"Bizerte is said to have been the site of the ancient Utica. It is seated at the bottom of a bay, having a harbour in the middle, and behind it an extensive lagoon containing an island, on which is a mountain that is visible to a great distance at sea. It is said to contain eight thousand houses and twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants; but from its apparent magnitude I think these numbers must be exag. gerated. It was bombarded about six years ago by the Venetians, and stills shows traces of the injuries it received. The fortifications, which are in a dilapidated state, are garrisoned by an aga and seventy soldiers sent from Tunis, who are changed every six months.

"Before the present war, this city carried on a considerable trade with Italy and France; their chief exports being grain and oil. But the disturbances on the other side of the Mediterranean have extended their influence to the shores of Africa, and the commerce of Bizerte is nearly extinct. The lagoon within supplies Tunis with fish, which are transported over land thirty-five miles. The produce of this lagoon is farmed out by the Bey.

"On the 11th of March we passed in sight of Porto Farino, the arsenal of Tunis, and in the evening cast anchor off Cape Carthage, which we weighed the next morning and passed round the cape. On the top of the promontory is an old ruined building, said to be a fortification built by St. Louis, who died here. It is now surrounded by a Moorish village, where there is a monument to one of their maraboots

called Sidy Boosite, and which no christian is permitted to approach. On the hill was the byrsa, or citadel of Carthage, situated. On the beach below, on the eastern side of the point, were the remains of a castle, and beyond this were discovered many other ruins of this ancient city scattered over the plain.

"We cast anchor in the road of Goletta about noon. The Goletta, or entrance into the basin of Tunis, is a canal of about one fourth of a mile in length, fifty in breadth, and has only depth enough to admit small vessels. It is defended by a fort with four bastions and a half moon battery, on the north; and by a small circular castle on the south side of the entrance,

"We went on shore, but found that we could not proceed to Tunis until permission arrived from the Bey. We waited upon the aga or commandant. We found him lolling upon cushions, placed on a bench against the wall, and, to all appearance, he is not capable of any thing else. He appears not many degrees removed from fatuity. He only spoke to us once while we were there, and that was to request us to bring him a bottle of rum at our next visit. Behind the castle are the ruins of an ancient fortification, said to have been built by Charles V. It is called, by the Moors, Wash Ali, or the castle of Ali, from the name of the general who took it.

"These old walls are covered with an innumerable quantity of small sea shells. How these came here is a question that, if rightly answered, might explain the phenomena of similar shells being found

on the tops of mountains and other places remote from the sea: a circumstance that has produced a great deal of speculation among philosophers. They have generally concurred in the opinion that these and other marine productions, were first generated in the sea, and afterwards, by some violent commotion of nature were raised to their present situation. But no such event could ever have occurred in the present instance. These walls were raised by no such commotion; they are the produce of human industry; and we may be morally certain that they never were under water. May not many shell fish be amphibious, and thus explain the mystery? Oysters, we well know, will live a long time out of water, and in such a place as this, constantly refreshed, by the moist vapour of the sea, may not these animals be enabled to sustain, without inconvenience, the mutation of element?

"We returned to our vessel, but not before our silent friend the aga had again conquered his taciturnity to remind us of the bottle of rum.

"On the 17th we set off for Tunis. After passing the canal of the Goletta, we entered a large lake, which forms the basin of Tunis, about twelve miles in length and six in breadth. On the western side of this stands the city, at about eight miles distant from the Goletta. Notwithstanding the great extent of this piece of water, there is not more than ten feet depth in any part of it, and in most places not three. The boat ran aground upwards of a dozen times in her passage up, and almost constantly left behind her a

stream of mud discoloured water, the odour of which was far from agreeable. A great part of the bottom consists of the ruins of buildings that are sunk below the water, against which the boat was continually striking.

"About two thirds of the way up stands a castle that is used as a lazaretto for such persons and goods as have to pass quarantine.

"After a tedious passage of four hours, during all which time we were exposed to a most terrible rain, we arrived at Tunis. The landing place, or marine, is a long wharf about a quarter of a mile from the city; but the landing was still impossible until by main force we had pushed the boat about twenty yards over the dry mud in order to get to the wharf. At this place they are building two large pontoons for the purpose of cleaning out the lake.

"On the 18th we went on shore again at the Goletta, and with a Moor for a guide, I went to the ruins of Carthage, a distance of about three miles.*

"On my return I observed an instance of the vigilance of the police. Having made the Moor, who attended me, a small present, and he being afterwards seen with it and suspected to have obtained it improperly, he was seized and they were preparing to bastinade him. He begged them to inquire of me, and as, by good fortune, I had not yet gone on board, my testimony saved the poor fellow from punishment.

*In the original there is a reference to another journal, as containing his observations on the ruins of this ancient city. But the book is not now to be found.

I returned on board in a Moorish boat that I hired, for which these honest folks had the address to make me pay twice, and they picked my pocket besides.

"14th April. This morning we went to the Bey's residence, which is called Bardo from the name* of an ancient palace of the Moorish kings in Spain. It is an oblong square fortification, defended by three bastions on each side, and contains the palace and other buildings for the accommodation of the officers of the court and garrison. Passing through two gates at the south end, and a street that is thought wide 'here, being amply large enough for the passage of a carriage, we arrived at the front of the palace. We passed through a gate and came into a court yard, with a fountain in the middle, on the other side of which a flight of steps led into a gallery that extended across the whole front of the palace. This gallery was filled with Moors of the country, who had come to demand justice of the Bey; for every man in the kingdom has a right to bring his cause before him, without a previous recourse to any inferior tribunal. The justice room is on the right hand of a passage which leads from the gallery to the area in the centre of the palace. This area is, as in the other houses of this country, an open square surrounded by a colonnade and has a marble fountain in the middle. As we walked round it, I observed on one of the columns where a poor slave had scratched upon the

*This information has been since contradicted by others. There is no such thing as certainty in this country. Note by Dr. Shaw.