Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolisBeechey, Frederick William
History
Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolis
Beechey, Frederick William
Sidra, Gulf of (Libya); Tripoli (Libya) -- Antiquities; Tripoli (Libya) -- Discovery and exploration
[Footnote 4: To the eastward of the town, however, on a tract of
rocky and elevated ground, is the burial-place of the ancient city;
where the researches of Mr. Consul Warrington have brought to light
some very interesting objects; particularly several large sepulchral
urns of glass, the most perfect we have ever seen.]
[Footnote 5: We allude principally to the works of Consul Tully and
Captain Lyon, and to Blaquiere’s Letters from the Mediterranean.]
[Footnote 6: “In our way home” (says the artless and amiable
writer of Tully’s Memoirs) “we passed through a street noted for
its corn-wells, or rather caverns, dug very deep into the earth. They
are situated on each side of the street, at about thirty yards’
distance. They were designed for magazines to lay up corn in, where
they say it will keep perfectly good for an hundred years. Happy
were it for the inhabitants of this country if these caverns were
filled now as they were _formerly_ when the country was _so rich
in the produce of corn_, that it was from hence exported to many
parts of the world, and prized almost above any other. The barley
when sown here yields twice as much as it does in Europe. When
it grows properly, they reckon thirty and thirty-five ears for
one an ordinary produce; while in Europe fourteen or fifteen is
considered as a good return.” In dry seasons, however, which
frequently occur, the case appears to be far otherwise. “The
times are so much altered now,” (continues the authoress above
mentioned,) “that corn is imported at an immense expense. This
melancholy change is attributed _to the want of rains_, which have
failed for several years past. There have not been more than one
or two good harvests for thirty years. If cargoes of wheat do not
soon arrive from Tunis, the state of this place will be dreadful
beyond description.”—_Tully’s Narrative_, p. 49.—Again,
the same writer says, p. 67, “It has been ascertained by the
Bashaw to-day, that there is only barley for sale at two bazars,
or market-places, left in the place. _A few years since the barley
here grew so favourably, that it produced in return three times as
much as in any part of Europe. Such quantities of it were exported,
that Tripoly was enriched by its sale;_ but the failure of rain
has left the country for several years without one good harvest.”
This account is consistent with the above, and we have here some
idea of what may be meant by the word _formerly_, in the passage
first quoted, which is certainly somewhat indefinite.]
[Footnote 7: Part of the sandy plain to the south-eastward is,
however, occasionally flooded during the prevalence of strong
northerly gales, and there is a tract of marshy ground, to the
westward of the town, between the cultivated parts and the sea.]
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