The mosques and baths of Tripoly, with its coffee-houses, bazars, &c., as well as the manners and customs, dresses, prejudices, and other peculiarities, of the people who are in the habit of frequenting them, have been so amply, and so well described in other publications, that we need not here attempt any account of them[5]. We may, however, be allowed a few words on the peculiarities of soil, at present observable in the neighbourhood of Tripoly, as contrasted with those which appear to have existed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It has been observed by Leo Africanus, (who flourished during the pontificate and under the protection of Leo the Tenth,) that there was at all times a scarcity of grain in Tripoly, and that the country about it was incapable of cultivation; but it will appear from the passages which we have quoted below, as well as from the actual state of the place, that it is merely the want of rain (which is occasionally experienced) that now prevents the soil in question from producing good crops very regularly[6]. When we inquire into the cause of this difference, a more interesting result will be afforded by the inquiry than any which relates to the quantity of corn produced at Tripoly. We find, for instance, that the lands to the southward of Tripoly (we mean those in the immediate neighbourhood of the town) were subject, in the time of the African Geographer, to be overflowed for some extent by the sea; while the same parts are now above the level of the water, which never reaches high enough to cover them[7]. “All the country about Tripoly” (says Leo Africanus) “is sandy like that of Numidia; and the reason of this is, that the sea enters freely towards the southward, (entra assai verso mezzogiorno,) so that the lands which ought to be cultivated are all covered with water. The opinion of the inhabitants,” he continues, “with respect to this _riviera_, is, that there was formerly a considerable tract of land extending to the northward; but that for many thousand years the sea has been advancing and covering it; which is observable,” he adds, “and known to be the case, on the coast of Monasteer, as well as at Mahdia, Sfax, Gabes, and the island of Girbe; with other cities to the eastward, whose shores have but little depth of water; so that one may walk a mile or two into the sea without being up to the waist. Wherever this occurs,” (continues Leo) “such places are said to be considered as parts of the _soil_ overflowed by the sea;” (that is, not within the original bounds of the latter,) “and the inhabitants of Tripoly,” he tells us, “are of opinion, that their city stood formerly more to the northward; but that owing to the continual advance of the sea it has been gradually extended in a southerly direction; they also declare,” says our Author, “that remains of houses and other buildings may still be observed under water[8].”