[Footnote a: Misit ex eo loco Divo Augusto procurator ejus, ex uno grano, (vix credibile dictu) quadringenta paucis minus germina, extantque de ea re epistolæ. Misit et Neroni similiter CCCXL stipulas ex uno grano.—_Nat. Hist._ l. xviii. c. 10. Again (lib. v. c. 4.) Ita (Byzacium) appellatur regio CCL. M. P. circuitu, fertilitatis eximiæ, cum centesima fruge agricolis fœnus reddente terra.] [Footnote 10: Before we take leave of Tripoly it may be proper to recommend, for the information of those who may hereafter visit that country, the useful precaution of not subjecting themselves to the fluctuation which is usual in the exchange of the place. Money, in Tripoly, is in the hands of a few; and its possessors, who are by no means unacquainted with the most profitable methods of laying it out, are not at all times particularly remarkable for a liberal treatment of strangers. We found the exchange get more unfavourable as our demand for money increased; and having been obliged to make some comparatively heavy payments in Spanish dollars, the value of them rose in proportion as it was known we had occasion for them[a]. In order to remedy, or rather to prevent impositions of a similar nature, it would be advisable for travellers to take with them, in Spanish dollars, the amount of the sums they may have occasion for in Tripoly; for even if the exchange should be good on their arrival there, it would most probably lower as they were known to have occasion for money. Should this be inconvenient, bills might be drawn on Malta, and the money in _Spanish dollars_[b] forwarded by the first secure vessel which might be sailing from that port to Tripoly.] [Footnote a: It must, however, be observed, in justice to the house of Messrs. Beaussier and Co., that we experienced a more liberal treatment from them than from any other house in Tripoly.] [Footnote b: The _Spanish_ dollar is the coin in most general request in the northern and inland parts of Africa.] [Footnote 11: We find both these cities mentioned by Pliny; and one of them (Oea) by Pomponius Mela, while nothing is said by Strabo either of the cities or the district. Pliny died A.D. 79; Mela is supposed to have flourished about the middle of the first century, and Strabo in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. We may infer, from the silence of Strabo on the subject, that neither Sabrata nor Oea existed in his time; and as Pliny, though he mentions both cities, appears to have been unacquainted with the name of the district in question, we may also perhaps infer that it was bestowed upon it after his time. What is stated by Cellarius on the subject of Tripolis, appears to confirm this opinion: for he tells us that he knew of no one before the time of Solinus, who made any mention in Africa of the name[a]; and that _he_ only applied the term to the district, and not to any particular city.