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arches are nearly an hundred feet high. It still answers the purpose for which it was intended, and will probably remain for ages a lasting monument of utility and magnificence. The city of Tunis was formerly supposed to contain two hundred thousand people, but its population is now probably less. It is ten miles in circumference, walled, flanked with towers, and has a citadel on a hill at the east side. Tunis is ten miles from the sea, and the entrance to its harbour is by means of a canal. This state was a rival and match for Algiers, and they have been at war for a long time past. Of late years however, the Tunisians have been worsted by the gallantry and enterprise of the late Rais Hammida, who was killed in the action with part of the American squadron.

The fourth and last of the Barbary powers, following the course up the Mediterranean sea, is Tripoli, which is upwards of nine hundered miles in length. Its capital is a walled city, strongly fortified, and with a population of perhaps twenty thousand souls. The same fortunes with those of, Tunis were encountered by Tripoli, and the same system of government has been imposed upon the people.

Little is known of the country beyond the city of Tripoli, except that it is roamed by various tribes of Arabs, who, agreeably to the customs of that wandering race, subsist by means of their cattle, and by plunder. About ninety miles east of Tripoli, was formerly situated a splendid city, founded by the Phenicians, called Leptis, which, together with Oran and Tripoli, formed the powerful republic of Tripolis. According to Gibbon, Leptis was overthrown and laid in ruins by an earthquake. The following account of the remains of that great city, is furnished us by captain Porter, who, after his liberation from confinement in Tripoli, visited them in company with doctor Ridgeley, the American consul, and the French vice-consul at Tripoli.

"Before leaving Tripoli," says captain Porter, "it became necessary to mention my intentions to the bashaw, and obtain his permission to land, from the Enterprise, then

under my command, which he readily granted, and at the same time, offered me every facilty to enable me to gratify my curiosity. He said that the Arabs on the coast would prove troublesome to us, unless they were informed that it was with his approbation we visited the place; and to remove all apprehensions of any injury from them, he would despatch a chawn or messenger to prepare them for our reception, and also send a rais, or captain of one of his corsairs, with me in my vessel, to cause every civility to be paid to our party. After these arrangements had been made, and permission obtained to take from Leptis any curiosities we could bring off, I took on board Dr. Ridgeley the American consul, the French viceconsul, the rais and his servants, and proceeded eastward.

"On arriving at Leptis, which is known by the remains of a large castle situated close to the beach, as well as by the ruins which every where present themselves, we discovered the messenger who had been despatched before us, and a party of Arabs with their horses and arms, and a number of sheep; these, we were told on landing, were a present from the Arabs, agreeably to an order from the bashaw, and were also given to understand that the horses were intended for our use in travelling into the interior, or wherever else we wished to go.

"We remained at Leptis three days, in which time we explored all the ruins, most of which were in a better state of preservation, and far exceeding in magnificence every thing of the kind I had seen in any part of the world. The columns were mostly thrown down, some of them broken in two or more pieces. They were generally of an enormous size, and of that beautiful green marble called the verd antique. It was evident that they must have been overthrown by some violent shock of nature, as they were, in many instances, removed a considerable distance from the bases on which they had stood. Every where was to be seen the ruins of magnificent temples, and all around were scattered large fragments of altars, and other decorations of the interior of

ancient temples, heads, legs, arms, and bodies of marble statues, as also several figures, entire, with the exception of their faces, which had been destroyed by the Arabs, in the belief that they were the bodies of unbelievers, who had been turned into stone, as a punishment for their sins. Parts of superb Mosaic floors lay exposed to view, and several coins of former ages, reduced to rust by long exposure, were found. We visited also the burial places, and took copies of the inscriptions on the numerous marble sarcophages, but without understanding them. On entering some of the huts of the Arabs, built of materials taken from these ruins, we saw among the rough stones composing their walls, the square ends of coffins, with their inscriptions still entire; parts of altars, pieces of marble exquisitely carved; and could not help musing on the changes which time and circumstances so often produce. Shafts of marble columns generally formed the principal foundations of these miserable huts, whose whole appearance ex hibited such a mixture of ancient elegance, contrasted with modern barbarity, as served to impress more strongly upon our minds than ever, the mortifying truth, that nothing is eternal which is the work of man, and that those who erect the sublimest temples to the Gods, know not but that they are preparing materials for the hut of the robber.

"We visited the port, and saw the stone reservoirs where the galleys once obtained their supplies of water, and could distinctly see from whence it used to gush out, as well as the steps by which their crews ascended from their vessels. The port was circular; the entrance narrow, and strongly defended by castles, which in those days were no doubt deemed impregnable. The bottom of this harbour is now above the level of the sea, and where ships once rode, the grass now grows. The aqueduct is still entire in many parts, and the castles, the temples, and other superb remains, are now the abode of the jackall and wild-pigeon. The walls of that city, in some places have been shaken down, and on the side towards the sea are nearly covered with the sands of the ocean, which the

strong north winds have thrown upon the coast. In some parts the tops of the houses are exposed, the sand having not yet quite covered them. They are of hewn stone and flat. On digging through some of them, we found they were filled with sand. The amphitheatre, which is without the walls of the city towards the east, exhibits the vestiges of great magnificence. It is about seventy yards wide, and one hundred and fifty in length, with flights of stone steps, running from the area in the middle, to the outer walls. The entrances are at either end, and it never has been covered.

There is a range of pedestals running the whole length of the area, and on digging in the sand at the base of one of them, we found the head of a lion,, which I took on board the Enterprise, and gave to Mr. Latrobe, on my arrival in the United States."

Such is Leptis, once the principal city of a potent confederacy of cities, which defied the power of the Roman emperors. What remains of it now, is only calculated to add one more to the numerous instances of that oblivion, to which all the physical labours of man seem destined. Of the splendid cities mentioned in ancient histories, we know not where many of them stood, and of the others, nothing remains but a few indefinite traces, either to lead or mislead the scholar. Were it not for the poet or the historian, it never would have been known to us that they ever had been at all. Troy now only exists in that city is in itself suf

the poetry of Homer, and the fate of

ficient to convince us, that none of the works of man approach so near to immortality as the labours of his mind.

NAVAL HISTORY.

ACCOUNT OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE AMERICAN SQUADRON, UNDER COMMODORE DECATUR, AGAINST ALGIERS, TUNIS, AND TRIPOLI.

In the year 1795, a treaty was concluded between the United States of America, and the dey of Algiers, in which

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the former were put upon a footing with other nations, on condition of paying to the dey, a yearly tribute of twelve thousand Algerine sequins, to be invested in naval stores. This treaty subsisted without any infringement on the part of the Algerines, until some time in the month of July, 1812, when the dey, stimulated, probably, by the near prospect of a war between the United States and England, which he was encouraged in the belief would annihilate the naval force of the former, and disable them from taking satisfaction, took an opportunity to violate its most important articles. He was probably further stimulated to this measure, by having little employment at that time for his cruisers, in consequence of just concluding a peace with Portugal, while at the same time he was prevented from committing depredations upon his old enemies, the Sicilians, of whom the English had declared themselves the protectors.

The pretence of his highness for this breach of his engagements, was that the cargo of the ship Allegany, then just arrived, with naval stores, for the payment of the tribute stipulated in the treaty of 1795, did not contain such an assortment of articles as he had a right to expect. In consequence of this disappointment, the dey, who was subject to violent paroxysms of passion, became exceedingly outrageous, and told his minister of marine that the cargo should not be received; that the ship should immediately quit Algiers, and that colonel Lear, the American consul, should go with her, as he could not have a consul in his regency, who did not cause every article to be bought, as he ordered. Every attempt to explain, on the part of the consul, was without effect on the dey, who either was, or affected to be extremely angry. A few days afterwards he made a demand of certain arrearages of tribute, to the amount of twenty-seven thousand dollars, the claim to which was founded on the difference between the solar and lunar years, the one consisting of three hundred and sixty-five, the other of three hundred and fifty-four days, creating a difference of half a year, in the lapse of seventeen

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