The Story of the Barbary CorsairsLane-Poole, Stanley
History
The Story of the Barbary Corsairs
Lane-Poole, Stanley
Africa, North -- History -- 1517-1882; Pirates
He would not show himself now in Tunis or Jerba. Some new spot must
shelter him after this fresh reverse. On his way to and from Bujēya
he had noticed the very place for his purpose--a spot easy to defend,
perched on inaccessible rocks, yet furnished with a good harbour,
where the losses of recent years might be repaired. This was Jījil,
some sixty miles to the east of Bujēya; whose sturdy inhabitants
owed allegiance to no Sultan, but were proud to welcome so renowned,
although now so unfortunate, a warrior as Barbarossa. So at Jījil
Urūj dwelt, and cultivated the good-will of the people with spoils
of corn and goods from his cruisers, till those "indomitable African
mountaineers," who had never owned a superior, chose him by
acclamation their king.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] The differences between the Turkish authority, Hājji Khalīfa, who
wrote in the middle of the seventeenth century and used "Memoirs"
partly inspired by Kheyr-ed-dīn himself, and the two Spanish
chroniclers, Haedo and Marmol, in their narratives of the early feats
and experiences of Barbarossa and his brothers, are irreconcilable in
details, though the general purport is similar. Von Hammer naturally
follows Hājji Khalīfa, and modern writers, like Adm. Jurien de la
Gravière, take the same course. For the period of his life when
Kheyr-ed-dīn was at Constantinople the Turkish writer may be reasonably
preferred; but on all matters concerning the Barbary coast the Abbot
Diego de Haedo, who lived many years in Algiers in the sixteenth
century, was personally acquainted with many of the servants and
followers of Kheyr-ed-dīn (who died in 1546), and published his
_Topographia e historia de Argel_ in 1612, is undoubtedly the best
informed and most trustworthy authority.
[6] Quoted by Morgan, _Hist. of Algiers_, 225.
[7] It is possible that Barba-rossa is but a European corruption of
Baba Urūj, "Father Urūj," as his men called him. At all events Urūj is
the real Barbarossa, though modern writers generally give the name to
his younger brother Kheyr-ed-dīn, who was only called Barbarossa on
account of his kinship to the original.
IV.
THE TAKING OF ALGIERS.
1516-1518.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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