on we pass _Cape Stavros_, an important landmark. We then steer to the S.E., between _Cape Panaghia_ and the barren island of _Dia_, Ital. _Standia_ (870 ft.), where vessels seek refuge from northerly storms, into _Candia Bay_ and anchor in the roads a little off the quay (lighthouse).

=Candia= (Hotels, both near the landing-place: Cnossos, pens. 9–15 fr., with restaurant; Angleterre, rooms only, unpretending; advisable to ask charges at both; Brit. vice-cons., A. Calocherino; pop. 22,480), Gr. _Herákleion_, formerly _Megalókastron_, the seat of the Metropolitan of Crete, is said to have been founded by the Moors on the site of Herakleion, the port of Knossos. Here also the fortifications were built by the Venetians, and were bravely defended by their admiral Franc. Morosini against the Turks for three years until he had to capitulate in 1669.

We walk from the landing-place through the main street and past a handsome Venetian palace to the chief square, with the _Morosini Fountain_. Straight on we come, at the E. end of the town, to an open space, at the N.E. angle of which is the—