STEAMBOATS (agents at Tripoli, see p. 406; at Alexandria, see p. 432).
=1.= _German Levant Line_ (cargo-boats), three times monthly (80
marks).—=2.= Steamers of the _Banco di Roma_ (p. 406) fortnightly viâ
Malta, Benghazi, Derna, and Solum.—Between Tripoli, Lebida
(occasionally), Mesurata, Benghazi, and Derna there plies a
fortnightly steamer of the Società Nazionale (comp. R. 66).
_Tripoli_, see p. 406. Skirting the flat, sandy coast, with its numerous
oases, including that of _Tajûra_ (p. 411), we pass the small _Râs
Sotara_, _Râs el-Hamra_ (‘red cape’), and _Râs Ligata_.
In the fertile undulating plain to the E. of the small port of _Ligata_
(lighthouse; sailing-boat from Tripoli in about 7 hrs. if the wind is
favourable) lies _Lebida_, _Lebda_, or _Khoms_ (pop. 3500; Brit.
vice-cons.), in its oasis, a poor little seaport (for alfa) with open
roads, relics of old fortifications, and an Italian school.
About 2 M. to the S.E. of Lebida lies the site of =Leptis Magna=,
which fell into decay after the first irruption of the Arabs. In
ancient times it was one of the richest trading towns in N. Africa. It
was the starting-point of the coast-road to Carthage (see p. 407) and
also of the Limes Tripolitanus, the Roman frontier-wall, which down to
the conquest of the Garamantes (p. 407) and the Gætuli in the 2nd and
3rd cent. A.D. protected the province of Africa against the Sahara
tribes. The ancient harbour, with its massive quays, at the mouth of
the _Kinyps_, which was a copious stream in the Roman age (now a
scanty brook, the _Oued Lebda_), is completely choked with sand. The
once famous oasis and the grand ruins of the time of Septimius Severus
(p. 407) also, except the triumphal arch (comp. pp. 315, 316), are
almost entirely buried in sand.
On the rocky coast, which here endangers navigation, we next pass the
_Râs et-Tabia_, adjoined by the little port of _Marsa Ugra_, and then,
situated in the oasis near the _Râs es-Sahal_, _Slîten_ or _Zelythen_
(pop. 7000), a seaport for alfa. Beyond the _Râs el-Ihûdi_ we sight
_Cape Mesurata_, the ancient _Promontorium Trikeron_ (‘triple horn’) or
_Cephalus_, a striking landmark.
The small port of =Mesurata= or _Misrâta_ (pop. 3000), in its little
oasis of palms, fruit, and olives, is noted for its carpets and woven
stuffs.
Leaving the coast we now steer to the E. across the _Syrtis Major_, or
_Gulf of Sidra_, the largest on the N. African seaboard.
The town of =Benghazi= or _Bengâsi_ (Albergo Maffei, near the harbour,
Italian; Brit. consul, J. F. Jones; pop. 20,000, incl. 1200 Europeans,
mostly Maltese and Greeks, and 2500 Jews; garrison 3000) is the capital
of the Turkish province (mutessariflik) of _Benghazi_ or _Barca_, which
was separated from Tripolitania in 1869. Its dazzling white houses
extend beyond the isthmus of the _Sebkha_ or salt-lake (with its large
evaporating grounds) and over the broad corn-growing coast-plain
bordering the plateau of Merj (p. 414). The large _Gasar_ or castle, now
the seat of the governor (mutessarif), with barracks, together with the
lighthouse and a windmill, form the chief landmarks as we make for the
harbour.
The harbour, much silted up and very imperfectly protected by an
unfinished breakwater, is sometimes rendered inaccessible for months in
winter by the prevailing W. gales. The steamers have to lie to, under
steam, some 3 M. off the coast, and passengers are landed in lighters or
in rowing-boats.
The chief sight is the _Market Quarter_, where caravans from the
interior are sometimes met with. The minarets, as at Tripoli, are in the
Turkish style. The European colony is mainly Maltese, Greek, and
Italian. The _Italian School_ is attended chiefly by Jewish children. A
branch of the _Banco di Roma_ (p. 406) and an _Italian Post Office_ have
been recently established.—To the E. of the town is a beautiful _Palm
Grove_.
To the N.E. of Benghazi lie the ruins of _Euhesperidae_, or
_Berenice_, as the town was called after the wife of Ptolemy III.
Euhesperidæ, famed in Greek myth for the gardens of the Hesperides,
was the westmost seaport-town of Barca, the ancient =Cyrenaica=, a
fissured hill-region rising in terraces from the sea, which was
colonized in the 7th cent. B.C. by Greeks, mostly Dorians from Thera
(p. 417) and Crete (p. 415). From its loftily situated capital
_Cyrene_ (p. 411), one of the richest and most brilliant cities in the
Greek world, Greek culture spread rapidly over the whole coast-region,
where the numerous seaports acquired also great wealth through the
caravan-traffic with the interior. For a time (about 400–330 B.C.) the
Cyrenians succeeded in repelling the attacks of the Carthaginians with
their mighty fleet, but in 322 they succumbed to Ptolemy I. (p. 433),
who united the different parts of the district under the name of
_Pentapolis_ (‘five cities’). In 96 B.C. this region along with the
Marmarica (p. 415) fell into the hands of the Romans, and it was
united by Augustus with Crete as a Roman province. In the great revolt
of the numerous Jews who had settled in Egypt and Barca in the
Ptolemaic age, 200,000 Greeks and Romans are said to have perished in
Trajan’s reign. This terrible disaster was followed by the irruption
of Berber tribes and of Arab marauders, and later (after 1551) by the
misgovernment of the Turks. The ruin of the country was completed by a
gradual subsidence of the coast which seriously prejudiced navigation.
Though well supplied with rain, extremely fertile, and not too hot in
summer, this region is now but thinly peopled (about 500,000), and the
only towns of any size are Benghazi, Merj (p. 414), and Derna (p.
414). The highlands are occupied by hordes of nomadic Arabs, who often
defy the Turkish authorities, and who are largely under the influence
of the fanatical brotherhood of the Senussîyeh. The convents of the
sect serve also as caravanserais. European goods are conveyed by the
caravan-route to Kufra, the headquarters of the sect, and thence to
equatorial Africa. Fire-arms are frequently smuggled into the country,
especially from Greece. The chief exports are cattle (to Malta,
Syracuse, etc.), goatskins, barley (to England), wool (to Marseilles
and Genoa), and butter (to Constantinople). Large flocks of sheep are
driven overland into Egypt.
Beyond Benghazi the steamer rounds _Râs Adrian_; whose name recalls the
town of _Adrianopolis_ founded by Hadrian. On a height, farther on,
appears _Tokra_, a poor village near the ruins of the Greek twin-towns
of _Tauchira_ (_Teuchira_) and _Arsinoë_.
The next place on the coast, at the foot of a chain of high hills
overgrown with brushwood, is _Tolmeita_ (Ital. _Tolemáide_), the ancient
_Ptolemais_ or _Tolometta_, now the site of imposing *Ruins (Greek,
Roman, and early-Christian). The Greek Kothon was the harbour of
=Barca=, a thriving Greek colony on the margin of the plateau, about 15
M. inland, founded about 540 B.C. and temporarily destroyed by the
Persians in 510. The town was still a place of some importance in the
middle ages as a military station and a resting-place for Mecca
pilgrims, but now, under the name of _Merj_ or _Medinet el-Merj_, which
has been given to the whole province, it has become a poor little
Turkish garrison-town, inhabited by Arabs and Jews. No trace of its
ruins is left.
Passing the rocky islet of _Sarat_ and _Râs el-Hamâma_, the ancient cape
_Phycus_, we reach the bold _Râs Sem_, the northmost point of Barca,
about 10 M. to the N.W. of Cyrene (see below).
In a small plain on the coast, between the Râs Sem and _Râs el-Hilil_
(the ancient _Naustathmus_), lies the poor seaport of _Marsa Susa_,
recently colonized by Moslems from Crete. Near it are the ruins of
_Apollonia_ (later _Sozopolis_), once the harbour of Cyrene, but
destroyed by the silting up of the coast.
From Marsa Susa a mule-track ascends to the S.W., through valleys with
luxuriant vegetation and venerable olive-groves, past several ancient
rock-hewn _Granaries_, and past a *_Necropolis_ with countless
rock-tombs, to (3–4 hrs.) the ruins of =Cyrene= (2002 ft.; now _Krennah_
or _Gurena_), lying on the edge of a lofty plateau, with fine views all
around. This was the capital of the Cyrenaica, founded near the fountain
of Cyra about 620 B.C., but already spoken of in the 4th cent. A.D. as
‘urbs deserta’. The ruins have not yet been scientifically explored, but
there are traces of streets, and, beneath a mantle of dense vegetation,
scanty remains of the acropolis, the temples, and a Roman circus. Near
them is a convent of the Senussîyeh, to which unbelievers are not
admitted.
About 10 M. to the S.E. of Marsa Susa, on the caravan-route to Guba
(or Mara), once lay the town of _Ghermes_, whose *Ruins are the best
preserved in the Cyrenaica (town-wall, forum, stadium, etc.).
Beyond the bay of _Marsa el-Hilil_ the coast is again rocky. Near a
beautiful, richly wooded ravine are the ruins of _Erythrum_. We next
steer past _Râs Turba_ and then round the little _Tsor Kersa Islands_
and the _Râs Boasa_ (lighthouse).
=Derna= (pop. 4000), the _Darnis_ or _Darnae_ of antiquity, a small
seaport to the E. of the headland, but entirely destitute of a harbour,
is now the chief trading town in E. Cyrenaica. Vessels anchor in the
open sea, over a mile from the landing-place. Near the Turkish fort and
the custom-house are remains of American fortifications (comp. p. 408)
and a wireless telegraph-station.
The town itself lies on a plateau in the finest *_Coast Oasis_ of Barca
(yielding dates, figs, almonds, tobacco, etc.). In the principal square,
near which the camel-caravans from the interior encamp, is the
unpretending residence of the Turkish kaimakam. The shops in the busy
market-street are mostly owned by Arabs and Greeks.
Beyond the _Râs et-Tîn_ (Gr. _Chersonesos_), the coast recedes far to
the S. The _Gulf of Bomba_, with its rocky islands, here forms a large
natural harbour, open towards the E. only. Beyond _Menelaus Island_ (now
_Susra Mesrâta_) once lay the _Portus Menelai_. The _Platea Island_ near
it received from Thera, about 640 B.C., the first Greek colony in the
Cyrenaica.
We next skirt the _Marmarica_; the coast-region between the gulfs of
Bomba and _Solum_. In the deep-set bay of _Tobruk_ (the ancient
_Antipyrgos_) it possesses the best natural harbour between Bizerta and
Alexandria, frequented chiefly by sponge-fishers.
The featureless and inconspicuous coast of _Egypt_ is bounded by the low
white dunes near the borders of the Libyan desert. Lastly we steer
across the broad so-called _Arabian Gulf_, between the _Râs ed-Dabba_
and the _Nile Delta_ (p. 418), and enter the harbour of _Alexandria_
(comp. p. 418).