wonder, that very few men were killed, taken prisoners, or even wounded. The distance at which they fought rendered their warfare comparatively harmless.'

The number of camels lost in these bloodless encounters is remarkable: but these animals are in general use throughout the regency of Tunis, being both easily maintained and capable of carrying a great load. The climate of Tunis is one of the finest in the world, and the soil is so rich as to render an abundant return with very little cultivation. Yet so wretched is the system of government, so dissolute are the manners of the people, and so fatal are the ravages of famine and pestilence, that the population is generally supposed to be on the decrease. The great danger to the crop throughout this country arises from lateness in the autumnal or rather the winter-rains; when they come on so early as October, and continue more or less during the winter, every part of the country,-the corn, as well as the pasture-lands,-wears the aspect of freshness and abundance; but, if no rain falls till January, the soil is rendered arid and barren, the seed produces little, the olive becomes shrivelled and withered, and the flocks perish from a want of provender. It is remarkable, that throughout a great part of the regency the water in the springs is either salt or hot, and that the inhabitants experience no inconvenience from its use. The aqueducts, which, during the prosperity of Carthage, brought fresh water from a great distance in the interior, have long been in ruins. The inhabitants of Tunis are supplied by rain water, collected in cisterns on the house-tops.

The city of Tunis is built at a distance of about six miles from the head of the gulf which bears its name; and is separated from the sea by an extensive lake, which also receives its name from the city. It is surrounded by a miserable wall of mud and

stone, neither fitted for ornament nor for use. The buildings in the town are of stone, but of very mean architecture. In the whole city, there is not to be found one building worthy of description. The streets are narrow, dirty, and unpaved; the bazars, or shops, are of the poorest appearance, and but indifferently stocked with merchandise. The inhabitants, who crowd these miserable alleys, present the picture of poverty and oppression.

The port of Tunis is at the Goletta, or entrance from the sea into the lake. As no river, nor even rivulet, runs into the lake of Tunis, the evaporation is supplied by a current at the Goletta from the sea.— Vessels loading or unloading at Tunis, lie off in the roads, in between five and seven fathoms water, with fine anchorage, and are served by large lighters, to transport their cargoes. These lighters, named sandals, drawing little water, even navigate in the lake, and bring their loads to its borders below the city.-Judging from other Turkish towns, Tunis, I should suppose, cannot contain more than one hundred thousand inhabitants.—

The regency of Tunis abounds with rich materials for the philosopher and antiquarian; but from the state of the country, and jealousy of the govern ment, it is dangerous to travel in the interior. The space between Tunis and Cape Carthage is strewed over with immense vestiges of antiquity. The remains of an extensive aqueduct, which supplied Carthage with water from the mountains of Zawan, a circuitous distance of sixty miles, (the direct line being little more than half that distance,) can still easily be traced from the mouth of the cistern, until lost among the mountains. The cisterns are still to be seen. Those which received the water from the aqueduct are now become the habitations of those miserable Bedouins who remain in this part of the country.The whole of the ancient site of Car

thage

thage is occupied by subterraneous ruins.

A short time ago, an edifice was discovered, consisting of several apartments, in a tolerably perfect state; the paintings still exist on the roof of one of the rooms. As no fine marble is to be found, it is presumed, that Carthage was built wholly of mortar and small stones; of which the vestiges bear strong evidence.'

Since the states bordering on the Mediterranean have fallen chiefly into the hands of France and England, the warfare between Christian and Infidel is considerably relaxed, and the number of captives is much reduced. The kings of Sicily and Sardinia are now the only constant belligerents against the Moors;-the latter, notwithstanding his misfortunes, has faithfully redeemed his miserable subjects in captivity: but the King of Sicily allows two thousands natives of his dominions to languish in hopeless confinement. In a ransom, the Moors insist on having five of their countrymen for two Christians ; or, in money, eighty pounds sterling per head, whether man, woman, or child. The slaves in Tunis are either kept as servants in the houses of their masters, or put out to work at such trades as they have been accustomed to follow. Many of them, particularly the desponding Sicilian captives, have lately renegadoed. The French make it a rule to procure the release of every native of the countries subject to their power. Above a century and a half have passed since the French, like the British, entered into treaties with the government of Tunis; and the two parties, into which the Christians are distinguished in that country, consist of the adherents to the French and British interests. Of late years, the French influence appears to have been on the decline; and the English, especially since Bonaparte has declared war against commerce, has risen in propor

tion. It might, however, in Mr Macgill's opinion, rise much higher, were we to display our strength on the coast of Barbary, and give to its perfidious inhabitants a lesson of the extent of our chastising power. Instead of Consuls, we ought, he says, to have Envoys; men deriving dignity from their official situation, and prohibited from entering into mercantile engage

ments.

In the state of Tunis,' observes our traveller, several instances have occurred where either the speculative consul, or his country, have been sacrificed to the peculations of the prince and his minister. But besides the risk of embroiling himself with the prince of the country, and his subjects, which, in however trifling a degree, always tends to lessen the consul's influence, and their respect for him: his engaging in commerce has also a ruinous effect on every person under his protection.-In Tunis, most of the consuls are permitted to trade, perhaps all, except the French. The British government, of all others, pays the least attention to the interest of their country in the choice of their consuls. Few, very few of our consuls, are adapted to the places which they hold. In choosing her consuls, France gives Great Britain a lesson. She generally chooses them from among men of abilities; but political interest too often governs our choice. Consulates are given by us as sinecures; and it is considered as of little consequence, whether or not the person appointed knows the duties of the situation to which he is destined. Another great error of the British government may be found in the pay of their consuls. In many places, the salary attached to the consulate is hardly sufficient to keep the consul alive; much less to enable him to support with any degree of respectability the character he holds. A regular equivalent salary ought to be attached to every consulate. A board

appointed

appointed to inspect the conduct of our consuls, and to correspond with them on subjects interesting to the country, would be of infinite service. That board ought to have the power of recommending to his Majesty the persons who should be consuls, and be made in some measure responsible for their conduct. In the mercantile world, they would find many men fit to fill those places with honour and advantage. It must be allowed, however, that at Tunis we find exceptions to all the foregoing reasonings. The British consul seems to have been chosen with judgment, and the French consul to have been appointed by people who had no knowledge of him.'

'The commerce of the states of Barbary has been hitherto very little known to British merchants. France has, at all times, paid great attention to the cultivation of it; and has found, by this means, a fertile supply of valuable produce, both for her own use and for that of her neighbours, and at the same time a lucrative, and not inconsiderable market, for many of her own works of industry and art. Until of late, the French considered the coast of Barbary as their own. The trade of Tunis is the most respectable of any on the coast of Barbary; though, like that of the other powers, it was, not many years since, much more respectable than at the present moment. It was not uncommon, to see hundreds of ships lying in the roads of Tunis, and at the Goletta; also great numbers at all her out-ports, loading the rich productions of her soil, to satisfy the wants of Spain, Italy, and France. It is rare to see now more than half-a-dozen vessels at Tunis, and more than one at a time at any of the out-ports, and these are of a very small burthen. The reasons for this decline of commerce in the state of Tunis, are many. The famine, which did so much mischief in the regency of Tunis, (1805,)

induced the Bey to prohibit the exportation of grain from his state; and as plenty was not for some seasons restored, he has not as yet deemed it prudent to remove his prohibition. The war, which has for such a length of time unhinged the commercial system of Europe, has undoubtedly had a great effect on the commerce of the states of Barbary. The northern shores of the Mediterranean, offered a ready market for all their staple productions; and, from their vicinity, gave a prompt return to all their wants. The war between Tunis and Algiers has certainly had a more ruinous effect on these states than that which has devastated Europe. The commerce carried on between those two states was not inconsiderable ; now they have not the smallest communication with each other. The Bey, from an ill-directed desire of gain, has not only become a merchant himself, but also.permits the whole of his ministers, and the people of his court, to follow his example. The produce, or manufacture, which the subject brought to market, he could formerly dispose of to the highest bidder; now it is laid hold of by the ra pacity of these princely and diplomatic merchants, and if paid for, which is not always the case, it is paid at the price they choose to give, and at which the cultivator or manufacturer cannot afford to sell. The mischie vous effect of this, both on trade and manufactures, must obviously be very great.'

Like every ignorant prince, who neither knows his own real interest, nor studies that of his people, the Bey of Tunis not only suffers, but encou rages monopolies in his state. At present, many of the principal articles produced in the country are farmed out to the highest bidders; and it will not be at all surprising, if even grain and oil, which are yet free, should be disposed of in the same manner. The principal of these “appalti” (as they

are

are called) on the articles of export, is called the "giornati," and is in the hands of a company of Jews. This appalto is upon hides, wool, wax, and tobacco. This company pays the Bey for the monopoly of the present year, two hundred thousand piasters; at other times, they have paid to the extent of three hundred thousand. The next appalto, or farm, is the monopoly of the necessaries of life, and is laid upon beef, bread, vegetables, fruits, &c. From this the Bey draws a still greater profit. He receives this year no less than three hundred thousand piasters, which, of course, must fall on all classes of his subjects. The customs throughout the state are also farmed. This year they have been sold for two hundred and forty thousand piasters.'

The wheat of Tunis is of a very superior quality, and formerly constituted a principal branch of the exporttrade. Fine oil, wool, and hides, are also great articles of export; as are likewise, though in a smaller degree, bees-wax, soap, madder-roots, and coral. The imports consist of cloths both woollen and linen, of muslins, serges, druggets, sugar, coffee, tin, lead, and iron: but the quantities of these, and some other imported articles, are so small as to afford a strik

ing proof of the poverty of a country in which the prevalence of indolent habits prevents an adequate improvement of the bounty of nature. The trade on the part of British merchants is carried on from Malta. The interior traffic is conducted by caravans, which bring chiefly gold dust and negro-slaves. It is of inconsiderable amount; and as to manufactures in Tunis, we can name only three of any consequence, viz. woollen stuffs, Morocco-leather, and the skull-caps, made of wool, which are worn almost universally by those persons who shave their heads and put on the oriental dress. The last is a business of no small importance, and rival manufactures have started at Marseilles and August 1812.

Leghorn; successfully, it is said, as to cheapness, but not so in point of quality; the caps of Tunis continuing to bear the palm, and to have the appearance of rich velvet.

Description of the City of CARACAS.

(From Semple's Travels in South America.) SANTIAGO de Leon de Caracas,

the capital of the whole Captain Generalship of Caracas, is situated in long. 66° 46' west, and lat. 10° 30' north, at an elevation of nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The valley towards the head of which it is placed extends nearly east and west more than twenty miles, and varies in breadth from four to six or seven. It narrows towards the west, where it is almost entirely shut in by hills, which along the south side of the valley rise by gradations above each other.Those on the north side, on the contrary, form one bold and continued range, separating the valley from the coast, and rising at one point, called the Peak of La Silla, or the Saddle, to a height of more than eight thousand four hundred English feet above the level of the sea. It is close at the foot of this northern side that the town is placed. The ground on which it stands slopes regularly down to the Guayra, a small river which bounds it on the south, and with which three other streams afterwards unite and run through the whole valley, in one channel. Although called a river, it would, in North America, be considered as no more than a brook, being every where fordable near the town, except after heavy rains, when it runs with great rapidity, but subsides almost as suddenly as it rises.Of the three streams which join the Guayra, the Catucho is the most useful to the inhabitants, as from it they derive the principal supply of water for the public fountains, of which

there

town.

houses, many of which are furnished with pipes and reservoirs. Besides its inclination to the south, the ground slopes also to the east, and is consequently, upon the whole, extremely well calculated for contributing to the health and convenience of a large After a heavy shower of rain, every street pours a muddy torrent into the Guayra, or the Anauco; but in a few minutes all is again dry, and we find the whole town suddenly rendered cleaner than could be effected by the utmost labour in any other not similarly situated.

The streets are in general about a hundred yards apart, and as they intersect each other at right angles, the whole town is by this means divided into square portions, called Quadras. When one of these is left unoccupied by houses, there remains of course a Plaza, or open square, occupying the same space as the Quadra. This construction is abundantly simple, and is perhaps the best that can be adopted for a large town, where the nature of the ground admits of it. It is upon a similar plan that Philadelphia is built; but the want of open squares renders that otherwise beautiful city somewhat too dull and uniform.

There are several squares in Caracas; but none of them worthy of notice, except the Plaza Mayor, or great square, where the market for fruits, vegetables, fish, and other smaller articles, is held. The east side is principally occupied by the cathedral, the south by the college, and the west by the public prison. Within these is, as it were, another square, formed principally by ranges of low shops, which, however convenient in a commercial point of view, entirely disfigure the whole. The principal fountain discharges itself in the middle of the north side. In this square may be seen the fruits which we have been accustomed to consider as peculiar to very different climates, all

leagues. The banana, the pine apple, and the sapadillo, are mingled with the apple, the pear, and the chesnut. The potatoe and the plantain, fresh provisions, which seem to belong to the temperate zones, and those kinds of fish which are peculiar to tropical seas, are here offered for sale on the same spot. the United States of North America, that, in the different states of society, they present, in the succession of space, what seems to belong only to different periods of time. Here, on the contrary, it may be observed, that, in ascending from the shore of the ocean to these elevated and temperate regions, we experience in a short lapse of time what seems to belong only to long intervals of space; and pass in a few hours from the torrid to the finest climates of the temperate zone.

It has been observed of

The Cathedral of Caracas is heavily built, and the interior construction is badly planned; as, during the celebration of mass, a great proportion of the number of people which the church is capable of holding cannot see the priest; a most essential point where the ceremony constitutes so essential a part of the devotion. The length of the cathedral is about ninety yards, by twenty-seven in breadth. It is supported by twenty-four pillars, without beauty or proportion; but its brick steeple contains the only public clock in the town, and may thus compensate by its utility for what it wants in elegance.

Next, in point of importance, and superior in the richness of its ornaments, is the parochial church of Alta Gracia, which was built chiefly at the expence of people of colour, and to which they seem to have contributed through emulation. It is by far the most splendid church in Caracas, and does some honour to the zeal of the contributors, if not to the taste of the architects, or of those who had the direction of its ornamenting.

The