LASS 937.7.3 No.7497
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CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
PAST AND PRESENT:
In Two Parts.
BY
A MOS PERRY,
LATE UNITED STATES CONSUL FOR THE CITY AND REGENCY OF TUNIS.
PROVIDENCE, R. I.:
PROVIDENCE PRESS
PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
1869.
Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1868,
BY AMOS PERRY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of
Rhode Island.
Fib. H. 1909
3783
PR'E FACE.
DURING the leisure of a prolonged residence where I was
often reminded of the name and glory of Carthage, I natu-
rally pursued trains of thought and courses of study sug-
gested by the scenes around me. I read the history and
observed the actual condition of the country, without, how-
ever, any thought of communicating through the press in
regard to the subjects that engaged my attention. But in
the course of time, communications were received from gen-
tlemen and societies, asking for such a variety of information
as could be furnished only by one acquainted with the geo-
graphy, history, races, antiquities, commerce, institutions, and
even the poetry and legends pertaining to the land of DIDO
and of HANNIBAL. This manifestation of interest, together
with some official and personal expressions from the honored
head of the Department of State at Washington, served to
quicken my efforts, leading me to study and observe, as well
to answer the inquiries of others, as to gratify my individ-
ual taste.
The idea of this work was thus suggested, and its prepa-
ration was at length undertaken with a view of supplying a
public want. I would not, however, have the inference drawn
from this remark, that I failed to appreciate the efforts of my
predecessors in this field of labor. Messrs. SHAW, TEMPLE,
294817
iv
PREFACE.
Noah and Davis have written ably and well in the English
language; and Messrs. FALBE, FRANK, DUREAU DE LA MALLE,
PELLISSIER, GUERIN, BEULE, ROUSSEAU and others have inves-
tigated, studied and written in the French language. Some of
these gentlemen have shown varied learning, patient research
and careful observation, giving detailed accounts either of
their remarkable explorations or of their peculiar experience
as travelers.
This book has another plan and aim. Its object is to give
an idea of the country, as it has been and as it is. To
this end, the salient points of history have been touched
and attention drawn to the present aspect of affairs. I have
. endeavored to represent the country in connection with its
agents and actors, bringing in detailed accounts of antiqua-
rian researches, incidents of travel and personal adventures
only as they have subserved the general plan. Much space
has been devoted to the different races of men and to the
most remarkable characters as they have severally appeared
on the stage of action. Dido and the wife of HASDRUBAL,
AGATHOCLES and BOMILCAR, REGULUS and SANTHIPPUS,
HANNIBAL and SCIPIO, MASSINISSA and JUGURTHA, Cato and
CÆSAR, ST. AUGUSTINE, GENSERIC, BELISARIUS, ST. LOUIS,
BARBAROSSA, CHARLES V., the Libyans, Phænicians, Romans,
Byzantines, Vandals, Saracens, Crusaders and Corsairs are
all noted as they played their parts in this country. The
issues involved between the popular and the aristocratic
parties of Carthage at the period of her decline and fall
,
and also the agency of commerce, first in enriching and
building up, and then in corrupting and ruining, the state,
merit a fuller notice than is here given. In describing the
contest between the two great rival powers of antiquity, it
PREFACE.
V
has been deemed no slight advantage to have a Carthaginian
stand-point. Indeed, but for this African position, silence on
this subject would have been maintained in deference to what
had been already said by distinguished English and German
scholars.
Some valuable suggestions were received from Mr. P. V.
CARLETTI, the learned editor of the official Arab journal of
the country.
With Mr. AUGUSTE Daux, the chief of a mission instituted
by the Emperor NAPOLEON to identify and explore the places
visited by JULIUS CÆSAR in his African campaign, occasional
interviews were enjoyed for more than five years. Mr.
Daux furnished for these pages information which could have
been drawn from no other source. The sight of his maps
and charts, which were made from actual measurements and
which he was ever ready to show with explanations, was no
ordinary privilege. Here I desire to express the hope, that
His Majesty the Emperor of the French may lay the arche-
ologists and scholars of both hemispheres under still greater
obligation, by retaining Mr. Daux in Tunisia, with instruc-
tions to use his best endeavors to identify the grounds, where
occurred the trial of arms that definitely turned the scales of
empire from the African to the European continent.
Mr. NONCE Rocca, a young man born at Tunis of Corsi-
can parentage, has rendered invaluable service. Possessing
the African life and glow, Mr. Rocca has at the same time
the culture and refinement, the scholarship and moral worth,
that would adorn a European professorship. Knowing his
genius and accomplishments, I bespeak for him the distin-
guished consideration which he merits.
AMOS PERRY.
PROVIDENCE, R. I., December 7, 1868.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART FIRST.
General History, from the Ninth Century, B. C., to the Last
Halk of tire Nineteenth Century, 9. D.
CHAPTER I..
Summary Description of the Tunisian Territory.—Brief Sketch of its
Political Revolutions. 3–7.
CHAPTER II.
Ancient History, from the Ninth Century B. C., to the Seventh Century
A. D. 8-154.
Section I.—The Country before the arrival of the Phoenicians. 8–13.
Rise and Progress of the Punic Power. 13–41.
SECTION II.--Carthage and Rome. 42-46.-- First Punic War. 46-66.-
War of the Mercenaries. 66–71.-Conquests in Spain. -Second Punic War,
71-97.--Hannibal. 97-109.
SECTION III.-Third Punic War. Taking and ruin of Carthage. 109-
117.-Carthage under Rome. Massinissa and Jugurtha. 117–125.
Section IV.-Cæsar in Africa.-Cato of Utica. 125–134.-Christianity
in Africa. 134-149.
SECTION V.-The Vandals and Byzantines in Africa.--First Arab Inva-
sion. 149–154.
CHAPTER III.
History of the Middle Age, from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century.
155-167.
SECTION I.—The Arab Conquest and the Country under the Lieutenants
of the Oriental Califs and under the first Independent Princes. 155-159.
SECTION II.-Dynasty of the Hafsites.-Expedition of St. Louis. 159-167.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
Modern History, from the Sixteenth Century to the last half of the
Nineteenth Century. 168-222.
SECTION I.-- Fall of the Hafsites.— Expedition of Charles V.- The
Spanish Domination. 168–181.
SECTION II.-Turkish Domination and tho Deys. 181–188.
SECTION III.—The Beys. 188-208.
SECTION IV.-Relations of Barbary in general and of Tunis in particu-
lar with different Christian Nations.—Corsairs and Slavery. 208–222.
PART SECOND.
Dctual State of the Country.
CHAPTER I.
Natural Divisions, Extent and General Aspect of the Country. 225–234.
CHAPTER II.
Population.-- Races.-- Religious Creeds, Rites and Ceremonies.-- Pil-
grimages to Mecca.--Manners, Customs and Superstitions. 235–333.
CHAPTER III.
The Mussulman Woman and the Mussulman Problem. 333-360.
CHAPTER IV.
Climate.- Products of the Soil.- Manufactures.-- Arts and Trades.
361-384.
CHAPTER V.
Principal Cities. Their Characteristics and Peculiarities. 385-427.
CHAPTER VI.
Archeological Sketch of the Country.--Monuments and Traces of the
Past.Carthage, Utica, Hadrumetum, etc. 428--461.
CHAPTER VII.
Government and Administration.--Army.-Navy..Finances.—- Public
Instruction.- Benevolent Institutions.- Revenues and Burdens of the
State. 462-482.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Israelites in Tunisia. 483-504.
CHAPTER IX.
The Europeans in Tunisia.-Comparative Importance of their Colonies
and Influence.--Foreign Representatives at the Tunisian Court. 505-517.
CHAPTER X.
General Considerations upon the Present Condition of Tunis, compared
with the Past, and Inferences in regard to the Future. 518-528.
Nppendix and Yndex.
.
Part First.
GENERAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
$ummary Deschiption of the Eunisian Genpitony. --- Brief Sketch
of its political Revolutions,
34
HE Mediterranean sea, around which have
been accomplished so many phases of history,
becomes narrow in its centre by the approach of
Europe and Africa, so as to present in its ensemble
the irregular form of an immense figure eight
reversed thus, o.
At the point of the union of the two parts of
this ∞, projects out towards Europe, in the face of
Sicily, a territory whose coast is comparatively sin-
uous and indented, which territory now constitutes
the regency of Tunis, (Africa Propria, Zeugitania,
Byzacium.) Bounded by the Mediterranean on the
north and east, by Algeria on the west, by the desert
on the south, and Tripoli on the southeast, it extends
between 33° and 37° 20' north latitude, and between
7° 40' and 11° 40' east from the meridian of Green-
wich, having an area of sixty thousand square miles,
and a sea coast five hundred and fifty miles in length.
4
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Geologically connected with Algeria and Morocco
(Numidia and Mauritania) by the last links, and
formed by the last table lands of that Atlas which is,
as it were, the back-bone of northern Africa, Tunisia
opens to the north, between cape Blanc and cape
Bon, its gulfs of Bizerta and Tunis into the western
basin of the Mediterranean where it faces Italy,
France, Spain and the Intermediate islands. On the
st, from cape Bon to the island of Gerba, it opens
out into the eastern basin of the same sea, its gulfs
of Hommamet and Gabes towards Sicily and Malta,
Tripoli and Greece, Egypt and Asiatic Turkey.
It is the finest position of north Africa. Commer-
cial preponderance and the control of the Mediter-
ranean are its attractions for the powers which
dispute with each other for its possession or for its
neutralization.
To the advantages of general topography, Tunis
possesses also important conditions of natural riches.
It has a soil admirably fertile, furrowed by streams
of water which run at present almost like torrents,
but which were once navigable or ingeniously em-
ployed for purposes of irrigation. It has numerous
sources of living water in rare abundance. It has
mountains covered towards the north with proud
forests, and containing mines of iron, lead, argentif-
erous lead, quicksilver and antimony, and rich quar-
ries of marble It has many mineral springs of singu-
lar medicinal efficacy. Its vicinity to the interior of
Africa made it once the most important market and
commercial country of the African continent, and,
under favorable circumstances; it might again become
i
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
19
distinguished for its commerce. Such are the privi-
leges, which, with its admirable maritime position,
we shall study more in detail further on,– privileges
which necessarily predestined Tunis for long and
glorious annals, which are not wanting, as we shall
see as we proceed in our studies.
Occupied at first by a primitive population of which
we know scarcely the names and still less the history,
its social and political existence commences in fact
only at the arrival of the Phoenicians.
These incomparable navigators, who scented, so to
speak, and discovered upon all the shores of the
ancient world stations capable of strengthening and
developing their mercantile power, could not long
remain unacquainted with this gulf of Tunis, worthy
one day to shelter the daughter and the rival of Tyre,
the Superb.
They built there Carthage. At first a modest col-
ony, then flourishing, it became rapidly independent.
of its mother country; and at length assuming the
rule that belonged to its declining metropolis in the
East, it inherited its empire and enlarged its horizon.
Rome, already preponderant in its peninsula, could
not advance further without striking against this
Punic colossus which projected its shade menacingly
from the coast of Sicily.
There was to take place the first shock. Between
such adversaries as fatally excluded each other, since
each aimed at supremacy, the struggle was of neces-
sity long and terrible. Carthage fell. The balance
of the ancient world lost its most powerful counter-
poise until the universal equilibrium was broken defi-
6
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
nitely in favor of Rome, and the centre of gravity of
every known people was established under its sway.
Rome inherited from Carthage as the latter from
the Phoenicians. Fruitful Africa (Africa ferax) became
the granary of Italy and its chief source of supply
at the end of the republic and under the empire.
At the beginning of Christianity, it became one of
its bright centres; and this is not the least attractive
period of its history.
In the fall of the Roman empire, it formed natur-
ally a general quarter and stragetic point for the
victorious Barbars.
Then while ºthe Byzantine Cæsar was laboriously
re-conquering this best of all the provinces which
broke away from him in every part of the empire,
behold Islamism and its furious propagandists, drawn
in their turn by the renown and the importance of
this country, came to heap up still other ruins and
create new institutions.
The Mohammedan conquests once organized, the
Moslem governments of the middle age succeeded
not without éclat in this lieutenantcy of the supreme
califate.
The sword of the crusaders came there to be
broken in the hands of St. Louis. That of Spain and
the Holy Empire glistened for a moment in the grasp
of Charles V, and of the ephemeral guardians of his
conquest.
Then flocked thither the Osmanlis, that rear ban of
the great army of the Prophet. To their domination,
now violent and now feeble from decay, succeeds
through the struggles of the Turkish pretorians and
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
7
the prowess of the pirates, a government almost
native and national, which continues to this day.
In all these vicissitudes, the country of Carthage
has been able to regain neither its agricultural and
commercial importance nor the splendor of its first
days.
From the Punic epoch to our own, in point of pros-
perity and grandeur, it can be said that for Tunis
there is decreusing progression.
Long, curious and touching is its history of more
than twenty-seven centuries, whose tableau we shall
attempt briefly to retrace before studying in detail
the actual state (so interesting in all respects) of the
country that has been the theatre of it. Why, then,
should not its future, prepared by the gradual amelio-
ration of the present, recall something of its mag-
nificent past ?
ABC
CHAPTER II.
Ancient History from the Ninth Century, 13. C., to the Seventh, *. 19.
SECTION I.
THE COUNTRY BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE PHENICIANS.— RISE
AND PROGRESS OF TIIE PUNIC POWER.
ISTORIANS speak only very vaguely of North
Africa during the period previous to the ar-
rival of the Phoenicians. Herodotus gives the names
of numerous peoples or nations situated between
Egypt and lake Triton; but he says nothing of the
inhabitants along the Atlas, and he sums up his infor-
mation upon Africa thus:
Africa thus: “There are only two great
native peoples, the Libyans and the Ethiopians.”
Leaving aside the Ethiopians, (whether they were
really blacks or simply a people of a very swarthy
complexion,) since authors place them altogether
towards the interior, there remain for the general
primitive people of North Africa only the Libyans.
Sallust, who attempted to trace back the origin of
this people in the Numidian books of Hiempsal, writ-
ten out according to ancient traditions, says that after
the death of Hercules in Spain, the Persians, the
A
TRADITIONAL ACCOUNTS.
9
Medes, and the Armenians who had followed him,
came again into Africa and mixed up with the ancient
inhabitants of the country, the Libyans and the
Getulians. From the union of the Persians and the
Getulians sprang the Numidians; and from the union
of the Medes and Armenians with the Libyans sprang
the Moors.
The Byzantine historian, Procopius, speaks of the
Moors as Canaanites expelled from Palestine at the
epoch of the invasion by Joshua. Admitting this,
let us observe that the Getulians, Numidians and
Moors enter into the unity of the Libyan race
vaguely indicated by Herodotus.
In fact, Sallust speaks of the Getulians as having
the same manners and the same traits of character as
the Libyans; and Strabo considers them as a branch
of that people. Herodotus regards the Numidians as
a simple variety of the Libyans, and Strabo regards
the Moors in the same light. According to Sallust,
Moors and Numidians are, it is true, mixed races, but
are attached to a more numerous and predominant
primitive population, with which they were necessa-
rily confounded.
From that which precedes, we can, I think, infer,
first, the existence of a single primitive population,
whose origin the Latin and Greek authors scarcely
specify, and which they regarded, according to their
habits, as purely aboriginal and indigenous; second,
successive foreign immigrations, which became amal-
gamated with this native population.
And, first, this population itself, like that of the
whole world, is of oriental origin; for humanity, like
2
10
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
civilization, has followed the light of the rising sun
from east to west. The identity or the similarity of
the language and of the general characteristics of this
population and of the primitive inhabitants of west-
ern Arabia, Palestine and Egypt indicates their com-
mon origin. The Libyans, like the ancient Egyptians
and the Phoenicians, are of a stock slightly mixed, in
which predominates the blood of Ham.
According to the Bible, Mizraim, Canaan, Cush
and Phut were brothers, and modern philology has
found a striking analogy between the very name of
the Lehabim descendants of Mizraim, and the Libyans
of antiquity, (in Greek, Aeßun, Libya; defuoc, Libyans).
The Arab historians who speak of Africa agree
with ethnographers and modern travellers in affirm-
ing the identity of the Libyans or primitive Africans,
and of the actual Berbers.
These Berbers, who are scattered over the whole
north of Africa, from the valleys of the Atlas to the
desert of Sahara, and from Egypt to the Atlantic
ocean, and who are called Amasighs in Morocco;
Cabyls in Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli; Tibboos in
Fezzan and in Egypt, and Touaregs in the north of
the Sahara ;- these Berbers, are regarded to-day
as one of the types of that primitive family which
science calls Egypto-Berber, and of which they are
the most numerous and the most persistent branch.
What were the condition and physiognomy of this
Libyan or Berber race, spread ab antiquo over all North
Africa ? It appears that from Egypt to the end of
the Syrtis Minor, (gulf of Gabes), it led the wander-
ing life of the Nomads; from lake Triton to the
ABORIGINAL POPULATION.
11
ocean, i. c., from the southeast to the northwest, it
had fixed habitations and lived by the tillage of the
ground. Back of these maritime and agricultural
Libyans, lived the Getulians, a people of the same
race, as we have said, but more rude and nomadic.
The very nature of the soil explains these differences
of life. From the columns of Hercules to the Syrtis
Minor, the territory sustained and divided by moun-
tains, extends towards the Mediterranean some nar-
row but fertile valleys. Beyond these, the continent
is depressed; it is the sandy plain, the immense
desert, which widens out from the ocean to Egypt,
reaching almost to the orient towards the shores of
the eastern Mediterranean. Nothing, then, is more
natural than that the Libyans, modifying their habits,
and at length their manners, according to surround-
ing circumstances, should become subdivided, while
at the same time preserving the general character of
their race.
What was that character? “The men are robust
and active," says Sallust, “and capable of enduring
all fatigues; their constitution, almost always more
powerful than disease, yields only to the burden of
old age, unless by chance they fall under the tooth
of the wild beast or by fire.” “ Happy to lie upon
the ground,” says Procopius, “they have for all sea-
sons only one thick dress, a tunic with a long nap,
which they wear around them. They have no knowl-
edge of bread or wine; wheat and barley in their
natural state are sufficient for their nourishment.”
Such was, and such is still, fundamentally, the
physical character of the Libyans or Berbers : force,
12
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
sobriety, activity, and thence a proud spirit and
dauntless valor.
Which are the eastern peoples that in the course
of centuries immigrated into North Africa? Nothing
truly historic exists upon this subject. Traditions
transmitted by authors, or even orally from one gen-
eration to another, preserve dark souvenirs of these
immigrations without indicating either their epoch,
their nature or their exact name. Probably the
facility with which the immigrants became assimi-
lated and incorporated by virtue of a common origin,
contributed to this obscurity of history.
The Phoenicians and the Greeks are the only peo-
ples of historic antiquity whose invasions are well
known and traced back in their consequences. Sail-
ors and merchants, they came to establish themselves
upon the two large promontories, which face, one of
them towards Greece, and the other towards Sicily:
the Greeks in the country of Cyrene; the Phoeni-
cians in that of Carthage. We need not occupy
ourselves with the Greeks; a word only about the
Phoenicians will suffice.
Their history is essentially that of their voyages
and of their colonies. The Tyrian Hercules is the
symbol of that history. “His march,” says the illus-
trious German, Heeren, “is not marked by the sack-
ing of the cities and the devastation of the country;
but by a long suite of flourishing colonies, which
introduced agriculture and the arts to a gross and
barbarous people.”
The Phoenician establishments had naturally to
extend from east to west upon the shores of the
.
PHENICIAN SETTLEMENTS.
13
Mediterranean. From the Hellespont and the isles
of the Archipelago to the strait of the Columns, they
dotted the coasts of Africa, of Spain and of the great
intermediate islands, especially during the brilliant
period of the navigation and of the commerce of the
Phoenicians, which was from the tenth to the sixth
century, B. C.
The admirable position and the fertility of the
country which constitutes the actual regency of
Tunis had the effect to early attract the attention of
this essentially mercantile and utilitarian people.
They flocked there and founded successively Utica,
Carthage, Hadrumetum, Thysdrus, Leptis Parva, etc.
But Carthage speedily inherited power from the
Phoenicians and so developed it as to eclipse the
glory of the Phoenician metropolis. It must then
engage our attention for a while at this point of the
course which we propose to take from the past to
the present of Tunisia.
RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE PUNIC POWER.
It appears certain that in the twelfth century, B.
C., the Phoenicians had founded upon the Libyan
coast numerous colonies; some of them dependent
upon their respective oriental metropolis, whose vol-
untary and purely commercial immigrations had
peopled them; others established by citizens exiled
on account of civil wars; and all of them become
powerful by the development of the nautical skill
and commercial enterprise of their race.
The first or rather the most important of the Phoe-
14
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
nician cities founded in Africa before Carthage, was
Utica, situated twenty-five miles to the northwest of
Tunis, upon the territory of the actual Bou-Shahter
on the ancient western shore of the gulf of Tunis,
from which it is at present removed several miles.
I say ancient shore, for it is certain that the actual
western bank of this gulf has been slowly formed by
the alluvium of the Majerda, (ancient Bagrada), which
has changed its channel. It once flowed much nearer
Carthage into the sea, while at present it empties into
the lake of Porto Farina (Ghar el Melh). We shall,
in speaking of the present state of the country, enter
into some details on this subject.
Utica was founded, according to all the historians,
two or three centuries before Carthage. But across
the vague indications of these distant and confused
epochs, how can we attain precision and certainty ?
How dissipate the shades that envelope the origin of
the Phoenician power in Africa and the cradle of
Carthage ?
“Carthage,” says the learned Dureau de la Malle,
" had the sad destiny to shed forth a great light only
at the moment of its ruin, and to see the care of its
glory entrusted to foreign writers. All knowledge
of Carthaginian writers has long since been lost;
and of foreign authors not one has written consecu-
tively the history of this republic."
According to the common poetic tradition, Carth-
age, a Tyrian colony was founded by Dido or Elissa,
great-grand-daughter of that Ithabel, king of Tyre,
who was, according to the Scriptures, the father of
the famous Jezebel. She had married one of her
FOUNDATION OF CARTHAGE.
15
.
relatives, Sichæus or Sicharbas, one of the most opu-
lent citizens of Tyre. Pygmalion, brother of Dido,
a cruel and covetous tyrant, assassinated Sichæus, in
the hope of enjoying his immense possessions. But
Elissa, thwarting his plans, secretly seized the treas-
ures of her murdered husband and escaped by sea
in company with a few courageous partisans; and,
after sailing about a long time in the eastern Medi-
terranean, she arrived in Africa on the western coast
of the gulf of Tunis, according to Strabo, one hun-
dred and twenty stadias (ten or twelve miles) from
the city of Tunis.
Virgil explains in the Æneid, as rendered by
Dryden, the foundation of Carthage. The beautiful
Venus is represented as standing upon a prominent
hill, now Sidi Bou Said, and enlightening the pious
Æneas with the following narration, which has come
to be a part of the history or rather poetry of the
country:
“The rising city, which from far you see,
Is Carthage, and a Tyrian colony.
Phoenician Dido rules the growing state,
Who fled from Tyre, to shun her brother's hate :
Great were her wrongs, her story full of fate;
Which I will sum in short. Sichæus, known
For wealth, and brother to the Punic throne,
Possessed fair Dido's bed; and either heart
At once was wounded with an equal dart.
Her father gave her, yet a spotless maid;
Pygmalion then tho Tyrian sceptre swayed —
One who contemn'd divine and human laws.
Then strife ensued, and cursed gold the cause.
The monarch, blinded, with desire of wealth,
With steel in vades his brother's life by stealth;
Before the sacred altar made him bleed,
And long from her concealed the cruel deed.
Some tale, some new pretence, he daily coined,
16
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
To soothe his sister and delude hor mind.
At lengh, in dead of night, the ghost appears
Of her unhappy lord: the spectre stares,
And with erected eyes his bloody bosom bares.
The cruel altars and his fate he tells,
And the dire secret of his house reveals :
Then warns the widow and her household gods
To seek a refuge in remote abodes.
Last, to support her in so long a way,
He shows her where his bidden treasure lay.
Admonished thus, and seized with mortal fright,
The Queen provides companions of her flight:
They meet and all combine to leave the state,
Who hate the tyrant, or who fear his hate.
They seize a fleet, which ready rigged they find,
Nor is Pygmalion's treasure left behind.
The vessels, heavy laden, put to sea
With prosperous winds: a woman leads the way.
I know aot, if by stress of weather driv'n,
Or was their fatal course disposed by Heav'n;
At last they landed, where from far your eyes
May view the turrets of New Carthage rise ;
There bought a space of ground, which (Byrsa called
From the bull's hide) they first inclosed, and walled."
According to a well-known legend, Dido asked the
natives of the country for as much land as she could
enclose with an ox-hide. This apparently small favor
once obtained, the shrewd princess had an ox-hide
cut into narrow strips, and fastening them together
at the ends, she in that way enclosed a large tract of
land around the hill where afterwards arose the cita-
del called the Byrsa on account of the stratagem
employed by Dido; for Bupoo (Byrsa) in Greek signi-
fies skin or hide.
But this singular etymological explanation loses
its value beside an observation long since made, that
in the Syriac, as in the Hebrew, (and the Phoenician
strongly resembles these two tongues), the word
FOUNDATION OF CARTHAGE.
17
Bosra signifies citadel, and thus this word, copied and
slightly altered by the Greeks, becomes Byrsa.
Other historians, such as Philistus, Appian and St.
Jerome, maintain, on the contrary, that the real
founders of Carthage were Zoros and Karchedon,
and that Elissa only enlarged it. In each case, they
agree to date its foundation long before that of
Rome, and at least 870 years before the Christian era;
and this is the date generally adopted.
Some critics, however, date the foundation of Car-
thage as far back as 1250 years B. C., which epoch cor-
responds very nearly to that of the Trojan war. This
opinion has the advantage of justifying Virgil, who
has been so much reproached with the anachronism
of representing at the court of Dido a hero who
lived three centuries before. According to this
hypothesis, Dido and Æneas were contemporaries,
and the accounts of the Æneid are substantially
historic.
But we cannot know the name of the veritable
founder of Carthage ; for the authors who think it
founded 1250 years B. C., regard Zoros and Karche-
don only as having enlarged it before the arrival of
Dido.
From various causes, the history of the first cen-
turies of Carthage is even less known and more con-
fused than that of Rome. . It is sufficient to admit,
as marking points, that Carthage was probably found-
ed in the course of the ninth century B. C., and that
iſ the honor of founding it does not belong to Dido,
that princess had at least the honor of enlarging it
and of commencing its career of prosperity.
3
18
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
It is related that in laying the foundations of the
New Cily, (in the Phoenician tongue, Kartha-hadtha,
from which the Greeks make out Karchedon, and the
Latins, Carthago), they found imbedded in the soil
the head of an ox. This emblem of servitude, hav-
ing been regarded by the Phoenician priests as a bad
omen, they proceeded to dig a little further on, and
found the head of a horse, which is the symbol of
ardor, courage and conquest. This legend, without
doubt, caused the horse to be selected as the emblem
of Carthage; and the symbol of this great mercantile
power, became henceforth either u spirited winged horse
in the act of leaping, (a pegasus), a horse in the shade of a
palm tree, or simply the heud of a horse.*
Built upon a peninsula joined to the main land by
an isthmus, which is found at the present time con-
siderably widened by the continuous alluvium of the
Majerda, Carthage extended around the Byrsa, which
is the actual hill of St. Louis, so as to touch the furthest
slopes of cape Cammart on the northeast, and the
shores of the lake of Tunis on the southwest. When
we reach, in the course of this narration, the last
period in its history, we shall give some essential
details upon its topography and upon its ruins.
In order to enlarge the limits of her empire, at first
very contracted, Carthage had to struggle for a long
time against the surrounding tribes, to which at the
origin she paid tribute. She had to conquer, little
by little, that territory on which she afterwards suc-
ceeded in establishing many new centres of power
* The engraving on the title page represents the two sides of a Cartha-
ginian coin.
CONTEST WITH CYRENE.
19
and points of support. She threw off her depend-
ence, ceased to pay tribute, invaded, point by point,
all the Tunisian coast of the Mediterranean, and grad-
ually advanced towards the interior. She became the
centre of attraction for all these Phoenician colonies,
her elders, her rivals, her sisters, or her daughters,
Utica, Hadrumetum, Leptis Parva, Hippo-Zarytos,
etc., --and disseminating in the midst of the Libyans
her establishments, by degrees she enveloped them
as in a Punic net strongly fastened to the shore, and
speedily extended her power from the present Alge-
rine frontier to the remote borders of Tripoli.
Thus was definitely formed, by the mixture of two
races, that Libyo-Phoenician people, whose primitive
Phoenician colonies, recruited and enlarged by natives,
had been their cradle, and who were going to act in
the ancient world under the name of Carthaginians,
and under the sole impulsion of Carthage, a part sim-
ilar to that acted at a somewhat later period by the
people of Latium under the name of Romans and
under the conduct of Rome.
But history gives no definite inforination about
these struggles, which lasted at least two or three
centuries, and resulted in the supremacy of Car-
thage. It speaks of them vaguely, and dwells with
distinctness only on the contest between Carthage
and Cyrene in regard to the boundary line between
their territories.
Cyrene was, as is known, a very powerful city,
situated on the shore of the Mediterranean to the
east of the Syrtis Major, and it was originally a col-
ony founded by the Lacedemonians. After unavail-
20
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ing combats, the parties agreed upon a truce, and
that two deputies should set off from the cities of
Carthage and Cyrene at the same time, and that the
place where they should meet should become the
boundary line between the two states.
The Carthaginian brothers, Phileni, leaving Car-
thage, passed through all the country of Syrtis Minor
and entered the confines of Cyrenaica on the border
of Syrtis Major. The Cyrenian deputies protested
on meeting the Carthaginians so soon; accused them
of setting off before the time agreed upon, and would
not consent to thus draw back their frontier to the
detriment of Cyrene and to the advantage of Car-
thage. They offered, however, to credit the word of
the Phileni and establish the frontier at the place of
their meeting on the condition of burying alive their
rival deputies on the spot. The Phileni magnani-
mously sacrificed their lives for the aggrandizement of
their country, whose territory was thereby immensely
extended. The Carthaginians lauded them as bene-
factors, and soon rendered them divine honors, erect-
ing on the place of their devotion the Altars of the
Phileni, (aræ Philoenorum), which became henceforth
the eastern boundary of their empire. They received
in this way under their jurisdiction the Lotophagi
and the Nasamons, powerful native tribes which after-
wards became the agents of the commerce carried
on between Carthage and Central Africa.
Tranquil on the side of Cyrene; victorious over
the Numidians and the Moors, and dominant, by rea-
son of her force and skill, and the superiority of her
comparative civilization, over all the African tribes
FIRST MARITIME CONQUEST.
21
near which she had once humbly begged a little nook
of land, Carthage turned her attention and her ambi-
tion towards the Mediterranean. Once sovereign
over this sea, she would rule the ancient world.
At this epoch, (540 B. c.), the Phocians were a
formidable maritime nation. Carthage united her
growing fleet to that of the Etrurians and gave them
battle in the waters of the great island of Cyrnos,
(Corsica). The Phocians were defeated, and the
island came under the dominion of the victors.
This was the first station gained by Carthage in
the Mediterranean, and it was maintained only by
means of great efforts and sacrifices. But the com-
manding position of this sea being Sicily, this ambi-
tious colony coveted it, and Malchus, a general greatly
distinguished by his successes over the Africans, in-
vaded and seized most of this island in the year 536
B. C.*
A frightful plague, however, came to moderate the
joy of Carthage in this success, and in spite of numer-
ous human sacrifices to appease the anger of the gods,
the scourge redoubled its fury and desolated the city.
To this misfortune was added the defeat of Malchus
in his attempt to land in Sardinia. He was accused
and banished with his army; but, irritated, he march-
ed upon Carthage, took possession of it, put to death
ten senators and seized the power. Soon accused of
aspiring to the throne, he was himself put to death.
It was several years later when the first treaty
* Malchus was the first sufet (chief magistrate) of which history speaks.
It was probably in his time that the monarchy, the first government of
Carthage, was replaced by a complex republican government of which we
shall spoak further on.
22
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
between Carthage and Rome was concluded, (509 B.
c.), a year after the fall of the Tarquins and during
the consulship of Junius Brutus and Marcus Horatius.
This document, whose object was to establish a kind
of alliance between these two republics by means of
fixed limits to the navigation of the Romans, and
of obstacles along the Italian coast to the ambition of
the Carthaginians, shows, on the one hand, that as
early as the consulship of the first Brutus, the com-
merce of Rome had already become sufficiently flour-
ishing to attract attention; and, on the other hand,
that the Carthaginians had then become masters of
the sea and of the island of Sicily, and of almost all
of Sardinia,
The Carthaginians had also carried
their commerce to the maritime cities which were
under Roman jurisdiction on the southwest coast of
Italy, and had probably menaced them with armas.
This extension of the Carthaginian power over the
Mediterranean was due especially to Mago, the suc-
cessor of Malchus, who was a great captain and a
superior magistrate and statesman. This second sufet
of Carthage organized and disciplined her armies,
removed far back the frontiers of her territory, devel-
oped her commerce, and left at his death this great
work to be continued by his two sons, Hasdrubal and
Hamilcar, who proved to be worthy heirs of his tal-
ents and of his noble and patriotic ambition.
They invaded anew Sardinia. Hasdrubal perished
there after having been clothed eleven times with
the dignity of sufet in honor of his victories and
other services, and after having four times received
the honor of a triumph. His brother Hamilcar suc-
ceeded him in command.
3
LEAGUE WITH XERXES.
23
This was the period when Xerxes, the king of the
Persians, began his gigantic and disastrous expedi-
tion against the Greeks. He wished to exterminate
the Greeks. The Carthaginians burned to achieve
the conquest of Sicily. They then seized this occa-
sion to make an alliance with the Persians, and it was
agreed that while the latter were marching against
Greece, the Carthaginians should crush the Greeks
of Sicily. They landed there 300,000 men by means
of a fleet of 2,000 ships.
After landing at Panormus (Palermo) and giving
several days of repose to his army, Hamilcar invested
Himera, a neighboring city. Heron, governor of the
place, having in vain solicited and awaited aid from
Leonidas, king of Lacedemonia, invoked the aid of
Gelon, king of Gela, and then master of Syracuse,
who hastened to him with 50,000 infantry and 5,000
cavalry.
Gelon did not, however, give battle at once ; for
he would have been outnumbered and overpowered.
He employed a ruse.
Hamilcar was expecting a
deputation from Selinus, his ally. Gelon despatched
to the Punic camp some horsemen, who succeeded in
passing themselves off as the expected delegation,
and who, massacring Hamilcar, astonished and terri-
fied the Carthaginians, and then profited by the con-
sequent disorder to burn their fleet.
Gelon, who followed not far from his emissaries,
forthwith attacked the Punic camp. Vigorously
repulsed at first, he soon succeeded in breaking the
ranks and destroying large numbers of the enerny.
As soon as the Carthaginians learned of the death of
24
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Hamilcar and saw the flames rising from their burn-
ing ships, they lost courage and fled. The confusion
and carnage were terrible; half of the Carthaginian
army perished upon the field of battle. The rest
attempted in vain to entrench themselves in a place
where they were in utter destitution; hemmed in and
starving, they surrendered at discretion. · The battle
of Himera took place, according to some authorities,
on the same day as that of Thermopylæ, (480 B. C.);
but Herodotus and Aristotle say, on the contrary,
that it occurred on the same day as that of Salamis,
which was a few days later than that of Thermopylæ,
and Dureau de la Malle adopts their opinion.
At the news of the disaster of Himera, Carthage,
in a state of consternation, seemed to see the enemy
already at her gates. She exiled at first, in stupid
vengeance, Gisco, son of Hamilcar. She then sent in
great haste to Gelon an humble embassy. The con-
queror, moderate and modest, courteously received
the embassy, and made peace on terms which were
regarded as favorable to the vanquished. Carthage
was to pay the expenses of the war, (about $2,500,-
000), and erect two temples to transmit to posterity
the conditions of the peace written upon tables of
marble. Some historians add that Gelon also stipu-
lated that Carthage should abolish the custom of
human sacrifices. *
* This act would correspond well with the character of Gelon. It is
known that after the important victory which saved his country, he called
a general meeting of his fellow-citizens in arms. He went there unarmed
and without escort, and offered to give account of all his conduct. The
entire people applauded him as a glorious liberator, and far from reproach-
ing him with a power which he had so well used, they confirmed it to him
and proclaimed him king. Two of his brothers succeeded him in office.
INVASION OF SICILY.
25
It was to prevent the dangers incurred to the
cause of civil liberty by the union of all these
pow-
ers in the hands of this family of generals, that the
Carthaginians established the Centumvirate, or tribunal
of one hundred senators, to whom the chiefs of the
army had to render account of their conduct.
Meanwhile Carthage had not renounced her pro-
jects in Sicily. Neither the disaster.which befell the
army of Hamilcar, nor the plague which devoured
that of Himilco, his son and successor, who had gained
there important advantages, could discourage her am-
bitious views. Though obliged to relinquish power,
she clung to the hope of regaining and enlarging her
dominions. A new occasion offered for the realiza-
tion of her hopes was joyfully seized.
After the destruction of the Athenian fleet, com-
manded by Nicias, before Syracuse, the Segestans,
who were allies of the vanquished, fearing the resent-
ment of the conquerors, sought the protection of
Carthage, and promised to put themselves under her
guidance and direction. The Carthaginians desired
nothing better than to occupy Segeste. They knew,
on the one hand, the strength the Syracusans had
acquired by their. recent victory. They therefore
hesitated and deliberated a long time. On the other
hand, national ambition and the counsel of the sufet
Hannibal, son of Gisco, spurred them on to take the
decisive step; and thus, under the pretext of pro-
tecting Segeste, an army of more than one hundred
thousand Carthaginians and mercenaries invaded
Sicily.
Hannibal, grandson of the vanquished commander
I.
4
26
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
at Himera, was eager to vindicate the military renown
of his family and the honor of his country. He
attacked Selinus. (409 B. C.) The defence was, like
the attack, terrible.. Women, children and enfeebled
old men came forth and fought like lions against the
besiegers, whose fury they thus exasperated. Seli-
nus, carried by assault, was given over to the brutish
vengeance of the soldiery. Then Hannibal permit-
ted, as a special favor, some unfortunate survivors to
establish themselves as tributaries of Carthage amidst
the ruins of their city.
The victorious general soon turned his force against
Himera; took the town by assault, and razing it to
the ground, delivered its inhabitants over to fire and
sword, sparing only 3,000 prisoners, whom he sub-
jected to cruel torments and debasing ignomy. Then
making them languish on the very spot where the
horsemen of Gelon had assassinated Hamilcar, he had
them all massacred together as an expiatory heca-
tomb to the manes of his grandfather.
Hannibal returned to Carthage laden with the
spoils of war. The entire population came forth to
meet him with acclamations of joy and gratitude.
This great success intensely stimulated the Punic
ambition, which could henceforth be allayed only by
the complete conquest of Sicily.
But before beginning on a vast scale a war, which
was to be this time decisive and final, the Carthagi-
nians wished to prepare for themselves a solid and
sure point of support. Doubtful allies not answer-
ing their purpose, they founded upon the north coast
of Sicily, near a thermal spring; a city thence called
EVENTS IN SICILY.
27
Thermo, (baths, at present Termini,) which they peo-
pled with Carthaginians and other African colonists.
Then they apponted again Hannibal to the com-
mand of a new army of 150,000 men.
This general,
not wishing on account of his great age to bear alone
this responsibility, they assigned as his lieutenant
his cousin Himilco, son of Hanno.
They soon attacked Agrigentum, a powerful and
rich city, situated, like Selinus, on the side of Sicily
facing Africa. Besieging it at its weakest point,
Hannibal elevated, as high as the ramparts, a formid-
able terrace constructed with the ruins of a vast
necropolis which he had demolished; and thus he
fought the enemy as on a plain.
But all at once the plague breaks out in his camp.
His soldiers, regarding this casualty as the chastise-
ment of heaven for the violation of the tombs, will
touch no more the work; and to calm the outraged
manes, they multiply their prayers and sacrifices
according to Punic rites. They immolate an infant
to the sombre god Moloch, and cast into the sea,
many living and many strangled men to satisfy the
god of the deep.
Agrigentum being one of the bulwarks of Sicily,
the Syracusans and the people of the island flock
under its walls, fight the Carthaginians, and hold
them blocked up and menaced with famine in their
camp. The mercenaries were already speaking of
passing over to the enemy, when Himilco, learning
that a convoy of provisions would arrive from Syra-
cuse at Agrigentum by sea, lays in wait for it with
forty galleys, destroys the Syracusan fleet which was
28
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
escorting it, and brings abundance and encourage-
ment to his soldiers, and want and consternation to
the inhabitants of Agrigentum.
The besieged abandoned their walls, leaving to
the mercy of the enemy their houses, their riches,
and what distressed them most, their wounded, their
sick, and their old men. A few of these unfortunate
creatures effected their flight to Gela; the rest were
massacred at the entrance of Himilco, who spared
no one, and he carried away magnificent spoils, pic-
tures, precious vases, objects of art and ornaments
of every sort, which he speedily sent to Carthage.
Among the spoils, was the famous Bull of Phalaris.
He took then Gela, in spite of the support afforded
by Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse. But the state
of his army induced him to propose terms of peace,
which Dionysius, fearing that further resistance would
result in the loss of his power, promptly subscribed.
The Carthaginians, besides their former conquests in
Sicily, kept Selinus, Agrigentum, Himera, Gela and
Camarina. The Leontins, Messenians, and the rest
of the unconquered people of the island, preserved
their independence, and Dionysius continued to reign
at Syracuse, (405 B. C.)
But this peace could not last. Dionysius and Car-
thage were rivals for the supreme control of Sicily, to
possess which one of them had naturally to destroy
the other. Dionysius, having first strengthened his
power, made immense war preparations, which he
superintended himself, complimenting and rewarding
the meritorious in person. Syracuse became like a
vast arsenal, and was filled with troops recruited from
every quarter.
MASSACRE OF CARTHAGINIANS,
29
Profiting by the consternation prevailing at Car-
thage on account of the ravages of the plague propa-
gated there by the army of Himilco on its return,
Dionysius harangues the Syracusans, and calls upon
them to put forth their energies and crush with one
blow that Punic power which was threatening to
invade the entire island. A general massacre is
begun at Syracuse, and gradually extending, reddens
the soil of Sicily with Carthaginian blood.
Then Dionysius summons Carthage to give up all
her establishments in Sicily or to accept war, and,
without waiting for a reply, he invests the city of
Motya with an imposing army and fleet. The defence
was obstinate, but the city was taken and the inhabi-
tants massacred, Dionysius left there a garrison and
returned to Syracuse, where a skilful coup de main of
a little Carthaginian squadron had annihilated by
night all his vessels which were in the harbor.
There the sufet Hanno soon appeared with 100,000
men and 400 ships. He ravages the territory of Syra-
cuse; sends admiral Mago to seize some of the ports.
of the city; takes possession of a suburb where he
pillages the temples of Ceres and Proserpine, then
fortifies his camp with the materials of the tombs
which were about the city, and among them that of
the late king Gelon, and he constructs three førts for
defence. But a frightful plague breaks out and
destroys nearly all his army, and the remains of it
are annihilated by fire, famine and the enemy.
Himilco shamefully capitulated and fled to Car-
thage with a small company of his fellow-citizens,
abandoning to the eneny all his companions in arms
el.
A. Case
30
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
who did not belong to Carthage. But soon stung
with remorse and abashed with shame, he ended his
life by starvation.
Meanwhile, the African subjects of Carthage, tired
of oppression and indignant at the cruelty inflicted
by. Himilco on their brethren in Sicily, rise in rebel-
lion to avenge their wrongs and free themselves from
bondage. Marching towards the capital, they take
Tunis, and soon press around the walls of the great
city to whose ambition and cruelty they attribute all
their ills. The besieged, believing in a new chastise-
ment inflicted by the offended gods, adopt solemnly
the worship of Ceres and Proserpine, whose temples
at Syracuse Himilco had profaned; and gaining con-
fidence by their devotion and sacrifices, they prepare
themselves for resistance. But famine, disorder and
bloody dissension appear in the camps of the rebels,
who, diminished and demoralized, raise the seige and
disperse. (395 B. C.)
In the year 383 B. C., Mago returned into Sicily
with another army. After various successes, which
restored the Carthaginians to power, a truce of nine
years was concluded. But Dionysius induces the
cities subjected by Mago to revolt anew, and the lat-
ter, hastening back, is beaten and killed in the great
battle of Cabala. Carthage implores peace, and the
conqueror replies that he will accord it when the
suppliant shall have evacuated Sicily and paid all
the expenses of the war.
Carthage gained time; then sent young Mago II,
who speedily changed the relative position of the
two powers, and forced Dionysius, vanquished in his
TREATY WITH DIONYSIUS.
31
turn, to sue for peace. The Punic general, moderate
and prudent, acceded to his request. But he soon
renewed the struggle, and was defeated in a naval
engagement. A new treaty was then concluded.
Finally, in the year 365 B. C., the death of Dionysius,
the elder, aged sixty-three years, delivered Carthage
from her most formidable enemy. During his long
reign of thirty-eight years, he held in check the proud
and formidable heir of Tyre with her immense armies
and fleets.
The second treaty between Carthage and Rome
was concluded about this time. (352 B. C.) It differs
from the first only that its provisions apply also to
the cities of Tyre and Utica.
At the death of Dionysius, the elder, civil war
broke out in Syracuse. Dionysius, the younger, had
all the faults of his father without having his good
qualities. He was soon driven away, though he after-
wards succeeded in reëntering and holding the city.
Carthage, profiting by these disorders, attempted to
introduce her forces into Syracuse. Mago took pos-
session of the harbor and landed there 60,000 men.
But the famous Greek general, Timoleon, sent by
Corinth to protect her colony, destroys, first, the
army of Icetas, usurper of Leontini, which was an ally
of Carthage. He then causes divisions to spring up
among the Sicilian enemies of Syracuse, and estab-
lishes himself in the citadel while Dionysius departs
for Corinth, and succeeds, by his position and influ-
ence, in striking Mago with so great fear of being
betrayed and annihilated that he sails for Carthage.
Accused of treason, he anticipates the punishment
32
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
prepared for him, and, to escape the terrible inflic-
tion, commits suicide. Foiled in their efforts to seize
and torture their unfortunate general, his country-
men gratified their revengeful sentiments by sus-
pending his lifeless body from a cross.
Harnilcar II and Hannibal II soon land in Sicily
with 70,000 soldiers. Timoleon, with 5,000 foot and
1,000 horse, boldly encounters them and gains a
complete victory over them in the midst of a storm
on the banks of the river Camicus. The victorious
soldiers enter and repose in the Punic camps, which
are given them as their share of the spoils.
Carthage was still suffering from this reverse, when
the conspiracy of Hanno occurred. Hanno was by his
riches and influence her foremost citizen. He wished
to reign. · With this view, he plotted to poison all
the senators, whom he invited to the marriage of his
daughter. Already he had ordered tables to be
spread in the public porticos for numerous citizens,
who were probably most of them his accomplices;
also a sumptuous banquet was preparing in his palace
for the chiefs of the republic. But the latter, who
were secretly warned of his projects, successfully
foiled the odious plan of Hanno, by passing a decree
which definitely regulated henceforth the expenses
and ceremonies of marriage, and thus rendered use-
less all the preparations of the traitor. The latter
then excites the slaves to revolt, and fixes the day
for the outbreak. Then discovered anew, he en-
trenches himself in a strong castle at the head of
several thousand partisans, and then appeals for aid
to the king of Mauritania and other African princes.
AGATHOCLES' CHARACTER.
33
But the Carthaginians sycceed in seizing him; have
him scourged, his eyes torn out, his arms and legs
broken, and after executing him in the presence of
the people, hang his disfigured body to a cross. His
sons and all his relatives, even those who were
strangers to his conspiracy, were unmercifully mas-
sacred, so that there might remain neither an imi-
tator nor an avenger of Hanno.
Meanwhile Timoleon had imposed on the Cartha-
ginians a treaty which limited their territory to the
river Halycus, and by which the Carthaginians should
grant to all Sicilians the right to establish themselves
at Syracuse, and should never make an alliance with
the regal enemies of this city.
Syracuse had just fallen under the power of Agath-
ocles. This son of a potter, fearfully depraved, but
of superior intelligence, rose from the post of a bri-
gand and simple soldier to that of a chiliarch (com-
mander of 1,000 men) and general at Syracuse.
Then, driven from this city on account of his ambi-
tion, he becomes prætor and general among the
Mugatins, in the name of which people he takes
possession of Leontini, and menaces the Syracusans,
who implore and obtain the aid of the Carthaginian
general, Harilcar. Agathocles also solicits the medi-
ation of Hamilcar, promising his services in return.
The Punic general foreseeing the advantage of an
alliance with this formidable adventurer, obtains for
him not only peace and the right to reënter Syra-
cuse, but the dignity of prætor in this city which had
driven him out and which he had just besieged. He
enters with a guard of 50,000 Africans. Soon he
5
34
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
massacres the principal patricians; then the senate;
then the notable plebeians, and reigns supreme. He
attacks afterwards the neighboring cities with the
assent of Hamilcar. The latter was accused before
the senate by the Sicilian allies of Carthage, who
had been menaced by Agathocles. He was secretly
condemned to death, but it so happened that he died
a natural death without any knowledge of his sen-
tence. Agathocles was so irritated by this judgment
which showed him in what light he was held by the
Punic senate, that he boldly declared war against
Carthage.
Hamilcar, son of Gisco, had an engagement with
Agathocles near Himera, and drove him back into
Syracuse. Another battle is fought, and another
defeat is suffered. Syracuse is reduced to extremi-
ties. Agathocles, fearing the hatred of his fellow-
citizens; seeing Sicily completely in the hands of
the Carthagenians, and himself without the means
to resist them, conceives the extraordinary idea of
invading Africa and reducing Carthage to an ex-
tremity as great as that of himself at Syracuse.
Counting upon the ill-concealed hatred of the Afri-
can subjects at Carthage, and upon the absence of
the best Carthaginian troops then stationed in Sicily,
he leaves a little band of brave men in the besieged
city; takes with him his best soldiers ; embarks upon
sixty vessels; cuts his way through the enemy's
squadron, which seeks to hem him in without know-
ing who he is, and finally lands not far from cape
Bon before any person at Syracuse even suspects his
astonishing project, which he executes with wonder-
AGATHOCLES' SUCCESSES.
35
ful secrecy and tact, none of his companions even
understanding his design. As soon as he is fairly
disembarked upon this land for whose conquest he
is come, calling a meeting of his companions-in-arms,
he explains his plans with electrifying eloquence, and
then boldly burns his vessels so that there may be no
chance for the safety of his troops except in the exe-
cution of his orders. The army soon marches through
fertile and well cultivated plains covered with country
houses. This sight, together with the sympathy of
disaffected Carthaginian subjects, animates its failing
courage. Swollen with recruits, this army sweeps on
with resistless force.
Carthage, which soon learns of all that is passing,
is stricken with terror. One party within the walls
fearing a siege, demands that the senate treat with
the enemy. But after the first shock is passed, they
put weapons into the hands of all citizens within the
fortifications, and speedily raise an army of 40,000
foot, flanked by 1,000 horse and 2,000 war chariots,
which go forth under the orders of Hanno and
Bomilcar, to encounter Agathocles. The latter, with
only 14,000 men, gained the victory through the
treason of Bomilcar, who, hoping after the defeat of
his colleague, to come into power by the aid of his
troops, left the army commanded by Hanno to fight
alone, and its general to perish in the disorder and
defeat occasioned by the misconduct of the traitor
himself. Agathocles encamps at Tunis, and the
Carthaginians see at a distance their country rav-
aged and their villages burned. Terror awakens
superstition. They repent of having until then, by
36
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
a sacrilegious avarice, gradually diminished their
annual offerings sent ab antiquo to the god Melkharth,
the Tyrian Hercules, who was protector of the Phoe-
nician metropolis and of all its colonies. They send
this time splendid gifts. To make reparation also to
the god Moloch (Saturn) whom they had defrauded,
sacrificing the sons of slaves instead of patrician chil-
dren according to the rite, they now sacrifice 200
young victims chosen from among the first families;
and to complete the expiation, 300 persons voluntarily
lay bare their throats to the accursed knife, happy
to give up their lives for the safety of their country.
Meanwhile Agathocles, supported by the Africans
who sought to throw off the yoke of Carthage, was
master of Hadrumetum, Thapsus, Leptis Parva, and
of more than 200 other secondary places, and by
force or by strategy he had twice repulsed the ene-
my from his fortified camp at Tunis.
Hamilcar is recalled from Sicily. Before his de-
parture, he discourages Syracuse by a false report of
a disaster befallen Agathocles in Africa, and gains
some advantages; but the truth is soon known from
the mouth of a messenger sent by Agathocles him-
self. Hamilcar, returning to the charge, is beaten,
taken and killed.
Agathocles, everywhere triumphant, subdues by
his presence of spirit and by his eloquence and firm-
ness, a sedition which breaks out in his army, and
which the Carthaginians seek to encourage; and he
makes overtures of alliance to Ophellas, king of
Cyrenaica, former lieutenant of Alexander the Great,
and husband of a descendant of Miltiades. Ophellas
BOMILCAR'S INSURRECTION.
37
was entertaining ambitious views in regard to acquir-
ing the control of Africa. Agathocles proposed unit-
ing together to annihilate Carthage, the sole obstacle
to this project; then to divide the west between the
two; Ophellas taking Africa, and Agathocles Sicily.
Ophellas, pleased with the proposition, came with
20,000 men to join the victorious Sicilian. The lat-
ter received him at first graciously, but, soon repent-
ing of his agreement, assassinated in his camp the
unfortunate Cyrenian king, and then succeeded, by
means of magnificent presents and promises, in
retaining his army in his service.
The dangers to Carthage from a foreign foe were
on the increase, and civil dissensions came to aggra-
vate them. Bomilcar, at the head of 8,000 partisans,
had attained the position of an autocrat, shedding
the blood of his fellow-citizens. Terror and conster-
nation gain full sway. The Carthaginians believe in
the presence, or in the speedy arrival, of Agathocles.
But soon they come to their senses.
ous young men organize resistance. Bomilcar and
his partisans, impelled by a storm of arrows and
stones, leave the city in disorder and go forth to
entrench themselves upon a neighboring hill, which
is called Gebel Khawee or Catacomb Hill, where the
citizens, arms in hand, molest and distress them. The
senate put an end to the struggle by proclaiming a
general amnesty. Bomilcar reënters the city. He
is seized, subjected to horrible tortures, and is finally
crucified in the centre of that forum where but
recently he was received and applauded as a king.
Fortunately for Carthage, Agathocles had no
Some courage-
38
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
knowledge of this interior disorder; for he would
doubtless have turned it to his advantage; and for-
tunately for Agathocles, Carthage had no knowledge
of his relations with the unfortunate Ophellas; for
she would have gladly leagued herself with the lat-
ter to defeat the former, thus greatly changing the
current of events and the relative position of the
parties intriguing for power.
And now the conquering Syracusan takes Utica
and Hippo-Zarytos, and gives them over to his
brutal soldiery for deeds of cruelty and death; and
having subjected most of the maritime cities and a
great number of the tribes in the interior, and made
an alliance offensive and defensive with the Numidi-
ans, he judges his authority so well established in
Africa that he need not deign to take any reprisals
from Carthage, which seems too feeble to be feared.
He takes 2,000 soldiers alone, leaving the rest to his
son, Archagathos, and returns into Sicily.
While the new general effeminately pursues some
expeditions, Carthage resolves to rise from her
humiliation or to perish in the effort.
into the field three armies, under Adherbal, Hanno
and Himilco; and to oblige the enemy to divide his
force, she sends them in three different directions.
Hanno and Himilco attack and kill Eschrion and
Eumachus, lieutenants of Archagathos; destroy
nearly all their army; and, uniting with Adherbal,
they drive back and besiege in Tunis the son of
Agathocles, who is so cast down by these reverses
that he sends in haste, entreating his father to come
and save him.
She puts
AGATHOCLES' RETURN.
39
his way
Agathocles, though tottering on his throne in
Sicily, hesitates not to throw himself once more
into Africa, He again forces his way out of the
harbor of Syracuse, which is still blockaded by a
little though persistent Carthaginian squadron; he
repulses a fleet that tries to block
up
In
fine, he lands in Africa, fights a drawn battle with
the three Carthaginian generals, and retires roughly
handled into his camp. During one night the Punic
camp takes fire; disorder prevails there; several
thousand Africans, having lost faith in Agathocles,
quit him at this moment to pass over to the Cartha-
ginians; the latter, seeing them coming at a distance,
believe it an attack of the enemy; the confusion is
such that 5,000 Carthaginians, embarrassing each
other in their flight, perish in the flames and by the
precipices, or kill each other in their blind terror.
The African deserters, retracing their steps, cause
the same panic and a similar disaster in the camp of
Agathocles. At length, after various vicissitudes of
fortune, this wonderful adventurer, fatigued with
this long and painful war; feeling himself too weak
longer to continue it; seeing also the sea in the
power of the enemy, and himself without vessels for
embarking his troops, lost all courage and energy,
and embarked secretly by night upon a light vessel
for Sicily. His son and his small army remained
exposed to the vengeance of the Carthaginians.
The army, indignant, revolted, and massacred Archa-
gathos, and then was forced to treat with the enemy
on the following terms: The Sicilians were to give
up to the Carthaginians all their African conquests
40
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
for the sum of 300 talents, and as to the remainder
of the army, those who wished were to be incorpo-
rated into the Punic army, and the rest were to be
sent into Sicily. Some municipal chiefs, who resisted
the execution of this treaty, were crucified, and their
soldiers, reduced to slavery, were compelled to work
as serfs of the soil in the same fields, which they had
ravaged under their Syracusan chieftan. Thus, after
a four years struggle which had failed to annihilate
her, Carthage rose up and became more powerful than
ever.
The following year a new treaty with Agathocles
reëstablished the possessions of the two parties in
Sicily, as they were before the war; and Carthage
agreed to pay on this occasion to her old enemy,
whom she still feared, 300 talents, (a little less than
$500,000), and 200,000 measures of wheat.
Agathocles died after a reign of twenty-eight years,
in his ninety-fifth year. The democracy rose again
in Syracuse and civil war broke out, which lasted
nine years, at the expiration of which the Cartha-
ginians came again to besiege that city with 100
vessels and 50,000 men.
At this epoch, (278 B. c.) the Carthaginians and
the Romans renewed their old treaty, adding to it a
clause offensive and defensive against Pyrrhus, king
of Epirus, who was menacing at the same time Italy
and Sicily. When this prince, having gained a foot-
hold in Magna Grecia (southeastern Italy), had de-
feated many Roman armies, the Carthaginians sent
to their allies a fleet of 120 ships, commanded by
Mago, with offers of assistance. The Roman senate
PYRRHUS IN SICILY.
41
thanked them, but declined to accept the proffered
aid.
About this time Pyrrhus, who was a son-in-law of
Agathocles and was moreover invited by the Syra-
cusans, passed the straits of Messina and landed upon
the island. The Sicilians opened to him the gates
of their city and gave up the key to their treasury.
The king of Epirus with his allies had soon reduced
to his subjection all the possessions of Carthage in
Sicily, except along the city of Lilybeum. The Car-
thaginians in these circumstances desired terms for
an accommodation. Pyrrhus replied with the demand
that they should evacuate Sicily as the sole condition
of peace. They refused; and, as he had besieged
Lilybeum, they repulsed him with heavy losses.
Soon his arrogance and cruelties disgusted the
Sicilian cities. The Carthaginians augmented their
troops. Pyrrhus, beset with dangers and losing con-
fidence in his ability to maintain himself there, left
to its former masters that beautiful and flourishing
country, which he lost more rapidly than he gained.
At the moment of his embarkation for Tarentum,
drawing a deep sigh, he exclaimed: “Oh! the beau-
tiful battle-fields we leave for the Carthaginians and
the Romans !
6
UI
42
t
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
SECTION II.
CARTHAGE AND ROME. -- FIRST PUNIC WAR.- WAR OF THE MERCE-
NARIES.-SECOND PUNIC WAR-HANNIBAL.
The remark of Pyrrhus was speedily verified.
Carthage and Rome soon met face to face. They
were the two greatest powers of the west; that is,
of the so-called ancient world, which each wished to
rule alone.
The identity of their ambition was enough to con-
stitute their rivalry and bring on their struggle: the
opposition and the antipathy of their national and
political character necessarily precipitated, aggra-
vated and rendered more terrible that struggle.
The contest lasted nearly 120 years, upon various
fields of battle, and with numerous pretexts and
turns of fortune; but always with the same end;
the same earnest efforts, and the same tenacity of
purpose on both sides : for in disputing with each
other, at first for the possession of Sicily; then of
Spain; then of Africa itself, it is the empire of the
Mediterranean and the control of the ancient world,
which Rome and Carthage wished each to wrest from
the other, exercising universal and undisputed sway.
To realize this vast ambition to which both were
impelled by the very force of things, each of them
will bear the greatest sacrifices; will face the most
terrible dangers; will courageously put in peril the
very independence and even the political existence
of her own city; and it is solely in losing both, that
is, in surrendering her right to live, that Carthage
will acknowledge herself conquered in this long and
CARTHAGE AND ROME.
43
bloody competition; since it would have been solely
by the annihilation of Rome that she would have
believed herself victorious, had fortune smiled on
her efforts for supremacy and life.
“The wars between Rome and Carthage,” says the
learned Heeren, “ being the inevitable consequence
of rivalry for aggrandizement between two conquer-
ing powers, as soon as they approached each other in
their conquests, it matters not to know which was the
aggressor. While we cannot see how to clear Rome
from reproach, we cannot but remark that, according
to the laws of sound policy, it would be difficult to
reconcile the safety of Italy with the absolute rule
of Carthage over Sicily.”
If we remark, from another point, that in the con-
trary supposition, the consequences would have been
the same; in other words, that if instead of the Car-
thaginians, the Romans had ruled Sicily, the security
of Africa, or rather the maritime empire of Carthage
would have been endangered, we are led to infer
what in fact occurred, that the cause and the arena
of the first encounter of the two rivals would have
been found in Sicily.
At the beginning of the Punic wars, the superiority
of Carthage is manifest. She ruled from the Syrtis
Major to Hippo Regia (near Bona) in Africa. Two-
thirds of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia, supported in
the western Mediterranean her formidable navy, and
her great armies, recruited among twenty different
peoples, secured her sway. Rome extended, it is
true, by her possessions, her colonies and her munici-
pia in almost all peninsular Italy, to the straits of
44
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
.
Messina, but she was poor in comparison with Car-
thage; she had no fleet to conimand respect, and
her commerce as well as her maritime importance
was comparatively small.
But if territorial importance, exterior force and
apparent power gave the superiority to Carthage,
how many considerations show that the preparations
for the final issue of the struggle were far from
being in her favor. The aristocracy governed at
Carthage. as at Rome. But at Rome the patricians
held it an honor to justify their rank as the first citi-
zens by their virtues and patriotism. At Carthage,
enervated, corrupted, avaricious, selfish, tyrannical
and contemptuous towards the rest of the people,
they formed an isolated caste rather than a class
which crowned all the others. Love of glory, ambi-
tion to combat, to conquer or to die for country, such
were the aims and motives of Rome. To aggrandize
commerce, to accumulate riches, to enjoy them even
viciously, such was the tendency of Carthage. Here
the defence of country was an odious burden imposed
for money on strangers. At Rome, the soldiers were
only citizens armed. The Carthaginian troops being
mostly mercenaries, could have neither discipline,
devotion to country, nor veritable courage; and the
irregularity of the payments and the bad chances of
war made many foes, and caused serious embarrass-
ments. On the other hand, rigid discipline, deliber-
ate, patient and unlimited devotion, courage and
energy in the face of danger, and noble patriotism
were the characteristics of the Roman legions. In a
word, Rome in all the vigor of her youth, had a spirit
POLICY AND RELIGION.
45
and a heart national: her army was a part of herself,
animated with the views and sentiments of the coun-
try. Carthage already in full corruption, had only an
eager desire to aggrandize or at least preserve her
mercantile empire: her army was imported and paid
for. At Rome, the sentiment of honor predominated :
at Carthage, that of utility.
They were unlike also in religion and in politics.
At Carthage, the divinity, evil-doing, terrible, and
gross, like the races descended from Ham, was mani-
fested to worshippers only in striking them with
calamities, and claimed from them as homage.only
cruel and unnatural sacrifices or abominable cere-
monies and orgies. Massacre and prostitution were
the two aspects of this brutifying worship; terror
and wantonness the two forms of piety.
At Rome, in spite of the aberrations of paganism,
the ideas of meekness, goodness, mercy, justice and
beneficence pervaded the public religion and its
national manifestations, and the gods were regarded
as the supreme protectors of goodness and of the
good, and the eternal punishers of wickedness and
of the wicked.
It was the policy of Rome, it is true, to extend
her einpire by conquest; but the conquered peoples
promptly accepted her rule either from a conscious-
ness of its superiority or on account of its direct ben-
efits; they were admitted to the rights and shared
the hopes of the metropolis, from which, in fact, they
differed little in language, manners and character.
Carthage, planted in the midst of the natives of
Africa, who little resembled her in language and
46
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
manners; for the lapse of centuries and diversity of
circumstances and influences had deepened the chasm
between the Syro-Phoenicians and the Libyans, peo-
ples originally similar ; Carthage, we say, rendered
herself odious to her subjects and her tributaries by
her severely mercantile spirit, and by the cupidity,
injustice and cruelty of her agents.
Also, while Rome, loyal and trustful, had fortified
her colonies and her municipia, which were always at
the moment of danger her advanced posts against
her enemies; Carthage, scarcely expecting the loy-
alty, of which she had not given the example, left,
in her distrust, all the cities of her terrritory open
and without defence that they might not become
centres of revolt; and these same cities were always,
after the invasion by Agathocles, points of support
prepared for foreign conquerors in advance of their
arrival.
“ To Rome, then,” we say with the historian of
Julius Cæsar, “ to Rome belonged the future. On
the one side, a people of soldiers restrained by disci-
pline, religion and purity of morals, animated by love
of country and surrounded by devoted allies; on the
other side, a people of dissolute merchants, refractory
mercenaries, and restless, discontented subjects.
THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. (264 — 241 B. C.)
The struggle began in Sicily. The Mamertines*
of Campania, former mercenaries of Agathocles, see-
*The word Mamertincs comes from Damers, which in the Campanian
dialect signified Mars.
FIRST PUNIC WAR.
47
ing themselves menaced in Messina, where they had
established themselves by treachery and maintained
themselves by violence, invoked the aid of Rome
against their aggressors, Hiero II of Syracuse and
Hannibal, general of the Carthaginians.
The senate deliberated long. On the one hand, it
appeared unworthy of the majesty of the Roman
people to aid brigands whose imitators and allies
they had just chastised without pity;* on the other
hand, it was urgent to arrest the progress of the Car-
thaginians in Sicily, and this was an excellent occa-
sion. The matter was sent for the decision of the
people. The latter, excited by the consuls, declared
in favor of aiding the Mamertines.
The consul Appius Claudius passed first the straits
almost alone; and introduced into Messina by the aid
of the Mamertines, succeeded in exciting the inhabi-
tants against the Carthaginian masters of the citadel,
who were soon driven off. But the commander of the
Punic forces was crucified for cowardice and treach-
ery by his indignant fellow patriots, and the city was
invested by them more energetically than before.
Meanwhile Appius Claudius returned to Regium,
where his legions were awaiting him; he put them
upon large ships, which were repulsed by the Punic
fleet; he then feigned a retreat; but soon, in the
obscurity of the night, came back with all his forces
upon rafts which could not attract the attention of
* A Roman Legion, wholly composed of Campanians, profited by the
troubles of the war of Pyrrhus to treacherously take possession of the
city of Rogium, and commit there deeds of horror. After the departure
of Pyrrhus, tho senate drove the invaders out of the city, and severely
chastised them.
48
.
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the enemy from a distance.* Landing in Messina,
(264 B. c.) and finding himself pressed by the Syra-
cusans and Carthaginians, he offered them peace,
which they refused on his terms. Appius then
attacked them separately, and defeated Hiero, who,
dissatisfied with the Carthaginians because they neg-
lected to watch the Romans, withdrew to his capital.
The legions assaulted the Punic entrenchment and
were driven back with terrible slaughter. Pursued
in their retreat by the Carthaginians, who were drawn
forward by the presumption of success and by the
ardor of their zeal, the Romans returned to the
charge, overwhelmed the Africans, and drove them
back in confusion to their camp, which they did not
dare leave so long as Appius remained in Sicily.
The latter soon repassed into Italy, not, however,
without leaving a strong gårrison in Messina, and
ravaging the territory of Syracuse with the view of
withdrawing Hiero from the Punic alliance.
The following year, the new consuls, Marcus Vale-
rius and Marcus Otacilius came to prosecute and
accomplish the work of Appius at the head of an
army of 32,000 foot soldiers and 3,600 cavalry,
including four legions.
The superiority of the tactics and discipline of the
Roman soldiers, and the skill, moderation and austere
dignity of the chiefs struck the Sicilians so much the
more, as the Carthaginians and the Mamertines had
subjected them to much tyranny and cruelty. Hiero,
on his side, already foreseeing the issue of the struggle
* After the accomplishment of this enterprise, Appius received the sur-
name Caudex, which signifies raft or vessel.
HIERO SOINS ROME.
49
from the progress of the Roman power; observing
the syinpathies or the discouragement of the Sicil-
ians, and remarking that his allies had lost succes-
sively three-score places, among which were Catania
and Taurominium, declared himself for the Romans,
and demanded peace of the victorious consuls. They
accorded it on easy terms, for in making an ally of
the king of Syracuse, they acquired another con-
siderable point of support and the means of supply-
ing themselves with provisions in the richest prov-
inces of Sicily; since until then they were often
short of provisions, receiving them only from Italy,.
while the Punic fleet was mistress of the sea.
It was agreed then that Hiero should be reëstab-
lished in the possession of all liis ancient kingdom ;
that he should pay a sum equivalent to $100,000 for
the expenses of the war, and that prisoners on each
side should be restored. Hiero observed faithfully
during half a century an alliance which was of the
highest advantage to the Roman people.
At the news of the defection of Hiero, and of the
consequent consolidation of the Romans in Sicily by
means of that alliance, Carthage enlarged her army
of occupation with mercenaries from Gaul, Spain and
Liguria, and selected Agrigentum for her principal
armory and base of operations. The position and
fortifications of this city rendered it almost impreg-
nable. The Romans besieged it immediately; suf-
fered a repulse and recovered from it; blockaded
the besieged during five months, and reduced them
to famine. Then Hannibal, son of Gisco, commander
of the place, having solicited and finally obtained
7
50
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
reënforcements and provisions, which the aged Hanno
brings, the Romans find themselves, in their turn, in
distress, and their cavalry suffer a defeat, which
serves to discourage them. But in a decisive battle,
they defeat Hanno and Hannibal. Nevertheless, the
latter succeed in leaving Agrigentum, crossing the
Roman entrenchments during the night with all
their garrison, the rear guard of which alone attracts
their attention and arouses the vengeance of the vic-
tors. The Romans enter the city the following day;
give it up to pillage, and sell as slaves 25,000 of its
inhabitants. Then, satisfied with this conquest, and
wearied with the pains and sacrifices which it had
cost them, they retire to Messina.
Carthage, irritated by the loss of Agrigentum, dis-
missed Hanno from office, imposed upon him a heavy
fine, and sent Hamilcar into Sicily in command of a
fleet which-succeeded in taking most of the maritime
cities conquered by the Romans.
The latter, continuing their hostilities, became
masters of all the cities of the interior, and were
eager to drive out of Sicily the Carthaginians still
established on the coast. They wished also to pro-
tect Italy from the incursions of the Punic fleet.
To effect this two-fold object, it was necessary to
dispute for the empire of the sea, and to actually
wrest it from Carthage. Rome conceived this idea
and magnanimously resolved to realize it.
She had not a single vessel of war capable of
encountering those of Carthage. At most, her allies
furnished her some triremes (vessels with three rows
of oars) which the Punic quinqueremes, altogether
VICTORY OF DUILLIUS.
51
heavier and swifter, would have sunk without diffi-
culty. Ship-builders and rowers were also in demand.
But whatever was wanting, the energy of Rome would
create and have at any price. A Carthaginian quin-
quereme, providentially stranded upon the coast,
served as a model. The shore was covered with
timber and with earnest workmen: 120 galleys with
five rows of oars were built, armed and equipped in
sixty days, and in this same interval, soldiers exer-
cising themselves with enthusiasm, in naval manoeu-
vres and tactics, became rowers and sailors.
The consul, Cornelius, forthwith exposes by an
act of imprudence seventeen Roman vessels, which
Admiral Boodes, lieutenant of Hannibal, surrounds.
Forced to surrender, he is conducted in triumph to
Carthage.
But Duillius, the colleague of Cornelius, leaving
to the tribunes the command of the legions, embarks
and goes proudly forth in search of the Carthagin-
ians, whom he encounters off Mylæ (Milazzo on the
northeast of Sicily). While he was getting ready
for the combat, the inferiority of his ships strikes
himn suddenly, and he promptly conceives an inge-
nious means of obviating a real difficulty. He ele-
vates upon the of each ship his famous corr'us,
a kind of machine resembling a drawbridge, sliding
along from a solid mast on his own vessels, and grap-
pling, by means of powerful iron hooks, the deck of
the enemy's vessels where it falls down, thus forcing
upon
the foe a hand-to-hand encounter.
The Carthaginian admiral, mounted upon a formi-
dable seven-banked galley, once taken from Pyrrhus,
the prow
52
CARTHAGL AND TUNIS.
advanced disdainfully with his 130 ships, in the confi-
dent expectation of overwhelming with the first blow
this upstart navy, with movement so unwieldy and
awkward. The machines upon the prows preöccu-
pied a little the Carthaginians; but, soon reässured
upon this invention, which seemed to them puerile
and clumsy, they attack furiously the vessels of Dui-
lius. The corvi, falling suddenly upon the galleys
within reach, hold them fast, and force the frightened
crew to a terrible combat. Thirty galleys were
speedily sunk or captured. Hannibal, dismayed,
takes flight. The rest of his fleet hold out, and try
to make the Romans pay dearly for the easy victory
over their advance guard. But the prodigious ener-
gy, skill and agility shown in the management of the
Punic galleys prove of no avail. When they approach
the heavy ships of Duillius, the terrible corvi seize
them, and changing the form of the combat, render
illusive the superiority of the Punic evolutions and
manoeuvres. The courage, arms, discipline and vigor
of the Roman soldiers speedily triumph over their
enemies, ill-prepared for such a struggle upon the
decks of their ships, and relying solely for victory
upon advantages and movements purely maritime.
Duillius, profiting by the enthusiastic confidence of
his forces and by the terror of the enemy, landed in
Sicily, delivered Segeste from a siege, and took Ma-
cella without Hamilcar's daring to show himself.
Hannibal, vanquished and fearing the anger of the
senate, sent a friend to save him by a skilful artifice.
He asks the senators, if Hannibal, to whom Duillius
offers battle, ought to accept it or not. With one
ROMAN VICTORY BY SEA.
53
voice they cry: “Let him give battle without delay.”
“Very good,” replies the envoy,“ he has given battle
and lost it.” The senators were dismayed at the
news, but they could not think of punishing Hanni-
bal. Duillius, on his return to Rome, was received
with extraordinary honors. They raised to his glory
a rostral column, with an inscription, which monu-
ment is preserved to our day.
After the departure of Duillius, there arose between
the soldiers of the legions and the auxiliary troops
some dissensions, which came near ruining the Roman
army. Hamilcar's force destroyed 4,000 men and
retook a number of cities.
Soon Hannibal, the Carthaginian admiral van-
quished off Mylæ, reäppeared with a new fleet
against the consul, Cornelius Scipio, who was taking
measures for the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica.
Mistress of these two islands, Carthage drew from
Sardinia, whose soil was fertile, cereal products, sheep,
cattle and metals; Corsica, poorer, yielded only wax
and honey. But in these two provinces, especially
in Corsica, Punic domination was odious and but par-
tially established.
To tame these insular savages
and habituate them to submission, Carthage had laid
waste their country and committed deeds of cruelty.
Favored by this hatred, Cornelius easily took pos-
session, first of Corsica and then of Sardinia, and
inflicted a disastrous defeat upon the unfortunate
Hannibal, who this time was a victim of the indigna-
tion and ferocity of his own soldiers; they nailed
him, while living, to a cross, and then tortured him
for their pleasure before killing him.
54
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of escape.
In Sicily, Hamilcar, master of Enna, Camarina,
Eryx and Drepanium, held in check the legions of
Florus; but the new consuls, after having menaced
Palermo, take by assault Hippanum and enter by
capitulation Mytistratum, which they destroy with
fire and sword.
In marching upon Camarina, they were enclosed
in a defile by the Carthaginian arıny, which occupied
all the commanding heights and cut off the chances
The tribune, Calpurnius Flamma, and
400 companions saved the legions by an act of self-
devotion. They dashed furiously upon the Cartha-
ginian army, causing the latter to concentrate all
their efforts upon them, and thus giving an oppor-
tunity for the Romans to escape in an opposite direc-
tion. Calpurnius survived this heroic hecatomb. His
body was drawn from among the dead alınost riddled
with wounds, and the senate honored him with the
obsidional crown.
The consul Atilius Calatinus then invested Cama-
rina; took it by means of the famous war ma-
chines of Hiero, and sold most of its inhabitants as
slaves. Master of Enna, Camarina, Sittana, and of
a great number of other Punic places, he invested
Liperi, whence Hamilcar, who had secretly entered
it, vigorously repulsed him.
The struggle, which was thus prolonged with vari-
ous turns of fortune, would have lasted indefinitely;
but each of the belligerents resolved by a decisive
blow to seize the empire of the sea, on which the
final victory depended. Three hundred and fifty
Carthaginian galleys, commanded by Hamilcar and
REGULUS ENTERS AFRICA.
55
provided with 147,000 men, encountered (256 B. C:)
off cape Ecnoma, near Agrigentum, 130 Roman ships
of the same force, under the orders of the consuls
Manlius and Regulus, and provided with 138,000
men.
The action was long, complex and terrible. Twice
upon the point of conquering by the superiority of
their ships and manoeuvres, Hamilcar and his lieu-
tenant Hanno had finally to yield to the tenacity of
the consuls and to the heroism of the Roman soldiers
in boarding their ships as soon as the famous corvi fell
upon them. Thirty Carthaginian galleys were sunk,
and sixty-four were captured; the Romans lost twenty-
four ships, but left none in the hands of the enemy.
Africa was henceforth open to the Romans. While
awaiting the reply of the senate, whose orders they
had asked, the victorious consuls rallied their fleet at
cape Bon (Hermeum) and then took possession of
Clypea (Kalibia) where they erected strong fortifi-
cations. They then ravaged the rich and magnificent
country around, forced many places to capitulate,
and made 20,000 prisoners. At length, the reply
arrived from the senate. Manlius was recalled with
. a part of the fleet and of the armıy. Regulus was
maintained in Africa with 40 vessels and with 15,000
foot soldiers and 500 horsemen.
He remained alone charged with continuing the
victories of Rome under the title of pro-consul; but
he was oppressed by this honor, and wrote the senate
that, "since the manager of the seven acres of land
which he owned was dead, and his day laborer had
absconded, carrying away all his farming tools, he
56
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
could not leave his fields uncultivated, for they were
his only means of supporting his wife and children.”
The senate had the fields of Regulus leased and qul-
tivated, and his family supported at the expense of
the state. We see by this that the manners as well
as the virtues of the age of Cincinnatus had not then
fallen into dishonor at-Rome.
Carthage, in a state of consternation, recalls Ha-
milcar from Sicily and gives him Hasdrubal, Hanno
and Bostar as his lieutenants, at the head of an army
raised in great haste. The frightened people flocked
to the capital, or revolted. Regulus, master of 200
places, was •marching upon Carthage, that seemed
on the eve of ruin.*
Regulus began the siege of Ades (Rades), when
forth with the Punic generals took possession with
their cavalry and elephants of a hill which com-
manded the camps of the Romans, hoping to over-
whelm them by a descent. But the Roman general
observing the unevenness of the ground, turns this
movement of the enemy to his advantage; his troops
rush up both sides of the hill at the same time.
· Horses and elephants in their efforts to descend are
thrown into disorder, and end by breaking the solid
ranks of the mercenaries in the rear. The whole
Punic army is hurled pell-mell down the open side
of the hill into the plain below, followed speedily by
the Romans who fall upon the broken ranks with
merciless fury. Regulus immediately profits by the
* It is related that Regulus found near the river Bagrada a serpent of
such enormous size that it was necessary to employ machines of war to
kill it, and that its skin, sent to Rome, measured forty yards.
XANTHIPPUS' VICTORY..
57
victory to ravage with impunity the country around,
and takes possession of Tunis which he fortifies and
makes his head-quarters.
Beaten by land and by sea, frightened at the pro-
gress of Regulus and at the revolt en masse of the
Numidians in the interior, who were destroying the
country with fire and sword and showing a disposi-
tion to aid the legions and share with them the
spoils of the vanquished, the Carthaginians sent
senatorial deputies to Regulus to treat for peace.
He received them haughtily, and laid down the fol-
lowing hard conditions : “Give up all Sicily, Sar-
dinia and Corsica; restore all prisoners without ran-
som; pay all the expenses of the war; submit to an
annual tribute; engage to have as friends and as
enemies only those of Rome; possess only one ves-
sel of war, and furnish the Romans fifty triremes
whenever they shall require them."
The embassadors, deeply moved and wounded,
entreated Regulus to show inore moderation. They
obtained only this arrogant reply: “Those who know
not how to conquer must know how to obey conquer-
ors.” The senate of Carthage.was shocked, and de-
clared that they must suffer everything rather than
submit to the shame of those conditions.
At this critical moment, an important arrival was
announced at Carthage. The ships which had been
long before sent into Greece for the enlistment of
mercenary troops, came laden with fighting men.
Of that number, was the Lacedemonian Xanthippus,
a rough soldier well skilled in military tactics. In-
formed of the deplorable situation of Carthage and
8
58
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of the mode of warfare employed by her generals,
he hesitates not to promise not only the safety of
the city, but a prompt victory, provided they will
submit to his direction; for, in his opinion, the past
deſeats are solely due to errors in the military art.
Dignitaries and generals showed themselves on that
occasion magnanimous; they sacrificed their rights
and their amour propre, entrusting to this stranger,
so severe in his judgment and so self-confident, the
defence, safety and honor of their country.
He marches out of Carthage at once;. subjects the
army during several days to exercise to acquire a
knowledge of military evolutions and manoeuvres,
and then offers battle to the Romans. Regulus is at
first surprised to see the Carthaginians change their
ordinary method, but he is sure that he shall con-
quer once more these enemies whom he has so often
defeated.
Nothing of the kind however occurred. Through
the able generalship of Xanthippus, and the appro-
priate use of the cavalry and the elephants, which
this time had a firm footing on a level plain, the
Romans suffered a disastrous rout. Two thousand
of them only succeeded in escaping and taking
refuge at Kalibia. The victorious army, having lost
only 1,000 men, triumphantly reëntered Carthage,
drawing the Roman pro-consul in chains and 500
picked soldiers made prisoners with him. (255 B. C.)
Carthage was intoxicated with joy. Religious fes-
tivals, banquets, and rejoicings of every kind cele-
brated the victory of Xanthippus. As to himself, he
took a wise part. That he might not be exposed to
ROMAN VIGOR AND SUCCESS.
59
the ingratitude and jealousy of those whom he had
saved, he sailed for Greece.*
The news of the disaster of Regulus did not dis-
courage the Romans. They sent into Africa a new
fleet. The Carthaginians, who had just subdued the
Numidians, attacked in vain Kalibia, and, launching
upon the sea 200 new-built ships, encountered at
cape Bon the Roman fleet, consisting of 350 vessels.
They were overpowered. · The Romans, though con-
querors, evacuated Kalibia and turned towards Sicily.
On the way thither, a violent tempest dispersed the
fleet, and reduced it to eighty ships.
The Carthaginians, profiting by this loss, increased
their forces in Sicily and retook Agrigentum. But
in three months time, Rome had repaired her fleet,
and the consuls Cneius Scipio Asina and Atilius
Calatinus brought to Messina the vessels which had
escaped being wrecked; uniting them to 220 vessels
just built, they took Cephalodium and menaced Dre-
panum, and then invested Panormus, the capital of
the Punic possessions in Sicily. The siege and the
defense were obstinate. The city, however, was
taken, and 10,000 citizens redeemed themselves by
paying a ransom equivalent to $400,000; 13,000
were sold at auction together with the spoils. The
conquerors left at Panormus a garrison and returned
to Rome. During the passage, a Carthaginian squad-
ron lying in wait captured some of the vessels laden
with spoils.
* Some authors say that the Carthaginians treacherously put him to
death during his returning voyage; but neither Polybius, nor the Latin
historians speak of this.
60
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The following year, the consuls Coepio and Blosus
ravaged the coasts of Africa, but at cape Palinurum
their entire fleet was lost in a tempest. Rome, dis-
couraged this time, gave up the supremacy upon the
sea and relied solely upon her legions. But in their
turn, the legionaries were seized, after the defeat
at Tunis, with a fear of encountering the elephants,
so terrible in an open country. They avoided then
every battle where they would have to encounter
these warlike beasts.
Carthage wished then to make a last effort to drive
the Romans from Sicily. But, having an exhausted
treasury, she sent an embassy to solicit a loan of more
than $2,000,000 of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of
Egypt, who, as an ally of both powers, refused to
grant it, and interposed in vain his mediatorial efforts
to terminate the struggle. The Carthaginians raised
by great sacrifices 200 vessels, 140 elephants and
20,000 soldiers, and sent them, under the command
of Hasdrubal, to attack Panormus which was defend-
ed by Metellus. The latter pretended at first to avoid
an engagement, only to draw the enemy into diffi-
culty. When Hasdrubal had advanced under the
walls of the city, some light-armed troops attacked
him furiously. The elephants, frightened, wounded
and irritated, turned against the Carthaginians, who,
attacked by the legions of Metellus in their turn,
were speedily overcome. Hasdrubal lost 20,000 men
and all his elephants, twenty-six of which were sent
to Rome to grace the triumph of the victorious
general.
Carthage then made overtures of peace, and joined
REGULUS SENT TO ROME.
61
to her ambassadors the unfortunate Regulus, in the
hope that his influence would render the Romans
more conciliatory. Regulus, received without the
walls by the senate and consulted by it, would speak
neither as a senator nor as a Roman, but simply as a
private person. Regardless of his own fate and con-
fident of a successful issue, he encouraged his fellow-
citizens to continue the war, and not consent to the
exchange of prisoners. For, he said, “ the best part
of the Punic army is in your power, while the enemy
have at their mercy only some infirm and useless
Romans like myself.” The senate adopted the coun-
sel of Regulus, regretting that the good of the repub-
lic required the sacrifice of so great a citizen.
It was in vain that his family, friends and fellow-
citizens united their efforts to retain him at Rome.
Regulus regarded only his promise to return to Car-
thage. At the news of what had taken place, Punic
vengeance knew no bounds. This generous and ven-
erable old man was subjected to the most heart-rend-
ing cruelty; his eyelids were cut off; he was rolled
in a cask bristling with points, and then exposed,
bleeding and with mutilated eyes, to the African sun
upon the burning sand. In that state he was hung
upon a cross. Greater by his captivity and death
than by his virtues, Regulus is one of the most affect-
ing types of that sublime devotion to country and of
that heroism in misfortune, with which the history of
the Roman republic is filled.
But a painful cloud obscures this admirable picture.
The Roman senate, and Marcia, the widow of Regu-
lus, were not worthy of him. They subjected many
62
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Punic prisoners to the most atrocious tortures and
prolonged this. odious vengeance upon numerous
innocent victims. Here we are almost led to ques-
tion whether compassion and forgiveness were re-
garded as virtues among the ancients.
The war continued; and the city of Lilybeum, a
fortified town of the Carthaginians in Sicily, was
invested by four legions and 200 sail, and was man-
fully defended by Himilco. This general, vigilant
and firm, defeated a plot formed by some mercenary
officers to deliver the city over to the Romans; he
conciliated by his eloquence, promises and rewards
of honor the refractory soldiers, and resisted the
besiegers until Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, by a bold
manoeuvre penetrated through the surprised and
disconcerted Roinan fleet, and landed 10,000 fresh
troops in the city. Soon Himilco, making a furious
sally, attempted to burn the war machines of the
Roman army; he ended only in a furious fray, and
turned back, leaving the Romans wearied and ex-
hausted. Hannibal seized this occasion to go out of
the harbor and join Adherbal at Drepanum.
In another sally, Himilco succeeded in burning the
Roman machines, and the besiegers then turned the
siege into a blockade. Another Hannibal, styled the
Rhodian, who had several times audaciously entered
Lilybeum through the Roman fleet, was finally cap-
tured with his vessel; but this success was completely
effaced by the disaster at Drepanum, where the consul
Claudins, while trying to destroy the fleet of Adher-
bal, allowed himself to be blocked up in an enclosure
of the harbor, from which only 30 vessels out of 200
HAMILCAR BARCA.
63
escaped, and 20,000 sailors and soldiers were left
prisoners and 8,000 were killed or drowned. Adher-
bal completed this victory by supplying Lilybeum
with provisions conveyed in barks which had been
captured from the Romans near Panormus.
The other consul, Junius, saw a part of his formida-
ble fleet sunk in the very harbor of Lilybeum at the
moment of provisioning the Roman canıp. While
the legionaries were hastening to defend their ships,
Himilco overcame them by a sudden sally. The
rest of the Roman fleet succeeded in escaping, pur-
sued by the victorious Carthalo; but a tempest de-
stroyed even the last ship, and Rome was found once
more obliged for the want of a fleet to leave to Car-
thage the empire of the sea.
Junius, hastening the operations of the siege to
repair for past errors, succeeded in taking possession,
by means of treachery, of the mountain and city of
Eryx, situated between Trapani and Palermo. At
this epoch (248 B. c.), begins to appear upon the
scene the famous Hamilcar Barça, the father of the
great Hannibal. He takes possession of the strong
post of Ercta between Eryx and Palermo, and there
maintaining himself three years in spite of all the
efforts of the Romans, succeeds in provisioning Lily-
beum. He ravages the coasts of Italy and thus
excites the rage of the Romans, who, while waiting
for the refitting of their fleet, turn pirates. While
attracting the attention of the enemy on different
coasts, he seizes the city of Eryx, and there main-
tains himself two years between two Roman armies,
with which he struggles with perseverance, skill,
64
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
courage and magnanimity in the midst of great priva-
tions and sufferings.
Rome, perceiving that with such an adversary she
must put forth her utmost efforts, fitted out a new
fleet, which speedily gained over the Carthaginians,
near the isle of Ægimuri (Zembra), a victory whose
fruits were lost by a tempest. Still another fleet is
raised by the voluntary contributions of her citizens,
and manned by skilful sailors. This attacks forth-
with Drepanum under the conduct of Lutatius, who,
though wounded in the first combat, succeeds in tak-
ing the ports of Drepanum and Lilybeum. Then,
while admiral Hanno is hastening from Carthage
with 400 galleys to supply Eryx with provisions, and
embark upon his ships some of Hamilcar's veterans
with a view to boarding Roman ships, Lutatius en-
counters him near the group Ægades and gains a
brilliant victory. (242 B. c.)
Carthage then believes herself menaced with an
invasion, as after the battle of Ecnoma: Hanno is put
upon a cross, and Hamilcar Barca is charged to treat
for peace with the Romans. Lutatius, more prudent
than Regulus, and also wearied, like all his compat-
riots, with this interminable war, avoids harshness in
the conditions for settlement. Honoring the noble
bearing of Hamilcar with his worthy companions at
Eryx, he requires no surrender of arms and offers
the following terms of peace :
1. Carthage and Rome to be independent powers.
2. The Carthaginians to cede to the Romans,their
possessions in Sicily.
3. The Carthaginians not to make war upon the
.
CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.
65
allies of the Roman people, and each party to give
up their prisoners without ransom.
4. To pay to Rome in the course of ten years a
sum eqiuvalent to $3,500,000.
This treaty was not at first ratified by the Roman
people; but commissioners were sent into Sicily to
modify some of its provisions. They made no impor-
tant changes, but simply added a clause requiring
the Carthaginians to pay for war expenses also
1,000 talents ($1,000,000), and give up all the
islands situated between Sicily and Italy except
Corsica and Sardinia.
Carthage lost with the supremacy of the sea the
foundation of her power, and then began her fatal
decline.
Thus was terminated the first Punic War, one of
the longest wars of history; since it lasted nearly
twenty-four years. These two peoples endured the
greatest sacrifices and losses, and we can form some
idea of their efforts by seeing them each, after im-
mense disasters, combine to build hundreds of quin-
queremes (five banked galleys) for one last. battle.
The Romans lost materially more than their rivals;
but with better organization and temperament, they
triumphed in the end because they possessed more
power of resistance.
Carthage was superior to Rome in respect to her
navy and the skill of her generals. No Roman chief
can be compared with the wonderful Hamilcar, wor-
thy father of a worthy son, who during five years
held in check all the forces of Rome in Sicily, and
had the sole glory of not being conquered; for he
marched out of Eryx with all the honors of war.
9
66
+
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The superiority of Rome was in her constitution
and in her national virtues. The first Punic war was
a duel between two peoples, which with different
forces and characters aspired to the same end, — to
play the first role in the world. That role the force
of nature and the providence of God secured, as it
always does secure in the final analysis, to the most
worthy.
WAR OF THE MERCENARIES.
240--237 B. C.)
After the war of Sicily, Gisco, lieutenant of Hamil-
car, sent into Africa the mercenary troops, company
by company, so as to give time for the republic to pay
and disband them in successive order. *
Then, however, the treasury was exhausted; and
the senate, unable to decide upon new sacrifices, lost
much time in deliberation, and thus the entire army
was amassed at Carthage, discontented and ready to
revolt. The senate, fearing an outbreak, requested the
officers of the inercenaries to conduct all their troops
to Sicca (Kef), paying each man on account a piece
of gold. They removed with them their baggage
and their families, which the senate, in its trouble,
did not wish to keep at Carthage, where they would
have been pledges of fidelity.
Arrived at Sicca, they began to make exaggerated
estimates of the sums due them and of the bounties
promised on various occasions. Hanno, sent to calm
them, humbly confessed the distress of the republic
and asked of them a delay. At this language, the
* These mercenaries were Spaniards, Gauls, Greeks, Ligurians and espe-
cially Africans.
REVOLT OF THE MERCENARIES.
67
discontent increased and broke out into violence.
Twenty thousand of these desperadoes marched
upon Carthage, seizing and occupying Tunis.
The senators, trembling with fear, deputed each
day some one to quiet their terrible neighbors, send-
ing food in abundance without any fixed price. The
fear prevailing at Carthage encouraged the insolence
of the insurgents. After having agreed upon the
balance of their arrears, they demanded an indem-
nity for their lost horses; then satisfaction for the
extra cost of provisions during the war. Gisco,
whom they knew well and who had succeeded in
gaining their confidence, leaves Carthage with the
necessary money, and, after a conference with their
chiefs, he calls together the soldiers, each nation by
itself; he addresses them; succeeds in allaying the
turbulence of their passion and effecting a settlement;
when all at once two seditious officers, Spendius and
Mathos, raise their voices and declare within hearing
of the African mercenaries that the plan is to pay
off the other subjects and then send those who are
paid to fall upon the Africans and take revenge for
their revolt. A tumult breaks out. Many officers
are stoned. The word revenge, the only one perhaps
which was understood by all, was caught up in twenty
different dialects and repeated from all parts of the
camp.
Victims fell. Such scenes ended only in
being renewed at each parley. Gisco, always calm
and unmoved, resisted the storm with benevolence
and firmness. But one day he yielded to his indig-
nation. Pressed by the Africans who were calling
for their pay, he replied in an unguarded moment:
68
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
“Go to Mathos, your general.” Furiously excited
by this remark, they instantly rushed upon Gisco,
pillaged all the money which he had with him and
loaded him and his companions with chains.
Mathos immediately excited the cities and the
tribes of the interior to revolt, and began at the
head of 70,000 men that terrible war of Africa
which lasted more than three years and suspended
Carthage over a new abyss. The rebellion was of
vast extent and enlisted the fiercest passions of a
motley crew of vulgar and brutified desperadoes.
The women as well as the men, full of spite on
account of the withholding of the treasure and the
oppression exercised by the Punic agents, sacrificed
all their precious objects for the expenses of the
war, which they sought to make general and terri-
ble. Utica and Hippo-Zarytos, menaced by the
rebels, massacred their Punic garrisons and threw
the mutilated dead into the streets. Sardinia, ex-
cited in its turn, crucified Hanno and offered allegi-
ance to Rome.
Hamilcar Barca, until then in disfavor, was reës-
tablished in the command of the army. His great
ambition was to save his country. He routed forth-
with the mercenaries and drove them back far from
Utica; then, with the aid of the Numidians returned
to their allegiance, he inflicted a new check on them,
killing 10,000 and making 4,000 prisoners, whom he
treated generously. Mathos, Spendius and Antarites,
fearing that the magnanimity of Hamilcar might
encourage defections from their ranks and desiring
to check a growing sentiment in favor of the Cartha-
MILITARY BARBARITIES.
69
ginians, spread the report that letters received from
Sardinia and Carthage exhorted them to distrust
Gisco and his unfortunate companions and the feigned
humanity of Hamilcar. Antarites, commander of
the Gauls, proclaimed a complete rupture with Car-
thage, and to render it definite and without remedy,
he favored the massacre of Gisco and of the other
prisoners. Spendius had 700 of them leave the
camp; their hands and ears were cut off; their legs
broken, and then they were thrown, while living,
together into a pit. Hamilcar implored the merce-
naries to give up the dead bodies; the reply was
that every'envoy should share the same fate and
that they would cut off the hands of every ally of
Carthage.
Hamilcar, shocked, cast to the beasts his prisoners,
and resolved on horrid reprisals. Yet he could not
prevent Utica and Hippo-Zarytos from entering into
alliance with the rebels, nor the latter from besieg-
ing Carthage. This city asked the aid of her allies,
and Hiero of Syracuse, understanding that the ruin
of Carthage would cause such a preponderance of
Rome as to endanger his safety, sent important aid,
and the Romans facilitated the provisioning of the
besieged, forbade the Italians aiding the rebels and
rejected the overtures of Sardinia and Utica. · Car-
thage breathed again; and Hamilcar, after patient
struggles and successful encounters, succeeded in
driving back a part of the mercenaries between the
mountains and enclosing them in the defile of the
Axe where, being unable either to escape or to fight,
they were reduced to such a state of starvation as to
u
70
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
hideously devour each other. A fierce quarrel arose
between their chiefs. Antarites, Spendius and many
others demanded a safe conduct and came into the
camp of Hamilcar to treat. The latter exacted of
them ten rebels of his choosing, and that all the others
should withdraw without arms and clothed only with
one tunic. The treaty having been signed, Hamil-
car declared to the envoys that they themselves were
the ten rebels of his choice, and he retained them.
On receiving this news, the mercenaries in despair
renewed the warfare. But they were so hemmed in
on every side that the army of Hamilcar nassacred
them to the last of 40,000 men.
The army of Mathos was besieged in Tunis. But
Hannibal, lieutenant of Hamilcar, allowed himself to
be surprised and captured. Mathos had him nailed to
the same cross on which Spendius had hung. The
senate'sent immediately to the aid of Hamilcar the
rest of the citizens in a state to bear arms under
the command of Hanno. These two generals, hith-
erto mortal enemies, were reconciled by patriotism,
and acting in concert, they harrassed and beat the
mercenaries in detachments, and finally routed them
in a general engagement in an open field. Mathos was
delivered over to the cowardly vengeance of the Car-
thaginian populace. All the towns submitted except
Utica and Hippo-Zarytos, which were too much coin-
promised in the revolt to hope for mercy. Hamilcar
exercised great severity in bringing them to terms.
Thus ended this disastrous war, which soon had an
unexpected consequence for Carthaye. She lost Sar-
dinia; for the Romans, who at first refused the offers
ROMAN "FIDES PUNICA."
71
of the mercenaries encamped in this island, ended by
accepting them. Carthage protested and sent an army
into Sardinia. Rome, pretending to be attacked by
Carthage, declared war. Carthage, too much ex-
hausted to sustain it, abandoned Sardinia, and seeing
Roman ambition and greediness still unsatisfied, con-
sented to a large increase of the tribute which the
last treaty imposed. This is neither the first nor the
last time that the Majestas populi Romani found itself
disputing with Carthage for the monopoly of the
famous “Fides Punica," which, though it may not
have been formally engrafted into the Roman code, has
become singularly characteristic of modern diplomacy.
CONQUESTS IN SPAIN.
(237—219 B. C.)
When Carthage had recovered from pressing dan-
ger and embarrassment, she sought to indemnify
'herself for her losses by conquests in Africa and in
Spain. Hamilcar, the hero of the preceding wars,
became naturally the chief of those which were
planned. The senate besides, was not unwilling to
remove him; for it feared his influence and popu-
larity in the capital. Hamilcar began by vigorously
attacking the Numidians who were at best rebellious
subjects. Promptly subduing them, he passed victo-
riously along all the African coast of the western
Mediterranean, and extended the empire of Carthage
to the shores of the Atlantic; and then undertook
his expedition into Spain.
*We know neither the date nor the history of the
first entrance of the Carthaginians into that country.
72
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
We know only that they went there under the pre-
text of protecting Gades (Cadiz), a city of Phoenician
origin, menaced by a neighboring people jealous of
its greatness.
The Carthaginians soon delivered Cadiz and estab-
lished themselves in the provinces around without
our knowing either the extent or the limits of their
conquests. They had soon to encounter the warlike
Celtiberians or Gallic Spaniards, commanded at first
by two heroic brothers, whose names are not known,
and after their death by Indortes. The brothers were
successively defeated, and Indortes lost 50,000 men.
Hamilcar, wishing at the same time to frighten and
gain over the barbarians, had the chief put to death
and 10,000 prisoners set at liberty. He pursued
during nine years his aggressive measures in Spain,
subduing all the western coast and a part of the
interior But after having always triumphed in long
and terrible combats, he became a victim to a strata-'
gem, like that which probably saved the life of his
son at a later period in Italy. The natives attached
oxen to burning carriages; as the flames burst forth
the beasts, furious from fright and pain, dashed for-
ward into the Punic army, putting it into disorder.
Hamilcar perished fighting in the thickest of a fray
brought on in this extraordinary manner.
The faction of Barca, which was opposed to that
of Hanno, and which, through its increasing glory
and riches, had become more influential than ever
at Carthage, succeeded in appointing as successor of
Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, who was then
the leader of the popular party at the capital. Has-
HASDRUBAL'S SUCCESSES.
73
.
drubal set off for Spain, and being more of a states-
man than warrior, had the tact and power to draw a
multitude of chiefs and tribes under the sway of
Carthage. His most important service, however, and
that on which his glory most depends, was the found-
ing of Carthagena, which became the emporium of
Carthage and the bulwark of her domination in
Spain.
Hasdrubal in his progressive march finally encoun-
tered the Romans in the valley of the Iberus (Ebro);
for not far south of this river, was their ally, Sagun-
tum. A treaty was signed by which the Carthagini-
ans were forbidden to cross this river, and they
engaged also to respect Saguntum.
Hasdrubal was during nine years the governor of
Spain, where he was suspected of entertaining plans
to become an independent ruler, when he was assas-
sinated, as he knelt at the foot of the altar, by a
Gallic slave, who sought thus to revenge the recent
treacherous death of his master.
As soon as the news of his death reached Carthage,
that city became the scene of animated and angry
debates. The question was, who shall be the suc-
cessor of Hasdrubal. The latter had, sometime be-
fore his death, asked the senate to name as his lieu-
tenant the young Hannibal, his brother-in-law and
beloved pupil, who was then twenty-four years old.
The Barca party warınly supported this nomination;
but Hanno, the leader of the opposition, strenuously
opposed it, setting forth in strong terms the danger
of thus increasing the power of a single family by
putting into the hands of this warlike and enterpris-
ing young man the buckler and sword of the republic.
10
1
74
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The nomination of Hannibal was nevertheless con-
firmed with enthusiasm. The sympathy and confidence
of the officers and soldiers were extended to him in
advance of his appointment. They knew the affec-
tion which Hasdrubal had for him, and they seemed
to see relive in him at the same time his brother-in-
law Hasdrubal, for whoin they still mourned, and the
magnanimous Hamilcar, his father, whom they could
never forget.
He had a mind elevated to command the entire
situation; a courage ready for any danger, and a
body proof against fatigue and hardship. Firmness
and sang froid were the foundation of that earnest
character, and increased its power a hundred-fold.
Like all great men, he was the personification of his
time and the incarnate genius of his country, appear-
ing to avenge the past and assure the future,
SECOND PUNIC WAR. (219—201 B. C.)
Carthage had lost in the first Punic war her mag-
nificent establishments in Sicily; and the Romans,
profiting by her embarrassments at the close of the
rebellion of the mercenaries, had seized Sardinia in
contempt of law, justice and honor. Revenge was
the chosen part of Carthage. She yearned to con-
quer and humiliate Rome; to re-conquer Sicily and
Sardinia ; and, in fine, to change the roles of the two
great republics, bringing down the soaring eagle to
the humble condition in which the winged horse was
then found. Such was also the thought and ambi-
tion of Hannibal, who deliberately planned to accom-
HANNIBAL'S OATH AND AIM.
75
I
plish this object by the invasion and conquest of
Italy.
While yet a child, he had shared the resentment
of his country, and divined, as by instinct, that he
should one day become her avenger. When Hamil-
car, his father, was on the eve of his departure for
Spain, he expressed warm filial affection and desired
to be his companion in that campaign. The father
promised to grant his request, provided he would
breathe upon the altar implacable hatred to the
Romans. Hannibal, who was then scarcely nine
years old, took that oath with the resolution and
energy of a man.
The opportunity of keeping it
was afterwards afforded him.
He sought, first of all, to strengthen the Punic
power in Spain. Three formidable nations there, the
Ocladi, Carpetani and Vaccæi, resisted his sway. He
promptly took their strongholds one after the other,
and then marched upon the banks of the Tagus,
where he routed their united army of 100,000 men.
He then invested Saguntum contrary to the wishes
of the senate and in violation of treaty stipulations.
To justify his conduct, he declared that the Sagun-
tians were the aggressors, since they were making war
upon the Torboletes, who were allies of Carthage.
During this siege (219 B. C.), embassadors came
from Rome into Spain to complain to Hannibal. He
would not, however, even listen to their remon-
strances. They then passed over to Carthage and
demanded, without result, the surrender of Hannibal
into their hands.
After eight months siege, Saguntum fell. The re-
76
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
sistance was heroic, and the inhabitants would not
then consent to the dishonor of becoming prisoners.
An immense funeral pile was erected upon the public
square, and the senators and notable persons cast
upon it first their treasures and then themselves,
choosing a speedy death by fire rather than await the
chances of ignominions captivity or cruel murder.
The rest of the inhabitants defended themselves in
their houses, and disputed with the conquerors, street
by street, for the possession of the city. They were
all massacred, and nothing was left upon the ground
but smouldering ruins.
Rome, indignant, sent a new deputation to the
senate of Carthage, which, being divided into two
parties, hesitated how to reply. Then Fabius, the
chief of the embassy, raising a fold in his toya : “I
bring you peace or war," said he, “choose ye.”
“ Choose yourself," retorted the chief of the senate.
“ I. give you then," rejoined Fabius, shaking the fold
froin his toga, “I give you war.”
6 We will accept
it; we will sustain it," was the united, sober and
earnest response of that deliberative body.
Hannibal was then free to realize his scheme; the
way was open for him; and we shall soon see how
he pursued it.
While Rome was preparing for the war with her
habitual promptitude and energy, ordering one of
her consuls to pass into Sicily and thence into Africa,
and the other to reach Spain by sea and drive out
the Carthaginians; Hannibal, getting ready to march
upon Italy, wishes first to leave Spain and Carthage
invulnerable. He sends into Africa 15,000 picked
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.
77
soldiers; he places 30,000 mountaineers, taken from
the Pyrenees, at Gades under the orders of Hasdrubal
and Hanno, to whom he also leaves twenty-four
elephants and sixty galleys; he charges this army
to defend the country in case of attack and to form
a reserve force for time of need; he secures by
presents and promises the good will and confidence
of his own troops which had been chosen from
among the best; lets them rest at Carthagena dur-
ing the entire winter; goes to the temple of Hercu-
les in Gades; spreads a report far and wide that the
national god promises him victory; brings together
for his expedition vast sums of money and stores of
provisions, and at the opening of spring begins his
march with 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and 40
elephants, and crosses the Ebro in the month of June.
Rome had in vain sought allies in the north of
Spain. They reproached her bitterly with abandon-
ing Saguntum. The Gauls also rejected her over-
tures and reminded her of her wars against their
brethren in Italy (Cis- Alpine Gaul). Left to rely
upon herself, Rome showed no signs of weakness.
The army of Scipio sailed for Marseilles. When it
arrived there, Hannibal had already passed the Pyre-
nees and the Rhone, winning by his address or his
arms all the Celtiberian and Gallic tribes. A squad
of Roman cavalry assaulted his rear guard without
arresting its progress.
He hastened to reach his
new ally, Cis-Alpine Gaul, and pursued his march
towards the Alps, protected on his rear by the Allobro-
gians who abundantly supplied his army with provi-
sions and secured it against the light troops of Scipio.
78
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
t
At length Hannibal pointed out the Alps to his soldiers
with expressions of hope and confidence. Coming from
a warm climate, he had to pass through a bleak, icy
region, often coinbating barbarians amid rocks, preci-
pices and snow-drifts. It was then the month of
October.*
It took nine whole days to climb those colossal
mountains, — nine days of fatigue, suffering and cruel
combats upon steep and slippery slopes; over chasms
filled with snow, which would suddenly give way
under the force of rocks hurled from above by fierce
mountaineers, who repeatedly succeeded in crushing
entire groups of soldiers; through dangers or am-
buscades into which it was led by the ignorance or
treachery of the guides: the Punic army overcame
all difficulties, scaling to the summit of the mountain
and covering immense declivities with its dead. From
these heights, pointing to the beautiful country and
splendid horizon on the Cis-Alpine side, Hannibal re-
animated the drooping courage of the army, and after
a little repose, began his descent, which was much
wilder and, by reason of its steepness, glaciers and
abysses, much more difficult than the ascent. They
filled
up the openings of rocks, dug out paths, im-
proved or made roads, and built bridges. It required
five days of herculean labor to conduct the army into
the plains below. In marching from Carthagena to
*Leaving Carthagena, Hannibal passed by Emporia, Jungaria (Junquera),
Narbo (Narbonne) and Nemassus (Nimes). He crossed the Rhone between
Orange and Avignon, near Roquemaure, at the place called at present the
Passage of Ardoise. He went up this river, passing by Asunum (Monteli-
mart); crossed the Isere near its confluence; followed it up to its source;
climbed up the Little St. Bernard; descended by tho valley of Aosta, and
came into the country of the Insubres and thence to Turin.
PASSAGE OF THE ALPS.
79
the Rhone, the army lost 30,000 men. In crossing
the Alps, 36,000 more perished. There remained then
only 36,000 men to challenge and conquer on the vast
fields of Italy the Roman people who, to save their
country could, in arming all their able-bodied citizens,
put in line of battle, 300,000 combatants.
While Scipio was seeking in vain along the Rhone
to cut off the army of Hannibal, his colleague, Sem-
pronius, was awaiting in Sicily the occasion to pass
into Africa, and the prætor Manlius was occupying
with 20,000 men Cis-Alpine Gaul, to prevent its
revolt. But the Cis-Alpines speedily overcame Man-
lius; whereupon Scipio, leaving to his brother, Cneius,
the conduct of the expedition into Spain, hastened
to take command of the remains of Manlius' army
and await Hannibal at the foot of the Alps.
The Punic army rested several days; then took
Turin (Augusta Taurinorum), which remained faith-
ful to Rome; tried in vain to win over the Cis-Alpines
who remained neutral in spite of their engagements
with Hannibal, and it finally encountered and routed
the Roman arıny on the banks of the Ticinus (Tesino)
in Transpadan Gaul. In this conflict (218 B. c.), the
consul was wounded, and his life was saved only by
the extraordinary valor of his young son.
Rome hastily recalled Sempronius, notwithstanding
his successes in Sicily, where under the prætor Æmilius
he had destroyed at Lilybeum a Punic fleet. He had
just taken possession of Malta when he received the
* Hannibal began his expedition with 102,000 men, including 12,000
cavalry. After passing the Rhone, he had only 64,000 infantry and 8,000
cavalry. After crossing the Alps, he had only 30,000 infantry and 6,000
cavalry. Most of his elephants also perished.
80
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
order of the senate to come to the aid of Scipio. He
joins the latter upon the Trebbia and seeks an engage-
ment contrary to the advice of his colleague. The
Roman army crosses the icy waters of the river with-
out refreshment and shivering with cold; on reaching
the other side of the stream, it finds the enemy in bat-
tle array, after having been well cared for during the
night and warmed and refreshed by their morning
repast. The soldiers of Sempronius could scarcely
fight. Hannibal overcame them without difficulty
and killed or took as prisoners 30,000 men.
Cis-
Alpine Gaul and Liguria then revolted and took
sides with the conqueror, whose army, filled up with
these belligerent allies, amounted to 90,000 men.
Hannibal thinks then of penetrating like a wedge,
the heart of Italy, so as to separate and annihilate
the Roman power. Forced back by a violent storm,
be turns towards Placentia and has two deadly en-
counters suddenly brought on by Sempronius. In
one of these, Hannibal is wounded; in the other,
he is surprised in his camp. These two actions, of
slight importance in themselves and without result,
are unnoticed by most historians; but they show on
the one side the tenacity of Hannibal, and on the
other the intrepid confidence of Rome and her con-
suls,— a confidence which the defeat at Trebbia
could not impair.
Hannibal then came into Etruria to encounter the
rash and impetuous Caius Flaminius, recently named
consul by the people against the wishes of the sen-
ate. In trying to reach his foe by a short route, he
became involved in the marshes of Clusium, which
QUINTUS FABIUS MAXIMUS.
81
were enlarged and rendered almost impassable by the
over-flowing of the Arno. His army suffered severely,
and he himself lost an eye. But escaping from this,
embarrassing position, he enticed and fell upon the
Roman army on the borders of Lake Thrasymenus,
(Perugia) and there, in the midst of a thick fog, with
repeated shocks of an earthquake, cut it in pieces
(217 B. C.).
He passed thence into Uinbria and Picenum, declar-
ing that he came into Italy only to subdue the arro-
gance of Rome and free her neighbors from tyranny.
To support this declaration, he proposed to retain
only Roman prisoners and to send others back with-
out ransom, and he ravaged the country only to
punish open hostilities and supply his army with
provisions. He marched then by Samnium towards
the coasts of Apulia. Arriving in the centre of Italy,
without communication with Africa, without machines
of war, and menaced upon his rear by enemies, he
wished to have the Appenines between himself and ·
Rome, hoping by his alliance with the southern
provinces to establish himself there, and thus be
enabled to open communication with Carthage.
But he improved every occasion to again overpower
the Romans; and with this view he watched all their
movements.
Rome in a state of alarm had just named Quintus
Fabius Maximus as pro-dictator. He was a general
as remarkable for his skill and prudence, as his prede-
cessors were for their want of skill and for rashness.
He divined the means of overcoming Hannibal. He
knew him to be without relations with Carthage;
.
82
CARTHAGE AND TUVIS.
repulsed by most of the allies of Rome; separated
from the Cis-Alpines, and his army fatigued by long
marches and already suffering from privations. · He
resolved to temporize as much as possible; to harass
the Punic army by incessant partial combats, and to
accept no set battle without the victory being assured
by the previous exhaustion of the enemy. Thus, plac-
ing himself upon some heights, after enclosing the
inhabitants in the cities, he made frequent sudden
attacks and ravaged the country far around. In
fine, wearying the army of Hannibal with frequent
skirmishes and the enployment of all the artifices
common to partisan warfare, Fabius effectually
reduced it and made it incapable of continuing its
victories. He thus merited the glorious surnames :
the Temporizer and Buckler of the Republic, (Cunctator,
et Scutum Reipublicæ). He succeeded in enclosing
Hannibal in a defile, where he hoped to overwhelm
him; but the cunning African let loose during the
night against the Roman army a herd of oxen with
lighted fagots fastened to their horns; these animals,
becoming furious from fright and pain, dashed against
the Roman battalions, breaking their ranks and giving
the Carthaginians opportunity to escape from their
perilous position.
The people of Rome, becoming dissatisfied with
the delays and especially with the failure of the last
plan of Fabius, and suspecting him even of treason,
joined to him as colleague Minutius, whose impru-
dence and impetuosity came near losing the army.
Fabius saved it; and Minutius, displaying true great-
ness of soul, came humbly to implore pardon of the
BATTLE OF CANNÆ.
83
dictator and lay at his feet the ensigns of his com-
mand. The war then continued with the same
ability and plan of operations until Hannibal, begin-
ning to despair of conquering the Romans, already
thought of turning back towards Gaul.
But the military tactics of Fabius and of his suc-
cessors Servilius and Attilius Regulus, ended by
wounding the amour propre, and exciting the impa-
tience and hostility, of the senate and popular party
at Rome. They named as consul Terentius Varro,
the son of a butcher, an obscure, incompetent and
rash man, with whom by a little foresight they asso-
ciated Paulus Emilius,* a pupil of Fabius. At the
same time, four prætors were appointed, two to guard
Rome, one for Gaul and the fourth for Sicily. The
last one was the famous Marcellus; the troops in
Spain were under the orders of the two Scipios and
were reinforced.
The two consular arınies, composed of eight legions
and of an equal number of allies, in all 87,000 men,
met, near Cannæ in Apulia, the Carthaginian army
strong with 50,000 soldiers.
Hannibal, short of provisions, was upon the point
of being abandoned by a part of his allies. Varro,
instead of waiting to reduce him by famine, foolishly
persisted in giving him battle, sustained as he was in
this course of action by the senate, whose views were
in strict accord with his own. Paulus Emilius opposed
and resisted this measure in vain. His presumptuous
colleague, on the very day of his becoming command-
* Paulus Emilius was the father of the famous Paulus Emilius, the con-
queror of Perseus, king of Macedonia.
84.
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
er-in-chief of the two united armies, crosses the river
Aufidus (Ofanto) and places himself in a disadvan-
tageous situation, where his whole army is pelted in
the face by volumes of sand raised up by a violent
wind. At this sight, Hannibal, notwithstanding the
inequality of the number, seeing the Romans crowded
together in bad order, extends out his line of battle
as at Trebia and Thrasymenus, flanks Varro's soldiers
with his cavalry, and finally by a bold movement hems
in his whole army. The Romans were pitifully de-
feated and butchered. Paulus Emilius died a hero,
while Varro withdrew in haste, leaving the field of
battle covered with 40,000 citizens and 30,000 allies.
Two questors, eighty senators and twenty-one mili-
tary tribunes were among the dead (216 B. C.).
From the unlucky day of the battle of Allia,*
when the sword of the Gauls became so terrible on
the banks of the Tiber, no such crushing disaster
bad befallen Rome. And nothing equalled the con-
sternation of the first moment except the magnan-
imity with which she resolved to save herself and
vindicate her honor. The senate met at the gates
of the city those who had escaped from Cannæ, and,
instead of uttering reproaches for the defeat, voted
thanks to Varro for not despairing of the republic.
A dictator was then named. They consulted the
Sybilline books. They buried alive, to conciliate the
gods, two Gauls and two Greeks of both sexes, and
gruffly sent back the Carthaginian envoy with an
imperious order for Hannibal immediately to leave
the territory of the republic.
* A river near Rome.
ROMAN PATRIOTISM.
85
New legions were hastily levied. Eight thousand
slaves were enrolled with the promise of their liberty
after their first combat. Citizens of all orders sub-
mitted to the greatest sacrifices; some giving up
their slaves; others their salaries or incomes; the
women contributing their jewels, and everybody
doing something for the safety of his imperilled
country. It was a magnificent display of devotion,
confidence and patriotism;--a glorious uprising of a .
great people, superior to defeat, as to victory,- of a
people who intuitively perceived their destiny, and
moved with a proud will to resist every obstacle to
their aggrandizement.
But Hannibal marched not upon Rome. Histo-
rians are wont to speak of this as a great mistake,
and to cite the remark which Livy attributes to Ma-
herbal: “You know how to conquer, O Hannibal,
but not how to profit by your victories.” If we re-
flect, nevertheless, on the exhaustion of the Punic
army by the succession even of its victories; by its
prolonged sojourn in Italy without receiving any aid
from Carthage; obtaining some reïnforcements from
certain parts of Italy, but obliged to challenge or
fight all the rest of the peninsular inhabitants; if we
observe that the principal superiority of the Cartha-
ginians was in their cavalry, which would become
useless in a siege, and that the want of machines had
already been the cause of IIannibal's failure in the
attack on several places: if we consider, in fine, that
with his genius and experience, Hannibal was in this
case the best of judges, since no one knew better
than himself his own soldiers, and what the Romans
86
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
could do, whose preparations and means of resist-
ance he understood: if we weigh well all these mat-
ters, we shall appreciate, I think, the wisdom of Han-
nibal, in refusing to risk losing all by imprudently
enlisting in an enterprise so difficult and doubtful as
the siege of Rome. Let us add that, after the battle
of Cannæ, the conquerors were twice as far from
Rome as at Thrasymenus.
Hannibal entered into Campania, and received by
his brother Mago the submission of numerous inhabi-
tants of Southern Italy. The occupants of Central
Italy remained always faithful to Rome. He failed at
the siege of Naples, but Capua opened to him her
gates. He established himself there with his
army,
and sent Mago to Carthage, to render account to the
senate of all that he had done, and obtain aid to
continue his victories.
Mago spread out before the astonished senate three
bushels of gold rings taken from Roman knights and
senators killed at Cannæ ; and giving a glowing
account of the successes of the Punic arins in Italy,
insisted, at the conclusion of his address, on the
necessity of gloriously terminating this struggle by.
granting some indispensable reinforcements. Himil-
co, also of the Barca party, rose in his turn, jeered
the opposition, and, turning to Hanno, its leader,
asked him what he thought then of the war against
the Romans, and of the necessity of surrendering
Hannibal to them. “Let us see,” concluded he, turn-
ing to Hanno, “what this Roman senator will say in
the midst of the senate of Carthage.” IIanno replied,
with as much irony as haughtiness, that he was nei-
0
DEBATE AT CARTHAGE..
ST
ther proud nor repentant, and that he regretted more
than ever the war, and should not cease to blame the
invincible Hannibal for breaking a precious peace
until he had obtained another on more honorable
and advantageous conditions.' Calling upon Mago,
he tauntingly asked : “Since Rome is on the eve of
her ruin, what people of Latium, what Roman citi-
zens have taken sides with Hannibal ? What propo-
sitions for peace has Rome made? If nothing of
this kind has taken place," added Hanno,“ we have
the war upon us now as hard as at first. After so
many victories, demands are made upon us the same
as if we had been defeated. I conclude, then, that
if Hannibal is really victorious, we ought not to
send him aid because he must have no need of it;
if he is conquered, we ought not to grant it because
he does not merit it."
Notwithstanding this plausible and ingenious rea-
soning, showing the party politician or rather the
adroit demagogue in the guise of the patriot and
statesman, the senate decreed by acclamation to
send Hannibal 4,000 Numidians, 40 elephants and a
large sum of money. But the opposition speech had
its effect. There was so much delay and negligence
about sending these reinforcements, in themselves
so inadequate, that IIannibal bad to rely on hiinself
alone for his maintenance in Italy. Marcellus, the
Sword of the Republic, seconded by Fabius, who was
its Shield, holds Hannibal in check in the quadrilate-
ral formed by Capua, Arpi, Regium and Tarentum,
and force him to shut himself up in Capua, which he
makes his winter quarters, and, contrary to common
88
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
opinion, does not allow his soldiers to become effemi-
nate and demoralized; and there he anxiously waits
for promised supplies from Carthage, with which he
hopes to put himself in communication by sea; but
these supplies, either refused, badly directed or inter-
cepted, never reach him.
The following spring he marches towards the ex-
tremity of the peninsula to form some alliances
there, and then returns into Campania. Marcellus
and Fabius, avoiding every set battle, inflict upon
him partial defeats which, in their accumulated influ-
ence, are more disastrous than one great defeat.
Hannibal then applied to Philip, king of Mace-
donia, who, fearing the ambition of Rome, hesitated
not to contract an alliance offensive and defensive
with the Punic general, an alliance which engaged
reciprocally Macedonia and her allies, and Carthage
and hers. But Philip was dilatory in his movements,
and the prætor, Marcus Valerius Levinus, soon forced
him to burn at the mouth of the river Aoüs, the fleet
with which he had designed to transport his army
into Italy.
Meanwhile Marcellus defeats Hannibal before Nola
and Casilinum, and drives him out of Campania (215–
214 B. C.). Hannibal, drawing back, attempts then to
take possession of Tarentum with a view of securing
his communications with Macedonia. The taking of
this city and the defection of Syracuse, which at the
death of Hiero declared itself for the Carthaginians,
restored for a moment his courage and fortune. He
killed 15,000 Roman soldiers in Lucania, and advanced
to the aid of Capua, besieged by the foe during his
DEATH OF MARCELLUS.
89
absence; he delivered it the first time and then in a
second effort failed, when suddenly he resolved to
make a diversion upon Rome. He appeared under
her walls, but was discouraged by her means of resist-
ance, and especially by the attitude of the senate,
which, to defy him, put up at auction the ground
on which he was encamped. He then marched into
Brutium, definitely abandoning Capua to the Romans
(211 B. C.). Syracuse had also just fallen under the
arms of Marcellus in spite of the learned defense or-
ganized by the great Archimedes. Soon the Libyan
Mutine delivered up Agrigentum, and the Cartha-
ginians quit for the last time Sicily, which became
henceforth a Roman province. (210 B. C.)
Tarentum is retaken from Hannibal, but Marcellus
perishes in an ambuscade. Hannibal makes for this
worthy adversary a great funeral, weeps over his
remains, and sends his ring and ashes to his son.
Carthage finally decides to send aid to her admira-
ble general, who, tracked like a lion from one retreat
to another, returns to tlie charge and defends him-
self. Withdrawing once more into Brutium, he ex-
hausts the resources of military tactics and, proving
the valor of his veterans, maintains himself there for
years with alternations of success and reverse, but
always equal to himself in fruitfulness of invention
and firmness of purpose. Passing to the foot of that
Italy which he had pierced to the quick and reduced
to extremity, he awaited with lofty bearing the stun-
ning blows which Rome, recovering froin her humilia-
tion and gathering up her strength, was to deal out
upon him and his devoted country.
12
90
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Hasdrubal, his brother, who was a commander in
Spain, received orders to join him with 50,000 men.
He succeeds in avoiding a Roman army which pur-
sues him; passes the Ebro and the Pyrenees; marches
through Gaul; crosses the Alps; enters Cis-Alpine
Gaul and then loses all by stopping to besiege Pla-
centia. The consul Claudius Nero, learning of the
plan of Hasdrubal, leaves a part of his army to watch
Hannibal; then hastens with the rest of it up through
Italy; unites with his colleague Livius Salinator, on
the banks of the Metaurus, where he encounters and
routs the Punic army, killing Hasdrubal. Then, re-
tracing his steps, he has the bloody head of the van-
quished brother cast into the camp of Hannibal. The
conqueror of Cannæ, touched to the heart, recognizes
in this sad event the fate of Carthage (207 B. C.),
and shuts himself up among the mountains and fast-
nesses of Brutium.
The affairs of Carthage were no more flourishing
in Spain. Cneius and Cornelius Scipio had taken in
a few months 120 fortified places, and had gradually
extended Roman jurisdiction from the Ebro towards
the south, and had made an alliance with Syphax,
king of a part of Numidia, who furnished them a
body of excellent cavalry. After the battle of
Cannæ, Hasdrubal wished to leave the command to
Himilco and cross over into Italy. He was conquered
twice, and almost all the Spaniards declared them-
selves for the Romans. Four other victories over
Hasdrubal, Mago and Gisco opened to the Scipios
Saguntum, which had been eight years in the power
of the Carthaginians. But fortune changed all at
PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO.
91
3
once: Cneius and Cornelius were vanquished and
killed. Marcius, simply a knight, took command of
the army and defeated Mago. But the senate not
confirming him in command, he was succeeded by
the consul Nero, who, after having entrapped Has-
drubal in a defile, let him out on conditions which
were immediately violated. Finally, Publius Corne-
lius Scipio, son of Cornelius, was called to succeed
Nero. He joins to himself the valiant and skilful
Marcius, and, though but twenty-five years old, shows
himself equal to the occasion. He meditates, and
resolves to strike a blow at the very heart of Cartha-
ginian power in Spain,—at New Carthage, which as a
fortress was deemed to be impregnable, and was the
centre of extensive commerce and riches. He be-
sieged it, took it, and found there, with an immense
booty, hostages from all parts of Spain. He was
merciful, moderate, benevolent and generous. Sym-
pathy and gratitude drew towards him all hearts.
All the Spanish chiefs became his allies, and at length
the last Punic troops commanded by Mago were
driven from Cadiz.
After Spain was subjected and pacified, he returned
to Rome and was made consul. He requested permis-
sion immediately to pass over into Africa. Fabius,
the Temporizer, strongly opposed this request, say-
ing that it was necessary first to annihilate Hanni-
bal in Italy itself. Scipio, on the contrary, thought
that in carrying the war into Africa, he would finally
force him out of Italy, and, drawing him upon Panic
territory, would destroy at the same blow the great
enemy of Rome and her formidable rival. As to his
92
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
victory, he did not entertain a doubt; for it was
needful for his glory and the safety of Rome, and
Scipio had confidence in his country and in himself.
Lælius, after having ravaged the African coasts,
wrote his friend Scipio that Massinissa, king of the
Massylian Numidians and a very useful ally of
Rome during the wars in Spain, desired him to pass
without delay into Africa, where Syphax, taking
sides with Carthage, had turned his arms against
him. Scipio at length obtained permission (204
B. C.) to pass over into Africa with 30,000 men and
a numerous fleet. Though his project had been for
a long time known at Carthage, he landed without
obstacle at Beautiful Promontory, situated north-
west of Carthage. He besieged Utica. Sixty thou-
sand men came to defend it under the command of
Hasdrubal and Syphax. Winter suspends hostilities.
In the following spring, rejecting the propositions
for an accommodation with Syphax, he surprises the
two camps of the enemy and burns them; and in
another great battle which takes place five days
from Carthage on the great plains south of Testour,
he almost annihilates their united army. Having
possession of Tunis himself, he sends a part of his army
to the aid of Massinissa, who is soon enthroned at
Cirta (Constantine), the former capital of Syphax.
Massinissa finds in Cirta the famous Sophonisba, the
daughter of Hasdrubal and the wife of Syphax, who,
more successful than Dido with Æneas, induced her
husband to forsake the cause of Rome and enlist for
Carthage. Forgetting his former disdain and per-
haps touched by her beauty and tears, Massinissa
.
HANNIBAL CALLED HOME.
93
wishes to marry her, but Scipio claims her as a pris-
oner of Rome, and Massinissa, to manage his allies
and save Sophonisba from the ignominy of a triumph,
sends her some poison, which she courageously takes
and dies.
About this time, the senate recalled Hannibal, who
always remained quartered in Brutium, and also Mago,
who was in the north of Italy unable to hold any com-
munication with him. Mago died on his way home
by sea. “ Hannibal,” says Livy, “gnashed with his
teeth and shed tears of rage," as he tore himself
from that Italy which he had for sixteen years in-
flicted with such evils as only extraordinary genius
envenomed by hatred could effect. He landed at
Leptis; then came to Hadrumetum, and from there
went near Zama to take command of 50,000 men.
Before any encounter, Scipio and Hannibal had
an interview, at which the services of an interpreter
seem to have been necessary. They came together
with generous emotion, and conversed with calmness
and dignity; but had to separate, though personally
admiring each the other, without any conclusion of
terms. Hannibal reminded Scipio with sadness of
the inconstancy of fortune, of which he himself pre-
sented a striking illustration; but the young con-
queror of Spain, being unable to yield that which he
demanded, declared that for a settlement they must
appeal to the arbitration of arms.
Some skirmishes took place at first between the
advanced guards at Zama, but the great battle that
took the name of Zaina and became illustrious in
the annals of history, was fought a little distance
94
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
from that city between Killa and Naragarra. (202
B. C.)
Scipio places the spearmen (hastati) upon the first
line of his army, leaving intervals between each
cohort. Upon the second line he places the princes
(an order of soldiers), whose cohorts he does not
range opposite the intervals of the first line accord-
ing to Roman usage, but behind each other, with
intervals between the ranks on account of the great
number of elephants belonging to the enemy. The
triarii (soldiers of the third line) constitute the reserve
force. Upon the left, Lælius commands the Italian
cavalry, and upon the right, Massinissa is placed over
the Numidian horsemen. Some light armed troops
(velites) are introduced into the open space of the
first line to bring on the combat. If their ranks are
broken in the onset, they have orders to withdraw
by the open space to the rear of the main army,
which, remaining intact and isolated, will not be
likely to suffer from the defeat.
Hannibal places in front of his troops eighty ele- .
phants; the first line is composed of the mercenaries
Ligurians, Gauls, Balearians and Moors. Behind
these, he stations the Africans and the Carthagini-
ans; finally he forms the third line, removed from
the second line more than two hundred yards, and
introduces here the veteran troops which had accom-
panied him in his Italian campaign.
The Numidians on both sides and the light armed
troops of each army begin the combat by bloody and
vain skirmishes. Then the Carthaginian elephants
move heavily against the Roman infantry, throwing
BATTLE OF ZAMA.
95
8
the front ranks into disorder and crushing them.
But the elephants speedily reach an open space,
where by order of Scipio they are attacked by three
lines of troops and are thus driven far away, pierced
with spears and javelins. Many of the elephants,
maddened and furious with their wounds, retrace
their steps with cries of rage.
The Romans no
longer fearing the “monster oxen of Lucania,"* force
back in disorder these huge beasts, which in their
frenzy rush away into the midst of the Carthaginian
army, bearing tumult and death in their course.
Loelius and Massinissa then fall upon the cavalry
opposite to them, and break, disperse, pursue and cut
it in pieces.
The infantry of the two armies now engage each
other. The mercenaries of Hannibal make a furious
onset against the opposing force, but shortly after-
wards, perceiving that the second line of their own
army, instead of coming to their support, remains
in a state of inactivity, their indignation is so aroused
that they turn their arms fiercely against it. Thus
encountered by their own mercenaries and by the
Romans, the second line succumbs under the double
shock. Driven back, the soldiers of the second line
rush tumultuously towards the third line, whose jave-
lins and pikes are suddenly thrust at them, like the
quills of porcupines, checking their course and dis-
persing them along the wings of the army in the
open plain.
* At the time of the invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus, the Roman soldiers
were frightened by the clophants of his army, which in their simplicity
they styled the monster oxen of Lucania.
96
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
This third line of Hannibal's army remains still
unmoved and threatening. It is composed of the
consecrated battalions of Carthage and now consti-
tutes the sole hope of the state.
Scipio unites all his forces against it and urges
them forward in person, showing himself by turns, at
this decisive moment of the battle, a great general,
orator and soldier.
These old companions of Hannibal, valiant men
who had subdued the Alps, humbled the pride of
Roman legions and consuls, measured by the bushel
rings from the fingers of Roman knights slain at
Cannæ, and hovered like birds of prey around the
Eternal City; these veterans, hitherto invincible,
can neither sully their fame nor disregard their duty.
The conflict for supremacy is fierce and bloody; the
victory wavers for a long time. But all at once Loe-
lius and Massinissa return from the pursuit of their
immediate antagonists and, with the multitude of
their horsemen upon the gallop, dash with irresisti-
ble force upon the rear of the valiant Carthaginian
infantry, cutting down the soldiers with their sabres
and trampling them under the feet of their horses.
The army of Hannibal is shaken, broken and utterly
overpowered by the shock.
Hannibal himself, finally yielding to destiny and
drawn away, as it were in a sweeping tornado, escapes
from the field with only fifty chosen horseinen, as
once escaped the consul Varro from him in Italy; and
thus in sadness he reaches the road to Hadrumetum
(Susa).
And now by the side of fifteen hundred Romans,
CLOSE OT THE WAR.
97
twenty thousand Carthaginians lie weltering in their
blood upon the plains of Zama, and still another twenty
thousand are prisoners of war. Carthage has here her
slaughter of Cannæ; but it is a slaughter from which
she will never recover as did Rome from her humilia-
tion fourteen years before.
Hannibal fled precipitately to Hadrumetum. In-
vited to Carthage, he returned there after thirty-six
years absence, and advised the senate to ask for
peace. Scipio, with his head-quarters at Tunis,
thought for a time of besieging Carthage, but
renouncing this plan, accorded peace on the follow-
ing conditions, viz.: “Carthage to give up. Spain,
Sicily, and all the islands of the western Mediterra-
nean to the Romans; to deliver up her prisoners
and deserters, her elephants, and her entire fleet with
the exception of ten galleys; to pay in the course of
fifty years 10,000 talents (about $10,833,000 in intrin-
sic value, and ten times that suin if we take account of
the relative value of gold and silver); to maké no
war without the consent of Rome; and to reëstablish
Massinissa in all the possessions of his ancestors.”
When the Punic senate read these conditions, there
was much hesitation and a long pause. Gisco rose
to utter his protest, when Hannibal leaped from his
• place and forcibly drew Gisco back to his seat. To
calm the indignation aroused by this rudeness and
violence, Hannibal said that having left his country
at the age of nine years, he had forgotten the usages
of the senate, assuring his colleagues that he had no
other intentions than to serve the public good. He
added that the rejection of the terms offered would,
13
98
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
in his view, result in the complete annihilation of
Carthage. The peace was then concluded.
Thus sadly ended the second Punic war. Carthage
lost her magnificent colony in Spain, and, by the hard
conditions of the treaty of peace, the very spring of
her force, --her fleet, and consequently her national
personality; for in fact she became the humble sub-
ject of Rome. The latter was aggrandized by the
humiliation of her rival. Hinc populus late rex. The
people thus greatly extended their rule. Queen of
the western Mediterranean, Rome had soon to turn
towards the east. Carthage alone had been able to
restraiņ her, and now that city, awaiting her destruc-
tion, which was only a question of tiine, was reduced
not only to weakness, but to the humiliating condition
of a vassal, a slave of Rome in that same Africa which
she wished to make the centre of the ancient world.
Rome was henceforth that centre. Superiority of
national character and arms was going to make all
countries successively converge there. The Roman
empire was thus formed.
Carthage gave up 500 vessels, which Scipio burnt
upon the sea in plain sight of the frightened city.
It was like an illumination of rejoicing at the victory
of Rome. When the first instalment of the tribute
became due, many senators wept. Hannibal burst.
into a laugh,—a hideous laugh, that was the highest
expression of despair.
The Romans speedily exercised the tyrannic
supremacy which the treaty secured. They sum-
moned Carthage to recall and deliver up to them
General Hamilcar, who, at the head of an army of
HANNIBAL'S ADMINISTRATION.
99
Gauls and Ligurians, was making war upon the
northern part of Italy. Carthage humbly declared
that Hamilcar acted on his own responsibility with-
out her knowledge or consent. She disowned and
severely reproached him, and finally exiled him, as if
this last chainpion of her cause were a public enemy;
and further to appease the anger of Rome, she sent
her in great haste 200,000 measures of wheat, and
the same quantity to the Macedonian legions.
Hannibal thought only of preparing his country
for a new term of life, with a view of effecting a
terrible revenge. He strove with all the power of
his genius to secure important reforms in the admin-
istration of the government. Sustained by the popu-
lar party, he took strong ground against a kind of
judicial oligarchy that had for a long time monopo-
lized the control of state affairs. All its members
were bound to act as a unit, and the influence of all
protected the abuses of each. Hannibal dared to
raise his protest against this association of corrupt
officials; and, to effect a change, he secured the
enactment of a law to elect new judges each year,
and that no person should under any pretext con-
tinue in office two successive years. He then turned
his attention to the department of finance, and exer-
cised there pitiless severity. There were at that
time in the country official plunderers of public
property, -overseers of imposts and directors of
finance,— who lived in luxury and ruined the people
by abominable extortions. He scrutinized and con-
trolled their conduct, and in general regulated the
financial administration with so much rigor and suc-
100
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
cess, that his astonished countrymen soon found
thenselves prepared to pay the tribute imposed by
the Romans without additional taxes.
He revived agriculture, which was in a declining
state. Knowing that the cultivation of the soil was
the great source of riches and power for his country,
he devoted to it his best energies. He employed the
leisure of his troops in raising on large tracts of land
olive trees, which served to introduce an important
branch of business and means of wealth. But while
he healed the wounds of his country by devoting it
first of all to works of peace, he did not entirely
neglect the military art, nor fail to give his troops
healthy exercise in frequent expeditions against
rebellious tribes. He raised up thus gently and skil-
fully the great power vanquished at Zama; for
though borne down by destiny, he still hoped that
Carthage would beconie the head and heart of a
universal league against the accursed tyranny of
Rome.
He knew and secretly encouraged the movement
which was preparing in the east. Antiochus III, king
of Syria, excited by the Ætolians, was planning an
expedition into Greece to destroy there Roman domi-
nation and then invade Italy. Philip III, of Mace-
donia, on his side, had not changed his views since
the disaster on the Aoüs. But if Hannibal was occu-
pied with the east, awaiting an opportunity to play
a part in the events which were preparing there,
Rome watched him, observing with the clairvoyance
of hatred and jealousy his minutest acts.
His ene-
mies at Carthage, who were spies paid by the Roman
HANNIBAL IN EXILE.
101
war.
senate, at length denounced the great man as a trai-
tor, and the Roman senate demanded his immediate
surrender Hannibal foresaw and anticipated the
consequence of these measures. He left by night,
with two faithful companions, and travelled on horse-
back to Thapsus,* on the eastern coast, where he sailed
in a galley which had been a long time in readi-
ness for him. . He touched at Kerkenna and thence
proceeded direct to Asia. From Tyre, where he
landed and was received with honor, he departed for
Antioch; he then visited at Ephesus king Antiochus,
whom he found in the midst of his preparations for
He speedily gained his confidence. He repre-
sented to him how important it was for the peace
and liberty of the world to crush Rome, and that this
object could be accomplished only in Italy. He
offered himself to cominand the expedition, and
promised the concurrence of Carthage, where he had
already sent an emissary, Aristo, to have an under-
standing with the Barca party. But the mission of
Aristo became known. The aristocratic party, the
party of peace and servility, became restless; the
senators, whose souls had been bought up by Rome,
forced Aristo to appear before the magistrates. Aristo
succeeded in escaping after some lists had been posted
in the streets indicating the complicity of the most
illustrious families. The senate, trembling with fear,
sent an embassador to Rome to tell the whole story
and acquit itself of blame.
* Somo writers say that Hannibal sailed from Africa near Thapsus, a city
subsequently named Torris Hannibalis by the Romans, and at present called
Media.
102
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
In a little while, Antiochus, influenced by envious
courtiers, became cool in his relations with Hannibal.
His distrust was increased by several conversations
that were held between the Roman embassadors just
arrived at Ephesus and the illustrious exile. In this
connection occurred a familiar incident. Publius
Scipio was one of those embassadors. He saw Han-
nibal, and asked him which of all the generals, living
or dead, he would place in the first rank. “Alexan-
der,” replied Hannibal. “In the second ?” “Pyrr-
hus.” “In the third ?” “Myself.” “And in wbich
class would you place me," continued Scipio, smiling,
“if you ?
had conquered me?” “Then,” replied Han-
nibal, with animation, “I would place myself before
Alexander even.” Scipio was touched by this noble
and delicate praise, which placed him beyond com-
parison.
Antiochus, passing into Greece, found there scarce-
ly any partisans; and after losing much precious
time, was at length routed at Thermopylæ; he
returned to his kingdom a fugitive, realizing and
acknowledging, unfortunately too late, the wisdom
of the counsels and plan of Hannibal. The Romans
then passing over into Asia, defeated Antiochus at
Magnesia, and demanded of him the surrender of
Hannibal (190 B. C.). The latter fled at first into
Crete, then took refuge with Prusias, king of Bithy-
nia. He commanded many times with success the
troops and navy, of this prince in a war against
Eumenes, king of Pergamos and an ally of the Ro-
Flaminius came in the name of the senate to
demand the surrender of Hannibal. The latter tried
mans.
HANNIBAL'S DEATH.
103
to escape, but the soldiers of Prusias guarded the
seven doors which he had arranged leading out of
his apartment. “ Deliver,” cried he, “deliver the
Roman people from their long restlessness; for they
have not patience to await the death of an old man.
The Romans have sadly degenerated! The fathers
warned Pyrrhus to be on his guard against a traitor
that sought to poison him ; the sons now send a consul
to force Prusias to secure the death of his guest and
friend by the most abominable treachery.” Then,
invoking upon the perfidious Prusias the wrath of
the gods who avenge violated hospitality, he swal-
lowed a subtle poison, which he always carried with
him, and died aged about sixty-five years, 183 B. C.
The same year died in voluntary exile at Linter-
num, cursing his ungrateful country, Scipio, the con-
queror at Zama; also Philopoemen, the soul of the
Achæan league and the last of the Greeks, died in
the city of Messina, poisoned by traitors sold to
Rome.
Thus perished obscurely and wretchedly that man
who would have saved the greatness of Carthage if
it had been possible. As general, administrator and
politician, in traits of character, as in functions the
most opposite, he was always equal to himself. In
assuming at the age of twenty-four the command of the
army in Spain, he prepares with extraordinary ability,
sagacity and success for his prodigious invasion of
Italy. Infusing new life, and rendering that army
worthy of himself and of his object, he draws it forth
and hurls it from Carthagena to the Campania of
Rome, 1,200 miles, through fatigues and dangers,
104
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and encounters with enemies, and with nature, more
formidable still. A conqueror of the Alps and of
the legions of Rome, he reduces to extremity the
Eternal City, and needs to consummate her ruin
only to be understood and supported by Carthage.
Abandoned by her, he sees with grief snatched from
him that Italy which he had held bound as a prey
for sixteen years; and, recalled in haste to the aid
of his imperilled country, he returns into Africa only
to see it fall irrecoverable upon the plains of Zama.
Vanquished, still glorious, he advises Carthage to
yield to destiny, and, transforming himself into a
statesman and magistrate, prepares for it a revenge
by an admirable administration and an extended cor-
respondence with allies. Exiled in order to escape
the vengeance of Rome, he goes to the east to raise
there a tempest, whose thunderbolts he would direct;
and when he becomes a slighted, betrayed guest, ready
to fall by the perfidy of his host into the cruel hands
of his eternal enemies, he dies bequeathing the oppro-
briuin of his death to Prusias and the Roman senate.
He is himself to the last ;- always and everywhere
the Great Hannibal.
The wonderful part which he played in life sup-
poses powers and traits of character which explain
it, and which are sufficiently manifest in the forego-
ing recitals. An African, Hannibal had, with all the
impetuosity and, in some sort, violence of his race,
that will, firmness and self-possession, which are so
rare in all men, and are ordinarily incompatible with
ardor and bounding energy. He was at the same
time a man of passion, and of reason; of enthusiasm,
CHARACTER OF HANNIBAL.
105
and of sober calculation. He exalted his army by
his word and example. But the exaltation which
he inspired and shared never troubled his head, nor
produced a tremulous hand. Like all superior men,
he was especially powerful by the economy and
direction of his forces, and by that imperturbable
self-balance, that harmoniously united them and
wonderfully increased their effect.
His vigilance,
penetration, activity and valor as a general, enabled
him to secure his ascendancy over his soldiers.
Twenty different nationalities were represented in
his army, and yet he never had to suppress a
sedition, notwithstanding the frequent want of food,
and great sufferings of various kinds. A soldier
himself, of superior courage, address and skill, he
shared all the soldier's labors, dangers and trials.
A general worthy of his title, after having attached
to himself his soldiers by a fraternal participation in
their hardships and their glory, he exercised his
superior mind and rank in elevating their spirit and
encouraging their heart by kindly words and proofs
of benevolent interest, which in their turn relieved
hiin of the necessity of frequent demonstrations of
severe justice, firmness and inflexibility in the main-
tenance of discipline. By securing the attachment
of his army, he succeeded in maintaining it without
revolt or serious loss for many years in a hostile
country, without aid from Carthage, where, on the
contrary, he was opposed by malignant partisans ;
and his allies in Italy were devoted to him only be-
cause he never failed to show himself moderate and
loyal towards them. It is in vain that Livy, biased
14
106
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
by his Roman rancor, accuses him of impiety, of
the violation of his oath, of dishonesty, avarice and
cruelty, without giving any proofs; and it is but just
to relate that Polybius praises him for having rejected
with horror the proposition to live on human flesh,
butchering his prisoners, because he was short of
pro-
visions; that Diodorus, of Sicily, reports the honors
which he rendered to the dead body of the consul Sem-
pronius, instead of profaning it, as he was urged to do;
and that Justinus commends his temperance and the
almost austere wisdom of his conduct and manners.
His impiety would be proved only by the pillage of
some temples ; but did he order this himself? And
would not the antagonism of the national religions
explain this? We see him, on the contrary, make
vows to Hercules, and invoke at his death the aveng-
ing gods. As to his avarice, he never took his share
of the spoils, was always nobly generous towards his
soldiers, and did not become rich during the four
years of his almost supreme control at Carthage.
Polybius tell us, it is true, that Hannibal was
regarded as avaricious at Carthage and cruel at
Rome; but he is careful to add that there was a dif-
ference of opinion, and that it would not be aston-
ishing if his enemies had spread these reports. As
to ourselves, these reports seem to us as natural as
they are ill-founded, and easily explained, if we
consider that there must have been at Rome, not
to speak of the public hatred towards a common
enemy, a multitude of relatives of the victims at
Tesino, Trebia, Thrasimenus and Cannæ; and at Car-
thage, a great many fainilies embittered against him
HANNIBAL'S TEMPERANCE.
107
on account of his financial reforms, which affected
injuriously their private interests. Now he who
kills our relatives is in our eyes cruel, as he who
takes from them the control of the public funds
seems avaricious, especially if he takes it for him-
self; but if he has simply killed upon the field of
battle, and deprived extortioners of office for the
good of the state, what then do such cruelty and
avarice become ?
The sobriety of Hannibal was proverbial. He ate
hastily and drank very little wine, without ever reclin-
ing at table according to the custom of the ancients.
Temperance is a commanding virtue wherever it may
be found, but is specially important for a general ;
and it serves in this case to contradict the story about
military voluptuousness (deliciæ) at Capua; for sober
and inflexible in discipline, would Hannibal have per-
mitted his troops to become effeminate and demoral-
ized ?
He was remarkable for his mental culture; and in
the midst of his interminable enterprises and labors,
he seems to have found time to cultivate letters and
to write in the Greek language several books, which
have been lost. Sophilos and Philenius, both Lacede-
monians, were his secretaries and faithful companions.
They labored to write his history, which has also been
lost.
It would be peculiarly interesting to possess, for
the want of Punic documents, some account of this
great man given by his two secretaries, who had
the best opportunity to know and judge him, and
transmit to posterity his complete historic portrait.
108
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
But, in the absence of their statements, we may, by
means of all the sketches found in Greek and Latin
authors who have spoken of him, draw a noble and
commanding figure, which, if it be not his veritable
image, is at least a shadow of it sufficient to give an
idea of him; and so in the midst of the events in
which he was an actor and a hero, we can imagine
and admire his full character, after having considered
him in detail as a general, a citizen and a man.
Cannæ and Zama date back more than twenty
centuries, but the glory of Hannibal has not yet
faded, nor has his physiognomy lost any of its origi-
nality, nobleness or grandeur. He stands forth ma-
jestically in the history of Carthage, and is the high-
est expression of Carthaginian greatness. Superior
to his countrymen, who little understood him, and
abandoned him when he was on the point of triumph-
ing almost single handed, he equals the entire Roman
people, who conquered him, and whom he alone re-
sisted. We can readily fancy Roman legions victo-
rious without Fabius, Marcellus or even Scipio; but
it is impossible to imagine a handful of Carthaginians
for fifteen years victorious in Italy without Hannibal.
Behind the Italian legions, almost all composed of
Roman citizens, was Rome itself, their indestructible
soul and strength. Of the Punic armies, mostly com-
posed of mercenaries, the soul and strength was not
Carthage, but Hannibal. Now a man, be he ever so
great, cannot contend, for an indefinite time, against
a manly people that wishes not to perish, unless he
is supported by another people of equal valor. Han-
nibal had then to yield; because Carthage in the end
CHAMPION OF LIBERTY.
109
failed him, and he could not save her and make her
a nation of the first class without her own active and
earnest coöperation. But the honor remains to him
—and how great that honor !—of having for a long
time retarded the victory of Rome and the fall of
his country, of which he never despaired; since he
attempted to resuscitate her, so to speak, after she
had by her own faults fallen dying upon the field of
Zama.
But he was not solely the great champion of Car-
thage. With the independence and liberty of his
country, were indissolubly connected the indepen-
dence and liberty of the ancient world, of which Car-
thage was the last bulwark. He thus had the con-
sciousness of defending a great cause, and he defend-
ed it with a character and glory that associate him,
in the memory and admiration of men, with those
colossuses of genius, which, towering above the ruins
of empires, withstand the force of time and age.
SECTION III.
THIRD PUNIC WAR.--TAKING AND RUIN OF CARTHAGE.—CARTHAGE
UNDER RODE.--MASSINISSA AND JUGURTIIA.
Massinissa, king of eastern Numidia, whose capital
was Zama Regia, and at a later period Cirta (Con-
stantine), was an ancient ally of Carthage, and gave
her important aid in her wars in Spain. He was won
over to the Roman cause by Scipio Africanus I, as
was also Syphax, king of the western Numidians,
110
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
whose capital was Siga (in the province of Oran).
The latter lost his estates at the beginning of the
second Punic war.
The very terms of the treaty at the close of that
war sealed the inexorable fate of Carthage. She was
despoiled of her richest colonies and of her fleet;
inflicted with a tribute less crushing in itself, than
deadly in its moral effect; and deprived of all na-
tional personality. But this was not enough: in
addition to all these causes, slowly but surely lead-
ing to ruin, she needed another means as sure, but
more prompt, to destroy her. This means was the
ambition of Massinissa, who resided on the very con-
fines of Carthage, which was to become his victim.
The hatred and the calculations of Rome were
used by her protege for his own purposes. · Massinissa
encroached upon the territory of Carthage. Carthage
protested against his encroachinents. Rome being
invoked, gave her decision in favor of the Numidian
king, who then continued his aggressions and usur-
pations of power. On the further complaints of Car-
thage, the senate sent into Africa Scipio Nasica. The
decision was given in favor of Massinissa, who contin-
ued to aggrandize himself at the expense of his enemy.
Cato, the Censor, the incorruptible, the wise, the just,
in bis turn came to Africa to show himself unjust to-
wards Carthage. The latter refused him as an arbi-
ter in her affairs; hence his fiat, “delenda est Carthago,"
urged on his return to Rome. The senate, less impa-
tient to arrive at an end of which it was certain,
adopted the advice of Scipio Nasica, who,, for the
time, only wished to humiliate yet more the ancient
ROMAN PREVARICATION.
111
rival of Rome. It was substantially the same thing.
“ Let us kill the sick man,” Cato brutally cried. Let
us have him die wisely, little by little, thought Scipio
and the senate.
Massinissa usurped power so extensively, with the
knowledge and official consent of Rome, that Carthage
in despair reached the point sought by her enemies.
She violated the clause of the treaty forbidding her to
make war without the permission of Rome. She took
up arms against the insatiable Numidian king. The
latter, having wrong and force on his side, two excel-
lent conditions for a ferocious triumph, encountered a
great army commanded by Hasdrubal, while he was
awaiting aid from Rome, who, instead of succoring a
suppliant, was not slow in her turn to rush upon her
miserable rival. In vain Carthage entreated by means
of three humble embassies. The senate in its feigned
clemency promised to spare the city (civitas), antici-
pating in its bad faith, a misunderstanding about the
word which it employed. The Carthaginians natu-
rally understood the word civitas to include the city
(urbs) as well as the citizens; the senate rejected
this interpretation, quibbling and prevaricating in
the most ignoble manner
Arms, machines, ships, hostages; Carthage delivered
up all without hesitation upon the injunction of the
senate, thus expecting at least to save her existence.
But, at last, the senate declared to the inhabitants
that they must leave the city; for they alone were
to be spared. Upon this announcement, their de-
spair was roused to indignation, and they revolted.
They rose in arms to save their homes and their
112
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
country, or to perich with them. The consuls Cen-
sorinus, Manillus and Piso, were successively sent
and failed to take the town by siege (149–147 B. C.).
At last Scipio Æmilianus, tightening his grasp on the
place, closed the port by a gigantic dike and reduced
the city to extremities. The besieged, to the number
of about 700,000, dug into the rock, making another
entrance to their port, where they constructed from
the wood of their buildings a new fleet. But soon the
Côthon (harbor) was occupied; the Romans pene-
trated into Carthage, fought for a week from street
to street and from house to house, and took posses-
sion of the Byrsa, whose garrison with Hasdrubal
was spared. A destructive fire occurred which lasted
several days. The city was plundered, dismantled and
essentially ruined, and the Carthaginian state was re-
duced to a Roman province under the name of Africa,
having Utica for its capital (146 B. c.).
Instead of giving a detailed account of the military
events connected with the last days of Phoenician
Carthage, as they are set forth by Roman and Gre-
cian authors, we will dwell a moment on a single
character that appears in the closing scenes. We
are wont to hear of the devotion and heroism of
Roman matrons; but we doubt whether any country
has furnished a more striking illustration of fidelity,
loyalty and patriotism, than Carthage furnishes in
the conduct of the wife of Hasdrubal. The example
of this woman appears to us the more worthy of note,
as it stands out in bold contrast with that of her hus-
band. Mr. Guérin, in his admirable work entitled
- Voyage Archéologique dans la Régence de Tunis,"
IIASDRUBAL'S BASENESS.
113
draws a parallel between two remarkable women, one
of whom perished on a funeral pile at the foundation
of Carthage from disappointed love, and the other
perished in the same way at the destruction of that
city, as an act of devotion to her country. The facts
are as follows:
At the period of the taking and destruction of
Carthage, to which we have just given our attention,
after the ports and the city had fallen into the power
of the conqueror, and the Byrsa, where 50,000 men,
women and children had taken refuge, was surren-
dered; the temple of Æsculapius, which was erected
on the summit of that citadel, held out against the
besiegers for some time. There the Roman deserters
entrenched themselves to the number of 900. They
were commanded by Hasdrubal, who, influenced by
the love of life and seeing all resistance vain, secretly
left his wife, children and soldiers, and hastened with
an olive branch in his hand to cast himself humbly at
the feet of Scipio. The Roman general, as a means of
inducing a complete surrender, showed to the defend-
ers of the sanctuary this husband, father and warrior
who blushed not to dishonor himself by such baseness.
The little band in the sacred enclosure, betrayed by
their chief but not discouraged by his desertion, and
hoping for no pity from the conqueror, took in their
despair the heroic resolution to deprive Scipio of the
honor of their capture; and applying the torch to
the temple in which after being driven from the
open square they took refuge, they buried them-
selves living under the smoking ruins of that edifice,
and thus escaped by a free and voluntary death the
15
114
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
tortures which they knew were reserved for them.
It was then that the wife of Hasdrubal, protected
by the feebleness of her sex and by her maternity,
showed a magnanimity which must have moved the
great heart of Scipio to compassion. "Instead of flee-
ing from the fire which was ready to devour her and
accepting the protection which was proffered, she
precipitated herself with her two children into it,
pronouncing on the occasion eloquent and pathetic
words which history has preserved and consecrated.
Another woman inmortalized by Virgil, had in the
same place, if we may believe poetry, perished upon
a funeral pile seven centuries before. This woman,
who has been at all times known under the name of
Dido, and whose passion and poetic misfortunes have
given an interest to the African coast, is represented
by Virgil as yielding to the violence of unrequited
love, and committing suicide because of the ingrati-
tude of Æneas, thus forgetting that she was a queen
and the founder of an empire, and that the good of
her rising state required that she should survive the
infidelity of the Trojan hero. Nevertheless, her mis-
fortunes awaken our commiseration, and it is not
without tender emotion that we read the complaints,
regrets and imprecations which Virgil puts into her
mouth at the moment when upon the funeral pile
she gives the fatal blow that ends her agonies. But
I will avow frankly, that, despite the verses of the
Latin poet and the eloquence and groans of Dido at
the moment of expiring, I prefer the energetic sim-
plicity of the words which are attributed to the wife
of Hasdrubal, when in view of the shameful conduct
A CARTHAGINIAN WOMAN.
115
CC
of her husband, holding up her two children and
casting a defiant look from the circuit of the flames
beginning to crackle around her, she turns to the
enemy, refusing to surrender, and addresses Scipio in
the following terms transmitted to us by Appian:
“Roman, the gods favor thee, since they accord thee
victory. But remember thou, to punish Hasdrubal,
who has betrayed his country, his gods, his wife and
his children. The genii which once protected Car-
thage, will aid thee in this work of vengeance.”
Then turning towards Hasdrubal, she cried : 60
basest of wretches and most infamous of inen!
Thou wilt see me die here with my two children!
But soon thou wilt know that my lot is less dreadful
than thine own! Illustrious chief of once powerful
Carthage, thou shalt honor the triumph of him at
whose feet thou crouchest! and after that triumph,
thou shalt receive the chastisement which thou mer-
itest!”
History here seems to me to surpass in grandeur
poetry, and the wife of Hasdrubal, in my opinion,
eclipses the Dido of Virgil. These two women, one
at the origin and the other at the fall of the same
city, appear on the summit of the Byrsa, expiring
upon a funeral pile; but the one who ought to have
lived for her subjects and for the development of the
colony which she founded, kills herself because a lover
abandons her and wounds the heart and rejects the
throne which she offers him, going, as he professes,
under the auspices of the gods, to lay upon the banks
of the Tiber the foundations of the city which was
to destroy Carthage.' She concludes her touching
116
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
imprecations by the prophetic announcement of the
great avenger which the future reserves in the per-
son of Hannibal. The other also sacrifices herself
and her children, that neither she nor they inay sur-
vive her dear country, whose last sanctuary she de-
fends to the end; she dies, and in dying sustains, so
far as in her power, the honor of the Carthaginian
name, whose stains by her husband had alone roused
her highest indignation.
The impression has generally prevailed that Car-
thage was, like Jerusalem at a later period, razed to
the ground. But Mr. Dureau brings together con-
clusive testimony to show that only that part of it
was destroyed which was necessary as a means of
warfare; that other parts were simply injured by
fire, and the whole city dismantled and plundered of
its objects of value. Mr. Dureau concludes his dis-
cussion of this subject thus: “An evident proof that
the whole city was not destroyed by fire is that the
Sicilians and Italians, at the invitation of Scipio, came
to claim the ornaments of their cities and temples
which the Carthaginians had carried off to decorate
· their capital.” These were, says Diodorus Siculus,
portraits of their illustrious men, statues executed
with remarkable talent, and offerings in gold and sil-
ver, which they had made to their gods. Himera
found there her statue, representing her as a woman;
and the statue of the poet Stersichorus; Segeste found
her Diana; Gela many objects of art; and Agrigen-
tum the famous Bull of Phalaris. Many cities of
Italy and Africa recovered by the liberality of Scipio
the precious objects of which they had been robbed
by the Carthaginians.
CARTHAGE UNDER ROME.
117
“The destiny of these admirable works from Sicily
is altogether remarkable. Transported from Sicily
to Carthage by one victory, another victory restokes
them to Sicily; by the pillage of Verres they are
taken to Rome, whence by another pillage under
the Vandal general, Genseric, they are taken back
to Carthage, six centuries after their removal from
there."
Appian concludes his account of the taking and
ruin of Carthage, by saying that “Scipio had the
booty sold; and the arms, machines and useless ves-
sels burned; then making a province of the territory,
he einbarked with his army for Rome.” The impres-
sion is clearly left that Carthage was stripped and
dismantled, but not razed to the ground.
CARTHAGE UNDER ROME.
After the close of the third Punic war, Carthage
was abandoned by the Romans for upwards of twenty
years. Then Caius Gracchus (124–122 B. c.), giving
no heed to the imprecations pronounced against
those who should try to build up and inhabit the
Punic city, established there a Roman colony, which
was successively enlarged by Julius Cæsar, after his
victories in Africa (46 B. c.) over the partisans of
Pompey, and then by Augustus; and subsequently
by other emperors, such as Hadrian and the Anto-
nines, so that Carthage became at length, according
to the expression of Pomponius Mela, “rich and
flourishing for the second time.”
Embellished under the long pro-consulate of Gor-
118
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
dian the elder, Carthage was in 420 A. D., fortified
anew by Theodosius the younger. “ Carthage,” says
a writer of the fourth century, “is the second city of
the world;" and the poet Ausonius, a contemporary
of Gratian, considered Rome and Constantinople
alone as superior to her. She was, according to the
representation of Salvian: “The African Rome, hav-
ing establishments for all public offices, schools for
all the liberal arts, and academies for philosophy and
learning." She became the centre of the renowned
Christian Church of Africa, the seat of more than
twenty councils, and a focus of light by means of
her learned men who resided there in large numbers
from 100 to 429 of the Christian era.
The African province served as a source of supply
under Rome, and was by many writers styled the
granary of Italy. Its rich soil and genial climate
attracted colonists from abroad, and its population
was variously estimated between the first century
and the fourth from 12,000,000 to 18,000,000 souls.
The productiveness of the soil and the riches of the
country are represented to have been very great.
Salvian says that Carthage was always the rival of
Rome, at first by her arms and courage, and latterly
by her grandeur and magnificence. The mere list of
her remarkable monuments in the Roman period suf-
ficiently indicates her greatness and splendor. The
magnificent aqueduct, the amphitheatre, the theatre,
the circus, the gymnasium, the pretorium, the temples
of Æsculapius, Cælestis, Saturn and Apollo, the pub-
lic squares, the basilicas, churches and many other
buildings are made known to us by contemporary
writers.
MASSINISSA AND JURGURTHA.
119
After the battle of Zama, Massinissa, the faithful
and efficient ally of Rome, received from the hands
of Scipio Africanus, the investiture of all Numidia
with the title of king. We have seen how he
afterwards showed his gratitude for that honor, by
harassing Carthage in her inisfortune and drawing
upon her the Third Punic War. But he had a higher
aim than to serve Rome as a mere instrument of her
vengeance. The successive enlargement of his ter-
ritory, which was sanctioned by the senate, was not
the ultimate object of his ambition. He aspired to
become the sovereign ruler of all North Africa.
The senate understood his projects and, after having
shrewdly employed him to effect the overthrow of
Carthage, seized that occasion to intervene in his
affairs for the aggrandizement of the republic. The
Numidian king did not at first conceal his disappoint-
ment and chagrin. But having intelligence as well
as ambition, he understood that henceforth he must
content himself with enjoying the vast dominions
which he owed to his alliance with Rome, and that
it would be folly for him to engage in any enterprise
against the great republic. Besides, at his advanced
age, the fatigues of war and the responsibilities of
administering the government doubtless prevented
his attempting to realize the vast projects which he
had early conceived and fondly entertained. He
thought then only of securing his possessions to his
children. His former friendly relations with the ſam-
ily of the Scipios, and the rising renown of the
young Scipio Æmilianus, then a simple legionary
tribune, induced him to invite the latter to come and
120
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
aid him in his final arrangements. But perceiving
the approach of death before the arrival of Scipio,
he called to his side his family, and declared that he
made Scipio Æmilianus responsible for dividing his
kingdom and his effects between his sons, and that
he wished them to conform just as fully to the deci-
sions of Scipio, as if he himself had made them by
express will. He recommended to his sons to perse-
vere in the maintenance of the Roman alliance, and
to have unbounded confidence in the senate. He
then died in the year 148 B. C., aged ninety-eight
years. He had passed his ring to his eldest son,
Micipsa. He left forty-four children, only three of
whom were legitimate heirs to his throne, viz.: Mi-
cipsa, Gulussa and Manastabal. Scipio soon came to
Cirta, and divided as follows the heritage of Massi-
nissa : Micipsa had the supreme government and
the capital; Gulussa the command of the army, and
Manastabal the adninistration of justice. Each took
the title of king and a third of the vast treasures left
by their father. Æmilianus then left with a body of
Numidians to continue the hostilities begun long be-
fore against Carthage. He was artful in dividing
the authority among the three brothers in such a
manner that each could restrain the other and all of
them be retained by mutual distrust or defiance in
the alliance of Rome.
The remarkable part, which Massinissa played in
Numidian history, makes some notice of him pecul-
iarly appropriate in this place. He reigned nearly
seventy years, and labored always for the prosperity
of his kingdom, encouraging among his subjects
CHARACTER OF MASSINISSA.
121
agricultural and industrial habits, and training his
army according to the military tactics of the Romans.
He was also firm and energetic in his efforts to re-
press the thieving propensities of the Numidians.
Acquainted with the delicacies of the Greek civiliza-
tion which then flourished at Rome, he retained only
its virtues, disdaining its effeminacy and vices to
such a degree as to maintain, notwithstanding his
own refined tastes and culture, the almost savage
habits of his country, which he contracted in his
youth. · He had his companions at table served with
the choicest articles in dishes and plates of gold,
while he himself partook of ordinary food, served in
coarse earthern ware. The day after the combined
victory over the Carthaginians at Zama, he was seen
at the door of his tent, taking for his repast a piece
of coarse brown bread, while his soldiers celebrated
the event with luxuries and delicacies. Always sim-
ply clad, temperate, energetic and indefatigable, he
accustomed himself until he arrived at extreme old
age to the rudest exercises, and retained to the end
extraordinary force and agility. He was esteemed
the best horseman of all Numidia, and at ninety
years of age was regularly seen, with bare head,
mounted without saddle upon a fiery steed; and thus
he passed the entire day, riding back and forth to
direct and superintend in all their details the man-
oeuvres of his army. An eminent warrior, a shrewd
politician, and a wise, generous and just king, Massin-
issa is justly esteemed the hero of his time, and the
most unique and remarkable specimen of Numidian
character on record.
16
122
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Micipsa, hís eldest son, reigned thirty years, and at
his death (119 B. C.) divided his states between his
sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal I, and his nephew Ju-
gurtha, who had become his son by adoption. Jugur-
tha had a commanding figure, a penetrating mind,
. a pleasing address, unusual energy, and a courage of
which he gave the amplest proof at the siege of Nu-
mantia in Spain, where Micipsa had sent him at the
head of Numidian auxiliaries. On his return into
Numidia, he handed to Micipsa a letter, in which Scipio
complimented in strong terms the superior qualities of
the young commander. The Numidian king, already
anxious for the future of his sons, was saddened by
this letter; but he strove to overcome his fears, mak-
ing no difference between his two sons and Jugur-
tha. On his death-bed, he called to him the three,
and, after having recommended to them harmony and
union, addressed to Jugurtha generous and fitting
words, and proposed him as a model for his sons. But
soon there was trouble. To reign alone, Jugurtha
shrank not from assassinating Hiempsal, who, in his ar-
rogance had seized every occasion to wound his pride.
Adherbal having taken up arms in self-defense, Ju-
gurtha pursued him to Cirta, obliged him to capitu-
late, and then put him to death. Adherbal had in vain
implored the intervention of Rome. But the senate
was no longer incorruptible, and Jugurtha was left to
pursue his own way.
Soon, however, the tribune Caius Memmius aroused
public indignation against Jugurtha, and the senate
was constrained in the year 112 B. C., to declare war
against him. Calpurnius Piso landed in Africa ; but,
1
WAR WITH JUGURTHA.
123
influenced by Numidian gold, accorded to the enemy
an advantageous peace. Memmius protested again
in the name of ancient Roman honor. Jugurtha
was summoned to the capitol, and appeared there with
an air of haughtiness and disdain ; and as if to defy
his pretended judges, he caused to be assassinated, in
the city itself, Massiva, à nephew of Micipsa, who
came there to press his claims to the Numidian
throne.
On his departure, Jugurtha spoke in terms of sar-
casm and contempt of “that venal city that waited
only for a purchaser.” Returning with impunity to
Africa, he bribed the consul Albinus, and cunningly
drawing the army of Aulus, the consul's brother, into
a difficult pass, he subjected it to the dishonor of
passing under the yoke near Calama. Æmilius Metel-
lus, a good general and an incorruptible man, was
then sent to avenge this affront to the republic.
His many victories acquired for himn the epithet of
the Numidian. Soon he was succeeded by his lieu-
tenant Marius, who, becoming consul, replaced him
in the command. Marius, continuing the war with
vigor, invested and took Capsa (Gafsa), the capital
of Jugurtha, and then, in an engagement which
lasted three days, he defeated his army united to that
of Bocchus, his father-in-law, who was the king of
Mauritania. The latter speedily treated with the
Romans, and, influenced by the insinuating language
of Cornelius Sylla, the questor of Marius, treacher-
ously drew Jugurtha aside for an interview, where,
appearing unarmed, he was bound and delivered over
to the Romans. Jugurtha was then conducted to
124
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Rome and honored the triumph of Marius; he was
afterwards cast into the Mamertine prison, where he
died of starvation in the year 106 B. C.
Several years afterwards, Marius, having been five
times named consul, overcame the Cimbrians and
the Teutons, and was called the third founder of Rome
after Romulus and Camillus. Then at the end of the
Social War, in which his rival, Sylla, was especially
distinguished, he began with the latter that fierce
struggle, of which the sovereign command was the
object, and Rome the victim. A ſugitive at Mintur-
num, he disarmed by that terrible look and by that
voice well known among the Cimbrians, the slave of
that nation sent to kill him. Then wandering lonely
upon
the coast of that Africa which he once left for
the honor of a triumph, be proudly replied to the
messenger of the prætor of Utica, who ordered him to
depart: "
Go, tell your master that you have seen
Caius Marius an exile amid the ruins of Carthage.
A truly remarkable and significant sight! The
ruin of a great city and that of a great man, each a
comnient on the other! But more happy than Car-
thage, Marius rose again; made a bloody entrance
into the city of Rome; was named consul for the
seventh time and died of his excesses; while Sylla,
conqueror of the east, hastened to seize the dictator-
ship, terrified Rome by his revenge, and after having
abdicated, descended alone and unarmed to the forum,
"*
*
* The poet Lucan says:
Solatia fati
Carthago Mariusque tulit, pariterque jacentes
Ignovere deis.
PARTISANS IN AFRICA.
125
declaring himself, with insulting haughtiness, ready to
give account of his conduct and government to the
people.
After the death of Jugurtha, Numidia was divided
between Bocchus and two grandsons of Massinissa,
Iarbas and Hiemipsal II.
SECTION IV.
CASAR IN AFRICA.-CATO OF UTICA.--CURISTIANITY IN AFRICA.
When Sylla had triumphed in Italy, he sent Pom-
pey to pacify Africa, where Domitius Ænobarbus, a
partisan of Marius, had taken refuge with larbus, a
competitor of Hiempsal, king of Numidia, who was
also an opponent of Sylla. Near Utica, Domitius
and Iarbas were defeated in the year 81 B. C.; and
Hiempsal was reëstablished in his kingdom, enlarged
by the provinces of his vanquished rival.
Juba, son of Hiempsal, embraced then naturally
the party of Pompey in his struggle with Cæsar, and
in the civil war between the aristocracy and de-
mocracy of Rome. The partisans of Cæsar in Africa
commanded by Curio, were at first, unlike those in
Italy, unsuccessful. Juba, uniting his troops to those
of Attius Varrus, a lieutenant of Pompey, succeeded,
by means of elephants and of Gallic and Spanish
horsemen, in overpowering near Utica a considerable
force under Curio; and, to the injury of the cause of
Pompey, he treated his prisoners without mercy.
126
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
In consequence of this victory, and while Cæsar
was completely occupied with the war in the east,
king Juba, surrounded by several chiefs of the Pom-
peian party, viz. : Labienus, Petreius, Afranius and
Metellus Scipio, the latter of whom was the father-
in-law of Pompey, assumed airs of haughtiness very
humiliating to the Roman generals, and exercised his
power without restraint. When the wreck of the
Pompeian army, which had escaped the disaster at
Pharsalia, arrived in Africa, and it became a serious
question how to organize the forces so as to success-
fully resist the menaced invasion by Cæsar, a fierce
rivalry sprang up between Varrus and Scipio for
the supreme command, neither of whom especially
merited the honor.
In that trying crisis and emergency appeared
Marcus Porcius Cato, called Cato of Utica, a grand-
nephew of Cato the censor, and a worthy heir and
representative of his sterling qualities and manly
character. At fourteen years of age, seeing in the
streets the dead bodies of those whom Sylla had
proscribed and murdered, he called for a dagger to
deliver Rome from her oppressor. At a later period
he conquered Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt and
an enemy of the republic, and declined the honors
of his victory. Thoroughly distrusting Pompey, he
combated the ambition of Cæsar, whose results he
foresaw. At the period of the civil war, he declared
himself for Pompey, and gained important advan-
tages at Dyrrachium. After the defeat of Pompey
at Pharsalia and his assassination in Egypt, Cato
conducted the remains of the conquered army into
CATO OF UTICA.
127
Africa proper, to join there the other chiefs of his
party. He reached Tunisia, coming through Barca
and along the extended coast of Libya, and forti-
fied on his route Cyrene. In his first interview
with the Pompeian leaders and Juba, he combated
the arrogant pretensions of the latter, with a firmness
and dignity worthy of Cato, the elder. The Numidian
king took the place of honor between Scipio and Cato;
the latter promptly changed his seat, leaving Scipio in
the centre. Urged to assume the chief command, he
declined the honor because he had been only a præ-
tor, and he gave it to Scipio because he had been a
consul. Harmony was thus restored among the par-
tisans of Pompey, and Juba found himself checked
in the exercise of his tyrannic influence.
It was important for the Pompeians to secure Utica,
then the capital of the African province. The inhabi-
tants of that city strongly favored Cæsar, because
Juba, a partisan of Pompey, had brutally treated them
when he victoriously entered the city after the defeat
of Curio. In deliberating upon the measures to be
adopted, Juba, in accordance with his ordinary vio-
lence, favored the destruction of the city and the
extermination of its inhabitants. This aroused the
indignation of Cato, who severely reproached the
cruelty and brutality of the Numidian king, and then
voluntarily undertook himself to maintain Utica
against Cæsar. He shut himself up there, happy
thus to establish a last bulwark to Roman liberty,
and no longer to be in immediate contact with those
chiefs, who in their weak subserviency to Juba or in
their petty rivalries and personal disputes, often
excited his pity or contempt.
128
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
men.
Meanwhile Cæsar landed at Hadrumetum (Susa)
on the 1st of January in the year 46 B. C., with only
3,000 men and 150 horses, the rest of his forces hav-
ing been separated by a storm at sea. Trying in
vain to take Hadrumetum by assault, he encainped
at Ruspina (Monastir) situated about fifteen miles
southeast of Hadrumetum, and there entered upon his
third term as consul and dictator. He then brought
under bis jurisdiction Leptis Parva and other cities
of less importance, and sought to unite all his forces
before marching against the enemy. But suddenly
Labienus attacked him with 8,000 Numidian horse-
Cæsar succeeded in escaping from his embar-
rassing position only after a murderous combat of
seven hours. Then Scipio came with eight legions
and 4,000 horsemen. Cæsar withdrew to the shore,
and his situation became the more dangerous on ac-
count of his want of provisions and forage. Juba,
informed of his distresses, hastened to strike him a
blow with the combined forces of his states. If the
Pompeian generals and the Numidian kiny had
effected a union of their forces according to their
plan, they would probably have accomplished the
ruin of Cæsar. But Cæsar was not to be caught
thus. With that extraordinary penetration for which
he was remarkable, he had anticipated this very dan-
ger; and thus, at the moment when he seemed fated
to suffer a defeat, he gained a victory.
A desperado named Sittius, who had played a
conspicuous part in the Catalinian conspiracy and
then passed over into Africa, became there an ad-
venturous filibuster. He sometimes carried on a
CÆSAR'S PREPARATIONS.
129
guerrilla warfare on his own account, and sometimes
sold himself to the party or chieftain that proposed the
best terms. He had gained great military renown by
his singular good fortune in always being on the win-
ning side. Cæsar understood the value of this man,
and readily drew him with his motley crew into his
service, and then threw him with a strong force into
Numidia, at the very moment when Juba was coin-
ing out of it. At the same time, two Moorish kings,
Bocchus and Bogud, partisans of Cæsar, hastened in
their turn to take possession of the states of Juba,
which Cæsar had audaciously assigned them in the
name of the republic. Juba, frightened by these
demonstrations, retraced his steps; but the other two
armies pressed hard upon Cæsar. He succeeded, how-
ever, by employing the name of Marius, always popu-
lar in Africa, and by the influence of Sittius, in win-
ning over the Gætulians and a part of the Numidians
from the cause of Pompey; and after having finally
received by sea the reïnforcements so long expected,
he encountered and defeated Scipio in a cavalry
engagement.
In the meantime Juba had entrusted the defence
of his states to Saburra, and was returning in all
haste to the aid of Scipio. On receiving this news,
the army of Cæsar, greatly inferior in numbers,
was alarmed and dismayed. Cæsar resolved to
exaggerate still more the rumors that depressed
his soldiers, and, calling his troops together, he thus
addressed them: “King Juba is upon us with ten
legions, 30,000 horsemen, 100,000 light-armed troops,
and 300 elephants. Let newsmongers then cease to
17
130
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
make troublesome inquiries and reports. What I
tell you is based upon positive information. I am
decided to put refractory babblers upon the oldest of
my ships and abandon them to the mercy of the sea.”
These words fell with crushing weight, confirming
the worst fears of his soldiers; but the courage of the
men was speedily aroused when, on the approach of
Juba, they learned how very small was his force in
comparison with that which Cæsar had attributed to
him. Juba had in fact but three legions, 800 cavalry
and 30 elephants. The soldiers of Cæsar then, in-
stead of entertaining fears about the union of the
armies of Juba and Scipio, took courage and became
eager for a combat.
Cæsar finally received the rest of his legions, and
especially the tenth legion, which he held in high
esteem. He renewed the discipline of his troops,
exercised them in combats against the elephants and
Numidian cavalry; then he resolved to terminate the
war, according to his habit, by terrible blows. He
defeated Varrus by sea and Labienus by land.
Juba's army suffered by the defection of many Nur-
inidians. His soldiers that tried to escape were
seized and crucified, and the infatuated king fell
upon the city of Vacca (Baja) with all his force,
massacring its inhabitants and producing an utter
ruin of their place because they had proposed terms
of submission to Cæsar. After having for a long
time avoided a decisive engagement, Scipio and
Juba were at length constrained to encounter Cæsar
near Thapsus (cape Dimas). The rout of the Pom-
peians was begun by the elephants, which became
BATTLE OF THAPSUS.
131
unmanageable and vented their rage against the
army they were designed to aid. In their furious
flight, these beasts attacked the barriers of the Pom-
peian camps, and were urged on in their work of
destruction by the soldiers of Cæsar. The camps
were then penetrated and the victory won. This
was the last great action in Africa for the cause of
the republic. Ten thousand Pompeians laid down
their lives upon the field of battle. . Cæsar left three
legions to govern Thapsus ; he sent a force to besiege
Thysdrus, thirty-five miles distant, and then set off on
his expedition against Utica, one hundred and fifty
miles distant, where Cato remained to the vanquished
to raise his head against the vanquisher.
But the inhabitants, though personally his friends,
were opposed to his party, and refused to sustain him
in his heroic resolution. As Cæsar entered the city,
Cato, unable to arrest his steps, sought consolation
on the occasion by tranquilly reading the adınirable
dialogue of Plato on the immortality of the soul, and
finally saved himself from the pardon which Cæsar
in his clemency would have cheerfully given, by
opening up with his sword the immortality that was
the theme of his contemplations and the dream of
his life.
A curious tradition is still preserved in the country
in regard to Cato, which I give as I received it, not
vouching for its historic accuracy. Cato is known
to have been more reverenced and honored after his
death than in his life; and, when the same tyranny
that precipitated his death had centuries afterwards
desolated Utica, obliterating all traces of its material
132
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
greatness as of its manly vigor and even of its name,
Cato was remembered, and the spot where he gave
up his life rather than assent to his own and his
country's servitude, was designated as Bou Shahter,
i. e., Wise Man or Father of Wisdom. The rude
natives still call the site of Utica Bou Shahter. We
presume, however, that they have about as little idea
of Cato's wisdom or greatness, as they have of the
meaning of the Christian cross, which is sometimes
found marked upon the foreheads of Arabs residing
in the interior of the country.
All the other enemies of Cæsar miserably perished.
Sittius conquered Saburra, and made prisoners of Af-
ranius and Faustus Sylla, at a moment when they
were attempting to escape with a body of troops.
Scipio reached the sea and killed himself upon his
vessel in the roadstead at Hippo, where St. Augus-
tine breathed his last at the approach of the Vandals,
475 years afterwards. Juba and Petreius yet lived,
but in disgrace and despair.
Nearly all Numidia had revolted. Juba came and
tried to enter Zama Regia, his capital. The inbabi-
tants, unmoved alike by his menaces and by his
entreaties, closed against him their gates. They
remembered the declarations of Juba on the eve of
his departure against Cæsar. He had resolved, in
case of defeat, to celebrate his voluntary death by
ceremonies horribly pompous and cruel. An im-
mense funeral pile, erected in the public square, had
been prepared for the occasion. He was to have the
inhabitants on whom he would wreak his vengeance
first cast upon the burning pile; then himself with
CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN.
133
his family and treasure were to perish together.
Seeing himself repulsed, he asked for his wife and
children. These were refused. He then withdrew
into a country house with Petreius and a few soldiers.
Cæsar had in the meantime quit Utica, and was
marching towards Zama. The Nunidian king and
the Roman general understood that the hour of death
was at hand. After a sumptuous banquet, they rushed
upon each other, sword in hand, to effect a mutual
death. But the Numidian, the more vigorous of the
two, killed the Roman and then attempted to plunge
the bloody weapon into his own breast. Not suc-
ceeding, he called upon a slave to have compassion
on him by putting an end to his miserable existence.
Thus perished that ostentatious and cruel barba-
rian who cherished for a time the thought of ruling
Africa by employing the partisans of Pompey to
overthrow Cæsar, and then of destroying them as
soon as they had ceased to promote the objects of his
ambition.
Cæsar, entered Zama and proclaimed Numidia a
Roman province. He gave the government of it to
Sallust with the title of pro-consul. The extortions
and injustice which Sallust perpetrated during his
administration, and the accusations which his subjects
brought against him at Rome, are a matter of history.
Though acquitted through the influence of Cæsar,
he was never afterwards honored with any public
charge. It was with the fruit of his robberies and
extortions that the celebrated historian built at Rome
the palace and magnificent gardens still designated
by his name.
134
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
In less than six months, Cæsar annihilated the
party of Pompey in Africa. It remained for him to
exterminate that party in Spain, and then return to
Rome to receive the perpetual dictatorship, which
he exercised for a while with all the haughtiness of
his genius, and then in his turn fell down and died,
pierced by twenty-three daggers at the very foot of
the statue of his great rival and victim at Pharsalia.
CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA.
Christianity was nowhere more flourishing than in
North Africa for several centuries after its propaga-
tion. From Egypt to Tangiers, from the desert to
the coast, arose innumerable churches, and, through-
out this territory where to-day the Koran reigns, the
gospel prevailed till the sixth century.
In spite of the decay of the empire, the destruc-
tive invasions of the barbarians, and especially of the
Arabs, who came last, there remain enough docu-
ments of this African church, the second in the west,
to enable us to understand its history and admire the
courage of its many martyrs, the number and activity
of its bishops, and the science, zeal and eloquence of
its learned men.
We are unable to explain the origin of Christianity
in Africa. It is supposed that about the end of the
first century, some missionaries, leaving Asia or Eu-
rope, came into Africa to proclaim the glad tidings,
and that Carthage was the first Episcopal see. Chris-
tianity spread, as everywhere else, with surprising
rapidity, from the slaves to the first citizens. Accord-
CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN AFRICA.
135
ing to St. Cyprian, at the end of the first century,
there were in Africa Proper a great number of bish-
ops. Aggrippinus was at that time bishop at Car-
thage. There are not on record the names of any
bishops before his time.
Alarmed by the success of Christianity, the Roman
emperors wished to extirpate it in this province, as
they tried to do wherever their jurisdiction extended.
Under Septimius Severus, occurred the first martyr-
doms for the cause of Christ in Africa. Twelve in-
habitants of Scillium, now called Casreen, cheerfully
gave up their lives rather than disown their Saviour;
and their example was followed in every direction
with an enthusiasm that greatly extended the influ-
ence of the church. Then* appeared to protest
against this sanguinary violence and to show its
folly, the rude and impetuous Tertullian, and his
vehement Apologetica is at the same time a justifica-
tion and an exposition of the gospel. But the per-
secution continued, and among the generous victims
who perished in the amphitheatre at Carthage, we
cannot recall without emotion, the names of Felicita
and Perpetua, two young women equally sublime
and heroic, in their sufferings and in their death.
The first was a slave, the second a patrician; but
they became sisters in faith, hope and charity, suffer-
ing the cross to win the crown. The persecution of
Christians extended into all northern Africa, which
did not breathe freely again until the reign of Alex-
ander Severus. At this period, was held the council
.
* Latter part of the second century.
..
136
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of Lambessa against the heretic Privatus. Ninety
bishops sat on that occasion.
Cyprian, who was appointed bishop at Carthage in
the year 248, and who had already become celebrated
as a divine, assembled in that city in 251, a council
of seventy bishops, and then another of forty-two
bishops, to combat schismatics who had set up against
him a competitor on the ground that he was too len-
ient towards apostates.
He wrote and preached
against his opponents; and, after having been the
light of his church, became in the time of danger its
magnanimons champion. In 257, under Valerian,
he was exiled. Returning to Carthage in 258, and
brought before the pro-consul, he replied with firm-
ness; then, in the presence of an immense throng of
people variously affected by the serenity of the mar-
tyr, twenty-five pieces of gold were counted out for
his executioners, and Cyprian was beheaded. The-
ogenes, the bishop of Hippo, shared the same fate.
At Utica, 200 Christians were cast into a heated fur-
At Carthage, Cirta and Lambessa were nu-
merous martyrs, whose blood became the fruitful
seed of the church.
The edict of Nicomedia, by which, Diocletian,
instigated by the ferocious Galerius, vainly ordered
the destruction of Christianity then flourishing in
the empire, was speedily executed in Africa and at
Cirta, where the persecution began. The clergy
showed themselves by turns bold and feeble. Influ-
enced by force or fear, they delivered up the conse-
crated vases, sacred urns, church ornaments and the
contributions in money and clothing destined for the
poor.
nace.
PERSECUTION IN AFRICA:
137
But the bishop of Tibur (Tibursicensium civitas,
Teboursuk) acted in a manner worthy of his office.
Menaces, chains and the sword, could not move him.
To the first interrogatory he replied with firmness
under the sword of the executioner: "I have all
the things which you demand: but I ought not to
give them up; I will not give them up."
Though at Carthage there was less violence than
in some other places, noble examples of resistance
were not wanting. The bishop, Mensurius, courage-
ous and at the same time sensible and prudent, for-
bade excesses of zeal to avoid unnecessarily irritating
persecutors, but he knew how to give an example of
true greatness of soul. He had concealed in his house
one of his deacons, whom they wished to put to death
because he had written against persecution. Men-
surius refused to give him up and was summoned
before the imperial court to render account of his
conduct and be punished. He appeared before the
Cæsars at Rome, and, by his eloquent and firm lan-
guage, succeeded in justifying himself; then depart-
ing for Carthage, he died on the way there.
It was during this persecution that Arnobius, an
illustrious writer and orator of Sicca (Kef), wrote to
defend the Christians whose faith he had embraced ;
and it was shortly after the death of Mensurius, that
began the famous schism of the Donatists, enlisting
passions that desolated Christian Africa for centuries,
and hastened its decline and ruin. On the occasion
of the election of the new bishop at Carthage, a vio-
lent party opposed the choice of deacon Cecilianus.
This opposition, whose chief was the Numidian bishop
18
138
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Secundus, and whose real soul was the priest Donatus,
of Casæ Nigræ (Black House),* pretended that Cecil-
ianus should be set aside because he had been conse-
crated by treacherous prelates. They designated thus
(traditores) those who had so far yielded to persecu-
tion as to give up the property of the church to
officers of the civil government. Seeing the firm
bearing and imposing manner of Cecilianus, seventy
bishops of the opposition assembled at Carthage and
elected in his place Majorinus, a simple reader, who
was protected by the powerful influence of the patri-
cian, Lucilla. They did not take possession of the
basilica which contained the episcopal chair, but
held their sessions in another church, and appointed
Majorinus after a lively recrimination against Cecil-
ianus, on which occasion one prelate named Purpu-
rinus, descended to personal menaces. The church
of Carthage was then divided by this schism of the
Donatists, which drew its name from Donatus, of
Casæ Nigræ, and another Donatus, who was the suc-
cessor of bishop Majorinus.
The emperor Constantine, informed of this great
scandal by the pro-consul of Africa, gave instructions
to his officers to thoroughly suppress the disorder.
But the dissenters drew up a long memorial; and
Constantine then ordered that Cecilianus and ten;
clergymen who favored his views, and Majorinus and
ten clergymen of his choice, should proceed to Rome
to be judged by a council. This council, composed
* Casa Nigræ was a city in ancient Numidia, (actual Tunisia), which
Dr. Davis believes to be identical with Hydra, and Mr. Gucrin, with
Ammedera.
AFFLICTIONS OF THE CHURCH.
139
of three Gallic and fifteen Italian bishops and pre-
sided over by pope Melchiades, sat during three days,
and after having heard the contradictory statements
of the two parties, condemned the Donatists in the
year 313 A. D.
Donatus of Casæ Nigræ and Cecilia-
nus engaged, for the sake of facilitating a reconcilia-
tion, not to return into Africa, and commissioners
were sent there to exert their influence for peace.
But the dissenters soon protested and appealed to a
second council which took place at Arles in Gaul.
This council met in the year 314 and, besides numer-
ous bishops from Africa, Numidia, Mauritania and
Tripoli, it included sixteen Gallic bishops and two
from Britain (York and London). It confirmed the
sentence of Rome. The Donatists then appealed to
the emperor who ratified the preceding sentences
and ordered them to be executed under severe pen-
alties (315 A. D.).
The most deplorable violence afflicted the African
church. Ecclesiastical councils and pontifical and
imperial edicts seemed to produce only discord, strife
and defiance, aggravating the difficulties and intensi-
fying the bitterness and animosity of both orthodox
and heterodox Christians. In proportion as efforts
were put forth to secure uniformity and conformity,
an opposite result was reached. The ordinary pre-
scriptions for the erratic tendencies of the day proved
worse than useless. The Donatists successfully re-
sisted the combined authorities of church and state.
Organizing their forces, they took possession of Con-
stantine. Taking into their ranks discontented and
revengeful servants and slaves, they at length com-
140
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
mitted frightful depredations. These circumcellions
remind us of some fanatics of the middle age who,
assuming different names, wandered over several
countries of Europe. These mystic bands, formed to
resist the tyranny of the dominant church, called for
the reign of equality, and, while pillaging and plun-
dering in their course, assumed the title of saints
and professed to be invested with a divine mission
that required their entire devotion. Some carried
their madness so far as to demand that those whom
they met upon the highway should kill them; and if
they refused, they assailed them by way of punish-
ment. Debauchery and all kinds of excesses broke
out in the midst of this multitude, as sensual and
gross as it was fanatic and savage; and some of the
Donatist leaders themselves had in the end to claim
the protection of the imperial officers against their
own forces. An army was sent against these bands
and succeeded in dispersing them only after a long
warfare.
“The circumcellions," says the eminent Saint Mark
Girradin, “represent in Donatism the manners of
Berber Africa ; but there is in Donatism something
which characterizes Africa in general; it is the spirit
of independence in regard to emperors; it is the
hatred of unity, whether of the temporal unity of .
the empire or of the religious unity of the church.
The Donatism of the fourth and fifth centuries is an
expressive evidence of original traits of character
which Africa has maintained under all rules and at
* Circumcellions was the name given to Donatist vagrants, who wan-
dered about from house to house, accomplishing their chosen mission.
DONATISM IN AFRICA.
141
all times,-of a character which is almost a schism
in religion and a revolt in politics." These observa-
tions appear to us just and pertinent. The Arabs, as
well as the Vandals, found here supporters and parti-
sans of the Donatists, or inheritors of their opinions
and hatred. Donatism in name and form continued
but a few centuries; but its cause, being somewhat
climatic and very human in its nature, has not been
and cannot be overcome by the combined or separate
influence of emperors, popes and sultans. There is
always a protest against uniformity even among
Mussulmans.
After numerous struggles, pacifications and troubles
of various kinds, two hundred and seventy Donatist
bishops held a council at Carthage and agreed on
conciliatory measures, which served to secure tran-
quility for several years; but, by-and-by, the strug-
gle was renewed with intense violence in consequence
of a harsh measure of the emperor Constans, who
showed schismatics no mercy.
At the same time
the Catholic bishops of Africa held a council at Car-
thage, to examine again the eternal question.
Under the emperor Julian, in 361, the troubles
broke out anew. Carthage, Numidia and Mauritania
were desolated by party violence. It was worse than
a civil war. The most fiendish passions were aroused,
and were indulged in the name of religion. Under
Valentinian, the country enjoyed a moment of tran-
quillity. Then suddenly the controversy, which had
been open nearly a century, was renewed on a grand
scale, giving occasion for animosity and violence.
After St. Optatus, bishop of Mileum, there appeared
142
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
5
on the arena the priest, Aurelius Augustinus, since
known as St. Augustine. His is the most striking
figure in Christian Africa, and must for a moment
engage our attention.
He was born in 354, at Tagaste, among the moun-
tains of Numidia, near the Algerine frontier. His
father, Patricius, was a magistrate of his city, and his
mother was a Christian. He studied first at Madau-
rus upon the Bagrada, near Tagaste; then at Car-
thage, the literary metropolis of Africa, where he
was incited to renewed efforts by reading the works
of Cicero. He then returned to Tagaste, where he
taught grammar and rhetoric. But his native vil-
lage not satisfying his intellectual ambition, he re-
turned to Carthage and taught and pursued his
favorite studies for a considerable time. He then
went to Rome, and from there to Milan, where he
was a professor of rhetoric.
At Milan, the current of his life was turned into a
new channel. Until then he was a Manichean phil-
osopher,' worldly-minded and of irregular habits.
But he became suddenly serious by reading the
works of Plato, so justly styled the preface of the gos-
pel, and also the tears and prayers of his mother
made a profound impression on his heart. The elo-
quent counsels of St. Ambrose, archbishop of Milan,
and the reading of the epistles of St. Paul, deter-
mined his conversion, which took place when he was
thirty-three years old. St. Ambrose baptized him at
the same time with his son Adeodatus, and his friend
Alypius.
Becoming a fervent Christian, he had soon to mourn
CHARACTER OF ST. AUGUSTINE.
143
the sudden death of his mother at Ostia. Then after
passing a year at Rome, he returned to Africa, burn-
ing with zeal to devote to the cause of truth his vast
attainments, and his eloquence purified and ennobled
by his new faith. At first he lived a retired life, and
began that long series of works which hold so large
a place in Christian and general literature. He took
orders in the Catholic church, and, as a simple priest,
became the counsel of the bishops. Valerius, bishop
of Hippo, advised him to leave his monastery and
preach the gospel, and he followed his counsel. His
words were keen and pointed and rarely failed to effect
their object. He exerted a masterly influence over
his auditors, and, by means of a single discourse at
Cæsarea, secured the abolition of a barbarous custom,
which neither the authority of the bishops, nor that
of the councils had been able to destroy. He took
strong ground against the Donatists, always numerous
in Africa, and also against the Manicheans whose *
doctrine was at that time favorably regarded. The
assistant and then the successor of bishop Valerius,
he regulated for thirty-five years the bishopric of
Hippo, and morally ruled the Catholic church in
Africa for that entire period. It can be said that St.
Augustine personifies Christian Africa, not alone in
his time, but during its entire existence. Donatism
lost ground through the efforts of its 'illustrious
opponent. But he occupied himself also in destroy-
ing the remains of polytheism, then found among the
descendants of the Phænicians and Carthaginians.
* Belief in the existence of two equal and antagonistic principles of good
and ovil.
144
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
These tenacious pagans had preserved at Carthage,
in the year 391, the ancient temple of Astarte, trans-
formed into that of celestial Juno. This temple was
closed by order of Theodosius, and dedicated to the
Redeemer; but the pagans entering it by force, the
authorities had it destroyed to prevent a collision.
Notwithstanding these checks and the recent edicts
of Honorius, a strong party of the natives remained
faithful to the ancient worship, which found even at
this period able defenders like Symmachus and Ly-
banius. These polytheists reproached Christianity
with being the cause of the decay and ruin of the
empire, whose greatness had declined only after the
abandonment of their gods. Paul Orosius by his
History, and St. Augustine, by his City of God, de-
fended Christianity, presenting elevated considera-
tions upon the vicissitudes of empires and the action
of Providence in history.
A new council took place at Carthage in 411; and
afterwards several public conferences, in which St.
Augustine took the leading part. An indefatigable
opponent of Donatism, he combated it with extreme
ardor and perseverence, sometimes with that excess
of passion which does harm to the best of causes.
But, we must acknowledge that in general, St. Au-
gustine was moderate, tolerant, just and charitable.
We shall cite, in confirmation of this remark, only a
part of his memorable letter to judge Marcellinus, in
which he prays that he would graciously spare the
lives of the Donatists who had assassinated several
priests of his church. “In the name of the mercy of
Jesus Christ, I conjure you," wrote he, “not to make
ST. AUGUSTINE'S COUNSELS.
145
We
them suffer for that which they have done.
would not have the sufferings of the servants of God
avenged according to the law of retaliation. We
earnestly desire that these men, without losing their
lives and without becoming useless, he watched and
restrained by the laws, and thus led from their fatal
wanderings and evil deeds to the calm of good sense.
Let them have some useful employment. Leaving
them no more opportunity for crime, permit them
the remedy of repentance. Christian judge, perform
the duties of a tender father. In your anger against
crime, remember to act in favor of humanity; and in
punishing the capital offences of sinners, exercise not
yourself the passion of revenge."
After the lapse of fifteen centuries, these words
could be appropriately engraved on the frontispiece of
every tribunal on the face of the globe, as the eternal
ideal for the administration and economy of social jus-
tice. Notwithstanding our boasted civilization, they
are not yet realized to the letter anywhere on either
hemisphere. This extract may serve to give some
idea of the noble spirit of St. Augustine, but to set
forth his various distinguishing merits would require
volumes instead of this brief paragraph. After hav-
ing written much to counteract Pelagianism, a new
heresy* of British origin, and seeing his opinions
adopted by two successive councils in 416, St. Augus-
tine devoted himself to theologičal and philosophical
speculations and to acts of charity and benevolence:
When Count Boniface, the traitorous governor of
* This doctrine rejected the divine grace which accompanies, according
to the orthodox faith, the exercise of free will in man.
19
146
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Africa, had invited there the Vandals, the bishop of
Hippo, uttered patriotically his protest and wrote to
the count: “If the empire has done you good, you
must not render evil for good; if it has done you
evil, you have no right to render evil for evil.”
Boniface repented and wished to correct his error;
but it was too late. Soon the clamors of the barba-
rians reached the ears of St. Augustine at Hippo.
The evils that befell the empire and the church, in-
flicted the last blow upon that body already worn
down by fatigue and hardships, and his grief hastened
his death. He descended to his tomb, bearing with
hirn Christian Africa.
Soon, under the reign of the Vandal Arians, there
remained in fact only the three episcopal sees of Car-
thage, Cirta and Hippo; persecution desolated all
Africa. Transportation, exile, imprisonment and cap-
ital punishment were successively employed to de-
stroy this vast and illustrious church, which, from
Tangiers to Egypt, included more than four hundred
episcopal sees. Carthage, the metropolis par excel-
lence, contained twenty important churches.
At the fall of the Vandal kingdom, (534), this
church attempted to rise from its ruins, and two
hundred and seventeen* bishops united for this
object at Carthage, and put themselves in relation
with the other churches of the Christian world. But
in the midst of the revolts which disturbed at each
instant civil authority and were excited by religious
* It is presumed that in spite of the suppression of most of the episcopal
sees under the Vandals, the church continued to name bishops, and that
the titular bishops after the fall of the Vandals, assembled at Carthage to
bocome bishops de facto.
DISAPPEARANCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
147
animosity, the African episcopacy was paralyzed in
its work of restoration.
The Arabs then came to make the ruin more com-
plete. Yet not every trace of Christianity disappear-
ed; for in 1054 we see still Thomas, archbishop of Car-
thage, complaining to Leo IX that the other prelates
contested his supremacy. There were then five bish-
ops. In 1076, there were only the two of Carthage and
Hippo. It has been remarked that the ancient relig-
ious glory of Africa was so far forgotten that the
Roman chancellor, not knowing where the ancient
church of St. Augustine was situated, located it in
Mauritania Sitifensis, in the bull sent to bishop Ser-
vandus.
At the same period, Syriachus, archbishop of Car-
thage, accused before the Saracens by some of his
own flock, had to suffer the most cruel outrages.
We find little in history about Christian Africa dur-
ing the middle ages. It is remarked that some in-
trepid monks, among others the famous Raymond
Lulle, came to preach upon this land once illumi-
nated with Christian light. Several churches contin-
ned till the time of St. Louis, in 1270, when it was
stipulated in the treaty of peace then made, that
Christians and their priests should enjoy full liberty
of worship
A singular persistence of tradition and symbolism
* Tertullian at the beginning of the third century, speaks thus of the
universal use of the sign of the cross :
“ Whenever we move, whenever wo enter and go out; in dressing; in
washing; at table; when we retire to rest; during conversation, we
impress on our foreheads the sign of the cross. Should you ask for the
scriptural authority for this and such like pructices, I answer there is
But there is tradition that authorizes it; custom that confirms it,
and submission that observes it."
none.
143
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
may here be noted. Far away from European cen-
tres, among the mountains and even in the desert,
you often find tattooed on the foreheads of the
natives of the Libyan race, that cross of whose
meaning they have no conception, and from which
they do not shrink with horror like the Shemitic
Arabs on the coast. I have seen, generally the
Greek, but occasionally the Latin, cross thus marked
on many persons, and am assured that the Kabyles
and several other powerful Libyan tribes of the inte-
rior, keep up this custom. At Tebourba, an ancient
city fifteen miles from Tunis, is a mosque' called
from time immemorial the Mosque of Jesus, and the
Mussulmans there have the tradition that it stands
on the site of an ancient Christian church. At Baja,
ancient Vacca, is a mosque called the mosque of Christ,
and one of the dignitaries of the place recently told
a friend of mine that Christ used to live on that
spot, and hence the mosque took his name.
clude that if the spirit of Christianity were as well
exhibited by its professed followers as are its sym-
bols and souvenirs by its professed enemies, we
might hope yet to see this sad land once more illu-
minated and gladdened with heavenly light and
truth. But, alas! though Christian truth is dealt
out in formularies and heard from the lips of preach-
ers, its transforming power is not sufficiently exhi-
bited in the conversation and lives of its professed
followers to win over Mussulmans and Jews. It is
a melancholy observation that more Christians are
converted to Moslemism than Mussulmans to Chris-
tianity, and the few examples of converted Jews we
I con-
ARRIVAL OF THE VANDALS.
149
find are wanting, with rare exceptions, the requisite
Christian vigor and manhood to constitute them
even worthy hirelings.
SECTION V.
THE VANDALS AND BYZANTINES IN AFRICA.-FIRST ARAB INVASION.
We come now to the period of the Vandals. These
barbarians, finding themselves in difficulty in the
south of Spain, coveting the riches of Africa and
hoping to make Carthage the centre of a powerful
empire, yielded to the invitation of Count Boniface,
the rebellious governor of the Roman province of
Africa, and arrived at Carthage by the strait of Gib-
raltar to the number of about 50,000 soldiers and
30,000 or 40,000 aged men, women and children.
Cordially received by the urban and rural population
whom the imperial tax-gatherers had ruined, favored
by the Donatist sect, which sought an occasion to
triumph over their oppressors of the Roman church,
and especially encouraged by the persistent remains
of the Punic race; the Vandals were in the year 429
scattered, over Mauritania, the two Numidias and
Africa Proper. They arrived in the year 430 under
the walls of Hippo Regia, of which they took pos-
session after a siege of fourteen months. During
that siege, St. Augustine, the illustrious father of the
Latin church, who resided in that city thirty-five
years, passed away from the scene of his labors.
150
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Count Boniface, returning to his allegiance, and
aided in his efforts for the restoration of imperial
power by general Asper, who was sent thither from
Constantinople, was beaten in two successive battles,
and the court of Ravenna treated for the first time
with the Vandals in 432 A. D. In 435, a new treaty
was made, and the Vandals continued their ambitious
projects until 439, when, seeing the empire in a des-
perate condition, Genseric, their king, threw himself
suddenly upon Carthage, taking possession of it and
marking his entrance with such deeds of cruelty as
then characterized Christian warfare. He then sub-
jected to himself the whole pro-consulate of Africa
and Africa Proper, leaving to the eastern empire only
Tripoli. He attacked at a later period Sicily and
Italy, and obtained from the disheartened emperor,
Theodosius III, a treaty which guaranteed to him his
possessions in Africa.
In 455, after the senator Petronius Maximus had
usurped the crown and while he was trying to con-
strain the empress Eudoxia, widow of Valentinian III,
to marry him, this princess invited to her aid against
the usurper Petronius, Genseric, the leader of the
Vandals, who speedily arrived in Italy. Genseric,
filled with hatred against the Roman power and hie-
rarchy, gave up Rome to pillage and plunder during
sixteen days, and sent to Carthage as trophies the
chief dignitaries and the richest spoils of the city,
including works of art that were taken from Car-
thage six centuries before. The successors of Gen-
seric were: Huneric in 477; Gontamond in 486, and
Ehrasamond in 497; all of them Arians and persecu-
CONQUEST BY BELISARIUS,
151
tors of Latin Christians, as the Latin Christians were
persecutors of them. Under all these princes, the
African episcopacy was severely tried, and its mem-
bers were dispersed and decimated. Hilderic, son of
Huneric, ascending the throne in the year 524, dis-
played a toleration which shocked the Vandals as
much as it pleased the Romanists, and by which Geli-
mer, a descendant of Genseric, profited to establish
his right to the throne and to actually get possession
of it in 531.
It was the toleration of this prince that caused the
fall of the Vandal monarchy. The emperor Justi-
nian, under pretext of reëstablishing Hilderic upon
the throne, though with the distinct object of raising
the African church from its ruins, sent Belisarius
with an army which defeated, by land and by sea,
the Vandals under their king. After the decisive
battle of Tricameron, Belisarius took king Gelimer
prisoner at Mount Papua in Numidia; effected a
speedy re-conquest of the country; reëstablished
the Roman church in comparative splendor, and
finally returned to Constantinople, where, in the year
534 A. D., he received by order of the emperor Jus-
tinian the honors of a triumph, after the custom of
the ancient Roman conquerors, and a medal, which
is still extant, was struck off in his honor, inscribed :
“Belisarius gloria Romanorum.”
After the departure of Belisarius, his lieutenant, Sal-
oman, was obliged to suppress a revolt of the Moors
who came to invade Numidia and Byzacium. The war
lasted five years with various turns of fortune, and
ended in 539, A. D., in the submission of eastern Mau-
152
*
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS. ·
ritania. In the year 543, A. D., occurred another
insurrection which extended to Tripoli, and in which
Salomon was killed. During three years, the coun-
try was a prey to anarchy. John Troglitæ, a general
who had distinguished himself in the war against the
Persians, was then sent into Africa (546 A. D.). He
had to encounter an extensive confederation of
natives, including even many nomads of the desert.
After suffering several defeats, he was completely
successful, and from 550 to 564, this country enjoyed
peace and profound tranquillity. But Mauritania be-
came by degrees independent under native chieftains,
and Byzantine jurisdiction was forced back towards
the east. From 564 to 597, revolts, begun on the
frontier of Numidia, succeeded each other without.
cessation, in spite of energetic efforts for their sup-
pression. The natives found a chief named Gesmul,
who, having become powerful by his victories, organ-
ized his forces in the most approved manner and
brought them under efficient discipline. He even
attempted an incursion into Gaul, but failed. At
the end of this period, we have no record of the
scenes that transpired in Africa, until we come to
the reign of the emperor Heraclius, who, as is
known, was a son of the exarch viceroy of Africa,
and was sent by him against Phocas, whom he de-
throned and replaced in the year 610 A. D.
History has recorded the vicissitudes of this reign
of thirty-one years, during which a brilliant succes-
sion of victories over the Persians cane between two
series of reverses. Conquerors of the Byzantines in
Syria, the soldiers of Chosroes invaded Egypt and
FIRST ARAB INVASION.
153
Cyrenaica; took and sacked Carthage and Tunis;
but soon driven back by the Byzantine patrician,
they turned again towards the east and abandoned
to him the conquered provinces.
We approach now the Mussulman conquest. , Un-
der Abubeker, the first calif, general Khaled, who
was styled the Sword of God, entering into Syria,
broke at Aiznadin the legions of Heraclius and
took Damascus; and, under Omar, the second calif,
be achieved by the battle of Yermuk, in 636, the
conquest of Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia, while
Amrou, another lieutenant of Omar, reduced Egypt
to his jurisdiction. It is this Amrou who is generally
represented to have destroyed the famous Alexandrine
library. A word may serve to correct this statement.
The famous Serapion library, once composed of
700,000 volumes, had been already nearly destroyed
in 390, under Theodosius; from which it appears
that the vandalism of Amrou was not so disastrous
as it is commonly represented to be, and the story
of the baths of Alexandria being heated six months
with those volumes must be rejected as fabulous,
especially if we consider that parchment or papyrus
is not good for producing and maintaining heat.
Historians of the time, even Mussulmans, singularly
sacrificed truth to their taste for the marvellous, and
succeeding historians have generally failed to duly
rectify their statements. That library was rather a
prey to sectarian animosity among professed Chris-
tians, than to Moslem fanaticism or vandalism.
After organizing his government in Egypt, Amrou
passed into Nubia; recruited there his little army with
20
154
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
large and ferocious blacks; returned towards the sea;
invaded and took Barca and western Tripoli; then at
the death of the calif Omar, he returned to Egypt,
and, in spite, or rather on account, of his successes,
was deprived of office by the third calif, Othman.
Arrou was subsequently restored to his command
by Abdallah ben Sayd, a foster brother of Othman,
who undertook to continue towards western Africa
the conquests of his predecessor.
He left Tripoli for Gabes at the head of 25,000
Mussulmans, defeated in many engagements the
Byzantine troops, and, at Akouba, near Sufetula
(Sbeitla), encountered the patrician Gregory, the
governor, or rather the sovereign of the country,
who, with his 120,000 men, had an engagement of
several days duration, and was finally overpowered
and killed. An immense tribute procured the re-
treat of the conqueror, who left as his lieutenant a
certain Jenahr (John ?), and returned to Egypt, tak-
ing in his train as spoils of war immense numbers of
Christian slaves and treasures of various kinds gath-
ered in his victorious march through the country
(648 A. D.).
1.
CHAPTER III.
Mistony of the Middle Age from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century.
SECTION I.
THE ARAB CONQUEST AND THE COUNTRY UNDER THE LIEUTENANTS
OF TIE ORIENTAL CALIFS AND UNDER ITS FIRST INDE-
PENDENT PRINCES.
VN the year 662, after the foundation of the
dynasty of the Ommyades, Okbah ben Nafy
invaded Byzacium; and in 666, Moavia invaded it
again. After the latter had defeated near Tripoli
the troops sent by Constans II from Byzantium, the
cities of Susa and Bizerta and the island of Gerba
fell one after the other into his hands. Having ex-
tended the terror of Mussulman arms from Egypt to
Tunisia, Okbah wished to have a point of support
for Islamism, and, for this purpose, founded in the
year 670, in a fertile and flourishing plain in the cen-
tre of Byzacium, the famous city of Cairwan, which
became henceforth the holy city of Africa and the
capital of the Mussulman possessions in the Maghreb
(west).
Appointed for the second time governor of this
province, to succeed in office Moavia and Dinar,
I
156
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Okbah extended the Arab conquest to the extreme
west, stopping only at the Atlantic, whose waters he
entered on horseback, calling on the God of Moham-
med* to witness that he stopped in his victorious
march only where land failed him.
In 694, Hassan ben Noman took and destroyed
Carthage and Tunis. The Berbers arose in arms and
resisted his sway at first under Koussila, who took
possession of Cairwan. Afterwards, under the hero-
ine Damia, surnamed Kahenna, they inflicted upon
the Arabs severe losses and drove them back as far
as Gabes. But soon Hassan defeated Damia in a gen-
eral engagement, and employed the subjected Ber-
bers to combat the independent tribes at a distance.
Master of Sfax and of Constantine, Hassan organ-
ized the government of the country and returned to
the east, where he exhibited the spoils of the Magh-
reb to encourage recruits for the conquering army.
Musa ben Nosair succeeded him in Africa. It was
he that conquered Corsica and Sardinia and sent his
lieutenant Tarik to take possession of Spain through
the treachery of count Julian (707–711) under the
calif Walid. After that period until the establish-
ment of the dynasty of the Abbasides in the east
and from the foundation of the califate Ommyades
in Spain, the unity of Moslem rule in Africa began
to give way, and many rival principalities sprang up,
combating by turns each other and the inhabitants
of the country.
* According to Mussulman scholars and usage, their prophet's name is
Mohammed. The French, however, employ the epithet Mahomet, which is
adoptod by some of our best writers doubtless for the sake of cuphony,
regardless of strict historical accuracy.
RIVAL MUSSULMAN DYNASTIES.
157
In the year 800 A. D. (184 h.), Ibrahim ben Aghelib,
appointed emir by Haroun-ar-Rashid, founded in
Africa the independent dynasty of the Aghlabites,
which had eleven princes, and with Cairwan for its
capital, extended its rule from Tlencen to Tripoli.
It was under the reign of its third prince, Abou Mo-
hammed, that the conquest of Sicily took place in
827. The last Aghlabite was driven away by insur-
gents who were led on by Abou-Abd-Allah.
The dynasty of the Edrissites, contemporary with
the Aghlabites, reigned over Morocco with Fez for
their capital. North Africa was found thren divided
into eastern Africa, with Cairwan for its capital under
the Aghlabite califate, extending from Tlencen to
Tripoli; and western Africa, with its capital at Fez,
and its territory extending from Tlencen to the
ocean.
The Fatimite califs, who claim to be the descend-.
ants of Fatima, a daughter of Mohammed, began to
establish their power at Segelmessa in Morocco, and,
by the aid of the natives, extended their sway rapidly
towards the east. They soon reached Egypt, where
they founded Cairo, which became the second city
of the east and the seat of one of the two vast cali-
fates, which undertook the control of the Mussulman
world, treating each other as usurpers. Segelmessa,
Tahart, Cairwan, Media and Cairo, were successively
the capitals of the Fatimite califate in Africa. When
the Fatimites established their headquarters at Cairo,
their lieutenant in the Barbary provinces, Yousef (Jo-
seph) ben Zeiri became by degrees independent and
founded the new dynasty of the Zeirites, which pre-
158
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
vailed until 1148 (543 h.), under eight different
princes.
But in 1007, Hainmad, of the second branch of
the Zeirites, founded the Hammadite order of sover-
eigns at Bougie and Constantine; and in 1055, arose
in the Maghreb the Almorabides, who professed to
be the special friends of religion. The last of the
Zeirites, Hassan Ben Aly, (1121-1148), reigned and
fell in the midst of disasters and disorders of various
kinds. The Norunands of Sicily had conquered
Gerba, and king Roger of Sicily, profiting by the
wretched state to which famine had reduced the
country, took possession of Tripoli, Media, Sfax, Susa
and Tunis, while Hassan fled to the east.
Then Abd-el-Moumen, founder of the dynasty of
the Almohades in Morocco, left that country, in 1159
A. D., (554 H.), with 100,000 men. He took Tunis,
Sfax, Gabes and Tripoli, and established governors
in each important city and a supreme lieutenant at
Media. According to the Arab historian, Ibn-Khal-
doun, the Almohades had thirteen princes, under
whom occurred many insurrections, and several emi-
grations were made into Sicily and Spain.
In 1195, the Beni Merin, a Berber tribe, driving
off the Almohades, took possession of Fez and Mo-
rocco. In 1266, (665 H.), the last Almohade, Aboul
Ali, was conquered and killed by the Merinites, who
inherited his dynasty. There were twenty-five Me-
rinite princes who had their capitals at Fez, Segel-
messa and at Morok. They reigned until the end of
the fifteenth century, when they were supplanted by
THE HAFSITE DYNASTY.
159
the actual dynasty of the scherifs * of Morocco. But
in the thirteenth century, the territory of the Meri-
nites corresponded nearly to the present empire of
Morocco ;. for the Beni Zian established themselves
at that time at Tlencen, and ruled over most of the
actual province of Algeria, and over Ifrikia, which
constituted the present department of Constantine
together with Tunisia and Tripoli. The Beni Zian
founded the new dynasty of the Hafsites or of the
Beni Hafs in 1228 (626 h.).
SECTION II.
THE DYNASTY OF THE HAFSITES. EXPEDITION OF ST. LOUIS, 1270 A. D.
The last of the native dynasties which prevailed,
one after the other in Tunisia, was that of the Haf-
sites. This family governed Tunis from 1205, and
reigned definitely from 1228 to 1535. Profiting by
the distance of the capital of the Almohade empire
and by the intestine wars which rent it, the first
chief of this family of Berber origin, or as some claim,
of negro origin, Abd-El-Ouahid, after having ob-
tained from prince Nassereddine the government of
Tunisia, established himself there so effectually that
his successors boldly adopted the title.of kings, and
extended their rule over surrounding countries, and,
among others, over Bougie in Algeria. Abou Fares,
* This word implies nobility. The scherifs claim to be lineal descend-
ants of Mohammed, through his daughter, Fatima.
160
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
It was
his immediate successor, had scarcely mounted the
throne when he was driven off by his brother Yahia,
surnamed Abou Zakariah (1222-1249).
during the reign of Abou Zakariah, that the first
treaty of commerce between the Mussulmans of
Africa and Europeans was signed in the year 1230
A. D., (627 h.) The republic of Pisa was the first
to make a treaty with the sultan of Egypt, and the
first to interest European merchants in the Magh-
reb. Its example was followed by the emperor,
Frederic II, king of Sicily, and by Genoa, Marseilles,
Catalonia and Venice.
All these treaties regulated commercial transac-
tions and guarantied the liberty and safety of mer-
chants together with the free exercise of their wor-
ship and the right to have churches, baths, cemete-
ries and even to possess real estate. The consuls
were made judges of their subjects, while they were
not responsible for the crimes committed by them,
and had the right to appear before the prince, where-
ever he might be, once a year. Abou Zakariah ob-
served faithfully the treaties and exercised impartial
justice towards foreigners. Near the end of his reign,
suddenly yielding to religious scruples and fear, he
gave up his claims to independence, submitted to the
Almohades and died in 1249 A. D. (647 H.).
His son Abou-Abd-Allah Mohammed Mostancer Bil.
lahi did not imitate his example. He regarded him-
self as the actual sovereign of Tunisia. And in 1254
(652), the Merinites recognized his sovereignty, and
in 1259 (657), the scherif of Mecca sent his submis-
sion to him, as to the most powerful orthodox prince
EXPEDITION OF ST. LOUIS.
161
of that period. His reign was, however, disturbed
by revolts and other troubles, and the Jews estab-
lished in Tunis were subjected to great trials and
sufferings.
Mostancer Billahi opposed the progress of the
Christian kings of Spain, who had taken the Balea-
ric islands from the Almohades in 1229, and had
at a later period rejected Tunisian aid sent them
by Abou Zakariah; yet he made no hostile move-
ments against other Christian powers, and he even
signed with the king of Aragon, Don Jaeme, a treaty
of peace and commerce, on the 14th of February,
1270, which was but a few months before the expe-
dition of St. Louis.
In the eighteenth year of the reign of the Hafsite
sultan Abou-Abd-Allah Mohammed Mostancer Billahi,
in the year 1270 of the Christian era, and 669 of the
hegira, on the 17th day of July, some Tunisian gal-
leys descried to the north-northwest an immense
fleet covered with sails, and forthwith turned back in
great haste to the Goletta. It was the naval force
of St. Louis, king of France.
The object of this fleet was to effect the fulfilment
of treaty stipulations in favor of a French prince, and
also to secure upon this land important commercial
advantages for France and the Christian world.
While the German emperors were kings of Sicily,
they imposed on the Tunisian princes an annual
tribute, and Charles of Anjou, who succeeded to
their rights, in vain pressed his claims during five
years on El Mostancer for the payment of this
tribute.
21
162
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Too feeble to repress the arrogance of the Hafsite
king and reduce him to the necessity of discharging
his obligation, Charles of Anjou turned for aid to his
brother Louis IX, whose courage and ambition were
unaffected by the disasters of his recent crusade.
Charles explained his griefs and by clever represen-
tations made the king appreciate the importance of
Tunis in a military and commercial point of view.
Besides, in taking possession of Tunis, they would
cut in two that “great serpent of Islamism," whose
head they had in vain attempted to crush at Cairo
three years before. Religious zeal and political am-
bition decided St. Louis.
On the one hand, to plant the cross upon the ruins
of a powerful Mussulman kingdom, and to restore to
Christ a country where his light had shone; on the
other hand, to secure to the arms and the already
flourishing commerce of France and of Christendom,
a region which would with Sicily complete a kind of
central bar of the Mediterranean, involving the con-
trol of it: such was the double object, glorious and
comprehensive, of St. Louis.
He left then the government of his kingdom to
Matthew, abbot of St. Denis and to count Simon of
Nesle, and embarking at Aigues Mortes with a fleet
of 1,500 vessels of every size mounted by 60,000
men, took with him his brother Alphonse, count of
Toulouse, his three sons, Philip (afterwards Philip
III), John Tristan, count of Nevers, Peter, count of
Alençon; his nephew, Robert, count of Artois; John,
count of Flanders; John, eldest son of the duke of
Burgundy, and Thibaut, king of Navarre. Prince
ENCAMPMENT AT CARTHAGE,
16.3
Edward of England and Charles of Anjou, king of
Sicily and Naples, were to join the fleet on the
voyage.
Embarked from Aigues Mortes on the 1st of July,
1270, the expedition was beaten about and dispersed
by a violent storm, and was with difficulty rallied at
Cagliari, where the squadrons from Naples and Genoa
came to join it. It appeared on the 17th of July
before cape Carthage, and disembarked the same
day. “Friday,” wrote St. Louis to the abbot of St.
Denis, “we landed. We advanced as far as the an-
cient city of Carthage and encamped.”
In the midst of the ruins of the famous city, some
new constructions had just arisen and some fortifica-
tions still unfinished defended this important strate-
getic point. In these, the Mussulmans reposed con-
fidence, and, rushing upon the shore near by with
cries of djehed (holy war), put forth earnest efforts
to drive the Franks back to the sea. The latter,
guided and urged forward by their king, who, as
at Damietta, was the first to leap on shore, struck
down the defenders and took Carthage and the
neighboring village of the Marsa. They then en-
camped and fortified their position, waiting for power
to march upon Tunis, which movement the whole army
earnestly demanded.
Meanwhile the Tunisians were solidly organized
for defence in their capital, and were scouring the
country around with fleet cavalry. They came to
weary the Christians by incessant attacks, and con-
stantly refused a regular battle. These partial com-
bats, multiplying without cessation, had soon reduced
164
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
to extremities an army covered with iron armor, under
a burning sun reflected by the sand, and already van-
quished by this torrid climate with its brackish water
and fiery tornadoes.
The courage of the bravest flagged. Consternation
reigned throughout the camp. Diseases broke out.
The living saw with fright the increase of mortality.
They soon became unable to bury their dead. The
plague speedily filled the trenches of the encamp-
ment with heaps of dead bodies, and the ancient city
became a vast putrid cemetery.
Philip of France was sick; John, his brother,
almost dead, was borne upon his bed to a vessel in
the harbor; the counts of Vendôme, of Marche, of
Montmorency; and a multitude of barons and knights
had given up the ghost. The implacable and devour-
ing breath of summer and the incursions of the Sara-
cens continued their work,—but Charles of Anjou
did not arrive.
St. Louis, always active, redoubled his efforts to
animate the discouraged, to relieve and heal the sick,
to console the dying and to superintend the burial of
the dead. He was attacked in his turn. He with-
stood the attack at first and struggling against the
disease, devoted himself to his usual duties a whole
week. But his body, enfeebled by age and by the
fatigues of government and war, finally broke down,
and when the death of his unfortunate son, John
Tristan, was announced to him, he submitted to the
blow, and put himself upon his bed to rise no more.
He ceased not, nevertheless, to maintain his self-
possession to his last hour, occupying himself almost
t
DEATH OF ST. LOUIS.
165
incessantly with the sufferings of others without com-
plaining of his own; turning his thoughts where his
presence was wanting and dictating with a singular
serenity the most noble instructions for his son and
successor.
While he was dying, on the 24th of August, two
embassadors from Michael Palæologus, emperor of
Constantinople, arrived at the camp. They came to
implore the good offices and influence of St. Louis
with Charles of Anjou, whose ambition was disquiet-
ing Byzantium. As they were refused admission to
the presence of the dying sovereign, he heard the
conversation, ordered them to be introduced, received
them with cordiality and promised to speak to his
brother, if he should live to see him again.
On the following day (August 25th), at three
o'clock P. M., lying upon a bed covered with ashes,
uttering his last words to his sons and his barons who
were sobbing around him, giving his last thought to
his dear kingdom ("douls royaume”), and his last
look to the heavens above, Saint Louis crossed his
hands over his breast, closed his eyes and died.
At that very moment, Charles of Anjou was enter-
ing into the gulf. He disembarked, and, crossing the
camp in gloomy silence, ran to the tent of his brother;
confused and groaning aloud, he cast himself despair-
ingly upon the dead body and there prayed for a
long time.
He then assembled the chiefs of the army and
showed himself to the soldiers, encouraging all by
cheerful words and by the distribution of the succors
which he had brought. A gleam of hope and confi-
166
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
dence seemed to pass over this vast camp in grief
and mourning. They gained courage and fought
still during two other months.
The Moors, broken in various encounters and espe-
cially in a great battle between the Goletta and Tunis,
for whose siege the crusaders prepared, were expect-
ing to see their capital invested and carried by assault.
El Mostancer, anxious in his turn, decided to obtain a
truce and the departure of his enemies on any terms,
· and he accordingly made to the crusaders a proposi-
tion for an accommodation.
Most of the princes and Christian barons were
favorably disposed to it; but it was the cherished
purpose of Philip, the Bold, proclaimed king, to
achieve the chosen work of his father, whose ideas
he hoped victoriously to realize. It seemed to him
easy to take Tunis and to raze it to the ground, and
thus not be obliged to leave there a garrison. But
he yielded to the reflection that his presence was
needed in France, and to the counsels of the kings
of Navarre and of Sicily. He consented to the
peace in a memorable treaty, which was signed the
20th of November, 1270, of which the following are
the principal clauses :
1. A truce of fifteen years between the belligerents.
2. To secure to their subjects reciprocal immunities
and privileges.
3. The liberty of reciprocal commerce.
4. Free exercise of worship accorded to the Chris-
tians and to their priests; the building of churches
upon grounds given by the king of Tunis.
5. The payment by the king of Tunis to the king
TREATY OF 1270.
167
..
of France and to his allies, the expenses of the war
estimated at 210,000 ounces of gold; one-half of
which should be paid immediately and the other
half in two equal payments respectively at the end
of the next two solar years; the king of Tunis to
furnish securities for the Christian merchants estab-
lished in his states.
6. The king of Tunis, “ calif and prince of believ-
ers,” should pay immediately to Charles of Anjou,
king of Sicily, the arrears of the tribute to which
Tunis had been for a long time subjected, and he
should
pay
in the future the double of the previous
tribute.
This treaty was declared common to all Christian
governments and lords that took part in the war;
that is to France, to almost all Italy and to England.
It was honorable and advantageous to France and to
Christendom; but did not satisfy the soldiers who
could profit but little by the indemnities given, and
were disappointed at being deprived of the privilege
of taking and pillaging the rich and flourishing city
of Tunis, as a compensation for their many sufferings. .
Philip III ordered the camp to be broken up and
the anchors to be raised, and, while the prince of
England, recently arrived, was sailing towards Pales-
tine, the son of St. Louis, with his shattered fleet and
the remnant of his army, was on his way to his king-
dom, where he speedily assumed the reins of the
government.
CHAPTER IV.
Modern History from the Sixteenth to the Middle of the Dine-
teenth Centuny.
SECTION I.
FALL OF THE HAFSITES. — EXPEDITION OF CHARLES V AND THE
SPANISH DOMINATION.
ROM the expedition of St. Louis to that of
Charles V, the dynasty of the Beni Hafs had
the intelligence and tact to maintain its hereditary
and governmental system and, in spite of many strug-
gles with competitors and the revolts of several prov-
inces, it succeeded in elevating Tunisia to the rank
of one of the most flourishing Mussulman states of.
the middle age. In 1533 (940 H.), Muley Hassan,
son of Muley Mohammed, ascended the throne,
though he was the youngest of all his brothers. He
owed his promotion primarily to the influence of his
mother. To establish himself upon the throne, he
had all his elder brothers put to death with the ex-
ception of Rashid, who took refuge at Algiers under
Khayreddine, the celebrated Barbarossa, whose pro-
tection he implored and obtained.
BARBAROSSA'S CAREER.
169
Two brothers, or at least supposed to be such, both
famous pirates, are designated by historians of that
time under the name of Barbarossa. The common
explanation is that they received this epithet on
account of the color of their beard; but it is more
probable that Barbarossa is a corruption of Baba-
aroudj, meaning, the eldest. According to most histo-
rians, they were born on the island of Mitylene, and
their father was a renegade Sicilian; but, according
to Brantome, these two adventurers were only French
knights, who, after having formed part of a maritime
expedition, sent to the east by king Louis XII to aid
the Venetians against the Turks, embraced Islamism
and became pirates to gratify their desire to play a
great part in the world.
However this may be, they became corsairs at the
end of the fifteenth century, and, after having demon-
strated their power and spread terror in all the Medi-
terranean, they succeeded in taking possession of Al-
giers, which they presented to the grand sultan, in
order that his sovereignty might be a shield to them
in their predatory career. Khayreddine, becoming
king of Algeria, obtained fron the sultan the title
of captain Bashaw or grand admiral of the Turkish
empire.
Khayreddine received Rashid with an eagerness
and benevolence so much the more marked, as the
presence of the unhappy prince seemed to furnish
him an excellent opportunity to realize his project
for the annexation of Tunisia to Algeria. He es-
corted him then to Constantinople, and urged Soli-
man I to serve his own interest in the name of Ras-
22
170
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
hid; in other words, to conquer Tunisia and take
possession of it under the pretext of protecting the
unfortunate prince. This plan was approved, and
an imposing fleet, commanded by Khayreddine, ap-
peared before Tunis with the distinct object boldly
set forth of placing Rashid upon the throne. But,
before raising anchor, the prince was cast into a
prison where he died.
On the arrival of the fleet at Bizerta, the inhabi-
tants offered their coöperation for the execution of
a plan so much the more popular, as Muley Hassan
was detested. Barbarossa then sailed for the Goletta.
The Tunisians received him with joy, and, believing
that he came to drive Muley Hassan from the throne,
they took up arms and themselves drove the detested
tyrant out of the city; and then invited Barbarossa
to intervene for the restoration of their legitimate
prince, Rashid.
The way was thus open for Barbarossa. He landed
with about 10,000 men; marched up to Tunis; forti-
fied himself in the Kasbah (fortress); turned its can-
non upon the city, and replied with.shot and ball to
the summons of the people tumultuously assembled
and already suspecting his treachery. The entire
city rose in arms at the sound of his cannon. Three
thousand six hundred Tunisians fell under the fire or
by the sword of the Turks, who, entrenched at the
Kasbab, readily overcame all opposition. Barbarossa,
after this demonstration of his force, proclaimed the
fall of the Hafsite dynasty, and assured the govern-
ment in the name of the Sublime Porte. He then
accorded a general amnesty, scattered gold about in
MULEY HASSAN AN EXILE.
171
profusion, and sent emissaries to gain by presents
the most warlike tribes in the interior, and a garri-
son to occupy Cairwan.
Muley Hassan, wandering a long time in the
environs of Tunis and in the interior of the king-
dom, vainly attempted to unite his partisans to con-
tinue the struggle. He then fled to Constantine; and
there, under the advice of a Spanish renegade
named Ximea or Jimea, decided to ask the aid of
Charles V, engaging on his part to second the inter-
vention of the emperor with a numerous body of
native troops.
Already dissatisfied with the conquest of Tunis by
Barbarossa, which in his opinion endangered Chris-
tendom, Charles V resolved to strike a terrible blow
for the overthrow of the Mussulman power, newly
established at Tunis. The pope, the king of Portu-
gal and the order of Malta concerted with him, and
immense preparations were made in the arsenals of
Spain and Italy
Khayreddine, alarmed at this news, claimed the
aid of the Sultan Soliman, who induced him to rely
solely on his own forces. He then put forth his
efforts for the most effectual resistance. He fortified
the Goletta; protected it on the northeast by a wall,
which was incompletely built for the want of time;
but which was rendered useful by means of piles and
bags of sand; the wall was pierced with embrasures
for cannon; the canal was enlarged to protect ships
which were not in action, and twelve were brought
there for safety ; 7,000 Turkish and Tunisian troops
were put under the command of the renegade Jew,
172
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Sinan, and of another renegade, Ali, familiarly styled
in Italian, Caccia Diavolo, Devil Chase. Most of this
work was performed by Christian slaves, kept in awe
by the clubs of their Mussulman masters. In all
Tunisia, the proclamation went forth: “El djehed fy
sebillilahi, — The holy war in the path of God.”
Charles V left Barcelona the 31st of March, 1535,
with the forces belonging to Spain, Flanders, Portu-
gal and Genoa. He was met at Cagliari by some gal-
leys from Malta and Italy. In all, there were 400
sail, and from 27,000 to 33,000 troops.*
The combined expedition arrived off Point Car-
thage, and a landing was effected on the site of the
ancient city in the latter part of June. The troops
were speedily employed in opening trenches and in
other offensive operations before the Goletta. Sinan
defended that place with a vigor equal to that of the
attack. The army of Charles had much to endure
from the incursions of the Arab horsemen, and espe-
cially from the excessive heat, which overpowered
the soldiers under arms in the midst of interminable
combats.
Muley Hassan arrived at the imperial camp, affect-
ing the greatest respect for the emperor and filled
with confusion at bringing with him, instead of the
numerous troops which he had promised, only a
hundred horsemen. Charles received him with the
haughty politeness of a sovereign.
On the 14th of July a decisive attack was made by
land and by sea.
The Goletta fell. The powerful
* For further detuils, see Robertson's Charles V, and Rousseau's Annales
Tunisiennes.
CHARLES V TAKES TUNIS.
173
cannon of Charles broke the ramparts, making a great
breach, by which Charles, the Infanta don Louis and
Muley Hassan entered together. The Turkish gar-
rison bravely. defended itself, and then withdrew
towards Tunis, covering the borders of the interven-
ing lake with its dead and wounded. More than 80
galleys, with about 300 cannon, fell into the hands of
the conquerors.
On the 17th, or, according to others, on the 20th,
of July, 1535, the army began its march against
Tunis along the right shore of the lake. Khayred-
dine, at the head of 10,000 veterans, encountered the
emperor near what is at present called Rowena (the
half-way house), between the Goletta and Tunis, where
beasts find water, and men coffee and nauseous drugs
at their pleasure. The Christian army, whose disci-
pline it was almost impossible to maintain, under a
torrid sun which produced a parching thirst, prompt-
ly came to order in presence of the enemy. After a
fierce onset, Khayreddine fell back, defeated, upon
Tunis.
There were then about 30,000* Christian slaves in
the prisons of Tunis. During the last battle they
revolted; broke their chains; killed their jailers;
armed themselves as best they could, and took pos-
session of the kasbah (citadel) under the orders of
the commander of Malta, Simeoni, who planned and
directed this glorious coup de main for their deliver-
ance from thraldom.
Khayreddine, discouraged, withdrew, accompanied
by some troops, into the interior, and, finally abandon-
* Some authors say 70,000, but this seems to be an exaggeration.
174
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ing the kasbah, his treasures and his women, he di-
rected his course towards Algiers. Tunis capitulated,
and Charles V was received under the walls of the
city by a deputation which came to offer him the
keys and to implore his mercy.
He entered Tunis as a conqueror, covered with a
magnificent armor, which is still preserved in the
museum at Madrid. Terror-stricken, the Mussul-
mans shrank from view; Christian slaves, delirious
with joy, rent the air with their huzzas, to which
were added in strange contrast the ferocious yells of
the soldiers, who, in spite of the positive orders of
Charles, already scented the prey of every sort which
this great city offered them. The pillage lasted three
days, and, without speaking of the other cruel exces-
ses committed by a soldiery whose sufferings had
aroused their fiercest passions, it is sufficient to say
that 70,000 persons were massacred. We involun-
tarily recall the not less horrible entrance into Jeru-
"salem of Godrey of Bouillon, in 1099, when the vic-
torious crusaders literally inundated the streets of
the city with blood ankle deep, says a historian of that
time.
Muley Hassan, reëstablished upon his throne, began
by a memorable treaty which recognized his entire
dependence on the emperor. The following are the
principal clauses of this treaty signed on the 6th of
August, 1535 :
1. The unconditional liberation of all Christian
slaves.
2. The right of Europeans to unrestricted trade at
Tunis, to live there and build churches.
SPANISH-TUNISIAN TREATY.
175
3. The engagement of the kings of Tunis to give
no countenance whatever to corsairs.
4. The abandonment of the Goletta to Spain, and
the payment of an annual tribute of 12,000 gold
crowns for the maintenance of the Spanish garrison
of this city.
5. A perpetual concession to Spain of the coral
fishery upon all the Tunisian coast.
6. The recognition of the perpetual sovereignty
of Spain, shown by an annual present of twelve
horses and twelve falcons.
7. In return for all these engagements, Spain
promised to protect Tunis against all other powers.
At his departure, Charles V left at the kasbah 200
picked men to be under the orders of Muley Hassan,
until the entire pacification of the country. He as-
sembled all the cavalry at Rades, and ordered them
and the materials of war to be put on board the
ships. He then returned to his headquarters at Car-
thage, and, before sailing, directed the construction
of a strong fortress at the Goletta, and 1,000 men
were left under the orders of Mendoza, and twelve
galleys under Antony Doria.
Charles V reached Trapani in Sicily, and from
there sent an expedition of 5,000 men against Media.
A storm prevented the success of his plans, but the
Spanish fleet occupied the cities of Bizerta and Bona,
where it left garrisons.
Soon, however, the restored power of Muley Has-
san was shaken by insurrectionary movements among
his subjects. The natives could not bear to see their
prince appear as the vassal of an infidel monarch.
176
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
san.
Susa and Cairwan revolted. In the latter city, a
scherif named Arfa, laid pretentions to the throne,
and found numerous partisans.
Muley Hassan asked anew the aid of Charles.
The viceroy of Sicily sent ships and troops against
Susa ; but the Spaniards, were defeated there, and
suffered a severe loss. It was only two years after-
wards that the illustrious admiral Andrew Doria
avenged this loss and placed Susa under Muley Has-
He also took possession of Kalibia, Sfax and
Monastir, and left a Spanish garrison in the last-
named place. It was by the aid of this garrison that
Muley Hassan attempted to re-take Cairwan. Aban-
doned by his Mussulman soldiers at the moment of
the combat, he had to retreat under the efficient
pro-
tection of the Spaniards.
When, subsequently, the garrison of Monastir was
withdrawn by Spain, that city, as well as Kalibia,
Susa and Sfax revolted again and called to their
aid the famous Turkish corsair, Dragut. But Doria
returned to reduce Monastir; and Susa of its own
accord came again under the jurisdiction of Muley
Hassan.
The latter, to put an end to the rebellions always
breaking out, once more solicited in person the aid
of Charles. He departed in 1542, leaving the gov-
ernment to his son, Muley Hamida. Profiting by the
absence of his father, Hamida had himself proclaimed
king of Tunis, despite the protest of the garrison at
the Goletta, which, however, was too feeble to resist
him.
On receiving this news, Muley Hassan hastened
MULEY HAMIDA'S CRUELTY.
177
from Sicily with 500 Mussulman soldiers and 2,000
ill-assorted Christian recruits. Contrary to the wise
counsels of Don Francisco de Tabar, the Spanish
governor at the Goletta, he insisted upon giving
battle before Tunis. He was defeated and taken
prisoner. His son Hamida had his eyes put out and
· then let him depart for Sicily and Italy, where he
died in 1545.
The garrison at the Goletta, reinforced by 1,500
men sent from Naples, drove off Muley Hamida and
put in his place his uncle Muley Abd-el-Malek, a re-
spectable prince who lived to enjoy his throne but
thirty-six days, and was succeeded by his son Muley
Mohammed.
Muley Hamida, drawing back to the interior of
the country, and fomenting everywhere civil war,
took possession of Monastir. He then marched
boldly upon Tunis and drove off his cousin, who
fled to the Goletta and lost permanently his throne.
The corsair. Dragut profited by these events to make
Media the base of his operations in Tunisia, and take
possession of Gerba.
In 1551, Don Juan de Vega, viceroy of Sicily,
came and besieged Media. The corsair arrived too
late to defend it. The city capitulated, and Don
Alvar de Vega, the son of Don Juan, maintained him-
self there some time, but was finally overcome by a
revolt of the garrison, which took for its chief a cer-
tain Aponti, and lived by pillaging the country around.
Charles V decided at length to abandon this place.
The fortifications were destroyed and the garrison
was recalled in 1553.
173
CARTILAGE AND TUXIS.
In 1560, king Philip II resolved to destroy at
Tripoli the power of Dragut. Don Juan de la
Cerda, duke of Medina-Coeli, came with 113 ships
and 14,000 men to take possession of Gerba, where
he was detained many weeks by bad weather. This
delay saved Tripoli. For the Turkish admiral, Piali .
Bashaw,* hastening with an imposing fleet at the call.
of Dragut, surprised, while anchored in the roadstead
of Gerba, the Spanish ships which had not time to
escape. Nineteen galleys and fourteen transports
were taken, and 5,000 Spaniards were reduced to
slavery.
Don Alvar de Sande remained upon the island
with his brave band. After many weeks of cruel
privations, they resolved to force their way to the
shore through the enemy and embark in the first
vessel. The little band marched out of the entrench-
ments full of courage and fought with heroic tenacity,
but was speedily outnuinbered and overpowered. Its
commander, one of the last survivors, leaped upon a
ship sunk in the harbor, and there encountered single-
handed a multitude of assailants. His heroisin excited
the admiration of the barbarians that surrounded him.
They saved his life and conducted him to the bashaw,
to whom alone he would consent to deliver up his
sword. The latter showed him the most marked
tokens of respect.
The unfortunate companions of Sande were mas-
sacred to a man. Their skulls were then collected
and arranged in the forın of a pyramid, and consti-
* This title is variously spelled and pronounced; pashaw is Persian and
Turkish ; bashaw Arabic and Moorish.
THE "TOWER OF SKULLS.
179
tuted for nearly three centuries a mournful trophy
of which Mussulman fanaticism boasted, and which,
standing out in bold relieſ upon the shore, appeared
to every Christian traveller a monument of shame
and humiliation. In 1846, the Catholic bishop of
Tunis obtained, through the mediation of the consul
general of France, permission to have this monument
destroyed. The sad and glorious materials of which
the tower of skulls was constructed were carefully col-
lected and interred; and, on my visit to Gerba in
1866, as I surveyed the scenes of these events, it
was a satisfaction to know that the fraternal grave
finally and forever protects from the inclement ele-
ments and human passions the remains of those brave
men nobly confounded in heroism and in death.
Muley Hamida, constantly involved in difficulty with
the tribes of the interior and with the garrison at the
Goletta, had soon before him an enemy much more
formidable. To rule Tunisia had been the constant
dream of the masters of Algiers, and this dream had
already been for a moment realized by Khayreddine
Barbarossa. Ali Bashaw wished to continue and sat-
isfy that traditionary ambition. He invaded the Tu-
nisian territory, encountered and completely routed
Hamida near Beja. The defeated king sought and
received protection among the Spaniards at the Go-
letta, while Ali took possession of the kasbah and
assumed to be the supreme ruler of the country.
He then returned to Algiers (1570), leaving for his
lieutenant the Kaid Ramdan, with about 2,000 men
as a garrison.
Philip II, alarmed at this manifestation of the power
180
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of Algiers, hesitated not to yield to the entreaties of
Muley Hamida, and sent against Tunis a fleet with a
complement of 20,000 men, under the orders of Don
John, of Austria, natural son of Charles V. Philip,
believing that the African establishments were not
of sufficient advantage to Spain to justify the great
expense incurred for their maintenance, thought it
the part of wisdom to give them up, to destroy all
the cities in his possession, and finally to abandon
the Goletta itself.
But Don John planned for the formation of a
Tunisian kingdom for his own interest and for the
advantage of the Christian world; and the court of
Roine and the tendencies of the time encouraged
him in that idea. He entered then Tunis as it was
abandoned by the Turks; placed there a garrison of
4,000 men; put upon the throne Muley Mohammed,
a brother of Mulėy Hamida, who refused to accept
the power on the conditions proposed to him; he
strengthened the fortifications at the Goletta, and
built the new fort Borge Gedid, between the city and
the lake, in order better to command the city.
He appointed count Cerballon governor of Tunis,
and Porto Carrero commander at the Goletta. He
also left a Spanish garrison at Bizerta. Then Don
John returned into Spain, where he hoped that Philip
II would sanction his plans for the government of
Tunis; but soon events justified the anticipations of
the king.
Spanish rule could not be of long duration at Tunis.
To maintain it, would require an organization alto-
gether more powerful than for the conquest of the
INFIDEL INSOLENCE AT TUNIS.
181
country, and Spain had neither the means nor the
disposition to make great sacrifices for this object.
The religious sentiments of the Tunisians were
shocked; their habits and customs were disturbed,
and their pride wounded by the infidel rulers. Every-
where and at each instant, they encountered in their.
streets, and sometimes even in their houses and their
mosques, the insolence and presumption of their mas-
ters. They were compelled to see, arrogantly seated
by the side of their prince, the Spanish governor of
Tunis, who they knew controlled their affairs and
imposed his opinions and decisions on their country.
The display of the Catholic worship was to them lit-
tle less shocking and offensive than idolatry itself,
and their ears were ever pained by the incessant
peals of bells, whose hated sound seemed to pursue
them without mercy. Thus agonized, the Tunisians
waited and prayed for an occasion to take their
revenge.
SECTION II.
.
TURKISH DOMINATION, 1574-1650.— TIE DEYS, 1590-1702.
On learning of the establishment of the Spaniards
at Tunis, the Turkish sultan Selim resolved to drive
thern off. In the spring of 1574, he sent against
them a considerable fleet under the orders of Sinan
Bashaw, a famous admiral and conqueror, who was,
according to several historians, only a Milanese rene-
182
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
gade of the illustrious family of the Visconti. The
former Dey of Algiers, the same person whose rule
at Tunis Spain had broken up, had the title of cap-
tain-bashaw and lieutenant-cominander. The fleet
made a murderous but ineffective assault upon the
Spanish fortification at Tabarca, and then appeared
before the Goletta. A vast encampment, powerfully
entrenched, was immediately established, and the
attack was begun with vigor.
While the garrison at the Goletta, slightly pro-
tected by its ramparts against the formidable artil-
lery of Sinan, made up for its inferiority of numbers
and means by an admirable courage and activity,
the Spanish garrison at Tunis, despairing of its ability
to maintain itself in the vast and dilapidated fortifi-
cations of that great city, withdrew to fort Borge
Gedid, constructed, by order of Don John, just out
of the city on the right of the Marine, and there
maintained itself for a long time with great energy
against the attacks of the lieutenants of Sinan.
But at length the Goletta was carried by general
assault. Sinan Bashaw had all the garrison and the
inhabitants of the place put to the edge of the sword,
sparing only the Spanish governor, Porto Carrero.
Then the fort at Tunis was taken in its turn; but the
garrison made a bold sally and, passing successfully
through the hostile ranks, took up a menacing posi-
tion upon the borders of the lake. A terrible com-
bat ensued. Almost the entire army of Sinan, com-
posed of the best Mussulman troops, fell upon these
brave Spaniards, who were finally hemmed in and
overpowered. All were massacred except two hun-
dred artillerymen, who were made slaves.
OTTOJIAV. RULE ISTABLISHED.
183
Cerballon, the Spanish governor at Tunis, Porto
Carrero, of the Goletta, and Mohammed-el-Hafsy, the
last Hafsite, were the only persons spared by Sinan.
The first was claimed by Spain and the pope, and
was exchanged for many Mussulmans of high rank
detained in Europe. The other two were sent to the
sultan, and died at Constantinople.
Before leaving Tunis, Sinan sought to organize and
establish Turkish rule. He left 4,000 men divided
into forty companies, each of which was under the
orders of a chief, bearing the title of dey.' The su-
preme government was entrusted to a bashaw-bey,
assisted by a council of the regency called the divan.
All the details of the military and civil administra-
tion were carefully defined. The military govern-
ment of Tunis belonged to the bashaw. Agas were
delegated to govern the cities or to exercise by proxy
the military authority of the deys. Prayers were to
be henceforth offered in the mosques in the name of
the reigning Turkish sultan, and his name was also
to be struck upon the coins of the country.
But this organization did not long continue. The
military rose against the civil authorities; overturned
the divan; massacred almost all the members of it;
instituted a new divan, and declared that the presi-
dent of it should be the military chief and supreme
commander under the title of dey.
The ottoman porte, whose representative (the ba-
shaw-bey,) was driven off several times, had succeeded
in reëstablishing another delegate of its authority
on the following conditions: The offices of bashaw
and of bey should henceforth be separated; the ba-
184
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
shaw should be changed every three years, and should
take no direct part in the administration; a bey, inde-
pendent of the bashaw, should have the control of
the finances, and should collect the imports under
the authority of the dey, the chief of the divan and
of the troops.
“But the beys,” says Mr. J. Marcel, “ did not long
remain in that state of dependence and inferiority.
By degrees their influence increased, either by means
of the considerable sums of money which passed
into their hands, or by their habitual relations with
the troops, which accompanied them in their fiscal
expeditions, or by bonds of friendship and alliance
which they had the opportunity to form with the
most powerful chiefs of the tribes in the interior of
the regency; soon all the power passed into their
hands, and they left but little influence for the divan
and the dey."
During nearly a century the history of Tunis offers
only a monotonous spectacle of conflicts for power,
complicated with all the intrigues and bloody catas-
trophies which are their natural consequence.
With-
out troubling ourselves with a confused mass of ur
interesting details, it will suffice to notice several
remarkable events which distinguished the domina-
tion of the deys until 1705, which is the date of the
definite establishment of the beys.
It was under Otman Dey (1593–1610), that a great
number of Moors, driven from Spain by Philip III,
came to establish themselves in Tunisia. Deposito-
ries of the industrial and agricultural traditions of
the flourishing Saracenic kingdoms of the middle
MASSACRE AT HAMMAMET.
185
age, they induced considerable activity at Tunis in
favor of the cultivation of olive and mulberry trees,
and of the manufacture of wool and silk, and formed
important settlements and centres of business at
Zaughan, Testour, Medgezel Bab and Soliran.
In 1605, the plague desolated Tunis for the first
time, and the little island of Zimnbra, situated near
cape Bon, gained some notoriety for a veritable siege
which the crew of five Maltese galleys, stranded there,
sustained against the Tunisians. A merchant ship
succeeded in saving most of the sailors. The rest
were made slaves. During this same year, Count
Savary de Breves, embassador from France to Con-
stantinople, arrived in Tunis in company with a
Turkish envoy, Mustapha-aga, to claim the execution
in Tunisia of a treaty concluded between king Henry
IV and the sultan.
The object of this mission could be accomplished
only by encountering innumerable difficulties and
dangers, which Count Savary met with admirable
tact and firmness. While Count Savary was at
Tunis, 1,400 men coming in three Maltese and seven
Sicilian galleys, landed at Hammamet, a city on the
eastern coast; after taking possession of that place,
they were soon overpowered and massacred to a man,
and many of their heads were afterwards exposed on
the walls of the kasbah at Tunis, and savagely drawn
through the streets.
It was in 1607, under Otinan Bey, that St. Vincent
de Paul, an honored name in Christian history, after
serving two years as a slave, succeeded in escaping
in a small vessel and reached France, where he be-
24
186
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
came the magnanimous benefactor of foundlings and
of the sick and unfortunate of every kind. Putting
forth earnest appeals, he organized an association of
devoted Christian women, whom he drew into the
service of humanity. The members of that associa-
tion were called sisters of charity, and their usefulness
I have had an opportunity to observe in several ori-
ental - cities. At Tunis, these devoted females are
known only to be honored for their deeds of mercy
and beneficence done without regard to religious or
national distinctions.
Yousef Dey (1610–1637), successor of Otman,
administered vigorously the government of Tunis,
which prospered during his reign. The bridge at
Tebourba and the mosque which bears his name, are
monuments of his time. Under Yousef Dey, the
power of the beys greatly increased, owing to the
intelligence, energy and popularity of Morad Bey, a
Corsican renegade, who, in consequence of eminent
services rendered at Tunis, and of victories over the
Algerines, solicited and obtained from Constantinople
the title of bashaw. His son Hamouda continued his
work, and became so influential and respected that the
Arabs of the interior had no idea of any other
govern-
ment at Tunis than his.
It was under Yousef Dey, that the city of Mar-
seilles sent against Tunis seven ships, armed at its
expense and commanded by a knight of Malta, to
obtain compensation for damage done to its com-
merce by Tunisian corsairs.
The compensation
sought was accorded. In 1619, the island of. Gerba,
before belonging to Tripoli, was annexed to Tunis.
CAPUCIN LIBERATORS OF SLAVES.
187
In 1624, the capucin fathers were first established
at Tunis under the name of procurers of slaves. They
devoted themselves to solacing and consoling unfortu-
nate Christians, detained in the baths or condemned
to ruder labors. It was finally under Yousef Dey
that the states general of Holland concluded their
first treaty with Tunis, We must add that it was
Morad Dey who founded the present city of Porto
Farina, peopling it with Moors from Andalusia.
In 1662, under Hadj Mustapha, England signed
her first treaty with Tunis, and Holland her second
treaty; but it appears that the conditions of these
treaties were not promptly observed, for in 1665,
admiral Robert Black bombarded Porto Farina to
secure the liberation of all the English and Dutch
slaves. From 1662, England and Holland began to
have consuls at Tunis: which statement is corrobo-
rated by an article in a treaty signed about the same
time by the duke of Beaufort, a French admiral,
authorizing the consul of France to represent all
commercial nations in Tunis except England and
Holland.
Under the government of the dey Shaban, subse-
quently deposed by the influence of Morad Bey, the
French admiral, who was the marquis of Martel, came
to secure the fulfilment of the stipulations made with
the duke of Beaufort: At this time, the two brothers,
Mohammed Bey and Morad Bey, irritated by the
resistance of the divan which had just named as dey
against their wishes Hadj Ali-el-Las, left Tunis and
went to Zaughan to establish a camp, at the head of
which they marched against the army commanded
188
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
by El Las and by his creature Mohammed Aga, just
elected bey. The two victorious brothers imposed
their wishes on the divan and had Hadj Mami Gem-
ral appointed dey.
Another French squadron arrived in 1675, under
the orders of the marquis of Rully, to make a demon-
stration before the Goletta in favor of the Christians,
who were subjected to great sufferings in the midst
of these domestic troubles. Morad Bey left at his
death three sons, Mohammed, Ali and Ramadan.
After numerous struggles without historic interest,
each of these brothers came successively into power.
Ramadan Bey was dethroned and killed by his nephew,
Morad, son of Ali. Ibrahim-el-Scherif assassinated
him and took his place. The last was driven off by
the Algerines, who renewed their ambitious efforts
to reduce Tunisia and bring it under their jurisdic-
tion.
To his place, the divan and the army elected Hous-
sein Ben Ali, son of Ali, a renegade Greek according
to some, and a Corsican according to others, from
whom sprang the dynasty of the reigning family at
Tunis.
SECTION III.
THE BEYS OF TUNIS, 1705–1869.
Houssein Ben Ali, founder of the actual dynasty
called from his name Houssenite, contrived to get rid
of his competitor for the throne, Ibrahim-el-Scherif.
He enticed him into the regency with the promise
f
FIRST BEYS OF TUNIS.
189
that he would abrogate in his favor, and then put
him to death. His reign was, however, peaceful and
prosperous. He selected for his treasurer and con-
fident a Christian slave, to whom he showed the
strongest tokens of friendship. Treaty stipulations
with the principal European powers, including one
with France in 1720, greatly extended the commerce
of Tunis.
He had named for his successor his nephew Ali
Bey, when unexpectedly he had a direct heir by a
late marriage with a Genoese slave. But, by means
of gold distributed among the members of the divan,
and rich presents sent to Constantinople, he succeeded
in having this child, which was named Mohammed Bey, .
recognized at Tunis and at the Porte as the legitimate
heir to the throne. He afterwards had two other chil-
dren, Mohammed and Ali.
Meanwhile his nephew Ali Bey, whom he at first
designated as his successor, pretended to be resigned
to his fate, and accepted with expressions of gratitude
to his uncle the title of bashaw, and then withdrew
among the mountains of the interior and raised up a
rebellion in 1728. He was beaten in the first battle
by his uncle. Then going to Algiers and returning
with large reinforcements, he defeated his uncle, who
fled first to Cairwan, then to Susa, and finally sought
refuge upon Algerine territory. But the unfortunate
Houssein was assassinated upon his way to Algiers by
Younas Bey, the son of his nephew and rival Ali.
Ali Bey-Bashaw was planning to enjoy his usurped
throne, when the same ambition, which had urged him
to deeds of violence, armed his two sons Younas and
190
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Mohammed against each other. Younas was to be
arrested at the instigation of Mohammed. He en-
trenched himself in the kasbah at Tunis, where he
was besieged by the soldiers of his father, from
whom he escaped and fled to Algiers. Mohammed,
then putting a younger brother into prison to pre-
vent any competition from him, was recognized as
the heir presumptive to the Tunisian throne.
Meanwhile, Baba-Ali-Aga, the newly elected dey of
Algiers, having once been insulted while on an em-
bassy at Tunis, by Younas Bey, and seeing that
prince then a fugitive in Algeria, sought revenge for
that affront by inducing the bey of Constantine to
place upon the throne of Tunis the legitimate heir
of Houssein-Bey-Ali. Ali-Bashaw was defeated and
strangled, and Mohammed, the eldest son of Houssein,
was crowned bey of Tunis in 1756. Mohammed was
fitted to elevate the country, half-ruined by internal
dissensions, but he reigned only two years and left
at his death in 1759, two young children, Mahmoud
and Ismail.
The brother of Mohammed, Ali-Bey, second son of
Houssein-Ben-Ali, mounted upon the throne with the
express condition of restoring it to his eldest nephew
when the latter should come of age. But he studi-
ously kept his nephew in the shade and brought
before the public his own son Hamouda, for whom
he obtained the title of bashaw and commander of
the troops. Hamouda managed so shrewdly that at
the death of his father, his cousins, who were the
legitimate heirs, were the first to recognize and
salute him as bey in 1782. Ali-Bey reigned twenty-
DIFFICULTIES WITH FRANCE.
191
pro-
three years. The tranquillity of his reign was dis-
turbed only by difficulties with France, begun in
1770.
Corsica had just been annexed to France. Before
this event, that island formed a part of the republic
of Genoa, and was in open hostility to Tunis. After
it became a part of France, it was natural to suppose
that its ships would enjoy the same privileges as
French ships. But the Tunisian privateers, in disre-
gard of this principle, captured many of them and
imprisoned the crews. The cabinet of Versailles
tested and demanded satisfaction. Ali Bey gave a
haughty and unsatisfactory reply. Other circum-
stances served to disturb the relations between the
two countries. French ships were captured while
engaged in the fisheries at Calle, and the captain of
a French mercantile ship was insulted by a Tunisian
corsair named Souleyman-el-Gerba.
Three ships of the line speedily appeared in the
waters of the Goletta. They took on board the
French consul, and put all the French ships that
were at anchor in the roadstead in order of battle.
During twenty-five days, they kept the Goletta in a
state of blockade, and were joined on the 21st of
June, 1770, by a squadron of sixteen ships under the
orders of the count de Breves. The admiral made
the following demands: First, the recognition of
Corsica as a part of France; 2d, the restitution of all
ships and slaves, even those taken before the annex-
ation of Corsica to France; 3d, the continuation of
the privilege of the coral fishery in favor of France
at Calle and Tabarca; 4th, the punishment of Souley-
192
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
man-el-Gerba for his attempt against the French cap-
tain ; 5th, the reïmbursement of the expenses of the
expedition. Thirty hours were given the bey, at the
end of which the bombardment would begin.
The reply of Ali Bey was delayed, and was finally
evasive; therefore the count de Breves, leaving three
vessels to blockade the Goletta, went with the rest of
his squadron to bombard during two days Porto Fa-
rina, and during thirty-six hours Bizerta. Susa and
Monastir were bombarded in their turn; and prepa-
rations were made for efficient action at the Goletta,
when a Turkish embassador sent by the sultan to
obtain aid from Tunis against the Russians, offered
his mediation. An armistice was first accorded, and
then a peace was signed on the following conditions:
First, Corsica to possess all the maritime rights of
France; 2d, Corsican slaves captured after 1768 to
b'e given up; 3d, the right of fishing at Calle to be
prolonged for five years, and the bey to indemnify
the French-African company for the losses resulting
from the interruption of its privileges ; 4th, France
to make the bey the usual presents accompanying
treaties of peace ; 5th, the indemnity for the expen-
ses of the war to be regulated at Versailles by a
Tunisian embassy; and 6th, the confirmation of the
treaties of 1720 and 1742.
Ibrahim Kodja, the secretary of the divan, was sent
into France, and amicable relations between the two
governments were promptly restored. Ali Bey con-
tinued peaceably his reign, governing the country in
such a manner as to cause his usurpation of power to
be forgotten by those who had a right to reign in his
HAMOUDA BASHAW'S REIGN.
193
place. He died the 26th of May, 1782, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Hamouda Bashaw, then aged thirty-
two years.
For a long time associated with his father in the
government, intelligent, energetic and popular, Ha-
mouda encountered no opposition on his accession to
power. He was greatly assisted at first by his prime
minister and brother-in-law, Mustapha Kodja; but
when this worthy officer died, he refused to appoint
any one in his place, preferring to retain all the
power in his own hands. By means of his lieuten-
ants, he successfully resisted the aggressions of the
Algerines. Thinking that Ismail-Ben-Younas, the
legitimate heir to the throne, who was then a refugee
at Algiers, would be a less dangerous subject in his
own hands than he would be if left in a neighboring
hostile country, he enticed him into his territory,
receiving him in a princely manner and lodging him
at the Bardo. But as soon as traces of a conspiracy
with the Algerines were discovered, the royal guest
was strangled.
Profiting by the troubles of the revolution of 1789
in France, Tunisian corsairs violated certain clauses of
the preceding treaties; but a new treaty was soon
made with the national convention dated the 25th of
May, 1795, and in 1797 a Tunisian embassy was sent
to Paris. Yet in 1798, the bey sent privateers to
oppose the expedition of Bonaparte into Egypt; but
an armistice, followed by a definite peace, was signed
the 7th of August, 1800.
During the latter part of the eighteenth century,
hostile relations existed between the United States
A
25
194
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and the bey, and American commerce suffered greatly
from Tunisian corsairs. The preliminaries of a treaty
of peace were arranged in 1797 by Mr. Famin, a
French merchant, and a definite treaty was signed by
authorized American agents in the beginning of 1799.
Much of the correspondence relative to this stipula-
tion, preserved in the American consulate, is exceed-
ingly interesting and instructive. The treaty cost
the American government about $100,000, and one
of its articles, since annulled, was, that the Tunisian
government should receive a present of as many
barrels of powder as it fired guns in saluting Ameri-
can men-of-war. The presents made and expenses
incurred at the raising of the first American flag
over the consulate, where it has since continued to
wave, amounted to about $20,000.*
Hamouda Bashaw, on becoming firmly seated upon
his throne, began to encounter and by degrees destroy
the influence which the Turkish troops, styled janis-
saries, had maintained at Tunis, especially from the
reign of Ali Bey. Some of their chiefs, under the
title of prætorians, exercised a controlling and tyran-
nical influence. He gradually appointed for their
chiefs, and to fill important offices about his person,
devoted men, selected principally from among Geor-
* The correspondence about the treaty with the dey of Algiers, found in
the first volume of the American archives at Tunis, is exceedingly inter-
csting. The dey first demanded presents amounting to 2,561,000 Mexican
dollars, and finally accepted $702,500. The account is signed thus :
“Richard O'Brien, late master of the ship Dauphine, of Philadelphia, but
was captured the 30th of July, 1785, biſty leagues to the westward of Lis-
bon, by an Algerine corsair of 34 guns and 450 men, and remained in cap-
tivity until the 11th of September, 1795. Redeemed in consequence of the
peace made by the United States with Algiers."
INSURRECTION OF TURKISH TROOPS.
195
gian and Circassian mamelukes (slaves) and European
renegades; seizing every occasion to repress the abuses
of this troublesome class of soldiers.
The Turks finally revolted on the 30th of August,
1811 (10th Shahban, 1225 H.), with the object of de-
throning Hamouda and putting in his place a Turk-
ish bey of their own choice, as at Algiers. A band of
the conspirators was to assassinate Hamouda and all
his court at the moment of their leaving the mosque.
This plan failed because Hamouda did not leave his
palace that day as usual. The Turks then believing
that their plot was discovered, and not wishing to
give time for effective measures to be taken against
them, rose in rebellion the same day, and entrenched
themselves in the kasbah to the number of about
3,000 men. They then elected a new bey and an-
nounced the event to the other garrisons within
hearing by the firing of cannon, which was the con-
certed signal to be repeated from fortress to fortress
throughout the regency.
But on receiving this news, the governor of Porto
Farina, then minister of the
navy,
marched
upon
the
Goletta with an army of Arabs and Zouaves, and
the first minister of the bey entered Tunis with all
the soldiers he could collect.
The Turks raised the Ottoman standard and de-
clared their resolution to reëstablish the sovereignty
of the porte. All the cannon of the city were point-
ed upon the kaskah, which valiantly sustained the
fire. A cannonade of six hours was without result,
when, at the suggestion of the French consul, some
European artillerymen, then at Tunis, took charge of
196
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the cannon of the bey and speedily silenced the bat-
teries of the kasbah. About 1,700 Turks left the
citadel. The Tunisian troops had orders not to dis-
turb them in their retreat. The Arabs, who hated
the Turks, were charged to exterminate them in the
country. They did not fail to do their work. The
Turks defended themselves with signal valor among
the mountains, but were soon overcome. The newly
elected bey, the members of his government and his
principal accomplices were detained until they had
made all the confessions useful to Hamouda, and were
then strangled. The Arabs received as their recom-
pense all the rich spoils of their victims. The Turk-
ish troops were thus annihilated by Hamouda Bashaw
the same year as the mamelukes in Egypt by Mo-
hammed Ali.
The reign of Hamouda Bashaw, which lasted thir-
ty-three years, is the longest in Tunisian history, and
is regarded, in spite of its stains of blood, as the most
prosperous reign and the best administration of the
Housseinite dynasty. Greedy of gain and given to
excesses, but possessed of discrimination and firm-
ness, Hamouda demonstrated superior tact and skill
in administering the government of Tunisia. Re-
spected at home and abroad, he occupied himself in
developing the resources of the country. True, he
favored piracy; but that was a branch of the admin-
istration at that period, and a convenient means of
raising a revenue; in short, though a semi-barbarian,
he inflicted as little evil in pursuing his policy and
executing his plans, as was perhaps possible. Ha-
mouda Bashaw died of poison on the last day of the
LORD EXMOUTH AT TUNIS.
197
great feast of Ramadan (September 15, 1814), and
was succeeded by Otman Bey who, in his turn, was
murdered on the 20th of December following.*
Sidi Mahmoud, who succeeded Otman Bey on the
21st of December, 1814, was the son of Mohammed
Bey and the elder of the two princes whom the usur-
pation of their uncle, Ali Bey, had excluded from the
throne. With Otman and his two sons perished
the collateral branch descended from Ali Bey, and
the power was restored to the elder and legitimate
branch of the Housseinites.
An infant child of Otman, however, survived him,
which was at once thrust into a subterranean dun-
geon at the Bardo, and under the care of his black
nurse remained there forty-one years. On the ascen-
sion to the throne of Mohammed Bey in 1855, this
child with a man's frame was removed, and is believed
to be still living with his black nurse in a state of
incurable idiocy.
Mahmoud reigned without éclat nine years. It
was under his rule, in the month of April, 1816, that
Lord Exmouth, coming from Algiers and proceeding
to Tripoli, made at Tunis an imposing display of the
sentiments of the Christian world shortly before ex-
plained at the Congress of Vienna. No European
demonstration, unless we except that of the conquest
of Algeria, which occurred many years afterwards,
ever so humiliated Barbary insolence. In view of
* To enable our readers to form a clearer idea of the state of affairs in
this regency in the year 1814, we give in Appendix A, some pertinent
extracts from a valuable journal, preserved among the archives of the
American consulate at Tunis. The entire journal, with explanatory notos,
would constitute an excellent history of that period.
198
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the cannon of a magnificent fleet, and the haughty
demands of the British admiral, who had just hum-
bled the dey of Algiers, a part of the Christian slaves
were given up without ransom; others were pur-
chased at a moderate price, and the bey made a
written promise, which he did not keep, to abolish
forever Christian slavery within his dominions.
In 1818, two English and French squadrons, under
the orders of admirals Freemantle and Jurien, came
in the name of all the European states with a formal
and imposing summons for the bey to abolish imme-
diately and forever piracy. Formal promises satis-
fied the admirals.
Houssein Bey ascended the throne in 1824. In
1825, he sent an embassador extraordinary to sit
with the diplomatic corps at the coronation of
Charles X, king of France. In 1826, a Dutch
squadron appeared and obtained redress for certain
grievances which had delayed the appointment and
reception of Cæsar Nyssen as the consul from the
Netherlands. In 1827, an old dispute was revived,
and a rupture occurred between Tunis and Spain in
regard to a Bremen ship conducted to Barcelona and
sold there by a Tunisian corsair. This question re-
mained open for an indefinite period, until the ideas
of the beys of Tunis were modified and Spain was
swept into another channel by the current of passing
events.
It was in 1827, also, that the blockade of Algiers
by the French fleet was denounced at Tunis. The
bey and people, though humiliated as Mussulmans,
were inwardly satisfied with the lesson thus given to
CONQUEST OF ALGIERS.
199
their insolent neighbors and persistent enemies. The
battle of Navarino, where the bey lost almost his en-
tire navy, produced a profound sensation at Tunis.
The people and court with enforced resignation be-
came very respectful and courteous towards Euro-
peans.
Finally Algiers was taken and Barbary piracy
effectually and forever stopped. Houssein Bey sent
a distinguished personage to compliment general
Bourinonte in the citadel of Algiers. Besides a very
natural sentiment of fear, he was probably influenced
by political ambition to take that step which was a
cause of reproach among all good Mussulmans. The
union of Algeria and of Tunisia, under the Housseinite
government, was always a cherished plan of the bey.
Also, at a later period, he adopted with zeal the pro-
position of Marshal Clausel, offering the beylics of
Constantine and of Oran to two Tunisian princes, on
condition that they should become vassals and tribu-
taries of France. Mustapha Bey, a brother of Hous-
sein, would have become bey of Constantine, and
Ahmed, a son of Mustapha Bey, of Oran. The con-
vention was rejected by the French government, and
the Tunisian troops which had already occupied pro-
visionally Oran, returned to their country near the
end of 1830 and the beginning of 1831.
Towards the middle of the reign of Houssein Bey
(1829), occurred the fall of the prime minister Mus-
tapha Bash Mameluke, who was in fact the virtual
sovereign of the country. The extortion and waste,
the pillage and lavish expenditure of the public
treasure, had exhausted the finances of the country.
200
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The expenses exceeded the receipts, and the crops
failed. The prime minister made loans. But this
was only a palliative. He then pledged and sold the
future crops and received their value in advance.
This system of imposing on the future the burdens
and difficulties which belong to the present is unfor-
tunately still in vogue in Tunisia. Its immediate
results are commercial and financial crises, and bank-
ruptcies more or less disguised, and its final conse-
quence must be the ruin of the state.
There was then a financial crisis. Payments were
to be made, and the bash-mameluke, seeing no means
of making them, declared to the bey the government
to be in a state of bankruptcy. Houssein until then
had been careless, ostentatious and prodigal, suppos-
ing the riches of the country to be inexhaustible.
He was amazed and astounded at the truth thus
brought to his knowledge, and, seeing no remedy,
wept like a child. It was at such a moment that a
Circassian mameluke named Shekir, already keeper
of the seal, but lost to view, like all the other digni-
taries, in the dazzling presence of Mustapha, arose
before his sovereign and, with a daring superior to
that of the greatest military chieftain, offered to take
upon himself the charge and responsibility of saving
and relieving the state, on the condition of being
invested with the necessary authority. Houssein
removed from office the bash-mameluke and put in
his place the intelligent and intrepid Circassian.
Shekir showed unusual tact and skill in fulfiling
his engagement. By voluntary offers which he ob-
tained by his own example and influence among the
A PROGRESSIVE STATESMAN.
201
leading men of the state, he promptly sustained the
credit of the government. Then regulating the pay-
ments and indemnities claimed by European mer-
chants, he resolved on reforms that were indispensa-
ble to prevent the recurrence of similar catastrophes.
He abolished the ancient costly and vicious military
system, and organized regular troops. He inspected
and controlled the expenses of the court, even those
of the bey, which he brought under a sort of civil list.
He regulated the imposts; made excursions through
the interior of the country to encourage agriculture,
and, in fine, labored heartily and intelligently for the
prosperity and future of Tunisia ; and he would pro-
bably have secured his objects for a considerable time,
if his career of usefulness had not been cruelly inter-
rupted. Shekir was destined to furnish a memorable
example of the fate of men superior to their age, espe-
cially in Mussulman countries. When the decay of a
country becomes irresistible by a tide of abuses and
by a general deterioration of character, he who plans
and labors to arrest it and resist the course of events,
inay at first excite astonishment and pass for a public
benefactor; but soon he excites the jealousy and ha-
tred of those on whom his firmness and decision are
imposed. In time, these men become exasperated
with their benefactor, and are like travellers fatally
lured to their final sleep in the midst of mountain
If they lie down for repose in the mountain
drifts, they are sure to die; and yet they madly beat
off the compassionate hand that seeks to raise them
up and urge them on. They end the struggle by
snows,
26
202
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
getting rid of him who disturbs them and hinders
them from taking their ease in the torpidity of death.
In 1831, Tunisia narrowly escaped a war with Sar-
dinia, in consequence of an insult offered to the flag
of a smuggler. A Sardinian squadron was anchored
before Carthage, and the city of Tunis was profoundly
agitated with the cry, “The holy war in the path of
God." Through the intervention of Sir Thomas
Reade, the British consul- general, and the prudent
counsels of the kaid Ben-Ayad, Houssein Bey con-
sented to give the satisfaction demanded, and a peace
was concluded.
Houssein Bey was succeeded in 1835 by his brother
Mustapha. His reign of two years is remarkable for
nothing but for the disgrace and execution of Shekir.
This minister was too patriotic and intelligent for the
new bey and his short-sighted counsellors. He had
effectually resisted and checked the retrograde move-
ment of his country, and had inaugurated a progres-
sive policy; but he had not so moulded the character
of his countrymen as to secure the permanence and
final success of his measures. The cause of his fall
was the jealousy and defiance of Ahmed, who was a
son of Mustapha, and also the bey of the camp and
the presumptive heir to the throne. The pretext
was, that the all-powerful prime minister was sus-
„pected of having plotted at Constantinople to over-
throw the Housseinites and reëstablish Turkish rule.
He was called to the Bardo, accused in haste, and
condemned without being heard, by a sort of private
council presided over by Ahmed. He was then
given over to slaves and strangled; and forthwith
CHARACTER OF AHMED BEY.
203
the regency of Tunis resumed its old policy, which
it still pursues to the very borders of death.
Ahmed Bey succeeded his father on the throne in
October, 1837. This prince, praised in his life-time
with much exaggeration, had some good points in
his character. He was generous, though vain; and
impulsive, rather than energetic. But he was not in
our opinion a great statesinan. He lacked the intel-
ligence to understand the needs of his country. He
did not manifest the spirit of integrity, nor a digni-
fied and circumspect bearing in the exercise of power.
He had not the habits of economy and watchfulness
which alone can prevent a ruinous waste and an ex-
hausted treasury. A great man or an African Napo-
leon, as some flatterers called him, comes not from a
mania to play the soldier by fastening to the lacer-
ated sides of an afflicted country, in addition to offi-
cial vampires, the cupping glasses of an arıny, too
large for the population and resources of the state,
together with incessant bleeding from the follies, and
especially from the shameful prodigality of the sov-
ereign. Ahmed showed this weakness. He counter-
acted the reformatory measures adopted by Shekir,
and thus hastened the decline and fall of his country.
I am aware that Ahmed Bey abolished slavery in
his dominions, for which act he was called by a cele-
brated French poet, the Friend of Humanity. But in
estimating the credit due him, we must not forget
the influence of the civilized world, exerted espe-
cially through the French and English consuls, who
were his political preceptors and powerful monitors.
In making a demand for the surrender of a family of
204
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
slaves that had taken refuge in the enclosure at Car-
thage, Ahmed was advised by the French diplomat-
ist to escape from the difficulty, and astonish and
gratify the civilized world by the abolition of slavery.
Teachable and vain, Ahmed caught the idea, and im-
proved the occasion to immortalize his name.
Our expressions may seem harsh. For to Ahmed
Bey belongs the honor of having planned and exe-
cuted the emancipation act, which had to encounter
the prejudices, habits and individual interests of his
country. Whatever may have been his weaknesses,
he demonstrated in this reform a generosity and cour-
age which demand expressions of gratitude and an
honorable notice..
Born of a Christian mother, Ahmed showed him-
self friendly towards Europeans. A neighbor and
friend of France, he favored the French and main-
tained intimate relations with the family of Louis
Philippe. The dukes of Montpensier and Aumale,
and the Prince de Joinville visited successively Tunis
(1845), and had splendid receptions. Ahmed resolved
himself into France. He embarked on the 5th
of November, 1846, and returned to the Goletta the
30th of December following. Received as a verita-
ble sovereign, he was distinguished for brilliant wit
and pertinent repartees. He gave presents to the
poor,
and diamond decorations to his admirers. He
expressed astonishment at what he saw, and a great
desire to emulate it. He was the first Mussulman
sovereign to visit Europe, and Europe ought to give
him credit for this. As to the Mussulmans, they
will never pardon him for not having made, on the
contrary, a pilgrimage to Mecca.
.
to go
AHMED'S RECEPTION IN FRANCE.
205
France on her side seized every occasion to en-
courage and patronize Ahmed. In 1838, admiral de
Lalande prevented, by the presence of his fleet, an
attempt to land by the Turkish admiral Tahir Bashaw,
who consoled himself by proceeding to occupy Tripoli
in the name of the sultan. At the Tuilleries, Ahmed
was received as a king, in spite of the protestations
of the Ottoman embassador, and in exchanging deco-
rations with him, the French government also iinpli-
citly recognized his sovereignty. Though France
probably followed this course from a regard to her
political views and interests, she has to sustain her
the records of history. All the powers of Europe
have since the eighteenth century treated directly
with the beys, sending them embassies or receiving
from them embassadors. The sovereignty of the
Porte, purely nominal and religious, has never been
political and effective except during the Turkish domi-
nation, which lasted only from 1574 to 1650.
Ahmed Bey reigned until 1855. His reign was
more costly than useful. He had an army of 35,000
men, organized in European style and instructed by
a French military mission, and directed by several
colonels and by one brigadier-general. Large and
commodious barracks were constructed; an exten-
sive manufactory for woolen cloth was built at Te-
bourba, on the Majerda, and light-houses were
erected at the entrance of the gulf, upon the islet of
Cani and at Sidi-Bou-Said. Near by this village, the
ancient hill of the Byrsa was ceded to France, which
erected thereon the chapel of St. Louis. It is just to
recall the solicitude and generosity of Ahmed at the
206
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
breaking out of the cholera in 1849 and 1850; he
hastened to supply the wants of the needy without
regard to race, nation or religion. It was under Ah-
med's reign, that a French missionary, the worthy and
lamented abbot Bourgade, provided, by the sacrifice
of his modest patrimony and by charitable contribu-
tions, the means of .education and assistance for
European residents in Tunis, by endowing the col-
lege of St. Louis, and furnishing a school and an in-
firmary under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
These humble germs of civilization have not been as
yet greatly developed; but this does not diminish
the honor of having provided them in the name of
the civilized world, which will sooner or later reap
their fruit.
In 1853, Ahmed, broken down by excesses of
every kind, had an apoplectic shock, and two years
later he died, leaving the throne and the ever-
increasing responsibility of the Tunisian govern-
ment to his cousin Mohammed Bey. The latter, be-
nevolent, unpretending and practical, endeavored to
revive agriculture, neglected by his predecessor, and
might perhaps have succeeded in the course of time.
In 1857, he granted to Tunisia a sort of preface to a
constitution, made in thirty-six hours, under the influence
of a French squadron hurriedly sent there to make a
demonstration on account of the judicial assassination
of an unfortunate Jew, accused of blaspheming Is-
lamism, to whom the bey had promised pardon.
Mohammed was, in January, 1858, rewarded for his
liberal promises by the grand cordon, with the insignia
of the Legion of Honor in diamonds; but he died
ESSADAK BEY'S REIGN.
207
the following year (1859), and his brother, Moham-
med Essadak, succeeded him.
Essadak Bey developed and promulgated in 1861
the promised constitution, which was, however, very
badly applied. Without studying here this interest-
ing subject which intimately relates to the present
state of the country, we will simply say in passing
that, in the eyes of every sensible man, the kingdom
of Tunis, governed by a constitution awkwardly cop-
ied from the constitutions of Europe and still more
awkwardly applied, resembled very much an unfortu-
nate bedouin forced to adopt a European costume and
gaining nothing by it except a constraint in his gait
and movement, as painful as ridiculous to look at.
In 1864, the bedouin in question protested against
this torture by an extensive insurrection which had
for its effect the removal of the constitution, that is
of the odious costume; but, as was not fully fore-
seen, the government, in relieving its beloved people
of the disguise that exasperated it, left it nothing in
exchange; and in truth, as in the metaphor, the be-
douin has now only to take up with his old cast off
garments in utter rags.
The actual bey has, since coming to the throne,
taken special pains to cultivate intimate relations
with most of the European courts.
He has sent
envoys to several of the great capitals, and has ex-
changed decorations with some of the sovereigns.
He sent an embassy to the United States in 1865,
together with his full-sized portrait and letters* of
condolence for the death of president Lincoln. In
* For copies of the letters sent to Washington, sec Appendix B.
208
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
return, the portrait of Washington was sent to him
in 1866, and is now suspended with the portraits of
Tunisian beys and European sovereigns in the Hall
of the Throne at the Bardo.
During Essadak Bey's reign, the country has been
seriously afflicted. To suppress the insurrection of
1864,* required all the energies of the government,
and caused a pitiful waste of property in addition to
much suffering among the deluded victims. The
cholera, which raged in the summer of 1867, caused
a general stagnation of business, and greatly dimin-
ished the population. The crops proved a failure for
two successive years; and the famine and typhus
fever, that set in at the close of 1867 and beginning
of 1868, continued the work of death and ruin car-
ried on by the cholera. And in addition to these ills,
the public treasury has been exhausted, financial
credit ruined, and a crushing foreign debt left hang-
ing threateningly over an impoverished people.f
SECTION IV.
RELATIONS OF BARBARY IN GENERAL AND OF TUNIS IN PARTICULAR,
WITH DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN NATIONS UNTIL 1830.-
CORSAIRS AND SLAVERY.
It would require volumes to fully explain the rela-
tions of Barbary with the Christian powers, from the
establishment of the Mussulman kingdoms in Africa
to the conquest of Algiers. Algiers, Tunis, and
* For account of the leader of this rebellion, see Appendix C.
† For chronological list of the deys and beys of Tunis, soe Appendix D.
MUSSULMAN M.RITIME SUPREMACY.
209
Tripoli, influenced by fanaticism and the desire for
gain, assumed for centuries to exercise a kind of
maritime supremacy over the Mediterranean, and
imposed burdens upon all the Christian powers whose
vengeance they did not immediately fear. And not
only the ships of nations that refused to pay tribute
were pursued and captured, but frequent descents
were made upon their coasts and the inhabitants were
carried off and compelled to serve as slaves and sub-
jected to cruel hardships and indignities.
The European powers, without harmonious action
and jealous of each other's influence, tolerated for a
long time this shame, and instead of uniting to sup-
press it by one decisive blow, limited their efforts
respectively to compromises by which they gained
some commercial advantages, overcame some of the
evils of piracy and improved the condition of the
unfortunate captives, who were from time to time
ransomed and liberated at enormous prices and at
humiliating sacrifices.
It was a matter of comparative indifference to the
Barbary governments whether they were at peace or
at war with Christian states. Piracy was a very
lu-
crative business, and its profits were greatly increased
by the very panic which prevailed among Christians,
and facilitated predatory operations. The knights
of Malta, though brave and doing good service with
their galleys, were utterly insufficient to guard the
Mediterranean, infested by thousands of freebooters,
who claimed this as their domain, and made their
cruises with an assurance and composure, like that
which our whalemen show in roaming for their prey
over the Pacific and Northern seas.
27
210
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
France was the first nation and England the second
to command comparative respect among the Barbary
powers after the close of the sixteenth century and
the decline of the Spanish monarchy, which had for
a time restrained and chastised the arrogance of these
barbarians. Naples, Sardinia and the states of the
church were the most exposed and ill-treated, and it
was only by becoming open tributaries that they
obtained repeated concessions. Holland and Sweden
took upon themselves' burdensome obligations, fur-
nishing the arsenals of the African buccaneers with
most of their munitions of war, America, young
and proud, on making her first treaties, resigned her-
self to an exercise of extraordinary liberality, and
England and France did not shrink on many occa-
sions from doing the same thing under the pretext of
observing the usages of the country, that is, of mak-
ing magnificent presents.
The most celebrated feat of the Tunisian corsairs
was the capture and removal in 1799, of nearly all
the inhabitants of the island of San Pietro, situated
southwest of Sardinia. This was effected during the
night with wonderful audacity and dispatch. Twelve
ships were loaded at San Pietro, and arrived in port
with full cargoes. Mr. Ambrose Allegro, who was at
that time employed as the secretary and interpreter
in the American consulate, under the famous general
William Eaton, witnessed the landing at the Goletta,
and has assured me that he never beheld so pitiful a
sight as was there presented. When the poor crea-
tures were brought upon land, they wept, warmly
embracing each other, and the women and children
AMERICAN WAR WITH TRIPOLI.
211
then clung to their cats and dogs, as their last solace
in exile and slavery. One young man, brought into
the regency at that time and thenceforth called Ali
Ben Abdallah or Baba Ali, will form the subject of
a special notice.* Thrown into the slave prisons of
Tunis, where Christians of every rank and nation
were subjected to all the humiliations and hardships
of captivity and servitude, these unfortunate beings
suffered for years and died in large numbers. At
length, the king of Sardinia offered half a million of
francs to redeem them ; but this proposition was
without result. At a later period, a humane associa-
tion formed at Cagliari, enlisted in their behalf the
efforts of the French consul, Mr. de Voize, who occu-
pied himself actively with negociations, and, after
great difficulties, succeeded in emancipating and send-
ing off a numerous party in which were 120 captives
who had in vain claimed the protection of the French
flag long before their capture at San Pietro.
The war, which the United States began against
Tripoli in 1801, and successfully terminated in 1805,
accomplished much for the cause of civilization and
good government. The youthful republic showed
the spirit and vigor of manhood, striking a blow that
made piratic rulers tremble on their thrones, and gave
hope and courage to European rulers and people.f
The bey of Tunis, before and during that war, appar-
ently sought an occasion for a conflict of arms; but
* See Appendix E.
† During the war with Tripoli, in which Decatur and Eaton were espe-
cially distinguished, the Americans were called, on account of their deeds
of daring, wild men, which cpithet was afterwards significantly employed
at other places along the Barbary coast.
212
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
on seeing the victorious ships enter his waters, sud-
denly changed his tone, and sent a special commis-
sioner to Washington to effect an amicable settlement
of the difficulties then pending. The appearance of
an American squadron, commanded by Decatur, in
the waters of Algiers early in the summer of 1815,
and the prompt capture of the dey's largest frigate,
caused that ruler to give ample satisfaction for his
insults and injuries to the American flag and com-
merce. In 1816, a British squadron, under Lord
Exmouth, improved upon the lesson given by the
Americans. Speaking and acting in the name of
the great powers of Europe, this fleet destroyed the
fortifications of the dey of Algiers, and set at liberty
1,500 Christian captives. After securing promises of
good conduct, Lord Exmouth passed on and appeared
in the harbor of Tunis, where he promptly demanded
the abolition of piracy, and the unconditional sur-
render of Sardinian and Neapolitan subjects in that
regency. Three hundred Sardinians were delivered
up without ransom, and five hundred Neapolitans at
a stipulated price. “In one day," says an eye wit-
ness, “3,000 Christian captives of various nations
were set free, many of them giving on the occasion
delirious demonstrations of their joy." The visit of
admirals Jurien and Freemantle, two years later,
was also made with a view of securing more effect-
ually the humane object sought by Lord Exmouth.
But all these demonstrations were really but half-
measures, so long as the Barbary navy existed. The
only way to effectually accomplish the object in view
was to annihilate the means of attaining that object.
CAPTIVITY OF EUROPEANS.
213
Piracy and Christian slavery could be fully suppressed.
only by the destruction of the piratical navies and of
their headquarters for rapine and plunder. The bat-
tle of Navarino was the first great step for the attain-
ment of that object, and the conquest of Algiers con-
summated it. For it was not until after 1830, that
the emancipation not alone of Christian slaves, but
of the civilized world, could be considered an accom-
plished fact.
We will next briefly notice the slavery of Europe-
ans at Tunis. When a Tunisian corsair entered the
port of the Goletta, the extent of the prize was sig-
nalled by means of cannon. The prisoners were soon
landed, and, after being drawn out in single file under
the baton of soldiers, they were marched trembling
and with bare heads before the bey, in order that he
might make his choice and decide the fate of those he
did not want for his immediate service.
Commanders of captured ships, priests, doctors, and
all the prisoners of any distinction, received some in-
dulgence in the hope of large sums for their ransom.
All the laborers and tradesmen were employed on the
public works, under the whip of a Mussulman guard.
To speak only of Tunis, where Christian as well as
negro slavery was much milder than in the other
Barbary states, there is to be found to-day scarcely
an important edifice on which Christian slaves were
not einployed as masons or hod carriers, and, in pas-
sing through the great courts of the palaces of the
bey or former dignitaries, we may still find, rudely
carved upon marble columns and walls, numerous
names of unfortunate captives who were doomed to
214
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
aid in the construction of those walls, or pass their
lives there in servitude.
Most of the slaves belonged to the state ; for after
the bey and his ministers had selected their servants
from a slave gang brought in by some corsair, a few
were sold to traders and scattered over the country,
and there usually remained a multitude of unfortu-
nate beings who were cast into slave prisons and sub-
jected to painful labors. Each slave received for his
support a little bread made of refuse flour or meal,
and some pieces of copper money, which pittance,
however, he had to share with his overseers, or be
subjected to their hatred and cruelty.
Unhealthy and insufficient food on the one hand;
excessive labors on the other; enduring a burning
sun or half clad breathing the close air of damp cells;
bastinadoes, confinement, bad usage, fatigues and di-
vers grievances; all these could only add homesick-
ness to despair, enfeebling the health and breaking
down the constitution of the captives. They died in
large numbers, and those who survived owed their
lives to their extraordinary power of endurance or to
exceptional circumstances which ameliorated their
condition. When far from the reach of some chari-
table European, they were attacked by disease, the
poor sufferers received no aid or pity. They were
beasts of burden that could no longer serve and were
abandoned to their sad lot. Though their masters
regretted the loss of their servants, as Mussulmans
they rejoiced to see the number of infidels diminished.
At the end of the eighteenth century, this state of
things was a little modified, and the slaves had
.
HOSPITALS FOR CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES.
215
hospital, which is the Catholic church and monastery
of to-day. A religious Spaniard of the order of the
Trinity, having been enslaved, was moved by com-
passion for the sufferings of his companions in cap-
tivity, and being very wealthy ordered from Europe
large sums of money which he employed for the
relief of his brethren without thinking of his own
ransom, which he refused to effect in order that he
might accomplish the greater good among his fellow-
captives. Anticipating a speedy death and indiffer-
ent whether that should occur in Africa or in Spain,
he devoted his life and possessions to a work of chari-
ty, founding at Tunis, Algiers and Tripoli hospitals
for sick and suffering slaves. The funds of these
pious establishments were increased by the offerings
of other benefactors, and it is easier to imagine, than
to explain the advantages and benefits which resulted
to Christian slaves until the period of their final
emancipation by the suppression of Barbary piracy
and emancipation of Christian captives.
It is not uninteresting to notice the conditions on
which captives were purchased and exchanged. Con-
suls were generally charged with this business, and
with the necessary communications with Europe.
The price for the ransom of a man was ordinarily
about seventy dollars, and that of a woman about
double this amount. When the captives to be re-
deemed belonged to opulent families or had occupied
a certain rank in their country, the bey fixed arbitra-
rily the ransom and often made exorbitant demands.
As to the exchange of prisoners, whatever were
the condition of the Mussulmans liberated, the bey
216
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
gave in return only Christian slaves of the lowest
class and in the worst state. By an analogous proced-
ure, if the question were in regard to the ransom of a
Mussulman, his value was put much below that of a
Christian, and it was generally understood that to
redeem five Mussulmans, it was sufficient to pay a
sum equivalent to that required to redeem two Euro-
peans. This arrangement, which seems at first incon-
sistent with Islamitish arrogance, is, on the contrary,
in perfect accord with it, securing very important ad-
vantages for the Mussulmans.
All Europe sanctioned such a system as established
the humiliating inferiority of its children, and thus
implicitly recognized a sort of natural right to the
revolting tyranny of the African pirates. One fact
will serve to confirm this representation, and show
how Europe bowed her head before insolent injus-
tice and effrontery. The French coral fishery com-
pany at Calle had a stipulation that if a Mussulman
killed a Christian, he should pay 500 piastres; but if,
on the contrary, a Christian killed a Mussulman, he
should pay 800 piastres. Now, when we consider
that France had played an important rôle in the east
for centuries, and was regarded by the Mussulmans
of Tunis as perhaps the greatest Christian nation in
the world, this fact speaks volumes. This boasted
nation gives an official recognition that the blood of
a Mussulman is worth almost twice as much as the
blood of a Christian. Nay, worse; this strange stipu-
lation established a relation between any Mussulman
whatsoever and a particular Christian,-a French-
The blood of the Mussulman being absolute,
man.
MUSSULMAN ESTIMATE OF LIFE.
217
and that of the Christian relative to the power of
his country, it results from it that in the eyes of the
Africans, it was a privilege, a favor and an honor
conceded to France to fix 500 piastres as the price
of one of her sons, and does not at all serve as a
precedent for other powers less feared and esteemed.
Nothing would have hindered the bey from offering
a few piastres or nothing at all for the first Christian
that a Mussulman might choose to assassinate. Sar-
dinians and Neapolitans were massacred with impu-
nity or executed in defiance of law at Tunis: Experi-
mentum in anima vili! Every civilized man must blush
with shame and be stirred with indignation at the
recital of such deeds!
The condition of the negroes until the time of
their emancipation* in 1845 would form the subject
of a most interesting chapter. An immense annual
caravan furnished the bazars of Tunis with this hu-
man merchandise, bought or seized and brought by
force from the frontiers of Soudan. Mussulmans
alone had the right to purchase negroes; for most of
these negroes were Mussulmans, over whom Chris-
tians could exercise no authority.
The inhabitants of Tunis had the habit of prompt-
ly pronouncing judgment on the worth of negroes
by certain personal marks and peculiarities. Their
judgment was favorable when the slave had beauti-
ful, well-opened and very clear eyes, with the pupil
of a light color and distinctly delineated; the gums
and tongue of a vermillion hue without any brown
or darkish spots; the palm of the hands and the sole
* For interesting documents on this subject, see Appendix F.
28
218
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of the feet of flesh color, and the nails clear and regu-
lar; such slaves readily found purchasers. But, on
the contrary, negroes who had the white of the eye
of a brownish or reddish hue or furrowed with little
reddish veins, and the gums and tongue of a brown-
ish tinge, were judged to be obdurate and incorrigi-
ble. Such slaves were sold cheap or sent to other
markets. The different characteristics and qualities
of negroes were noted with the same interest and
attention as are wont to be shown by amateurs and
traders in regard to different breeds of cattle and
horses, or as were shown by Mussulman lords in the
days of the corsairs in selecting servants from among
Christian captives.
The slaves were sold at auction to the highest bid-
der Women and young girls, adults and infants
were exposed for sale, often entirely naked, and were
carefully examined from head to foot by purchasers.
Besides the sale on the market place, cargoes of ne-
groes were sent to the Levant. It was a very lucra-
tive trade. The price of men varied according to
their constitution and characteristics; children were
of small account, while pretty females were in great
demand.
Though slaves, the negroes at Tunis were in com-
paratively easy circumstances; for they were classed
as merchandise, and received attention to prevent
their deterioration. There they lived better than in
their own country, having less privations and dangers
to encounter. And it is due to say that Mussulmans
were forbidden by their religion to maltreat their
Mussulman slaves; nay, they were enjoined to exer-
CAUSES OF NEGRO SLAVERY.
219
cise kindness towards them, and it was a meritorious
act to emancipate them; and in general they were
not cruel masters.
We must state some of the principal causes of
negro slavery. The continual wars which desolated,
and still desolate that vast tropical region called Ni-
gritia or Soudan, converted prisoners of war into
slaves, and slaves into merchandise. Barbary and
Egypt early profited by this state of things, and or-
ganized the slave trade. This was profitable, since
large numbers of human beings were received in
return for pieces of glass ware, bad utensils, and
coarse cloth, which the poor negroes in a half savage
state needed. Besides the wholesale commerce in
open market, there was also the retail or contraband
trade. That which the tribes practiced upon each
other in the name of law, was speedily imitated and
justified by individuals, until personal security ceased
to exist. By force or by stratagem, beings formed in
the image of their Maker, were stolen and sold for
gain. A sort of man- hunt was regularly organized.
It was a ferocious association of the strong against
the weak, which was developed and maintained by
the very facility and importance of the results.
The slaves had to traverse the great desert. Im-
agine them once arrived at the end of their journey;
they regarded themselves in a land comparatively
happy, and their joy which was often manifested at
the bazar, even under the whip of their owners, before
and after their sale, arose less from their stupidity and
brutishness, than from their hope and belief that
they should no more have to encounter the dangers
220
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
and torments of their previous existence, and espe-
cially of their journeyings from their native land.
If we but reflect on the condition, for centuries
unhappy and brutifying, of this great black race,
which occupies the interior of the African continent,
and is scattered over a part of America and of
Oceanica, we can better account for their compara-
tive inferiority, and their defects of character will
astonish us less and awaken rather our compassion
than our indignation.
Whatever be their defects and their inferiority,
we are not disposed to despair of the future of the
blacks. For however low they are fallen in the scale
of humanity, they are of the human family, and with
their place in the sunlight, they can claim, and we
have faith to believe they will yet claim, their part
of that immense patrimony of liberty and progress,
which surely does not belong by right of primogeni-
ture exclusively and inalienably to the white race.
The duties of nations and races, as of individuals,
become enlarged with the fortunes and importance
which they acquire, and which depend as much on
fortuitous circumstances and the mysterious laws of
universal existence, as on their merits and activity.
The will of man is a necessary and essential condi-
tion of his improvement and greatness; but let not
pride and success lead us into the belief that it is the
sole condition, and that left to ourselves we could
create anew our destiny. It is less the will and the
activity which are wanting to unfortunate negroes,
than the conditions and the means. A fatal chain of
degrading causes has disfigured in them the divine
CONSEQUENCES OF LIBERTY.
221
image; but it has not so blotted out the divine mi-
press as to authorize the whites, who are not them-
selves without blemish, to deny their commonness of
origin, nature and destiny.
To secure the future of the blacks, is the duty of
the whites, and it will be their honor to render that
future possible and certain. It depends on them to
hasten it, as well as to establish it, first by liberty
and equality of rights and duties, and then by fra-
ternal relations. If the sentiment put forth by the
blind bard of Greece be correct, that, in taking from
man his liberty, we rob him of half his virtues, we
restore to negroes half their virtues by restoring to
them unconditional and unrestricted liberty. For it
is important first of all to make citizens of them: by
equality of rights and responsibilities, they will march
under our ægis, following our example in the discharge
of duty; and will thus develop a nobler manhood; for
they will feel, as a consequence of emancipation and
of civil and political equality, the great need of that
emulation which is the soul of the activity and pro-
gress of man, and the want of which has hitherto
been a great defect in their character.
In spite then of the difficulties and dangers even to
be encountered in the accomplishment of an act so pro-
foundly just and humane, as the general emancipation
of the blacks upon the entire surface of the globe,
we must have the courage to accomplish it; for we
have no right to put off this act; we cannot procras-
tinate and temporize without ourselves incurring in
the light of history and before God, that monstrous
iniquity which has been committed for an ignoble
222
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
end, consigning to fearful shame and misery a nota-
ble part of the human family.
To efface in the memory of men the trace of so
many tears and so much blood, we must promptly
stop the source of the evil by boldly repudiating the
past, and, with all our heart and strength, making
amends for it by a future, in which our former vic-
tims shall march by our side, under the shield of
liberty regulated by law, and in the light and pride
of a civilization truly Christian.
+
art Serons.
ACTUAL STATE OF THE COUNTRY.
20
y
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以
​JE
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WI
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Sie
Coat of Arms of tie Bey of Tunis.
CHAPTER I.
Natural Divisions, Extent and General Aspect of the Country.
E have already said elsewhere that Tunisia is
the geological continuation of Algeria. This
last country is naturally divided into three zones :
the Sahel, the Tell and the Sahara; and Tunisia is
only a prolongation of these three zones.
The coast of North Africa generally runs parallel
to the equator and is comparatively little indented;
but in Tunisia it is much indented and suddenly
changes its general direction at cape Bon, taking a
meridional course nearly as far as the borders of Tri-
poli and sloping and winding around a part of the
great oriental basin of the Mediterranean. Also the
two chains of the Atlas, which traverse Algeria par-
allel to the sea, run nearly at right angles to the sea
in Tunisia. The northern chain ends at Sidi Ali
Mekki and at cape Bon, and the southern at Gebel
Akerit, near the Gulf of Gabes. The space between
the two chains is only the flattening of the Algerine
plateaus of the Tell, which plateaus are sustained by
29
226
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
very irregular mountainous chains, which diminish
in height from the Algerine frontier to the sea.
“The regency of Tunis,” says “Pelissier, “lies be-
tween 37° 20'; and 33° north latitude, and between
7° 40' and 11° 40' east from the meridian of Green-
wich, and can be divided into four regions: 1st, the re-
gion of the north, comprising all that territory which
lies at the north of the first Atlas chain, and conse-
quently the Tunisian valley of the Majerda ;* 2d,
the region of the west, extending between the two
Atlas chains, from the Algerine frontier to the most
eastern of the chains; 3d, the region of the east,
which lies between the second division and the sea;
4th, the region of the south, comprising all that terri-
tory which lies to the south of the second Atlas chain,
and extends to the frontiers of Tripoli. The most im-
portant and populous places of these divisions are:
in the northern region, Tunis, Beja and Bizerta; in
the western region, Kef; in the eastern region, Cair-
wan, Susa, Monastir, Media and Sfax; and in the
southern region, Gafsa, Tozer, Nefta and Gabes.” It
is in accordance with this simple and rational plan,
that we proceed to give a summary description of
Tunisia.
The northern region comprises the lower basin of
the Majerda. This river is the largest of Barbary,
though it is not navigable. The valley through
which it runs is broad, fertile and magnificent. Un-
fortunately the banks of the Majerda are so steep
and elevated as to render it difficult to employ the
* The Majerda, ancient Bagrada, rises in the Algerine Tell, a province of
Constantine; a part of its valley is then beyond the Tunisian frontier.
CHANGES IN THE MAJERDA.
227
water for irrigating the country, as is done along the
banks of the Nile in Egypt. This difficulty was over-
come in the seventeenth century at Tebourba, by the
construction of a bridge and dam provided with a sys-
tem of sluices, which served to shut off the water or
let it on and distribute it over the country around.
But the gates of the sluices have long since disap-
peared. This part of Tunisia, so fertile in spite of
the want of culture, would become exceedingly pro-
ductive if agriculture were revived and some plan
devised for utilizing the waters of this river, now not
only useless, but often effecting much damage by
overflowing the banks and heaping up' sand upon
arable ground and cultivated fields. In advancing
towards the sea, we come first to Beja; a great depot
for grain; then to Mater in the midst of a superb
country; then, at the end of two united lakes, to the
unique little city of Bizerta, situated near the en-
trance of the channel which joins the two lakes to
the sea at the side of a semi-circular basin or gulf,
whose extremities are capes Blanc and Zebib.
In passing along the coast to the south of cape
Zebib, we find, upon the right bank of a little lake,
Porto Fårina, and a little lower down, the present
· mouth of the Majerda ;* then some alluvial lands
* The mouth of the Majerda was formerly much further south than at
present. Mr. Daux, the able commissioner of Napoleon, has recently
traced the former channel of the river, which ran in an easterly direction
froin Tebourba, and emptied into the sea within six or eight miles of Tunis;
whereas, at present, it runs in a northeasterly direction and reaches the sea
twenty-five miles from Tunis. This change is readily explained. In the
course of centuries, the bed of the river became filled up with alluvium, ,
which finally served as a dam. The waters, thus pent up, struck out a new
channel, running as described above, and reaching the sea near the site of
228
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
somewhat marshy, and below them lake Soukra; then
cape Cammart and the peninsula of Carthage, with the
two hills of Sidi-Bou-Said and St. Louis; then upon
the tongue of the land which extends from the north
to the south, the port of the Goletta at the entrance
of the great lake of Bahira, commonly called by for-
eigners the lake of Tunis. At the western extremity
of this lake, is found the city of Tunis, the capital of
the regency. To the east of the gulf and roadstead of
Tunis, stretches out from southwest to northeast the
peninsula of cape Bon, to the south of which is the
eastern region, commonly called the Sahel. Between
Tunis and the peninsula of cape Bon, the Oued Me-
liana, which is one of the most considerable streams
of the country, runs in a northerly direction and emp-
ties into the sea. This northern part of Tunisia, be-
sides the fertility of the soil, the agreeableness of the
landscapes and the beauty of its gardens, is rich in
minerals of iron and lead, of which one mine only is
worked at this time; it has magnificent forests and
quarries of marble, which, though once a source of
opulence and prosperity, are now scarcely known.
Behind the northern division, and serving as its
support, widens out along the Algerine frontier the
western region, whose principal city and capital is
Kef. This mountainous and volcanic country has
the physical aspecte of other parts of the globe of
Utica, which city was situated in the period of her glory, upon the sea
shore. But tho sea has receded several miles from the site of Utica, and
the constant accumulation of sand and soil, brought down by the waters of
the Majerda, doubtless causes the sca to recede century by century. The
area around the former mouth of the Majerda, is now the salt lake of
Soukra, and around the present mouth is formed an extensive marsh.
VOLCANIC PHENOMENA.
229
similar origin. It has elevated peaks; deep gorges;
stratified rocks; perpendicular cliffs, and walls of
limestone and calcareous marble; it has mineral
springs, and volcanoes that are extinct or still smok-
ing. The mountain upon which Kef is built is an
extinct volcano, as is also Gebel Zerissa, forty miles
southwest of Kef. To the north of Kef, in the terri-
tory of the Konir, is Gebel Betounæ, which, after a
long sleep, began to smoke in 1838. A ramification
of this robust frame-work of mountains, belonging to
the western region, sustains the peninsula of cape
Bon, and it is not unprofitable to notice, upon the
western side of this peninsula on the eastern side of
the roadstead of Tunis, the mountains evidently vol-
canic and the abundant mineral and hot springs of
Hammam-el-Lif and Hammam-Corbus. Now, if the
line of direction of the Atlas chain which terminates
at cape Bon be prolonged upon the chart, it will soon
join the line of the Sicilian mountains, and meet the
volcanoes of Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius. This is
a geological fact which is neither without interest nor
importance. Mountains being only a violent upris-
ing of the surface of the earth, caused by a current
of heated matter or by inflamed gas, they inust natu-
rally form net-works, whose large lines sometimes in-
terrupted on the surface of the globe by the ocean,
are easily recognized; because the subterranean gal-
lery, which is formed in the entrails of the earth and
over which the mountains are elevated, continues
immense distances and depths until rejoined to the
interior system of burning rivers, whose only result
is the exterior system of mountains. Also, earth-
230
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
quakes and volcanic eruptions, in countries situated
in the same geological regions, are observed to occur
simultaneously or in rapid succession. The vibrations
of the soil in North Africa have almost always preceded
or followed the formidable explosions of Ætna, Vesu-
vius and Stromboli.
The eastern region is the richest portion of Tunisia.
From cape Bon to the gulf of Gabes, are produced
large quantities of oil and wool, which are exported
to Europe. The centre of the Sahel (territory of
Susa) is an immense forest of olive trees. Nabel,
Hammamet, Susa and Msaken, are comparatively
flourishing towns. In this region, are numerous
large lakes, beginning at Hammamet, and the most
important streams are Oued Gilma and Oued Fekka.
In a westerly direction from Susa and almost in the
same latitude, is the Holy City of Cairwan.
Beyond the preceding region, in a southerly direc-
tion, the country becomes arid and desolate; and yet
it could not have always been thus, if we judge by
the numerous ruins that cover it. Gafsa (Capsa, the
ancient capital of Jugurtha) is situated at the entrance
of a valley which opens into the Tunisian Gereed,
the most beautiful part of the Sahara. The magnifi-
cence of its horizons corresponds with the freshness
and beauty of its numerous oases, among which we
must specially notice Tozer and Nefta.
and the living waters so fertilize and enrich these
admirable isles of verdure, as to transforin them into
immense gardens, where the various vegetables of
the world thrive and grow with little care. Many
springs, somewhat warm, form rivers abounding with
The sun
THE ATLANTIDE OF PLATO.
231
fish, and flow through the oases. Forests of palm
trees produce an immense quantity of dates. Not
far from Nefta is the great salt lake of the Gereed,
or marsh of Pharoon (ancient lake Triton). This is
the most considerable of that system of sebkas, or
salt lakes, which commence at the gulf of Gabes and
advance a little obliquely towards the Atlantic. The
study of this vast region, which appears scarcely
emerged from the waters, would confirm the hypo-
thesis that the sea once overflowed it in a manner to
form a great island of Morocco, Algeria and Tunis.
The raised ground of this basin is the desert, and the
great island which is to-day a part of the continent
was, according to the just inferences of learned men,
only the famous Atlantide of Plato.
At a little distance from Teref-el-Ma, upon the gulf
of Gabes, are mountain links which enclose between
the Gereed and the sea the charming country called
El Arad. Orchards, gardens, abundant waters, a light
and fertile soil, smiling landscapes, all conspire to give
this province an agricultural and commercial impor-
tance which it is far from having at the present time.
We shall return now from the south to the north
along the coast, to pass in review the Tunisian isl-
ands. In front and to the east of Gabes, is the island
of Gerba, the ancient Lotophagitis or Meninx, which
Homer makes his hero, Ulysses, to have visited, eat-
ing with the natives the fruit of the lotus. It has a
comparatively numerous industrial population and
enjoys a limited prosperity.
Opposite Sfax is the group of the Kerkenna, whose
largest island is rendered illustrious by the visit of
232
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Hannibal and Marius, both fugitives. This archipel-
ago has scarcely any agricultural or commercial im-
portance. It serves as a place of exile for Tunisian
criminals, and the sponge "fishery is carried on to a
limited extent along the shore. Off Monastir, are
Kuriat and other small islands without value. On
beyond cape Bon, at the entrance of the gulf of
Tunis, are the two Zimbras, the ancient allars of
Ægimurus, which are at this time uninhabited, though
the larger island serves as a lazaretto.* Opposite to
cape Sidi Ali Mekki, are Plane and Pillau. In
pas-
sing along the northern coast line towards the Alge-
rine frontier, we observe the rocky islands of the
Fratelli. Afar in the deep, is Galita, and near the
line of Algeria is the woody island of Tabarca.
No country of North Africa has such coasts and
islands as Tunisia. It is a land predestined by its
position and conformation to enjoy a commercial
prosperity, whose most important element was for
centuries, and could be again, agricultural prosperity.
The character of the soil has been singularly misrepre-
sented. Its former fertility is supposed to be ex-
hausted. But wherever the ground is tilled, it justi-
fies its ancient renown and encourages the brightest
hopes for the future. The celebrated German chem-
ist, Liebig, is then, in my opinion, wrong in ranking
Tunisia among the countries which were once ex-
* Virgil, in the first book of the Æneid, 109th line, thus speaks of these
islands: “Saxa vocant Itali mediis que in fluctibus aras." The Italians
call those rocks in the midst of the sea altars. Pliny, in speaking of them,
says: “At contra Carthaginis sinum duæ Ægimuri aræ, scopuli verius
quana insulæ.” But opposite to the gulf of Carthage are the two altars
of Ægimurus, which are more truly cliffs than islands.
TRUE SOURCE OF PROSPERITY.
233
ceedingly fruitful, and have lost their fertility and
productiveness by their very excess of production,
What is wanting for this marvellous land, always
fertile and inexhaustible, is the labor of man, of
which there is certainly a lamentable exhaustion.
Agriculture is neglected, and the consequence is a
general aspect of desolation and death. But upon
whatever points the hand of industry is exerted, the
rich vegetation and abundant crops prove that it is
not the strength and productiveness of the soil that
are wanting, but the will and energy of the inhabi-
tants; these are gone, perhaps irrecoverably gone.
Destitution sweeps over the plains, once fertile and
covered with verdure, only where tyranny and injus-
tice have produced their legitimate result, blinding,
degrading, shrinking up and dispelling the population.
It is an old saying that “as is the land, so is the
man;" but in the name of liberty and of history, we
will affirm also as a truth, that “as is the man, so is
the land.” Worth begets worth, but the blight and
decay of manhood are the effectual cause of general
devastation and ruin. History clearly shows that we
are not to expect perpetual prosperity from beautiful
domains, rich soil, genial climate, proud forests and
inexhaustible mines of wealth. Without an intelli-
gent, energetic and manly people, all these will
serve no good. Behold the land of Hannibal! still
rich in natural resources, but, in fact, poor and
wretched ! We will not, however, despair of the
future. A soil that has been trodden by those pos-
sessed of the dignity of a true manhood may be so
trodden again. Many agricultural and mechanical
30
234
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
experiments, that have failed on account of the pre-
valence of ignorance and fanaticism, may succeed
through the diffusion of light and knowledge. The
mines, that enriched the Carthaginians and Romans,
may be opened and become centres of industry, sup-
'plying again other countries with the precious metals.
With the dissemination of liberal ideas and the estab-
lishment of just and humane institutions, we believe
ruined cities may be rebuilt, desolate fields made once
more to bloom and flourish and this pitiful country
transformed into a thriving and prosperous state.
en
CHAPTER II.
Population.--Baces.--Religious Creed, Kites and Ceremonies.--1il-
grimages to Mecca.--Hanners, Customs and $uperstitions.
HE population of the regency of Tunis must
be stated as a conjecture, or, at best, as a rough
estimate, rather than as a well ascertained fact; since
the taking of the census is there forbidden by a re-
ligious tradition, which dates back probably to the
famous act of David, that was rebuked by the appear-
ance of the plague in his kingdom. Pellissier esti-
mates the population at 800,000; while one of the
bey's ministers estimates it at 3,000,000; and it is
variously stated by different authors at 2,500,000, at
2,000,000, and at 1,500,000. The late Mr. Charles
Cubisol, long vice consul of France at the Goletta,
who gave much attention to this subject, was quite
decided in the opinion that the population was 2,000,-
000, confirming this statement by carefully prepared
estimates of the population of every village, city,
district and tribe in the regency. We are inclined
*
* Dir. Cubisol thus gives the population according to religious distinc-
tions : Mussulmans, 1,929,000; Catholics, 25,570; Protestants, 20;
236
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
to the opinion that the population is not less than
1,500,000 and is not more than 2,000,000. This is a
small number of people to be scattered over a terri-
tory of 60,000 or 70,000 square miles; and we are
more impressed with this truth when we recall the
fact that on the same soil subsisted in the flourish-
ing period of the Roman domination 15,000,000 souls.
In the first centuries of the middle age, the popula-
tion was greatly reduced. Now the population is
not only reduced, as we have stated, but it becomes
sensibly smaller from time to time as the condition
of the country becomes worse. Of late pestilence
and famine have combined with other ills to diminish
the population and reduce the territory to the con-
dition of a desert.
What are the races that inhabit Tunisia and how
are they distributed over the territory? In the
actual state of the country where Islamism has been
for centuries passing its rude level over all the di-
verse elements of the Tunisian people, thus singu-
larly mingling and confounding them together, it is
impossible for us to answer this question with precis-
ion. Yet we can, I think, adopt the following classi-
fication to indicate the great divisions of the popula-
tion.
1. Upon the coast and in the inaritime cities is a
mixture of the ancient peoples : Libyans, Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals and Byzantines, amal-
gamated with Arabs, Turks, Spaniards and other mod-
Greeks, 410; Jews, 45,000; total, 2,000,000. We think his estimate of
the Jews and Protestants too low, and that of the Mussulmans too high.
He puts down the number of Moorish inhabitants of cities and villages at
717,500, and the number belonging to nomad tribes at 1,211,500.
DIFFERENT RACES IN TUNISIA.
237
ern Europeans. This mixture constitutes the popu-
lation usually called “Moors," which term we shall
explain further on. 2. The Berber element, which
exists pure or nearly so among the mountains of the
interior and of the south; it is sometimes found in
fixed abodes, and sometimes moving from point to
point. 3. The Arabo-Berber element, resulting from
the mixture and fusion of Arab tribes with the Ber-
ber tribes that existed in the country at the period
of the Mussulman conquest and so similar to the
tribes of the invaders as to be partially fused with
them. 4. The pure Arab element, which is found
only in a very few tribes. 5. The Turkish element,
in itself feeble, including the Turko-Moorish element,
which is of some importance and constitutes the "Kou-
louglis," the descendants of Turkish fathers and Tu-
nisian mothers of whatever race. The Koulouglis
generally live in the cities. 6. The native Jewish
element, embracing the Jews who have been regard-
ed as the natives of the country and subjects of the
bey for a long time, of whom we shall particularly
speak in Chapter VIII. They are to be found in the
cities along the coast and at some points in the inte-
rior; they even constitute slight fractions of Arab
tribes, and a few of them lead a nomadic life and are
styled the “ Jewish bedouins.” 7. The Negro ele-
ment, including the sub-elements resulting from the
inter-marriage of Negroes with other races, found
with various admixtures of blood and shades of color
throughout the regency.
We see and affirm that, notwithstanding the opin-
ion set forth by Mr. Pellissier and some other writers,
238
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the Arab element is far from being dominant in
Tunisia and throughout North Africa. In Algeria,
it was lately shown by a series of investigations, that
more than half the population belong to the Kabyle
(aboriginal) race, and we are convinced that the
same is true in Tunisia. The Arab race succeeded
by means of violence in mixing up with the people
of North Africa, and imposing upon them its religion
and language, its nationality and even its name; but
could neither destroy, absorb nor transform them.
That which seems to authorize Europeans to attri-
bute to the Arabs an importance which they do not
possess, and to confound under that vague denomi-
nation all the races of Barbary, is the common and
false idea that the tribe being characteristic of the
Arab race, all the tribes came originally from Arabia.
Now, a priori, it is probable that, as the analogy of
the soil involves that of manners and customs, there
must have been, from the early period of the world,
African as well as Arabian tribes, and all historians
are agreed on this point. It is besides a very impor-
tant historic fact that a deputation of these tribes to
the calif Omar was the immediate cause of the Arab
invasion. These tribes have been perpetuated by
the side of those of the conquerors, with whoin they
have become somewhat mixed in certain quarters,
always continuing, however, to be the very heart of
the population, that ancient and powerful Libyan race
(Berber and Kabyle) that has resisted twenty con-
quests, and is indestructible, like that Atlas, whose
declivities and hills it peoples, and which is for it as
* Mr. G. L. Ditson, writing from the Kabyle country among the Atlas
ARAB ANI) KABYLE FEATURES.
239
for the soil, the source of its strength and the means
of its resistance.*
This ancient race is distinguished from the Arabs
by its features and manners. The Kabyle is in gen-
eral tall, well built, with broad, high shoulders and
a short neck. His features are strongly marked;
his complexion dark and his forehead straight and
square. The Arab is ordinarily of medium stature;
his complexion pale ; his face long, and his forehead
slightly tapering. His firm features and long neck
contrast with those of the Kabyle. In his person he
bears indications of melancholy and indolence, which
also contrast with the rudeness and roughness of the
Kabyle. The Arab is in general a shepherd; the
Kabyle a farmer or mechanic; and he consequently
has a fixed habitation. We think that if North Africa
is to be regenerated, it must be accomplished mainly
by the development of the Kabyle element. This
should receive more attention than has hitherto
been accorded it. To this the future may belong,
we mean, with the concurrence of the civilized world;
for though less degenerated than the other inhabitants
of the soil, the Kabyles are still so weak as to render
it difficult for them to rise unaided and bring back to
their country the grandeur and renown that belonged
to it in better times.
mountains, says: 'The Kabyles have looked down from their inaccessible
heights and seen the Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Saracens, Spaniards,
Turks, come in their pride and strength and pass away, while they remain
untrammelled and unchanged; -- have seen successive tides of humanity
roll in and fret themselves awhile around their rocky barriers, then recede
and leave them in their untamed fierceness and independence."
240
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Tunisia is, like Algeria, divided from east to west
into two distinct parts; the country of the coast and
of the Atlas mountains on the one hand, and the
country of the Sahara or of the plains on the other.
The Tell with its valleys, mountains and streams, is
peopled by Arabs and Berbers, leading nearly the
same life, but often distinct in race and in manners.
They are divided in a general way, as people of the
thatched cottage, people of the farm, and people of
the tent, according as they are villagers, farmers or
shepherds. In these divisions, are not included the
inhabitants of the important cities, who, though
fundamentally belonging to the Berber and Arab
races, have acquired by a long residence in the cities
special habits and characteristic features. The in-
habitants of the cities and towns are designated in all
North Africa by the name of Hadars, fixed residents.
The Sahara, comprehending the Gereed with its
plains, oases, magnificent horizons and vast pastur-
age is mainly occupied by the Rahala Arabs, a peo-
ple properly called nomads, who lead a migratory
life, moving their tents and flocks from point to point.
We need not say that these two great divisions of
the country have only one general character, and
that there are nomads in the Tell, as there are Arabs
with fixed residences on the plains of the Sahara ;
since there is no clearly defined line of demarcation
between these two portions of the soil; and the two
divisions, though quite distinct in some respects, have
a strong family resemblance.
We propose to study the characteristic features of
the inhabitants of the cities, called Hadars by natives,
MOORS, ARABS AND KABYLES.
241
and Moors by Europeans; the Arabs of the tent, and
the Kabyles or Berbers, without occupying ourselves
with the varieties of these three great divisions of a
population, on which Islamism has stamped a remarka-
ble uniformity of ideas and sentiments. The Jews,
constituting a peculiar race, will receive special atten-
tion in another place. Before engaging in the study
of manners and customs, we think it due to
pass
in
review the diverse tribes of the country.
In the valley of the Majerda, we find the following
tribes: The Trabelsia or Tripolitans, originating in
Tripoli, as their name indicates, and embracing the
three tribes of Troud, Sylyn and Tahouane, which
are devoted to agriculture, and a fourth tribe, that of
the Ferjane, leading a pastoral life.
The Oulad - Bou-Salem is a very populous tribe
which occupies the territory called the Dakhela,
whose valuable products are renowned in all Tunisia.
This tribe holds a great fair for grain and cattle
every Thursday
Between the Dakhela and Tes-
tour are the less important tribes Kouka, Zwaka and
Oulad-Merah. Below the Oulad-Bou-Salem and still
in the valley of the Majerda, is found the tribe of
Jendouba. In the valley of the river Mellagua, a
tributary of the Majerda, is the tribe of the Hakim,
and further on, the tribe of the Oulad Sdira, which
dwells along the frontiers.
Between Mater and Tabarca, the country, desig-
nated under the general name of the Mogody, is
inhabited by many small tribes placed under the kaid
of Mater; among others, the Jeniat, the Oulad Saidan
and the Malia. To the west of Beja and Tabarca,
31
242
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
upon the very frontier of Algeria, is the mountain
tribe of the Komir, who are a warlike and almost
independent people; the Amedouane and the Oulad
Sidi Abid; and to the south of the Komir are the
Shaia, the Grezwane, the Gresara, the Oushetlata and
the Warka. All these tribes are turbulent subjects
and disciplined warriors. They are placed under the
sole command of the kaid of Kef, who each year
makes a tour into their country to levy contributions
which are not habitually received without the ex-
change of some shots and the loss of some lives.
The district of Tunis, together with the province
of cape Bon, dotted over with towns and villages
that are inhabited by Moors, contains but few tents
and tribes. In the east, at the end of the system of
Zaughan, we find, not far from the gulf of Hamma-
met, the Oulad Said, a tribe which was once very
powerful and struggled for centuries against the
Turkish domination, but is now very much reduced
in numbers and strength. It is divided into six
parts: the Oulad Daoud, the Oulad Aoun, the Oulad
Amer, the Oulad Menaoud, Abdallah and the Oulad
Tiba.
In a southerly direction, the district of Cairwan is
occupied by the great tribe of Jelas, subdivided into
many parts such as the Jelas Oulad Tdir, the Jelas
Sendassine and the Jelas Kwab. In the centre of
the territory, is Gebel Oussela, once occupied by the
warlike mountaineers, whose descendants constitute
the zouaves, a body of irregular troops belonging to
the army of the bey. The Jelas are a large tribe;
they are sometimes governed by one kaid, but have at
DIFFERENT ARAB TRIBES.
243
the present time three kaids. They can readily put
3,000 horsemen under arms.
To the southwest of the Jelas, is extended over a
vast territory the tribe of the Majer, divided into
three fractions, but governed by one kaid. It can
furnish 2,000 cavalry. To the west of the Majer,
upon a still larger territory, are the Frashish, having
1,000 horsemen. The Hamema encamp south of the
Majer, and the Frashish and their territory extend to
the Gereed. Their kaid holds habitually his “smala”
(court) under the walls of Gafsa. They can put
4,000 horsemen in line of battle. They are divided
into four fractions, which are often at war with each
other. The Hamema have a well established reputa-
tion for their turbulence and rapacity. Between the
Harnema and the sea are the Swassi, divided into
many parts, and reckoning 10,000 horsemen. They
are known for their habitual resistance to tax-gath-
erers.
South of the Swassi are the Metelith, whose terri-
tory extends south and west of the district of Sfax.
Their soil is excellent and produces abundant crops
of grain and olives, but as they are easily reached
by way of Monastir, Susa and Sfax, they are more
especially exposed to the exactions of beyal tax-
gatherers, who show them little mercy, scarcely allow-
ing them to enjoy the ease which with a wise admin-
istration would become general. Though they live
in tents and have no fixed villages, they are much
more laborious and partake less of the character of
vagabonds than most nomads. With their industri-
ous habits and a fertile territory, they would consti-
244
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
tute, under an intelligent and protective government,
excellent farmers. They can furnish about 3,000
horsemen.
Between the Metelith and the Hamema, are the
Mahedeba and the Taifa, which are parts of the same
tribe, separated by the Nafat, a more important tribe,
scattered over a light and sandy soil, which is never-
theless very productive during the rains of winter,
and which they leave during the parching heat and
drought of summer. The Nafat have about 800
horsemen.
In the Gereed, where the people live in the oases,
we find the Nafzawa and the little tribe of the Shawia.
The latter governs itself, paying annually to the bey
of the camp a tax agreed upon from time immemo-
rial, in order to be left free in the management of its
affairs. There is also the little wandering, pillaging
tribe of the Nemensha. The inhabitants of the Ge-
reed are divided for administrative purposes into five
districts, which are governed by kaids residing re-
spectively at Gafsa, Nefzawa, Nefta, Tozer and Oudian.
In El-Arad are the inhabitants of the oases and the
Nomads, who live on the intermediate plains. These
are the Beni Zid in the north; the Allaya and the
Hamerna in the south. Mixed up with this last tribe
are very many Negroes, enjoying precisely the same
rights, wearing the same costume and living the
same life as the whites, in the midst of whom they
have been established for centuries.
In the southeast of El-Arad is the tribe of the
Ourguema, established upon the plains and upon the
mountain slopes of the Tuniso-Tripolitan chain. In
A FEMALE MAGISTRATE.
245
the fruit season, they take up their abodes in numer-
ous villages surrounded with gardens; the rest of the
year they go upon the plains, living in tents or in
light portable buts covered with mats, so that in
truth they lead both an agricultural and a pastoral
life.
The Ourguema often have contests with the Oulad
Näil, a pilfering tribe of Tripoli, whose territory is in
a southeasterly direction. On the east, are the pos-
sessions of the Akara, who inhabit the shore from
Zerzize to Biban, the extreme point of Tunisia.
Mr. Pelissier visited Zerzize in 1844, and made the
following interesting statement: “At this time a
female is the chief magistrate of Zerzize. Her name
is Ralia. In the full bloom of youth and of a beauty
still remarkable, this woman played an important part
in the troubles with Tripoli. Brave as a man could
be, she often showed herself in the midst of combats,
giving proofs of the greatest courage; but immoral
as an oriental woman who throws off her veil, she
had numerous lovers, whose rich presents secured
for her a fortune which she has known how to man-
age. Retiring to Zerzize, she married a peaceable man,
who is no longer known except as the husband of
Ralia, a very common kind of distinction for all those
who marry celebrated women. She has done me the
honors of her village, where she wields the influence
which a comprehensive and resolute spirit, regardless
of sex, always exerts over the Arabs. Her manners
are polished and agreeable; her conversation engag-
ing, and her good sense remarkable.”
In the north of the mountainous part of the coun-
246
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
try of the Ourguema, is the tribe of the Matmala,
who are mostly villagers with dwellings dug out of
the calcareous sandstone, of which numerous hills
are formed. The streets of these singular villages
are upon the roofs of the houses. South of the
Ourguema are the Ouderna, on the very frontiers of
the regency. Their sheik is in fact independent of
the bey of Tunis, who even furnishes him with a lit-
tle detachment that he may protect well the Tunisian
frontier.
The tribes of El-Arad are constantly in a quarrel.
The Ourguema and the Beni Zid are at the head of
the two principal factions that occupy the country.
It is a curious fact that the term "Arad” signifies in
the Arabic language discord, dissension. The Berber
population of Gerba is distinguished from the Arab
populations by its origin, language and religious rites.
To complete this brief notice of the diverse tribes
and populations of Tunisia, we have but to turn to
the west and centre of the regency. Beginning at
the Algerine frontier, below the tribe of Sharan, we
find the Oulad Bou Ganem. Below them are the
Zeralma, and then the Frashish. To the east of the
Bou Ganem, are the Wartan, the Doufan and the
Tlmansa. The Wartan are of Kabyle origin and live
in habitations of stone.
We come now upon the territory of El Kef, called
the Rakba. The lieutenantcy of Kef has been exer-
cised more than forty years by a chief who is now
about ninety years old, known throughout the regen-
cy under the name of “Sheetan-el-Kaïlah," the demon
of the south, on account of his energy, courage
and
LIEUTENANTCY OF EL KEF.
247
masterly activity. He is much beloved in all the
western part of the regency, where he rules directly
or through members of his family. Through his
firmness and the justice of his administration, the
tribes under his orders are seldom oppressed and
rarely rise in rebellion, notwithstanding their warlike
character.
It is in the plain of El Sers, which extends to the
east of Kef, that the sheik of the great tribe of the
Drid ordinarily holds his court. The Drid, who are
numerously found in the province of Constantine,
have no other fixed territory. They are scattered
through the north and west of the regency, where
they are shepherds or farmers, on lands that are pri-
vate property or belong to the state. They are a
tribe of the Maksen. In the spring time, they ac-
company the bey of the camp to the Gereed, where
they carry grain and bring back dates, which trans-
action proves a source of profit, since they take a
portion of dates as their right. The Drid, notwith-
standing their dispersion, are all subject to the same
kaid, who rallies them in great numbers at the period
of the expedition to the Gereed. This chief can then
count about him more than 1,500 tents; and his
“smala,” formed by the principal tents around his
own, has never less than 300 tents.
“It is,” says Pelissier, “ the most magnificent Arab
village that I have ever seen, as well on account of the
aspect of riches which it presents and the neatness and
order which reign there, as for the vigorous beauty
of the men and women. We find there a large
number of Jews living exactly the same life as the
248
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Arabs, armed and clothed like them, taking the part
of horsemen and warriors as occasions occur. These
Jews are so intermingled with the rest of the popula-
tion, that it is impossible to distinguish them. They
have lost that nasal accent which almost everywhere
characterizes this race."
Above the plain of El Sers is the plain of Gorfa,
inhabited by the Melita, and to the south, is the con-
siderable tribe of Yacoub, inhabiting a large and
fertile plain. The Oulad Ayar, a tribe of 4,000 souls,
occupy the slopes and valleys of Gebel Hameda to
the south of the Oulad Yacoub. To the northeast
are the Oulad Aoun, with 2,000 horsemen and 12,000
inhabitants.
Upon the territory of the Sfin, who are a part of
the tribe of the Oulad Aoun, is found, a few miles
from Teboursuk, the famous Zawia (chapel) of Sidi
Ibrahim Riah. This establishment is due to a famous
mufti of Tunis, to whom the bey made, a third of a
century ago, important concessions of land in that
district. The mufti asked and obtained complete
exemption from taxation for all the Arabs who should
reside
upon
his
property.
He then built the Zawia
which bears his name, and soon a village was formed
about it, for those who cultivate lands have no de-
mands made upon them except for a tenth of all
their products devoted to the service of the Zawia.
Southeast of Oulad Aoun is the small and peacea-
ble tribe of the Oulad Yahia; and to the south is
the famous Gebel Kissera, an oval mountain, upon
which are two plateaus crowned with rocks almost
perpendicular on every side. At the entrance to
MOUNTAIN RETREAT OF BERBERS.
249
the first plateau and along the slopes which lead
there, is a group of houses built in the midst of ra-
vines, torrents and cascades.
In the cool season,
one might about as well, so far as personal comfort
is concerned, take up an abode among glaciers; but
during the scorching heat of summer, a residence
there is rendered very agreeable by the freshness of
the air and the shade of the trees which are found
upon these heights.
To the east of Gebel Kissera, is the territory of
the Konab and the Kwassin, which tribes are under
the same kaid. Gebel Oussela extends between their
territory and the plain of Cairwan. It appears brist-
ling with pointed rocks, and is all cut up with gorges
and ravines. It was the last place of resistance which
the native race held, after having for centuries heroi-
cally contended against their foreign invaders. Up
to the middle of the eighteenth century, these moun-
tains constituted the retreat and citadel of a Berber
population, which held in check the Turkish beys.
After a heroic struggle, the Ousselatians were over-
powered and obliged to disperse, abandoning their
country, which has since become a mere wilderness.
If we observe the central situation of Gebel Ous-
sela in Tunisia, and compare it with diverse points
elsewhere which have had an analogous importance,
we shall arrive I think at the idea that there is, in
inhabited regions as in the human body, a central
point where energy and resistance concentrate at
the moment of danger, taking refuge and holding
out long after even all hope is lost. These places
become the centres of life and the scenes of the last
32
250
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
heart-beatings of the nations that succumb under
victorious foreign invaders.
The inhabitants of cities are, as before stated,
designated by the name of Moors. This term, which
antiquity has bequeathed us and which we have
vaguely extended to all the inhabitants of North
Africa, we believe to be derived primarily not from
Mauritani, the inhabitants of Mauritania, but from
the Hebrew word Mahaurim which signifies simply
occidentals (western people) in contra-distinction from
orientals; for in all time, the Semitic peoples have dis-
tinguished nations according to their position relative
to the
sun,
and now also North Africa is for the Arabs
“ the Magreb," the west, and its inhabitants are desig-
nated by them under the name of Magrebeen, the
western people in opposition to the Sharakeen, the
inhabitants of the Shark or orient. At this point,
we will make, in passing, two remarks which have
their importance. In the middle age, the terms Sara-
cens and Moors were in constant use, and continue
to be used in all the books relative to that period.
Now, this term Saracens is simply a corruption of
the word Sharakeen, which signifies orientals; and,
as to the epithet Moors applied to the Mussulmans of
Spain, it thus indicates its true meaning (western
people), since whether of the African race or not,
they came from North Africa.
The Moors have a mixed origin. They are the
descendants of all the races that have established
themselves and succeeded each other in the cities
and villages and which have by the force of time and
circumstances become fused together, from the Phoe-
MOORISH MEN AND WOMEN.
251
mans.
Such are
nicians down to the European slaves turned Mussul-
A certaiņ number of Arab origin or descend-
ants of the Moors of Spain fled back into North
Africa, especially after the fall of Granada.
The men are generally above the medium size and
height. Their beard is almost always black; their
complexion slightly brown or sallow; their nose aqui-
line or straight, never flat; their eyes black with that
penetrating look peculiar to all orientals; their move-
ment measured and their aspect grave.
their general characteristics. The turban is wound
about their sheshia and comes down over their ears;
a long tunic extends half way down their legs, cov-
ering a standing waistcoat, a broad girdle and bag-
ging pantaloons; the shoes are red with a round
point, or yellow with the point turned over; or are
made almost in the European style, but however
made, are worn as slippers; and a great bernouse is
thrown over their shoulders. Such is their habitual
costume, modified as to color, material and fitness
according to the conditions and tastes of the persons.
We must remark that the tunic is specially worn by
people in easy circumstances and the upper classes.
The more common classes, including workmen, wear
only a waistcoat. The Moors who are well off wear
white stockings; the others go with their legs bare.
The women are lively and pretty looking, but soon
acquire embonpoint, which is much prized by the Moors.
Their indoor costume consists of a coufiu, a sort of
silk cap, from which is suspended a veil called derraya
which comes around the face and hangs over the
shoulders with tresses more or less ornamented with
252
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ribbons. A. silk tunic descends to the knees; the
arms are almost uncovered in the light and floating
sleeves of the chemise ; silk pantalets wrought with
gold or silver and quite tight, though chimsy look-
ing on account of the thickness of the material, de-
scend to the ankles; a profusion of jewelry, includ-
ing bracelets and great rings of gold or silver about
the ankles, complete the costume. We shall speak
elsewhere of the koheul and henna, and give other
details of the life of Moorish women. They scarcely
ever go out except when they become old and lean
or have the bath in view. Their costume then is not
in the least attractive. They are enveloped in white
linen and light mantles, which cover them from head
to foot, and are protected besides by a thick silk veil,
whose extremities they hold with the arm extended
in front in order to see their way. They appear to
us more like walking bundles of linen, than like
charming and beautiful ladies.
The Moors are shopkeepers, merchants and arti-
But as shopkeepers and merchants, they are
surpassed and outwitted by the Jews; and as arti-
sans, though still very numerous, they have less work
from year to year, partly because they fail to keep
themselves supplied even with their defective tools
and partly on account of the active and successful
competition of European workmen.
Shaw, in his valuable work written nearly a cen-
tury and a half ago, represents the Tunisians as
milder and less turbulent than the inhabitants of any
other Barbary power. His remarks probably hold
good at the present time. These Tunisian Moors
sans.
MOORISH HABITS AND MANNERS.
253
are nevertheless proud-spirited, though courteous
and often servile in their manner. Keen witted, in-
tellectual and possessing a versatile talent for elo-
quence and action, intercourse with them is in gen-
eral agreeable for those who know how to guard
against a bad faith which seems indigenous to the
soil, and is in their eyes all right when they have
dealings with infidels.
The influence of their climate and sedentary hab-
its and the insensible torpor which creeps over the
inhabitants of a country in full decay, contribute to
render the Moors lazy, indolent and apathetic, and
to take from them that elastic force which belongs
to the people of the west and especially of the north,
where they are often stirred into such feverish activity
as amounts to a tyranny of the mind over the body.
It is precisely the opposite kind of tyranny that pre-
vails from natural causes among all the orientals in
general, and the Tunisian Moors in particular. They
spend most of their day, dozily resting with legs
crossed and head and shoulders bent forward, upon
the carpets or mats of cafés or upon the benches of
their shops; and in their houses their almost con-
stant place is upon a lounge, where they incline at
their ease, leaning for hours upon their elbows.
They taste with extraordinary moderation a little
cup of black coffee, which from their manner one
would suppose inexhaustible, and which is neverthe-
less succeeded at intervals by other cups, which are
sipped in the same style, usually accompanied by the
pipe, which is smoked with even more languor than
is diplayed over the coffee. The very workmen
254
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
contrive to lounge half the day, drinking their coffee
and smoking their pipes, at periods fixed in advance.
The shops which are seldom opened before eight
o'clock in the morning in the summer months, are
regularly closed with rare exceptions at about three
o'clock in the afternoon, and at this hour repose and
silence creep gradually over the Mussulman city. In
return for this, the cafés become animated and often
crowded until eight or nine o'clock, which is the ordi-
nary limit of evening occupation or amusement. At
ten o'clock in the evening, the streets are quiet and
gloomy, being lighted only by an occasional passing
lantern, except perhaps the piazza of the Europeans,
where some lamps may glimmer to render the gen-
eral darkness more striking.
The Moors affect for the nomad population a con-
tempt which is often well repaid by the latter. They
seize every occasion to reproach the Arabs with their
want of intellectual culture, civilization and neatness,
and with their neglect of religious duty and their
frequent bloody quarrels. The Arab in his turn
commiserates the Moor for having to breathe the
impure air of cities; rebukes his cowardice and want
of hospitality and ridicules him as a mere shop-keeper.
When the Arab has need of the Moor, the latter, tak-
ing advantage of his necessities, uses, abuses, and jeers
him without pity. In return for this, when the tribes
rise in rebellion and the victorious Arab can pass his
squad of horsemen within the city walls, he falls
upon the humiliated Moor, robbing and plundering
him without mercy.
At this time, it is true there are few occasions for
TURKS, NEGROES, WARGLIAS.
255
this antagonism to be strongly manifested; for the
wretchedness of the country is such that there is
comparatively little commerce between the tribes
and the cities, and, moreover, the incursions of the
Arabs into the cities are almost forgotten. The in-
surrections regularly fail, like everything else with a
people that is failing to sustain its hold on life.
Meanwhile the government keeps a clear account
with the tribes, while it concerns itself little with the
Moors. No kind of oppression drives the latter to
desperation; while the former, though naturally pa-
tient, always end in being exasperated by tyranny,
and at length trying the virtue of powder and steel
in open revolt. The Moors strongly resemble in
features and habits the “Koulouglis,” who are de-
scended from former Turkish soldiers married to
Tunisian women. The Koulouglis, however, are not
very numerous.
Genuine Turks, who preserve their peculiar habits
and are easily recognized by their odd martial bear-
ing, singular costume and foreign accent, are reduced
at this time to about one hundred persons, venerable
but perishing relics of the soldiery that once played
in Tunisia as in Algeria a part analagous to that of
the prætorians of Rome during the decay of the
empire
There remain, as special types, the Negroes, the
Warglias and the Mzabias. The Negroes, who are
the offspring of former slaves from Soudan, amount
probably to 25,000 in the regency, of which number
2,000 reside in the capital. They are found in large
numbers occupying the position of servants, espe-
256.
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
cially the women, many of whom are white-washers,
bakers of bread, and pedlers of flour. It is amus-
ing to observe how fond these Negroes are of bright,
clear colors, as if their object were to set off their
native complexion. Most of them are clad in white,
always showing a preference for the most brilliant
and striking colors. They have distinctive manners
and customs, and some of them also a peculiar lan-
guage. At certain seasons of the year, they hold
great meetings for rejoicing or sorcery. These are
held during the night by the light of lanterns, and
are accompanied with savage music and inarticulate
cries, while the multitude are making frantic ges-
tures and dancing as if impelled by some demoniacal
influence. This scene usually ends with the utter
prostration by fatigue of many of the fanatical and
infuriated multitude. Converted to Islamism, whose
worship and prescriptions they observe with marked
scrupulousness, the Negroes have nevertheless pre-
served some of the idolatrous or fetish superstition
of their race, and, among other practices, that of
sacrificing cocks, the burning of incense, the use of
amulets and magic or diabolical operations, all par-
ticularly national.
The Warglias, who come from the oasis of Warglia
in the Sahara, are an intermediate tribe between the
Negroes and the Berbers. They are not black, but
of a tawny color, with features slightly analagous to
those of the Negroes, whom, however, they do not
much resemble either in tongue, habits, features or
color. They are mostly servants, and a few of them re-
side in Tunis. They have among themselves a kind of
ARABS AND KABYLES.
257
corporation with its officers and regulations like those
of the tribe.
The Mzabia or Beni Mzab come from the Algerine
tribe of that name, situated also in the Sahara. They
are Berbers, come to Tunis to make a little money.
Probably prompted by selfishness, they maintain very
proudly their character as French subjects, though
they, constitute a sort of corporation, whose chiefs
protect and govern them. They speak Arab with a
particular accent and are found numerously peddling
charcoal and taking care of baths.
Having completed our sketch of the Moors resid-
ing in the cities, we propose now to direct our atten-
tion to the people in the country, far otherwise im-
portant, who, whether dwelling in tents or under
thatched or tiled roofs, constitute the great body of
the Tunisian population. We are to speak of the
Arabs and Kabyles. We often meet with their types
in the cities. They come there to sell the products
of their country and to purchase cotton and other
goods, or to exercise temporarily certain trades.
The Arab wears two sheshias; the white one is
next to his head and the red one is put outside as an
emblem of his religion. When he has important
papers, he puts them between these two sheshias.
Upon the red sheshia he wears the haik, which is a
long piece of light cloth, fastened with a cord made
of goat's or camel's hair, which is wound around the
sheshia like the turban, but is less voluminous and
more regular than that of the Moor.
A long woolen tunic (the gandaura) covers his shirt,
if he has one, and comes down to the calf of his legs.
33
258
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Scarcely any but wealthy persons and magistrates
wear breeches and girdles. The costume is completed
by the bernouse or great-hooded mantle, from which
the Arab is rarely ever separated, and by shoes with-
out heels, which are always worn like slippers. Arab
chiefs wear two bernouses and, ordinarily, richly orna-
mented boots. Horsemen also wear bootees to which
are fastened long iron spurs. A long gun, two pis-
tols resembling blunderbusses, and a long flat sword,
constitute their arms.
The Kabyle wears for a head-dress the red cap,
sometimes surrounded among the upper classes, with
the haik; a woolen shirt which is much shorter than
the Arab tunic and is drawn tight around his loins
and fastened with a girdle; clumsy sandals; a leath-
ern apron when he is a workman, and finally the
inevitable bernouse. The arms are about the same
as those of the Arab, but are of Kabyle manufacture,
while the Arabs are neither gunsmiths nor mechanics
of any kind. The Arab is a laborer or shepherd, serv-
ing in either of these capacities according to circum-
stances and occasions. The Berber or Kabyle is every-
where an artisan and gardener. The Arab is a trav-
eller, shepherd and laborer, and is indolent, contem-
plative and fond of revery and of poetic forms. He
has a finer intellect than the Kabyle and a more
social nature. The Kabyle is mason, blacksmith,
gunsmith and farmer, and is positive, practical, head-
strong and parsimonious, yet intelligent without hav-
ing the versatility of talent and agreeable manners of
the Arab.
Though these two races have become mixed and
FORMATION OF ARAB TRIBES.
259
confounded in some places, forming an intermediate
population, they still exist very distinct in regions
where each of them has been concentrated, generally
the Kabyles in the mountains, and the Arabs in the
plains. A word about the manners and customs of
these two races.
THE ARABS. The aggregate element which forms
the basis of their social law is the tribe. It is the
union of families which are believed to be ab antiquo
of common origin. It was the spirit of communion
and union that formed the tribe, and it is that which
still maintains and perpetuates it.
The tribe is then only the extension of the family
and the union of individuals of the same stock. Its
form of government is also derived from the authority
of the head of the family; it is aristocratic or rather
patriarchal, represented by the sheik or elder, who is
elected by the tribe itself or by the kaid who is dele-
gated by the central power. For in proportion as
the tribes were constrained to submit to a central
power, the latter governed them by means of kaids
and their delegates chosen in the tribe; but in modi-
fying things at the top, it could not change them at
the base. The organization of the tribe remained
substantially the same. The tribe has always formed
a little state in the state, preserving in general the
right to govern itself by means of men chosen by
itself or drawn from its bosom, and the right to
enjoy exclusively the territory where it lives.
Thus the tribe is the political and administrative
element. The dowar or ring of tents is the family
element in the tribe. Every head of a family and pro-
260
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
prietor of land forms the dowar, whose chief is the
sheik or elder of the dowar chosen on the ground.
Several dowars form the farca or division of the
tribe when it is large; for in general the ordinary
tribes are constituted by the union of dowars. The
farca has a sheik appointed by the united dowars.
The tribe is a collective body, embracing from 500
to 40,000 souls. It has control over a large extent
of territory, but a small part of which is improved
or needed for its support.
The kaid, delegated by the central power as the
chief of the tribe, is always selected from families in
high standing. His authority and jurisdiction are
complete in his district. He presides over the mar-
Ảkets, administers justice, divides off lands and levies
taxes. He has for his assistant, the khalifa, for his
police, the shaoush, and for his troops, the regular
cavalry of the tribe.
The other functionaries of the tribe are the cadi,
who is the judge in all civil and criminal cases among
Mussulmans, and is par excellence a public notary to
receive and legalize acts; he never officiates unless
assisted by two adels or secretaries; the mudair or
schoolmaster, who teaches reading and writing, how-
ever well or ill, and to commit and recite passages
from the koran with the desired intonations; the
muezzin, who calls to prayer five times a day with
his face turned towards Mecca, his thumbs resting
on his ears, and his open hands parallel with his face.
All Arab property is classified as being either pri-
vate property; the property of the Beylic or state;
the property of the tribe, or as religious property
MUSSULMAN ARISTOCRACY.
261
consecrated by its donors to some special object on
certain conditions. Large amounts of property are
put into the last form in Mussulman countries to
prevent its being confiscated by the state, especially
in cities and their environs.
The cultivated land of the tribe becomes during
the period comprised between seed-time and harvest,
the property of the “farca" of the tribe which culti-
vates it. Uncultivated land remains common pro-
perty. The consequence of these irregular condi-
tions of property is that one farca succeeding
another on such and such portions of land, the Arab
is little interested to improve the condition of a soil
on which he is not sure to remain more than a year,
or even than several inonths.
We have said that the tribe occupies in general
more land than is needful for its subsistence; not-
withstanding this, there are dowars which possess no
territory of their own, and which are composed solely
of farmers employed by the farcas charged with til-
lage.
The Arabs recognize three kinds of aristocracy :-
1. That of birth, embracing the shorfa or nobles,
properly so called (in the singular scherif.) These
are the descendants of Fatima, the daughter of Mo-
hammed, and of Sidi Aly-ben Abi Taleb, uncle of
the prophet. The koran recommends the shorfa to
the respect of the faithful. They are much re-
spected, but they have prerogatives rather moral
than material. Haughty, insolent and altogether
severe and grave in their bearing, they wear with
dignity the green turban as a sign of their extrac-
262
CARTHAGL AND TUNIS.
tion. At Tunis, however, a multitude of the com-
mon people, such as butchers and the lowest class of
laborers are shorfu. In other parts of the regency
also, and throughout the Mussulman as well as Chris-
tian world, apocryphal nobles are numerous.
2. The military or temporal nobility, the juads,
descendants of ancient illustrious families or of a
celebrated tribe, especially that of the Beni Koraish
or Korashites, to which Mohammed belonged. The
juads are mostly descended from the Arab conquer-
ors. They are the chiefs of the tribe who lead to
the combat. Honored with the title of sheik or
elder, they are fond of pomp and show, and some-
times tyrannical towards their dependents, but yet
skilful in maintaining their influence by an affected
generosity and by hospitality and protection spon-
taneously offered
3. The religious nobility composed of marabouts,
which word is an exact translation of the Latin
word religati, signifying bound back. These are fami-
lies devoted for a long time to the religious obser-
vance of the koran, and to the edification of the
faithful. This nobility is like the preceding, heredi-
tary. It is around zawias, or chapels consecrated to
some celebrated marabout, that the marabout fami-
lies are grouped and form their dorar, which is then
called zawia, followed by a proper name;
For
ple, zawia Sidi Mahres.
The marabouts are very
influential. They intervene as peace-makers and
arbiters in discords; protect caravans and travellers
with their pass which is always respected, at least
by all the members of their tribe. They excite to
exam-
.
GRADES OF EDUCATION.
263
come.
holy war against infidels, and are, as it were, the soul
of their tribes. The Emir Abd-el-Kader owed his
extraordinary influence in Algeria, as much to his
triple character as marabout, juad and scherif, as to
his natural abilities. ·
The marabouts live on contributions made by the
public for their zawia. Splendid offerings of every
kind, including lands, are made to them, and their
neighbors often contribute a tenth part of their in-
The zawias are governed by the most influ-
ential man of the religious dowar. The marabouts
perform no manual labor, devoting themselves to
giving instruction and exercising hospitality in the
interior of zawias, which are at the same time semi-
naries of learning and pious inns. The tribes entrust
to them a certain number of pupils, who become tolba,
i. e., lettered. When they have passed through a very
limited course of elementary study, acquiring some
knowledge of the koranic dogmas, grammar, juris-
prudence and Arab history, they are proclaimed
skeiks, i. e., elders and men of science, and kodja,
i. e., scribes, and have the right to perform the mar-
riage ceremony pronounce divorces and legalize
contracts, all under the authority of the cadi. As
they advance in years, they can aspire to becoming
themselves cadis, muftis or imans in the mosque.
Corresponding to the zawias, are the medersa or
high schools, attached to the mosques.
The tolbas
who are distinguished, are proclaimed aoulamas, i. e.,
learned men or doctors. When age, favor and in-
trigue fail to elevate them to religious dignities,
they often become charlatans, enchanters, fortune-
264
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
tellers, exorcists, makers of amulets and casters of
lots. The tolbas are the most worthy representa-
tives of Mussulman fanaticism, which must naturally
be in direct proportion to their science, since they
try to give the highest idea of Islamism, and the most
deplorable opinion of infidels. The hadji or Mecca
pilgrims, form also a kind of nobility, but it is of a
personal character. They have the right to wear
the green turban, which they rarely fail to do.
The Arab sheiks, like the Roman patricians and
the lords of the middle age, have a multitude of de-
pendents crowding into their great tent in the centre
of their “smala," which is the name of the headquar-
ters of the sheik and is composed of his tents and
those of his lieutenants, judges, counsellors and pro-
tectors. These sheiks receive and hear everybody,
giving orders to some, advice to others, and the light
of their countenance to all. With the sword always
drawn and the hand always open, there is certainly
ostentation in the courage and liberality in the action
of the Arab sheik; but his liberality or his courage
is ever at the disposition of every one that desires
it enough to pay for it. The marabouts and juads
are not always agreeably situated; but in the most
infamous transactions, they maintain the prestige of
their class, no one presuming to purchase their favor.
The lower classes present less variety among the
Arab shepherds than among the agricultural popula-
tion. Among the latter, there are the proprietors of
the soil, farmers, workmen and servants; among the
shepherds, on the contrary, there are scarcely any
except the owners of the flocks and herds with their
NOMAD LIFE AND COMMERCE.
265
dependents; and their principal property consists in
camels and various kinds of stock. Living under
tents, there are no professional traders. The transpor-
tation of merchandise would encounter too great diffi-
culties and risks. There are, however, blacksmiths
who make plows, horse-shoes, large stirrups and long
spurs, and repair or injure arms; also, saddlers and
shoemakers. The women wash and card wool;
make yarn and weave cloth, which, whether coarse
or fine, is always strong. They also make bernouses,
haiks, hair cloth and tents. Small transactions gen-
erally take place between neighbors by exchanges or
by paying ready money. The needful articles which
the Arab of the tent cannot produce, such as cotton
goods and spices, are ordinarily obtained of Jewish
pedlers, found in various settlements.
The princi-
pal commerce in grain, cattle and the different pro-
ducts and manufactures of the tribes is carried on at
fairs which are held on fixed occasions, where a great
multitude of buyers and sellers come together under
the authority and supervision of their skeiks or of
their deputies.
Let us attempt, in conclusion, a sketch of the Arab
and of his desert life. It is important at the outset
not to confound the epithets, nomad and wandering,
which, though often employed as synonymes, are
primarily different in their meaning. The nomad
tribes all lead a pastoral life, removing according to
the seasons, but yielding to a regular oscillating
movement, which, at the same period, brings them
back again to the same point. Whereas some wan-
dering tribes lead an adventurous life, hunting, trad-
34
'
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
266
ing, pillaging or depending on successful warfare for
support.
The Arab of the Sahara, full of pity for the Arab
of the village, is in general nervous, ardent and
passionate. He is courageous, hardy and tempe-
rate, but on occasions shows a ferocious appetite.
His white teetb, unharmed by the condiments of civ-
ilized life, shine in the middle of his face, that is pale
or simply browned by the sun; his features are nobly
marked; his eye is expressive; his black beard, that
has never known a razor, is fine and glossy, and his
expression haughty and pensive. He has always
for a companion and friend the well-beloved horse,
which surely is not a mere animal, since Baroc, the
mysterious companion of Mohammed, in his noctur-
nal voyage, is in paradise in the midst of the houris
and the elect,—the horse, the object of his care, kind-
ness, devotion and enthusiasm; with his fleetness in
the race, his intrepidity in the combat; his partici-
pation in the fatigue, valor and victory of his master,
who proclaims that the happiness of this world and
the paradise of earth are attached to the flowing
manes of noble steeds. Also, horses, in combats,
love and religion, are one of the inspirations of the
poets of the tent.
Taking part in all the vicissi-
tudes of Arab life and the events of Arab history
from the time of Mohammed, they have a place of
honor in the annals of his people, like Baroc, in
paradise.
The Arab woman has preserved a little of the in-
fluence which she enjoyed before Islamism, a period
when in her native liberty she was the glowing and
ARAB WOMEN AND COURIERS.
267
poetic soul of the tribes. She still excites to combat
and to deeds of honor and valor. But the almost
.
annihilation of her legal existence and her ever-
increasing ignorance have robbed her of her royalty
of other days. However, in the wars between one
tribe and another, women still assist in the corebat;
from the tops of their palanquins borne by drome-
daries, they animate the combatants, bestowing the
most marked compliments on some, and uttering
curses and withering reproaches against others; while
the chiefs in splendid garments, the cavalry turning
their steeds and the infantry closing up their ranks
for the onset, all press forward, saying in their hearts:
to-day we will die for the women of our tribes.
The swift-footed dromedary is the attendant of the
nimble steed. His patience, sobriety, intrepidity and
impassibility; his slender form and dizzy speed, all
contribute to render him precious and dear to those
who know not how to live without him.
But the Arab without a dromedary or horse to
run for him makes a virtue of necessity and becomes
himself an indefatigable walker. With his legs en-
veloped in brodekins or his naked feet in the sand,
he passes over immense distances. A courier extraor-
dinary, he reposes only two hours at night, and as he
takes his sleep lights a piece of cord whose flame
awakens him on reaching his body at the end of the
time fixed for its burning, which he calculates with
remarkable accuracy.
The merchants, residing at
the important points along the shore, employ as mail
carriers both on account of certainty and expedition,
Arabs that are dependent on their legs.
268
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Under the tent of the chief, the labors are entrust-
ed to servants, mostly negroes and negresses, who
yet hardly know of the emancipation proclamation
by Ahmed Bey in 1845. To milk sheep and camels,
make butter, grind grain, weave cloth, make tents,
bags, clothing, curtains, thread, hemp or palm-leaf
ropes; to prepare leather, and leathern bottles, and
great jars for water; to bake bread and make cous-
cousou ;—such is the vast field for their unfailing
activity.
Hunting is one of the greatest and most stirring
occupations of the desert. The antelope, gazelle,
wild sheep, and ostrich are pursued and taken with-
out danger and without combat. The hyena is
reached and overpowered in his den; but the lion
resists the empire that audacious man pretends to
impose upon his haughty nature in that desert which
is his domain also, and by his thundering roar he
proclaims, according to the Arabs, the destiny that
puts him in the face of man: “: Ana-an-ben-el-mra,"
he says growlingly, I and the son of woman.
The lion appears there with the calm of his re-
strained force and fury; lightning in his eye; his
teeth and claws impatient for exercise; his jaws dry
with thirst and vengeance are ready open to be
thrust upon bloody muscles. But it is said the in-
trepidity of man imposes upon him; the lion retreats
sometimes; and, whether from admiration or disdain,
slowly draws back before the menaces and cries of
women. Meanwhile, men, mounted on war horses
and instinctively shivering with terror, challenge
him. The noble and terrible animal accepts the
CARAVANS IN THE DESERT.
269
challenge; throws himself with a bound through
balls which hiss around him, and his blood runs
mixed with that of his torn adversaries, the sight of
which revives him until at length, under the weight
of numbers and the agony caused by his wounds,
which are cruelly multiplied under a tempest of
shots, he falls and dies, rather annihilated than van-
quished.
Besides numerous other careers open among
the
Arabs to warlike activity, there are long voyages for
curiosity or commerce facilitated by caravans. In
the regency of Tunis, there are caravans established
between the principal cities, which perform a service
analagous to that of diligences in Europe and of mail
stages in remote parts of America. Bit veritable
caravans resembling, a city on the march, are those
of the desert. Every traveller adopts his own style;
takes his beasts of burden and store of provisions,
or is provided by the director of the caravan, or he
goes afoot and lives like the multitude.
eral, everybody has arms. Camels alone are ordina-
rily employed in their character as “ships of the
desert.” When the route is suitable, however, horses
and donkies are used.
The conductor of the caravan is made responsible
for accidents. He pays awards for all damages occur-
ring to travellers, when it is proved to be his fault or
that of his subordinates. But it is well understood
that though the right is undeniable, no reclamation
is ever made on the way; for the safety of the trav-
eller might be endangered by the disappearance of
the conductor. The man who fulfils these difficult
In gen-
270
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and perilous functions, is ordinarily very experienced,
firm and courageous, having been tried in these re-
spects on previous occasions. He is the organizer
and recognized head of the party. He has, as assist-
ants, guides, whose duty it is to point out the routes;
guards to maintain order or organize, in case of need,
defence against assailants; a scribe to record and
legalize important acts, and a muezzin to proclaim
the hours of prayer.
Caravans are exposed, even in provinces near great
cities, to attacks by pillaging tribes or isolated bands
of brigands. On the routes through the Sahara to
Soudan, they often encounter the Touaregs. These
are nomad Berbers, scattered here and there between
the southern part of North Africa and the country
of the negroes, and are divided into two principal
groups, the Occidental and the Oriental.
With a
slender frame and a very white skin; veiled with
one end of their turban, which they draw down over
their faces in such a manner as to leave only their
eyes uncovered; enveloped in a flowing robe which
is more full than that of the Arabs, and with ampler
folds in their bagging pantaloons; bare-footed or wear-
ing light sandals; always mounted on fleet horses, or
dromedaries that even surpass horses in speed; armed
with a long lance and with a broad buckler made of
the hide of an elephant, the Touaregs are the ter-
ror of their neighbors and of caravans which venture
into their country. They are Mussulmans, but being
inonogamists, are accused of heresy and disliked by
the orthodox sects. They are nevertheless very hos-
pitable and temperate. They show much deference
ORIGIN OF THE KABYLES.
271
to their women, whose faces they leave unveiled, and
in their manners are comparatively simple and hon-
est aside from their pillaging habits. They live in
villages, in oases or under tents, according to their
territory; and their riches consist especially in iin-
mense herds of dromedaries. They are, besides,
intrepid and industrious hunters, and, pillaging being
in a line with their interest, is pursued as if it were
an honorable trade rather than with the spirit of
brigandage. What confirms this view of their char-
acter is that they are often satisfied with levying
taxes on caravans, which they could readily rob with
impunity. When resistance is offered, they become
ferocious and merciless.
THE BERBERS OR KABYLES. The word Kabyle is vari-
ously explained by etymologists. By some it is sup-
posed to be derived from the Arab verb kebala, mean-
ing accepted or adopted, because the Kabyles adopted
Islamist ; according to others, it comes from kebel,
meaning before, because it is applied to a population
which preceded or came before the Arabs; and still
others derive'it from kebila, meaning tribe, and kebail,
tribes, asserting that the conquering Arabs designated
all the native tribes by this vague and general appel-
lation in contra-distinction from all their own tribes
which were called by their proper names.
According to very confused historic traditions,
which we have elsewhere noticed, the Berbers or
Kabyles were gradually formed out of the following
elements :
1. Of the first occupants of North Africa, who
were, according to the Bible account, confirmed by
272
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
oriental and African traditions, the grand-sons of
Shem. The historian Ibn Khaldoun, names Masigh
among the ancestors of the Berbers, and it is worthy
of remark that a great part of the race have retained
till the present time the name of Amazigh. 2. Of Ca-
naanites, who emigrated from Palestine in the time of
Joshua. 3. Of Phoenician colonists. 4. Of Arab
colonists, who came from Yemen long before the
Arab conquerors of the seventh century. Such are
ordinarily regarded as the sources from which
sprang
the Berber race; but we are disposed to take account
also of the Germanic or Vandal element introduced
at a later period, traces of which though not recog-
nized by most authors, remain to the present time,
since we not unfrequently meet Kabyles with blond
or reddish hair, and eyes blue or of a greyish green
tinge.
The Kabyle, as before stated, is distinguished from
the Arab by his features and by his character. He
has also a distinct language. This language, whose
alphabet is unfortunately lost, is written with Arab
characters. It is not spoken by all the Kabyles.
Those who have mingled with Arabs or have had for
centuries intimate relations with them, have become
Arabized Kabyles, that is, speaking Arab, while others
have continued to speak their native (Berber) tongue,
which is the Numidian more or less modified. The
Arab neither knows nor tries to learn Berber, while
the Kabyle is forced to learn and speak Arab by the
very exercise of his religion.
At all the invasions, the Kabyles fell back upon
the mountains. The conquerors of the country stop-
KABYLES DIFFERENT FROM ARABS.
273
ped before those formidable citadels of nature defend-
ed by an indefatigable valor. France did not defi-
nitely subdue them until 1858, and even now the old
Kabyle spirit of independence is often manifested in
fight.
Other distinctive traits of the Kabyle are: attach-
ment to the soil; not nomad but living in tents, ac-
tive and industrious as a mason, gunsmith, blacksmith,
manufacturer of tools and household utensils, soap,
powder and balls; he cards wool, spins and weaves,
cultivates the soil, and has swarms of bees constantly
supplying him with honey. The Arab neglects his
arms; the Kabyle polishes his with care. The
Arab is restive and lazy; the Kabyle stirring and
impetuous; the former is vain, but servile when he
cannot be arrogant; the latter is invariably inflexi-
ble and haughty; the Arab serves his ends with false-
hood; the Kabyle detests such a resort; the Arab is.
satisfied with taking the price of blood as a punish-
ment for murder according to the law of the koran;
the Kabyle is satisfied only with the death of the assas-
sin. In war, the Arab likes to cut off the head of his
fallen foe; the Kabyle never. The Arab is generally
a robber and, purely avaricious, hides his money in
the ground; the Kabyle robs only his enemy; he is
more selfish than the Arab or more intelligent in his
avarice, letting his money, contrary to the koranic
law, at enormous interest. The Kahyle, who is almost
always a monogamist, literally buys his wife, but he
respects and consults her much more than the Arab.
When a son is born, he makes a general feast; for a
daughter, none. At funerals, all the village take
35
274
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
part, and sometimes several neighboring villages.
Among the Arabs, at the birth of a son, there is a
special season of rejoicing, but only in the family;
at the birth of a daughter, the feast which takes
place is solely for the women, and funerals are at-
tended only by the relatives or special friends of the
deceased,
The Kabyle woman is more free than the Arab
woman. The latter never appears out among men
unless her face be closely veiled. The former goes
out with undisguised face, visiting the markets and
the public assemblies at her pleasure. There is one
sign altogether peculiar to the Kabyle woman; it is
a cross tattooed on her forehead between her eyes.
This cross, which is an evident trace of the primitive
Christianity of the race, is never found among the
Arabs, and a circumstance that well confirms its sig-
nification is, that no devout personage ever marries
a Kabyle woman until he has by means of a solution
slightly corrosive obliterated that hated emblem of
the Christian faith.
The tribe is the political and administrative ele-
ment among the Kabyles as among the Arabs. The
chief kaid, khalifa, sheik and aga are chosen among
distinguished religious or military families correspond-
ing to the different nobilities. Each part of a tribe
is governed by an amin, charged with maintaining
order and the usages of the tribe. There are also
amins-in-chief, appointed at the general assembly of
the tribe.
Among the Mussulman peoples, the Kabyles are
the only ones that have, besides their code taken
KABYLE INSTITUTIONS.
275
from the koran, a particular national code which is
always in vigor. It is a remarkable fact that in this
code, the death penalty prescribed by the koran is
laid aside and exile is put in its place; but the way is
nevertheless open for private vengeance, which comes
almost always in its time. The bastinado, so common
among the Arabs, is unknown among the Kabyles.
More still than the Arabs, they have a profound
veneration for their marabouts, who are supported
at the expense of the tribes, and are in truth the
overseers, counsellors, directors, and, morally speak-
ing, the sovereigns of the nation. Besides, the Ka-
byle, it must be acknowledged, makes rather a piti-
ful show as a Mussulman disciple, often violating the
prophet's injunctions, and causing scandal among the
saints by dining on the wild boar that his unerring
bullet has reached among the mountains.
The Arabs
pay their contributions directly to their
sovereigns; the Kabyles, almost republican in their
character, deposit theirs only in the mosques. They
do not recognize any taxes imposed upon them, ex-
cept for their mosques and cemeteries, while, on the
other hand, the Arabs often labor for their chiefs.
The zawia, with the Kabyles as with the Arabs, is,
at the same time, a religious seminary and a pious
and gratuitous hotel. The three grades of instruc-
tion before named are given in the important zawias,
but the Berber language is nowhere taught.
Among the customs peculiar to the Kabyles, we
must at least mention the following before conclud-
ing this sketch. About the time for the fruits to
ripen, the chiefs publish an order that within so
276
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
many days no fruit must be gathered. At the ex-
piration of this time, the proprietors repair to the
mosques to testify upon oath that they have observed
the order, or to pay the penalty if they have been
remiss in their duty. They then count the poor,
and each one feeds them in his turn. They proceed
in the same way with the vegetables, especially with
the beans, which are cultivated on a large scale.
The safe conduct or pass given by a Kabyle mara-
bout or by a private person, is called unaya, and the
union or national spirit is so strong among this peo-
ple, that this pass is never violated. Among the
Arabs, a safe conduct or pass is of little value be-
yond the tribe, but among the Kabyles it is availa-
ble wherever it is met. In according a pass, some
writing is given that is easily recognized and at the
same time serves as a protection against imposition.
The Kabyles belong to several leagues or confedera-
tions, which are proclaimed in the general meeting
of the chiefs. The leagues are special or general,
according to interest and circumstances. In time of
foreign war, all the Kabyle tribes form one immense
confederation.
We will conclude in the forcible language of gen-
eral Dumas, a French officer, who has studied - well
Mussulinan institutions and character, and who, dur-
ing a long service in Algeria, devoted special atten-
tion to this aboriginal population. “We recognize, "
says he, “the Kabyles as the representatives of the
aborigines of the country. The blood which flows
in their veins is doubtless mixed, but the people are,
for the most part, of kindred origin with the primitive
.
ARAB ETIQUETTE AND CIVILITIES.
277
stock as the basis. All were once Christians, and have
never become completely transformed by their new
religion. Under the blow of the scimetar, they ac-
cepted the koran, but they have never embraced it.
They put on the dogmas of Islamism like bernouses;
but they have ever preserved underneath their dog-
mas their previous social form. Though they have
long since lost the spirit and significance of the
Christian religion, they preserve its emblem tattooed
on their foreheads, and this is not their only way of
unwittingly demonstrating the symbol of the cross.
POINTS OF ETIQUETTE AND SALUTATIONS. The Arabs
and Mussulmans in general (all being Arabized), are,
in their attention to comrnon civilities and courtesies,
as advanced as any people that can be named, not
excepting even the French. They make nice dis-
tinctions and have delicate shades of expression,
which we will try briefly to explain. The Arab
gives the title Sidna to the bey alone as the highest
expression of respect, and the title Sidi, my Lord,
to important functionaries and personages. Si, mean-
ing Sir, and corresponding nearly with our Mr., is a
more common title. But even this is withheld from
Christians and Jews, and the term arfi is employed,
which means master, not as an epithet of a gentle-
man, but as used by pupils and apprentices. This
injurious distinction, probably suggested centuries
ago by fanaticism, is tolerated to the present time
by Europeans, sometimes doubtless because it is not
fully understood, but generally, we believe, because
it is regarded as too small a matter to quarrel about.
Those who are conscious of their power and influence
.
278
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
as lords and gentlemen, are rarely inclined to stickle
about words which cannot affect their real standing
and honor.
In regard to salutations, a similar invidious distinc-
tion is often made. When Mussulmans meet each
other, they salute thus:
“ Your health and your
health.” But when they meet Christians or Jews,
uttering no cordial wish for their health, they simply
say: “ How do you dọ ?” When an infidel, whoever
he may be, is found in a Mussulman assembly, and
another Mussulman enters, the latter, instead of sa-
luting collectively the assembly, will say: “ Health
to all who walk in the right way;" thus virtually
withholding any expression of good wishes and an
act of courtesy from the infidel. This conduct, aris-
ing from a species of bigotry, excites the indigna-
tion of some Christians and Jews, who, standing as
squarely on their dogmas as the Mussulman on his,
pay him back in his own coin. However, this kind
of weakness, which unfortunately is not confined ex-
clusively to Mussulmans, is generally regarded with
pity rather than with indignation.
In the presence of old men or superiors, one must
always assume an air of gravity, avoiding not only
light expressions, but all allusions to indelicate sub-
jects. Trifling or jesting is an offence against good
manners, and, in general, ladies or women are never
to be spoken of in direct terms. To ask about the
ladies, one must employ a paraphrase, as, “How are
your family ?” or, “How are they at your house ?”
The religious spirit predominates in the salutations
as in everything among the Mussulmans, and the
RECULIAR MODES OF SPEECH.
279
"
66
name of God is perhaps the word most frequently
pronounced.
“May God bless you,” is said as an
affirmative answer to a request. “May God prolong
your days; protect you; save you; revive your
spirit; show mercy to those who brought you into
the world;" such are some of the utterances expres-
sive of prayer and thanksgiving constantly dropping
from the lips of devout Mussulmans. But they make
a marked distinction between infidels and believers,
never requesting for the former blessings which the
koran accords only to the latter. Thus they care-
fully avoid asking God to have mercy upon the in-
believing dead who are by law eternally lost. When
a believer dies, the prayer goes up on every
hand:
May God have mercy upon him.” But when a
Christian or Jew dies, the prayer is thus changed :
“May God have no mercy upon the dog;” or, “May
the eternal fire begin for the dog. Though you
receive from a Mussulman the most manifest proof
of friendship, be not sure that when your life draws
to a close he will show respect for your cold remains.
You sink at your death, according to his creed, into
perdition, and the earth is rid of an infidel. The
most enlightened and civilized Mussulmans are some-
times unable to overcome the effect of their teach-
ing in this respect. Their best instincts too often
yield to the dogmas of the koran. Some scenes have
been enacted in connection with funeral processions
at Tunis which fully illustrate what I have here stated.
A person salutes his superior by kissing his hand
if he be on foot, and his knee if he be on horseback.
It is the rule to kiss the hand of ecclesiastical and
280
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
civil dignitaries and of old men. Two equals kiss
upon the cheek or simply touch each other's hands.
At a little distance from each other their salutation
consists in passing the hand first to the heart and
then to the forehead, or in touching the head and
then moving the hand from the heart to the lips and
forehead.
All acts of politeness require a grave and dignified
manner. Mussulmans ridicule our gay and jovial way
of meeting each other. At most, a pensive smile may
brighten the face of a friend at meeting It is allowa-
ble to withdraw from a party without formally taking
leave, but in cities the usage is otherwise. In society,
it is the mark of a gentleman to seize every occasion
to demonstrate his religious faith and bis regard for
the proprieties of life. If the name of the prophet
be pronounced, he must exclaim: “Prayer and sal-
vation be unto him.” If he speak of another Mus-
sulman deceased, he must offer up some prayer in
connection with his name, as, “May God have mercy
upon him.” If he speak of a Christian or a Jew, his
prayer must conform to the spirit of his religion. If
his host sneeze, he must offer some prayer, as, “ May
God protect you,” and a grateful reply is at once
made. If his host commit a breach of propriety, it
is noted, and the prayer goes up: “May God par-
don that which has happened.”
To wish you a
pleasant journey, he will say: “May God take
you
and return you in health and peace.” To recall a
person who has taken leave of you, is to bring upon
him nisfortune. To thank you, he will say: “May
God increase your heritage, or your riches; may God
PIOUS MUSSULMAN FORMS.
281
fill your house with joy; etc.” Also, Mussulmans
temper all sorts of expressions with “an shallah,"
God willing, or if it please God. They employ this
phrase so much the more, as it gives, in case of
need, a certain elasticity to their promises. It is a
Mussulman tradition that their prophet passed eight
days without being able to reply to an argument
against his revelations, because, in promising to
reply, he omitted to say, an shallah, if it please God.
It is also a saying that the lion that can carry upon
his back a horse, ox or camel, is obliged to draw
upon the ground a sheep, in comparison very small,
because the fitst lion created said on beginning his
terrible career: "An shallah, I shall take away such
and such an animal ;” in thinking of the sheep, the
thing seemed to him so easy, that he neglected to
say an shallah, and so was punished for his remiss-
ness and impiety.
In offering consolation, the ordinary expressions
“God is great; it was written; it is decreed;
it is a divine order," or We are from God, and re-
turn to him; God alone is eternal! Praise to God!"
A form of felicitation very expressive and laconic, is,
“Mahbrook !” As much as to say: Good! or good
luck to you! We should not stop here if we wished
to pass in review all the forms of Arab civility; but
what we have cited may serve to give some idea of
these multifarious forms.
We have seen that infidels are not in general very
politely treated. They are sometimes, however, de-
spite deep-seated prejudices and the dark teachings
are :
36
.
282
0
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of the koran, the objects of most marked attention
and kindness.
The Mussulman is taught to seek the humiliation
of infidels, and, to effect this object, he sometimes
employs in his intercourse with his co-religionists,
words which have a double meaning, winks and in-
tonations that change a compliment into derision
and insult. In his writing, this is effected in another
way. By the simple change of a letter or of a vowel
point which the Christian sees only too late, the pious
Moslem cruelly loads him with abuse and maledictions,
or indulges at his expense in the most bitter sarcasm
and cutting irony. He will write, for example, instead
of “iselmec allah,” meaning, may God save you! “isé-
mec allah,” meaning, may God curse you! The two
expressions hastily written present almost the same
appearance.
Bad faith is an inherent quality of Moslemism,
belonging to its spirit and characterizing its national
traditions; and the triumphs of Europe have only
irritated and envenomed the animosity of the Mus-
sulmans. Here is presented one of the problems of
the age. How are these people to be treated ? I
say, decidedly, not as their religion enjoins upon them
to treat us. We need not resort to tricks and chi-
canery. Such a course has already injured us in
their estimation. We can deal justly with them, and
can command their respect and esteem only by show-
ing ourselves worthy of them. Our interest and
duty lie in this direction. We have already overs
come them with the sword, but to acquire a moral
ascendancy over them is far more difficult, requiring
MANIFESTATIONS OF PIETY.
283
an intelligence, energy, and nobleness of character
in striking contrast with the Christian (?) and Jewish
examples generally set in Mussulman countries.
To affirm or attest the truth, there are curious
forms in the Arabic language. “By the head; by
the prophet; by the head of the prophet; by God;"
or by way of imprecation: “May my religion be
cursed !” “May God make me wear a hat or a cap!”
“May God make me an infidel!” “May God make
me a Jew!" The imprecation above relative to the
cap or the hat is.significant. The head-dress of Eu-
ropeans is regarded as an emblem of their infidelity.
Never can à Mussulınan thus profane his august
head, crowned with the turban and the sheshia.* It
is for this reason that the Turks, Egyptians and Tu-
nisians, while adopting the European costume, cling
to their red cap.
Mussulmans ridicule and reproach
us for wearing the abominable hat, which they regard
as a striking impiety and a gross infraction of the
fidelity which we should maintain in regard to the
costume of Jesus Christ, which was in no respect like
ours, while, according to Mussulmans and in fact, it
approached much nearer the Arab costume, the true
costume of Mohammed, of Father Abraham himself,
and of a veritable man worthy of eternal life.
THE HOSPITALITY OF THE ARABS is proverbial. It is
a traditional saying of Mohammed, “Be generous to
your guests; for in entering your house, he brings a
benediction, and in leaving it, he carries away your
* Mussulmans scarcely ever uncover their heads. While we take off
our hats as a mark of respect on entering consecrated places, they take
off their shoes, leaving them at the door.
284
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
44
sins.” The Arab of the tent is hospitable with sim-
plicity and magnanimity. He salutes with a hearty
welcome the guest whom God sends him. He then
installs him in the most comfortable manner possible
under his tent, and honors him with a sumptuous
feast, selecting for him the best pieces.
This is perhaps the place to say a word about Arab
and Mussulman dinners in general; for all Islamitish
people are alike in their essential traits and usages.
They never go to the table without washing their
hands. As they take their seats, they make this short
prayer: “ In the name of God, bless, O my God, that
which thou givest me to eat, and when this is con-
sumed reproduce it!” A Mussulman must help him-
self to food only with his right hand; for Mohammed
said : The devil eats and drinks with his left hand.”
The left hand is traditionally impure, and Mussulmans
never extend it to their co-religionists, but often pre-
sent it as a sly expression of contempt to infidels,
who in their simplicity sometimes accept it with joy.
They must abstain from breathing on their food and
in general from using knives or forks. Fingers take
the place of knives and forks; for the pieces are cut
small in a common platter, which remains in the mid-
dle of the table, where each guest puts his hand and
with a singular skill helps himself without at all soil-
ing anything around him. For some preparations
they employ wooden spoons, which are particularly
serviceable in eating couscousou, the national dish.
They drink in general only once during the repast
either water, curdled milk or palm wine, which is
the sap of palm trees. Wine, properly so called,
THE ORIENTAL KITCHEN.
285
is rigorously forbidden; it is a sign of infidelity al-
most as bad as that of wearing a hat. But it is cer-
tain that this prescription of the koran is now openly
violated or eluded by most Mussulman functionaries,
who have adopted, among other European usages,
the order of our meals, our table furniture, and our
articles of food and beverage, including fine wines
and liquors. However, not to bring scandal on their
Mussulman guests, they remember sometimes to leave
their bottles out of sight, often sending a special ser-
vant to fill with their contents a silver or gilt glass,
which is reputed to contain a medicine.
They must not appear to notice guests at the table,
but, leaving them to eat in their own way, must try
to create an appetite by numerous dishes. At a spe-
cial dinner once given on the island of Gerba, in
honor of the American consul, sixty-three different
well-prepared dishes were brought upon the table,
and the plates were changed twenty-eight times, to
say nothing of coffee, pipes, wines and liquors.
Eructation is permitted. Care must however be
taken while relieving the stomach with all possible
liberty, to cry: “Praise to God; I am satiated!”
The host and the other guests immediately reply:
“God bless you,” or “God give you strength!” After
dinner they wash their hands and mouth with great
care. They are then served with coffee in a little cup
resting in a peculiar kind of saucer, used to obviate
the danger of being, burned. They taste the coffee
with the utmost moderation. Under the tent of the
Arab and in Mussulman houses, faithful to oriental
usages, the guests sit cross-legged upon carpets, mats
286
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
or divans, about a low round table; but, in the prin-
cipal houses of the city, they sit and eat like Euro-
peans, having only a peculiar ceremonial for certain
dishes.
A word about couscousou, the national dish of the
Tunisians and of the Arabs in general. Couscousou
is a sort of semolino, which, after being kneaded with
a very small quantity of water, is put into a steamer
over a boiler, and, seasoned with spices and mixed
with butter, meat, vegetables and eggs, is kept
steaming for hours, and, when taken out upon a
broad platter, the meat, vegetables and eggs are
arranged for display outside the semolino. Of the
different kinds of meat employed, chickens and lamb
are most in favor; under the tent the meat of
young
camels is frequently employed. The couscousou is
arranged in a pyramidal form upon a broad platter,
which some attack with a wooden spoon; but the
bravest and most adroit with the right hand. The
feast is usually interrupted once to partake of a cup
of freshly curdled milk. Couscousou is a very pala-
table and nourishing food, and is, at the same time,
light and easily digested. There is also another kind
of couscousou called masfouf, which is sweet, with-
out meat, and is seasoned with dates, pistachios and
raisins.
The Arab kitchen is one of the richest and most
varied in the world. We shall attempt to give no
idea of it, except by saying that for various ways of
preparing ragouts, pastries and delicacies, the cooks
of rich Mussulmans could give some valuable lessons
to our own, and that in a trial of skill to gratify the
ORIENTAL HOSPITALITY.
287
taste of even European judges, they might win the
prize. Nothing can surpass the delicacy of taste as
well as the juiciness of certain kinds of cake, of
which butter and honey are important ingredients;
we certainly have nothing to place in comparison
with them. Everybody knows what was in the mid-
dle age, the splendor of the Islamitish civilization.
Gastronomy is, perhaps, that which remains most
brilliant to-day of that civilization, disappeared or on
the point of being lost to view.
But these digressions have drawn us away from
Arab hospitality, which engaged our attention. We
shall only add some of its characteristics to complete
this account. “The beard of the guest is in the
hand of the master of the tent." This maxim is the
practical companion of the precept of Mohammed,
and well expresses the inseparable confidence and
sincerity of the Arab at the reception of a guest.
Once received into a tent or into a house, not only
you have nothing to fear, even were you an enemy;
but you need have no care. All your wants will be
supplied, and you will greatly offend the host by
obtruding your views in regard to your place, lug-
gage and servants. All this concerns alone the mas-
ter of the house, and you may be sure he will attend
to it better than you can.
In each Arab dowar, by the side of the kima or
collection of tents raised symmetrically around an
open space called the merah, are several tents a little
outside. These present a rich appearance and are
destined for guests without distinction of person,
position, or even race, except of course the modes
288
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of reception inseparable from believers and infidels.
Each rich sheik charges himself in his turn with the
expenses of these entertainments; though when
the expenses are considerable, they are borne in
common.
When a dowar has no special tents, the traveller
is conducted to some central point, where he is
formally welcomed and becomes the object of the
most assiduous attentions. The remains of hospita-
ble feasts which are, in general, of enormous propor-
tions,—as after the feeding of the five thousand in the
desert place, when twelve baskets full of fragments
were taken up-are always distributed among the
servants and the poor, who eat in honor of the
guests. I have repeatedly known seventy-five per-
sons thus treated in honor of the American consul,
and on the island of Gerba several hundred were
thus feasted. Avarice or meanness in a matter of
hospitality is detested and despised.
We cannot better terminate these remarks upon
Arab 'hospitality, than by relating an incident illus-
trating this well-known trait of character, and giving
an idea of the responsibility which the host feels to
protect his guest from any saddening occurrence.
The chief of a tribe received under his tent many
travellers of distinction. While he was doing them
the honors of his house, his only son, a promising
young man and the hope of his family, suddenly
died. The unhappy father, subduing his grief, had
the energy and courage to inaintain the utmost
calmness in his tent, and to remain himself unmoved
in appearance until the next morning, and it was
WHO ARE MUSSULMANS.
289
only at the moment when his guests were departing
that he announced to them the sad news, asking
them in tears to be present at the funeral ceremonies
of his son, and share his grief in return for that hos-
pitality for which he had made such a sacrifice.
RELIGIOUS CREED AND USAGES. The population of
Tunisia is of the orthodox Mussulman persuasion.
It belongs to that Islamitish religion which has in
the world more than one hundred and twenty mil-
lion followers, and which, after having given birth
to an empire greater than the Roman and to a bril-
liant civilization in the middle age, has become piti-
fully paralyzed and enfeebled, exhibiting no power
to elevate the spirit of its degenerate disciples, who
now appear scarcely more in the universe than a
great embarrassment to modern civilization.
The true name of the Mussulman religion is the
Islam, which means giving up or complete and
absolute resignation (to the will of God). It claims
to be the veritable, eternal religion; for the prophet
was charged only with its definite promulgation.
Whoever received the true faith in God before Mo-
hammed's time was a Mussulman in principle. Thus
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the apostles were Mussul-
mans* according to the common theory.
The creed of Islamism is very simple :
alone is God, and Mohainmed is his prophet.” The
authority of this creed resides in the koran, a sacred
66 God
* This term denotes primarily persons resigned to the will of God. We
generally employ the word Mussulmans to indicate the followers of Moham-
med, because it is the name which they take to themselves. They profess
to be resigned to God, as he is revealed to them by their prophet, and some
even claim to be Mussulmans, like the prophets and apostles, regardless of
Mohammed's teachings.
37
290
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
book, claiming to be transmitted from heaven chap-
ter by chapter to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel,
who was a delegate of God in the revelation of Is-
lamism. All orthodox Mussulmans believe in the
oral traditions of Mohammed, and are hence called
Sunnites. They are divided in regard to their rites
into four sects; the Malekites, Hanefites, Shafaites
and Hambalites, names derived from the founders
of these sects, who were learned expounders of the
Mussulman law. The inhabitants of North Africa
are, a majority of them, Malekites.
Besides these four orthodox sects, there is a sect in
Tunisia represented only by the inhabitants of Gerba
and by the Saharian population of the Mzab or the
Mozabites. They are dissenters, distinguished by cer-
tain odd practices and peculiar dogmas, which we shall
explain further on. There are also some disciples of
the Wahabite El Medani. The members of this sect
formerly rejected the proposition that “Mohammed
is the prophet of God," but now admit it only after
saying ninety-nine times, “God alone is God,"
while the genuine orthodox never utter one of these
propositions without the other. Outside of ortho-
doxy are also found the Shiites, who reject the tra-
ditions, and also recognize only Ali as the legitimate
representative of the prophet, to the exclusion of
Abubekir, Omar and Othman, and who acknowledge,
for imans or sovereign pontiffs, only the descendants
of Ali. The Wahabites of Arabia profess a sort of
deism and admit only in form the mission of Mo-
hammed, the founders of the sect having wished
even to destroy his tomb.
THE GOD OF MOHAMMED.
291
The Mussulman religion reposes on an absolute
unitism or unitarianism, stated in four forms:
1, The
one God alone adorable in the universe ; 2, the pro-
phet sent from God without companion, who is the
seal of the prophets of all ages, and whose mission
will henceforth be attested; 3, the caliph or vicar
of the prophet or royal pontiff, and his sole legitimate
representative of authority upon earth ; 4, the hus-
band and master in the family.
The God of Mohammed is doubtless gracious and
merciful. as at each instant the koran and all Mussul-
inan books represent him; but he is not the God of
New Testament Christianity, loving humanity with
infinite tenderness and permitting it to love him and
pray to him with assured confidence and affection,
He is perhaps a generous God, but shows his
gene-
rosity by a sort of haughty commiseration, holding
all his power menacingly suspended over the heads
of his creatures and demonstrating a sort of pity for
them on seeing their nothingness. He is really little
more or less than a formidable despot whose will
must be adored everywhere and always, and under
whose blows we must bow simply because they are
inevitable and because murmuring is impiety. This
God, more tyrannic and cruel even than that of the
Jews, draws upon the forehead of every creature
who comes to the light his ineluctable destiny; and
however it be, Mussulman resignation finds at the
same time its motive and its expression in this word :
mactoub! it is written. Consequently, it is a fatality,
to which one is subjected, and foreördination and
pre-
destination are fully recognized. They say it is the
292
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
good pleasure of God that governs the world and
each man and creature in it. We have only to sub-
mit and be silent without seeking to discuss or under-
stand this subject. We must do good not for good-
ness' sake, nor to acquire merit, but because God so
orders it, when even (that which is not impossible),
he judged fit to take no account of it and wrote from
all eternity, that in spite of all, we should be lost.
I am aware that some expounders of the law and
most Mussulmans in practice would maintain the
liberty of man and his free will in order that he may
be responsible for his actions, and as a consequence
have the merit or blame naturally attached to them.
But, in reality, this free agency is contrary to the
principle that all power, all direct influence and all
regulations of every kind are preëstablished; in a
word, it is contrary to the dogma of the “mactoub,"
that which is written, and of the “mashay-lillahi,”
that which pleases God. Man is neither saved nor
lost, whatever he may wish or do, except God has so
written it in his eternal decrees.
But Mussulmans, in as far as they are Mussulman,
are predestined in principle to eternal salvation. If
some among them go to hell, it will be only for a
time. Whence it follows that in fact it is immaterial
whether their conduct is good or bad; since in the
end eternal happiness awaits all who are registered
for paradise without distinction of person.
As to
infidels, since they profess another religion than Is-
lamism, they will be among the outcasts in another
world, despite all the good they can do.*
* Koran, ch. III., verse 79.
2
TREATMENT OF INFIDELS.
293
There are verses in the koran which apparently
contradict this doctrine; this, however, should aston-
ish no one; since the koran is filled with contradic-
tions; but we must compare all the verses with each
other, and, after having weighed them pro and con,
we arrive inevitably at this conclusion : “Whoever
is an unbeliever in God and his prophet is doomed
to wretchedness."
Christians and Jews, especially the former, are the
objects of some kindness and indulgence on the part
of the prophet. “These are,” says he, “the people
with a book," i. e., people furnished with a book of
revelations, “and we must engage in no discussions
with thein except in the most becominy manner.”
But we must remember: 1, That all the chapters of
the koran were not written at the same period ; 2,
that there are verses which annul other verses, and
that most of the verses annulled are those which are
in their nature very moderate if not reasonable; 3,
that, judging from the experience of twelve centu-
ries, the following precepts contain the veritable pro-
gramme of Islamism :-
“Make war upon those who do not believe in God;
upon those who regard not as forbidden that which
God has forbidden through his apostle; upon those
scriptural men (Christians and Jews) who do not
profess faith in the truth.* Make war upon them
till they all pay the tribute and are humiliated ;
combat in the way of God; I kill them wherever
you shall find them. Fight them until you have no
* Koran, ch. IX., v. 29. † Ibid. Koran, II., versc 186, 187 and 189.
294
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
temptation to fear, and all worship be that of the
one God."
.
While it is unnecessary to give further extracts, it
is only just for us to remember that notwithstanding
their terrible and bloody march across the Christian
world, prompted by the inspirations of the koran,
the Arab conquerors showed themselves in their vic-
tories more humane and merciful than the Christian
warriors who were their contemporaries. For as the
spirit of Islam was to diffuse worship by the sword,
Mohammed recommended moderation towards relig-
ious people, old men, women and children, regardless
of their religion and nationality. It is just also to
remark by way of correction and in explanation of
the law of conversion by the sword, that according
to usage the lives of refractory persons were spared,
provided they consented to pay the tribute.
But we must have no misconception here; it re-
mains always well understood that Islarn is the sole
religion of right and by law, and that consequently the
rule of the world is promised to Mussulmans alone.
Whence it results that the rest of the human family
must choose between death,conversion and the tribute.
It may be remarked that the word koffer, ordinarily
translated infidel, means rather an ungrateful wretch
who conceals the truth. Thus Mussulmans see in us
not only infidelity, but ingratitude and bad faith.
We resist, wittingly taking sides against the ascend-
ancy of the truth. Ours is not merely an error of
opinion; it is a malicious and open rebellion, and an
insolent and abominable impiety.
And this opinion must not astonish us. Jews, we
ORIGIN OF ISLAMISM.
295
are believed to have falsified the bible; Christians,
we have disfigured the gospel. For, according to
Mussulmans, in these books and especially in the
gospels which the koran) calls the book of light, the
mission of Mohammed was prophesied and it was bad
faith alone that took out these significant passages.
The koran undertakes to prove in its peculiar way
these pretended falsifications. It gives also biblical
or evangelical histories, completely distorting the
truth; and Mussulmans in general, having no know-
ledge of historical criticism or of the value of writ-
ten testiinony, are misled.
The koran, however mixed, strange and confused,
contains great and beautiful maxims, and just obser-
vations and prescriptions wisely adapted to the spirit
and manners of the Arabs. But we must not forget
that it is tributary to the bible and the gospel, draw-
ing thence its highest inspirations and noblest senti-
ments; for Mohammed wrote it or rather dictated it
only after long conferences with a Jewish rabbi and
a Nestorian priest, who gave him an approximative
idea of the old and new testaments. Mohammed,
ignorant but of quick perceptions and of lively im-
agination, reproduced and modified in a manner to
suit the needs of his cause these incomplete details
of the two revealed religions that existed long before
his time.
Whatever may be said of his personal character,
this Mahommed is one of the most singular and ex-
traordinary men of history. Obscure, unlettered, a
simple conductor of caravans, though of a noble
family and of a renowned tribe, he conceived and
296
CARTEAGE AND TUNIS.
realized the project of disciplining and uniting to-
gether all the Arab tribes then hostile or indifferent
to each other, and sending them forth for conquest
over the debris of empires and religions which then
covered the face of the earth.
After twenty years of meditation, reverie, hallu-
cination and forsooth of inspiration (for why may
we not admit that such a reformer was of good faith
and that profoundly religious, he thought himself
obeying an impulsion from on high ?), Mohammed
applied himself to his work; prescribed the new
religion or rather the restored worship of his first
ancestor, the religion of Abraham. He successfully
encountered all obstacles and perils; strengthened
and extended his cause and his party by victories;
became the soul of a new nation suddenly formed
under the impulsion of his genius and activity, a
nation improvised by the intimate association and
union of twenty different tribes, strongly bound to-
gether by unity of language and unity of faith; a
double unity, which finds its monument, symbol and
palladium in that koran which he boldly placed on
one side of the scales, when the Bible, the gospel
and all the diverse religions were on the other side
to counterbalance it.
Simple, modest, humane, charitable, of agreeable
manners, though much given to pleasure, the prophet
of the Arabs was in his private life the counsellor,
example, pride and object of veneration of his disci-
ples, occupying himself with manual labor, sober,
religious without affectation, redressing grievances
even for infidels, doing all the good and discharging
MOHAMMED'S LIFE AND DEATH.
297
all the duties which he urged in his preaching, con-
stituting himself without haughtiness and pageant
the type of the veritable believer, he continued by
the influence of his personal character the work
which his preaching and the sword began. It is
interesting to observe how philosophical, serene and
alınost saint-like was his death. Perceiving his end
approaching, he spoke to those assembled around
him and, after asking their sympathy and prayers, re-
quested them not to let him die without helping him
to make some amends for what evil he had done in
life. An old woman then stepped forward and asked
for the payment of a small debt which had been for
a long time forgotten. Mohammed had the debt
paid, thanking the woman for having thus relieved
his conscience at his last hour. He then resumed in
a few simple and penetrating words the instructions
of his life, and apparently without fear or regret pro-
nounced with his parting breath this Mussulman or
rather Jewish and Christian formula:
“We canie
from God and to God we shall return.”
We have said that according to the koran the gos-
pel is “the book of light.” According to the koran
also Jesus Christ is the Messiah, born miraculously
of a virgin ; Spirit of God made man so superior to
the rest of the human race and of the prophets that
God, having divided off all possible merits into ten
parts, gave nine of thein to Jesus and one alone to
the entire human family. He was not put to death
as Christians and even Jews say, but taken up to
heaven, while God put in his place a phantom to
deceive the hatred of his enemies, who, in effect,
+
38
298
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
wished to crucify him. He will come again upon the
earth at the end of time. He will break down the
cross as an instrument of idolatry and will' annihi-
late the hog, the unclean animal. He will extermi-
nate the anti-Christ, his enemy, and will establish
peace and harmony upon the earth, even among the
animals inost opposed to each other. He will prac-
tice Islamism and will make a pilgrimage to Mecca
at the head of 70,000 pilgrims. He will restore the
marvellous city built for Solomon by the genii, the
walls of which were of alternate gold and silver brick.
This city, buried by divine order in the sand of the
desert at the death of the Jewish king, will be given
to Mussulmans that they may have on earth a fore-
taste of celestial joys. After having restored also
the ark of the covenant which will be found at the
bottom of lake Tiberias and married a young and
charming daughter of the Arab tribe of the Beni Ras-
san, he will extend Islam over all the earth and will
ascend again to heaven before the day of judgment.
In a practical point of view, Islamism recognizes
the six following bases: 1, Circumcision; 2, prayer;
3, alms-giving; 4, fasting; 5, pilgrimages to Mecca,
and 6, the profession of faith. We propose to say. a
few words successively on each of these topics.
1. CIRCUMCISION. This Jewish practice was adopted
by Islam 'with this difference, that the Jews perform
this ceremony on the eighth day after the birth of
the child, while the Mussulmans defer it until the
eighth yeur.
Several days before the ceremony,
there is a great feast in the family. Duringar the
operation they try to divert the attention of the
MUSSULMAN PRAYERS.
299
hoy, and almost stun him with noisy prayers and the
sound of numerous instruments. Then they console
him by representing the advantages he has just ob-
tained in being counted henceforth in the number of
Mussulmans, the sole elect of all the human family.
Notwithstanding the importance attached to circum-
cision, it is sometimes dispensed with when an infidel
embraces Islam beyond a certain period in life.
2. PRAYER must be offered five times every twenty-
four hours. From the minarets of all the mosques,
muezzins remind believers of the canonical hours, pro-
claiming aloud: “God alone is great; God alone is
God, and Mohammed is the apostle of God. Come
to prayer. Come to salvation,” etc.
There is something profoundly pensive and touch-
ing in this mournful air, issuing from above the house-
tops and floating through all parts of the city, in the
silence of the night. It is then the thought, faith and
hope of man, watchful amidst the majestic slumbers
of the world, and mounting slowly to God in solemn
modulations. The five canonical hours of prayer, are:
at dawn of day; at noon; at three o'clock, P. M.; at
twilight, and later in the evening.
Their prayer consists in repeating some verses
from the koran, which they select themselves, taking
special care never to omit the fetha or first chapter,
which is the prayer par excellence, and such pious
exclamations as “ Allahou Akbar,” which they utter
with groans and sighs, pressing their foreheads upon
the ground, and “ Selame, Selume," which they pro-
nounce, bending to the right and left as if moved by
angels. Their attitude varies. They begin in a
300
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
.
upon a
ers.
standing posture, with their upsandaled feet
little rug or something analogous, as a mat or sheep-
skin; for they would hardly know how to pray
upon the bare earth; some moments afterwards,
they bend simultaneously their knees; they then
lean forward, pressing their forehead upon the
ground; then they alternate between the upright
position, in reverence bending their bodies without
kneeling, and again press their foreheads upon the
ground. They must articulate distinctly their pray-
The Malekites, who are most numerous at
Tunis, chant them in a low key and with canonical
intonations. The Hanefites also pronounce them
with a low and solemn voice. The prayers must be
repeated audibly or they amount to nothing.
Before every prayer, they must purify themselves
by ablutions. Ablutions are of two kinds; the small
ablution, which is ordinarily practiced five times a
day; and the great ablution, by which they attempt to
rid themselves of all the impurities of the flesh. It
may not be uninteresting to indicate the method
which they have rigorously to follow in this religious
rite.
In the ordinary ablution, they strip their arms and
legs; then pour water into the right hand, then into
the left, and, proceeding to wash, they say: “In the
name of God, compassionate and merciful, I offer this
prayer.” They must take the rings from their fingers
or clean them, turning them round. It is rulable to
gargle the mouth and throat three times, and also
drawing water into their nostrils to snuff three times,
saying: “Make me breathe, Lord, the perfume of
ABLUTION AND ALMS-GIVING.
301
arm.
paradise.” Then taking water into the hollow of
the right hand, they wash successively with care the
face, ears and beard. They then wash their arms as
high as the elbow, always beginning with the right
Then bringing their hands together, they put
them in water, fingers first; then separating their
hands, they move them to their chin and wash their
neck; finally, they wash their feet, always beginning
with the right one, and not neglecting their toes in
the same order. When they are away from home at
the hour of prayer and have no water, they can go
through with their ablutions with fine sand, and in
case they have no sand, they select a clean stone or
neat spot, take off their rings from their fingers, their
sandals from their feet, spread their bernouse, make
the passes as if engaged in washing, and say their
prayers perhaps with as much favor as under ordi-
nary circumstances. Mussulmans do not regard the
gaze of men; wherever they are at the time of
prayer, they seek a favorable corner and offer their
prayer without false shame or affectation.
The great ablution must be performed in a bath or
in a flowing stream, and the following formalities are
repeated three times. They sprinkle the middle of
the body; then wash their hands, saying: “My
God, I would be totally cleansed from all my impuri-
ties; wilt thou cause that they disappear.” Then
they proceed as in the ordinary ablutions, always
washing their right side and right limbs first. After
the great ablution, they feel themselves justified and
in a state of angelic purity.
3. ALMS-GIVING is much recommended and exten-
302
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
sively practiced in Islamitish countries, not in favor
of people regardless of religion, but for the faithful.
It is unusual for a Mussulman to be so moved by the
wretchedness and distress of an infidel, as to provide
succor and relief. This would defraud the poor Mus-
sulman brother, who, in principle, is alone entitled to
the generosity of his co-religionist.
The holy law of the prophet teaches that alms-
giving closes seventy doors to evil, appeases the
wrath of God, and enables him who practices it dur-
ing his life, to triumphantly pass, at the final judg-
ment, over the bridge “Siraté,” which is narrow and
slender 'like the blade of a razor, and extends from
earth to heaven over the abysses of hell, into which
condemned mortals miserably fall while attempting
to pass. Mussulman alms-giving is performed with
fervor and zeal, but hardly corresponds to ideal
charity, which is the development and consecration
by religious thought of the natural instinct for com-
miseration. Mussulmans conform to the precept
that enjoins alms-giving because it is a precept.
Having, however, but a faintaidea of the fatherhood
of God, it is not strange that they but feebly appre-
ciate the brotherhood of man.
4. FASTING. The sacred month of Ramadan is the
ninth of the Mussulman year of twelve lunar months
and is devoted to fasting, because during that month
the koran descended from heaven.
Fasting is one of the bases of Islamism, as already
stated. It is very rigorous and consists in abstaining
not only from every article of food and beverage,
but from every perfume, pleasure and idle word, from
FASTING DURING RAMADAN.
303
the dawn of day to twilight; originally Mussulmans
had also to maintain absolute silence,
The Ramadan begins when, after the month of
Shahban, certain persons appointed to watch the
heavens declare on oath that they have seen the
new moon. The fasting must continue until it is
announced through the same formality that the moon
of the succeeding month has been seen.
At Tunis and in all cities where Islamism prevails,
including even Algiers where the French have had
the complaisance to keep up this usage, a discharge
of artillery announces to believers the commence-
ment of Ramadan, and during the entire month two
discharges of cannon a day, one at dawn and the
other at evening twilight, announce the beginning
and the close of the fast. At Tunis, they fire a can-
non simultaneously at the casbah and at the bardo,
the residence of the bey.
Every Mussulman youth at an age to exercise his
reason and not having the legitimate motive to right
action, is constrained to observe the fast through fear
of committing the great crime of infidelity which can
be legally atoned for only by a charitable contribu-
tion, a subsequent fasting of two entire months or
putting a slave at liberty. If one is sick or on a
journey or there be any other reason for dispensing
with the fast, he can do so with the advice of a good
counsellor on condition of compensating for this
omission, as soon as possible, according to the letter
of the law.
The first days of the fast are hard to endure, espe-
cially when they occur in summer; for Ramadan
304
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
makes the tour of the year, since the Mussulman
year is a lunar' year, and is always eleven or twelve
days shorter than our year. But these people be-
come by degrees habituated to their new order of
existence. They forget their hunger with pious
reading and conversation, and towards evening take
rides and walks. But rich people so well reward
themselves at night for the privations of the day,
that they lose none of their physical proportions
during the Ramadan. The daily fast serves but to
give them an appetite for their nightly feast. The
poor laborers, however, who are obliged to work in
the heat of the sun without the right of even moist-
ening their lips and assuaging their thirst, suffer
frightfully when they have to fast fifteen consecu-
tive hours. In general, during three-quarters of the
day, Mussulnian cities are plunged into a profound
calm, where all appear to be swooning from exhaus-
tion. Most of the shops are closed, and none are
frequented.
During Ramadan few Mussulmans are in the
streets, and many are sober, anxious, in bad humor
and more than ever disposed to seek quarrels with infi-
dels. They were formerly accustomed to assume an
air of superiority, especially towards Jews. Woe to
him whom they saw eating or smoking! It was in
their eyes at the same time a profanation and a
provocation, and often resulted in regrettible scenes.
Now, the pious fasters are much more moderate in
their demands. They understand that the time is
past for them to revenge their penance by tyranniz-
ing over those who do not and cannot share it. But
INFIDEL PROVOCATIONS.
305
much more! They bear with resignation the jesting
and teazing, sometimes quite unreasonable, which
Christians and Jews do not fear to indulge, eating
or smoking with cruel avidity in their presence;
and this last act is so much the more grave, as the
smoke of tobacco breathed even by chance imme-
diately breaks the fast for the day, and consequently
obliges them to fast in compensation another whole
day after the Ramadan is ended. . Notwithstanding
this, quarrels are rare; the faster is more forbearing
than he would like to be; be restrains his anger, and,
not to breathe the smoke floating around him, he
removes it with his hand or covers his mouth and
nostrils with his handkerchief.
As the evening draws nigh, the city shows signs
of life, and by degrees becomes animated and noisy.
Distinguished personages and rich Tunisian mer-
chants ride out in their carriages or upon richly
caparisoned mules, and ordinary persons go forth on
foot. All, however, withdraw from the promenades
so as to be at their homes at the sound of the can-
Meanwhile, at all the corners of the streets
are met poor people; some of them in an exhausted
condition, with a loaf of bread in one hand and a
little jar of water in the other, anxiously awaiting
the sound of the cannon. All at once the joyful
summons rings through the city. A merry shout
goes up, followed by a long murmur rising in every
direction, and neither bread nor water are lost be-
tween the hand and the mouth of those who were
awaiting the signal. All the minarets are. illumi-
nated; the solemn and drawling voice of the muezzin
non,
39
306
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
calls believers to the evening prayer. They break
the fast with this short invocation : “My God, I
have fasted to obey thee! I break the fast, feeding
myself with thy food! Pardon me all my sins;"
and forthwith they eat some light cake and fruits,
and soon proceed to make their first repast. To
defer it would be so much the more out of character,
as it is the custom of the Jews to wait a long time
after the period fixed for the end of their fast.
Though Tunis is gloomy and sad during the days
of Ramadan, it is animated and lively during the
nights. The illumination of the mosques throws
over the city, sunk in darkness, a gay and fantastic
air; the bazars and shops are lighted up and visited
for trade and curiosity. Multitudes of believers
and infidels throng the Mussulman quarter, which
becomes the centre of veritable nocturnal festivals.
In the cafés, story-tellers prattle with unusual vivac-
ity ; dancers exhibit their agility and skill, and rhap-
sodists chant in nasal tones love songs and mournful
ditties, while the auditors sip their coffee and smoke
their pipes in apparent delight. Jugglers, mounte-
banks and exhibitors of serpents and reptiles dispute
with each other elsewhere to gain public notice. But
we regret to refer to one significant feature of public
morals. He succeeds best and wins most money and
applause, whose exhibitions are the most indecent.
For example, Chinese ghosts, which are nothing but
the most disgusting and obscene pictures, magnified
and turned around to gratify the taste of depraved
persons, constitute a special attraction during the
evening hours. This disgraceful exhibition, which
MUSSULMAN LENT AND CARNIVAL.
307
would not be tolerated in a civilized community, is
witnessed by both sexes, including youth and even
children of tender age. Reflections here are super-
fluous.
The reader will perceive that this sacred month of
Ramadan constitutes a very rude lent during the day,
and a very free carnival during the night. The one
seems a compensation for the other. Utile dulci !
The mosques are open all night and grave and
pious people go there at least once in company with
their friends, with whom it is customary to pass the
larger half of the night which they give to feasting,
prayer and conversation, leaving but little time for
sleep which they take during the following day.
From the setting sun to the dawn of the following
day, they can eat, drink and amuse themselves to
satiety. The rich do not fail to avail themselves of
their privileges, and coffee, refreshments and sump-
tuous banquets succeed each other. Yet the rule is
to make only two substantial meals, one soon after
sunset and the other at three or four o'clock in the
morning, allowing, of course, intermediate refresh-
ments. But in general the tables are about as well
supplied at the collations as at the two stated meals.
The poor man tries to imitate afar off this sumptu-
ousness by spending his pitiful earnings, or by sup-
plying himself by begging from door to door. But
in general, he is limited to one meal, which he ren-
ders as abundant as possible, and, instead of colla-
tions, he is satisfied with some sweet-
meats or pastry,
such as haloua or zlebia.* At the dawn of day, the
* Haloua, literally meaning sweetness, is ordinarily composed of sugar or
308
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
fast begins with the sound of the cannon, and ceases
at evening twilight; and thus it occurs for twenty-
nine or thirty consecutive days, which is the greatest
length of Ramadan.
The night of the 26th is devoted to the commemo-
ration of the descent of the koran upon the earth.
God is thanked not only for this favor, but for the
sovereign act, which, at the same time, fixed forever
the destiny of each of his creatures. It is for this two-
fold reason that this night is called “ Leilet-el-Kader,"
the night of power, and the bey and his court, who are
habitually at the Bardo, always come to sleep in the
palace at Tunis. The aniination and joy of the city
become then very marked. The multitude come out
in their best attire, and illuminations are on every
hand. The mosques are still more frequented, and
his highness, the bey, goes to offer his prayers at the
principal mosque, passing through streets thronged
with people, who repeat the formula of respect and
devotion as faithful Tunisians: “May God protect
our sovereign."
The day, which succeeds the Ramadan is called the
Little Bairam, in distinction from the Great Bairam,
which comes later. This fête is celebrated at Tunis
with great pomp and merits special notice. At the
commencement of the evening watch, the discharge
of a cannon announces to believers the ceremonies
of the next day. All the notable personages of the
country and foreign consuls pay an official visit to
the bey, on which occasion the ceremony of kissing
honey, ginger, almonds, etc., and is sold by special traders called halouani.
Zlebia is a pastry fried in honey, and is much used during Ramadan.
CEREMONIES OF THE LITTLE BAIRAM.
309
the bey's hand is still observed by all Tunisian sub-
jects. At six o'clock in the morning, there reign in
the palace of the Bardo great animation and a joyous
air of festivity. The first court is occupied by a bat-
talion under arms.
The second court is filled with
Arab chiefs of a subaltern order. The steps.to the
white marble lions, which are an ordinary work of
art, and to the peristyle with elegant columns of
black and white marble, with arcades covered with
arabesques and wooden corridors in gaudy colors,
are also crowded by a multitude still more select,
composed of kuids, sheiks and superior officers. The
third and last court with elegant columns and a white
marble fountain, is occupied on one side by a line of
superior officers, generals and dignitaries, and, on the
other side, by a battalion of troops with their stand-
ards and bands of music. They are waiting for the
bey, who soon appears followed by the heir presump-
tive to the throne, the princes of the blood, his min-
isters, aides-de-camp, and officers of ordnance. As
he advances, giving salutations with his hand and
receiving them from all the personages present, the
latter fall back behind him and form a magnificent
cortege, which finally takes in the whole multitude
then assembled in the palace, and moves towards the
mosque with the discordant sounds of a native band,
composed of three base drums, three great cymbals
and of many bagpipes. These instruments of torture
for delicate ears are manoeuvred by native virtuosos.
This procession is led by twelve armed heralds, who
march a little in advance of the bey. They are clad
in red or scarlet, and carry staves resembling base-
310
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
drum sticks ornamented with small copper chains,
and they are commanded by their chief, who is ordi-
narily a man of for.nidable stature and embonpoint,
and who bawls out rather than pronounces the fol-
lowing words in the Turkish tongue:
6 Salvation
to all the people! May your life be long under the
providence of God, and the authority of the sultan,
our august master! May his life be long and happy!
May he live a thousand years !”
This is one of the remains of the ancient Turkish
ceremonial which the beys of Tunis like to preserve
with the view of showing their profound respect for
the sublime porte, however only in a purely religious
point of view. For Mussulman people are in general
contented and prepared to yield almost unlimited
authority provided appearances are kept up in favor
of their religion. It is in the midst of the inost
touching demonstrations of humility, veneration and
almost worship that the vassals of his highness come
each from his side to paralyze their sovereignty of
long standing and escaping from all authority ema-
nating therefrom, to put in its place only a purely
nominal and religious sovereignty.
But let us return from Constantinople to the bardo
to rejoin the bey at the mosque. Being infidels, we
cannot cross the threshold, but we soon know that
the prince has entered the sanctuary and that the
the bash mufti begins the customary prayers; for lo,
the signal. A salute of twenty-one cannon makes
the old walls of the Bardo tremble, and immediately
over the great entrance gate rises and floats majesti-
cally in the air the bagal
, the flag which is at the
RECEPTIONS OF THE LITTLE BAIRAM.
311
same time national and religious, having in bold re-
lief the double-bladed sword of Islamism, and in the
background green, red and yellow stripes interspersed
with crescents and stars.
The native music begins more noisyéthan ever;
the drums beat on the plains and the copper instru-
ments of enlisted musicians in a red uniform produce
sounds almost European. The bey returns to the
palace with the same ceremonial and by the same
way and proceeds to the hall of the throne. Form-
erly he sat in the third court under the portico formed
by the columns and in an armed-chair once belong-
ing to Hamouda Bashaw, which was made of the
bones of a whale that was stranded and taken in
shallow waters near the island of Gerba at the close
of the last century. Now it is in a veritable hall of
the throne built in European style, where the bey
has his grand receptions. In a splendid uniform, he
sits upon a throne which is an exact imitation of
that of Louis XIV, seen in the palace at Versailles,
risum teneatis, amici ? - and in an imposing attitude
he awaits the homage which is promptly paid him.
The ceremony of kissing the hand begins. The bey
of the camp and the princes, the ministers, the offi-
cers, the employés of the court of all ranks succeed
each other according to the law of the hierarchy
and of etiquette ; then come the sheik-el-Medina, the
prefect of police and the president of the munici-
pality with all their personnel; then the kaids of the
principal tribes of the interior, and the kaid of the
isle of Gerba. The governor and notable personages
of this isle are, with those of Tunis, the only ones
312
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
who enjoy the privilege of representing their fellow-
subjects on this occasion. The other cities of the
regency have no deputation.
After this first part of the ceremony, which lasts
about two hours, the bey passes into another hall
where he waits on a divan for the visit of all the
princes too young to take part in the preceding cere-
mony.
Soon the bash mufti of the Malekite sect, who is the
head of religion and of justice, arrives, followed by
all the learned men who compose his tribunal. This
group of dignitaries is truly imposing. They are
clad in the long native tunic and draped in a double
white bernouse and wearing on their high turban a
double white veil, except the bash mufti who wears
the green. They wear as another distinctive sign
morocco shoes entirely unlike each other; for one
foot they have a pump with light sole, and for the
other a slipper sharply pointed and turned over.
Their general aspect is picturesque and unique, and
their bearing dignified.
On their approach, the bey goes to meet them.
He kisses them upon the right shoulder, and they
kiss him upon the breast; then, while the bey sits,
all raising their hands to heaven, recite together the
first chapter of the koran:
“ Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds!
“ The compassionate, the merciful!
66 Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry
for help!
“ Guide Thou us in the straight path !
“In the path of those (Mussulmans) to whom Thou
hast been gracious !
UNIFORMS AND DECORATIONS.
313
« Not of those with whom Thou art angry! (Jews).
“ Nor of those who go astray.” (Christians).
After this prayer, each puts his right hand upon
his beard, and a conversation takes place between
the bey and the bash mufti; coffee and cake are
served; they then sprinkle the hands of all present
with rose water, and envelop the company in a cloud
of smoke made by burning perfumes. The bey and
his visitors recite anew the prayer; then the cortege
withdraws and the bey followed by his dignitaries
returns to his apartment.
The ceremony of kissing the hand of the bey is
continued for those who were not admitted on the
first day. On the second day of the festival the
consuls are received, as explained in Chapter IX.
The sights presented at the Bardo during these
great ceremonies are picturesque and varied. All
the civil and military uniforms are advantageously
seen, from those of ministers and major-generals to
those of secretaries and private soldiers. Some offi-
cers have for decorations broad ribbons with brilliant
colors; others plates of gold set with veritable bril-
liants, while the chevaliers of the order of Nishan wear
plates of pewter or some other base metal sprinkled
with pieces of white glass. The uniforms of the
zouaves are gaily embroidered. In gazing, we in-
voluntarily contrast the flowing and imposing cos-
tume of the Arab chiefs, consisting of turbans made
of camel's hair, white veils, silk robes, red embroid-
ered boots and magnificent bernouses, with the
pinched and quixotic habiliments of the surviving
Turkish troops. We see thus brought before us at
40
314
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the Bardo all the employés and notable personages
of Tunisia in the midst of a multitude, in which are
pressed and mingled together curious persons of
many races and countries, having each his type and
special dress, and all busily enjoying a sight, of
which they constitute a part.
On the tenth of the twelfth and last month of the
Mussulman year, takes place the fête called the Great
Bairam. The first day, which is the most important,
the fête lasting four days, is called the day of the
sacrifice. It is so called because all Mussulmans who
can, kill on that day some animal, as a sheep, ox, or
camel, and consume a part of its flesh and distribute
the rest by way of alms-giving. This bloody pass-
over is celebrated with great pomp at Mecca, where
pilgrims from all parts of the world flock together
won that day.
In regard to the Great and the Little Bairam, it is
to be remarked that the four orthodox sects of Islam-
ism do not designate them in a uniform manner.
Thus for the Hanefites and the Shafaites (oriental
sects), the Great Bairam is that which follows the
Ramadan ; while it is the feast of sacrifice for the
Malekites and Hambalites (western sects), who con-
stitute the majority of the people of Barbary.
The feast of the Great Bairam is solemnized in
North Africa with less splendor than that of the Lit-
tle Bairam; yet official receptions take place at the
Bardo as on the day after the Ramadan.
Another feast remarkable for the religious zeal to
which it gives place is the birthday of Mohammed, the
Mussulman Christmas. But, as there are no official
PILGRIMAGES TO MECCA.
315
receptions, its celebration is limited to religious cere-
monies, public amusements and alms-giving.
5. PILGRIMAGES TO MECCA. Every Mussulman ought
once in his life make the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is
a precept instituted by Mohammed, and is one of
the six bases of Islamism. Those who accomplish it
acquire the title of hadji (pilgrims), and the privilege
of wearing the red turban. In the early period of
Islamism, the califs and subordinate Mussulman
princes went in great pomp to Mecca, having a host
of attendants and making magnificent presents on
the way. Now, as for centuries past, such examples
are unknown. But most Mussulmans have, never-
theless, an earnest desire to make this religious jour-
ney, and while awaiting an opportunity, they com-
municate with those who accomplish it, and charge
them with bringing back souvenirs from the holy
places which they propose to visit later in life.
Each year numerous caravans depart from Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and the extreme orient,
at a time so as to be able, at the same period of the
year, to meet each other at Mecca. The itinerary
for each of them has been fixed for centuries, to-
gether with a list of the provisions required and of
the resting places at the various points on the
way. Every pilgrim caravan receives marks of re-
spect from the population along the way; but the
zeal manifested for its reception comes not alone
from the religious spirit. Pilgrims to Mecca are not
strangers to commercial speculations, and the numer-
ous classes of the Mussulman world which they meet,
are also occupied in promoting their material inter-
.
316
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ests. Most of these people go and return with small
quantities of merchandise, which they dispose of on
the way, and whose profits cover their expenses and
compensate them for the fatigues of the journey.
The day when the caravans pass any given point is
known in advance, and traders come from afar to
meet them, bringing provisions and taking in ex-
change the merchandise of the pilgrims. When the
pilgrims encamp in the desert, the exchanges are
made with each other. The caravan is under the
authority of a sheik or elder, assisted by a cadi, who
maintains order and decides all differences between
pilgrims.
Pious travellers, flocking from so many countries,
arrive in Arabia in three principal groups; first, those
from the west (North Africa); second, those from the
orient, and, third, those from Bagdad and the neigh-
boring regions. These three groups go on the very
day of their arrival at Mecca to Mount Arafat, from
whose consecrated summit an iman offers with a loud
voice a prayer to which the pilgrims listen with bare
heads and feet. According to a tradition, the number
of believers present at this solemnity must be on each
occasion 80,000. If it were more, God would reduce
it by a scourge; if less, the angels would complete it.
Then they go to worship (before) the black stone of
the holy kaabu, which is the temple built or at least
founded by Abraham. The black stone, which was
from time immemorial the object of an idolatrous
worship on the part of the ante-Islamitish Arabs, de-
scended from heaven, according to Mussulman tradi-
tion, perfectly white during the innocence of Adam,
THE KAABA.- ARAFAT.-ZEMZEM.
317
and became black only at his fall. Upon this stone
Abraham rested while superintending the construc-
tion of the kaaba, in which labor the angels took
part.
The sanctuary of the kaaba is erected in the mid-
dle of the vestibule of the great mosque at Mecca.
It is of a square form, and surrounded with a black
veil raised in festoons from point to point. Pilgrims
make the tour around the kaaba seven times with
naked feet, and with special tunic when they have
had the good fortune to perform their ablutions at
the sacred fountain of Zemzem. This is the same
fountain near which the angel found Hagar, shortly
before the birth of Ishmael. Every believer must
throw into it a pebble, and religiously partake of its
water. In short, pilgrims at Mecca spend fifteen
days going through with numerous religious cere-
monies, and then set off for Medina to complete
their pilgrimage by visiting the tomb of the prophet.
The mosque at Mecca is called the dwelling of God,
and that of Medina which contains the tomb of Mo-
hammed, the house of the prophet. The two cities are
inseparable in the veneration of believers, and are
frequently called the two Meccas. As the pilgrim-
age to Mecca is the only sign of the collective life
of Mussulmans, great importance is attached to it by
persons of every shade of belief; and, with a view of
affording facilities for making this long journey, the
French have annually sent steamers from Algeria,
touching at Tunis, since 1842, and there is now com-
petition among Mediterranean steamship companies
in securing the patronage of pilgrims. Great num-
318
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
bers take this inore expeditious and less painful way
by sea; but still a majority, who have not the means
of paying their passage, take the land route, which,
though particularly tedious and fatiguing, is regarded
as more meritorious.
Many Mussulmans make the pilgrimage to Mecca
a second time; and there are those who repeat it
many times, and their renown for holiness becomes
so much the greater, with some exceptions, which
have given place to a malicious Arab proverb of
ancient date: “If your neighbor has made the pil-
grimage to Mecca once, suspect him; if twice, be on
your guard, and if three tinies, move away from him.”
6. PROFESSION OF FAITH. Mussulmans are bound
on every occasion to make their profession of faith,
thus: “I bear witness that God is God, and Mo-
hammed is his prophet.” It is not enough to
adopt this creed; every Islamite is bound to impose
it on infidels, who must also adopt it or suffer the
prescribed penalties. This has been the prevailing
rule for the extension of Islamism. This armed
proselytisin is called the holy war. “Fight,” says the
koran, “ until all worship be that of the one God,"
evidently meaning until Islamism is everywhere
established. Proclaimed by the innan, the holy war
becomes obligatory on all. Riches and life must be
ready as a sacrifice for the cause of God. It is in
this sense that Mussulmans repeat the saying, that
“paradise lies in the shadow of swords.” Yet, before
beginning the attack, they must summon them to be
converted to Islamism. If infidels reject the sum-
mons, they may be punished by death or by the
1
PENALTIES FOR INFIDELITY.
319
infliction of a special tribute. Once all infidels in
Mussulman countries were subjected to this ordeal.
The prophet declared that the holy war should last
until the day of judgment; there might be a truce,
but never a peace. Thus the world is considered as
divided into two great hostile factions, believers on
one side and infidels on the other. These last, who
are the perpetual objects of the holy war, until they
are converted or submit to the tribute, have no right
to govern themselves or even to live. Government
belongs by right to Islamism, which tolerates the
independence and even the existence of infidels,
only while awaiting the favorable occasion to impose
upon them the alternative of the tribute or death.
Such is the scope of Islamism, as taught by the
koran, though practically it is now very tolerant.
SLAVERY, though long since abolished by the laws
of Tunisia, is sanctioned by the koran, on certain hu-
mane and paternal conditions. The slave is a servant
who belongs to the family, and who can demand to
be sold to another master, if he is not satisfied with
the one he has. After years of service, the slave or-
dinarily gains his freedom. He becomes then, as it
were, a dependent on the family, in which he passes
his declining years. A female slave who becomes a
mother by her master, acquires the same rights as a
wife, and her sons become citizens of the tribe with
all the rights and privileges possessed by their father.
These conditions, relatively mild, are an amelioration
which Islamism introduced into the manners of the
ante-Islamitish Arabs, among whom slavery was much
more rigorous; the son of a slave could become free
320
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
only by the will of his master, and never by right of
his origin. Among Mussulmans, slavery results from
this religious programme: Fight infidels; take pos-
session of them, and convert and regenerate them by
restoring them to freedom.
DERVISHES. The respect which Mussulmans mani-
fest for that which touches or seems to touch the
province of religion, is cultivated by a multitude of
gross, if not corrupt, idlers and vagabonds, who,
making a profession of poverty and devotion, are
called dervishes. These men are noted in most Is-
lamitish cities for their squallidness and pious pride.
There are many kinds of dervishes. Some are pious
and exemplary in their way; they wear the red
or green turban; have continually upon their lips
the name of God and of the prophet, or select verses
from the koran and avail themselves of every occa-
sion to talk against infidels; and, in return, are the
objects of great veneration on the part of believers,
who emulate each other in providing for all their
wants. Others are stupid or idiotic creatures, cov-
ered with disgusting rags or nearly naked, given to
drink, uttering inarticulate cries, practising ventrilo-
quism, muttering in barbarous tones sacred words
and not satisfied with exorbitant liberties, take
shameful and revolting license. No restraint is im-
posed upon them. . Their folly itself, if observed,
becomes in the eyes of Mussulmans a sign of predes-
tination; for orientals have for insane and idiotic
people in general a sort of superstitious deference;
and with good reason when these wretched creatures
RELIGIOUS FRATERNITIES.
321
become dervishes, who are in some respects the men-
dicant monks of Islamism.
RELIGIOUS FRATERNITIES. There are found through-
out the Mussulman world and especially in North
Africa religious fraternities, which have a great
number of mosques and zawias. They are restricted
to certain practices, and their conditions and rules re-
semble certain secret societies of the Christian world.
Naturally only Mussulmans are admitted into them,
as they are established mainly to promote Islamism.
We shall mention, as the most singular of these
fraternities, that of the Aicawias, founded by Sidi
Mohammed-Ben Aica. The entire city of Maknas in
Morocco belongs to this order. There are some of
the members of this fraternity in Algeria, but more
in Tunisia where, about the time of the anniversary
of the birth of Mohammed, they make solemn pro-
cessions to their quarters and, at the conclusion of
their devotions, give themselves up to certain inex-
plicable and repulsive practices. Arranging them-
selves in a circle under the direction of their chief,
they chant in their peculiar style grave prayers in
honor of their founder. Then accompanied with
cymbals and drums, and becoming gradually ani-
mated by the music, they raise their voices and
quicken their time and are thus wrought up by the
precipitate rythm of their strange concert to such a
pitch of excitement that they appear like maniacs.
At length, their songs become little more than savage
cries, accompanied with wild gestures and convulsive
contortions. Then some of the brethren, breaking
41
322
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
from the ranks and dancing upon the same line,
draw from the pit of their stomach in hollow and
rough tones the sacred name of “Allah” (God), pro-
nouncing it each time with an intonation more sav-
age. Soon the sound augments and becomes a
tumult. Playing and dancing cease. The sheshias
and turbans fall from their shaven heads; the sashes
around their loins are loosened and drop to the
ground; they cease to dance, becoming hampered
and entangled on every hand; disorder is complete.
The most furious of the company fall upon their
hands and knees, pale and crazed, with haggard eyes
and contracted mouth, and imitate, each according to
his ability, the movements and cries of ferocious ani-
mals with a frightful and deplorable naturalness.
When the excitement has become fearfully spas-
modic and convulsive, the Aicawias, covered with
perspiration, exhausted, panting and shaking with
sudden nervous chills, prepare to begin the juggler-
ies for which they have become renowned through
the entire Mussulman world. They call with loud
cries on their chief for food. He responds to their
request, giving them pieces of glass, which they
break between their teeth, and thistles, thorns and
nails, which they swallow or appear to swallow.
Some of them take into their hands and lick with
their tongues red-hot irons, without appearing to
perceive the heat. Others wound themselves with
knives, and, joining their feet together, leap upon
the blades of swords extended before them; put
their hands into bags, drawing out serpents, lizards
and venomous scorpions, and torturing them while
+
JUGGLERIES AND FUNERALS.
323
full of life between their beautiful teeth. Sometimes,
they pounce like wolves upon a living ram, beat the
creature to death, and, tearing his limbs apart with
their shrivelled hands, hideously devour his raw and
palpitating flesh; break his bones and horns, and,
covered with blood, the filth of entrails and bits of
flesh and wool, utter forth beastly howls, and leap,
gnashing their teeth.
Mussulmans attribute all these practices, in which
the Aicawias indulge with impunity, to a supernatural
cause. Europeans do not offer any satisfactory ex-
planation ; for the marvel does not consist in appear-
ances alone; since more than once physicians have
testified that these persons receive dangerous wounds
while practising their juggleries, without however
experiencing serious consequences, such as would
result to other men.
FUNERAL OBSEQUIES. At the death of men and
women of every condition, the servants of the house
as well as the relatives and friends of the family rend
their clothes and disfigure their faces, uttering pierc-
ing cries. When the head of the family dies, his
widow dresses in black and puts a rope around her
head and body; then, with dishevelled hair and bruised
and bloody face, she enters the room of the dead,
where his relatives and friends are assembled, and
where they form at her arrival a concert of groans
and howls, to which are added the deafening noise of
funeral drums. This tumult is interrupted only to
hear a eulogy upon the deceased, pronounced extem-
poraneously by some one or more of the attendants,
though frequently varied by other noisy manifesta-
324
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
tions of grief. This lasts some time, during which
relatives, friends and appropriate officers cease not to
recite prayers around the dead body, placed unveiled
upon a low table.
Then they carefully stop with
cotton all the openings of the body, and the corpse
is then washed with water aromatized with camphor
and perfumes. Rich and poor must be sewed in a
shroud of new linen. Then they proceed to the
cemetery, bearing the body extended upon a bier,
with a pall more or less costly according to the con-
dition of the parties. The bier is borne upon the
shoulders of four men who are relieved on the way
by others. The procession is led by religious per-
sons, who recite with saddened animation passages
from the koran. Multitudes continue to join the
funeral party till they reach the grave. There, after
new prayers, the dead man in his winding sheet is
placed at the bottom of an arched grave, built for
him according to his rank and wealth, and covered
with brick well white-washed, or with a polished mar-
ble slab with pious inscriptions. The graves of men
are distinguished by a little column surrounded by a
turban; and those of women by a little pillar of a
square form though round at the top. At certain
fixed periods, the relatives of the dead visit the grave;
the women are also authorized to go there to mourn,
provided they go alone.
When a person who has a reputation for sanctity
is buried, everybody is eager to assist as one of the
bearers, or at least to touch his shroud. At the de-
parture from the house of the dead and at every halt
of the procession for changing bearers, a pious com-
1
MOSQUES AND RELIGIOUS SERVICES.
325
petition, sometimes involving blows, is manifested by.
those who would render assistance, and the force of
the blows is naturally in direct proportion to the rep-
utation of the dead. Holy personages in whose be-
half these warlike posthumous demonstrations are
made ordinarily obtain the honor of having a place
of prayer built over their grave, which becomes a
scene for miracles.
THE MOSQUES have high walls, provided only with
small windows, that are inserted nearer to the roofs
than to the floors of the buildings. Within, are por-
ticos which lead to the sanctuary, composed of one
or of several naves divided by colonnades. The
mosques have no images or pictures; for the Islamite
is an iconoclast. The walls are naked or simply or-
namented with verses from the koran in relief.
Chandeliers and lamps hang midway between the
roof and the ground. The floor is covered with
mats; for worshippers leave their shoes at the door.
Nothing is more simple than their ceremonies. They
pray with a loud voice and listen to a kind of ser-
mon, which is pronounced from a pulpit situated
always at the left near a niche whose base is the
floor of the mosque. This niche is more or less or-
namented and indicates the point towards which
worshippers must turn in order that their prayers
may be effectual. The preacher in the pulpit has
always his right hand resting on a staff or a wooden
sword, which is an einblem of authority and of the
holy war.
On Friday, which is the Mussulman Sabbath, the
mosques are crowded at the noon-day hour for
326
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
prayer, when special petitions are offered in behalf
of the Grand Sultan, who holds the same relation to
most of the faithful that the Pope of Rome holds to
the body of Catholic Christians. The Mussulmans
of Algeria, it is said, offer a prayer for the Emperor
of the French. It is doubtless a prayer with some
cunningly devised words and a mental reservation to
save them from committing such a terrible impiety
as a genuine expression of good-will would imply.
The mosques are visited almost exclusively by the
men. Women are not positively prohibited from
going there; but if they go, they must go alone, un-
less they are old and ugly looking. The men, fear-
ing that their attention might be diverted by the
presence of females, undertake to display zeal and
devotion enough for all.
The mosques are ordinarily surmounted with white
or green cupolas tapering like pyramids, and the
minaret overlooks the whole building. It is a square,
round or hexagonal tower, rising to a great height
with a look of nakedness, and bearing, into the azure
on the summit of the pyramid which crowns it and
above the gilt ball of bronze, the glorious crescent of
Islamism. It is much oftener the contrast of the
colors and materials, than the labor of the chisel that
animates the coldness of the minarets and mosques,
all of which seem to reflect in their outlines the
sadness of fatalism and the gravity of the koran.
SUPERSTITIONS. Besides the existence of angels and
demons, Mussulmans in general admit that of differ-
ent kinds of spirits, some of which are good and
some evil. The genouns are genii of both sexes ap-
GENII AND DEMONS.
327
pointed to guard underground treasures. They can
exercise extraordinary power at their pleasure. They
are ordinarily propitiated and their good offices se-
cured by means of talismans, cabalistic words and
magic operations. These genii show themselves in
general as formidable giants, uttering frightful cries,
which men cannot understand without being over-
come. When they are of the female sex, they lend
superior charms and attractions to their votaries.
These are the fairies, peris and undines of the legends
of most European people in the middle age.
The formidable ogres with the mongrel features of
men and beasts, haunting the saddest ruins and soli-
tudes, and holding in their deformed and hideous
claws pieces of human flesh or entire dead bodies,
wander solitary in the track of belated travelers, fas-
cinate and devour them, and as guests in cemeteries,
profane the tombs. The silahs, a species of the ogre
family, inhabit ponds and deep waters. When they
take human beings, they sport and play with them
as cats do with mice. An astonishing fact is that, by
the permission of God, wolves are the bitter enemies
of silahs, and can devour them if they reach them.
The amloucs partake of the nature of men and of
silahs, whose habits they have. The delhaths, which
have a human form, inhabit distant isles and deserts
and look after ships in distress to make a prey of all
on board. The hirriths are the genii of deserts, tor-
menting travelers with heat and thirst. The mazhabs
are demons which delight in placing lights before
travelers and rendering them various services with
the object of effecting their ruin. The raddars or
328
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
hobgoblins call with loud cries persons, who if they
unfortunately reply, find a sharp and crooked cudgel
suddenly thrust through their bodies. The shicks
and the nasnas have only half the length of the
luman body, presenting on one side all our features
and on the other a simple silhouette ; they have only
one eye, one arm and one leg, but nevertheless they
can make prodigious leaps and run with astonishing
rapidity. They attack everywhere lost and belated
travelers.
All these strange beings can enter into communica-
tion with us, aside from their sudden attacks. They
can take possession of individuals of one or the other
sex according as they themselves are masculine or
feminine. The persons ordinarily beset by them are
subject to incurable maladies, such as epilepsy and
convulsions. The obsession or possession is mani-
fested at first by nervous attacks or simply by hypo-
chrondia. To solace the afflicted, or rather disconcert
and disarm the demon, special musical or rather
noisy concerts, are given with tabors and various
stringed instruments. Under the influence of music,
the afflicted, who are almost all females, begin to
dance, and as the music becomes lively the dance
becomes rapid and more frantic until the dancers
fall exhausted upon the floor. It is then that in the
midst of languishing groans the malignant spirit con-
strains them to manifest that which it demands to be
appeased. Often it is a particular dress with bril-
liant colors; for these genii, or rather the women
which they afflict, foolishly adore pretty dresses; it
may be some odd and expensive food, a change of
PROFESSIONAL EXORCISTS.
329
residence to some other house or place, and if these
desires are gratified, the spirit shows itself appeased
and reasonable.
But these diseases can be radically cured only by
exorcising the malignant spirit by means of cer-
tain religious and cabalistic formulas. In all Mus-
sulman countries, there are some pretended exor-
cists who are much consulted and who gravely
maintain the honor of their calling. But their ser-
vices are said to be attended with danger; for these
genii are vindictive. I have known an old taleb, who
pretended to expel malignant spirits without fail; his
reputation was in all the country around. He was
wont to give amusing accounts of the tricks which
these spirits played on him. They put his furniture
out of order, burned his books and papers, suddenly
inflicted upon him sharp pains, shook his house,
deafened him with formidable noises, frightened him
with horrid images; in fine, disturbed his sleep, in-
flicting upon him frightful dreams, and literally tor-
menting his life. But there was a limit to their
malicious power. As to this life of ours,
God
pro-
tects it as with an impenetrable buckler by means of
a passage from the koran, with which the taleb was
always armed and which he repeated with a loud
voice and with perfect success, unless perchance he
was caught off his guard. But the spirits neverthe-
less returned to the charge more spiteful than ever
at each failure of their efforts against their adversary,
whose destruction they had sworn; but he always
met them with a strong resolution never to become
their victim, though always subject to their assaults.
42
330
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
•
Strange stories circulate in all Tunisia, as through-
out the orient, about nocturnal scenes of which
certain houses are the theatre. There are, in fact,
dwellings which the genouns and sheetans (demoniacal
spirits) specially delight to occupy. These are gen-
erally those where clandestine murders have been
committed or treasures are buried; and the burial of
important treasures is usually connected with the
murder of some black servant. These houses are
filled, especially during the gloomy nights of the
rainy season, with groans, shrill cries and clear bursts
of laughter, succeeded by strange apparitions or by
the movement and agitation of a multitude, who
shake and overturn everything without appearing in
visible form. Who would enter great deserted suites
of rooms, or risk, in solitary corridors, dying of fright
or receiving formidable thumps or becoming mad by
the things he might suddenly see or the diabolical
noises that would rend his ears? Numerous exam-
ples are cited of these victims of imprudence or des-
tiny.
Even in ordinary houses, it is necessary to guard
against malignant spirits by being circumspect in act
and word; for there are persons who strangely offend
them and excite their wrath. It is a protection to
have at every occurrence the name of God on the
lips and invoke at the very moment of danger His
protecting aid by means of the following formula :
“We invokę, the protection of God against Satan
accursed." For all malignant spirits depend on Satan,
and in weakening his empire in general by invoking
the name of God, they disconcert all his satellites
from one end of his hierarchy to the other.
WIZARDS AND THEIR TRADE.
331
They also have recourse to amulets and talismans,
formed generally with verses or words from the
koran, but which have their full effect only by a spe-
cial arrangement which is understood exclusively by
men of the profession, such as magicians, necroman-
cers, exorcists and enchanters. By means of these
talismans, which they sell at a very moderate price,
considering their value, these men exercise not only
a repressive power upon malignant spirits, but heal
some diseases reputed to be incurable, alleviate oth-
ers, inspire with love whoever has a right to it, and
in general bring luck and fortune to all their patrons.
There are, besides, persons whose special vocation
is to discover hidden treasures, find out unknown
robbers, unveil the future, and call up images of the
dead and of the living, holding positions similar, we
presume, to that held by the witch of Endor in the
time of Saul of Tarsus. In short, in Tunisia and
throughout the Mussulman world, ancient supersti-
tion reigns and governs with all its force in the midst
of moral blindness and material wretchedness.
Among the superstitions in vigor in Mussulman
countries, is that of the evil eye.
These people
believe that by expressing astonishment, disgust or
admiration in reference to some quality of a person
in his presence occasions misfortune, and that the
turn of an eye may also effect mischief. To prevent
this bad effect, it is recommended never to offer a
compliment without adding, “tabarek Allah,!” may
God bless! This pious invocation shields him who
makes the compliment from harm. As to him who
is the object of it, certain amulets having the form
332
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of a hand and of a fish are employed with the same
result. In conspicuous places in all houses, baths,
cafés and public buildings, especially in those which
are newly built, are painted in lively colors myste-
rious hands and fishes, and many ladies imitate in
their dresses these two forms. The teeth of fish, the
horns of certain animals, branches of corals, crescents,
including horse shoes and all objects which present
several points of view are employed as preventives
to the evil eye.
The bad influence of the stars is also very much
dreaded. Eclipses of the sun and moon give occasion
to manifestations of general terror and to processes
of conjuration to prevent disastrous influences. These
processes consist in uttering prolonged cries and
stoutly beating musical or rather discordant instru-
ments, including all the metalic utensils of the
kitchen. The impression seems to prevail that this
unearthly clatter must reach the celestial spheres,
appeasing the wrath of the Most High and bringing
back light from the averted face of the sun and
moon; and as they witness the gradual disappearance
of the frightful phenomena and the restoration of
the heavenly order, they are confirmed in their
views.
With these superstitions is connected the practice
of astrology, whose adepts are found among learned
Mussulmans who still occupy themselves, as did the
astrologers of olden time. They gravely draw horo-
scopes and ransack for years the folios consecrated to
this pretended science, whose infallibility appears to
them certain. This opinion is confirmed by numer-
ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS.
333
ous examples of coincidence between the horoscopes
and the events predicted. They cite among others
the verification of astrological prophecies about seve-
ral of the Beys of Tunis, the duration of whose reign
and even the order of succession was predicted many
years in advance of the event.
CHAPTER III.
Ghe Mussulman Woman* and the Mussulman Problem.
wel
OMEN among the Arabs played a great part
previous to the time of Islamism. Regarded
as elevated creatures, almost super-human, keen-
witted, intelligent, poets by inspiration and by tradi-
tional education acquired without letters, the women
excited to combat and to deeds of valor and venge-
ance, or became magnanimous mediators between
hostile tribes. Conscious of their power and impor-
tance, like the Roman matrons, they hesitated not to
resort to bold measures and extraordinary expedients
to promote the interest and glory of their tribes, to
which they sometimes left their names.
Islamism put a stop to their intervention in pub-
lic affairs, and seriously injured them by contracting
their sphere of activity as moral and intellectual
beings; but on the other hand it regulated their
* The koran speaks of women in the following chapters: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9,
16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31, 33, 36, 46, 60, 65, 66, 70.
THE PROPHET'S MATRIMONIAL TROUBLES.
335
position in the family by constituting the husband
the sole ruler of the household.
Before the time of Mohammed, the Arabs took as
many wives as they could maintain, and an unlim-
ited number of concubines and slaves. Mohammed
limited the number of wives to four, and left unde-
termined the number of concubines or slaves. But
divorce gives the husband liberty to take successively
ten, twenty, forty lawful wives. With the anti-Islam-
itish Arabs, female captives were at the mercy of the
conqueror. At the present time, this rule holds if
they are Mussulman, but they must be respected.
In regard to women, as to property of other kinds,
Mohammed naturally enjoyed, in his character as
prophet, extraordinary privileges. Thus every Mus-
sulman had to divorce his wife in order to pass her
over to the prophet, if the latter wished it; but no
one had the right to marry a woman who had once
belonged to Mohammed. At his death, he left nine
wives who always remained widows. It was lawful
for him to marry a woman without her consent or
that of her parents, and even without a wedding
present, which was essential for ordinary persons; he
was also privileged to take any woman he might
choose for his concubine.
He was the husband at one time of seventeen
instead of four wives, and had withal a touch of con-
nubial infelicity. Jealousy sprang up among his
wives on the following occasion. He had received
as a present from the governor of Egypt two beau-
tiful slaves, one of whom he chose for his concubine,
Maria the Copt, who became his favorite and had a
336
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
son Ibrahim (Abraham) who died in his boyhood;
but Maria was enfranchised before the death of the
child. The partiality of the prophet for Maria, how-
ever, caused discord in the family. Mohammed
divorced. Hafsa, the principal malcontent, and sum-
moned his other wives to behave with discretion and
propriety. He deprived them for a whole month of
his presence, devoting himself exclusively to Maria.
He consented then to take back the repentant Hafsa.
The sixty-sixth chapter of the koran is mostly
devoted to these domestic details. According to the
koran, God intervened to establish order and peace.
He admonished the refractory women, declaring
Himself for Mohmamed and giving him the right to
divorce at his pleasure all his wives; He also notified
the latter that He (the Most High) would enable the
prophet to make an advantageous exchange.
It can be said in a general way that Mohammed
had a great and delicate tenderness for women.
He tasted with a relish the pleasures of the family.
He loved and loaded with caresses his daughter
Fatima. To him is attributed that beautiful and pro-
found saying, that man attains paradise at the feet of his
mother. He was, towards all Mussulman females,
gentle and benignant, giving them words of encour-
agement, consolation and hope. He extolled mar-
riage, and, it can be added, confirmed his precept by
his example.
When he began his mission, human sacrifices were
common and women were everywhere victims. He
abolished these sacrifices. Also, girls were often
buried alive soon after their birth or abandoned in
ABOLISHMENT OF HUMAN SACRIFICES.
337
the desert because the father wished for a son, or
being poor, refused to support a useless child and risk
dishonor at a later day. These usages were particu-
larly in vogue among the Korishites, the tribe of
Mohammed. Zaid-Ben-Amer, an Arab chief who
became later in life a Mussulman, had combated
these cruel usages before the prophet's time and, pur-
chasing the victims, had acquired a glorious renown
among his people, by whom he was called “the man
that raiseth from the dead.” Mohammed persevered
and achieved this reform, inserting in the koran ener-
getic protests against these odious practices: “Do
not kill your children through fear of want and
wretchedness; to them and you we (God) will give
all things needful.”
Islamism regulated the material and social position
of woman; it accorded her some rights but it cut off
her intellectual enjoyments and weakened her moral
influence by limiting her sphere of action and her
range of thought. To secure fidelity, it built up the
harem, that veritable prison, where emasculate beings
guard and often torture unfortunate women, hence-
forth prisoners and captives according to the very
expression of Mohammed, who recommends them
with this title to the kind care of the husband. AC-
cording to the koran, woman is under the protection
of temporary or conditional marriage; but every
contract of marriage which does not attribute some
value to the woman, by naming the marriage dower
or wedding present, is null and void. According to
the Mussulman law, marriage is virtually a sale, and
woman is the article passed over to the purchaser;
43
338
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the husband must always buy- not win - his wife.
The minimum price is fixed at about forty cents,
while the maximum price is unlimited, but no woman
would consent to be married for the minimum price.
The marriage dower is then in the Mussulman world
a very important consideration.
The respect which Islamism recommends for woman
is only to prevent any harm befalling her husband
any man related to her; it is not for the woman
herself; for the most serious Arab books are filled
with severe inaxims against her, and pretend that
ancient wisdom sustains the conclusion that woman
is nothing but deceit ånd incarnate perfidy.
This explains the kind of life to which woman is
condemned, and which is sanctioned and forcibly
established by the severity of the law that gives
over the adultress to be stoned to death or drowned
as a public malefactor. But the end proposed is
probably less generally attained than is imagined.
The harem is not the place where spotless purity is
to be found; the inevitable consequence of imprison-
ment and hard treatment on the mere hypothesis
that she is capable of perfidy and deceit is to drive
woman into the most pitiful excesses. Suspected of
criminal intentions and subjected to hardships on
that account, she seeks and too readily finds means
to justify the common opinion in regard to her char-
acter.
Before Mohammed's time and in the first period of
Islamism, the forms of family relations had still their
primitive character. Woman preserved a kind of
dignity, and regarded herself, and was regarded, as
1
REMARKABLE ARAB WOMEN.
339
endowed with attributes and rights which entitled
her to rank with her husband. Among the cele-
brated women of this class, we shall name only seven
who were illustrious in the Arab traditions previous
to the time of Mohammed. In the early period of
Islamism, was the famous Zobaida, who acted the same
part for Calif Haroon-er-Rashid as the nymph Egeria
performed for Numa at Rome. These seven women
are the four wise women of ancient Arabia : Sohr,
Anna, Jouma, and Tlind, celebrated for their poetic
talents, the nobleness of their characters, and their
influence over their tribes; and the three happy
mothers : Cabya, Mawia and Fatima-ben-Koni-Shoub,
celebrated, like the mother of the Gracchi, for the
superior education they gave their sons, who became
men of mark.
Now, the husband is the master and despotic sov-
ereign over his wife. Not only she has no delibera-
tive voice, but, created for the pleasure and material
advantage of man, and reduced to serve as living fur-
niture more or less precious, she inust never forget
her position; for besides the legal right of removing
her from his presence and shutting her up, the hus-
band can exercise also that of beating her with the
full authority of the koran itself, or can delegate to
hideous eunuchs that coercive power.
There were once among the Arabs marriages which
took place in consequence of the sympathy, affection
and inclination of the parties immediately concerned.
Now there are scarcely any inquiries made, and no
information is given except in regard to the physical
condition and docility of the woman in question.
340
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS. '
There is not one woman in a hundred thousand who
receives any instruction properly so called. From
infancy she is prepared for marriage, but materially,
by employing every means to give her embonpoint,
vanity, and taste for dress. The betrothal of a young
girl is sometimes made while she is in the cradle.
Ayesha was engaged to Mohammed when she was
five years old and was married when she had hardly
reached her ninth year.
The man never sees the female to whom he is
engaged till the ceremony is concluded, unless she be
of the lower class. She remains impenetrably veiled
if, contrary to usage, he be permitted to approach
her for conversation. Communication between them
is ordinarily carried on through a fernale mediator,
who goes from house to house, or from tent to tent,
or else, when it takes place directly, a curtain, mat
or carpet is used like a partition to separate the two
lovers.
Once, on the contrary, the Arab woman enjoyed
the liberty of her person and asserted her right to
employ her arts in deciding who should be her hus-
band. She sought a husband or waited to be sought
as a wiſe at her option. She could test his intelli-
gence and learn his character by means of skilful
questions and artful devices. Often she consulted
with her mother or sisters and other friends. To-
day she is disposed of like an article of furniture,
without even being notified of her sale until it is
effected.
Marriages are contracted by an arrangement be-
tween parents or by means of old women who are
MARRIAGE CEREMONY AND DOWER.
341
by profession marriage brokers. But it is always the
fathers or relatives who decide on the terms for the
wife. When the terms are arranged, they are re-
ported to the Cadi, who reduces them to writing,
stating just what the dowry shall be, and what money
and other presents shall be given the bride. This
contract is put on record. The first chapter of the
koran is repeated and the day fixed for the marriage.
When that day arrives, the bride is as richly apparel-
led as her circumstances will permit; her eyes are
powdered with koheul ; her fingers are colored with
henna, her person saturated with perfumes, and she is
gravely seated upon a sofa and awaits the setting
sun, the moment when her relatives and those of her
betrothed and his intimate female friends who have
aided her in her morning toilet, come to conduct her
to her husband. Two old men take her by the hand
and the procession commences, frequently joined by
throngs of people with torch lights and music. In
the house of the bridegroom a room is prepared,
ornamented and lighted. The bride and the women
of her suite feast there and remain till midnight,
while the men remain in another room, where they
partake of a sumptuous banquet. It is a curious
fact that the bridegroom takes his refreshment alone
in a separate room, doubtless with a view of avoiding
the temptation to commit excesses at the table and
of being able, by means of abstinence, to present him-
self in the most favorable light to his bride. The
bridegroom and bride come together at inidnight, the
sacramental hour when the mosques are reöpened ;
the friends, after the usual display of compliments,
342
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
retire one by one, leaving the married pair in each
others' presence.
The wife then removes her veil
and shows herself for the first time to her husband.
The husband, more or less moved according to his
nature and the attractions of his wife, proceeds to
the final ceremony which devolves upon him, and
which consists in removing one by one the jewels of
his wife and then gradually taking off all the orna-
ments upon his own person. During all these pre-
liminaries the bride preserves profound silence, which
she breaks only when her husband offers her a present
as an expression of his joy at possessing her at last
as his companion for life.
Thus generally a young girl, who is nothing in
point of education or intelligence, passes as it were
from the lap of her mother to the arms of her hus-
band, and moves cheerfully on to undergo the vicis-
situdes of a Mussulman household; a wife, she has to
encounter rivals; a mother, she must be resigned to
see other children who are strangers to her and who
become odious as rivals of her sons, share with the
latter the tenderness of their common father and
often even secure his preference. But the duty is
positive and the law of the koran inflexible.
It is interesting to note in this connection Moham-
med's ideas in regard to woman and her matrimonial
duties, as shown in a colloquy between him and his
dear Ayesha, the most spiritual and beloved of all his
wives. Injurious reports were circulated in regard
to the fidelity of this Ayesha, who was married at a
tender age when she might have been a granddaugh-
ter of the prophet. But a divine revelation, explained
.
A COLLOQUY ABOUT WOMEN.
343
rous.
in many verses of the koran, proclaimed the inno-
cence of the well-beloved wife. * It is from Ayesha
herself that we derive our knowledge of this collo-
quy. We give an abridgement and modification of
the translation by Dr. Perron, the distinguished orien-
talist and director of the Imperial Arab College of
Algiers.
.“In the infernal regions, says Mohammed, I have
seen that it is you women who are the most nume-
It is because you have neither patience to
suffer pain nor gratitude iv return for blessings; you
are unmindful of your benefits and indulge in injuri-
ous words; your spirit is easily darkened; your under-
standing is inferior, and your religious deeds are
incomplete. At times, you know, God accepts neither
your prayers, nor your fasts, since you are in a state
of impurity. You are then especially deficient in
your religious duties. As to the inferiority of your
understanding, it is proved by the divine law which
makes the testimony of two women only equal to
that of one man. Is not that, Ayesha, to be morally
inferior? The wife is under the authority of her
husband. He regards her with complaisance and
loads her with favors; and yet she, in a fit of anger
or vexation, tells him that she receives no proof of
his solicitude. God takes note of this unworthy con-
duct and the angels indignantly cast her aside. For
not to acknowledge the favors of the husband is not
to acknowledge the favors of God. Ayesha, my dear
Ayesha, the woman who dishonors her husband or
utters bitter words, putting herself in a state of hos-
* Soe koran, chapter xxiv, 11th and following verses.
344
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
66
tility to him, shall come out of her grave in the day
of judgment with her tongue lengthened out to
resemble a dull flesh-colored light, seventy cubits
long; which fearful member shall wind around her
neck like a hideous collar. Every woman who, fixing
discontented looks upon her husband, shall speak
shameful words, God will twist her eyes, deform her
body, and transform her person into a mere loath-
some and repulsive mass of flesh. Every woman
who seeks by her dress and coquettish airs to attract
the gaze of other men takes the road to perdition.
Ayesha, every woman of gentle speech, rich in
works of benevolence, interested for her husband,
fond of her children, and well disposed towards every
creature of God, shall enter into paradise with the
messiahs and prophets of the Lord. Ayesha, the
Angel Gabriel has told me that woman was formed
of a rib; now, how can we put a rib in its place
again without breaking it? Enlighten other women
with your counsels! Recommend without cessation
all women to practise virtue and do good! If the
days of woman have their trials, they have also their
recompense. The woman who has brought a child
to her husband has all the merits of fasting in the
time of abstinence, of praying during the watches of
the night, and of the believer who in the midst of
dangers combats the enemies of the faith. On the
day of child-birth, angels hover around her; at each
affectionate approach, an unhappy mortal is delivered
from the torments of hell and the sins of the mother
are pardoned, even though they be as numerous as
the leaves of the trees. At the moment when the
MUSSULMAN HUSBANDS AND WIVES.
345
child comes to the light of day, the angels say:
Happy mother! God protect thee with His compas-
sion!' And if the wife succumbs to her sufferings,
God gives her an abode with the elect.”
And after speaking once more of the chastise-
ments which await the woman who speaks injurious
words against her husband, the prophet thus con-
cludes his remarks: “ And then, also, my dear Ayesha,
the husband, who with caressing words cheers and
encourages his wife, shall receive ten favors from
God; the husband, who with benevolent arms shall
press his wife to his heart, shall receive twenty favors
from God; and the husband who tenderly kisses his
wife shall receive for each kiss thirty favors from
God!”
The enumeration here ends; and, without entering
into further details, Mohammed resumes his remarks
about matrimonial life, and concludes them as follows:
“Yes, the lawful caresses of husbands are
pensed with the favors of the Lord.”
We see that the wife must not only be pure and
loyal; she must subject herself without restriction or
reserve to her husband ; if she fail to do this, she
loses her chances of happiness in another world.
Nay, more: according to time-honored tradition, if
she incur even the displeasure of her husband without
receiving his pardon before her death, fearful conse-
quences will befall her in the other life. Her mission
is limited to conjugal pleasures, patience and obedi-
ence, which, considered aside from a higher principle,
are only the virtues of slaves. As to her part in the
education of her children, in the development of
44
346
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
society and in elevating the spirit and heart of her
husband, no question is raised.
And where and what are the duties of the husband?
They appear to consist alone in caresses and purely
material kindnesses, which have some importance if .
shown to the wife as well as to the mother; but the
true mission of the wife and mother, her part in the
formation, government and happiness of the family,
not a word of Mohammed indicates it or authorizes
its admission.
To this woman, effaced, annihilated in respect to
her most legitimate and highest prerogatives, and
reduced to her natural instincts, which often, thanks
to God, correct the injustice of the law; to this Mus-
sulman woman, so inferior, I do not say alone to the
Christian woman, but perhaps even to the savage
woman, in many points of view; to this woman, what
is promised as a recompense for the complete dis-
charge of her duties? Mere sensual and material
happiness in this world and the next. And in this
relation, how great also the disproportion! The hus-
band that is even the most loved by his wife has the
right to bring rivals into his house, while she, poor
victim! is not permitted the pitiable satisfaction of
even complaining, or attracting the admiring gaze of
other men, and in paradise this will be even worse
still; for in this world the husband can, if he will,
content himself with one wife; but in the celestial
kingdom, where it might be pleasant for him to find
again and continue his happy household with his one
beloved wife as the central attraction and the highest
object after God of his affections, he must of necessity
THE KORAN TAVORS DIVORCES.
347
join to her at least sixty-nine women; for it is writ-
ten, every one of the elect shall have the eternal
enjoyment of seventy women of unfading youth and
beauty.
The law of the koran has anticipated the cases,
necessarily very numerous, resulting from the estab-
lished system of marriage where the married parties
cannot continue to live together without each violat-
ing his reciprocal obligations and being reduced to
a deplorable existence. By divorce, it seeks to
obviate this inconvenience and sunder unions that
are acknowledged, no matter with what motive, to be
incompatible, and even to favor others to which one
or the other party can be an obstacle.
In this respect the Mussulman law is so accommo-
dating and complaisant that in certain foreseen cases,
a woman can be regularly married three successive
times in a single inonth. But repudiated or divorced
women, as well as widows, must wait a specified time
before being married, provided any suspicions of
dishonesty are excited.
The husband has naturally other privileges, when
there is question in regard to his wife's breaking off
the marriage contract. He can if he will promptly
put her away, but the wife has not the same liberty
in regard to him. She must clearly establish the
* The theological doctors of the Mussulman world have gravely debated
the question, to which husband a woman would belong in paradise who
had been married many times. Some have thought that she would belong
to her first husband ; others to her last, and still others have maintained
with more reason that she would belong to her best husband. But I do
not conceive it to be so oasy to settle the difficulties which the Mussulman
system of divorce introduces for the celestial reëstablishment of the family
here below when the woman has been divorced and re-married many times.
348
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
fact that she has been maltreated in order that the
judge, who is not slow to act when the husband is
the complainant, yield to her demands for redress.
In fact, the wife has in all matrimonial disputes not
only the law against her, but has to appear before a
tribunal that is in advance a party against her sex.
Before Islamism, the wife could by a very simple for-
mality repudiate her husband; she had only to open
or obstruct, according as it was movable or not, the
passage way to her quarters. The husband under-
stood that to be preliminary to a separation which
speedily followed.
If the parties divorced have children, the boys can
remain with their mother till they are seven years
old, when their father can take them, if he chooses;
girls ordinarily remain with their mother unless there
be formal opposition from the father, in whose favor
the law inclines. Thus men and women can be
married many times.
times. We need not believe, however,
that in these family changes, the children of different
mothers necessarily become embarrassments in their
relations with each other in respect to divisions of
estates and the laws of property. The koran antici-
pates every imaginable case, regulating the rights
and obligations of parents and children. Islamism
having abrogated every other law, all nuptial cere-
monies that are not conformed to Mussulınan usage
are of no effect. Mussulmans can take infidel wives
with the hope of effecting their conversion, while
Mussulman women are expressly forbidden taking
infidel husbands, lest falling into their errors, they
should be consigned to perdition.
POLYGAMOUS TAMILY ARRANGEMENTS,
349
Polygamy, being an integral part of the Islamitish
system, will last as long as the system itself. But we
must not believe that it is generally practised. It is
easy to understand that it would be impossible; since
in any country, the number of the women is almost
the same as that of the men. At Tunis, it is not
rare for the men before marriage to agree to have
but one wife, especially if they are persons of dis-
tinction. They still have the right, however, of main-
taining concubines. Though the husband is invested
with discretionary authority over his wives, he com-
monly seeks to maintain harmony and peace by
giving them respectively an apartment or a room for
private use and the pleasure of his company. If this
division is equably made and regularly observed, the
women usually become satisfied with it; but if caprice
is manifested, jealousy and discord break out, as in
Mohammed's case, and are followed by storms of
passion from the husband in the vain effort to pro-
duce quiet and contentment.
Distinguished personages have in their houses spe-
cial apartments not only for their wives, but also for
their children who have arrived at the age to leave
their mother. Husbands, wives and children take
their meals separately, never coming together at the
same table. Children are excluded from the table
of the father with a view to increase their respect
for him. This respect is, it must be acknowledged,
very marked among Mussulman people, and whatever
be their age and position, children never fail to give
public testimony of it on every possible occasion. It
is not rare to see men whose locks are already hoary
350
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
with age rise before their venerated father; kiss his
hand in token of submission; remain silent till he
speak; abstain in his presence from smoking, laugh-
ing and jesting, and in fine, avoid not only everything
that savors of the exaggerated "sans-façon" of modern
manners, but the familiarity that we regard as allow-
able and even inseparable from certain elevated sen-
timents. I have been painfully impressed with this
lack of freedom and confidence; but I have also
often felt that there is something elevated in this
kind of grave and religious manifestation of filial
sentiment and in this homage rendered to the author-
ity of the head of the family as the foundation and
type of all earthly authority. In presence of this
authority, truly of divine origin, if respect cannot
serve for more tender sentiments, it is certain that
nothing can make up for the want of respect.
The Mussulman family being thus divided, each
member of it can give invitations from her own
quarter; but this mode of living is not found except
in wealthy families. Evidently it is entirely imprac-
ticable with laborers and others who are crowded
together in close quarters. Whatever be the position
of the Mussulman woman, we can readily fancy the
monotony of her existence in her prison more or less
gaudily furnished and delightfully situated! Alas!
Even a fairy palace, if one could not pass the thresh-
old, would be nothing else than a prison ! Rich
women go, it is true, to their villas, but there also
are hermetic trellises at the windows, and monastic
enclosures limiting their view and shutting out splen-
did landscapes in the distance; in a word, in the
FEMALE DIVERSIONS AND PILGRIMAGES.
351
f
midst of nature that spreads out her glories and
blooms in her magnificence and liberty, there is a
captivity more melancholy and galling than that of
the convict in his narrow cell.
She needs, then, amusement and employment to
allay the weariness of being enclosed long days,
weeks and months within those sombre walls; but in
her ignorance and indolence she knows not how to
have needful diversion and employment. She cannot
always be looking over her jewels and personal orna-
ments, repeating her exercises at the toilet, coloring
her eyebrows and eyes with koheul,* reddening her
fingers and toes with hennart giving sweetness and
color to her lips and mouth with souek,ł swimming in
numberless perfumes, and dressing and parading with-
out end before mirrors. It is no longer possible for
her to go to the public baths when she has marble
ones at her home. As to the mosque, for her to go
there would be an indelicate if not a disreputable
act; besides, it would show a want of tact and good
sense, unnecessarily giving the impression that she
was an old woman free to go to such places without
causing scandal. How then can she kill that time
which hangs so heavily on her and passes so rapidly
with us? She has recourse to female musicians, sing-
* Koheul is sulphur of antimony, with which oriental women color their
eyes, eyebrows and eyelashes. It is regarded as favorable to the eyes,
and givos them grotesqueness if not beauty.
+ Henna is a shrub from whose leaves is extracted an orange-red color,
which the fashionable ladies of tho east delight to give to their fingers
and toes.
# Souck is also an extract from a kind of walnut tree. It is of a yellow-
ish-red color and an agreeable flavor, and is much employed on the gums
and lips.
352
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
ers and dancers. The harmony is not very delicate;
the voices are, however, rather agreeable despite
some harshness and prolonged nasal tones; but the
dance is only a series of hops more amusing than
modest. But the poor recluse is gratified; her mind,
at the same time infantile and reflective, is awakened
to reveries without end in the midst of these concerts
and sights which serve at least to divert and amuse
her.
But we must mention one extraordinary means of
seeing the heavens outside her home and enjoying
comparative liberty; it is to go on a pilgrimage to
some renowned marabout. The husband usually
consents, for the spiritual good of his wife or wives,
and often becomes the director of the pious caravan,
which he leaves in peace at the holy place, where
he will return in the evening or after several days,
according to the nature of the vows and devotions
proposed. It is well understood that the places
where these pilgrims go are divided into two parts
with a view of accommodating the two sexes. In
general, the women make these devotional visits to
marabouts either alone or in company with female
friends. I state the fact without any attempt to
verify the malicious suspicions which are almost
always circulated on parallel occasions, especially
when prayers for the birth of children are duly an-
swered, through the intercession of pious marabouts.
But in spite of the inferiority, abasement and deg-
radation of women in general, we must not believe
that their influence in the family and in society is
radically destroyed; for nature never loses entirely
FEMALE SAINTS AND ADVOCATES.
353
her rights, and there are examples of women of heart
and head even among Mussulman women, such as
the koranic law has made them. Yet this influence
can be exercised only within circumscribed limits
and in accordance with fixed habits of life; for the
ignorance of woman and the barriers which separate
her from the world are insurmountable obstacles to
the legitimate extension of her moral empire. But
we must state as an extenuating circumstance, if not
a ground of hope, that Mussulman people, while hold-
ing woman as a minor or rather as a humiliated slave
so far as they can, do not absolutely deny her the
right and power to manifest qualities and virtues
worthy of public esteem and veneration. The proof
of this statement is in the great number of women
to whom popular opinion accords celestial beatitudes
and over whose earthly remains are erected in their
honor places for prayer. Among those women who
receive extraordinary homage are some who, like the
famous Lalla Manoubia having a renowned sanctu-
ary near Tunis, are the objects of public veneration
and reverence on account of their chaste and pure
lives; and this homage rendered to abstinence from
sensual pleasures in countries so corrupt is, it seems,
very remarkable, showing the persistency of that
high philosophical and religious idea of the triumph
of the will over passion, and of the spirit over matter.
Another interesting fact is that female advocates are
found at Tunis, whose distinct office is to manage the
cases of female plaintiffs and defendants coming
before the highest tribunal in the land, and also to
plead the cause of condemned female criminals, who
45
354
.
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
are subjected to unreasonable sufferings in their cells.
There are at Tunis, three of these professional advo-
cates, one of whom I heard make an effective appeal
to the bey at a regular session of his court.
Yet it is too true that if this high ideal of woman's
capacity and destiny exists among Mussulmans in a
speculative point of view, it has little practical influ-
ence on their lives. Where unlimited polygamy is
sustained by religion and law, the corruption of
morals is fatal. Man has there only one object set
before him— to enlarge the circle of his carnal pleas-
ures by multiplying the number of his wives. But
on the one hand, it is scarcely possible for him to
satisfy all his wives, and yet in spite of all the rigors
of their prison, the poor creatures sooner or later
resign themselves to their allotments. On the
other hand, by the very fact that everybody has the
right to polygamy as a principle, only a very small
number can actually practise it, monopolizing the
women to the detriment of the majority, some mem-
*
* Mussulman women have succeeded in establishing an opinion as ridic-
ulous as it is unfavorable to morality, and whose consequences can render
illusive and useless the system of seclusion to which they are condemned.
This opinion, admitted by the doctors of the law themselves, is, that an
infant, once conceived, can, according to the consecrated expression, sleep
for years before its birth. In accordance with this notion, there are women
who testify that their child has slept during five, six, and even eight years.
Sometimes a woman several years after her divorco bears a child which she
declares was conceived before her divorce; and her late husband hastons to
take her back and recognize his long-delayed paternity; again, a wifo per-
ceiving a coldness on the part of her husband, seeks his favor by exciting
the hope of offspring, and then amusing him with the plea of sleep. This
theory is often very satisfactory to long absent husbands, who, returning,
find their household enlarged. Distinguished personages gravely cite the
example of a charming young widow of an aged mufti, who brought forth
a child for him many years after his death.
RUINOUS EFFECTS OF POLYGAMY,
355
.
bers of which must, of necessity, and not from choice
as in christian countries, resign themselves to having
no wife ; for there would not be enough for every
man even were each one to take but two. The fact
that there are about the same number of individuals
belonging to the two sexes is a material and evident
proof that monogamy is a natural and divine law.
The want of women for some men and the satiety of
their company for others, lead to refinements of cor-
ruption and loathsome depravity; and in Africa as in
the Orient are seen in the light of day monstrous
vices which astonish only the simple European.
If polygamy had only this effect, it would be suf-
ficiently condemned'; but its most direct and disas-
trous, though least suspected, result is the rapid
depopulation of countries where it prevails. With
rare exceptions, the more wives a man has the less
children, and those children are neither robust nor
long-lived.
Add to this, eunuchism and its very
numerous victims, besides a large number of girls
who grow old as servants in harems. To complete
the view, we must consider the corruption of morals
arising on the one hand from the separation of the
sexes, and on the other from continuously keeping
together many persons of the same sex. For harems
are not, alas ! exempt from the abominable depravity
prevalent in the east; and it is easily understood
why Mussulman people, especially those residing in
cities, etiolate, diminish and disappear. It is the
most formidable of the different organized diseases
of Islamism; but it is not the only one.
The most
aggravated among others are fanaticism and fatalism,
356.
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ignorance, hatred, bad faith towards other religionists,
apathy, indolence and ever-increasing wretchedness,
and, in a word, the debasement of the understanding
and character with all its fearful consequences.
In short, Mussulmans have played their part and
are quitting the stage of life. The system of Moham-
med, which is only a human system, is hopelessly
exhausted, and the people that it united in a momen-
tary triumph and progress, bound together by the
same creeds, traditions and tendencies cannot be
separated in their decay and ruin. We have said
that these nations, once highly flourishing and pros-
perous, are to-day little else than obstacles to civili-
zation. They should then, we are told, be cleared
away, or means should be devised for their regenera-
tion. The execution of one of these measures appears
about as difficult as the other. But, it is added, we
could at least drive them back into their deserts or
steppes or constrain them to accept the conditions
demanded by the civilized world.
It is easy to talk of driving them back into the
sands and steppes; but the measure is too radical to
be practised upon 150,000,000 of men; for, it must
be acknowledged, Mussulmans are not so desirous
of our civilization as is generally supposed; for the
adoption of a little material progress really proves
nothing
The reason is simple. Emulation is a desire for
equality in the presence of a recognized superiority.
Now, the least of the Mussulmans believes himself as
much superior to the first among us as Islamism is
superior to the other religions that are more or less
MUSSULMAN PRIDE AND PERSISTENCE.
357
stained, according to him, with idolatry and bad faith
towards the prophet and his book. The sight of our
civilization either excites his pity, confirming him in
the thought that we are simply fitted for and devoted
to the vain and perishable things of this world, while
true believers occupy themselves with those of
heaven; or it profoundly irritates him by the unfa-
vorable contrast with his own country. Christian
people make a sad mistake in believing and repeat-
ing that civilization, as they understand it, is making
rapid progress among Mussulmans. The latter pre-
tend to have to do only with our lessons, and in their
eyes it is in principle an insolence on our part to
offer them lessons, without speaking of the childishly
free manner which we are wont to adopt towards
them.
Immovable and haughty in the presence of our
pretensions, they disdain our menaces, whose effects
they are ready to experience, while bending before
God who tries them, but who could if He would, and
who perhaps will suddenly reëstablish upon our ruins
the ancient power of Islam. If sometimes an account
of our prosperity and material and scientific wonders
seems to you to make an impression on them, be not
deceived; they will hasten to say to themselves men-
tally, or to cry in a spirit of pride that is not with-
out something of grandeur: “That which the infidels
have not found and will not possess and the true
believers alone have established, is to proclaim until
the last day from the tops of all the minarets of the
world that God alone is God and Mohammed is his
prophet!”
358
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
What incurable fanaticism! exclaims one. Alas!
It is a fanaticism spiced with vanity, that would irri-
tate us less if it did not clash with our own. Let
Mussulmans but attempt to speak to us of the neces-
sity of adopting their civilization, and what would
be our reply? Why, our very free-thinkers would
lift their hands in holy horror and cry out with rage.
And yet I have heard such a proposition gravely
entertained by an accomplished Mussulman, and have
listened to prolonged arguments in its support.
Yes, but our civilization is quite another thing,
each one replies. And among Mussulmans are those
who regard us as indifferent disciples of the Arabs of
the middle age.
It results that for the want of
admitting an ideal common to all races and peoples,
such as: the glory of God and the good of man; an
ideal differently understood and pursued by different
means, but identical at the base and which should be
carefully kept in view, the parties are eternally and
without profit bandying hard names and applying
reproachful epithets, and in case of need confirming
these amenities at the point of the sword and at the
mouth of the cannon.
But is there then nothing to be done with Mussul-
mans? Yes, much. First, in our relation with them,
as with every adversary with whom we have inter-
course, we should give up all boasting about our
proud or contemptuous superiority ; leave to them
in need this monopoly, as that of ceremonious and
hypocritical advances; be simple, true and benevo-
lent in our bearing and language; avoid wounding
their convictions and disturbing their conscientious
TRUE GROUND OF HOPE.
359
scruples (often feigned) by wanton remarks or a
careless manner.
When discussions come to be
established, we should maintain them with candor,
skilfully drawing them into the circle of opinions
and beliefs that are common to us; it is upon this
common ground, much broader than is generally
supposed, that we can show and hold our advan-
tages; the superiority of a religion or of a system is
minutely manifested in a serious conversation. In a
word, all consists in making ourselves acquainted
with the work before us and in beginning it without
unskilfully exciting needless prejudices. We can
only hope that the work of reconciliation and regen-
eration once well begun will go gloriously on to its
final consummation.
Moreover there are in the Mussulman world itself
encouraging signs. A change is visible in favor of
communion with us in thought and sentiment on the
part of numerous individuals of Japhetic race who,
Mussulmans in creed and Europeans in spirit, are
much more accessible than the Shemites whose turn
to approach us will come later, as the way shall be
prepared. We could give some most encouraging
facts illustrative of this statement. We know men
in Tunis who are exerting their utmost energies to
disseminate light and inaugurate a new era in their
history. Not to speak of the progressive measures
lately adopted in the Ottoman empire, we will merely
name among the hopeful signs of the times a recent
work by General Kheredine, entitled, “ Reforms Ne-
cessary for Mussulman States," and several valuable
essays by General Houssein. The late General Otman
360
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Hashem exerted his influence to the last in favor of
liberal institutions. And it is also a fact worthy of
note, that pianos are introduced into the families of
several distinguished personages, and a desire mani-
fested to become acquainted with the French and
Italian languages.
The harmony and fusion of races and creeds can-
not be effected without time, nor accelerated by parti-
san strife. It is satisfactory to have evidence that a
movement is incontestibly begun in this direction
which it is our duty to vigorously aid and encourage.
Mussulmans, however refractory they may be, cannot
withstand a manifest tendency of the age. Their
estrangement from the rest of the human family
must yield to better influences. As Christianity
becomes in fact, as its founder declares it to be, the
way, the truth and the life, rather than a mere dogma
or formulary, its power must be felt and acknowledged.
As Mussulmans are more doggedly dogmatical than
Christians can be, it is worse than useless, it is folly,
to encounter them with other dogmas and formula-
ries. Their strength as dogmatists produces their
weakness and ruin as men, and hence if they break
away, as they must in time, from their shackles, it
will be only to breathe the pure and invigorating
spirit of the gospel.
The way, then, must be opened and prepared
through the diffusion of the spirit of the gospel in
the lives of its professed followers, and the restora-
tion and regeneration of the great Mussulman world
will follow in the order of Providence to crown the
life of humanity.
CHAPTER IV..
Climate.--Products of the Soil.--Manufactunes.--Ants and Grades.
an
BARY
HE regency of Tunis, situated between 33° and
37°, 20 north latitude, enjoys for the most
part a mild and healthy temperature. The seasons
succeed each other so gradually as not to cause the
sudden changes of the barometer and thermometer
which occur in most European countries, and in dif-
ferent parts of America. There is scarcely ever frost,
except among the highest mountains, and the heat of
summer is very suffocating only during the preva-
lence of the desert wind called the sheely.
The year is divided into four seasons of unequal
length, nearly as follows: spring scarcely lasts the
two months of March and April, while summer con-
tinues the five months of May, June, July, August
and September. Autumn embraces the three follow-
ing months of October, November and December.
January and February come with copious rains and
a chilly, damp air to make up a winter. Though the
number of the seasons is the same as in the temper-
46
362
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ate zone further north, the length and character of
these seasons are essentially modified by the prox-
imity of the country to the desert and the sea, as
well as by its mountains and latitude, and on the
same principle, different points have different cli-
+ mates. In Tunisia, as in those countries where the
seasons correspond nearest to the terms employed to
indicate them, no two years are alike; one season
runs into another; a clear sky, a genial atmosphere
and dust, instead of mud and rain, sometimes occur
in winter; while in spring, or perchance in early
summer, the showers come dashing down upon the
thirsty earth. These occurrences are, however, the
exceptions. Winter is in general cloudy, wet, muddy
and chilly. Spring and autumn have alternate rain
and sunshine, mud and dust; while in summer the
sun bears full sway, and the dust often rises as if in
honor of the prince of light.*
The winds are frequent and variable at Tunis:
Those of the north, west and northwest bring on
* During my residence at Tunis, my obscrvations with the Fahrenheit
thermometer were so irregular as to be of little value. I never saw the
mercury below 500 in winter, nor above 1200 in summer. With my best
efforts to keep my house cool in the warm season by having the doors and
windows opened and the floors sponged early in the morning, and the doors
and windows closed later in the morning, the mercury regularly ranged
between 800 and 900 at mid-day. When the mercury stood at 84° in my
room, on one occasion, it promptly rose to 1200 on being put in the shade
out doors. At Susa, which is 10 further south and on the sea, Mr. Pellis-
sier, formerly vice consul of France, made observations from 1845 to 1848
inclusive, and drew up the following tablɔ as the average of each month
in that locality: January, 57 1-50 ; February, 590; March, 62 3-5° ;
April, 66 1-5°; May, 68°; June, 93 1-50; July, 1020; August, 104°;
September, 91 2-50 ; October, 74 3-50; November, 64 2-50 ; December,
62 3-50; average, 7520. I have seen a statement that the average range
of the mercury in the regency for the year is 850.
AFRICAN WINDS AND CLIMATE.
363
ordinarily fine weather in summer, and rain in winter;
those of the east and south are almost always dry
and hot. These last often succeed each other day
after day, especially during the months of July and
August, and then the heat becomes truly oppressive.
In general from May till September, the winds of the
northeast and of the east prevail, and during the
rest of the year those of the northwest and of the
east. At the period of the equinoxes, a violent wind
from the southwest habitually sets in. This is the
“Africus,” producing hurricanes, which had a great
notoriety at an earlier period of the world. The
winds of the northeast and of the northwest are
fresh and agreeable, and serve to moderate the
intense heat of summer.
As we have said, it rarely rains in summer, and
then the showers are of short duration and are suc-
ceeded by fine weather. On the contrary, in winter,
we have seen the rains continue for successive weeks,
deluging the country, and bringing on a damp and
chilly atmosphere, much harder to endure than the
dry, frosty bite of old Boreas among the Swiss
mountains or the snow-clad hills of New England.
When one of these very long storns comes on, its
endurance is rendered much more difficult by the
sad condition of the streets. The dirt and dust, that
blind and choke us in summer, become soft mud in
winter, through which, as we painfully wade, we are
often reminded of the witty observation of an Arab
poet:
“In summer, no shade, but a vast sea of dust;
In winter, all shade, and mud enough to engulph an ox.
I
364
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
We must promptly add that these disagreeable
effects of winter storms have been greatly dimin-
ished within a few years by sanitary measures and
improvements in the streets effected by the munici-
Pality. The first rains, after the parching heat of
summer, usually fall in the month of September,
though they are sometimes delayed till October.
After the ground is well moistened and softened, it is
ploughed and prepared to produce new crops. The
grain, consisting mostly of wheat and barley, is sown,
and the peas, beans and other like products are
planted usually before the month of December.
If the rains are copious in winter and the last
showers fall in the early days of April, abundant
crops of grain are almost sure to follow, which are
regularly gathered at the end of May or early in
June.
Though the Tunisian soil is less productive to-day
than it is represented to have been under Roman
rule*, the average yield of wheat is, according to Pel-
lissier, sixteen to one. Dr. Franke says that in cer-
tain districts it is not uncommon to see a single grain
of wheat produce twelve or fifteen blades, and he
was assured that forty and even eighty blades had
been known to spring from a single grain ; and he
further adds that many blades have several heads.
In regard to the accuracy of these representations, I
am unable to testify from personal observation. I
* Pliny, the elder, in book xvii of his excellent natural history, cites
in support of the extraordinary fruitfulness of the African province, and
especially of Byzacium (actual province of Susa), a plant which had pro-
duced three hundred blades froin a single grain, and says the ordinary
yield of wheat is one hundred and fifty-fold.
TUNISIAN HARVESTS AND HARVESTING.
365
have simply noticed thick clusters of blades, and two
or three heads on the same blade, and that these
were remarkably well filled out, while the blades
were not of unusual size or height. The heads of
the barley are also very large, while the blades are
very short.*
In gathering the grain, the reapers make use of
small instruments which would be called knives
rather than sickles. When the harvest season begins,
men, women and children are often seen in the fields
together in large numbers; the women and children
have very rudely formed knives which rather break
than cut off the blades of wheat. The grain is not
threshed, but is trodden out under the feet of horses
or mules. This operation, in vogue in the early
period of the world, and still practised in the south
of Europe, is more expeditious than threshing, but it
is not so neat or economical; for on the one hand the
grain is mixed up with the powdered earth where it
is trodden out; and on the other, the straw is so
broken to pieces by the feet of the animals, and by the
iron teeth of the heavy drag to which the beasts are
attached, as to lose much of its value. The grain is
winnowed by being thrown into the air against the
wind, to effect which large shovels are used. After
this operation, it is collected and put for safe keeping,
throughout the whole of North Africa, into large
subterranean magazines, called matmouras.
* Since writing the above, I have consulted several competent and trust-
worthy Tunisians, who fully confirm the statements of Pelissier and Dr.
Franke. One witness testified that he once counted fifty blades of wheat
sprung from one grain, and that most of the blades had two or three heads.
And he added, putting his hands together, “I had more wheat from that
one grain than I could hold in my hands thus."
366
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Besides cereal products, flax, hemp, tobacco, indigo,
saffron and cotton are cultivated, but textile plants
are not raised in large quantities, for the want of a
proper appreciation of their value, and especially for
the want of the right kind of culture. Among
tinctorial plants, we must mention henna and mad-
der. Henna is a pretty little tree whose leaves give
a reddish brown color with an orange tinge. This is
much employed by all the females of the country,
who make any pretentions to gentility, in coloring
their nails and the ends of their fingers. This is
considered an elegant embellishment, without which
no Tunisian lady would be regarded as having com-
pleted her toilet, notwithstanding her gold embroid-
ery and silk scarfs of variegated colors. The madder
is also much cultivated and is employed for dyeing
purposes, as in other countries.
Among vegetables and kitchen garden plants, aside
from the kinds known in Europe and America, we
will mention the mlouhid, whose leaves reduced to
powder are much employed in the oriental kitchen
and constitute a dish of a darkish green color, which,
though its look is forbidding, has a palatable taste
and an inviting aroma. It is sometimes served up
alone, but generally with stewed meat. The ganouia
is raised like peppers, and like them it may be used
fresh or dried, without any sensible difference in its
taste. It has a reddish grain, an agreeable taste, and
is also used in connection with stewed meat or is
fried in oil.
The principal fruit trees are the almond, which
blooms in the month of January and produces ripe
FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY.
367
fruit in April and May; the apricot, with three or
four varieties of fruit, all exquisite in taste and flavor,
which are gathered in May. The plums and cher-
ries are not so good as those found in Europe and
America. Also, the apples and pears are decidedly
inferior to our own. White and dark figs are col-
lected in June, July and August. The peaches,
though juicy, will not compare with those found fur-
ther north. The pomegranates, which are of excel-
lent quality, are ripe in August. We must not forget
the orange trees, which are found in rows and thick-
ets in all the important gardens, and the flavor of
whose fruit is not surpassed by that of any other
country. The lemon, quince, walnut and pistachio
are also found on every hand. The finest flavored
grapes abound in Tunisia. There is no doubt that
with their juice might be made wines that would
rival in excellence those of Greece, Spain and Italy;
but to make wine, a special perinission from the gov-
ernment is requisite, and it is rarely ever attempted,
except by Europeans. The followers of the prophet
scrupulously abstain from competing with Christians
in this line of business; but when the wine is once
made and placed before them, and the question is
simply about drinking it, their scruples often give way.
The great proportion of the grapes of the country is
dried and converted into raisins, which constitute an
important article of exportation. In fine, the climate
and soil of Tunisia are suited to the production of
most of the fruits of the temperate zone and of the
sunny regions of the south, and it would require
only the activity and energy of intelligent freemen
368
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
to create throughout the regency orchards, the excel-
lence, variety and abundance of whose fruits would
gain a world-wide renown.
When gardens are not provided with running
streams, which are rare, they are supplied with water
from wells. The cheapest and most common contri-
vance for raising the water consists of a pulley and
cylinder elevated over the well and connecting by
means of cords with a large leathern bucket. This
machinery is worked by some beast of burden, ap-
proaching and moving from the well. The other
contrivance is the naoora, which is extensively used
in Spain and Egypt. This consists of two cog-wheels,
one horizontal and the other vertical, and numerous
buckets or jars, usually earthen, fastened to a band
which descends into the well and passes over one of
the cog-wheels. This machinery is worked, like the
old-fashioned cider mill, by some beast of burden,
moving around the well. The water is conducted off
over the garden by means of troughs and trenches.
Here we will offer a few remarks upon the culture
of the olive and the date palm, the two most impor-
tant trees of the country, both of which are stamped,
in token of their importance, on most of the national
coins, and the palm tree once constituted, as seen on
our title page, a part of the symbol of Carthage.
Much attention is given to the olive. The trees are
trimmed and the ground loosened about their roots.
Efforts are made to save all the water by means of
little trenches which end at the trunk of the tree.
But according to Pellissier, an excellent crop can be
depended upon only once in four years. The gather-
OLIVE TREES AND OLIVE OIL,
369
ing of the olives begins at the end of October, and
continues several months. The olives are beaten
from the trees with poles. They are then collected,
together with sticks and leaves, and should be ground
and pressed at once; but as the number of mills is
very limited, they have to wait their turn; and to
prevent their being injured by fermentation, they
are cast into trenches and preserved by means of .
several layers of salt.
The mill is composed of a cylindrical crushing
stone, whose horizontal axis joins a vertical beam,
which is usually put in motion by some beast of bur-
den, though there is one mill at Tunis propelled by
steam, which has been in operation several years. The
olives are first crushed, and acquire the consistency
of paste or pulp. The best oil is that which is first
extracted, and its quality is injured, as the olive mash
undergoes experiments with water and
pressure.
The oil which oozes out of the mash or floats upon
water applied to it is called darb-el-may; the mash is
then subjected to pressure, and a thicker and inferior
oil is produced, called belduh; the second operation of
the press produces a third class oil, called beldah-fitoura;
a fourth and still inferior oil is produced from scrap-
ings and watery matter, called kourna; this looks like
greasy mud, and has a very disagreeable odor.
The olive mash, left after the first quality of oil has
been extracted, is not always subjected to the press;
it is often put into jars, and, after being mixed with
barley meal, is made into unsavory bread, which is
extensively used throughout the regency, and even
this is not always to be had by the poor.
47
370
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The olive mash, after all the oil has been extracted,
is used for fuel in cooking and other operations, and
when grass or shrubs cannot be found for the camels,
this is mixed with a little barley and given them as
food.
Tunisian oil is not held in very high esteem in
Europe. European purchasers usually denounce it as
fit only for making soap and oiling machinery. The
best of it will not compare favorably with that of
Provence, in France, and of Italy. Its inferiority
arises, in the opinion of competent judges, from the
fact that the trees are not grafted as they are in the
countries before named. Yet it is stated that much
of the oil of Tunis is exported to Genoa and Mar-
seilles, and after being purified there, is sold for
Italian and French oil, and no one can by any analy-
sis detect the difference. The best oils of Tunisia are
those of Gerba, Hergla and Susa. The olive tree
lives many centuries, but does not continue to bear
fruit to the end.
The date palm will vegetate in different localities;
but to bear fruit, it must have a warm climate, a
good supply of water and careful attention. The
foot of each tree is surrounded by a bed of manure,
which is covered over with earth. It must be watered
at least every four or five days, and care must be
taken to cut off every sprout from its trunk. This
operation should be performed so skilſully as to allow
no sap to escape, and the wound should be speedily
dried and healed. It is the pruning operation which
explains the peculiar form of this tree, its lofty height
and joints resembling those of the bamboo and the
PALM TREES AND THEIR CULTURE.
371
cane. The date palm is generated from the stones of
its fruit and the sprouts of its trunk. The latter
means of generation is preferred; for if the sprouts
or saplings receive careful attention, they bear fruit
in six years; whereas the palms generated from the
stones bear fruit only after fifteen years.
The sexuality of the date palm is universally recog-
nized, and receives special attention in the production
of fruit. The experiments in this regard appear to
us very curious. Female trees bring forth only dry
fruit, destitute of flavor, unless they have an oppor-
tunity in the appropriate season to communicate with
the pollen of the male trees. This fecundation, which
can be produced, as with inost other trees, at consid-
erable distance, by the transmission of the pollen
through the air, takes place ordinarily in March or
April. It is aided by those who have charge of the
trees in the following manner: They place among
the flowers of female trees flowers plucked from male
trees. A male palm can thus fecundate a great num-
ber of female palms. Dr. Franke puts the number at
400 or 500, and Pellissier at 25; but this last figure
appears to us too small when compared to the same
mode of propagation occurring among other trees.
This process was understood by the ancients, and
Pliny speaks of it under the name of caprification.
The Arabs employ it also for other trees, especially
for fig trees, whose male blossoms are suspended
among female blossoms.
The date palm ordinarily lives about two centuries.
Reaching its maturity in about thirty years, it bears
fruit sixty or seventy years, and produces an average
372
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
of fifteen or twenty clusters of dates, each cluster
weighing from twelve to twenty pounds. The best
dates of the Tunisian Gereed are unsurpassed in
flavor and richness. This Gereed is composed of
several oases, each of which is an immense forest of
palm trees, watered by numerous limpid streams.
The oasis of Tozer alone is believed to contain 360,-
000 date palms.
As to field or farm labor, the average price of ordi-
nary hands per day is twelve cents, and in harvest
time sixteen cents, the laborer boarding himself out
of that. The rent of land is paid either in the pro-
duce of the land or in money, according to the con-
tract made, and varies from five dollars to twenty
dollars for twenty-five acres. When a piece of land
is cultivated on shares, the cultivator receives one-
fourth or one-fifth of the produce raised, and the pro-
prietor of the ground furnishes the seed and the
beasts of burden, including oxen, horses, mules and
camels. The labor of a camel well trained for farm
work has the same value as that of a yoke of oxen.
Fancying the implements of husbandry patterned
after those of the patriarchal period, our readers will
be enabled, by the details already given, to form a
sufficiently accurate idea of the agricultural labors of
the regency of Tunis. As we have before said, agri-
culture is not alone suffering; it is dying out piece-
meal. The want of encouragement, and, what is
worse, the injustice and extortion committed by
appraisers and tax-gatherers, and the want of hands,
since the men are withdrawn to acquire tact and
skill in the use of deadly weapons, instead of being
AGRICULTURE AND ANIMALS.
373
engaged in the productive employments;- all these
causes conspire to prevent Tunisian laborers from
putting forth any efforts except those necessary to
ward off death by famine. This explains why Tu-
nisia is obliged often to depend upon cargoes of wheat
and barley from abroad to supply the wants of men
and beasts; she receives as a subsidy from Algeria a
part of her own crops, which her Bedouins, to escape
injustice and extortion, sell each year for good money
upon French territory. This grain comes back upon
its native soil to be there sold as foreign merchandise,
enhanced in price by the cost of transportation by
land and by sea, and by large profits taken by spec-
ulators. The population, discouraged, emigrate, or,
enfeebled, fade away and disappear upon the place of
their origin. Also, the desert, not the natural desert
with its magnificence, but the gloomy desert created
by the abandonment and faults of man, the desert of
countries that decline and decay from apathy and
misery produced by tyranny and injustice, this desert
is extending and bids fair to be extended over this
whole territory, once so flourishing and to-day so for-
saken and desolate, and yet so fruitful and inexhausti-
ble in its resources.
If the land goes to waste, its beasts cannot pros-
per. The bovine race of Tunisia has become utterly
degenerated and degraded, and native butchers sell,
under the name of beef, caouchoucine muscles as
hard for the jaws as the stomachs of the consumers.
And this is readily accounted for by the fact that
there are no grassy meadows and no hay. Some
Maltese butchers meanwhile have succeeded in
pro-
374
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ducing eatable meat by feeding their cattle some-
what as in Europe. Cows are rarely, if ever, kept for
their milk; during more than five years' residence in
Tunis I was not privileged for once even to taste of
cow's milk.
The Tunisian sheep has not so degenerated and
lost its original character as the ox.
It belongs
to the broad, fat-tailed race so numerous in Africa.
Its meat, has, moreover, no very savory taste; for, to
speak . plainly, it is rams and not ewes that are hung
in state. If any one recoil before the slightly hir-
cine taste of ram's meat, the taste of fat peculiar to
old sheep will be sure to transcend the powers of his
'stomach. But in general only lamb's meat is placed
upon the table of families in comfortable circum-
stances at Tunis, unless in the cool season. Lamb's
meat is, however, excellent and abundant.
Pork is scarcely raised except by Maltese, since
Mussulmans and Jews regard it with horror. The
wild boar is readily found in the forests, and the
Bedouins come to sell its meat to Europeans in the
principal markets of the regency. The goat is found
in every direction, supplying the place of the cow
for milk. The camel, however, is the only domestic
animal which is really in a thriving condition; per-
haps it is because it requires the least care, and, cre-
ated to live in the midst of privations, it finds itself
at Tunis in its element. The support of this singular
animal costs its proprietor scarcely anything, since it
eats and digests the thorny leaves of the cactus (In-
dian fig), which abounds in the country; also, when
it drinks, it takes a supply for many days, in accord-
TUNISIAN HORSES.
375
ance with its character as the predestined ruminant
of the desert.
Tunisian horses have in general nothing to justify
their ancient renown, and with no effort to improve
their stock, their character deteriorates from time to
time. There is, however, a mountain breed of horses
that may justify a passing word. They are of small
stature, snugly built, of tough muscle, and remark-
able for their fleetness. It is possible, perhaps prob-
able, that their blood inight be advantageously min-
gled with some breeds found in Europe and America.
Horses are allowed to drink as much water as they
want when they are hot, provided they are driven
afterwards. Their principal food, when kept in the
stable, is barley and straw. Grass is not cultivated
at all in the regency. During winter and spring, it
is usually abundant without cultivation. I never saw
any hay at Tunis except such as was brought from
Algeria, and it was not produced there till after the
conquest by the French. Asses and mules have all
the qualities peculiar to their kind and necessary for
service: ‘Mules especially are held in high esteem,
and are alone used, in strict accordance with court
etiquette, by the highest officers of the state, includ-
ing the bey. The horse is, however, used in war
and military parades, as in the early history of the
country.
Among the fowls, hens or rather chickens, are
good, abundant and cheap, as are also geese and
ducks. Ring and turtle doves and different species
/
* See Appendix G.
376
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of pigeons are found in large numbers both in a
domestic and a wild state. Game, properly so called,
is abundant in spite of the absolute freedom of sports-
men. Partridges, quails, larks, bustards,* thrushes,
pintadost and starlings are found in the Tunisian
markets, as well as hares and rabbits.
Fish are abundant and cheap. The tunny fishery
is carried on along the shore at the appropriate sea-
son, and is a source of revenue for the government.
The tunny fish belongs to the family of the mackerel,
but in point of size bears no resemblance to it, often
weighing 1,000 pounds. Tunny cutlets are very
palatable, being in general preferable to Tunisian
beefsteaks or mutton chops. These fish, when fresh,
are substantial luxuries, but when cut up and salted,
serve about the same purpose for the inhabitants
along the Mediterranean as codfish for Americans.
Inferior kinds of fish are taken in the lake of Tunis,
which bas been the receptacle of the filth of the city
for more than 2,000 years. These are eaten only by
the poor. Good fish are found in abundance in the
roadstead of Tunis, but the markets are mainly sup-
plied from Bizerta. Here there is a large fresh water
lake, communicating directly with the sea through a
channel a third of a mile long. The inhabitants
* The bustards are very large birds, weighing from twenty to thirty
pounds; and are numerously found in the southeast part of the regency.
In their general features and habits, they resemble ostriches, which belong
to the desert of the Gereed. They also look like wild turkeys.
† Tho pintados are a species of the gallinaceous order. They live on
marshy ground in flocks composed of many females and only one male.
Constituting an exquisite dish, they are much sought by sportmen. They
are of a grey color, and are commonly called the hens of Carthage.
FISH CULTURE AT BIZERTA.
377
profit by the currents of water, which set sometimes
towards the sea, and sometimes towards the lake, to
imprison in the large enclosures, which they have
made with canes and osiers midway between the sea
and the lake, quantities of fish, which are daily taken
in nets under municipal regulations, and carried to
the Tunisian market forty miles distant. Besides
furnishing cheap food for the inhabitants of Bizerta
and the neighboring villages, they give important aid
to the treasury of the government. These people
manifest an unusual familiarity with the instincts and
habits of fish. They live upon fish and watch and
care for them so much, that they may almost be said
to live urith them. They thoroughly understand the
time when several different kinds of fish prefer salt
water and when fresh water; when they produce
their young and should not be disturbed; and when
they are in a healthy condition for food, and should
be brought into the market. On this knowledge,
together with the natural facilities of the place, they
profess to be dependent for their success. They fur-
ther state that this system of raising fish was first
introduced there many centuries ago by a colony of
Greeks. They have twelve enclosures, which they
pretend contain twelve different kinds of fish, though
my observations on the spot did not verify this rep-
resentation. Each enclosure is undisturbed by the
net for eleven lunar months in the year, and is sub-
jected to the exhausting operation of the net every
day during one entire lunar month. I saw for sev-
eral days the nets thrown, the fish caught and brought
on shore, assorted in the fish house, sold and sent off
to market.
48
378
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
.
While I have never made the instincts and habits
of fish a special study, and cannot satisfactorily
explain the details of the system of production
adopted at Bizerta, I can testify to the general suc-
cess of the experiments there pursued. The busi-
ness is a government monopoly, and individual enter-
prise is allowed no scope. I was told that the gen-
eral good could be secured only in this way. Anglers
must go upon the roadstead or upon the lake for their
pastime. The fish enclosures are situated midway
between the sea and the large lake, in a place where
the channel widens out, presenting the appearance
of a pond. Each time when I was present, at least
a cart-load of fish was brought ashore, where many.
purchasers were in waiting, and almost every day in
the year one or two camels came loaded with these
fish to Tunis, where they constitute a cheap food for
the poor, and a rich dish at a very moderate cost for
the best supplied tables. The mullet is the most
abundant, weighing from one to five pounds.
As regards wild animals, the lion, the panther and
the leopard are encountered in the solitudes of the
interior, as are also the jackal, the hyena, the wolf
and the fox. There are many sorts of serpents, veno-
mous or harmless, and among the arachnida are the
scorpions, whose bite is dangerous at certain seasons
of the year. Insects multiply and abound, as in all
warm countries; and during the rage of the dog star,
the mosquitoes charge themselves at night with con-
tinuing the work of exasperation which the flies keep
up during the day. I will say nothing of the more
disgusting species, whose company the natives seem
MINES AND MINING.
379
almost to court, and which are ever ready to wel-
come Europeans who undertake excursions in the
regency. I may, nevertheless, observe, that fleas and
bed bugs, however detestable, are not to be treated
with simple indifference and disdain.
To complete the enumeration of the products of
the Tunisian soil, we will say a word about the wine-
rals. There are in Tunisia two lead mines, slightly
argentiferous, at Jeba and at Jeladja. Some beds of
iron are at Gebel Zerissa and in several other moun-
tains lying along the frontiers of Algeria. Most of
the mines are situated in the northwest part of the
regency. Marine salt is taken from several sebkas
or shallow salt lakes, where it is embedded on the
surface in large quantities. Gebel Hadifa contains a
considerable mine of rock salt. Plaster and lime are
extracted on a large scale in the central and southern
provinces, and soda is furnished, especially by the
district of Cairwan. But in general these sources of
wealth are disregarded or but slightly developed.
The mines repose in the bosom of the earth, though
their treasures are greatly needed by the govern-
ment; the salt lies on the ground and embedded like
crystal among the hills, though its sale is a govern-
ment monopoly; and the forests, abounding in timber
of every sort actually needed to supply the wants of
the country, rest undisturbed by the axe of the
woodman.
As in agricultural and mining operations, so in the
manufacturing business, including various branches
of productive industry, we find all tends to decay
and death. It is of course understood that we speak
380
OARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
of the arts and trades, properly so called; for no one
can imagine anything in Tunisia corresponding with
“the modern system of manufacturing, where, by the
use of formidable machinery and ingenious contri-
vances, one man is enabled to perform the work of
one hundred or of five hundred men. Such marvel-
lous inventions, by which cities are built, nations
enriched and human beings enlightened and trans-
formed into men, capable of controlling the elements
and governing themselves, are not yet understood in
Barbary, and some time will yet be required to effect
this change.
Among the branches of industry not utterly dis-
carded, we must mention the manufacture of woolen
and silk goods, especially bernouses, coverlids and
scarfs. These beautiful fabrics, which are of various
qualities and colors, come mostly from the Gereed.
and from the island of Gerba ; and the way in which
they are manufactured upon old, rickety looms, and
the yarn made with the spindle and the distaff in
hand, as in the patriarchal period, would of itself
form an interesting chapter. Silk fabrics are made
at Tunis, Susa and Gabes, and those of cotton at Sfax.
But all these establishments, not supplying the wants
of the population, the export trade is quite limited.
Most of the articles of luxury and ornament come
from Europe, as do also the wrought metals, arms
and tools of the artisans and tradesmen. The great
manufactories of Lyons furnish Tunis, as well as all
the east, with quantities of brocades and silks, whose
precious embroidery and elegant colors delight the
eye. It is not that the art of the embroiderer has
MASONS AND OTHER MECHANICS.
381
All are
disappeared at Tunis. On the contrary, clothes,
shoes and saddles are exquisitely ornamented with
gold, silver and silk, giving proof of the skill of the
workmen; but still the number of embroiderers is
gradually diminishing, and for the simple reason that
they cannot compete with the Lyonese artisans, who
have the advantage of machinery, good materials
and superior artistic culture.
The masons are still very skilful in building almost
without scaffolding plain arches and arched roofs; but
they have lost their skill as architects. Some of them
have scarcely any knowledge of those beautiful ara-
besques in stucco which are found in many of the
houses and public buildings of the east.
enslaved to professional prejudices, which prevent
their making any progress in their art. Also, most
of the important building enterprises are entrusted
to European directors and workmen, whose number
is increasing, and who are by degrees producing
great changes in the part of the city not exclusively
devoted to Mussulmans. Similar remarks are appli-
cable to such mechanics as coöperate with masons in
building, including carpenters, joiners and locksmiths.
Many of the materials come from abroad. The tim-
ber and iron are furnished by different European
countries, especially by Sweden and 'Illyria ; soft
stone by Malta; marble by the north of Italy, and
enamelled tiles for floors and ceilings by the south
of Italy. European workmen come to supply the
great insufficiency or incapacity of their fellow
tradesmen belonging to the country.
Tanning, currying, and shoemaking, which furnish
382
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
employment for many hands, are, nevertheless, in a
backward state. In these branches of business, also,
Europe comes more and more in aid of the country.
The raw hides that are sent off, come back beautiful
leather and ready made shoes, and for choice boots
and shoes and clothing, European materials and
workmen are preferred. In the manufacture of
essences, for which Tunis is renowned, Europe comes
in also for her share of the honor; the pretty little
phials so exquisitely cut and colored, which travelers
delight to buy at a large cost, as a souvenir of Tu-
nisian skill, come directly from Trieste'; the essence
alone is Tunisian, and often the phial contains only
the odor, which is soon evaporated.
The cloth factory at Tebourba, the oil press and
bakery at Tunis, and also the Hafsian foundry for
cannon, can hardly be called Tunisian; since all these
establishments are entrusted to European directors,
foremen and workmen, and the machines used in
them are brought from Europe. There is hardly
anything Tunisian about them but their locality,
their name and some native laborers.
It is evident, from what has been said, that the
imports of the country must be very considerable,
while the exports are limited almost wholly to raw
materials. The most important article of commerce
is oil, which is exported to Marseilles, Genoa, Leg-
horn, Liverpool, Trieste and Odessa. This business
is carried on principally at Susa. After oil, may be
named wool, soap, sponges, woolen and silk fabrics,
cereal products, dried fruits, living animals, bones and
rags.
1
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
383
The best wool is that which comes from the country
of the Frashish; the soap 'held in most esteem is that
of Susa; the fabrics preferred are those of Gerba
and of the Gereed, and the best sponges come from
Sfax and the Kerkenna islands. Living animals can-
not be legally exported without a special permit,
which is readily obtained; but many Europeans do
not scruple to evade this law with the connivance of
some of the bey's officers. The fruits exported are
dates, almonds and pistachios, all essential products of
the eastern and southeastern portion of the regency.
The principal imports are dry goods, raw silk, gro-
ceries, drugs, iron ware, colonial provisions, wine,
brandy and other liquors, arms, implements and tools.
Cotton cloths and coarse goods generally come from
England viâ Malta and Leghorn, and the fine fabrics
from France, as do also the colonial provisions and
choice wines, while the heavy wines are brought from
Sicily and Italy. Pellissier estimated, twenty years
ago, the proportion between the imports and exports
to be as seven to five. But the disparity is probably
greater at the present time. The average annual
commerce of the regency is roughly put down at
$3,000,000, but after carefully considering the re-
ports of our consular agents and the statements of
Tunisian merchants, we believe this figure to be
below the truth.
All imports are taxed on their entrance three per
cent. ad valorein, except wines and liquors, which
pay ten per cent. with the exception of a certain
number of casks, fixed each year, for the personal use
of European families. On this limited quantity only
384
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
three per cent. is paid. The duty on exports is
usually large, and it is often 'changed. The tax on
exported oil was in 1867 about eight cents a gallon;
on wheat about eleven cents a bushel; on barley,
five and one-half cents a bushel, and on sponges a
cent a pound.*
For some years past, the monetary system of the
country has experienced frequent disturbances, caused
in part by sudden changes or revolutions in commer-
cial circles, and doubtless enhanced by injudicious
experiments with the currency. The interest habit-
ually taken for money loaned at Tunis is one per cent.
a month. Though this may seem large, it is only the
mininum rate. Interest rises, according to the rapa-
city of the lender and the exigency of the borrower,
to four, six, and even eight per cent. a month. While
Mussulmans generally refrain under religious injunc-
tions from receiving interest or usury, they know
how to pay it. Christians and Jews have no scru-
ples on this point, and, we must add, sometimes cru-
elly take advantage of necessities which they have
been instrumental in creating. With some very hon-
orable exceptions, it is not the merchants of Tunis
who could in conscience protest against the hard say-
ing of Napoleon I, that “commerce is only a well-
organized brigandage." It, however, leaves much to
be desired in regard to its organization at Tunis.
* For an account of the weights, measures and coins of the country,
see Appendix H.
CHAPTER V.
Wrincipal Cities.---Their Characteristics and Peculiarities.
the sea.
SHA
UNIS, the capital of Tunisia, is situated 36°,
bomo 50' north latitude and 10°, 16' east of the
ineridian of Greenwich, seven miles from the sea,
twelve miles from the Majerda and about seven hun-
dred yards from the borders of lake Bahira, which
extends to the Goletta and is there connected with
It is situated partly upon a plane and
partly upon a gentle slope occupying the middle of
the isthmus between lake Bahira and the small salt
lake south west of Tunis. Its situation is unfavorable
for commerce on account of the inconvenience of
communicating with the Goletta which is its main
port of entrance; and it is also unfavorable to health
on account of the miasma from the lake into which
the sewers of the city have flowed for more than two
In these two points of view the
site of ancient Carthage has decided advantages.
Tunis contains the city proper (El Medina), and
two suburbs, one north of it and the other south.
thousand years.
49
386
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
On the highest point of the city is the kasbah, a
fortress of immense dimensions, which was once
strong, though now in a ruinous state and almost
dismantled. A part of this vast construction is
attributed to the Spaniards. Until within twelve or
fifteen years, were always seen suspended under the
vestibule of the great entrance halberds and pikes of
the sixteenth century with coats of mail much more
ancient. Though the origin of these objects was
uncertain, the Tunisians showed them with pride as
trophies taken from conquered Christians. The
Arabs compare the city of Tunis to an extended
bernouse, whose hood is the kasbah. From the
kasbah to the sea gate it is eight hundred yards,
and seventeen hundred yards from one suburb to
the other. Each suburb is almost as large as the city
proper. The city with its suburbs is surrounded,
except on the side towards the lake, with an embat-
tled wall, which is in a ruinous state and is about six
miles long
Out of the south gate near the border of the lake,
stands upon a steep hill the zawia of the celebrated
marabout Sidi Ali-Ben Hassen-Esh-Shadeli; and fur-
ther on towards lake Sedjoumi, is that of the cele-
brated Lulla Munoubiu. Between these two points,
which are joined together by a wall, is fort Ahmed
Rais. This line prolonged is almost perpendicular to
lake Sedjoumi, whose borders are commanded on the
west of the city by steep heights, crowned with two
forts. Tunis, seen from a distance, presents a certain
picturesque grandeur, which fades from view as we
approach it. Passing within the walls, we find the
TUNISIAN AQUEDUCT AND RESERVOIR.
387
distinctive marks of an oriental city. Some parts of
it, however, show signs of improvement. The new
streets are wider than the old ones, and are lined.
with European houses. Of late, the sewers have been
covered over and most of the streets have been paved.
But the most notable and useful improvement is the
introduction and distribution of water, brought thirty
miles distant, by means of a modern underground
aqueduct, from Zaughan, where Roman Carthage
received her supply by means of the expensive con-
trivance at that time in vogue. It is only a few
years since, during the torrid heat of the summer,
Tunis had scarcely water enough to quench the thirst
of its inhabitants. Cisterns, belonging to the houses,
of various dimensions, two basins of water almost
stagnant situated at the gates of the city, and some
brackish wells a little way out were the sole means
of supplying the wants of men and beasts. While
to-day, living water is found in abundance at the
corners of most of the streets; and behind the kasbah
is the principal reservoir. This is a monumental con-
struction, which, standing on an elevated point, pre-
sents a picturesque appearance with its sheaves of
water falling back into a beautiful vase in a garden
enclosed by an elegant iron fence. This aqueduct is
the work of French engineers and contractors, who
are charged with having shamefully cheated the gov-
ernment, at the same time that they accomplished a
great good for the country.
The streets of Tunis are in general narrow (some
of them being in places only three or four feet wide),
as in other oriental and southern countries, where the
388
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
object is to avoid the heat and enjoy the shade as
much as possible. Numerous arched roofs, running
from one house to another over the street, contribute
especially to this object. The houses are for the
most part square, with a large open court in the cen-
tre, called by Europeans the patio. Sometimes they
have only a ground floor, and rarely have but two
stories, though in the European quarter are houses
three, four and five stories high. All the houses have
cemented terraces, serving as promenades in the cool
hours of the day, and also to conduct the rain water
into cisterns. The building materials are stone, brick,
lime and cement; also granite and marble, which are
less common on account of their expense, and wood
is only used for doors and windows and to uphold
cemented roofs. The houses of the rich are interiorly
commodious, elegant and even sumptuous. They are
distinguished especially by the profusion of marble
and arabesque. Flowers are often cultivated within
the patios. It is rare to find windows upon the
streets, and where there are any, they are very small
and well provided with bolts and screens for safety
and for the privacy of the family. Thus the great
walls, with few windows and those rendered impene-
trable by lattice work, give a singularly gloomy and
monotonous aspect to most of the streets of Tunis.
Each trade has its appropriate quarter or street.
The most remarkable are: the street of the shoemak-
ers, the street of the gunsmiths, the street of the lock-
smiths, and the street of the cap-makers. There are
also special quarters for merchants, and vast markets
called souks, which are arched over or covered with
2
JEWISH QUARTER AND MOSQUES.
389
boards; such as the souk-el-bey and the souk-el-
trok. The bazar for the sale of jewelry and dia-
monds is a great resort for the curious. This was
once used for the sale of female slaves. Another
great market called souk talkæ, is filled with groce-
ries and stores for the sale of iron ware. These shops
are generally kept by Jews, whose special quarter,
called the Hara, is near by. Here are found dirty
streets, miserable houses, and many synagogues with
schools below the surface of the ground. The Israel-
ites were formerly cloistered in this “Ghetto," whose
gates were closed each night. Thus huddled together
in this filthy district, it is easy to imagine their mis-
ery. But now they have forced the barriers which
superstition and fanaticism imposed upon them, and
have taken up their abodes beyond their original
limits; still the Hara is the general quarter of the
majority of the Jews, and is properly the Jewry of
Tunis.
There are in Tunis fifty mosques. Nine of them
have schools with professorial chairs, of which four
belong to the Malekites and five to the Hanefites.
The most beautiful mosque is called Djema Zeitoona,
i.
e., the Mosque of Olives. It is a vast edifice, hav-
ing seven large doors reached by flights of steps
leading from the streets, and is surrounded on three
sides by a wall elevated to conceal the interior of the
structure from profane eyes. For at Tunis, infidels
are excluded from the mosques, and in passing
them their near approach to the door is regarded
with suspicion. Yet by means of furtive glances,
conjectures and information, we can form a pretty
390
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
accurate idea of the mosque in question. It has
several open courts with porticos sustained by mod-
ern columns, and the sanctuary of retangular form
contains rows of coluinns, most of which are antique,
with arches ornamented with arabesque. Gigantic
chandeliers are suspended from the dome and immense
mats cover the marble floor. Like all mosques, it is
devoid of interior decorations; for Mussulmans are
noted image-breakers. A square minaret surmounted
with an elegant cupola crowns this metropolitan
mosque. The other notable mosques are the Djema
Saheb-et-Taba, the Djema Sidi Mahres and the Djema
Djedida, each of which has an interesting history
and a peculiar style of architecture, with many fine
columns and other monuments of art brought from
Carthage and other ruined cities.
The palace of the bey (Dar-el-Bey), situated upon
the piazza of the kasbah at the souk-el-bey, offers
exteriorly only a front of large stones of a yellowish-
grey color, and has the appearance rather of military
barracks than of a royal residence. But it has with-
in magnificent halls and incomparable arabesques
wrought in beautiful white plaster. It was built by
Hamouda Bashaw in the latter part of his reign.
The bey comes there only during Ramadan and
sleeps there only on the nights of the 26th and the
27th of that month of fasting. This palace is habit-
ually reserved for personages of the highest rank
who visit Tunis. Among these illustrious visitors,
,
we may name queen Caroline, the wife of George
the IV of England, and the sons of Louis Philippe-
the duke of Montpensier, the prince de Joinville and
ROYAL PALACE AND GUESTS.
391
the duke d’Aumale; and prince Napoleon and his wife
the princess Clotilda : and more recently, during my
sojourn at Tunis, the prince of Wales, the prince and
princess of Prussia, and the prince of Italy were
among the distinguished guests entertained in this
palace.
The municipality of Tunis which has now its offices
in the Dar-el-Bey, was at first established in the mag-
nificent house called Dar-el-Ashra, the house of the
Ten.* This is now the property and residence of
General Heussein, one of the most intelligent per-
sonages of Tunisia. Dar-el-Ashra is generally re-
garded as the most beautiful private house in the
city. It has two courts, one of which with its tall
and graceful white marble columns presents a mag-
nificent appearance. It has also a profusion of fine
arabesque and marble ornaments.
The kasbah or citadel, situated on the highest
point of the city and at the upper end of the street
which begins at the Marine, is a vast castle of a rec-
tangular form and is surrounded with high embattled
walls. It presents a miserable appearance from with-
out, and within the look is still worse, containing only
ruins and establishments for the manufacture of
pow-
der and leather. It once contained a palace which
was the residence of the deys; but this was long
since destroyed. We observe in wandering over this
mass of ruined buildings many iron doors half buried
in the ground. These belong to immense under-
ground passages and abodes, long since abandoned,
* So called because it served at the beginning of this century as the
residence of ten high civil and political functionaries.
392
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and about which popular imagination does not fail to
be greatly exercised. Very considerable treasures
are supposed to be concealed there, and popular
belief has enough historic support to give it cur-
rency. This was once the stronghold of the regency,
and on many occasions the treasures of the city and
of the country around were here amassed and in-
terred for security, and then followed fearful revolu-
tions and butcheries, rendering it altogether proba-
ble that some of the concealed treasures sometimes
escaped the observation and search of the chieftains
that succeeded to power; but now that these subter-
ranean passages have been filled by natural causes in
the course of centuries, we doubt whether curiosity
or the desire for gain would be gratified by any
excavations and researches. The little mosque which
towers above the kasbah and from whose summit are
signalled by means of a white flay the canonical
hours of prayer each day, was built according to .
tradition by Yahia-Abou-Zakaryah about the year
630 H., and 1232 A. D.
We shall complete this cursory notice of the
remarkable buildings of Tunis by naming in the
European quarter, which is the lower part of the
city: 1. The Catholic church, inostly concealed from
view by the convent of the Capucins. Notwithstand-
ing its different restorations, this edifice has nothing
remarkable in its style of architecture, and it is not
large enough for the multitudes which frequent it,
often occupying every available point in the build-
ing. 2. The Italian college, a construction of good
proportions recently erected at the expense of the
CEMETERIES AND MONUMENTS.
393
Italian colony near the Italian and American consu-
lates. 3. The British consulate with a singular front,
situated on the piazza which is the centre of the
European quarter; and 4, the French consulate, sit-
uated out of the walls of the city in the new quarter
of the Marine; notwithstanding its enormous cost,
this building presents only the appearance of an ordi-
nary private house in a great European city.
The Mussulman cemieteries in the city and its envi-
rons are in no respect remarkable. Some of them
are not even enclosed by a wall. The same is also
true of the Jewish cemeteries, whose innumerable
white marble slabs and masonry, made white by the
frequent application of whitewash, present the ap-
pearance, from a distance, surrounded as they gen-
erally are by verdure, of little oriental villages whose
terraces only are in sight.* The Catholic cemetery
of St. Anthony, established in 1655, is situated by
the side of the Greek cemetery, nearly opposite the
French consulate, and has some fine monuments and
memorials of distinguished personages. The name
* Mussulmans and Jews avoid, as far as possible, keeping the bodies of
the dead in their houses for any length of time, and especially during the
dark hours of the night; and thus it not unfrequently happens that per-
sons are buried alive, especially during the prevalence of epidemics. One
case where this terrible disaster was narrowly escaped occurred in June,
1867, the details of which I learned from an authentic source. A Jewish
girl having witnessed several sudden deaths from the cholera, dropped upon
the floor and was supposed to be dead, when, forthwith, according to the
custom of the place, she was laid upon a bier and borne to the cemetery.
But while the bearer's were letting her body into the grave, she recovered
her consciousness just in season to prevent being buried alive, and she was
taken up from the grave and walked back to her home. Both the Mussul-
mans and the Jews aro buried with their feet to the east and their heads
elevated, ordinarily without coffins, and always in a linen shroud.
60
1
394
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of Sir Edward Baynes is seen on the left as we
approach the chapel. He was British agent and
consul general from 1849 to 1855. The monuments
over the remains of the family of the late count
Joseph Raffo, long an honored minister of the bey,
do credit to the artist and to the filial piety of the
son, who is still in the service of the government.
The Protestant cemetery of St. George is much
smaller, but it is in a good condition and contains
older monunients, some of them belonging to the
first half of the seventeenth century. Here also
repose the remains of several consuls, among which
we must name Sir Thomas Reade, and John Howard
Payne, the author of SWEET HOME.. Sir Thomas was
British agent and consul general from 1824 to 1849.
Jobn Howard Payne was instrumental in making the
American consulate a tasteful and agreeable resi-
dence. He encountered much opposition in his efforts
for the honor of the American flag, and some persons
who failed to appreciate his services in life did not
scruple to speculate on his private papers after his
death.*
Before the establishment of these cemeteries,
Christians were generally buried privately and in
out-of-the-way places, to avoid exciting the fanaticism
of Mussulmans whose delight seemed to be to efface
every trace of persons not identified with their
religion. In speaking of cemeteries it would be
natural to say a word about the Torba, the tomb of
the family of the beys; but infidels cannot enter
there, and they can only distinguish the dark grey
* See Appendix I.
LAST OF THE MOORISE KINGS.
395
walls and the cupola covered with green earthen
tiles and rounded over in a manner to represent a
bulbous plant. It is a melancholy pleasure, as we
enter the city on the Goletta road, to observe in the
cemetery on the right a commanding monument
erected in honor of the last of the Moorish kings,
Muley Hamida, who was also styled the last of the
Abencerage. To enjoy his usurped throne, this cruel
wretch plucked out the eyes of his own father and
then sent him off to live and die an exile in Europe.
Thouglı Tunis is not a manufacturing and indus-
trial city, yet in its character as the capital, all the
products of the regency are there brought together,
and the importations from Europe are very consid-
erable. Of the local manufacturęs, we must name,
first, the sheshias or red caps, for the production of
which this city has no rival; fine silk tissues are also
woven on miserable hand-looms; costly embroidery
is executed in fine taste, especially on saddles; and
delicate morocco slippers, variously colored, may be
found in abundance; but the most indispensable arts
and trades, such as are exercised by locksmiths, black-
smiths, carpenters and cabinet-makers, are, with rare
exceptions, in a state of pitiable inferiority. We
shall not dwell further upon this subject, as it has
already received our attention, while explaining in a
general way the state of the arts and trades in the
regency.
In the exercise of the mechanic arts, as well as in
commercial enterprises, the Europeans have a marked
preponderance which gradually becomes greater, and
the financial operations are mainly regulated and
396
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
controlled by Israelites. It is enough to say that the
natives and sovereigns of the country take a second-
ary place, and consequently the future does not
belong to them. He who does not go forward goes back-
ward. This incontestible law for nations and races
as well as for individuals, has a striking application
in the situation of all Islamitish people irreparably
fallen, because, the spring of their activity being once
broken, their movement is arrested, and this dates
back already several centuries, during which other
races have made decided progress, while they have
become degenerate and fallen back.
Tunis probably has a population of 125,000 souls,
of which number 32,000 are Jews, 13,000 Christians,
and the rest Mussulmans. Among Europeans, the
Italians are the most numerous. Their number has
greatly increased within a few years and now proba-
bly amounts to 6,000; there are also nearly 6,000
Maltese British subjects; 1,500 French, Spanish and
German subjects, and 300 Greeks. The Europeans
are not subject to the local jurisdiction. The same is
true of the Jewish subjects of the different European
powers. All the European states and the American
Union have at Tunis consuls-general invested with a
diplomatic character and with judicial and commer-
cial functions.
The Mussulman administration at Tunis is divided
as follows: 1. The government of the city and its
suburbs is administered during the day by the dou-
latli, the shadow of the bey, as represented by Mr. Pel-
lissier. He is a veritable prefect of police, especially
since of late years, in addition to his fifty hambas
BRANCHES OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
397
(mounted guards) he has a body of dabtyas or police-
men. 2. The sheik-el-Medina (Mayor) aided by two
assistants, one for each suburb, has the direction of
the police during the night, and exercises his power
by means of a company of watchmen who constitute a
city guard.* 3. The chief of the municipality super-
intends and directs the public works, the distribution
of the waters, the imposition of taxes on real estate,
and the administration of certain establishments for
the public good. The municipality of Tunis was
established in 1858 and has already effected impor-
tant improvements. 4. Civil justice is administered
by two Malekite and two Hanefite cadis. From
1861 to 1864, while the constitution was in force,
their duties were discharged by tribunals organized
in the European style. With the failure of the con-
stitution and the abolition of the tribunals in 1864,
the cadis were restored to power and invested with
the usual powers and responsibilities of their office.
5. At the head of the system of religion are two
muftis belonging to the two leading sects, who may
with propriety be termed Mussulman bishops. The
Malekite mufti has the title of bash-mufti, i. e., chief
mufti or high priest and elder of Islamism. This
religious chief is much reverenced by the public at
large, as shown by the fact that the sovereign of the
country rises at his approach and goes to meet him,
* It is but just to say that the mcans of repressing and punishing crime
are altogether insufficient, since Tunisian policemen have no right to arrest
subjects of other governments, and when they attempt' this they often
become involved in difficulty and are punished; whereas, by not exposing
European robbers and murderers, they have a chance to share their
plunder
398
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
.
and all the great dignitaries must take his step and
movement, even though he be a worthless man as,
unfortunately, is sometimes the case.*
The amusements common at Tunis are such as
might be expected in a place by no means remark-
able for moral and intellectual culture. Houses with
sleeping and eating apartments and reception rooms
gaudily ornamented are numerous; but homes with
ample provision for social and domestic enjoyment
are not abundant. Hence the multitude go forth for
pleasure, and cafés are well patronized and the mar-
ket places are thronged with loafers. Moorish cafés
are often enlivened with music, and professional story-
tellers are also employed to entertain those who
resort there. Also two or three European cafés are
provided with journals and illustrated papers. Α.
fourth class theatre is sustained during a part of the
year, though it is but little patronized by the Moors:
The different Christian, Jewish and Mussulman festi-
vals are observed with marked zeal, especially the
carnivals. Among the Moors and Jews there are
assemblies in which hired female dancers furnish the
principal entertainment. Among the Europeans, danc-
ing parties and balls, numerously attended, usually
begin'in December, and continue to take place ac-
cording to the convenience and pleasure of the per-
sons interested, until March or April. Some of these
great balls are brilliant in their way, affording occa-
sion for ladies to display at the same time grace in
dancing, elegant silks and quantities of jewelry,
* For statistics and notices of the churches, schools and masonic lodges
at Tunis, see Appendix J.
AMUSEMENTS AND POPULAR LIFE.
399
easy task.
and make drafts on the gallantry of the gentlemen
whom they have at command. Musical concerts are
rare, and lectures on scientific and literary subjects
unknown. Billiard tables are found at the European
cafés and cards are a very common amusement, but
the dance enlists the most enthusiasm and constitutes
a part of every important entertainment in fashion-
able circles.
To duly characterize popular life at Tunis is no
“The people there vegetate rather than
live,” says a recent writer. While we have great
respect for the vegetable kingdom, admiring trees
that cast their roots deep into the earth and throw
their branches high towards heaven, we honor more
men who, grasping great truths, rise to the dignity
of their natures. The rnost common classification of
society at Tunis is according to religious profession.
Thus every body is styled either a Mussulman, Jew
or Christian, except the consuls who are always des-
ignated by their official titles. The types of charac-
ter indicated by these terms are very different, yet
in certain respects they appear so much alike that it
is difficult to distinguish the one from the other.
These religionists differ greatly in their formularies,
but are alike in the tenacity with which they cleave
to those formularies and in their want of appreciation
of each other's creeds. They differ more in their
traditions and dogmas than in their morals and con-
duct. The Mussulmans are perhaps the most igno-
rant and fanatical; the Jews, the most bigoted adhe-
rents to their forms and ceremonies, and the Chris-
tians the most arrogant in their manners and unscru-
+
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ruption which prevails amono
400
pulous in their conduct. We have seen a bash-mufti,
a grand rabbi and a bishop; their manners were
much alike, but their dresses very different, and as
for their characters we should be loath to attempt a
description. We can say, however, for the bishop
that he is an accomplished man, and we know noth-
ing personally against the grand rabbi and the bash-
mufti.
The division of society according to occupation is
also very marked. The porters of the city have their
mosques and cafés; the cooks their places of resort,
where they meet and talk over matters that specially
concern them; the merchants, their casinos and
piazza; the Jewish brokers, their places of resort;
and the masons and other tradesmen, theirs. In this
way, Tunis has no need of newspapers and profes-
sional reporters. Small bits of news or scandal are
greedily caught up and circulated in a few hours
throughout the city. Public notices and advertise-
ments are, however, sometimes posted in the bazars
for the benefit of the few who can read.
A distinction of greater importance is between the
natives of the country on the one hand, and the
Europeans, including their protegés on the other.
The natives, though wanting in energy, are prover-
bially mild and courteous in their manners.
The cor-
small degree from contact with the rough side of
civilization. It is the Europeans who introduce poi-
sonous liquors and induce the habit of using them.
It is they who imbibe the larger proportion of their
infuriating drugs and, under their influence commit
.
THE SHYLOCKS AND THEIR JUDGES.
401
most of the deeds of violence. It is they who take
extortionary interest, acting the part of Shylock
without any just judge to condemn them.* They
acquire the vices of the country quite as readily as
its virtues. Dr. Franke says in his able work that
“ the Europeans at Tunis rarely fail by long residence
there to acquire the vices and obliquities of the Moors
and Jews in whose society they pass their lives.”
Most of the business of the country is now in their
hands, and the manner in which it is done would con-
stitute an interesting enquiry, aside from our present
purpose.
To exert an influence with the native government
and encounter the small craft and cunning of this
motley population, some nations have apparently
adopted the policy of appointing consuls of like
instincts and proclivities. While this course may
favor certain temporary objects, it cannot subserve
the cause of Christian civilization, nor promote the
honor of the nations thus represented. On the con-
trary, its decided effect is to degrade the name of
diplomacy, and make great nations appear in the
diminutive proportions of their accredited represen-
tatives. It is not the language and manners of the
east that need most to be understood, but the char-
acter and manhood that constitute the strength and
glory of the west. Hence, care should be taken
to send to the east only men that are well grounded
in the elements of civilizationMr. Pellissier speaks
* Dr. Davis, on the 334th page of his “Ruined Cities in Africa,” gives
account of a sheik who paid forty-eight per cent. interest, and one case
came to my knowledge where a Christian (?) took seventy-two per cent.
from a Mussulman.
51
402
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
of the disgraceful practice of selling consular pro-
tections. This is but one of the abuses of consular
power well understood at Tunis. .
When such examples are set in official ranks and
there is not enough moral power to overcome their
influence in private life, deleterious consequences are
sure to appear throughout society. We have, then,
to assent against our wishes to the remark that the
people at Tunis vegetate rather than live. Lacking
the vigor of genuine manhood, they allow honesty
to go begging, while knavery is exalted to places of
honor. They fail to embrace such fundamental
truths as alone can elevate and dignify their lives.
It is common to blame the native government for
most of the ills that prevail, but we believe more
responsibility rests upon Europeans than they are
wont to acknowledge. They have a controlling influ-
ence, but fail to exert it for the highest ends. While
we rejoice that Mussulman freebooters are passing
away, it becomes us to guard against an order of
character alike injurious to the best interests of
humanity and more criminal in the sight of heaven,
because founded and inaintained under the protection
of civilization by those who profess to walk in its
light and serve as its champions. The Europeans of
Africa need civilizing as well as the Mussulmans, and
the only effectual way to reach the latter is to
improve the former; and, to effect this purpose, the
great nations of the world should look well to the
character of their representatives.
A mile and a half northwest of Tunis in a plain,
where dust and mud alternately prevail, stands the
THE BARDO AND THE AQUEDUCT.
403
residence of the bey styled by the natives the
Burdo, the flourishing. Between the hills which
obstruct the view of the horizon on the west and on
the east extends a beautiful aqueduct, with arches
appearing singularly narrow on account of their great
elevation. This aqueduct is commonly said to be the
work of the Spaniards ; but after careful research, we
are unable conclusively to explain its origin. There
are good reasons, however, to believe that the Span-
iards did not build it. It seems to us altogether
more probable that this structure dates back to the
period of the Hafsite princes (1228–1535), who built
the bridge, canal, dam and sluices at Tebourba, the
bridge at Majez-el- Bab and many other substantial
works of permanent utility. However this question
may be settled, this long range of graceful and ele-
gant arcades, which appear on approaching them of
almost Herculean proportions, with a system of mason
work truly enormous ;— this line of arches, standing
upon lofty buttresses, gives the landscape, which has
few natural attractions, a certain air of picturesque
grandeur, and forms as it were a formidable balustrade
to the Tunisian Versailles. But the Bardo has no
resemblance to the former Versailles except its char-
acter as the royal residence near the gates of the
capital of the kingdom. For we should look in vain
there for the splendors of nature and of art. It is
an assemblage of hovels, houses, palaces and forts
enclosed by a wall with many angles and armed with
cannon; but forts, walls, buildings and cannon are
hardly able to withstand the force of time, much less
could they resist the attack of an enemy. The pal-
404
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
ace of the bey, which is picturesque if not beautiful,
belongs to no style of architecture laid down in the
books. It has an immense facade painted red and
blue to resemble stone, and is liberally supplied with
large windows and bull's eyes. It has also elegant bal-
conies painted in the most lively colors. This façade
appears at the very gate of the Bardo, where is ter-
minated a sort of rampart formerly supported by a
moat. On the wall in front of the palace are polished
bronze cannon turned as if to destroy the innocent
soil of the level plain which extends out in front of
the palace. There, too, may be seen the lazy patrol
moping back and forth or resting in the guard house.
In plain view from the palace windows is a beauti-
ful fountain which plays on festal occasions, and a
little one side is a watering place from which flows
off across the plains a puny stream producing vegeta-
tion in its course. In front of the Bardo and beyond
it for a mile and a half in a northwesterly direction,
are numerous gardens and villas which constitute the
village of the Manouba. Some former beys resided
there. The beautiful palace of Hamouda Bashaw
was after his death converted into military barracks.
Several of the villas belong to distinguished person-
ages of the actual Tunisian court. We shall again
revert to the palace of the bey in speaking of official
receptions. Let us note in passing that the road from
Tunis to the Bardo is the only well made macadam-
ized road in the regency, though one is begun from
the Bardo to, the Manouba, and another from Tunis
to the Goletta
Tunis, as we have said, is separated from the sea
THE GOLETTA AND ITS HARBOR.
405
by the lake of Tunis which communicates with the
gulf by means of a narrow canal called by the Arabs
Halle-el-Oued, which signifies mouth of the river.
It is under this name also that the natives designate
the little city which serves for the port of Tunis and
is called by Europeans the Goletta.
On each side of the canal is a tongue of land; that
on the north reaches out and joins the hills of Car-
thage; that on the south stretches on in the direc-
tion of the mountains of Zoughan, and widens out
near the village of Radis, famed for the victory of
Regulus over the Carthaginians. On each side of
this canal upon this double tongue of land is built the
Goletta. It is then naturally divided into two parts,
which communicate with each other by two draw-
bridges. The northern part is the Goletta proper,
embracing the town, the castle, the battery and the
royal bathing house ; its beach is also during three
months of the year lined with tents, and morning
and evening enlivened by bathing parties. The
southern part contains the palaces of the bey, the
prison, the arsenal, and the old and new docks, eighty
or ninety yards square, where more vessels are lost
by decay than are built and repaired by workmen.
Merchant ships anchor in the roadstead at a dis-
tance from the canal varying according to their
draught; for the harbor of the Goletta has generally
but little depth. Vessels of war cast anchor two or
three miles from the Goletta in front of cape Sidi-
Bou-Said, formerly called cape Carthage.
The roadstead of Tunis is of great extent and
pretty sure, though it is exposed to the northeast
406
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and northwest winds, the prevalence of which re-
quires great watchfulness on the part of mariners.
In bad weather, the anchors are sometimes dragged,
and it is rendered difficult to land and embark pas-
sengers and merchandise, which service is performed
by means of heavy sail boats, familiarly called san-
dals, which are also employed on the lake. We
believe that with comparatively small expense the
harbor of the Goletta could be enlarged and trans-
formed into a superior military post. But who will
undertake this, is more than can now be told.
The importance of the Goletta has much increased
since the ascension of Sidi Sadek upon the throne.
He regularly passes there five or six months of the
year, and during his residence the population, which
ordinarily amounts to only about 3,000, reaches the
number of 10,000. For all the employés of the
government, and families in easy circumstances, fol-
low the example of the sovereign, and already a vil-
lage is built up outside the wall towards Carthage.
The system of defence at the Goletta is supported
by a fortress of which we have already had occasion
to speak in the historical part of this work. It con-
sists of a rampart armed with cannon, on the side
towards Carthage, and of a long battery looking
towards the sea. Constituting a part of this battery,
are some magnificent bronze pieces which were re-
ceived as presents from European sovereigns or
taken as trophies by Tunisian corsairs. The most
beautiful of these, called the St. Paul, has been
recently presented by the bey to the king of Italy.*
* The St. Paul is a veritablo work of art. It was founded at Florence,
SIDI-BOU-SAID AND ST. LOUIS.
407
ones.
These old canħon became by degrees almost unfit for
use, and within the last four years have been mostly
replaced by others purchased at great expense, which
are said to be scarcely an improvement on the old
But in spite of the battery, rampart, embat-
tled walls and little Tunisian squadron, one modern
ship of war could readily take possession of the Go-
letta.
Five miles north-northeast of the Goletta, on a
commanding point of land jutting out into the sea,
stands the populous and holy village of Sidi-Bou-Said.
On its summit is a light-house from which may be
enjoyed a magnificent panorama of the gulf of Tunis,
which is one of the finest of the Mediterranean.
Standing upon this hill and looking towards the
Goletta, we see several less important hills and a cir-
cuitous line of sea-shore. The whole scene has an
aspect of nakedness. Here once stood Carthage, the
mistress of the sea and the greatest commercial
power of the ancient world. We shall notice its
ruins, almost annihilated, when we come to speak of
the monuments and traces of the past. In the midst
of these ruins, upon the highest of these hills, which
are connected with the culminating point of Sidi-
Bou-Said, stands the chapel erected in 1841 by Louis
Philippe to the memory of St. Louis, on the pre-
sumed place of his death. It is imbowered with trees
in the midst of a beautiful garden which is enclosed
by an octagonal wall. By a special article in the
treaty signed the 8th of August, 1830, between
in 1638, by Cosimo Cenni, who held tho same rank as a founder, as Cellini
held' as a sculptor and carver. Its weight is 27,500 pounds.
408
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
France and the bey of Tunis, the latter ceded to
king Charles X* the perpetual right to the ancient
hill of the Byrsa, that he might erect thereon this
commemorative monument. The chapel is small
and is not remarkable for its architecture or finish,
and the statue gives a very imperfect idea of St.
Louis. In the garden and in the buildings around it,
are collected numerous fragments of antique monu-
ments.
The Goletta is by its situation the centre of for-
eign commerce and the most important of all the
ports of the regency. Also, unlike every other city
or village, the majority of its inhabitants are Eu-
ropeans. Tunis is reached from the Goletta by land
and by the lake. The distance by land is about
twelve miles, while by the lake it is only about half
as far. It would be easy and profitable to have a
small steam tug on the lake, and a horse railroad on
the land route, but sail boats and donkey teams are
more in accordance with the spirit of the place.
North of the Goletta and west of Carthage are the
gardens of the Marsa, which is the summer resi-
dence of many native and some European officials.
Still further on in a northerly direction, on the
extreme point of the ancient peninsular of Carthage,
is the hill of Camart, where are also found some in-
viting villas, which the sand begins to invade. West
of Camart are some gardens in a state of decay, and
the salt lake of Soukra, separated from the sea by a
narrow strip of land. Some miles southwest of
* It is an interesting fact that this treaty was signed at Tunis the 8th of
August, 1830, just a week after the fall of Charles X.
ARIANA AND BIZERTA.
409
It is a
Soukra and north of Tunis are the gardens of Djarfar
and Ariana, and to the west of these is a vast forest
of olive trees covering hill and dale for miles around.
Ariana is renowned for the mildness of its climate
and for its roses, which are collected in large quanti-
ties and employed in manufacturing ottar of roses
which constitutes a branch of trade at Tunis. Also
the gardens of some distinguished Tunisian officials
constitute a special attraction.
Among the cities more or less important in the
northern part of Tunis is Porto Farina.
small city situated southwest of the promontory of
Sidi Ali-el-Meki, upon the lake into which are now
poured the waters of the Majerda. Porto Farina,
once the important military post of the regency, is
now only a poor town of a thousand inhabitants.
The accumulation of sand in the lake renders access
to it impossible for vessels of any importance. This
was probably the principal reason for abandoning
this military post, which served for centuries as a
general rendezvous for the Barbary pirates. A few
miles south of the mouth of the Majerda, on the left
bank of this river, is the site of Utica, of which we
shall speak further on. To the east of Porto Farina
and Sidi Ali-el-Meki, is the isle of Plane, so called
from its want of elevation; and beyond the cape,
towards the west, is the pyramidal isle of Pillau.
In following the line of the northwest coast, we
double cape Zebib, and soon enter the roadstead of
Bizerta, which forms a vast crescent, whose extreme
points are cape Zebib. on the one side and cape
Blanc on the other. The city of Bizerta is situated
52
410
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
sea.
upon the lower slope of an elevated ground near the
north extremity of a great lake called Tinga Benzerte,
which communicates by means of a natural channel
with a smaller interior lake called Garat Leckeul.
The wall around the city has the form of a triangle,
and the kasbah is elevated on the side toward the
The harbor is formed by the channel itself,
which is very deep in the interior of the city, but
has not sufficient depth towards the sea to receive
vessels of much importance. Competent judges
maintain that without great expense this incon-
venience could be overcome, and the channel be-
tween the roadstead and the lake be widened and
deepened so as to create one of the best maritime
ports in the whole world.
The channel forms in the interior of the city a
little island which constitutes the quarter of about
500 European residents. The natives are estimated
at about 5,000. The bifurcation of the river, the
nearness of the lake, and the general position of the
city give it a picturesque look which is rendered
more striking by the beauty of the surrounding land-
scape. This country, often compared to the environs
of Bona in Algeria (ancient Hippo-Regia), was once
under excellent cultivation and had an extensive
commerce in cereal products. To-day, its fields are
little better than an unbroken wilderness; its pros-
perity is gone, and Bizerta with all its natural resources
has no importance except as a fishery. In this respect
it deserves some consideration and is duly noticed in
another place.
Thirty-five miles west-southwest of Susa and ninety
THE AFRICAN MECCA.
411
south of Tunis, in an open plain that has numerous
marshes, is the holy city of Cairwan, the religious
capital of the regency. It is a Mussulman city, as yet
unpolluted by the residence of infidels. Considered
as a sort of African Mecca, it is by its historic souvenirs
and incorruptible character, the veritable centre of
Islamism in the Magreb. It was founded, says an
Arab historian, by Okba-ben-Nafy in the year 55 of
the hegira (675 A. D.), in the midst of an impenetra-
ble wood infested by ferocious animals and venomous
serpents, which at the inspired voice of the conqueror
departed with their young and retired towards the
desert, while the forest which had sheltered them dis-
appeared of itself. This miracle, which is reported
to have led to the conversion of the Berbers en masse,
will explain at least the actual desolation of the coun-
try. The city proper is according to Pellissier 2,600
yards in circumference; but it has also seven suburbs,
two of which are quite extensive. The walls of the
city as well as most of the houses are built mainly
with brick on account of the scarcity of stones in
that region. Along the top of the walls numerous
cannon stare menacingly at the beholder, and at
various points are round or square towers which, with
the minarets of the mosques and places of prayer,
give to Cairwan an imposing monumental aspect.
There are in Cairwan twenty-six mosques and fifty-
five chapels dedicated to Mussulman saints. The
most important mosque, founded by Okba and called
the mosque of Olives, is celebrated throughout the
Mussulman world. It is a vast quadrilateral struc-
ture, with numerous doors ornamented with superb
412
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
antique columns. We are assured that within are
very many similar columns, and that the splendor
of the sanctuary is incomparable. But a Christian
must rest satisfied with these hearsays; for the mosque
of Cairwan is one of the last places in the world to
be opened for the profane steps of the koffer. “God
most high will protect this city and this mosque;
His religion will there be firmly established, and
until the end of time, infidels will be given over
to humiliation.” Such are the divine words which
fell upon the ear of Okba, when he learned by
revelation in his solitude the precise spot on which
he should erect the seat of the iman of the new
mosque. Let us add that according to a tradition
accepted by the devotees and handed down from
generation to generation, the mosque of which we
speak was also built by miracle, the stones coming to
their places themselves, one upon the other in perfect
order.
In this temple as in the consecrated structures of
Mecca and Medina, exclusiveness is a cardinal princi-
ple, whose legitimate fruits are quite manifest. The
mosque of Okba has been repeatedly rebuilt and
ornamented with marble and porphyry, taken from
ancient monuments. It has two magnificent mono-
liths, of a red color, with yellow veins, taken, says
the Arab geographer, el-Bekri, from a Christian
church, and which a Byzantine emperor tried to pur-
chase for their weight in gold. It has seventeen
naves formed by four hundred and fourteen columns,
and is reputed to be the most beautiful mosque of
Africa. It is certainly regarded with profound vene-
THE MOSQUE OF CAIRWAN.
413
ration. When its lofty square towers, with three
stories in retreat, one resting upon the other, break
upon the view of Mussulman pilgrims, they glorify
God and His prophet, pausing for worship and prayer.
The various mosques and chapels have for Mussul-
mans an interest and reverence reminding us of
Rome, though it is difficult to name two places more
unlike than Cairwan and the seat of the Roman pon-
tiff. They both have numerous saints, chapels and
holy places. The finest chapel at Cairwan contains the
tomb of Sidi Sahab, a reputed companion and barber
of the prophet; but this popular tradition has been
lately exploded by a learned Mussulman, showing
that the prophet never shaved, and consequently
never had a barber.
But if Sidi Sahab had not the honor of seeing that
consecrated head at the mercy of his hands, which
among orientals involves the idea of confidence, he
had the honor, altogether of another kind, of a place
in that court above which the angel Gabriel had puri-
fied and rendered white as milk ; and consequently of
being eternally associated with Mohamined under the
title of friend as set forth in the famous Mussulman
formula: “Blessings be upon our lord and master
Mohammed, upon his family, his friends and his com-
panions."
Cairwan is in general well built. Its souks are,
like those of Tunis, divided according to the nature
of the articles made and sold. They appear pretty
well furnished and supplied with customers. The
streets are clean and give fewer indications of decay
than most Tunisian cities. The inhabitants live
414
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
generally at their ease. Its most important articles
of commerce are skins and leather, and the works
of its shoemakers and saddlers which are renowned
in .all North Africa. It has a population of 15,000
or 20,000.
There are no fountains at Cairwan. The city was
once provided with capacious reservoirs, but these
have taken the course of nature and are no longer
fit for use.
Mr. Guérin remarks with force, that this
scarcity of water would offer a hostile army a sure
means of reducing Cairwan. But it is written that
infidels shall there be constantly humiliated. The Cairwani-
ans, then, do not trouble themselves with imaginary
danger. If any city be well guarded by divine pro-
tection, it is understood it must be theirs.
No Christians or Jews reside at Cairwan. For
Europeans to pass within the holy gates, they must
have a special order from the bey, supported by the
presence of an imposing escort, and then be occa-
sionally subjected to sly insults and menaces from
the inhabitants, who are only restrained from com-
mitting violence by military force. The children are
brought up in horror of Christians and especially of
Jews. Young Cairwanians, who have been brought
to Tunis by their parents, have been known on
meeting and recognizing infidels in the streets, to
shed tears of rage, and in their fury commit violence
on their own persons on perceiving their inability in
the capital to follow a line of conduct in accordance
with their fixed instincts and pious sentiments.
One fact is here to be noted which has not escaped
the observation of Mr. Pellissier. Cairwan is for a
MATER AND THE TABARCANS.
415
holy city very corrupt. It has this in common with
many other celebrated places in the world, and in
our opinion the explanation is not difficult. It is
that fanaticism there bears sway. And as fanaticism
is the perversion of the religious sentiment, which,
maintained in its purity, can alone check and over-
come the insidious vices leading to degradation and
ruin, we see here only a familiar illustration of the
principal that as ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Mater is the capital of the Mogody, the region sit-
uated between the lake of Bizerta and Tabarca. It
has a horse fair once a week, and about 1,000 inhabi-
tants. Beja is situated in a fine agricultural country
called Ifrikia. It has 9,000 inhabitants and is the cen-
tre of the most important grain trade in the regency.
Twenty-five miles from Bėja on a point of land oppo-
site to the island of Tabarca, is fort Tabarca, which
would acquire importance were the forests near by
to be employed to supply the needs of the country.
In passing this place, we will state an interesting his-
torical fact. In the sixteenth century, Tabarca was
ceded by Khayedine Barbarossa to a patrician family
of Genoa named Lomellini as a ransom for his famous
rival, the Turkish corsair Dragut. A Genoese colony
was established and maintained there until the last
half of the eighteenth century. At that period, the
Lomellini wished to cede Tabarca to the French
company of Calle to become the headquarters of the
coral fishery in that region. But war breaking out
between Tunis and France, the bey promptly took pos-
session of this position, which he had for a long time
watched. The Lomellini and other Genoese colonists
416
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
were taken to Tunis, where they and their descend-
ants have since been known as the Tabarcans, holding
as a class an intermediate position between natives
and Europeans. One Tabarcan lady married one of
the beys of Tunis, and thus some of the sovereigns
as well as ministers of the country have been of
Genoese origin.
In the valley and near the mouth of the Majerda,
is the Dowar of Bou-Shahter, built on the site of
ancient Utica, and in a southwesterly direction, on
the right bank of the same river, is Jedida, a village
with delightful gardens and a fine stone bridge. A
little further up the river is Tebourba, a town of
2,000 inhabitants, built on both sides of the river.
El Bathan is an adjoining village, distinguished as the
site of the only woolen manufactory whose ma-
chinery is moved by water power.
This establsh-
ment was built by Ahmed Bey, but for the want of
capital and enterprise, it does little for the country.
Red caps are manufactured there, but they are of an
inferior quality. Around Tebourba are fine gardens
and groves of olive trees. There too was once a
fine system of sluices for watering the country
around, effected by means of the bridge, which is
still standing. Further up the river is Mejez-el-Bab,
a small town of 1,500 inhabitants, and still further on
is Testour, with 3,000 inhabitants.
Ten miles south of Tunis, is the little abandoned
city of Mohammedia, which was built up by Ahmed
Bey, and becaine his favorite residence. The im-
mense palace is without architectural beauty, and is
one of those ruins made by the hand of man and
MODERN RUINS OF MOHAMMEDIA.
417
destitute of the majesty and dignity of those which
result from the action of time. Since the death of
Ahmed Bey, this colossal dwelling, which cost fabu-
lous sums of money, expended without discretion for
marble columns, luxurious furniture and gilded ceil-
ings, has presented a painful aspect. Its magnificent
suites of rooms, now the abode of lizards, are regu-
larly plundered of their rich ornaments. Its marble
pavements and finely formed columns, once brought
from Carthage and Oudena, are stolen away and sold.
The rain trickles through its dilapidated roofs, and
its walled ceilings, robbed of their enamelled tiles
and gilt ornaments, are fissured and broken. Its
beautiful marble steps are gradually carried off, and
its once magnificent doors, which twenty years ago
were covered with gilt copper, now scarcely serve to
screen the pitiful ruins within. The elegant marble
colonade, which forms the passage way to the palace,
on the side of the square court where the soldiers
and courtiers assembled, just below the balcony of
the bey, has been brutally stripped of its marble
pavement, and its walls, which were once covered
with earthen tiles of variegated colors, now bear
unmistakable marks of violence, prompted by hatred
and the desire for gain. At the windows of the cor-
ridors are twisted bars of wrought iron and fragments
of sash once supplied with glass, and on the broken
balustrades are bits of massive copper fastenings,
left by the pillagers of the palace. On the corners
of the various halls are numerous nests of turtle
doves and swallows, and through the roofs are open-
ings which enable us to behold the azure heaven or
53
418
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the passing clouds, which we regard as fitting em-
blems of the generations of men and their works.
The sight of this premature decay induces a feeling
of sadness as we think how much gold was here
expended with no other result than to gratify the
vanity of a weak prince, and bring poverty and dis-
tress on his subjects. These ruins constitute, as it
were, a monument of the disorder and folly of orien-
tal governments in general, and of the Tunisian gov-
ernment in particular.
On beyond Mohammedia is a point in the chain of
Zaughan, which extends in a southerly direction.
This is the Zeugitanus mons of the ancients, and is the
highest point in the regency. On the side of this
mountain, thirty miles from Tunis, in the midst of a
landscape incomparable in respect to the picturesque-
ness of its rocks, woody slopes, foaming cascades and
azure summits, is displayed the little city of Zaughan,
smiling with its sparkling minarets, tall palms and
luxuriant gardens. This was colonized during the
period of the Spanish expulsion, by Andalusian
Moors. At present, it is an insignificant place, hav-
ing scarcely any branch of industry but the manufac-
ture of red caps. It is at Zaughan that is found, in
the midst of a noted ruin, which is described in
another chapter, one of the abundant sources which
supply the aqueduct of Tunis.
Ten miles south of Zaughan, in the midst of
mountains belonging to the same system, is Jougar,
a small village, with fountains more abundant than
those of Zaughan, and springing forth like the latter,
from the midst of an imposing ruin, which probably
VIEW FROM MOUNT ZAUGHAN.
419
once served as a bathing establishment. Mount
Zaughan has two summits, one of which is 4,500 feet
high, and the other, 4,360. The latter, called Sidi
Bou Gabrin, is alone accessible.*
The panorama
which is enjoyed from this elevation is extensive and
admirable. Tunis, Carthage, the gulf of Tunis and
its capes are displayed in the horizon towards the
north ; in the northwest, the valley of the Majerda ;
in the south, the mountains of Jougar and Ousselat;
in the southeast, beyond the heights of Jerad and
Takoona, the cities of Hergla and Susa; in the east,
Hammamet and its splendid gulf; and then in the
northeast, between this gulf and that of Tunis, the
peninsula of cape Bon juts out into the sea, with its
hills scarcely discernable in the dim distance.
Near the entrance of cape Bon and the southern
extremity of the gulf of Tunis, rises Gebel Cornein,
the mountain with two horns, at the foot of which
are the hot springs of Hammam-el-Lif.
This moun-
tain, whose general features resemble those of Ve-
suvius, belongs to the secondary system, of which
Gebel Rasas (Lead Mountain), situated a little dis-
tance to the south, is the highest peak, and which
is bound to the more important system of Zaughan,
and by it to the other mountain ranges of the coun-
try. East of these mountain ranges is the beautiful
plain of Soliman. Soliman, colonized by Andalusian
Moors, is a place of 1,200 inhabitants, in a state of
manifest decay. It was once the most important of
all those colonies which the Spanish Moors, coming
* For an account of this ascent, see Appendix K.
420
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
into the country in the seventeenth century, founded
as centres of industry and commerce.
Beyond Soliman, near the foot of volcanic moun-
tains, whose sides appear almost perpendicular, are the
hot waters of Corbus, whose medicinal qualities are
more prized than those of Hammam-el-Lif. It is the
opinion of skilful and competent men that if comfort-
able accommodations were provided at Corbus and
Hammam-el-Lif, these waters would soon acquire a
universal reputation. They are, besides, neither the
only nor the most remarkable of the many mineral
springs in the regency, but like most other natural
sources of wealth, they are of no advantage to the
government or people of the country.
Northeast of Corbus, are Sidi Daoud (David) and
Aoonia. In a creek near Sidi Daoud, is an islet
which serves as the centre of the tunny fishery, and
near Aoonia, are the vast quarries which are the
famous latomies described by Strabo. Some writers
would have us think that Æneas and Dido took
refuge in one of these caves from the storm that
interrupted their hunting sport.
Doubling cape Bon and following the coast mostly
in a southerly direction, we come first to Kalibia, a
moorage at present of little importance; then to the
delightful little village of Menzil Zemin, whose envi-
rons are noted for splendid harvests; then into the
midst of fertile fields and gardens fragrant with roses,
jessamines and oranges, the delightful Nebel. Though
this city is now in a state of decay, it has still some
reputation for its manufacture of earthenware and of
woolen goods. It has from 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants,
RUINOUS SUPERSTITION AND LAZINESS.
421
and is a noted watering place, often visited by con-
sumptive invalids on account of the mildness of its
climate and the agreeableness of its situation. Its
ancient name was Neapolis (new city). Nebel is
often injured by freshets in the rainy season when
the banks of the rivulets are swept by rushing waters
which destroy in their course rich fields and luxuriant
harvests. This system of devastation and ruin goes
on century after century without any wisely directed
efforts on the part of the natives to confine the waters
to their appropriate channels. In this country wis-
dom takes no such practical turn. Human foresight
and provision are disparaged, and that piety is alone
honored that ascribes to God the sole care of all
things. But, happily for the activity and well-being
of the human family, God does not accept all the
offices and responsibilities which the superstition and
laziness of his creatures would impose upon him; and,
in abandoning such presumptuous folly to disastrous
consequences, he clothes labor with honor and encour-
ages without cessation the activity and energy which
form a part of his plan for the elevation of the human
race. Mussulman people have always but partially
understood, and now utterly ignore or forget, this
truth, on which depend the greatness and the future
of nations as well as of individuals
.
Eight miles from Nebel, in front of the broad gulf
of the same name, is the little city of Hammamet.
It has a thousand inhabitants, and its fertile environs
give it some agricultural importance. Below Ham-
mamet, the coast winds a little towards the west and
forms an arc whose extreme point is Monastir. It is
422
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
very low until we reach the steep shore of this last-
named city. During the rainy season much land is
overflowed, and in these temporary marshes are often
witnessed the curious effects of the mirage. In this
plain are two salt lakes, one at Sidi Halifa and the
other at Hergla. Continuing our tour along the
coast, after passing several villages we arrive at Susa,
the most important commercial point in the Sahel,
the district which especially abounds in olive oil.
Susa, (ancient Hadrumetum) is built in the form
of an amphitheatre, overlooked by a citadel. It con-
tains twelve mosques, nine chapels, six schools, one
of which is for superior instruction, a covered market,
commodious barracks, and 10,000 inhabitants. It is
well laid out and well built for an oriental city. Its
advantageous position, numerous elegant minarets
and tall palm trees, rising above the house tops and
breaking the uniformity of its whitewashed edifices,
give it an unusually picturesque aspect; but the
agreeable impression made by an exterior view is
speedily changed as we actually enter the city and
leisurely survey its various streets. Susa was in the
middle age a very important place; now it is only a
great centre of commerce in oil and soap. It con-
tains six hundred Europeans, most of whom are
Maltese and Italians. Also vice consuls are main-
tained here by several European nations.
Southwest of Susa is the great town of Msaken,
with ten thousand inhabitants, eleven mosques, and
one superior school, which is celebrated throughout
Tunisia. Msaken has a character for holiness which
is specially demonstrated by the exclusion of Chris-
LANDING PLACE OF BELISARIUS.
423
tians and Jews. Among other considerable places in
the district of Susa, is Jemal, a town of 6,000 inhab-
itants. Passing from Susa, by Monastir, to cape
Dimas (ancient Thapsus), the coast winds about
mostly in an easterly direction; it then takes a
southerly course as far as Ras Caboudia (Caput
Vada); then it turns to the southwest, and beyond
Sfax winds about to form the gulf of Gabes, and
later takes a southeasterly direction. Monastir is
twelve miles from Susa, and has 8,000 inhabitants.
It is built on the site of ancient Ruspina, where
Cæsar established his principal camp. Twenty-one
miles in a southerly direction from Monastir, is Media
(Mehedia, ancient Africa), with 6,000 inhabitants,
founded three hundred years after the hegira, by the
iman El-Mahedi, who gave it his own name.
In passing along the coast twenty-five miles from
Media, we find the Ras Caboudia of the Arabs, the
Caput Vada of the ancients, famous for having been
the landing place of Belisarius in his successful cam-
paign against the Vandals in 533–4. We also pass
a great number of populous though unimportant
places, whose wretchedness drew forth from Pellis-
sier the remark that this country is placed under the
ineffective protection of a great number of Mussul-
man saints whose influence is seen more in the erec-
tion of places for prayer, than in the elevation and
well-being of the people. Sfax, which is situated on
the extreme coast of the gulf of Gabes, is one of the
largest cities in the regency. Like Susa, it is built
in the form of an amphitheatre, with a picturesque
and agreeable aspect, and is overlooked by its forti-
424
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
fications. It is surrounded with numerous gardens,
and, seen from a distance, produces an agreeable im-
pression, which, however, is speedily effaced as we
pass within the walls. This is a fertile district, pro-
ducing in abundance olives, almonds, pistachios and
most of the fruits of Europe. On my two visits at
Sfax, I was entertained at the Dar-el-Bey, where
an extensive and delightful view of the harbor and
the surrounding country was enjoyed, and my sojourn
was rendered especially agreeable by the courtesies
of the kaid and of the consular agents of the place.
Under the walls of Sfax are numerous covered cis-
terns, built and kept in order by the pious legacies
of benevolent Mussulmans. The exports of this city
are mostly sent to Malta, and consist in olive oil, wool,
sponges, woolen fabrics and dried fruits. Much trade
is carried on by means of caravans between this port
and the Gereed. Sfax stands on the site of ancient
Taphnura. The river Shershar, which is the Tanais
mentioned by Sallust, empties into the sea a few
miles southwest of it. In the war against Jugurtha,
before marching upon Capsa, Marius took his supply
of water and provisions from this point.
Opposite to Sfax are the Kerkenna islands where,
in addition to various other branches of industry,
fish and sponges are exported. In catching fish, the
inhabitants profit by the tide, which, though incon-
siderable in the Mediterranean generally, becomes
very apparent from cape Caboudia as far as the fron-
tiers of Tripoli. The tide rises more than three feet
at Sfax, and much higher at Gerba and Gabes. The
Kerkenna islands are memorable for several historic
SYRTIS MINOR AND GERBA.
425
ness.
events. Hannibal spent there some days before
going into exile. Marius landed there on his way to
Carthage, after being driven from Italy. During the
war of Cæsar, in Africa, Sallust, the historian, then
prætor, was sent to these islands to take possession of
quantities of wheat stored there by the Pompeian
party. Pliny speaks of a bridge which once united
the two islands, the remains of which are still visible.
South of Sfax and the Kerkenna islands, is the
gulf of Gabes (ancient Syrtis Minor), which main-
tains its early reputation for inconstancy and fickle-
The sea there swells and becomes furious at
slight breezes. The feluccas which sail over these
waters, are often greatly exposed to the violence of
the waves, having few places for safe anchorage.
The southwest coast of this gulf belongs to the prov-
ince of El Arad, of which we have already spoken.
The city of Gabes (ancient Tacape) is simply a
group of villages surrounded by luxuriant gardens.
It contains the tomb of one of the companions of the
prophet, and several thousand inhabitants. Opposite
to Gabes is the island of Gerba, the ancient Menynx
and Lotophagitis, separated from the continent on
the south by a narrow strait. With a smooth or
undulating surface, its soil is fertile and tolerably
well cultivated. It produces grain and fruits of all
sorts, and manufactures oil jars, and a fine woolen
cloth employed for ladies' burnouses; this last named
article is renowned for its fineness and superior finish.
It also produces soda and lime in considerable quan-
tities.
The island of Gerba contains no walled cities and
54
426
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
no considerable villages, its population being scat-
tered over the territory to an unusual extent. Its
shores are nominally defended by six small forts,
which, however, rather serve to keep the population
in awe than to protect them from foreign foes. The
inhabitants of Gerba are mostly of the Berber race,
and resemble in their traditions, origin, language
and religion the Sahara tribe of Beni Mzab. They
have peculiar rites and are quite distinct from the
orthodox sects, in whose eyes they are obstinate here-
tics. One article that gives offence in their creed is
that faith alone is not sufficient for salvation. They
are reputed, however, to be quite as moral and
upright in their conduct as the orthodox Mussul-
mans, religiously observing the precept to abstain
from wine and strong drink. But on the other
hand, they eat the flesh of dogs and donkeys. In
offering up their prayers, they prefer very elevated
places, and seek to lay off the article of apparel that
is most exposed to personal impurity. In entering
their mosques, they leave their stockings, if they
have any, at the doors, while the genuine orthodox
wear theirs even into the sanctuary, only laying off
their shoes.
In the Tunisian Gereed are Gafsa, Tozer, Hamma,
Nefta, Nefzawa and El Mansour, each made up, like
Gabes, of several villages, and having a numerous
population, sustained by some special branches of
industry. The great salt lake or marsh of Pharoon
(ancient Triton), is seventy-five iniles long and
twelve miles wide. The Tunisian Gereed communi-
cates with Central Africa by Gadame, which is ten
days journey into the desert.
KEF AND SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.
427
The most important point of the western region
bordering on Algeria, is El Kef, the Sicca Veneria of
the ancients, built upon a mountain slope and sur-
rounded by a bastioned wall. It stands in a volcanic
region, and the ancient crater of the mountain is
still readily recognized. This city, now fallen into
decay and stricken with poverty, contains a popula-
tion of 6,000 Mussulmans, 600 Jews, and a few
Christians. It has scarcely any importance except
as a military post, in which light it was held in high
esteem under Carthaginian rule. Mr. Guérin ob-
served a curious fact on his visit at El Kef. Most of
the grave stones in the actual Jewish cemetery have
on them various Latin inscriptions, which, though
partially concealed by the effects of age and coats of
whitewash, conclusively show that these monuments
once served the same purpose for a generation under
the Roman domination, as they now serve for Tu-
nisian Jews.
2016
CHAPTER VI.
Archeological Sketch of the Country and Graces of the fast.---
Canthage, Chysdyus, &tica, etc.
ROBABLY no country in the world, unless we
except the Italian peninsuļa, is more sprinkled
with illustrious ashes, and more remarkable for its
memorable events than Tunisia. The seat of the
empire of Carthage; the important province of the
Roman world; the brilliant diocese of the Christian
church; the Arab kingdom and also the califate;
the Turkish province; the independent state; this
country has preserved traces of all its long and
eventful history; and for the man of science and
learning, who should have the courage and
persever-
ance to devote sufficient time to explorations and
researches, it would not be impossible, in our opinion,
to write out this history by means of its monuments,
or rather by means of their ruins and debris.
But no domination has left such an ineffaceable
impress as the Roman. While there remain of Punic
Carthage only a few inscriptions of little importance,
REMARKABLE ROMAN RUINS.
429
and aside from the cisterns, only traces of construc-
tions without precise character; while the remem-
brance of Christianity is perpetuated aside from its
written history only on epitaphs buried for centuries;
by traditionary symbols observed but not understood
by the natives, and by churches ruined and converted
into mosques; while vandalism has left scarcely a
vestige of its existence, and Byzantine supremacy
is
indicated only by its coins and silver table service occa-
sionally found in tombs and elegant columns appro-
priated to mosques, and whilė few or no monuments
have come down to us from the Arab middle age,
the Roman period of Tunisian history has numerous
imposing monuments and ruins.
We propose then to give a rapid archeological
sketch of Tunisia, calling the attention of our read-
ers only to the most celebrated traces of the past;
for to describe all the antiquities that have been fully
or partially explored in this country, would require
one of those huge folios of the middle age which
were then written, read and handled without diffi-
culty, but which to-day weary our arms as well as
our minds, when we are compelled to consult them,
and which we have neither the time nor the dispo-
sition to undertake.
As the name of Carthage stands foremost in the
country, her ruins* will naturally receive our first
attention. They begin at ten miles northeast from
* For an extended discussion of the topography and antiquities of Car-
thage, we refer our readers to the learned work of Mr. Dureau de la Malle.
Also the works of Messrs. Falbe, Beulé and Géurin may be advantageously
consulted.
.
430
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Tunis, near the little village of Malga, where some
miserable Bedouin families have taken up their abode.
There are to be seen distinct traces of an amphithe-
atre which was especially famous in the touching
annals of the Christian church. Some masses of
masonry embedded in the soil and scattered along a
great eliptical depression are all that now remain of it.
We have noticed elsewhere some historical events
that occurred upon this spot. They come up afresh
as we enter upon this arena. The solitude and des-
olation that now reign seem but to color our thoughts
and intensify our impressions. We recall the image
of Felicita and Perpetua, two admirable females, one
a patrician and the other a slave, who, while under-
going martyrdom in this enclosure, calmly exhorted
each other to persevere in the faith. We are reminded
that near here where a Christian church was after-
ward erected, the most celebrated of the bishops of
Carthage, St. Cyprian, calmly counted out some gold
for his executioner, and, arranging his neck upon the
block, bid him do his work. St. Augustine studied
and taught, and at a later period preached in this
city. We are reminded of the oath of Hannibal, of
the insurrection and crucifixion of Bomilcar, of the
fierce factions of Hanno and Barca, of Genseric, Beli-
sarius and St. Louis; but we must proceed with our
work of observation and exploration. It would
appear from the Arab historians El Bekri and Edrisi,
that this amphitheatre was in a good state of preser-
vation in the eleventh century. “Actually,” says
Mr. Guérin, “the form of the amphitheatre alone
remains to us; for the arcades have been demolished,
AMPHITHEATRE.-CIRCUS.-CISTERNS.
431
the sea.
and with them the buttresses and steps have been
carried off piece by piece.”
Half a mile south of the amphitheatre we find the
outlines and entrances of a circus, which was, accord-
ing to Mr. Falbe, 1,600 feet long, and 330 feet wide.
It is situated near the hamlet of Dowar - Eshat
(hamlet of the shore), so called from its nearness to
A little to the north of the amphitheatre,
on rising ground, is the village of Malga, of which
we have spoken. In its centre are immense arch-
ed cisterns in a ruinous state. These used to re-
ceive the waters at the end of the great aqueduct
of Carthage. In consequence of the complete or
partial destruction of many of these cisterns, or of
their being buried under the rubbish of centuries, it
is difficult to ascertain with precision their dimen-
sions. We can distinguish thirteen of them running
parallel to each other, and one running at right
angles to the others. According to Mr. Dureau de la
Malle, these cisterns originated with the Phoenicians,
and were afterwards converted into a reservoir for
the aqueduct of Hadrian. Mr. Guérin infers, also,
that they are of Punic origin and essentially Ro-
man by construction. This opinion, established with
much clearness and reason, seems to us acceptable;
for it is certain that Carthage, like all ancient cities
of Africa and the orient, must have had pools or
public cisterns, and further that these pools were, in
general, vast open basins like the feskias of Tunis or
the pools of Jerusalem. It is natural then to suppose
that, under the Romans, these pools were transformed
into arched reservoirs for the waters of the great
aqueduct.
432
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
.
This aqueduct, generally believed to have been
built during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, con-
ducted to Carthage the beautiful living waters of
Zaughan and of Jougar by means of a channel some-
times under ground and sometimes on superb arcades
supported upon towering buttresses. Remains of this
aqueduct are to be seen extending from the cisterns
of Malga across the plains as far as Ariana, and again
in a less ruinous state beyond the Manouba and near
Mohammedia.
Six hundred yards nearly southeast of Malga rises
the famous hill of the Byrsa, the cradle and citadel
of Carthage. Its identity, many times called in ques-
tion, seems to us to have been definitely established
in 1859 and 1860 by the researches and excavations
of Mr. Beulé, member of the Institute of France.
This hill, where the city of Dido and of Hannibal was
begun more than 800 years before Christ, has a form
almost quadrangular and rises seventy yards above
the level of the sea.
With a steep ascent on the east and southeast, and
difficult to be reached on the north and on the west,
it naturally presented itself to the founders of Car-
thage as an excellent site for their acropolis, and for-
tified, the Byrsa became in fact the bulwark of the
city. “ These fortifications,” says Mr. Beulé, “were
on a gigantic scale, and authors give a minute des-
cription of them. On the side of the lake of Tunis,
the wall served to fortify the city. Let us imagine
two circles, the smaller enclosed in the larger, and
the two touching each other at a common point.
These walls were built of hewn stone. They were
THE BYRSA, PAST AND PRESENT.
433
about sixty feet high and thirty-three feet thick,
according to Diodorus. They were hollow and cov-
ered. Some stories had admirable conveniences
within. On the ground were stables for three hun-
dred elephants, with necessary provision for their
support. Above them were placed 4,000 horses,
with barley and straw for a long seige. In fine, 20,-
000 footmen and 4,000 horsemen lodged in these
magnificent walls, which the consul Censorinus com-
pared to an encampment.
No ruins were apparent upon this celebrated hill
when Mr. Beulé began some excavations which re-
sulted in finding deeply buried in the earth some
walls which he regards as remains of Phoenician for-
tifications and vestiges of a Roman palace. These
discoveries were made near the chapel of St. Louis,
at the eastern extremity of the enclosure. This
chapel, built by Louis Philippe in 1841, upon ground
ceded, to France by Ahmed Bey, is erected upon a
platform in the midst of an octagonal garden, and
has nothing remarkable about it except its look of
nakedness and desolation.
The garden of St. Louis is ornamented with vari-
ous antique ruins, shafts of columns, bas-reliefs, in-
scriptions, pieces of marble raised on pedestals or
fastened upon the walls under the porticoes of the
apartments designed for the consul of France and
the chaplain. The most remarkable object there is a
beautiful marble torso, of large size, found at El
Gem (Thysdrus); it is erected upon a pedestal, ac-
companied by a long inscription found in the same
place.
55
434
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The chapel of St. Louis is built upon the site of
the ancient temple of Heshmoun, the Phoenician
god, corresponding to the Esculapius of the Greeks
and Romans. Some fortunate excavations of Mr.
Beulé brought to light a part of the peribolos or
first court of that edifice. Like most of the ancient
monuments of that period, erected by a people of
like origin, or possessing analagous traditions (Egyp-
tian, Syrian and Grecian), the temple of Heshmoun
had to be protected. It was the place for the delibe-
rations of the Punic senate. In case of a foreign
invasion, it became the last asylum of the religion
and independence of the country. We know that
when Carthage was taken by Scipio Æmilianus, this
temple was the last place to hold out against him,
and was carried only after the Roman deserters,
commanded and forsaken by Hasdrubal, had devoted
themselves to the flames to avoid the terrible ven-
geance which Scipio sought to inflict on them as
deserters and traitors.
But it was not to escape the vengeance, but the
probable generosity of the conqueror, and that she
might not avail herself of the baseness of her hus-
band who, through the love of life, had “lost with
his honor the right to live," that the wife of Has-
drubal, after uttering scorching reproaches, precipi-
tated herself with her children into the flames. How
much less poetic and grand is the Dido immortalized
by Virgil who died the same death from another
motive! Dido had not the courage to live. No pro-
found sentiment braced her for the struggle of life.
But the wife of Hasdrubal, honored as a wife and
THE TEMPLES OF CARTHAGE.
435
mother, wished not to survive her country with a dis-
honored husband. Dido was the victim of passion and
wounded vanity, that is, of selfishness; the wife of Has-
drubal was the martyr of honor and patriotism, that is,
of self-denial. The temple that was the theatre of this
devotion was then destroyed and was at a later period
rebuilt, at the same time as the rest of the city, with
white marble in the Corinthian style, as proved by
the excavations of Mr. Jourdan, the architect of the
chapel of St. Louis in 1840, and by those of Mr.
Beulé in 1859 and 1860. The palace of the Roman
pro-consuls was twelve or fifteen yards from the
temple of Esculapius and Mr. Beulé has found seven
parallel arched halls terminating at the very base of
the chapel of St. Louis.
In front and to the north of the Byrsa, is a hill of
about the same dimensions having numerous cis-
terns and covered with rubbish of every sort. Upon
this hill was once erected the temple of Tanit or of
Astarte, whose worship and oracles were greatly
respected at Carthage and continued till the fifth
century of the Christian era, when the emperor Con-
stans, to put and end to complicated rites of prosti
tution, ordered the temple to be destroyed, and its
enclosure was converted into a cernetery. Of this
temple, as well as that of Baal, (the Apollo of the
Greeks and Romans); of the temple of Molock (Sat-
urn), famous for its human sacrifices and for its
colossal statue, made with open mouth, as if to
devour the children destined to be burned in honor
of that god; of the temple of Ceres and Proserpine;
of these and all other temples there remain only
436
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
insignificant traces, and it is scarcely possible for one
without the plan of the city before him to distinguish
their sites.
Of the twenty-one Christian churches or basilicas,
most of which were either heathen temples, dedi-
cated, like the Parthenon at Rome, to Christian pur-
poses, or were built on the ruins of heathen temples,
no vestage now remains, unless it be of the basilica
of the Vandal king Thrasamond, situated near the
hill of Borge-Geedid. This ruin on the sea coast has
served and still serves as a quarry, from which build-
ing stones are taken for all the region around. By
the side of this basilica, is a vast ruin which Mr. Pel-
lissier believes to be that of the Gargillian baths,
where during the reign of Honorius, were held the
fainous conferences of bishops on the subject of
Donatism.
The modern castle of Borge-Geedid (new-castle),
is built on the site of the fort taken in 1270, by St.
Louis. One of the declivities from the height of
Borge-Geedid is covered with the ruins of a stair-case
which led by one hundred and twenty or one hun-
dred and thirty steps from the Nova Platea to the
water's edge. That height completely overlooks the
sea. “Nothing,” says Mr. Beulé, “could have been
finer than the view from that point. If the specta-
tor turned to the right, he saw old Carthage, with
her harbors, her temples, her forum and her acropo-
lis; upon his left and in his rear was the new city,
the rich quarter of Magara.”
Fifty rods northwest of Borge-Geedid are eighteen
magnificent arched cisterns, running parallel to each
EXCAVATED CISTERNS OF CARTHAGE,
437
other and separated one from the other by a thick
wall. They are each about one hundred feet long,
twenty-five feet wide, and thirty feet deep. They
have side galleries extending at right angles, about
four hundred and forty feet long, and eight feet wide.
At the ends and near the centre of the vast quad-
rangle formed by these cisterns, are circular basins,
formed by the division of the oblong basins. This
vast system of reservoirs received only rain water
collected by means of inclined planes made of cement
around the cisterns, and conducted into them by
pipes, pieces of which have been recently found.
At the late Universal Exposition, at Paris, was exhib-
ited a large bronze faucet, fastened to the end of a
piece of lead pipe, which was recently found in one
of the cylindrical reservoirs, at the end of this sys-
tem of cisterns; and fastened to the wall of the
same reservoir, is a narrow stone stair-case which
leads to the bottom. This reservoir was discovered
during the recent work of excavation and restoration,
entrusted to Mr. Gouvet, a skilful French engineer,
in the service of the Tunisian government.
It remains for us to say a word about the harbors
and necropolis of Carthage. “The harbors of Car-
thage,” says Appian, “were so arranged that the
ships passed from one into the other. On the side
of the sea there was but one entrance, seventy feet
wide, which was closed by means of iron chains.
The harbor first entered from the sea was designed
for merchant ships, and was provided with numerous
hawsers. In the centre of the second harbor was an
island, having great quays on its shore, similar to
438
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
those on the opposite side of the basin. These quays
presented the appearance of a series of creeks, which
could receive two hundred and twenty vessels. Above
the coves on the main land were built some magazines
for ship-rigging. Directly in front of each cove were
erected two Ionic columns."
The piece of land embracing the site of the ancient
harbors is called at the present time El Cram (the
fig trees). It is situated south of the Byrsa and
northeast of the Goletta. On the part of El Cram
nearest Carthage, are the gardens and palace of the
Bey's prime minister, General Mustapha Khasnadar.
Just before reaching the palace, we pass over ground
where were once fitted out proud fleets that swept
the Mediterranean. On either side of the gate near-
est the palace is a fine granite monolith taken from
ruins near by. The villa of General Kheridine is
situated on the shore between the site of the ancient
harbor and the Goletta. The military interior har-
bor) was called the Cothon until the Byzantine domi-
nation when it took the name of Mandracium. It
was ruined as well as the mercantile harbor at the
time of the Arab conquest in the latter part of the
seventh century. The mercantile harbor has been
partially filled up and converted into a garden where,
instead of a forest of masts and the hurly-burly
attendant upon loading and unloading vessels, are
now witnessed thrifty trees, smiling verdure and the
quiet processes of nature. The military harbor,
though much encroached upon by the garden, pre-
serves somewhat of its ancient form, and we can still
readily distinguish the islet on which for centuries
THE HARBORS AND NECROPOLIS.
439
waved the flag of the Carthaginian admiral, and the
old and new entrances to this harbor are clearly seen.
Mr. Beulé has had the good fortune to settle through
his explorations the history and topography of this
double harbor, so many times controverted through
levity or ignorance.*
The necropolis of Carthage was situated in the
northeast part of the city enclosure. Thousands of
dwellings for the dead, now appearing but simple
holes in the ground, may still be seen on that barren
and desolate hill which contrasts sadly with the smil-
ing gardens of Camart, near by. The tombs are con-
structed like those of ancient Syria, the cradle of the
Carthaginians. A rectangular subterranean room,
which was arched and reached by steps, constituted
the body of the tomb, around which were made sev-
eral places large enough each to receive a dead body.
All the tombs had the same general form, differing
* Along the sea-shore for a great distance may be seen the foundations
of ancient wharves. Here and there a pier extended out into the sea, and
the outlines of these piers are readily determined. The docks where the
vessels were probably charged and discharged were, according to appear-
ances, protected from the sea by an immense wall or breakwater which has
been demolished together with the wharves, and the docks have been filled
up with debris. A few yards from these wharves and running parallel
with them arc the Herculean foundations of an extensivă building. The
masonry and the arches which occur at stated points and were doubtless
passages to the docks, are in a good state of preservation and are pro-
nounced by some competent judges to be of Punic construction. St.
Augustine, in one of his discourses, delivered in a church near the sea-
shore, complains that his services were disturbed by applauses from the
theatre near by. As I wandered over these grounds with the engineer
referred to, the probable sites of the church and of the theatre were
pointed out. Where the theatre stood are now but shapeless ruins and
Arabs were carrying off the foundations of the church for building stones.
The harbors described by Appian and the docks here referred to were suf-
ficient to accommodate five hundred vessels.
440
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
only in size and ornament. Each human being had
simply his spot of earth, and now, after the spolia-
tions of many successive generations and races of
men, and the ravages of jackals and other animals,
it is impossible to distinguish the final abodes of the
rich from those of the poor, of the powerful from
those of the weak. It is thus that death is a great
leveller, abolishing all the fortuitous distinctions
observed in life. The tombs were generally of
masonry, though some of them were dug into the
solid rock, and it is probable that they had inscrip-
tions on metal or marble, which have all disappeared.
Each body was shut in by a stone slab, to prevent its
violation ; but this precaution had no power to over-
come the cupidity, curiosity or ignorance of the
races and generations that have succeeded the Car-
thaginians. We will, however, express the hope
that science may yet explore the ancient necropolis
of Carthage.
We come now to see that little remains of the
ancient city; its men have returned to dust; its
power is gone except that which results from its his-
tory; we search the ground in vain for satisfactory
proofs of its glory and splendor. Only vestiges and
fragınents of monuments mark the spot where once
stood the mistress of the sea and the commercial
metropolis of the world. But these remains, pitiful
though they be, serve as memorials and souvenirs of
the greatness which the name of Carthage recalls.
If we reflect that from the fall of the Roman empire,
Tunis, Pisa, Genoa, Constantine and many other cities
have by turns or at times disputed for its ruins, trans-
PUNIC REMAINS AND THE BYRSA.
441
forming them into simple marble and stone quarries
(and this quarrying is still going on), open to the
pillage of the whole world, we shall be less astonished
to see so little of that city which according to the
most moderate calculation was fifteen miles in circum-
ference, and had from 800,000 to 900,000 inhabi-
tants. If any one further observing that this
immense pillage was exercised for centuries, mainly
upon Roman Carthage, which was built, as it we
upon the ruins of Punic Carthage, enquire how it
happens that comparatively nothing remains of Pu-
nic Carthage, which after all could not have been
pulverized by the vengeance of Rome, the reply is
plain ; unquestionably vast ruins of that primitive
Carthage are still buried under heaps of rubbish, accu-
mulated by twenty conquests and the lapse of as
many centuries, and perhaps they will some day be
exhumed and brought to light. The facts in the
case and the discoveries recently made fully justify
this belief.
Before quitting this point of land where the rival
of Rome lived and disappeared; where the intellect-
ual capital of Africa, and perhaps of the entire Roman
world in the fourth century, made more noise than
the city of Hannibal itself, let us pause a moment
for contemplation on the summit of the Byrsa, and
mark quite around us the site and its horizons.
To the east, the view opens upon the azure gulf,
reflecting an illuminated sky which once gilded the
façades of Roman or Punic temples. Half submerged
upon the shore are enormous blocks of masonry, the
debris of ancient quays. Thither the peaceful and
56
442
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
silent waves of which Virgil speaks,* gently roll,
and expending their force seem regretfully to retreat,
with soft undulations, into the immense sea which is
displayed between cape Zebib and cape Bon, those
two videttes of the gulf of Carthage. To the south,
in the midst of thriving trees and rich verdure, is
the old cothon, withered and shorn of its fair pro-
portions. Still in its centre is the famous islet
encircled with silvery water. Here are vestiges of
the temple of Baal, and there is the site of the
forum, where Bomilcar was one day honored as a
king, and shortly afterwards crucified as a traitor.
The Tonia,t the strategic point of Censorinus,
stretches out towards the south. In front, Hammam-
el-Lif, Gebel-Rasas and Corbus raise their volcanic
and angular peaks, and partly behind them, on the
right, some light clouds crown the summit of Zaughan,
the highest mountain in Tunisia. To the west, the
historic isthmus of Carthage extends between the
lagunes of Soukra and the lake of Tunis, which seem
ready to force the narrow strips of land which sepa-
rate them from the sea. Yonder, towards the south-
west, is Tunis, the White, backed upon her hills, and
in the plains which from Tunis widen out into the
delightful oasis of Ariana, behold there, under the
olive trees which cover it and the palms which from
point to point overlook it, one of the most famous
battle-fields of history! The great nations of the
world have there mingled their blood, and the vic-
tims of their struggles have lain together for centu-
ries in the fraternity of death and oblivion. Agatho-
* Æquora tuta silent.
+ The neck at present called the Goletta.
VIEW FROM THE BYRSA.
443
cles, Regulus, the Gordians, the Vandals, the Byzan-
tines, St. Louis, Charles V., and Barbarosa have in
their turn won victories or suffered defeats. Glory
and war have not in the wide world a place better
consecrated to their honor by the insensate rage of the
sword. To the north, in fine, the Byrsa overlooks the
valley of the actual Marsa, the ancient quarter of
Megara, the richest part of Carthage, with its vast
and opulent villas, recalled by the beautiful gardens
of to-day; then Mount Khawee, covered with violated
sepulchres, and sorrowfully rising by the side of the
oasis of Camart; still beyond is the sea with which
the Bagrada pours its yellow waters laden with sand,
which has utterly changed the face of the coast.
Finally we have before us a magnificent panorama; a
land inexhaustibly fertile and blooming with verdure,
in spite of its abuse and abandonment; its hills with
graceful contours; its mountains majestic, on the
borders of a sparkling sea, which seems smilingly to
display its empire and its immensity, under a heaven
where the benediction of God would invite the good
will of men. But the men of ancient Carthage, hav-
ing been only merchants, prevented its becoming
the Queen of the World, and it is not the actual
Tunisians who will better understand the predestina-
tion of their country.
Utica, like her sister Carthage, was at an early
period so completely destroyed that few traces re-
main of her former greatness. At the Arab village
of Bou-Shahter are some vestiges of that city which
is ever remembered as the scene of the tragic end
of Cato. In exploring the site of this ancient town,
444
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
1
we find towards the southwest the ruins of an aque-
duct built like that of Carthage with cement and
small stones. This brought the water from mount
Cashbeta, which is situated seven miles to the south-
west. By the side of this ruin is a system of six
ancient cisterns which have a rectangular form and
are parallel to each other. They are at the present
time partially filled with dirt and rubbish, and serve
as a shelter for the flocks and herds of the rude
natives. On the north, is the site of an elliptical
amphitheatre, from which all the mason-work has
disappeared. After crossing in the same direction a
ravine and a plain, we come to the site of the ancient
acropolis of Utica, now marked by no clearly defined
ruins. At the foot of the acropolis, is a small semi-
circular hill on one side of which was built a theatre.
Further on are some remains of an immense edifice,
and near by are the debris of a temple or Christian
basilica of which little remains but broken columns.
We know that a canal ending in the sea once passed
through the centre of the city. This canal has been
filled
up
and but feeble traces remain of the quays
and of the constructions that lined them. Pursuing
our course, we arrive at a great circular basin now
nearly filled, in the centre of which are the remains
of a wall. Here was the ancient cothon or military
harbor and these are the sole remains of it above
ground. The mercantile harbor has utterly disap-
peared in consequence of the accumulation of sand
and soil brought down by the waters of the river
Majerda. Mr. Daux, the distinguished engineer in the
service of the French emperor, has been enabled by
UTICA AND HADRUMETUM.
445
means of excavations and accurate measurements to
draw a most interesting plan of the ancient city.
In like manner, ancient Hadrumetum, the most
renowned Phoenician colony of Byzacium, and in
later times noted as the landing place of Cæsar in
his African campaign, and still later as the seat of a
Christian bishop, has now only insignificant traces of
its former greatness and importance.
The city
actually standing on its site is called Susa and the
extensive region around it the Sahel. The researches
of Messrs. Guérin and Daux, especially of the latter,
who has drawn elegant maps of the ancient and of
the modern city have verified the locality of Hadru-
metum, showing its extent and traces of its ancient
cothon. They also have brought to light ruins of
important edifices, fortifications, cisterns and sepul-
chral mouments. In the month of August, 1862, I
saw there a tomb just after its discovery. The Ro-
man mosaics in its floor would compare favorably
with those of Pompeii. Within the walls of the mod-
ern city are many ancient cisterns, one of which is
sustained by twelve columns and is still well pre-
served and in actual use. In passing through the
streets of Susa, we find many columns attached to
modern constructions, and these are especially notice-
able at the corners of mosques and important public
buildings. A similar observation might be made in
regard to Tunis and all cities in the neighborhood of
important ruins.
Moving from Susa in a southerly direction and leav-
ing to our right lake Cairwan whose waters sparkle
in the distance, we traverse a desert plain which
446
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
extends from north to south between the lake and
the sea, and soon come in sight of an immense edi-
fice, which appears larger as we approach it, and is
at length seen to be a colossal amphitheatre, situated
in the centre of the miserable Arab village of El-Gem.
This monument is twenty miles from the sea, and
stands on the site of ancient Thysdrus or Colonia
Thysdriana, forming a long ellipsis which runs from
east to west; its greater axis is 489 feet, and its
smaller 407 feet; the arena is 295 feet long, and 197
feet wide, and the wall is 66 feet thick, leaving gal-
leries 60 feet wide. The building had above the
ground four stories, each of which was supported by
64 arches, separated froin each other exteriorly by
half columns with beautiful Corinthian capitals. The
upper story has now nearly disappeared, but the whole
building must have been about 100 feet high, and its
circumference is more than 1,200 feet. It is built of
beautiful, well-jointed blocks of sandstone, and must
have presented a truly imposing sight, with its circu-
lar walls opened to receive the air and light. Its
long and high galleries, with broad stair-cases, which
served as seats for the spectators, have either disap-
peared or are in a ruinous state.
At the western extremity of the long axis is a
breach in the wall, which enables us to see clearly
the interior of the amphitheatre, and this great
gap in the building is enlarged year after year by
Arabs, who appear to regard this structure mainly as
a quarry for their convenience. They carry off its
hewn stones, columns, and various carvings, and use
them in the construction of their rude dwellings or
THE AMPHITHEATRE OF EL-GEM.
447
in walling up their wells. Thus by the hand of man
and the effects of time, various arches and passages
have been so broken down or injured that it is now
difficult to ascend to the summit of the amphi-
theatre.
It is probable, as Mr. Guérin observes, that the
demolition of the staircases began at the period of
the Arab conquest in the year 689, A. D., when the
Berber heroine, Damia, surnamed Kahenna, trans-
formed this amphitheatre into a veritable fortress,
for the defence of the national liberty. Under her
orders all the arches of the lower stories were walled
up on the outside, to exclude the soldiers of Hassan-
ben-Naman, and prevent the injurious effects of their
weapons on the interior.
A large opening was made into the western side
of this amphitheatre, by order of Mohammed Bey to
prevent his insurgent subjects from following the
example of Kahenna and turning this gigantic edifice
into a fortress. There is under the arena a subter-
ranean passage, with an arched roof, which is now so
encumbered with earth and rubbish that it cannot
be explored for any considerable distance. A per-
sistent tradition attributes the construction of this
passage to Kahenna, who, it is asserted, while be-
seiged here, had thus an underground communication
with her friends on the coast. But we are inclined
to the opinion that this subterranean passage was
confined to the arena, and was made for the service
of the amphitheatre. African traditions are no more
to be trusted than those which belong to the Holy
Land. It is easier to exercise the imagination and
448
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
yield unquestioning faith than to acquire knowledge
by careful investigation and research.
The construction of the amphitheatre of El-Gem is
ordinarily attributed to the emperor Gordian, the
Elder, who was here proclaimed emperor in the year
236 A. D., but we have on this subject no incontesti-
ble proofs. The grandeur and magnificence of this
building are rendered more striking by the misery
and desolation that surround it. Like the Coliseum
at Rome, of which it is the rival and almost the con-
temporary, it seems to speak, with that silent elo-
quence which belongs to great historic ruins, of the
centuries of events that have succeeded each other
at its base. It is a proud witness which, though
mutilated by generations of men, bears a distinct
record of their deeds. The product of Roman civili-
zation in its decline, it still shows such marks of
grandeur as make us forget the aberrations and fol-
lies of the royal people. Often 80,000 spectators
assembled within the amphitheatre of Thysdrus and
rent the air with deafening shouts and applause. Its
galleries were thronged to witness the feats of gladi-
ators from abroad or the heroism of Christian mar-
tyrs given over as food for the wild beasts.
later period, a company of Berbers and of Greeks,
who took shelter in this arena with the last hope of
Christian Africa, fell under the sword of the victo-
rious Saracens. Various reflections are awakened by
the sight of these colossal ruins. The shades of
night add a mournful solemnity to the solitude, and
the light of the moon lends a mysterious influence
which we fully appreciated on two of the three
nights we spent at this place.
At a
CÆSAR'S CAMP - GROUND AND THAPSUS.
449
This amphitheatre marks well the last halt of
Roman civilization upon the frontier of the ancient
African world. Tunisia contains no archælogical
monument that can be placed in comparison with it;
and in the rest of the ancient western empire, the
Coliseum at Rome alone surpasses it in grandeur
and historic interest.
At Monastir (ancient Ruspina) are found few
traces of antiquity. Mr. Daux has, however, been
enabled to identify the carnp-ground of Cæsar, who
after his failure to take Hadrumetum, fortified his
camp at Ruspina. In the Kuriot isles, which are
opposite to Monastir, are some ancient cisterns and
artificial grottos. At Lempta, a little way from Mon-
astir, are found the important ruins of ancient Lepitis
Parra, a considerable city in the time of Carthage,
and later, under Roman rule, the seat of a Christian
bishop. These ruins cover a space of four miles in
circumference, and contain vestiges of an aqueduct,
traces of a quay near the sea, and in the water are
visible the outlines of an extended pier.
Following the shore towards the east, we speedily
arrive at cape Dimas (Thapsus), and find some of the
piers extending out into the ancient harbor. As for
the city which was once a great centre of Cartha-
ginian commerce, and is especially memorable for
the victory gained there by Cæsar over Scipio and
Juba, it is all gone save the ruins of a vast amphi-
theatre, of a large reservoir and of an aqueduct. At
Media are found traces of the ancient harbor and of
a necropolis which Mr. Guérin regards as Phoenician.
This is known to have been the site of a considerable
57
450
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
town and the centre of much commerce. Media con-
tains some old cisterns with arched roofs whose
masonry is in a good state of preservation. Here is
found an opening into a vast subterranean apartment,
which tradition represents to be one end of the
underground passage of which we spoke in describing
the amphitheatre at El - Gem.
Seven miles from Media we find the scanty ruins
of Selecta, ancient Syllectum, which was the first
stopping place of Belisarius in his march from his
landing point at Caput Vada to Carthage. Near
this spot are traces of the city of Justinapolis,
founded upon the site of the Byzantine camp, in
honor of the successful landing and subsequent vic-
tories of the imperial legions, which, under Belisarius,
resulted in the overthrow of the Vandal power in
Africa, 534, A. D.
At Sfax are a few vestiges of Roman construc-
tions, but in some surrounding villages are important
ruins. At Messallah are remains of an amphitheatre
600 feet in circumference, and further north, at
Bathnia Casser-Essas, are some ruins two miles in
circuit. In the environs of Bir-Koum-Maken, north
of Sfax, are ruins three miles in circuit, including
some enormous masonry of a large theatre; two
vast cisterns, and a triumphal gate much disfigured.
At Hoonga, on the route between Sfax and Gabes,
are the ruins of ancient fortifications, and of an
immense edifice which appears to have been a Chris-
tian basilica.
At the mouth of the brook Tarf-el-Ma, which
empties into the gulf of Gabes, are the ruins of an
RUINS IN THE GEREED.
451
ancient city. At Gabes are found scattered over
several hills the ruins of ancient Tacape, among
which are cisterns and broken columns, and Mr.
Alphonse Alkan, vice consul of France at that port,
has recently found embedded in a modern construc-
tion, an inscription showing conclusively the identity
of Gabes and Tacape. In the island of Gerba, ancient
Meninx and Lotophagitis, are the ruins of a fortifica-
tion and of a hall of justice, with columns and statues
scattered over considerable extent of ground. There
are also cisterns in a good state of preservation, and
a part of the old causeway or bridge, connecting
the island with the main land, is still visible on the
southern side of the island.
In the Gereed and especially in the principal oases,
are found many Roman ruins, such as cisterns, reser-
voirs and marble monuments of various kinds. Gafsa,
ancient Capsa, abounds in fragments of inscriptions.
On the banks of the river Semha is a Roman mauso-
leum yet in a good state of preservation. It is built
of hewn stone and ornamented with pilasters which
have Corinthian capitals. This edifice was once sur-
rounded by a wall whose foundations are still appar-
ent. On one side of this mausoleum is an epitaph
recording the virtues of Urbanilla, a rich and benevo-
lent Roman lady. Near by are some ruins on the
henshir (farm) of Sidi Aishe. They are the remains
of an aqueduct and many sepulchral monuments,
two of which are well preserved; but the tombstones
on the henshir Oum-er-Rbir are much more im-
portant.
At El-Hammam, north of Feriana, is a gigantic
452
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
edifice with niches for statues which have long since
disappeared. Judging from the halls, which were
once arched over, and from the devices on the mosaic
pavements, this building was used as a bathing estab-
lishment.
A hundred yards distant upon elevated ground is
a wall built with hewn stones without cement, and
near by are the ruins of a theatre of which little
remains but the outside wall and some steps. Pro-
ceeding in the same direction across a field covered
with debris, we come to an immense enclosure 420
paces long and 180 wide. The walls, which are of
an extraordinary size, are broken down and immense
blocks of masonry are thrown about as if by some
convulsion of nature. In the opinion of Mr Guérin,
here was once a fortress containing several edifices.
Near by are also the ruins of numerous buildings
whose materials are of an extraordinary size. Ruins
and debris are scattered over an area three miles in
circumference. Not even the name of the ancient
city is known, though Mr. Guérin supposes it to be
Telepta, which was a Roman colony and at one time
the seat of a Christian bishop.
North of Telepta, at Cassreen, are the ruins of
ancient Colonia Scillitana, among which is a superb
mausoleum, 13 feet high and 10 feet square. It is
covered with inscriptions, two of which are veritable
poems; one contains 90 hexameter verses, and the
other 20 elegiac verses, but neither have any liter-
ary importance. It was consecrated to the memory
of a Roman family, the chief of which was a certain
Titus Flavius Secundus. Another mausoleum of less
RUINS OF SCILLIUM AND THAL..
453
importance, consecrated to Petronius Fortunatus and
his family; a mutilated triumphal arch with two
inscriptions, one of them revealing the name of the
city; five enclosures containing considerable monu-
ments, one of which appears to have been a Christian
basilica, and some tombstones complete these impor-
tant ruins. We have spoken, in connection with the
church at Carthage, of the Scillitan martyrs who were
greatly venerated and whose memory was long cher-
ished throughout Christian Africa.
Proceeding 35 miles in a northwesterly direction
from Cassreen, we arrive at Thala, a town of 1,200 in-
habitants, built on the site of an ancient city which
must have been very large, since its ruins extend over
an area of several miles in circumference, and among
them are found numerous tombstones and a beautiful
mausoleum built of huge blocks of marble, but at
present containing no inscriptions. Mr. Guérin hesi-
tates to adopt the opinion of Sir Grenville Temple,
that this city is the Thala mentioned by Sallust.
Thala was a great and opulent city where Jugurtha
collected his treasures and his family, and fled, after
being overpowered by Metellus. It seems to us that
the identity of the name and the importance of the
ruins prove sufficiently the identity of the city. Mr.
Guérin's hesitation arises from the fact that according
to Sallust, Metellus had in beseiging that city to
transport water 50 miles distance across a desert
country. But on the one hand, Sallust may have
been mistaken in regard to the distance or may have
exaggerated the distance to magnify the difficulties
and honors of Metellus's campaign; and on the other
454
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
hand, it is quite probable that the river Hydra had
not at that period the same importance as at present
and was dry while the seige of Thala was in pro-
gress, a condition to which the streams of that coun-
try are often reduced.
But the ruins of Hydra are much more important.
These are situated 12 miles in a southwesterly direc-
tion, and are on both sides of the river Hydra, but
principally on the left bank. On the right bank
are some admirable ruins of a long Roman road
which is paved with large flag-stones and leads to a
small triumphal arch, which has been stript of its
inscriptions and upper layer of stones. Upon the
left side of the river we find :-- 1. A great triumphal
arch nearly twenty feet wide. This is entered by
two porticos extending to the right and left and sup-
ported by Corinthian columns. This arch served as
a monumental entrance to the city and was dedi-
cated to the emperor Septimius Severus in the year
195 A. D., as indicated by a beautiful inscription still
All around it are huge stones belonging to a
wall which was built at a later period, and this enclos-
ure served for a long time as a fortress. 2. A semi-
circular construction which was probably once a
theatre. 3. The ruins of four Christian basilicas, as
shown by the fragments of inscriptions, among which
is the monogram of Christ. 4. Three beautiful mau-
soleums, the largest of which is 30 feet high. 5.
A road paved with large flag-stones and having ves-
tiges of tombs on each side of it. 6. Two tall col:
umns much defaced. 7. The walls of several houses
built with hewn stones; and one of these houses is
seen,
DISPUTED RUINS OF HYDRA.
455
so well preserved that its interior arrangements are
readily recognized. 8. The walls of the citadel with
three gates, one of which opens upon the remains of
a bridge once thrown across the river Hydra; the
citadel enclosure is two-thirds of a mile in circumfer-
ence and contains vestiges of several towers which,
with one exception, were all square. 9. A great
number of tombstones, huge masses of ruins without
definite character, fragments of inscriptions, etc.
Hydra is according to Mr. Guérin, the ancient. Am-
medera, which was the seat of a Christian bishop and
was enlarged, fortified and embellished by Justinian
during the first half of the sixth century. It was
especially renowned for a victory which Mascerzil,
the lieutenant of the emperor Honorius, gained over
the usurper Gildon, near the river Ardalio, now called
Hydra. Mr. Davis, on the contrary, offers a strong
argument to prove that this is Casæ Nigræ, noted as
the residence of Donatus, who led in the opposition
to the established church.
Travelling five hours in a southeasterly direction,
we come to the important ruins of Sbiba, the ancient
Colonia Suffetana, spread over several hills and con-
sisting principally as follows: Of an immense con-
struction, probably once used as a bathing establish-
ment; a rectangular enclosure having large stones
and immense masses of mason-work; a beautiful
semi-circular fountain, once decorated with columns
and statues; the walls of a building which was prob-
ably once a Christian basilica and has at present
thirty-six Corinthian columns; the walls of another
building which was probably used for the same pur-
456
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
pose, and numerous mutilated inscriptions, among
which is one showing the ancient name of the city,
Colonia Suffetana. This city was under the protec-
tion of Hercules, and afterwards in the Christian
period was the seat of a bishop, gaining at one time
much celebrity by the martyrdom of sixty of its
inhabitants.
Again proceeding 18 miles in a southeasterly
direction, we find upon the right bank of a river of
the same name, Sbaitla, ancient Suffutela. Besides
the remains of a beantiful arched bridge which
served also as an aqueduct, and underneath which is
an inscription showing that this construction, was
dedicated to the emperor Verus, we find among
these ruins a vast wall enclosing three temples ; a
beautiful triumphal arch at the extremity of the
city; a fine road leading to vestiges of buildings
whose character is not easily determined, and tomb-
stones and shapeless debris. It is a well authenticated
fact that the patrician Gregory, the Byzantine gov-
ernor of the African province, resided at Suffutela,
and after a battle of three days duration was defeated
with his 120,000 soldiers by the little army of Abd-
Allah-ben Sayad, the lieutenant of the calif Othman,
in the year 647, A. D.
It is impossible for us to notice within our pre-
scribed limits all the ruins scattered over Tunisia.
Mr. Guérin's VOYAGE ARCHÉOLOGIQUE, two large vol-
umes, octavo, contains 536 inscriptions with notices
of ruins without number, and yet fails to enumerate
all that are worthy of attention. However, to complete
a brief sketch in accordance with our general plan,
RUINS AND BILINGUAL INSCRIPTION.
457
we now proceed to point out a few of the most
important ruins found in the northern part of the
regency, aside from those of Carthage and Utica
already noticed. At Bizerta and Beja, we find con-
siderable traces of monuments and inscriptions. In
the last named city, we learn from an inscription on
a stone fastened into the exterior wall of a mosque,
that this building was once a Christian basilica. Kef
has vestiges of a temple of Hercules; remains of a
palace and of a Christian basilica, and an antique
fountain which still supplies the city with water. A
little way from Kef, at the henshir of Lorbes, ancient
Colonia Zares, are many columns supposed to be
milestones, bearing the names of Marcus Aurelius,
Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, and there are also numer-
ous fragments of inscriptions upon broken stones. At
the henshir Mest, ancient Musti near Teboursuk, are
the ruins of a beautiful triumphal arch and many
inscriptions. Also near Teboursuk are other inscrip-
tions, and in the town itself are some remains of the
ancient Byzantine fortifications, built by the prefect
Thomas, under the reign of Justin II, together with
many inscriptions having the names of the emperors
and pro-consuls.
Ten miles from Teboursuk are the magnificent
ruins of Dugga, formerly called Tugga. This is at
present a miserable place of 300 inhabitants, while
it must have been once, judging from the extent of
its ruins, an important city. We inust name a beau-
tiful mausoleum which is built of hewn stone and
once had upon one of its faces the famous bilingual
Punic and Libyan) inscription, whose interpretation
58
458
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
caused many controversies among the oriental schol-
ars of Europe. The inscription was engraved upon
an enormous block of marble which was firmly fast-
ened into the wall of the mausoleum, and in an effort
to remove it, under the orders of Sir Thomas Reade,
late British consul-general at Tunis, the monunuent
itself was nearly detnolished. Among the debris are
still seen fragments of some remarkable alto-relievos
and statues. The bilingual inscription is now in the
British Museum, and as to its interpretation we have
the interesting assurance that:—“Docti certant, et
ad huc sub judice lis est.” The other antique remains
of Tugga, are:- A temple with six beautiful up-
right columns; upon the frontispiece of this temple
is carved a gigantic eagle, probably designed to rep-
resent Jupiter to whom the building was conse-
crated; some remains of another less important tem-
ple; those of a theatre; of a triumphal arch; of a
citadel; of baths and mausoleums; and several foun-
tains, cisterns and mutilated inscriptions.
Four hours from Teboursuk upon the borders of
Ain Tunga, we find the extensive ruins of the
ancient Municipium Thignica, among which are a
Byzantine citadel with the bases of several towers.
We find among the rubbish different inscriptions
belonging to the period of Marcus Aurelius and Com-
modus. The other ruins are a temple; a triumphal
arch in a good state of preservation ; the walls of a
circular building which appears to have been a thea-
tre and vestiges of a Christian basilica. At Testour
upon the Majerda, are few or no antique ruins, but
some inscriptions found there prove that it is the
AQUEDUCT AND SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 459
ancient Bisica Lucania. At Mejez-el-Bab, also upon
the Majerda, we find numerous antiquities, including
a triumphal arch, 12 cisterns, numerous vestiges of a
wall along the banks of the river and, among differ-
ent inscriptions, a fragment which gives an idea of
the ancient magnificence of this city. Mejez-el-Bab
is the ancient Membressa; it was celebrated in the
early Christian period for the number of its martyrs,
and became subsequently the seat of a bishop. At
Tebourba, which is also upon the Majerda and is the
ancient Tuburbo Minus, are vestiges of an amphi-
theatre and some unimportant ruins. One old-look-
ing mosque is called the mosque of Jesus and, accord-
ing to Arab tradition, stands on the site of a Chris-
tian temple.
It remains for us to say a few words about the
ruins around the city of Tunis and the mountains
of Zaughan. At Mohammedia we find very long
pieces of the ancient aqueduct of Carthage. In this
vicinity three sepulchral inscriptions of Christian
bishops were found in 1850 and removed to the
Catholic church at Tunis. The ruins of Oudena, an-
cient Uthina, extend over an area nearly three miles
in circumference, and contain, besides enormous an-
tique walls, the remains of an amphitheatre, a theatre,
an aqueduct, and of an arched bridge together with
numerous cisterns. The monumental character of
these ruins gives a good idea of the importance of
the ancient city of whose history little is known.
From the river Melian to Zaughan, we find de-
tached pieces of the great aqueduct of Carthage; at
certain points, these ruins are a mile long and serve
460
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
as picturesque land marks along the road to Zaughan,
the most elevated mountain group in the regency.
Arriving at the little city of Zaughan, situated on a
hill near the foot of the mountain of the same name,
we enter a triumphal gate, built in the Roman period,
of beautiful cut stones. Its arch is 14 feet wide and
its buttresses are 10 feet square. It was once orna-
mented with two statues, the niches for which are on
each side of the entrance. Upon the key-stone of
the arch is a triangular figure resembling the letter
A, and under it is a crown of oak leaves environing
the word AVXILI.-LIQ. This inscription is over
the representation of a ram's head with a superb
pair of horns. Some writers infer that this city was
dedicated to Jupiter Ammon, while others think that
the ram's horns indicate abundance. Scattered about
the city are broken columns and capitals belonging
to another period of civilization.
A mile and a half southwest of Zanghan, at the
base of a precipitous mountain crag, we come to the
ruins of an ancient temple, erected over one of the
sources that used to supply the aqueduct of Carthage
and now supplies the aqueduct of Tunis. These pic-
turesque ruins are composed of a rectangular sanctu-
ary at the end of which we distinguish the remains
of an altar and a niche where probably once stood the
statue of a god. On the sides of a double gallery in
the form of a horse-shoe, are 24 arches supported
once by 26 columns which have long since disap-
peared and are said to be now in the mosque of
Zaughan. Between the galleries and the sanctuary
is a broad open terrace elevated above a basin which
ZAUGHAN AND ITS MONUMENTS.
461
is reached by stone steps now in a dilapidated con-
dition. A subterranean canal led to this basin the
abundant living waters from an inexhaustible source,
which by means of pipes refreshes and enriches the
neighboring gardens, and also by means of an aque-
duct, constructed in the modern underground style,
supplies the city of Tunis and its environs with water
as it did Carthage 16 centuries ago. The aspect of
this ancient monument is rendered more interesting
by the solitude of the place and the magnificence of
the scenery of which we attempted to give some idea
in our notice of Zaugban.
We now conclude this long and yet very superficial
chapter on the antiquities of this country. To specify,
describe and explain all these ancient ruins, would
require a great work in which the art of designing
should come to the aid of observation and learning;
in other words, would require more time, labor and
expense than are consistent with the object and plan
we have in view.
CHAPTER VII.
.
Covernment.--Administration of Justice.--Army.--Navy.--Finances.
Public Instruction.--Benevolent Institutions.--Revenues
and Bundens of the State.
HE Bey of Tunis is, like all Mussulman sover-
eigns, the absolute master of his kingdom,
from whom emanates all religious and civil authority;
he is the administrator of the public revenues; the
supreme judge of all disputes; and, in short, he is the
State, in the full extent of the expression. It is
readily understood that such a concentration of
power must involve abuses, wrongs and disorders
when it resides, as it too generally does, in the hands
of a man ill-prepared for the vast responsibilities
devolving upon him. Where the sovereign is intelli-
gent, capable and upright, this autocracy is not only
admissible in principle; it has sometimes positive
advantages; for the administration not being compli-
cated, as elsewhere, it is easy for the sovereign to
superintend and direct all departments of it; and
officers of all grades, not being able to count on the
thousand evasions and delays of bureaucracy, are
careful to conduct in such a manner as not to draw
upon themselves the all-powerful hand that can reach
them without obstacle.
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
463
But neither the intelligence nor the uprightness of
the sovereign, however marked, can always be a suf-
ficient guaranty; since the force and morality of
every government depend not so much on the per-
sonal worth of one man, as on the collective wisdom
of the State. Whatever be the capacity and ability of
a chief magistrate, if he do not feel himself controlled
by the nation and responsible to it; if he be not re-
strained from wrong doing and mal-administration by
other laws than those of his own conscience and
reason, his government is a perilous one for his coun-
try. It has a defect that should cause us to look to
the future with dismal forebodings, even were the
sovereign the most complete and worthy incarnation
of his people, and his people the foremost nation in
the world. Now, as Mussulınan peoples and princes
are far from realizing this condition, it is easy to infer
the real situation of this country. A degenerate
and debased people have rulers who, if superior to
themselves, govern apparently without any sense of
their responsibility to either God or man.
The Bey appoints officers; levies taxes; disposes
of the fortune and honor of citizens; cuts short their
disputes at a final appeal; exercises his authority,
unlimited in all respects, over everybody and every-
thing, and this according to his good pleasure or his
momentary caprice and the undulating and diverse
impressions of a spirit ordinarily closed to every
other idea than what pertains to himself.
With such a system, the various institutions in-
tended to regulate the relations between citizens
are illusory; and first, the tribunals; for from the
464
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
office of a justice of the peace to that of the presi-
dent of the supreme religious tribunal, all devolves
on the Bey, who is supposed to understand all the
cases and to whom all may be carried by appeal;
who is the great judge or rather the only judge, the
living, acting law; and all this without any prepara-
tion or other guide than good sense, which he often
lacks; without other counsel than that of the servil-
ity that surrounds his tribunal as well as his throne;
without other prospect than assured obedience to his
sentence, which in his own eyes, as in those of his
people, is fatally just, necessarily applicable, irrevo-
cable, infallible and permanent.
The Bey without being a jurist,--and this is not
his sole want, --is the sovereign universal judge of
all the affairs, and almost all are brought before his
tribunal. He regularly sits two days a week, three
hours at a time, to do justice, according to common
parlance, and in his delicate and difficult duties, he is
aided, if we credit the popular theory, by light and
wisdom from on high. This is certainly a convenient
explanation, and we see not upon what other hypoth-
esis he could decide cases in ten minutes or half an
hour that would occupy our courts successive days
and weeks. On court days multitudes of litigants
and interested people crowd around his audience
hall, where door-keepers serve as police, introducing
plaintiffs, defendants and those arraigned for crime
in a stated order, and promptly conducting them out
of the court room as soon as their case is finished.
All decisions are at once enforced, and condemned
criminals sometimes start for the galleys or gallows
THE BEY'S COURT OF JUSTICE.
465
as the last word of their sentence drops from the
lips of the Bey. Plaintiffs, defendants and persons
accused of misdemeanors or crimes appear before
the throne, explaining their case themselves, or, if
they choose, employing an advocate to explain it to
the Bey, who listens in majestic silence and with
admirable patience. The procedure would, however,
hardly command respect among us; for it consists
in a single hasty explanation of facts supported by
testimony if there be any. The Bey, after listening,
proposes questions himself, and reflects a moment,
and then renders a definite decision, from which there
can be no appeal. Sometimes, when a case is very
complicated or important, the verdict is deferred to
another session of the court, so that his Highness
may have time for reflection and consultation. But
the justice of the Bey is in all cases prompt, giving
his subjects less annoyance and more satisfaction than
the verdicts of the dilatory and corrupt tribunals that
prevailed under the constitutional regimen. The
Bey probably decides more cases at each session of
his court than any European or American tribunal
decides in a week.
The Tunisians have the greatest confidence in the
justice of the Bey. It is very rare that persons
defeated or condemned offer any protest or com-
plaint. When they feel aggrieved, they are wont to
console themselves, repeating: “This is all! It is
thus our sovereign judge decides!” It is true, liti-
gants have not the wearisome delays and vexatious
legal processes that characterize European and Ameri-
can courts, and they are spared the loss of much time
59
466
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and expense.
But we think this expeditious and
summary method of deciding grave questions causes
inconveniences and dangers much more serious than
delays and the sacrifices which result from them.
Suppose, what is hardly possible to take place, that
the sovereign judge who must learn at a single sit-
ting many different matters touching the question at
issue, should preserve a mind so calm, clear and well
balanced as to incline him to seize on the strong
points of the case and strip the truth of its false
garb; still even then, there would not be sufficient
safeguard for the justice of his sentences; for in this
extreme precipitation he is always in danger of com-
mitting errors despite his best efforts to the contrary.
In principle, civil as well as criminal justice is in
the hands of the cadi, except political cases which
directly interest the prince. But now the cadis
rarely try cases except where religion is directly con-
cerned. They have the power to imprison and bas-
tonade. This last kind of punishment is adminis-
tered in the following manner: The sufferer lies
upon
his back. His feet are then fastened with a
cord to a stick and kept at a convenient height by
two servants, while the person, charged with the exe-
cution of the sentence, inflicts on the soles of the
feet the prescribed blows, varying from 20 to 1,000.
The force of the blows depends mostly on the officer,
whose humanity has degrees, of tenderness corre-
sponding to the generosity and wealth of the sufferer.
Sometimes the bastinado is applied not only upon
the soles of the feet, but upon the thighs. The bas-
tinado ordered by the cadi is always less severe than
THE PENALTIES FOR CRIMES.
467
that ordered by other magistrates; for, according to
a curious usage, the officer is then allowed to wield
his rod only with a loaf of bread under his arm, in
such a way that, being restrained in the use of his
arm, he cannot employ much force.
The cadis have for assistants lawyers and notaries.
Superior to the cadi is the medles, or religious tri-
bunal, presided over by the mufti and composed of
doctors of the law. For religious affairs of great
importance, there is the supreme tribunal of the
Schara, of which the Bey is ex-officio the president,
but whose decrees do not always depend on him, not-
withstanding his sovereign authority, for this tribunal
is always composed of the most influential and revered
religious dignitaries, and the Bey professes to scrupu-
lously conform to their standard of orthodoxy.
The penalties for crimes and offences are, besides
the bastinado, fines, imprisonment, forced labor and
death. The Tunisian prisons are hideous, being dark,
damp, and alive with vermin. The unfortunate crea-
tures condemned to the galleys or old slave pens, at
the Goletta, have this advantage over ordinary pris-
oners, that, being occupied during the day on the
works of the port, in the open air, they are confined
in the foul enclosures only during the night. The
different kinds of capital punishment are: hanging,
for ordinary malefactors; beheading, for persons of a
certain rank, guilty of violent crime or of sacrilege,
and shooting, for soldiers. Ahmed Bey introduced,
twenty years ago, this last usage, contrary to Mussul-
man traditions, which admit only beheading and
hanging. Adulteresses were by law sewed into bags
468
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and drowned. The place of these executions was the
little island of Shickla, in the lake of Tunis. Exile
on one of the Kerkenna islands was first substituted
for drowning on Shickla ; and later, that mode of
punishment was discontinued, and no substitute pro-
vided; the law of God, however, in regard to adul-
tery, appears to be in full force at Tunis, with penal-
ties more terrible than drowning or exile.
In general at Tunis, as throughout the orient, jus-
tice is understood to be an article of commerce,
always in the market; and the success of a litigant
or the fate of a criminal often depends on his fortune;
the Mussulman law itself countenances this transac-
tion, authorizing compensation in money even for
murder, provided the relatives of the victim consent
to it. In spite of all this, however, we believe that
heinous crimes and offences are not so numerous in
Tunisia as the wretchedness and ignorance of the
people and the bad organization of justice would lead
us to expect.
Since 1858, a municipal commission, charged with
the government of the city of Tunis, has had the
powers of a tribunal for the decision of all questions
coming under its jurisdiction, and for the oversight
and regulation of important interests relative to the
houses, streets and lands of the city, and the distribu-
tion of the water. The prefect of police holds also a
kind of correctional court, whose object is to punish
petty offenders and settle disputes arising from diverse
causes, which are reported by police officers or freely
submitted by the parties interested. We hardly need
say, that neither the municipality nor the prefect of
PRISONS.— CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
469
*
police can render a decision which may not be car-
ried by appeal before the Bey. It is not rare, then,
to see, in the ante-rooms at the Bardo, the same
throng of litigants and offenders that a few days
before crowded the court of the municipality or the
hall of the prefect. But the appeal to the Bey
becomes exceedingly difficult when the condemned
party has been shut up in a Tunisian prison, which,
like the devouring Acheron of mythology, rarely
gives up its prey. This is the more to be regretted,
as, in general, it is not so much for crime that they
are punished as for being too poor to bribe the judge
or his subordinates.
Tunisia is divided for administrative purposes into
many districts, the chief magistrates of which are
called kaids.† Once the kaids took their districts on
shares, or paid the government a certain sum for
unrestricted power. Besides the sum agreed on, the
kaids had to send to the Bey, from time to time, con-
·siderable presents in gold and in the products of the
country. At the present time, though appointed by
the Bey and receiving their salary from him, they
keep up the system of presents which are the habit-
ual return for all favors, and especially for those
received from Mussulman sovereigns; but it is the
district governed, and not the official, that supports
the system, where the kaid has naturally full author-
ity. The old Roman pro-consuls have in this country
* See Appendix I, for illustrations of Tunisian tribunals and justice.
* The kaids are of two kinds: those of the cities and those of the tribes.
The former reside ordinarily in their respective districts, while the latter
are often officers of the Tunisian court, who delegate their power to lieu-
tenants, rarely appearing in the district under their jurisdiction.
470
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
worthy successors, and the actual Sallusts run no
risk, like the historian, of being recalled from their
posts; for, more fortunate than he, they have no
austere and incorruptible senate to sit in judgment.
on their acts.
The kaid is in his district the civil governor, chief
of police, judge in all kinds of cases, and receiver of
customs. He has under him lieutenants, who take
charge of subdivisions of his district. The cities
have magistrates subject to him, called sheiks-el-belad.
According to ancient usage there could be only one
sheik in each city, but in large cities at the present
time are several officers with this title. Each trade
has also a chief, styled the amin, who exercises over
its members a certain authority. The towns, villages
and sub-divisions of the tribes are governed by sheiks
appointed by the Bey, though nominated by the kaid.
They depend either on the halifa (lieutenant) of the
kaid or on an oukeel, who is a superintendent inferior
in office to the halifa. A certain number of police-
men are under the orders of the kaid and of his
agents. Also the commanders of the irregular troops,
who are called kaias, are associated with the kaid as
a guard, and sometimes they render him important
aid. There are in the regency of Tunis four kaias,
whose residences are at Gabes, Cairwan, Bizerta and
Kef. The last named kaia is the most important of
all, and governs directly or by his lieutenants all the
tribes in the western district.
It was under the reign of Ali Bey, in 1830, that
the first military reforms were introduced at Tunis.
The sovereign of this little country wished, like
A GREAT ARMY BURDENSOME.
471
the Sultan and Mohammed Ali of Egypt, to have an
army organized in European style, thinking thus to
acquire genuine prosperity and power. The incura-
ble mania to play the soldier that prompted the reör-
ganization of the army is doubtless one of the prin-
cipal causes of the present financial disorder in the
country. Ahmed Bey, during the eighteen years of
his reign, spent for the realization of this project
large sums of money laid up by his predecessors, and
imposed upon his country new burdens. His succes-
sor, Mohammed Bey, disbanded the regular troops.
Though this was a measure of economy that greatly
benefited the agriculture of the country then in a
declining state, it was nevertheless an imprudent act;
for it disarmed the government in the presence of a
dissatisfaction that had already begun, and which
finally resulted in an extensive rebellion in 1864,
under the reign of the actual Bey, Mohammed Essa-
dek. The latter, after putting down the insurrection
and strengthening his authority, again organized a
regular army. But, unfortunately, he paid little at-
tention to the wretched state of the country, restor-
ing the system of Ahmed Bey without his means of
maintaining it. Thus the debts and burdens of the
country were increased, while the agricultural pro-
ducts and available resources were diminished.
The effective regular force consists of 22,500 men.
* The statistics are thus given by the late Mr. Cubisol : REGULAR
ARMY.-Fivo regiments of infantry, 15,000 men; two of artillery, 6,000;
one of cavalry, 500; marines, 1,000; total, 22,500 men.
IRREGULAR
ARMY.— Koulouglis (troops of Turkish origin), 6,000 men; Zouaves, 2,000;
Spahis, etc., 4,500; total, 12,500 men. Whole number belonging to the
regular and irregular army, 35,000 men.
472
1
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
use,
The arms of the soldiers are generally of an inferior
kind and in bad order; for they are mostly refuse,
arms purchased at different times of European spec-
ulators at exorbitant prices, and are allowed by the
shiftless soldiers soon to rust and become unfit for
The costume formerly adopted was that of the
French troops of the time of Louis Philippe, gro-
tesquely modified and awkwardly worn; the costume
now in use is more in accordance with the habits of
the men, and resembles that of the French zouaves.
The colors of the turban and of the sash vary accord-
ing to the arms, but are never gaudy. The jackets
and pantaloons are blue, with the sleeves and backs
trimmed and ornamented with red, to indicate rank.
The uniforms of the officers have gilt trimmings and
embroidery. The gaiters or leggins of the soldiers
are leather, and those of the officers cloth. Though
it is the rule to wear shoes, gaiters and stockings, the
soldiers are ordinarily seen bare-legged and slipshod.
I hardly need say that the Tunisian army is not dis-
tinguished for tidiness and discipline. The soldiers
being the victims and involuntary instruments of
despotism demonstrate none of the spirit and ambi-
tion of freemen.
The mode of recruiting the army is peculiar.
Superior officers make tours of observation. Arriv-
ing at any particular locality, they give orders for
all the young men to appear before them, selecting
whomever they choose. The people try in various
ways to avoid this tax levied by caprice upon their
blood. Entreaties, intrigues, sacrifices and open re-
sistance are employed to save their sons from the
THE ARMY AND ITS OFFICERS.
473
army. I knew one Mussulman who had such a hor-
ror of the army that, to keep his two sons out of it,
he never exposed them to seizure until they were
twenty years old, when they passed from the pater-
nal roof to service in foreign consulates. Boys are
sometimes sent out of the country with this object in
view. The duration of service is, like recruiting,
submitted to the decision of capricious officers. The
compensation allowed is exceedingly small, and is
rarely paid when it is due. Arms, food and cloth-
ing are subject to speculations very injurious to
the service. In fine, the actual army is so demoralized
that it could hardly stand fire in the face of a single
battalion of efficient soldiers.
This, however, does not prevent the country from
having 28 major-generals and 26 brigadiers. There
are naturally fewer colonels. This is a singular fact,
but is easily explained. Most of the colonels have
performed military service, while most of the gene-
rals have reached their dignities at a single bound, or
simply by wearing for a short time the epaulets of a
colonel. It is true that these generals are not
regarded as military men, but they have, neverthe-
less, the rank and enjoy the honors. There are some
of them who once sponged the marble floors of the
Bardo, or were employed in cafés or barbers' shops
at Tunis, and who by means of a few years service,
in no way heroic, were decorated with the grand cor-
don and with the double or triple star of massive
silver, as insignia of the general's office. Their his-
tory is no secret; it is even circulated in all its scan-
dalous details; and yet these men are treated with
60
474
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
reverence, simply because they are the favorites of
the Bey.
Among the irregular troops are:-1. The Turks and
their descendants, called koulouglis. 2. The zouaves,
who came originally from Algerine Kabyle tribes,
and are disposed to maintain their character as
French subjects. 3. The Oussellatians, whose former
home was about Mount Oussellat. In ordinary times,
they are scattered over the regency, and engaged in
various kinds of labor. They are united periodically
on fiscal expeditions. 4. The Drids, described on the
247th page. 5. The spahis, who are Arab horsemen, ,
especially attached to the government. They ordi-
narily reside with the tribes to which they belong
and where they enjoy special privileges. Though
rarely united together, they are always ready to
miarch. 6. The hambas, who are a select body of
spahis attached to the person of the Bey, whose
orders they bear. In case of foreign war, the Bey
could call together, besides the forces already
named, contributions from all the tribes in the re-
gency, which would amount to a very large body of
troops.
As to the navy, Tunisia, which was, only half a
century ago, a formidable power, committing great
depredations upon European commerce, has now but
very few ships, and even these few, though purchased
at exorbitant prices, are not all kept in running order.
They are armed with 44 cannon, and manned by 1,000
* This term has come into general use in Europe and America to desig-
nate a kind of troops distinguished by their dress, weapons and mode of
warfare.
THE NAVY.-PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
475
marines. The navy officers, like those of the land
force, make quite a show on paper. They consist of
one vice-admiral, two rear-admirals, four captains of
vessels, and numerous captains of frigates, and lieu-
tenants*
Public instruction is more than languishing in
Tunisia. Apologies for schools are found at the cor-
ners of streets, in miserable rooms, where antiquated
masters make up in whipping for their want of skill
in teaching. They attempt to give only elementary
instruction, and fail in that. The pupils learn to re-
peat in a singing tone many phrases from the Koran,
and to write a few words, after which their studies
are completed. Those who are destined for service
in the mosques or to act as jurists or secretaries,
study under the direction of teachers in the mosques,
which contain, as did the churches of the middle age,
schools for superior instruction. But their studies
are ordinarily limited to the Koran and its commen-
tators, and to some vague principles of grammar.
Those who aspire to become tolbas or oulcmas, under-
take reading and writing the text of the. Koran.
There are several ways of reading the Koran, based
power each.
* List made out in 1867: One screw frigate, 16 cannon, 300 horse-power;
I screw advice, 6 cannon, 150 horse-power; 1 wheel steamer, 4 cannon, 180
horse-power; 1 screw steamer, 4 cannon, 160 horse-power; 1 wheel steamer,
6 cannon, 140 horse-power; 1 screw steamer, 6 cannon, 120 horse-power;
1 screw steamer, 2 cannon, 70 horse-power; 2 screw steamers, 25 horse-
There is an arsenal at the Goletta, very badly furnished,
though directed by skilful European engineers, who are not responsible
for its ineficiency. To give an idea, we will simply say that this establish-
ment figures in the budget for three-fourths of the sum devoted to the
navy, which costs one-sixth of all the revenue of the state. There is not
a maritime power in the world that, all things considered, spends so large a
proportion for its navy as the regency of Tunis.
476
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
upon the methods of some renowned theological doc-
tors who had peculiar ways of reading certain words,
of articulating certain consonants, and of giving pious
inflections and modulations of the voice at certain
points. To know and practise these modes of read-
ing is in the eyes of Mussulmans a great accomplish-
ment. Grammar, theology and law have their place
in the course of study. A knowledge of the law is
acquired by studying legal commentaries favorable
to this or that sect, and the traditional accounts of
Mohammed. The elements of arithmetic, geography,
geometry, astronomy and prosody have a place among
their studies, but are little understood by modern
Mussulmans, who are only slightly acquainted with
discoveries made since the middle age. The state
does nothing to aid public instruction, or to organize
and extend it. The small expenses incurred at Tunis
are, as we have elsewhere explained, covered by pious
legacies and by certain revenues entrusted to the
mosques.
Of efticient charitable institutions there is great
deficiency at Tunis. There is only one Mussulman
hospital, and that is unworthy of its name, being so
organized and managed as often to aggravate disease
rather than allay its ravages. Some mosques and
zawias do, however, furnish lodgings and distribute
food and clothing at certain seasons of the year.
Though the state make no sacrifices for these ob-
jects, it could and should better superintend and
direct the management of the large endowments
entrusted to its care for the support of beneficent
institutions. It could and should see that the pro-
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.- TAXES.
477
ceeds of funds consecrated to beneficence are appro-
priately applied. In the city of Tunis alone the net
income of charitable foundations amounts annually,
as I am informed, to $40,000, which, properly used,
would accomplish incalculable good. But, painful to
relate, most of this sum is either pocketed by dishon-
est agents or foolishly expended, and very little of it
actually goes for the relief of distress and suffering.
The streets of Tunis are meanwhile thronged with
ragged and hideous beggars, many of whom are
wretchedly diseased, and all of them, though Mus-
sulmans, call upon Christians for bread. These poor
creatures evidently have more faith in the charity of
Christians than in that of their co-religionists, though
the latter are, according to their creed, the saints of
the Lord, and the former accursed infidels.
To describe the financial condition of the govern-
ment, is a task from which we involuntarily shrink.
We will, however, try to give some idea of the mode
of collecting and disbursing the public revenues, and
of the sources of wealth and the causes of poverty.
Grain crops are taxed 10 per cent. on arbitrary esti-
mates, in regard to which great injustice is practised.
Olives are divided into three classes, and taxed 20,
30 or 45
per
cent. Commercial establishments and
articles sold are also taxed. Cattle are subjected to
a heavy duty. The manufacture and sale of tobacco
is a government monopoly, yet Europeans sell it
without hindrance. The custom house is let out like
a farm, at so much a year, or on shares. While the
import tax is very light, the export duty is so heavy
on many articles as to prevent legitimate trade, and
478
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
A
induce smuggling. A poll tax of $4.50 on each
man was established for years, when it was suddenly
doubled, and became one of the leading causes of the
rebellion in 1864, since which time the rule has been
to impose as heavy a tax as possible. The inhabi-
tants of the interior of the regençy suffer most from
official exactions and extortions, while those of Tunis
and other large cities fare better, though they are
not without grievances. Besides the direct taxes
and revenues from monopolies, the state has numer-
ous domains, forests, mines, and salt lakes, which it
might turn to account.
Nothing can be inore irregular and confused than
the mode of collecting the revenues, unless we except
the mode of spending them. Outside the large cities,
the taxes are collected by sheiks and oukeels, ap-
pointed by the kaids, who are the general receivers ;
but there are on the one hand, many subjects who
are either so poor that they cannot pay the sums
demanded of them, or so indignant at official wrongs
that they will not; and on the other hand, there are
many publicans who seek not so much to replenish
the public treasury as to accumulate fortunes for
themselves, and thus the country is oppressed with
taxes without the government's receiving correspond-
ing advantages. Of the sums collected, probably
not half reaches the public treasury, and not half of
that is expended for the legitimate purposes of the
government. The revenue of each district is put
into the hands of its respective kaid, who either
sends it directly to Tunis or puts it into the hands of
the Bey of the Camp, when the latter makes his
FISCAL MILITARY EXPEDITIONS.
479
annual or biennial tour with a view of overawing
the tribes and collecting imposts.
The expeditions of the Bey of the Camp take place;
the first at the end of the winter, in a southerly
direction to Tozer, where this officer remains sev-
eral months; the second takes place at the end of
summer; the body of the army generally stops at
Beja, while the governor of Kef visits, at the head
of a strong detachment, the tribes of the west, and
collects large sums of money and quantities of pro-
visions from the defenceless creatures scattered over
his district. When the Bey of the Camp sets off
from the capital, his army presents the appearance of
an immense caravan, composed of several hundred
elderly Turks panting under the weight of their
ancient armor; of a thousand horsemen, most of them
Drids; of 2,000 zouaves; of several batteries, and
throngs of servants in charge of numberless cattle for
food, and beasts of burthen, such a mules, donkeys
and camels, loaded down with baggage. The depart-
ure of the camp is always a jubilee attended with
extraordinary noise and confusion. Soldiers celebrate
the day by the occasional discharge of their guns;
horsemen show off their steeds; donkeys bray; cocks
crow; women and children shriek; donkey-men and
camel-drivers shout; bagpipes, drums and French
horns utter forth their strange notes, and in the
midst of these discordant sounds are now and then
heard words of command from officers who think of
order amidst this admirable confusion.
When this motley force halts, the camp is arranged
in a circular form, according to oriental custom.. The
480
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
tents of the infantry are placed in regular order on
the exterior circumference of the circle ; the tent of
the commander-in-chief is put in the centre, and
around this are first the tents of the principal officers,
and around these last are the tents of the scouts,
messengers and guards, called hambas and spahis ; and
the Drids have a stated place a little farther from the
centre of the circle. The signal for the departure of
the camp each morning is not a discharge of mus-
ketry or cannon, but such a furious and discordant
beating and blowing of musical instruments as might
drive the most ferocious animals frightened from their
dens. The prince rides in the centre of his escort to
the sound of Arab music, which is less harsh and
cruel than that of the Turkish band. Before him
marches the chief of his guard, with three subor-
dinates and some magnificent horses, led by grooms,
and behind him are the standards. After the staff of
the Bey, comes "he rest of the army, without fixed
order, men, horses, mules, camels, donkeys, cattle,
wagons, cannon, and even women and children on
camels' backs, all moving on helter skelter, amid the
most discordant cries of men and beasts. The scene
is such as we might fancy to have been witnessed at
the departure from the ark of Noah, with a greater
variety of the human kind and fewer species of ani-
mals. The Bey of the camp is invested during his
expeditions with extraordinary powers, even over
life and death.
But these expeditions, instead of accomplishing
their object and bringing to the coffers of the state
the sums desired, ofteni fail even to cover the large
TAX-PAYERS AND TAX COLLECTORS.
481
.
expenses which they incur; and yet almost always
the unfortunate tax-payers contribute more than
they ought. This belongs to the system of pillage
and waste that characterizes the administration; vast
sums are collected by this system and lost by bad
calculation and dishonesty. The money naturally
sticks to those persons that handle it, and thus the
chances of its reaching the general treasury are
diminished in proportion as intermediate agents are
increased. The government is unfair in its dealings
with its subjects, plundering those whom it should
protect in their industrial pursuits. The subjects are
naturally indignant, paying back the evil that they
receive with interest. There is thus a competition
between the two parties to outdo each other in the
commission of violence and wrong, and both are nec-
essarily injured and enfeebled. For several years
past, the two expeditions of the Bey of the camp
have not sufficed ; at intervals, detachments of the
army bave gone forth under experienced generals to
strip the defenceless tribes. They may temporarily
relieve the public treasury; but they at the same
time bring it into a more hopeless state, by destroy-
ing its resources in the future. It is a touching Arab
proverb that “armies leave in their track only weep-
ing eyes.”
The revenues are variously estimated from 3,000,-
000 to 6,000,000 dollars. Under a judicious system
fairly administered, we think the revenue might be
tripled with much less hardship than is now experi-
enced. At present, there is no proof that the money
collected is appropriately applied. Collectors, clerks,
61
482
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
cashiers and treasurers of all grades are not duly
looked after and controlled. All these officers of the
government are either badly paid or not paid at all,
and yet they acquire in a little time great riches,
which, however, do not prevent their having debts
after the example of the government, and, like it,
also neglecting to pay them.
The government is overwhelmed with debts, and
appears scarcely to concern itself about them. Worse
still, it goes on increasing them, either by contracting
new ones or leaving the old ones to be augmented
with interest. Who can say how it spends its meagre
revenue, since on the one hand, misery is frightful,
and the unfortunate inhabitants of the interior are
reduced to extremities; and on the other, it does not
pay its coupons when they are due; it leaves its
paper protested on the markets of Europe, and even
at Tunis, and, discounting a future that does not
belong to it, obtains credit and delay, indefinitely
renewed by promising to pay in so many months or
years the sum that is due at the moment, augmented
by such or such interest. And how will it pay? The
process is easy. It will issue paper representing the
value of the olive crop of such a future year, which
may, of course, turn out like the maid's pot of milk,
as has repeatedly been the case in years past.*
* For estimate of the revenues and expenses of the state, see Appendix M.
CHAPTER VIII.
Ghe Ismaelites in Eunisia.*
N Africa, as elsewhere, this race, at the same
time obstinate and supple, yielding and firm,
changing in appearance but remaining unchanged in
its essential elements, the elder branch of the human
family, intermingles with the other races without
being confounded with them, and is distinguished
from them by particular characteristics always and
everywhere the same. Jewish features are peculiar
and expressive. The face indicates intelligence and
* Mr. Noah, himself a Jew, in his book written more than a half cen-
tury ago, estimates the number of Jews in Tunisia at 60,000, and in all
the Barbary States at 700,000. He says the Jewish exiles from Spain and
Portugal found in Fez, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli great numbers of their
brethren originally from Judea, some of them doubtless descended from
the Canaanites who ficd from Joshua and settled in Mauritania Tingitana.
Rev. William Fenner, who has enjoyed unusual means of information, has
furnished the following table of the Israelitish population :
SEAPORT
Towns.—Tunis (the capital), 32,000 ; Goletta, 200 ; Soliman, 100; Nabel,
600 ; Susa, 3,000; Monastir, 500; Media, 400; Ksoor-es-Sef, 50 ; Shebba,
30 ; Sfax, 5,000; Gabes, 2,000; Gerba (island), 7,500; Porto Farina, 25;
Ras-Gebel, 100; Bizerta, 400. INLAND TOWNS.—Gereed (oases of), 3,000;
Kef, 500; Beja, 350; Mater, 80; Testour, 250 ; Medjez -el - Bab, 25;
Tebourba, 50; Mukneen, 400 ; Zaughan, 50 ; Nomadic Jews scattered
among the various tribes of the interior, 3,000. Seaport towns, 51,905 ;
Inland towns, 7,705 ; total, 59,610.
484
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
$
shrewdness tinged with melancholy, and in its ever-
varying expression are shown great power of lan-
guage and a natural, insinuating eloquence, which
have served the Jew in the greatest straits for cen-
turies. For, reduced by the hatred and oppression
of all nations to efface or belittle himself, and resolved
by family instinct and national pride to finally triumph
in his views and interests, he understands how to
gain by circuitous ways places which he could not
take by assault. In other words, he disseubles,
humiliates and even degrades himself, excites pity,
causes disgust, wins confidence, and thus finally suc-
ceeds in reaching all posts to which he aspires. This
is especially true in commercial and financial affairs.
In this country, the Jew is the life of business.
It is a tradition that a part of the Jews of North
Africa have been established there since the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem by Titus; but very many came
from Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. They occupy there, as formerly in
Europe, separate quarters, called haras, a word which
belongs to antiquity, and means stables or unclean
places. The streets are there narrow, dark, damp
and dirty. The houses are many of them in a ruin-
ous state, small and badly aired. Numerous and
sickly families are often crowded into these un-
healthy habitations, and there multiply in suffering
and wretchedness. In the rainy season, liquid mud
deluges these quarters, and penetrates into many of
the houses, which are below the level of the ground.
Of late years, however, the new municipality has
done much to improve the sanitary condition, and
JEWISH QUARTER.BUSINESS TALENT.
485
introduce light and air into this quarter. Good new
houses are now rising on points wbere but recently
were squalid ruins crowded with wretched tenants.
The custom which formerly prevailed of closing
the gates of the harras at night was discontinued
many years since at Tunis, where several times these
unfortunate people, unable to escape, fell a prey to
the flames; and their distresses were more than once
aggravated by the uncharitableness of Christians as
well as Mussulmans, who, influenced by religious ani-
mosity, neglected to come to their relief. But since
the reign of Ahmed Bey, it is only the mass of the
Israelitish people that live in the harra. Families in
easy circunstances, especially if they are of Euro-
pean origin, select elsewhere their dwelling, and from
the top of their palatial mansions look out on the
entire city.
We have seen an essay, entitled, “The Jews our
Lords.” It was a suggestive satire, setting forth in a
clear light a remarkable truth. In the midst of our
industrial and commercial activity, where capital and
prices absorb attention, it is certain that influence
and success attend speculative and financial genius,
of which no people possess so great a degree as the
Jews. They are engaged in almost every important
speculation, and have, in proportion to their popula-
tion, more eminent business men than any other peo-
ple on the face of the globe, for the simple reason
that each one aims at business and depends upon it.
In this country nothing is done without the Jews.
From the management of the finances of the state
down to the humblest private speculation, all is in
486
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
their hands. Christians and Mussulmans affect to
despise and hate them, especially the latter, and yet
neither could succeed without them. They are, in
all the administrations of the government, the gene-
ral treasurers and financial agents, and, encountering
fearful obstacles and a malicious espionage, they show
as much skill and sagacity in business as in avoiding
conviction and punishment when guilty of fraud and
mal-adrninistration. They are in general suspected
and accused by everybody; but they care not for
this, and feeling themselves to be a necessary part of
the machinery of the government, they shrink from
no encounters to maintain their position.
To gain as much money as possible in very little
time and at any sacrifice, is the prevailing ambition
of the Israelites of this country. Most of them are
traders, and all aspire to be such.
A few only
engage in other pursuits, while waiting for a chance
to indulge their besetting propensity. Almost all
the trade with Marseilles, Leghorn and other ports,
is in their hands, either directly, by the number and
importance of their mercantile houses, or indirectly,
by their brokers, courtiers, and exchange agents,
whose services are indispensable in all commercial
and financial operations, and who usually serve in this
humbler sphere only until they can appear as mer-
chants in their own names. Showing wonderful tact
and fitness for this kind of service, they never fail to
take care of their own interest and make sure of their
profits, whatever may happen to their employer.
Besides their position as commercial brokers, the
Israelites occupy there, as in all the Levant, places
JEWISH MERCHANTS AND BROKERS.
487
that are sometimes very lucrative, as courtiers, in the
different consulates. They know how to acquire
consideration, and to become in some important con-
sulates the confidents of the consuls themselves even
in political affairs. For, corruption playing every-
where, and especially in Africa and the orient, a con-
siderable part in human affairs, the Jewish courtier
is found at the outset fully prepared for peculiar ser-
vice by his love of money, natural shrewdness and
freedom from conscientious scruples. It is thus that
such men, without moral worth or dignity of charac-
ter, gain the absolute confidence of their chief, the
agent of this or that great nation, and become not
only the men for all situations, but virtually the
directors, acting in the name of the consul, and con-
sequently of the government and people represented
by him, disposing of the rights and interests of sub-
jects, and compromising, in the eyes of the local gov-
ernment, from whose jurisdiction they have broken
away, the influence of the European legation and
colony whose scourge and dishonor. they are, and
quietly and with impunity amassing for themselves,
by various measures, under the protection of a noble
flag, great fortunes to be compared only to their
unblushing pretensions and arrogance.
We include under the name of European Jews
those who recently came from Europe and have
European habits, and also those who claim to be of
European origin, though their customs and appear-
ance are altogether Tunisian. Neither are depen-
dent on the Bey, but on their respective consuls. All
put the highest estimate on this advantage, so much
488
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the more appreciable as once every Jew, without
regard to his nationality, was a subject of the Bey,
exposed to various insults and extortions on the part
of Mussulmans. They were all restricted to a par-
ticular costume, traces of which remain at this day;
a blue turban with a red cap and a dress of a som-
bre hue. Ill luck to them if they dared sometimes
infringe this rule, and so far forget social proprieties
as to wear, for example, the sheshia, appropriated to
Mussulmans, or some garment of bright colors, espe-
cially if it were red, consecrated to the pilgrims of
Mecca, or green, the color of the religious nobility.
The Leghorn Jews alone were authorized to wear a
little white cotton cap. And this privilege is said to
have sprung from a tyrannic freak of a Bey, who, ,
seeing a cargo of these white caps brought into port
as a prize by one of his corsairs, and not knowing
what use to make of them, compelled the Leghorn
Jews to purchase them on his terms. The Jews
advanced the money, and enjoyed in return the right
to ornament the chief of this singular purchase, who
swore thenceforth in the native costume as well as
in the European; but in fine, it was the beginning
of a privilege, and a conquest over the prejudices of
their tyrants. These restrictions are at this time
removed by law. European Jews dress like other
Europeans, and native Jews much like Mussulmans.
They wear the sheshias, though in time of excitement,
prejudice is manifested against this practise, and they
put on gay colors as if to challenge opposition; and
if they abstain through prudence from open provo-
cation by putting on green and red turbans, which
CONDITION OF THE JEWS.
489
0
are the consecrated colors of Islamism, they some-
times have their sashes, handkerchiefs and shoes of
these colors, which insult Mussulmans feign not to
see, in order not to be compelled to avenge it.
The Jewish subjects of the Bey are subjected to a
state tax in return for the privilege of opening their
synagogues and schools. This is a relic of the ancient
tribute imposed on infidels in Mussulman countries.
But in our day, the Tunisian government shows itself
in general very moderate towards the Jews, who are
much disposed to seek European protection, and
whom the consuls are inclined to defend in the name
of humanity.* As the sons of Abraham escape from
the persecutions and crying wrongs to which they
were subjected in other times, they gradually lose
that trembling heart which once characterized them
everywhere, and especially at Tunis, and assume the
bearing and character of men.t
Let us now enter into some details in regard to
the manners and customs of this interesting people.
And first, of their persons. Their complexion is in
general a mixture between lead and white; black
hair; of medium size; face intelligent, but, contrary
to that of the Arabs, indicating more cunning and
less haughtiness. Their air is brisk and business-like,
and their movements are, as it were, insinuating and
sinuous in the crowd, as in life and business. Their
* See Appendix N, for further information on this subject.
† Mr. G. L. Ditson, in “The Crescent and French Crusaders,” says that
"the Jews were formerly held in great contempt in Algiers, and even a
Mohammedan child could smite them with impunity ; but now they aro
fully protected in all their rights of citizenship; they flourish like Barbary
figs; they reap golden harvests in the commercial world, and their women
are the most richly dressed of all who walk the streets."
62
490
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
face has a smile without warmth and joy; their body
inclines forward in the attitude of deference, and at
the same time of attention; they keep their hands in
front, and in their many gestures never extend them
in a large circle nor raise them to the height of their
faces, making what are called in physiognomy con-
centric instead of eccentric movements; for the first
dicate supplication, and the concentration of the
soul upon itself under the ascendency of a superior
influence; while the second express contrary disposi-
tions, which are not habitual with the Jews. Such is
in brief their portrait. The tone of their voice, drawl-
ing, mellifluous, nasal, whining, wholly from the head,
and never from the chest, together with a cruel, ban-
tering tone and manner, adopted according to circum-
stances, are other essential traits.
Their habitual tongue is a corrupt Arabic mixed
with Hebrew, Italian and Spanish words. Many can
read Hebrew, but speak it with difficulty. In writ-
ing Arabic, they generally employ Rabbinic-Hebrew
characters, which are very unlike the Hebrew alpha-
bet. These characters are employed by all the Jews
of North Africa. This very remarkable fact serves
to illustrate and confirm the persistent and traditional
repugnance of the Jews to being confounded with
other peoples, and their tendency to distinguish them-
selves by some peculiar traits, and to Hebraize, so to
speak, every thing they have been forced to borrow
from nations that surround thein, in order to preserve,
at least in what is essential, their ineffaceable national
physiognomy.
There is scarcely a city in the interior of the coun-
JEWISH BEDOUINS AND TRADERS.
491
try which has not some Jews among its inhabitants.
These people are found even in the oases of the
Sahara and in the mountains of the west. They are
often seen in the Arab or Kabyle nomad tribes, speak-
ing the same language and wearing the same cos-
tumes as those tribes, with two exceptions; the men
have, instead of the Arab head-dress, a piece of cloth
wound around their head, or a black turban, and the
women refrain from tattooing themselves like the
Mussulman women; for tattooing is strictly forbidden
in the Jewish law. Nomadic Jews are also found
maintaining an existence distinct from the Arabs, and
while they preserve some distinctive Jewish traits,
they appear in general just like Arab bedouins.
In 1837, the great Algerine tribe of the Hanensha,
living on the confines of Tunisia, had more than two
hundred Jewish tents, whose chiefs fought by the side
of the Arab chiefs with long, slender guns trimmed
with silver. Afterwards, in consequence of difficul-
ties, one hundred and fifty tents einigrated into the
Tunisian Gereed, where they are still established.
These Jews share in general the life and labors of
the tribes; work either on their private account or
for the tribe with Arab farmers; are there, as every-
where else, supple, insinuating, active, and very skil-
ful in adapting themselves to all the interior necessi-
ties of life, and yet maintaining with inviolable fidel-
ity the obligations and usages which spring from their
religious law, and which constitute their true typical
physiognomy in all countries and at all times. They
furnish, however, but few cultivators of the soil.
They are in general pedlers and traders of some kind.
492
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
They are expressly excluded from two or three Ka-
byle tribes in order to prevent competition in some
flourishing branch of industry. They are led by
their industrial and commercial enterprise into the
centre of Africa, where they trade in gold dust, and
have co-religionist correspondents established at
various points in the Tunisian and Algerine Gereeds,
and in the oases of the desert as far as Soudan.
These peculiarities belong to the Israelitish race,
which has never been confounded with any other.
The creed of the Jews, by separating them from
other nations and imposing upon them a distinct life,
has produced what we now witness— peculiar traits
and characteristics indelibly stamped upon the race.
From Moses, their great law-giver, the levites and
rabbis have continued his theocratic office, more or
less disguised, according to times and circumstances,
but always persistent and unshaken in their faith.
National kings were only their docile instruments or
their adversaries, soon to fall. Foreign oppressors
never found in the Jewish priesthood anything but
the most implacable hostility. In short, the levites,
who are to-day the rabbis, have been from the first
and in diverse experiences the soul of the Jewish
nation. From the taking of Jerusalem and the dis-
persion of the Jews to the four corners of the earth,
they have played a perilous and touching part as
shepherds of that unfortunate and scattered people.
They have held on through tears and blood to the
old religion of their fathers and to the traditions,
usages and superstitions of their ancient national life.
Better than the Greeks and Romans, who, when exiled
:
RELIGIOUS BOOKS AND SYSTEM.
493
from their native soil, carried with their household
gods the image of their country, the Jews, through
the agency of the rabbis, have borne, so to speak,
that country itself in their hearts, and at each halt
in their march and in the midst of other strange or
hostile peoples, have formed a society similar to that
of their original country.
The religion and political system of the Jews, con-
stituting a part of the Bible record, are so well under-
stood as to need no explanation here. Pure mono-
theists, they are more clearly distinguished from
Christians than Mussulmans; for the latter admit to
a certain point the mission of Jesus; while Jews rec-
ognize no other mission than that of Moses, and if
they needed to be confirmed in this exclusiveness,
they would have only to say to themselves that the
mission of Moses is the sole one which all believers
in revealed religion recognize without reserve, and
that this is at the outset a great presumption in favor
of its excellence. The Mosaic books constitute for
the Jews a universal code, designated under the name
of Tara, the law. The other religious books have
not so practical a character, though they are the
object of religious respect. In general terms, they
are called the prophets. This distinction is indicated
in the gospel. The Law and the Prophets constitute
the holy books. But it is the books of Moses, con-
taining the law, that are shown for the veneration of
the faithful in the synagogues, where they are kept
locked up in a box which answers as their ark of the
covenant. It is by means of these books that the
rabbis teach the sacred Hebrew tongue. It is from
494
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
these books that they draw all their civil and relig-
ious rules. Dogmas, religious duties, marriages, cir-
cumcision, indications in regard to food permitted or
forbidden, essential laws in social and domestic rela-
tions,— each thing is there found explained in detail
or in general terms.
The rabbis, faithful to their office, watch over and
direct the people, counsel, admonish, blame and con-
demn them. At certain calamitous periods, they
impose upon them penances or the observance of
public ceremonies; they protest against certain of-
fences which appear to them to draw down the
wrath of heaven, and as often as it is in their power,
they chastise offenders, or at least bitterly reproach
them in open synagogue. The synagogues of Tunis
are very numerous, but are in no respect remarkable.
Outwardly, they can scarcely be distinguished from
other buildings. Within, besides the inhabited part
and that for the school, they contain for worship
square halls without any decorations except numer-
ous lamps, which hang from the ceiling, and a case
or tabernacle in which is preserved the roll of parch-
ment containing the law, a chair for the rabbi and
stools or benches for the congregation. All the relig-
ious ceremonies of the Jews consist in chanting cer-
tain verses from their scriptures and prayers regu-
lated by their ritual, which naturally vary according
to circumstances. At the end of the ceremony, the
law is borne in procession, receiving marks of respect
from the assembly. As among most oriental people,
females do not sit with the men in their religious
assemblies. The men, whatever be their costume,
FEASTS AND TWO COMMUNITIES.
495
keep their heads covered. At the great annual fast
in commemoration of the destruction of the temple
at Jerusalem, the Israelites are bound by usage not
to go out except with their feet bare, or at least with
nothing on them but cloth slippers. At the feast of
the Tabernacle, in commemoration of their sojourn
in the wilderness, they build in their houses rooms or
tabernacles with boards covered with myrtle and
palm branches, and there assemble in the light of
symbolic lamps to repeat their prayers and take their
meals. At the feast of the Passover, they live for
fifteen days on unleavened bread. At all the feasts
for rejoicing or expiation, food or money is gratuit-
ously distributed to all their poor, who, though very
numerous, are effectively cared for. The system of
almsgiving, or rather of taxation for the poor, is very
creditable to the Jews, tending at the same time to
prevent the prevalence of suffering and the nuisance
of beggars.
The Jews of Tunis are divided into two communi-
ties, one of which is called the Portuguese commu-
nity, because it was founded by rabbis of that nation,
or sometimes simply Barbary Jews, and the other the
Leghorn community, so named on account of its
origin. Each of these communities has its rabbis,
treasuries, system of almsgiving, schools and slaugh-
ter houses. Besides abstaining from certain forbid-
den meats, the Israelites must submit to the most
careful inspection even those meats that are permit-
ted. Thus the least weakness, such as an incipient
wart or wen appearing on a healthy animal, has the
effect to render that creature unclean and unfit for
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
pared in a certain way. This last condition applies
This is the reason who
496
food. The throat of the animal must also be cut in
a certain way. Also, only special levites can practice
or direct the grave operation of cutting the throat of
lawful animals and fowls, from the ox down to the
chicken and dove.
All wild game is in general forbidden as food on
account of its usual violent death; pork is an abomi-
nation; butter cannot be employed unless it be pre-
all great Jewish centres there are special butchers
and provision agents. All these obligations in regard
to the manner of living explain why the Israelites
generally avoid eating with gentiles. They regard
these last as in principle unworthy of such intimacy
with the people of God. All but their own co-relig-
ionists are uncircumcised and unclean. Mussulmans,
it is true, do not fully justify these reproachful epi-
thets, but they have no particular merit, since, while
adopting the distinctive sign of the chosen people,
they reject their religion. Polygamy is permitted, ,
but the men have only four wives. It is, however,
but very little practised, even among the native Jews.
Tunisian Jewesses have a costume very similar to
that of the Mussulman women; but it is in general
more flowing, shows better taste in regard to its com-
bination of colors, shape and materials, and, in fine,
renders the Jewesses more attractive and graceful,
especially as we are permitted to see their faces. Em-
broidery in gold and silver, broad necklaces composed
of gold rings, numerous finger rings, artificial color-
iny, powdering the eyes with koheul, anointing the
JEWESSES AND THEIR ATTRACTIONS.
497
eyebrows with a kind of cosmetic, are all regarded as
essential to a beautiful toilet. Also married ladies
Inust have such a head dress as will conceal their
hair. In general, Jewesses have good features, but
are far from being beautiful according to our stand-
ard; for their faces, though not ugly, betray their
great want of intellectual culture, and indicate their
purely material life. Also many of them acquire,
even in their youth, formidable proportions, which
contrast strangely with the delicacy of their faces
and the elegance of their hands and feet. Divorce is
authorized, provided one of the two parties brings
before the rabbi a reasonable cause. If the cause be
pronounced insufficient, the wife alone has to suffer;
for the husband can marry again in accordance with
the law of polygamy.
The Jews have at Tunis a large cemetery, situated
just out of the city. It is but partially fenced, and,
besides a few beautiful monuments, contains many
marble slabs, and innumerable brick or cement cov-
erings to graves, kept as white as chalk. It is a rule
that a dead body cannot remain in a house after the
setting of the sun, unless the death occur on Frid
night, in which case the interment takes place as soon
as the sun goes down on Saturday. The Jews mani-
fest their grief like the Mussulmans, by making a
great noise and turning their houses into bedlams.
During epidemics, however, the government usually
interferes to prevent these noisy demonstrations.
The mode of interment is also peculiar. The corpse
is first well washed. It is then wound in a white
sheet, which is sewed together in such a way as to
63
498
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
prevent any part of the body from being seen, and
inclosed in a white wooden coffin, which serves for
all persons, and belongs to a fraternity piously de-
voted to the service of the dead. The coffin is then
borne upon the shoulders of some members of this
fraternity, who are designated in turn, and cannot
refuse to serve even in case of pestilence. The
nearest relative goes at the side of the coffin, holding
on to a ring situated near the head of the deceased.
Since attending the burial of the dead is regarded as a
meritorious act, funeral processions are usually large,
and they go on increasing till they reach the ceme-
tery. There they halt in the court of an edifice
devoted to this use, and have a short service, express-
ing their resignation to the will of Jehovah, “Lord of
life and death." Then proceeding to the grave pre-
pared beforehand, after a prayer the body is let
down upon a bed of slaked lime. The procession
then withdraws by the same way, the members of it
always making a contribution for the poor as they
pass off.
European Jews do not conform to all these usages,
but rather imitate the European custom in regard-to
the shroud and coffin as well as in their mode of
expressing grief. Also, some of their number bury
their dead in Christian cemeteries, though they
always conform to the Jewish ritual.
It is easy to understand the contempt which Mus-
sulmans have for Jews, and especially for dead Jews,
by remarking that in all their contemptuous and pro-
fane expressions the idea of the Jew stands out fore-
most. Thus the most insulting remark one Arab can
i
MUSSULMAN ANIMOSITY AGAINST JEWS.
499
1
make to another is to liken him to a Jew, as, “ You
are fit to join a tribe of Jews.” “Let me become a
Jew!" is a common imprecation employed to attest
the truth of some affirmation. “0, the Jew !” is an
exclamation often applied not only to a mean man,
but to an ugly beast.
This vindictive animosity is justified in the minds
of Mussulmans by the thousand and one vexations
to which the Jews subjected Islamism in its cradle,
and by the perfidious character which has always
distinguished them in their relations with true be-
lievers. A curious expression of this popular senti-
ment is found in the following legend, which is still
current among the Arabs :
The Jews of the present day, says this legend, are
not regularly the descendants of Adam, but only a
progeny sprung from a dead branch of the Adamite
stock. In fact, one day, by the permission of God, a
camel spoke miraculously, attesting that God alone
is God and Mohammed is his prophet. The Jews
stoned the beast, and then rose in arms against the
prophet, who so terribly defeated them that their
women alone survived, together with decrepit old
men and children at the breast. This impious race
appeared then on the point of being exterminated
from the earth, and surely this great benefit would
have come about if God had wished it. But by the
permission of God, it happened thus : The women
in tears came before Mohammed, lamenting the ex-
termination of their husbands. “Go," said he, “upon
the field of battle. Each one of you recognize your
husband and remain at his side during the night.
500.
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
God is powerful and wise.” It happened thus that
from dead men and living women was formed in
process of time an abject and abominable race, which
is none other than the actual Jews.
The marriage ceremonies observed by native Israel-
ites are peculiar and interesting. The family of the
bridegroom and that of the bride make the contract
of marriage, which must be legalized by a public
notary. In this contract must be written :- 1. The
day on which the couple will be united as husband
and wife. 2. The dowry which the wife brings to
her husband, and the gift, if there be any, which the
husband makes to his wife. 3. The sum of money
to be paid by either party that shall break the
engagement. This sum is generally equal in value
to eleven pounds and five shillings, English money.
A few days before the marriage, the nearest rela-
tives of the bride dye the hair of her head black,
with the gall-nut, prepared after the manner of the
Arabs. This coloring must take place, even though
the hair of the bride be of itself beautifully black
and glossy. Then, on the following day, they lead
the bride to the bath, accompanied by her female
friends. There, as she sits, an old woman begins to
sing her praises. The singing is usually accompa-
nied by several Moorish instruments, played by
women and blind men. They then take the bride
into an inner room, where the old woman attends to
her toilet according to the fashion of the country.
While this operation, which lasts several hours, is
going on, the other women, from time to time, repeat
in a very loud singing tone the well known popular
interjection of joy: ri, ri, ri.
WEDDING CEREMONIES AND FEASTING.
501
The following day, a great dinner is given in the
house of the bride, who, however, instead of joining
in the festivities of the occasion, is gaudily dressed
and seated upon an elevated divan to receive the
felicitations of the guests. The day previous to that
of the marriage, all the friends and relatives being
present, the parents of the bride bring out all her
clothes and jewels, and show them to two rabbis, who
make a note of all the things and send them to the
bridegroom. On the evening of the marriage, the
bridegroom, accompanied by all his relatives and
friends, goes to the house of the bride, where he
finds her sitting and veiled. Once there, the bride-
groom goes near her and gives her, in the presence
of all his friends, the wedding ring, on which their
names are marked. Immediately afterwards a rabbi
gives the pair the nuptial blessing.
The religious ceremony being over, a great supper
begins, which lasts generally till after eleven o'clock.
A little before midnight, the bride is conducted out
of her own house to that of the bridegroom. This
transfer of the bride is performed through the streets,
with the greatest show of lights, singing, playing
upon musical instruments, dancing, and many repeti-
tions of the syllable ri, ri, ri. Meanwhile the bride-
groom waits for his bride in the first room of his own
house, near the door, and as soon as she comes in, he
treads on her right foot, saying to her these words,
from the 3d chapter, 16th verse of Genesis : “Thy
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee.”
To conclude this chapter, which though incomplete
.
502,
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
in regard to details,* gives some idea of an interesting
branch of the human family in a strange locality, we
will say a few words in regard to the prevalent means
of instruction. Education, meaning the development
and training of the human faculties, is scarcely known
among Tunisian Jews. Instruction, which is, prop-
erly speaking, only a means of education, is but
feebly sustained. The rabbis have the charge of
children in halls connected with the synagogues. To
learn the Hebrew text and read it, while chanting
and marking the cadence with the body, and to know
how to write the Arabic language with the Rabbinic-
Hebrew characters, constitutes the whole programme
of these Rabbinic establishments. The elements of
useful knowledge receive no attention. The foreign
languages, natural science, geography, history and
arithmetic are ignored, though in this last named
branch Jewish children scarcely need instruction; for
they are born calculators. Yet these schools are very
picturesque. Almost all are upon the ground floor,
and some, especially in the old synagogues, are kept
* We have to omit at this point numerous details illustrative of Jewish
life in Barbary. To have children is the great desire of all classes. On
the island of Gerba, a wealthy Jew told me, apparently with a view of
enjoying my sympathy, that though he had three wives, he had no chil-
dren, and he added that he was upon the point of taking a fourth wife,
with the hope of leaving some one to maintain his name and inherit his
property. A poor Jew, who had already six children, repeated to me the
3d verse of the 128th Psalm, as expressive of his idea of the Lord's
blessing:—“Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thy
house; thy children like olive-plants round about thy table.”
The ceremony of loosing the shoe, as described in Deuteronomy 25th
chapter, 5th and following verses, is gravely kept up, though it can now
be witnessed only where the Jews are permitted, as in Tunisia, the free
exercise of their civil and religious rites:
RABBINICAL SCHOOLS AND TRAINING.
503
in rooms that are like cellars. They have for furni-
túre a cupboard where master and pupils crowd con-
fusedly together their books and papers; several
willow seats; one or several small low tables, around
which are, resting upon mats or badly seated upon
narrow benches, a multitude of pupils who though
poorly clad, are generally quick witted and intelli-
gent. The aged naster, inspiring awe by the gravity
of his face, his long beard and picturesque slovenli-
ness, is enthroned upon a stool, or oftener seated
cross-legged upon a mat, with a low table before him,
and his shoes or rather slippers at his side; his
pupils leave their shoes at the door. He holds majes-
tically upon his knee a large reed, which serves as his
sceptre and wand of office. Nothing is more comic
than the scenes enacted in the presence of this anti-
quated dominie. Fromn winks and nods and diverse
manifestations of attention and curiosity to expres-
sions of astonishment, foreboding an outburst of pas-
sion, we observe anger, pride; pleasure, pain; grief,
exultation ; victory or defeat, successively depicted
on the faces of the assembled group. No artist's
pencil could adequately represent the amusing scenes
occasionally witnessed in these school rooms.
We
are happy, however, to report that there are manifest
indications of improvement in the modes of teaching
and training children in these Rabbinical schools.
As to the European Jews, they provide their chil-
dren, especially their boys, better means of instruc-
tion. While their daughters are still much neglected,
their sons constitute three-fourths of the pupils in the
Italian college, one-third in the Catholic school and
504
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
the entire number in the Protestant school. It is
just to remark in this place, that the European Israel-
ites, though they by no means attain the full stature
of a vigorous manhood, merit an honorable notice.
As a general thing, they understand the exigencies
of the times, entertaining some elevated ideas and
taking part in progressive movements. It is desira-
ble, however, that the Israelites (not to speak of the
Christians) of Europe and America, who show an
elevated and enlarged spirit in promoting the inter-
est of Judaism throughout the world, and who have
already founded schools and charitable establishments
in the orient and in Africa, should turn their atten-
tion towards the numerous and interesting body of
their co-religionists established in the regency of
Tunis. There are many wants to be satisfied, much
service to be rendered to humanity, and, in a word,
great good to be done. The Tunisian Jews on the
one hand possess good intellects and are quick to
learn, and on the other they are heartily united to
other Israelites, so that their more advanced breth-
ren of Europe and America could hope gradually to
regenerate them, securing for them by means of
sympathy, aid and protection important intellectual,
moral and material advantages which they do not
yet possess, and which alone can draw them out of
their semi-barbarous state and prepare them for the
free air and sunlight of civilization and universal
brotherhood, regardless of country, race or creed.
CHAPTER IX.
The Europeans in Tunisia.--Belative Importance of thein Colonies and
Influence.--Foreign Representatives at the Gunisian Count.
HE number of Europeans established in the
regency of Tunis is estimated at 25,000, most
of whom reside in the capital and in the maritime
cities. A majority of them have taken up their
abode in this country within comparatively few years.
Some families, however, have resided there for sev-
eral generations. The European subjects of any one
nation, considered in their collective capacity, are
called, without regard to propriety of language, a
colony. Thus there are said to be several European
colonies, of which the Italian colony, composed
of Sicilians and Jews, is the most numerous. Next
in numerical order is the English colony, which is
composed almost exclusively of Maltese. The Maltese
and Sicilians belong in general to the lower classes.
The French colony is the third in point of numbers,
and comprises a few Christians, many Jews and sev-
eral thousand Algerine Mussulmans. The other
enlightened powers have there but few subjects.
The Europeans are mostly devoted to commercial
64
506
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
and mechanical pursuits. It is only within a few
years that a certain number of them have been
engaged in what are properly termed the liberal
professions. The wholesale merchants constitute the
élite of the European colonies, assuming to be a kind
of aristocracy. Their haughty airs and the sensitive-
ness of their presumed inferiors occasionally give
rise to some ludicrous scenes which are amusing to
impartial observers. The European society of Tunis
resembles that of some dwarfed European city. Idlers
and gossipers are sufficiently numerous. Ignorance
and presumption go hand in hand, and jealousy and
inalignity combine to give them power. All this is
seen with various shades of national and individual
character. Intellectual and moral training is much
neglected. The range of thought and of subjects for
conversation is limited, and personal rivalries and
contests occasionally occur. Enterprises for the com-
mon good, which are not numerous, have thus much
to encounter. We must say, however, that as the
relations of Tunis become intimate with Europe, the
Europeans established there resume their original
character, acquiring European virtues and rising above
African vices. Their mental vision is enlarged and a
step taken towards civilization. Unfortunately there,
as everywhere else, the desire to become rich, that
eternal auri sacra fames of the poet, seems to be the
dominant passion of European society in general and
of the Jewish element in particular, and its gratifica-
tion is checked by no scruples about the means. We
can attempt no description of this low ambition
fomented by pride, excited by jealousy and encour-
FINANCIAL ADVENTURERS AT TUNIS.
507
aged by scandalous examples of success and enormity.
The financial situation of the Tunisian government
is most unfortunate for the country, opening an
unlimited field for unprincipled adventurers and
swindlers. Many of this class arrive from Europe
and remain only long enough to effect their objects
by the aid of confederates in the city and at the
court of the Bey. This mania for making money is
probably the more apparent because it is not coun-
teracted by the refining influence of the fine arts.
France, England, Austria, Italy, Spain, Holland,
Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, Prussia, Mon-
aco, and San Marino among the powers of Europe,
and the United States among those of the New
World, have there official agents clothed with the
title of consuls-general or simply of consuls. Most of
these officials have a diplomatic character. Direct
representatives of their government to the Bey, and
magistrates and judges over their respective fellow
citizens, they fulfil various functions, sometimes act-
ing the part of ministers plenipotentiary, expounding
and enforcing international laws, and sometimes ap-
pearing as police officers, restraining and punishing
the wayward.
The government of the Bey has no authority or
control over the Europeans who reside there, enjoy-
ing the benefits of the country and often doing it
much mischief without sharing the burdens of taxa-
tion that are imposed upon the natives. This alto-
gether exceptional position or privilege, sanctioned
and confirmed by the treaties of all nations, has been
insisted on to obviate the insecurity to which Mus-
508
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
sulman justice would expose Europeans, and to pre-
vent such difficulties as would naturally result if the
Europeans were subjected to Mussulman jurisdiction.
But it is just to say that this privilege which, when
Europeans are the objects of it, is very considerable,
becomes a flagrant abuse and injustice when ex-
tended, as is notoriously the fact, to a class of per-
sons called protegés, who, on account of some ques-
tionable service or of some judicious presents, succeed
by virtue of consular omnipotence, in throwing off
their allegiance to the Bey and taking shelter under
a flag which is not theirs, and which protects them in
violation of international law and in disregard of
official honor.
From time immemorial, the consulates have en-
joyed the rights of asylums or rather of houses of
refuge; that is, when natives of the country, pursued
by officers of justice, cross the threshold of a consu-
late, their persons become inviolable. The consul
may then interpose his friendly offices, to moderate
the sentence of the fugitive if he be guilty or to
save him from punishment if he be innocent. In
principle, this usage is not without serious objections ;
but as it contributes to the prestige of the Christian
powers, the consuls maintain it voluntarily and for
the most part content themselves with hindering or
mitigating the abuses to which it can give rise. Each
consulate has a kind of guard of honor composed
of native janissaries, whose number varies according
to the importance of the colony. These janissaries,
who are inappropriately called dragomans (interpre-
ters) and are substantially little more than servants,
DRAGOMANS.—COURT RECEPTIONS.
509
often assume an importance which is but too real in
most of the affairs entrusted to them. Their intru-
sion gives occasion to scandalous traffics, and it is not
unusual to see them in their character as subaltern
tyrants affect an odious autocracy over unfortunate
natives who fall in their way.
The consuls are received at the Bardo with great
pomp and parade when they appear officially in uni-
form, and they are always in their private visits the
objects of marked courtesy and attention. Theoreti-
cally, the consuls are equals in their relations to the
Bey, all having the same treaty stipulations, but
practically there is a great difference in their standing
and influence. The consuls of France and England
are, it may well be believed, received with more
marked attention than their colleagues of Monaco
and San Marino, though the latter are supported
with high sounding titles and set off with decora-
tions and showy uniforms. Twice a year (on the
Great and the Little Bairam), the Bey has a public
audience in presence of all his court, resplendent
with gilt ornaments and decorations of various kinds,
in the Hall of the Throne, where in a standing
posture he receives all the agents of the different
powers who are introduced to him now in the order
of their arrival. Formerly the consuls of France and
England were received before all the others. They
at length, however, had a dispute in regard to who
should be received first, when it was finally decided
between them and afterwards between their col-
leagues that in future all the consuls should be
received in the order of their arrival at the Bardo.
510
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Before being introduced to His Highness, the Bey,
the consuls are received in a body by the Prime
Minister, who showers upon them honeyed words
and with bows and smiles endeavors to put them into
a good humor for the more formal reception which
forth with takes place in the large hall. This is a rare
sight, resembling doubtless other analogous assem-
blies, but it borrows some striking peculiarities from
the country and the character of the court. In pro-
portion to the importance of their posts or their per-
sonal vanity, the consuls crowd forward, or drawing
back put on an air of impassible dignity. While
waiting together in full uniform set off with decora-
tions, it is not a little interesting to observe the
physiognomy of the different personages. All the
attractions of ribbons, badges, gilt uniforms and a
retinue of gaudily dressed attendants, assuming airs
of importance and feigning gracious smiles or virgin
modesty, are simply. ludicrous, where underneath
this covering are seen with the mind's eye personal
and national vanity and corruption. The Prime
Minister, General Mustapha Khasnadar, who pos-
sesses a superior physique and is an extraordinary
man, entering the hall with a beaming face, salutes
this assembly and then, after bandying compliments
with the Catholic Bishop, goes from one consul to
another, exhausting the resources of language for
complimentary phrases, and displaying such charm-
ing politeness and courtesy as are not common even
in European circles. In the Hall of the Throne, the
ministers and principal officers of state are drawn up
in a line, when as each consul enters, the Bey gravely.
KISSING THE BEY'S HAND.
511
advances some steps towards him, indicating by the
number of his steps his appreciation of the consul's
importance, and offers his hand which the latter
takes and presses, bowing at the same time.
It is scarcely thirty years since the Beys at these
receptions remained as stationary as the god Termni-
nus, usually in a sitting posture, and instead of offer-
ing their hand open to be taken and pressed, held it
up closed to be kissed on the back by all the Euro-
pean representatives without distinction. Some con-
suls protested against this custom, and Mr. Thomas
D. Anderson, United States consul in 1816 and 1817,
left his post rather than conform to it. After the
capture of Algiers, the French government supported
their consul, Mr. Schwebel, in taking decided ground
against this usage. In his first audience, he took
and pressed the hand which the Bey held out for
him to kiss. The Bey, starting back, expressed his
astonishment and displeasure. The consul replied
that according to his instructions, he was to treat the
Bey of Tunis just like a European prince, and that
when a European prince offers his hand, it is the
usage to press it, bowing. The kissing of the hand
from that time ceased to be a court requisition and
the consuls were thus relieved from the necessity of
conforming to a custom which even an elaborate des-
patch now in the American consulate at Tunis, writ-
ten by John Quincy Adams while secretary of state
at Washington, could not invest with favor. It is
reported, however, that some consuls who prized
their manhood less than court favor, expressed regret
at the change and privately for years afterwards
observed the ancient usage.
512
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
The intrèpidity and success of the Americans at
Tripoli and Algiers; their appearance in the waters
of Tunis; the ever-memorable expedition of Lord
Exmouth; the battle of Navarino, and especially the
conquest of Algiers by France, have greatly elevated
the position of consuls and Europeans at Tunis. The
court of the Bardo and the Tunisian people are at
this time very humble in the presence of those flags,
most of which they once treated with contempt.
Forty years ago, the consuls were insulted in the
streets with impunity. A Danish consul, though a
friend of the Bey, saw his son who was then a mere
lad exposed to the bestial passions of some Turkish
soldiers, and the only satisfaction which he could get
was the promise of the Bey that he would search for
the culprits, who, as a matter of course, were never
found. As to Europeans who had no official position,
they had to suffer daily insults and indignities. In
meeting any Mussalman of whatever grade, it was
their duty to yield him the walk and salute him with
a bow. The dead, far from being respected, received
on their way to the grave insolent manifestations of
ill-will and contempt. Funeral processions were
sometimes pelted with stones and besmeared with
filth. We need not say how much worse still was
the condition of the Jews, even of those who were
known to be Europeans. They had to submit to
every insult without any show of opposition or dis-
pleasure through fear of losing their lives, with
which Mussulmans did not hesitate to trifle.
But now how changed are the times! At the
least insult offered to a European citizen or even to
CONSULAR AND EUROPEAN INFLUENCE.
513
a mere protege, the consuls require explanations and
apologies from the local government, some of them
showing a quarrelsome disposition by converting
police difficulties into international questions. In
1859, the prefect of police and the admiral at the
Goletta went in full uniform to the French consulate
to apologize for some punishment imprudently in-
flicted on several Algerine-French subjects, and in
1865, the Prime Minister performed a like humiliat-
ing task in presence of Baron Saillard, envoy extra-
ordinary of the emperor of the French. In 1857,
when the Bey, after due process of law, took the life
of a Jew, who was one of his own subjects, a terrible
outcry was raised, and the French squadron of the
Mediterranean appeared in the waters of Tunis, and
under the influence of this demonstration, a constitu-
tion was devised for the regency and promptly
accepted.
As to Christians in general, they have more the
air of being masters of the country than the Mussul-
mans themselves. The rôles which these parties for-
merly played towards each other are now completely
changed, and we may occasionally see the cane
of a “Christian dog” laid upon the saintly back of
“Mussulman believer.” Though
Though retaliation is
plainly contrary to the gospel and to Christian civ il-
ization, its existence at Tunis cannot be denied.
Europeans, remembering the oppressions and wrongs
which they once suffered at the hands of the Mussul-
mans and seeing now opportunities for revenge,
yield to their passions and become in their character
lik the vile Mussulman oppressors whom they affect
a
65
514
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
to despise. The Jews also now raise proudly their
heads and look boldly in the face their late tyrants.
Sometimes they defy their power with a ludicrous
and cruel affectation. Whenever there is a public
demonstration of Mussulman humiliation, the Jews
never fail to be present with every expression of joy.
Thus when the high Tunisian functionaries had to
resort to the French consulate to make humble
apologies, multitudes of Jews could not forego the
pleasure of witnessing the visits and manifesting
their interest.
Most of the Christians residing in Tunisia belong
to the Roman Catholic church, whose chief is Mon-
seigneur Sutter, styled Bishop of Rosalia and Apos-
tolic Vicar of the Mission of the Capucins at Tunis.
This monastic order has constituted the Tunisian
mission since 1624. There are twelve friars at Tunis
and several at points along the shore for conducting
the worship which has at Tunis a church and several
chapels, and a church at each place where there is a
Catholic population.*
There are in the regency twenty-five or thirty
European doctors, two-thirds of whom reside at the
capital. Most of them are Italians and well off in
life. Some of them are scientific and skilful practi-
tioners, and half of them are in the service of the
Bey, either as surgeons of the army or as doctors of
the court. There is not a single native physician of
any standing, and the local medical art is scarcely
* For statistics in regard to churches, schools and masonic lodges, we
refer our readers to Appendix J. In Chapter V, 298th and following
pages, will be found some notices of amusements and popular life at Tunis.
1
PROFESSIONS AND FINE ARTS.
515
represented except by a few Jewish quacks whose
ignorance and pretension are their sole recommenda-
tions to favor.-- The fine arts of Europe are repre-
sented there by a few barely respectable painters
and photographers and by several amateur pianists
and musicians, mostly Italians, whose concerts would
hardly delight a refined audience; but Tunisians are
not hard to please, as their ears are accustomed to
the shrill discords of the Moorish bands. However,
at the great balls and receptions which are given
from time to time by consuls and other European
personages, the music is often very respectable, and
in general the dancing is very good.
It is true
that the pleasure of these balls consists mainly in
music and dancing; the conversation amounts to
little or nothing; though each of these balls excites
much curiosity and is for a week beforehand a sub-
ject of animated conversation, especially among the
ladies, constituting always a grave event among
invited Europeans, who are all accustomed to regard
themselves as belonging to the fashionable circles.
It has been remarked that balls are rarely popular
where a fondness for display does not prevail. At
Tunis some weakness of this kind is undeniable.
Ladies are mainly concerned, not to acquire the
refinement and culture most prized in the best cir-
cles of life, but to understand the arts by which they
may show off their charms in the ball room, and
their husbands and fathers are often greatly exer-
cised to know how they shall pay or prevent extrav-
agant bills. There are few cities in Europe where a
certain style of extravagance is more apparent than
516
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
at Tunis. Ladies, lacking the means and induce-
ments to acquire a good education, too generally
occupy themselves in adorning their persons with
silks, jewelry and brilliants. In their toilette, the
best taste is not displayed in the selection and
arrangement of their ornaments. In their desire to
shine, they too often try to imitate, equal or surpass
each other without regard to condition and means.
Of all the European nations France is, beyond
question, the most influential at Tunis. This is
readily explained by the contiguity of Algeria and
Tunisia, without speaking of the priority of influence
and action which France has had in Mussulman
countries since the period of the crusades. French
influence is naturally counteracted, if not balanced,
by British influence. For some years past, Italy and
Spain have been taking an active part in Tunisian
affairs. Italy possesses, in fact, important interests
there, having more subjects than any other nation.
Spain, since her war with Morocco, has been tor-
mented with an ambition to regain her Castillian
prestige over these shores. One curious result of
this desire to acquire importance is the naturalization
en masse of numerous Jews claiming to be of Spanish
origin, but established in the regency and recognized
as subjects of the Bey for a long time; and what is
inore remarkable still, most of them are the descend-.
ants of Jews banished from Spain in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. The consul of Austria enjoys
much personal influence, and the nation which he
represents has always been popular at Tunis, not-
withstanding the collisions of the old German empire
and Hungarian kings with the Ottoman sultans.
WAY OF PROMOTING CIVILIZATION.
517
In general, there is not remarkable harmony of
action or nobility of purpose among the consuls.
They are courteous in their intercourse with each
other and punctiliously observe the rules of etiquette,
but a resort to schemes and intrigues in the name of
diplomacy too often shows their want of elevated
ideas as men, and of a right appreciation of tủeir rep-
resentative and diplomatic office. In this way, the
country and the world are losers; for if instead of
divergent efforts for personal or partisan purposes,
the consuls were unitedly to exert their energies for
great objects tending to the triumph of civilization,
their influence would be irresistible, and the country
would be the first to be benefited. Wherever a
great common good is evident, it is the duty and
honor of all men who acknowledge their common
parentage, laying aside narrow and personal consid-
erations, to think only of the means of realizing it.
Once let it be accomplished, and each one will per-
ceive that his private interest is better served than if
the interest of all had been sacrificed for him. In
political and social science as in the ordinary discus-
sions and conduct of life, it is only by rising above
selfishness and seeking the good of all, that each
member of the human family can infallibly secure
the highest allotment of earth and heaven.*
* For list and notices of consuls, see Appendix 0.
CHAPTER X.
General Considerations on the Present Condition of Tunisia com-
paned with the past, and Inferences in Hegand to the future.
N terminating these studies, so extended though
still incomplete in regard to details, it may not
be uninteresting to resume and put in relief some
general conclusions to be drawn from the facts to
which our attention has been directed. This country
was predestined to enjoy a varied and remarkable
history by reason of its geographical position, natu-
ral resources and salubrious climate. Under different
governments and passing through various vicissi-
tudes, it was generally flourishing and prosperous
until the end of the Roman domination. Two cen-
.
turies later it somewhat revived, and again, under
the Arab princes of the middle age, it acquired much
consideration. At the end of the fifteenth century,
i. e., of the Turkish domination, decay set in and
became progressive and irresistible; and it has since
gone on increasing, with the exception of some brief
periods of comparative prosperity, until to-day the
distresses of the country seem almost to portend the
approaching agony of death.
PRESENT CONDITION AND PROSPECTS.
519
gener-
This “Africa ferax," renowned at an early period
of the world for its rich and productive soil appears
now pitifully exhausted and sterile, and we behold
it awaiting in sadness supplies of provisions from less
fertile countries which it once served from its
oys and superabundant granaries, and which, were
it in the hands of an intelligent and progressive
people, it could again feed and supply from its luxu-
riant harvests. A very small part of the territory is
cultivated, and no where are witnessed skill and an
ambition to improve the soil. The laborers, discour-
aged, famishing and almost stupefied by destitution
and want, scarcely find protection in the hot season
from the burning sun that dries up, cracks open and
calcines vast regions once covered with waving grain,
fresh verdure and flourishing towns and cities; and
in the wet season are much exposed to drenching
rains that, once falling on beautiful plantations, fer-
tilized the soil, which they to-day thoroughly soften
and mellow, producing broad gullies which in many
places are the sole passage-ways through districts at
a former period provided with Roman roads. Over
the whole extent of this ancient line of highways,
which once formed an extensive system of circulation
and a means of activity and prosperity, are now met
only ruins, whose imposing grandeur is put in bold
relief by the desolation of the surrounding country
and by the pitiful aspect of some inhabited points,
which we meet after long intervals in our journey
across entire provinces devastated and laid waste.
In the most important cities, wretchedness stares us
in the face; parts of them are dilapidated and de-
520
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
populated; houses are crumbling and falling to the
ground, and everywhere are indications of negli-
gence, poverty, suffering and incurable shiftlessness
and despair.
Under the Roman empire, the population in this
province was estimated at 15,000,000 souls, while at
the present time it does not exceed 2,000,000. In
the last years of Carthage, the little city of Leptis
Parva, situated on the eastern shore, paid the metrop-
olis an annual contribution equal to one-tenth of the
actual revenue of the entire regency. This revenue
to-day scarcely amounts to $5,000,000, whereas under
happy auspices ten times this sum might be readily
raised
Still sky and land are unchanged. It is always the
same firmament of sapphire bounded by magnificent
horizons, with an imposing sea that always comes
with the same cadence to caress the shores; but
often touching and dashing upon ruins of ancient
moles and edifices. The landscape has lost none of
its grandeur and harmonious proportions; nor have
the mountains, rising abruptly and standing boldly
forth, refused their refreshing shades and unfailing
supplies of living water. But most of these waters
now flow off uselessly down precipices and ravines,
while once they formed fertilizing streams, carrying
the blessings of a luxuriant vegetation over a wide
extent of territory. The land has not lost its pro-
ductive power, but the hand of man and the plow
have failed to perform their part, cultivating only
here and there a meagre spot, while an immense
area, dying of thirst, is spread out invitingly before
PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT,
521
laborers also dying of famine. As to the trees, if not
mutilated and stript, left to themselves and exposed
to the scorching rays of the sun for centuries, they
decay, and falling; gradually disappear, like the men.
The
very
forests of the north and west wither and
dwindle from the exhaustion of vital force which the
axe of the woodman comes no longer to renew, or
from the ravages of fire sent from heaven or set by
imprudent and shiftless beings who only, look upon
the distant scene in stupid wonder and admiration.
Thus it is not nature that is wanting to man, but
man to nature. The regency of Tunis, like most
Mussulman domains, is a beautiful country, deplora-
bly peopled and encumbered by a governinent more
deplorably administered. The inhabitants are indo-
lent and apathetic, benumbing their intellect and
beclouding their vision by laziness and inactivity,
and allowing themselves to be overpowered and
enervated more and more without any effort to with-
stand or counteract the enfeebling influence of the
climate. Withstand or counteract ! How could they ?
They are ignorant and superstitious fatalists. For
centuries bound under the blows of an unfeeling des-
tiny and a cruel despotism, they have acquired a
kind of stupid resignation, submitting themselves
without reserve to the will of God and the powers that
be, without thinking that neither the powers that be,
nor God himself could, humanly speaking, make
them prosperous and happy without their own coöp-
eration.
Of this central power, facts already stated give
some idea. Arbitrary, without other thought than
66
522
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
to persist to the end in its exhaustive system of mu-
tilation and bleeding, and so blind in its measures of
extortion, waste, injustice and tyranny as not to see
that this unhappy country is reduced to extremity,
and that, regardless of the interest of the government
alone, some measures must be devised for amelio-
rating its condition and retarding if not preventing,
its complete devastation and ruin.
People and government are incurable if left to
themselves. To save Tunisia, to gradually raise her
up from her fearful prostration and insensibly heal
and regenerate her, requires time and the persistent
efforts of earnest, progressive men. Two distinct
plans for the accomplishment of this object have been
suggested and urged by their respective advocates :
political and diplomatic action on the one hand; and
moral influence on the other. But in my opinion,
each of these plans involvės the other. Diplomacy
without morality as its basis is a swindle, and a
morality that does not reach and regulate diplomacy
needs another name.
At this time, the different civilized powers compete
with each other for influence, and draw in different
ways the government which, despite its understand-
ing of the needs of the country, perceives that the
rivalry of the nations that desire to take its place or
control its counsels, can only prolong its existence
and adjourn its fall. Nay, more, it perceives that the
personal interest or vanity of European agents tends
to the same end as national rivalry; and thus it en-
courages this personal weakness and turns it to its
account. To some consuls it pays exorbitant interest
OBSTACLES TO BE ENCOUNTERED.
523
without always advancing the principal when it
is due; upon others, it showers decorations and hon-
orary titles, worth what they cost the recipients,
provided, however, manhood and independence are
not bartered away; and still others it benefits sub
rosa, by giving to their agents fat contracts for some
governmental supply or enterprise. We mean merely
to indicate the kind of difficulties that stand in the
way of reform and improvement in this country.
They are local and foreign, moral and material,
religious and secular, personal and official. If the
Bey were to be asked by the consuls collectively
or individually, in their official or in their private
capacity to reform his system of administration, we
can readily imagine his reflections if not his words.
As he thought of national jealousy, diplomatic (?)
intrigues, and greed, vanity and obsequiousness
manifested by foreign nations and their agents,
he would be tempted to call out, “physician, heal
thyself.” But however great these weaknesses may
be and however formidable the difficulties, we will
not fail to recommend a higher plane of action and
more elevated considerations.
Instead of rivalry and selfishness, let there be
union from a community of interest among the great
progressive powers of the world. Let those who
have the honor to represent civilization in this som-
bre, though still renowned and important quarter of
the globe, be faithful to their mission, demonstrating
publicly and privately the manhood and character
that constitute national strength and glory. Let
them with civilization in view unite on a plan of
524
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
action that shall not involve a direct intermeddling
with the local government. Instead of seeking the
aggrandizement of this or that nation, or personal
interest, let civilization be the watchword attended
by justice, humanity and universal progress. Let
diplomacy, instead of being degraded by the tricks
and evasions of charlatans, be elevated to the dignity
of a profession, with honesty and fair dealing as its
basis and the public good as its object. In this way,
the consuls would become, instead of supple tools or
tricky partisans blinded and blown about by wind
and wave, the dignified and honored agents of civili-
zation and the promoters of humanity and universal
progress. Instead of being members of this or that
clique and protectors of adventurous speculators and
hucksters, they would take a higher position and
have a wider sphere of influence and better associa-
tions, becoming protectors of men and promoters of
justice and truth. In this way alone, we believe,
they can become the respected and trusted counsel-
lors of the Bey and his court, restraining by their
presence injustice, violence and wrong, and encour-
aging every good tendency and worthy aspiration.
With such an appreciation of their office and of their
moral and diplomatic powers, they would diffuse
light and knowledge without resorting to threats or
calling for the display of material force. Such repre-
sentatives, counselled and sustained by their respec-
tive cabinets, would prove efficient monitors to the
government which would speedily understand that
shameful abuses lead to the inevitable destruction of
the country, and finally to foreign intervention as a
PREDATORY NATIONS AT HAND.
525
natural consequence of insufferable troubles; as when
a house is on fire, all rush thither regardless of law,
to extinguish the flames, or save and plunder from
the exposed premises.
I once heard an intelligent Mussulman remark
that “foreign nations and their representatives look
upon Tunis much as birds of prey are wont to turn
towards some inviting repast; the former having no
settled policy but to keep each other away, and the
latter guided mainly by personal interest or vanity."
If this statement, which I did not attempt to refute,
be correct, there is not much encouragement for the
Bey to undertake reforms, though he is a man of
kindly nature and generous sentiments. He can do
little more than employ king-birds and kites to watch
the persistent eagle, and amuse and satisfy the foxes
and wolves as best he can. Who can blame him for
some folly in such a plight? I cannot. His course
is without dignity, but he is terribly beset. The
eagle's claws are upon him, and the lion's growl is
within hearing, and the offspring of both bird and
beast constantly prey upon his life. If with such
teachings and experience, the Bey did not show de-
cidedly predatory instincts, it would seem to me
astonishing
I am persuaded that if the members of the Tunis-
ian government were practically assured that the
interest and policy of the great powers were not
to dispute with each other for the possession or
profits of their country, but by coöperation to elevate
it and bring it up by degrees to a level with the
nations that have a right to live because they labor,
526
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
prosper and progress; if they could know that the
representatives of the great powers, instead of enter-
taining rival personal and national schemes, were
bound to act together for the promotion of civilization
and humanity, they would begin to reflect, and soon
this oligarchy with the rapacious claws of despotism
would falter, review its course, face about and march
onward in the line of progress; or, too weak to take
this decisive step, would yield its place to braver and
more worthy men.
I am persuaded that if the great powers of the
world seriously wished to ameliorate the situation of
this country, they could and would succeed. Acting
harmoniously, their counsel in favor of all practical
and practicable reforms would come with authority.
No hybrid constitution and no awkward imitation of
the institutions belonging to countries far advanced
in the career of progress would need to be suddenly
imposed upon Tunisia while she is in her present
state. To prepare the way for progress, pressing
evils should be promptly removed or diminished, and
in proportion as they disappear, effective measures
should be introduced to secure the good results in
view. And here we especially recommend the say-
ing of the great Sully, while minister of Henry IV,
that “ agriculture and pasturage are the two teats
of the state.” These almost exhausted sources of the
material life of this nation should be opened anew.
Agriculture should be encouraged by restraining the
violence and injustice of taxgatherers, and the culti-
vators of the soil should become attached to their
grounds by enjoying the fruits of their labors. They
IMPROVEMENTS AND NEW CARTHAGE.
527
would soon redouble their efforts, exhibit more skill
and intelligence in their modes of tillage and culture,
and bring back life and verdure to a vast region
whose fertility is not exhausted but only temporarily
suspended for the want of the nurturing hand of
man. Improvement in the breeds of horses, sheep
and cattle would follow. as one of the many benefits
resulting from the revival or rather resurrection of
agriculture. The production of articles of every sort
needful for man would follow in the order of their
importance. Many foreign products would be intro-
duced and acclimated; for we believe the climate
and soil are admirably adapted to the various produc-
tions of the two hemispheres on a grand scale. Com-
merce would gradually revive; the country would
regain some of its strength; and then we might
begin to think of more resolutely pursuing measures
for its cure and for the definite recovery of its ener-
gies. We could also extend the means of moral and
intellectual culture through schools, benevolent insti-
tutions, journals, books and countless other contriv-
ances readily suggested ; and thus light and hope
would be gradually diffused and the influences of
genuine civilization would come to bear sway where
now mere dead dogmas and stupid formularies are
pertinaciously held in the name of Moses, Christ
and Mohammed.
But suppose the natives should resist this trans-
formation, and the actual system of government and
administration be found with its roots in the very
entrails of the country affilicted with the incurable
malady of races and peoples composed of such incon-
528
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
gruous and discordant elements that nothing could
save them; still there would always remain to the
civilized powers of the world the honor of having
attempted to fertilize by their influence and benevo-
lent action the ancient germs of material and moral
prosperity of this land, better consecrated by the
blood, virtues and immaculate glory of the primitive
church, than even by the grandeur of Carthage and
the domination of Rome.
The time will perhaps come when on the very site
of the city of Dido, commanding the two basins of
the Mediterranean, whose point of union it will con-
stitute better even than in ancient times, will arise
a new city, inheriting the prestige of the ancient
metropolis and balancing the past with the future; a
city having commerce, industry, activity and intelli-
gence, and worthy to be ranked among the the capi-
tals of universal civilization, and to be accounted in
history as one of the milestones on the great high-
way of the human race.*
* See in Appendix P inferences in regard to the political future of the
country.
APPENDIX.
(A.) Extracts from a Journal at Tunis.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1814.-—This morning Mr. Oglander, the British consul,
and Mr. Sielves, the French chargé d'affaires, went to the palace at Bardo;
the former to protect Captain Ferraro under English colors, and the latter
to protect Mr. Ré, a French merchant. The said captain and merchant had
a quarrel the day before with certain Jews, who complained to the Bey for
having been beaten by the captain and Mr. Re. A mameluke was imme-
diately sent by the Bey to bring them both to the Bardo; and on all the
parties being before the Bey and the two consuls being present, the Bey
ordered Captain Ferraro and Mr. Ré in prison and to leave the country in
three days, without the said two consuls being able to do anything in their
behalf, or countermanding such an order of the Bey!
SEPTEMBER 15.—This being the last evening of Ramadan, the Bey who
was surrounded, as is the custom, by all the great men of his court,
ordered the signal gun to be fired after sunset for the beginning of the
Byram. Coffee then was handed him by a slave. Having taken a sip, he
dropped the cup from his hand, fell back and instantly expired without the
least apparent struggle; medical aid was immediately administered, but in
vain. It was thought at first, that he had been poisoned, but this suspicion
was proved to be unfounded by the testimony of his physician, Doctor
Gay, who declared that he died of an apoplectic fit.*
Soon after the death of Hamouda Bashaw, his brother Ottoman was
called and seated on the throne by all the great men who were present and
was saluted as Bashaw Boy of Tunis on that same evening.
SEPTEMBER 16.–Being the Little Byram's day, no visit of the consuls at
Bardo, nor the divan or great men of the court, no colors on the consular
houses hoisted. This afternoon the body of Hamouda Bashaw Bey was
interred in the family tomb at Tunis; after which all the forts fired a
salute and displayed their colors, and so did all the consuls.
SEPTEMBER 17.—This morning, all the great men, the divan and the
Christian consuls paid their respects to the new Bey, Sidi Ottoman Bashaw
* But he was probably poisoned by his Christian secretary, Mariano Stinca. - W. P. C.
67
530
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Bey, as well as to his eldest son Sidi Salah Bey, the prince hcreditary; and
everything has passed these three days without the least commotion,
This morning arrived 17 Christian slaves from Bizerta, sent in there by
two cruisers of the regency. These unfortunate men are the crews of two
fisher boats under Tuscan colors, captured on the coast of Tuscany.
A messenger has been despatched to Algiers anņouncing the death of
Hamouda Bashaw, and the accession to the throne of Ottoman Bashaw, &c.
OCTOBER 7.-A Tunisian cruiser, a Xebeque, arrived, bringing a cutter
prize under Roman colors, with eight Christian slaves.
DECEMBER 20.--This evening at about 9 o'clock, broke out a revolution
at Bardo against the reigning Bey Sidi Ottoman; Sidi Mahmoud Bey
together with his two sons, Hassan and Mustapha and a strong party,
assailed Sidi Ottoman in his bed-room, put him to death, and his two sons
Salah and Ali escaped from the terrace and threw themselves from the
walls of Bardo and came to Tunis, where, finding the gates shut and no
party on their side, they ran away to the marine, and there took a boat
and sailed to the Goletta the same night. Mariano Stinca the Christian
secretary was cut to pieces by order of the new Bey, and at the instigation
of the sapatapa, as well as a physician renegade called Mahomet, who was
accused of having poisoned the late Bey, Hamouda Bashaw. In this revo-
lution, and during the night, about 20 persons lost their lives.
DECEMBER 21.—This morning at about 9 o'clock Sidi Mahmoud was pro-
claimed Boy of Tunis through all the streets of the town; the fortresses
fired, and the consular houses hoisted their colors, and everything was
passed with the utmost tranquillity. The two sons of the reigning Bey,
Sidi Hassan and Mustapha, went to the Goletta this morning with a numer-
ous cavalry to overtake the two fugitive princes Salah and Ali; and the
latter were beheaded, and their corpses brought to and exposed on the
square of El Gaspa all the day, and in the night were buried with their
father Ottoman Bey.
DECEMBER 22.-All the consuls assembled and went to Bardo to pay
their respects to the new Bey. Dir. Noah declined going, as he was not
presented yet.
DecemBER 27.-To-day the Bey sent his band of musicians to all the
consular houses, congratulating them on his accsssion to the throne by
playing their music for about an hour, and after receiving their regalia of
22 maboobs or 99 piastres, they went away. Afterwards the musicians of
the divan came to make the same compliment, and they received 25 piastres;
also the bawebs, or doorkeepers of the palace, and they received 36 piastres.
DECEMBER 28. Mr. Noah was at Bardo this morning with Mr. Coxe,
and delivered his consular presents to the Bey, the first minister, and to
his brother Sidi Ismail Bey, and the two sons of the Bey, Sidi Hassan and
Sidi Mustapha ; who have all been well satisfied. On the 29th, Dir. Noah
paid his visit to the caya, or minister of marine, and delivered his present.
DECEMBER 30.—The Bey set at liberty 32 Neapolitan slaves, as an
acknowledgment of their having taken up arms on the night of the revo-
LETTERS OF CONDOLENCE AND FELICITATION. 531
lution in his defence, having previously promised them their liberty should
ho succeed in getting on the throne.
(B.) Letters sent on the Visit of the Tunisian Embassy to the
United States in 1865.
Praise to the only God: To the excellency of him who has given dis-
tinction to the ministry, who has at the same time ordered and directed its
affairs ; to the excellency of him who is the glory of eminent ministers ;
whose renown is universal, and whose character and services are above all
praise — Monsieur William H. Scward, minister of state and of foreign
affairs of the United States of America : may ho always be the head of
the ininistry and the director of cminent men. Rendering due honor to
the distinguished office and to the high character of your excellency, we
make known to you that his Highness, our august sovereign, ceases not to
entertain for your government an abiding and ever-increasing friendship
and regard, the cause of which is, your admirable conduct and your noble
policy. His Highness has received the news of the re-establishment of
peace and tranquillity in your great country. This news has afforded him
unmeasured satisfaction; and sincere friendship makes him share with you
the pleasure consequent upon this happy result and great event.
To this end, then, his Highness sends to your government the honora-
ble, the beloved, the elect General Otman Hashem, to express to the Presi-
dent his sincere felicitations, and also to express to the President the
heartfelt grief which his Highness experienced at the death of the lamented
President, Abraham Lincoln, which sad event wounded all our hearts.
We pray God that this may be the end of trials and misfortunes to your
beloved country. His Highness also sends with his cinbassador his por-
trait, to serve as a souvenir of his friendship, as stated in his letter.
His Highness looks with confidence to your excellency to arrange for an
agreeable reception of his envoy, General Hashem, before His Excellency,
the President.
We take this occasion also to inform your excellency that we have found
in the conduct of the distinguished among his colleagues, Mr. Amos Perry,
consul-general of your government at this court, the best disposition to
maintain and strengthen the bonds of friendship which uuite our two gov-
ernments. His (Mr. Perry's) courtcous and honorable bearing merits and
receives the approbation and the best acknowledgments of his Highness,
our august sovercign. We make this statement to bear our testimony in
favor of a worthy representative and to show that your choice falls only
upon meritorious persons.
May God perpetuate the happiness of your excellency.
Written by the poor before his God.
(Signed),
MUSTAPHA,
Major General, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Tunis, the 7th Rabi-el-Tani, 1282 (A. D. Aug. 29, 1865.)
532
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Praise to the only God: To the excellency of the eminent personage
whose merits aro celebrated and whose renown is universal like the light
of the sun which cannot be hidden from the day; to the excellency of
him who is the glory of great men--the cream of men of distinction-
and whose virtues are above all praise, to our friend Androw Johnson,
President of the United States of America; may he always bo exalted,
and may his days be ever prospered.
Having rendered due honor to the elevated rank and to the eminent
character of your excellency, we inform you that we have heard the agreea-
ble news of the fruitful Victory gained by your government, and of the
consequent re-establishment of peace and tranquillity in your great coun-
try. This news has rejoiced us beyond measure, and has awakened our
warmest sentiments of gratitude by reason of the great and sincere friend-
ship which unites our two governments — which friendship. has been
bequeathed to us as a heritage by our ancestors to become stronger and
stronger forever.
We were the more cheered by this news from having shared in tho grief
of the American people in the loss which they experienced in the death of
their late President, Abraham Lincoln, a loss which we keenly folt. This
grief would have remained unalterably fixed in our hearts but for the news
of the re-establishment of tranquillity in your country, which news comes
to moderate and assuage our affliction.
We desire to present to your excellency and to your people our compli-
ments, with expressions of condolence in your affliction and sorrow, and
with expressions of felicitation in your prosperity and joy. We despatch
our envoy, the honorable, the beloved, the elect, General Otman Hashem
to be the interpreter of our sentiments in the presence of your excellency
and in your country. We send at the same time with him our portrait as
a souvenir of our friendship. May God preserve your excellency and per-
petuate your happiness and the prosperity of your illustrious nation.
Written by him who has for your excellency the highest consideration,
the servant of God, the Mooshir Mohammed Essadak, Bashaw Bey, Pos-
sessor of the Kingdom of Tunis. The 7th Rabi-el-Tani, 1282. (1. D. Aug.
29, 1865.)
(L. S.]
GENERAL HASIIEM, referred to in the letters above, diod of typhoid fover
at Tunis about the close of 1867, much respected and lamented by a
numerous circle of friends. He gained much credit in this country for his
dignified manners and for the tact and good sense shown in the con-
duct of his mission. A shrewd observer, he carried home many lessons
which he learned in his American tour, and he availed himself of every
occasion to communicate his views to his sovereign and to his fellow-sub-
jects. Indeed, so strong were his impressions and expressions in favor of
our country, that he was familiarly designated by the Bey and his Prime
Minister as the American.
NOTICE OF GEN. HASHEM'S DEATH.
533
Though a warrior by profession, he was in character a peace-loving,
pious man, preferring to pass his time repeating prayers to enforcing disci-
pline in military camps. Being a sincere Mussulman, he scrupulously
avoided any act that might seem to compromiso his religious profession.
He refused to accept beautiful bronze bas-reliefs of President Lincoln and
General Grant, tendered to him by Governor James Y. Smith of Provi-
dence, on the ground that such images were contrary to his ideas, though
the Bey and his Prime Minister had no scruples on that point. On enter-
ing the chapel of Brown University, and the library of Harvard, he
sbrank for a moment at the sight of busts and bas-reliefs, lest he might be
entering some idolatrous placo.
Though in general disposed to place unbounded confidence in the late
Consul at Tunis, who accompanied him to this country, and in the hon-
ored head of the Department of State at Washington, his suspicions and
fears were once thoroughly roused. He passed ane Saturday evening
with Mr. Soward, and while delightfully entertained by that genial and
accomplished man, he showed himself very complacent and defercntial.
Just before the General's withdrawal, Mr. Seward said: 'General, I
don't know how you are in the habit of spending your Sundays; but if
for curiosity or any other reason you would like to see the inside of a
church, I should be happy to furnish you a seat with me to-morrow in St.
John's Church," Katahayric—thank your Excellency-was the curt
response, after which scarcely a word was uttered till the party reached
their rooms in Willard's Hotel, when the General, calling his interpreter,
with an air of dignity and decision, said : "Mr. Consul, you have always
praised your minister, and I am willing to follow his counsel in all but one
respect. But as for joining his church, I tell you nay, nay !” During
this address, the General placed his right hand on the Consul's shoulder,
and looking him sharply in the face, assumed a manner that bespoke
excitement and indignation. The reply was a burst of laughter and an
assurance that Mr. Seward was trying, not to make a proselyte of him,
but to show him a courtesy.
On another occasion, the General's servant, Mustapha, giving much
trouble and annoyance and rousing the indignation of the parly, was
brought before the General to be reprimanded, if not annihilated by one
burst of wrath. The party waited in silence, expecting an explosion.
The General's face was as dark as a thunder-cloud. But the only words
that escaped his lips were, in subdued tones : “I am too angry to speak
to him."
In examining our ships of war and firearms, the General showed a
lively interest and a thorough appreciation of our workmanship and skill,
sometimes expressing emotions of wonder and admiration. When he saw
our public schools and other institutions for the promotion of popular
education, he exclaimed: “ These show how you got your guns and ships
of war from tho brain. These beat all. Don't expect me hereafter to
express astonishment at any thing I may see; I shall not do it.”
534
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
It is a Moslem article of faith that infidels must be a godless people.
General Hasher in common with his co-religionists entertained this sent
ment, which was, however, seriously shaken while visiting the charitable
institutions of our country. After spending a day on the islands below
New York, witnessing the provisions for tho relief of suffering and for
the well-being of all classes, he seemed deeply moved and among other
things said with marked gravity : “A people that are so charitable must
enjoy the special favor of God."
(C.) Ali Ben Radam, a Bedouin Sheil and Leader of the
Rebellion of 1864.
Born among the mountains of the interior of the regency, Ali Ben
Radam came to the capital in his younger days, and had for some time a
subordinate governmental post. He was of a restless nature, and made
many acquaintances and friends as a pious devotec. He also acquired some
reputation for his expositions of the Koran. On returning to the interior
of the country, he became the sheik of a powerful tribe of Bedouins.
There he assumed sanctimonious airs, and professed to have prophetic
visions. By ingenious interpretations, the Koran was made to foretell the
downfall of the Houssenite (reigning) family at the end of the year of the
hegira 1280, (A. D., Junc, 1864); and the visions of the saints further
pointed out Ali as the instrument who was to bring about this event.
Ali's acquaintance at the capital, his saintly bearing and indomitable
energy acquired for him a commanding influence. He scemed fitted by
nature and cducation for a revolutionist. He complained of excessive tax-
ation and insinuated that the Bey favored infidels (Christians) to the dis-
honor of the saints. In the course of timo, much zeal was enkindled in
the breasts of fanatical Mussulmans to witness the fulfilment of the
prophecies and interpretations with which they had become liar.
In the spring of 1864, many restless tribes, imbued with Ali's spirit,
yielded to his sway. Persuaded that the Koran predicted great events on
that year, they naturally wished to witness the verification of the holy
book. Enlisting under Ali, they seemed to imagine themselves acting in
accordance with the divine commands. He assumed the leadership of the
confederated rebels with the confidence and composure of a man born to
rule. His reputation was a tower of strength to his party. Visions of
aggrandizement and Moslem glory were repeated with cffect.
But the new government was doomed to disappointment and trouble.
A squad of hot-headed rebels, impatient of restraint, rushed to action
without waiting the word of command and committed murders and rob-
beries of a revolting nature. The flocks and herds of the loyal tribes
were seized as a means of warfare, and the capital of the regency was
threatened with pillage.
REBEL CHIEFS OF 1864 AND 1867.
535
To this course of procedure Ali did not lend his sanction. He protested
against these robberies and murders, and was evidently chagrined that his
troops did not await his orders and conform to his instructions. The man-
ifestations of his displeasure produced misunderstanding and coolness
between him and his subordinates. And finally, he became so disgusted
with the lawlessness of his partisans, that he withdrew from them, and
came and presented himself, an humble suppliant for mercy, before the
Bey. There is no reason to question the sincerity of his motives in taking
this step. Robbery and murder he abhorred, and he demonstrated this
truth when he appeared at the Bardo. The Bey received him cordially
and pardoned him, and, in the hope of securing his services to promote
loyalty and good order, loaded him with presents and sent him back to the
rebellious tribes. But on his arrival in rebeldom a new difficulty appeared.
Ali soon perceived that he could not serve the Bey and the rebels at the
same time. The latter had acquired a firm faith in the oft-repeated proph-
ecies and visions of Ali and other saints, and determined that he should
either aid in their fulfilment or die at their hands. Ali, not wishing to die
thus and then, put himself again at the head of the rebels, turning to
their advantage all the knowledge he had acquired on his recent visit at
the capital. The war was waged anew; some battles were fought with
lead and gold; tủo rebels, who were not bribed, were routed, and the con-
federate dynasty ceased in the summer of 1864.
Ali then escaped into the neighboring province of Algeria. Ther, the
tribes, being under the rule of the French, could afford him but little aid.
His movements were constrained, and in the autumn of 1865, he again
entered the Tunisian dominions, whore, however, the tribes having been
sufficiontly entertained with ingenious expositions of the Koran, and with
prophecies and visions of Moslem aggrandizement, refused to join any
further schemes of his device. In fine, he was taken a prisoner to the
Bardo and walled into a dungeon where he died about two years after-
wards, despite the earnest efforts of his friends to send him on a pilgrimage
to Mocca.
In the summer of 1867, the youngest brother of tho Bey rose in rebel-
lion. He, too, was speedily taken prisoner, and ended his life in like
manner within less than a year from the time of his incarceration.
(D.) Chronological List of the Deys of Tunis.
1, Ibrahim, 1590; 2, Mousa, 1592; 3, Kara Otman, 1593; 4, Yousef,
1610; 5, Ousta Mora, 1637; 6, Ahmed Kodja, 1640; 7, Hadj Mohammed
Laz, 1647; 8, Hadj Mustapha Laz, 1653; 9, Hadj Mustapha Kárakuz, 1665;
10, Hadj Mohammed Ogli, 1667; 11, IIadj Shaban Kodja, 1669; 12, Hadj
Mohammed Menteshali, 1672; 13, Hadj Ali Laz, 1673; 14, Hadj Moham-
med Gemal, 1673; 15, Hadj Dohammed Bishara, 1676; 16, Hadj Moham-
536
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
!
med Gemal, 1677; 17, Wazoun Ahmed, 1677 ; 18, Mohammed Taba, 1677;
19, Ahmed Shelobi, 1682; 20, Hadj Bactash Kodja, 1686; 21, Ali el-Rais,
1688; 22, Ibrahim Kodja, 1694 ; 23, Mohammed Kodja I, 1694; 24, Mo-
hammed Tabar, 1694; 25, Yakoub, 1695; 26, Mohammed II, 1695; 27,
Dali Mohammed, 1699; 28, Kawadj Mohammed, 1701; 29, Kara Mustapha,
1702; 30, Ibrahim el-Scherif, Dey and Bey, 1702.
Chronological List of the Beys of the Reigning Family.
1, Houssein Bey, 1705 ; 2, Ali Bashaw, 1735; 3, Mohammed Bey, 1756;
4, Ali Bey, 1759; 5, Hamouda Bashaw, 1782 ; 6, Otman Bey, 1814; 7,
Mahmoud Bey, 1814; 8, Houssein Bey, 1824; 9, Mustapha Bey, 1835; 10,
Ahmed Bey, 1837; 11, Mohammed Bey, 1850; 12, Mohammed Essadak
Bey, 1859; Ali, Bey of the Camp and heir to the throne.
(E.) Baba Ali, a Captive, Pirate and Dragoman.
UNITED STATES CONSULATE, TUNIS, April 11, 1863.*
This photograph will introduce to you Baba (i. e., Father) Ali, familiarly
so called, though his full name is Ali Ben Abdallah, the patriarch of
Tunisian dragomans, whose life and exploits are set forth in Dr. Davis's
“ Carthage and Her Remains."
Baba Ali has been head-drgoman in the American Consulate for about
forty years, and is now, according to the calculation of those best able to
judge, nearly ninety years old. With health unimpaired, a piercing
eye, a well-proportioned, sinowy frame, à commanding voice, a firm step,
and his dignity braced by an American sword and a good supply of Ameri-
can military buttons, you may imagine Baba Ali, a very consequential per-
sonage; and so he is in his own estimation. Assuming a grave and sancti-
monious air, and rising to his full height, he frequently tries to impress
those around him with an idea of his importance by exclaiming in Italian,
I have been a general of the camp."
Prompt at his post, ho guards the door of the consulate from morning
till night, unless called upon to march in front of the consul or his family,
which office he delights to perform, showing off his magisterial and mili-
tary airs to the dismay, amuseinent or inconvenience of men and beasts.
Baalek, baalek, guarda, guarda,” he calls out, making a singular mixture
of Arabic and Italian, as he warns with his voice and his baton men, dogs
and donkeys to clear the way.
From his relations to Tunisian piracy and slavery, the history of Baba
Ali becomes interosting. Born on the island of San Pietro, near the
*
Copy
of a letter addressed to the Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society,
accompanied with a photograph of the veteran dragoman.
CAPTIVE AND CORSAIR.--NEW ENGLAND.
537
southwest coast of Sardinia and early instructed in the doctrines of the
Christian church, he was taken a captive when a young man and brought
to Tunis, whero he was sentenced, like thousands of Christian captives of
his time, either to abjure his faith or become a slave. He chose the former
course, and was circumcised and designated by another name, according to
Moslem custom.
Piracy was at that time one of the most important branches of business
in Tunis, and afforded scope for the genius and enterpriso of this Moslem
convert. In a few years his new name became, according to his own
account, a terror in the Mediterranean. As commander of a piratic
squadron, he attacked, plundered and destroyed by sea and by land.
When this career was finally checked in 1816, by European and American
squadrons, our Mohammedan convert went upon shore and was soon
clothed with honors and responsibilities in the army. In the course of
time, however, our hero, or rather apostate, was compelled by the force of
circumstances to lay aside these honors and assume the humbler, though
still honorable post of janissary. In this post, however, Baba Ali con-
trived to gain great credit, not only for energy and efficiency, but withal
for sanctity.
Though his physical powers continue sound, his mind is far gone. While
imagining himself a General of the Camp, he is often overcome by his pro-
pensity to steal, though he has no tact at concealing the articles he takes.
But he is believed to be just as much of a saint as over, praying lustily in
the hall of the consulate at the canonical hours.
My Moorish cook Mohammed, who is also described in Dr. Davis's book,
is a special object of the old dragoman's care. Mohammed having been to
Paris and London and knowing that the English language is spoken at the
latter place, asked me the other day very innocently if America was in
London. For the quietness of this house, I am obliged to conceal from
Baba Ali such heterodoxy as this question implies. A nation that has the
tallest mast, the largest flag, and the oldest and best known dragoman
must be the greatest nation in the world. This is Baba Ali's creed. The
other day, hearing a great noise in the outer hall, I called my Jewish
broker for an oxplanation. His reply was, “ Baba Ali is praying."
Mr. Ambrose Allegro, who is nearly of Baba Ali's age, and who entered
the American consulate as secretary and interpreter at its establishment
under General Eaton in 1799, informs me that Baba Ali has a brother still
living who has maintained the religion of his fathers, though at the expense
of his liberty, many years at Tunis.
NOTE. -Baba Ali departed this life in November, 1865.
CORSAIRS AGAINST THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.-Since concluding the
body of this work, Zachariah Allon, LL. D., has called my attention to an
important fact showing that remote New England early experienced the
effects of Barbary piracy. Morton in his history says that the first cargo
68
538
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS,
from the Plymouth colony, composed mostly of beaver skins, was captured,
together with the crew, and sold on the coast of Morocco. William
Harris, one of the companions of Roger Williams in Rhode Island, was
also captured ncar the British coast and enslaved at Algiers. The facts in
this case are given in Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 437.
Before our country adopted as a motto: “Millions for defence; not a cent
for tribute,” we repeatedly paid tribute to Barbary princes. We did not
carry into effect the above motto till many years after our gallant war with
Tripoli, begun in 1801.
(F.) Letter on Tunisian Slavery.
A letter on Tunisian Slavery by General Heussein, addressed to me in
November, 1864, may be found in the third volume Diplomatic Correspon-
dence, 1865. It explains the nature of Mohammedan slavery and the
motives that led to its abolition. It was written by a Mussulman who
loathes slavery, and it contains a touching appeal for the emancipation of
the blacks of our country. Liberal minded Mussulmans take decided
ground against slavery, attributing to it many of the ills that afflict orien-
tal countries. General Kheredino, also one of the most enlightened men in
the regency, has written and spoken in the same strain with General
Heussein. They are radicals and progressives, favoring such measures as
are calculated to elevate and improve the masses. Want of space is our
only excuse for not inserting extracts from the writings of both of these
gentlemen.
(G.) A Strange Animal.
During my residence in Tunis, I received two letters from gentlemen
interested in natural history, containing the following extract from
“Shaw's Travels and Observations in Barbary," and requesting infor-
mation in regard to the accuracy of the statement :
To the mule, we may join the kumrah, as I think these people call a
little serviceable beast of burthen begot betwixt an ass and a cow. That
which I saw was singlo-hoofed like the ass, but distinguished from it in all
other respects, having a sleek skin, and the tail and head (except the horns)
in fashion of the dam."
In reply, I have to state that I met at Tunis but two persons who had
ever actually seen the kind of monstrosity referred to above. One of these
was my trustworthy servant, Mohammed Bograda, who was born far
south in the mountainous part of the regency. He confirms the statement
of Mr. Shaw, with one important exception. He says the beast in ques-
tion is not serviceable or useful in any way. On the contrary, when it
accidentally and unluckily (as the Bedouins think) appears among the
herds, it is regarded with decided disfavor on account of its inveterate
propensity to steal milk from milch animals, including sheep, goats, cows,
DOMESTIC ITEMS.-"SWEET HOME.::
539
asses and camels. It is now called among the Bedouins the rawn, instead
of the kumrah. Though not in general malicious, it has the habit of
striking with its head, or butting every one that approaches it.
(H.) Measures, Weights and Coins.
The oil measure is called by the doors a metar, and by the Europeans a
metal. The metal of Susa contains 24 French litres (large quarts), and
that of Tunis one-fifth less. The metal is divided into 2 kollas, into 16
sans, and into 64 rebaias.
The grain measures is the cafis, which contains 533 French litres, and is
divided into 16 weebs, and each weeb into 12 saas, familiarly called measures.
The weet is then a little more than an English busael.
The unity of weight is the artal or pound, which is of three kinds : the
pound aatari contains 16 ounces, and is used for weighing groceries; the
pound soukhi contains 18 ounces, and is used for weighing oil, vegetables
and fruit for the table; and the pound kadari contains 20 ounces, and is
used for weighing all vegetables and coarse articles sold by the quantity.
100 pounds make a goutar, or quintal, called an aatari, soukhi, or kadari
quintal, according to the kind of pounds of which it is composed. An
aatari pound is equivalent to a pound avoirdupois. To weigh precious
objects, such as jewels, pearls and essences, grains and carats are employed.
The unity of long measure is the draa, or cubit, which is of three kinds :
The Arab draa is equivalent to .484--the Turkish to .637 and the Andalu-
sian to .667 of a French metre, which contains 39 and 37-100ths English
inches.
The Arab draa is used to indicate the dimensions of buildings. The
term mile is in general usc to indicate distances. The Arab mile consists of
3,000 draas, and is about the same as the Roman mile, which is composed
of 1,614 English yards. In journeying, the distance of a place is generally
indicated by the number of hours or days required to reach it.
The monetary unit is the piastre. Though its intrinsic value was for-
merly only 12 cents, its current value often reached 18 and 20 cents. The
money of the country was re-coined a fow years since, and the piastre gen-
erally passes at a discount.
The piastre is divided into 16 carroubs, and to indicate the fraction of a
piastre, tho number of caroubs is ordinarily stated.
(I.) John Howard Payne.
The information on which the foregoing statement is based was elicited
under instructions from the Department of State to use my “best endeavors
to trace the papers in question and restore them, if possible, to the rela-
tives of the deceased.” Some curious little pictures and private papers,
taken to America under pretext of being delivered to the niece of Mr.
540
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
Payne, the wife of Rev. Lea Luquer, never reached their destination,
having been sold without any consultation with Mrs. Luquer. An album
of autographs and of short original pieces in the handwriting of distin-
guished American and European contemporary authors, was taken from
Mr. Payne's effects after his death and subsequently offered for sale in New
York city for $700. Two volumes of manuscript intended for publication
and containing an extended historical notice of Tunis and of Barbary
piracy and slavery, were taken away without any satisfactory explanation
and are not yet accounted for. Yet the appraisers of Mr. Payne's effects,
and the gentleman who completed the settlement of his estate, testify that
nothing of this kind was ever appraised or to their knowiedge sold for the
benefit of his creditors.
As I have seen “Sweet Home" accredited in an English book to Barry
Cornwall, I give tho following statement from John Miller, who was forty-
six years United States despatch agent at London :
'Sir :-) first published 'Sweet Home' as an interlude in a play enti-
tled 'Clari,' the title page of which is as follows: Clari, an Opera in
three acts, as first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, on
Thursday, May 8, 1823. By John Howard Payne, Esq. The overture
and music (with the exception of the national airs) by Henry R. Bishop,
Esquiro. London: John Miller, 69 Fleet street, 1826. (Price two shillings
and sixpence.)' I gave Mr. Payne, who was introduced to me by Wash-
ington Irving, £50 for the copy-right, and he was to revise the proof.
(Signed),
JOHN MILLER.
“ London, Office of the U. S. Despatch Agency, Sept. 19, 1865."
EPITAP II.
(U. S. seal.]
IN MEMORY OF
COL. JOHN HOWARD PAYNE,
Twice Consul of the United States of America for the Kingdom of Tunis,
this stone is here placed by a grateful country.
He died at the American Consulate in this city after a tedious
illness, April 1st, 1852.
He was born at the city of Boston, State of Massachusetts, June 8, 1792.
His fame as a Poet and Dramatist
is well known wherever the English language is spuken through his cele-
brated ballad "Sweet Home," and his popular tragedy
of “Brutus," and other similar
productions.
The monument is an oblong, thick slab of white (Italian) marble lying
over the grave, and each edge of the slab is inscribed with a line of poetry,
thus :
" Sure when thy gentle spirit fled
To realms beyond the azure dome,
With arms outstretched God's angels said -
Welcome to Heaven's Home, Sweet Home."
EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS.
541
(J.) Ecclesiustical, Educational and Masonic Statistics.
I am indebted to Father Anselme, who has served for twenty-five years
in the Catholic church, most of the time as chancellor to the Bishop, for
some valuable statistics connected with the Catholic missionary work in
the regency. The number of actual communicants residing in Tunis is
represented to be 11,500. There were from 1756 to 1799 (43 years), 201
marriages, 785 baptisms and 993 deaths. From 1833 to 1867 (34 years),
there were 6,827 baptisms, 1,390 marriages and 4,136 deaths. The statis-
tics of 1833, as contrasted with those of 1866, show a decided gain by the
Europeans, viz. : In 1833, there were 92 baptisms, 18 marriages and 39
deaths; in 1866, 312 baptisms, 63 marriages and 195 deaths. The records
of the church were destroyed by the Algorines in 1755, and during the rage
of the cholera, in 1832, the records were neglected.
The number of children admitted to the Brothers' School, in 1866, was
346, of which 142 were Maltese, 28 Tunisian Jews, 27 French, 8 Germans,
7 Greeks and 2 Spaniards. The number of children admitted in 1866 into
the School of the Sisters of Charity was about 200. The Superior of the
Boys' School is a gentleman of liberal culture and appears to be well fitted
for his work, and the Sisters of Charity, in their efforts to instruct and
train the children committed to their charge, do themselves and their
church great credit.
THE ITALIAN COLLEGE is a school recently established under the com-
bined direction of the Italian government and of a committee of the Italian
colony. It is provided with a neat and commodious building, and the
expenses incurred for its maintenance are shared by the Italian govern-
ment and the colony. It has 4 teachers, and the number of pupils in 1866
was more than 100. This educational enterprise, together with some
patriotic and charitable associations among the Italians, deserves special
commendation.
THE GREEK CHURCH AT TUnis has a neat, commodious and beautiful
chapel, and two priests and about fifty families are connected with it. Its
school has not thus far been regularly sustained in a prosperous condition,
and I have not succeeded in obtaining any valuable statistics connected with
it. Poor Greek families are said to be remarkably well provided for. Pre-
vious to the establishment of the English mission for the Jews, the Greek
priests usually attended the funerals of Protestants.
There is no PROTESTANT CHAPEL AT TUNIS, but the English church ser-
vice is read and a discourse given to a very small audience every Sabbath
morning at the house of the missionary to the Jews, who is also styled
chaplain to the British consulate, though the British consuls have of late
years been Catholics. There are two Protestant mission schools which are
supported by the “London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst
the Jews,” and are under the general direction of Rev. William Fenner,
542
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
missionary and chaplain. The Boys' School was established in 1861, under
the charge of Mr. G. B. Gioja, and the Girls' School in 1863, under the
charge of Miss Fanny Combe. The statistics of the schools for the years
1865 and 1866 are as follows: Boys' School, 1865, number of children in
attendance 28,-23 Jews, 5 Christians; 1866, 33,-26 Jews, 7 Christians.
Girls' School, 1866, number of children in attendance 102,--86 Jewesses, 16
Christians; 1866, 126,-106 Jewesses, 20 Christians.
These schools have improved from the time of their opening, and are
doing much good, not alone to the children who enjoy their privileges, but
to the cause of good education, by exciting a healthy emulation and activ-
ity in other worthy institutions of learning. The children of Tunis,
unlike most of their superiors in age, are apt to learn, acquiring with great
facility a knowledge of several languages and the elements of geography,
arithmetic and natural history. I have not great faith in mere preaching
as a means of usefulness at Tunis, and think it not enough to substitute
Christian formularies for those of Jews and Mussulmans. It is the exem-
plification of Christian truth and the labors of able, earnest and ener-
getic teachers that are destined to produce the best results. Henco I hope
that with preaching for the mature in age, schools and other instrumental-
ities for training up the rising generation may be efficiently sustained, and
encouragement given to enlist and retain in the department of elementary
instruction skilful teachers who shall at the same time be accomplished
ladies and gentlemen.
FREEMASONRY is an established institution at Tunis and may perhaps
be classed among the educational instrumentalities of the place. Denounced
by priests, muftis and rabbis, it embraces among its members Christians,
Mussulmans and Jews, bringing into fraternal relations those who would
otherwise have no intercourse or fellowship. Without definite knowledge
of any weaknesses, and with high respect for its positive character, I sus-
pect, however, its dangers are to lose sight of its moral aims in social and
festive enjoyment. Its leaders, though liberal and progressive, are not
highly educated men. Several lodges have been established there, but the
Cartagine ed Utica," founded a third of a century ago, was
alone efficiently sustained in 1867. In this lodge are active men who take
note of passing events and sympathize in the progressive movements of
lodge of "
the age.
In Tunis only a few of the most liberal Mussulmans belong to the
European lodges, but in the interior of the regency large numbers belong
to a masonic fraternity which professes to derive its origin from Egypt,
and has a form, a spirit and an aim somewhat peculiar. This fraternity
having only three degroes, all its members are either apprentices, compan-
ions or masters. Its spirit is decidedly clannish and its aim is local, com-
mercial and political. It acknowledges the existence of one God and has
the secret signs of free and accepted masons. These people, striving for
political independence, often give the Beys of Tunis much trouble, and
claiming the right to control the trade with Central Africa, they rob and
1
SANITARY COUNCIL. AN ADVENTURE.
543
murder caravans and travellers. This information, together with a state-
ment of a variety of incidents among these Mussulman masons, is given on
the authority of competent witnesses who may be consulted at Tunis.
SANITARY COUNCIL.--I omitted stating in the appropriate place that the
consuls, together with two doctors appointed by the Bey, constitute the
sanitary council of the regency. In seasons of epidemics, the members of
this council are often called together to deliberate in regard to quarantine
regulations. The discussions at these meetings become occasionally very
animated.
(K.) Ascent of Mount Zaughan.
ZAUGHAN, May 1st, 1867.
Away in the wilds of the regency of Tunis, will you let me send my
greeting from Africa to the readers of the “Home Weekly?" Far from
any Europeans and anything that speaks to us of civilized life, yet we
find a strangeness, a lonencss with nature that may in after years tempt us
to look back on our week's stay here with no sad feeling.
Zaughan, itself on the side of a hill, is situated in the midst of moun-
tains that stretch around it as far as the eye can reach, unrelieved by any
glimpse of sea. But meeting one at every step there are rivulets and
springs which fertilize the soil, and both hills and valleys are covered with
a luxuriant vegetation, that only needs the hand of the worker to coin
gold as well as beauty.
But these same mountains have given your correspondent the keenest
anxiety during two mortal hours, while she wandered, like the “ Babes in
the Wood," up and down in a most literal sense. Shall I tell you more
of our adventure, for advonture indeed it was ? For the two days since
our arrival herc, a precipitous, rocky mountain of about 5,000 feet in
height, had teinpted me to its ascension, not only for the beautiful view I
was sure of having from its summit, but because Guérin, a French writer,
had described it in glowing language as something to be accomplished. I,
who “had done" half of Europe, could I go away from Africa without a
view of the world below me? At last I persuaded my father, and we set
out on our expedition, with only one guide. We started in fine spirits,
crossing a ravine, and went on for a long time, never minding the nettles
and the rocks that would bruise our feet and tear our robes, in spite of
thickest of boots and stuff for dresses. Before halfway up the cliff, our
very guide gave way, yielding not so much to weariness of distance as to
the dread of the overhanging rocks that kept rising high above our heads.
Here, so near the desert, it seemed as if we had borrowed the mirage, for
at each mount conquered, as we felt ourselves approaching our goal, we
saw new peaks and
“ Alps on Alps arise."
544
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
At last, even a man's feet were wearied beyond endurance, and I went
on "just a few steps further," thinking to rejoin my father in a few
moments. But I kept on too far, not thinking that each step in the wind-
ing path was taking me further and further, not only from the sight, but
from the sound of any living thing. For a moment, as I sat perched on
the very pinnacle of the mount, and looked at the bcautiful prospect
beneath, I could not help a slight feeling of triumph at having conquered
these steep rocks, that but a few hours before had looked so frowningly at
me.
For miles and miles around there was the undulating land, covered with
the fresh spring verdure, and an outline of mountains enclosing this beau-
tiful valley, as if to protect it from the dryness and waste that were only
kept from it by Nature's wall. But all this beauty could not keep one
from thinking that it would be anything but nice to get lost in these
African ravines, and cries were raised only to hear their own echo, and
hours were passed that seemed like weeks. The wind blew our voices the
wrong way, and each thought the other lost, while springing from rock to
rock with a strength that fear alone could give, and fearing, with an almost
nameless dread, to find the other fallen down some precipice. The night
was coming on fast, and the danger of Bedouins and panthers was very
great. But "all's well that ends well," and at last we met, soon after
encountering the Kaid, or governor of the place, with a long procession of
Arabs, all armed, and seeming so glad to be assured of our safety, that it
half atoned for the fright that one must feel at being out till nearly nine
o'clock in the mountains of Zaughan.
These are the outward surroundings of a life in the semi-barbarous part
of Africa ; but if you were to see the house arrangements to which we
must submit for one week! Fortunately for our table comforts, we
brought spoons and forks, thinking to find knives and other necessaries in
the place. But we have learned that knives and chairs are luxuries. The
first day a penknife had to do duty for all table matters, with three people
to share it. But at last we have contrived to muster three large carving
knives, either of which would not, I think, prove unacceptable if presented
to an antiquarian society. A “Home Weekly” serves as table cover, and
our table would challenge admiration as a sliding plane.
I have been led into this description of our household gods by read-
ing of the comforts of a life in New York. By this experience we have
learned that one can be comfortable anywhere -- even in a bare room.
We have so many beautiful flowers with which to make our rooms gay.
Roses, pinks, geraniums and oleanders abound here, and with a little art
one can hide many a bare spot.
HELENA.
(L.) Tunisian Courts and Justice.
Notwithstanding the prevalent mode of administering justice, the Tunis-
ians are noted for their litigious spirit and fondness for lawsuits. Mr.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS AND PENALTIES.
545
Noah in his TRAVELS IN NORTE AFRICA, speaks of a dispute between two
Bedouins which was referred to Hamouda Bashaw. One Bedouin had sev-
eral eggs and the other a hen, and they agreed to set the hen to hatch the
eggs, and equally divide the issue ; but as there happened to be thirteen
chickens, they quarrelled about the odd one. The case came before the
Bey, and the hen and chickens were taken into the court room. The Bey
ordered the hen and chickens to be given to his cook and the litigants to
receive cach fifty stripes as a cure for thcir quarrelsome disposition.
In the summer of 1867, a Jewish peddler was in the Mussulman quarter
at Tunis, when a Moor seized from him a roll of cotton cloth and concealed
it in his house; then stoutly denying that he had taken the cloth, drove
the Jew away with curses and blows. Forth with the Jew and Moor
appeared before the governor of the city, one complaining that he was
beset and tormented by that miserable Jew, and the other complaining that
he had been robbed and beaten by the Moor. The governor, feigning
anger with the Jew, shut him up in prison, and while he entertained the
Moor with coffee and tobacco, directed a scrvant to go quietly and report to
the wife of the Moor that her husband wanted that piece of cotton cloth.
The wife, not suspecting the artifice, promptly sent the cloth. The Jew was
then brought forward, and identified his cloth amid many other pieces. The
result was that the Jew regained his liberty and his property, while the
Moor received fifty stripes and was shut up in prison.
An amusing scene of a politico-religious character was brought before a
Tunisian court in the month of March, 1866, which seems to me worthy of
note in this place, especially as it illustrates Tunisian jurisprudence. Igno-
rance, superstition and diabolism were duly represented. Some dignitaries
of saintly pretensions having prevailed on the Bey previously to spare the
life of Ali Ben Radam, the chief of the late rebellion, a Mussulman woman,
encouraged by the success of her lords, volunteered her efforts to promote
the interests of the arch rebel.
Though Radam's friends at the outset manifested gratitude for the
clemency that spared his life, their tone of feeling was soon changed.
They forgot the Bey's act of grace and raised a clamor for the liberation
and marked honor of the culprit. Averse to seeing their friend with
chains about his ankles employed among the galley slaves on the public
works at the Goletta, they prayed that he might be permitted to make a
pilgrimage to Mecca. His virtues were pronounced, his saintly character
dwelt upon, and a lively interest awakened in his behalf. But the Bey,
not believing in the traitor's sanctity, preferred that he should atone for his
crimes in close confinement or in some useful occupation, rather than in
wandering off to the Holy City.
It was at this stage in the proceedings, after the ordinary moans of per-
suasion seemed likely to prove of no avail, that fomale genius came to the
rescue of the traitor. Rumor, plumed afresh, soared aloft, as when Dido
occupied the land, and set afloat reports of an extraordinary character.
Taking no account of fancy flights, I give the simple facts as follows: A
69
546
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
buxom dame of the Moslem faith, who had passed some fifty years with
saintly airs and a reputation none too pure, astonished the credulous
world one morning with the announcement of a marvellous scene during
the night. Sister Rosaline, familiarly so called, affirmed that the Prophet
had appeared to her in person and communicated important truths for the
haprinoss of the Bey and the prosperity of his kingdom. She exhibited
her right hand and arm of a lively green color, which, she said, was pro-
duced by the Prophet, as a proof of his presence and power. The Prophet
told her, she said, that Ali Ben Radam was a saint and must be treated
with honor and respect; otherwise a terrible calamity would befall the
Bey and ruin the estate of the believers. "The Prophet acknowledged that
he had predicted the downfall of the Bey in the year 1280 (1864, A. D.),
and this would have taken place, he said, but for the rebellion raised up by
Ali Ben Radam, which latter event served as a substitute for the more ter-
rible calamity predicted.” It is a Mussulman theory that small calamities
prevent greater ones, and in accordance with this idea the believers are
wont to thank God for every ill that befalls them, always feeling that it
would be a greater misfortune to be excluded from the Mussulman para-
dise than to suffer temporary troubles.
The announcement made by sister Rosaline, together with the sight of
the green hand and arm, created a profound sensation among ignorant and
fanatic devotees. Multitudes sought to view the hand on which a miracle
had been wrought and to place within its grasp choice gifts as a testimony
of their faith. The streets in the vicinity of sister Rosaline's house were
blocked up by a fanatical rabble from whose presence sober and well-disposed
poople were beginning to shrink, when the governor of Tunis, putting on
the air of a disciple, sent his carriage with a suite of attendants to the
scene of the alleged miracle. Sister Rosaline received the salutations and
compliments of the distinguished official with dignity, and entering the
carriage drove to the executive mansion with the air and pomp of an
honored guest. There she exhibited her hand and displayed her eloquence,
appearing greatly gratified with the attentions shown her.
The governor, who at first played the disciple, at length assumed the
bearing of a magistrate and suggested the application of some test in
regard to the genuineness of the miracle on sister Rosaline's hand. A
chemist was called before the company by whose skill all traces of the
prophctic green were speedily removed. At this point, Rosaline was told
that if the Prophet had desired to honor a woman with his revelations, he
would have selected a younger and better person than herself, and if his
object were really to release Ali Ben Radam, he would be more likely to
succeed by communicating directly with his Highness the Bey, or with
his minister. The governor added dryly: "If the Prophet be disposed to
visit you in future, he can as readily enter a prison as a house." Upon
this announcement, Rosaline was conducted to the municipal tombs, where
she speedily recovered from the effects of her vision. Her followers ceased
to block up the public ways, and Ali Ben Radam, whose release was the
object of all her efforts, was still left in prison.
A LONG SUIT.-STATE FINANCES.
547
On the 353d and 354th pages will be found a statement, showing that
female advocates appear before the Bey in behalf of their sex,
CONSULAR DISPUTES.--The questions most delicate and difficult to be
solved are those between consuls, as there are no duly appointed judges or
arbitrators in such cases. In 1866, a dispute was settled between the
American and Italian consuls, that had continued half a century. It
related to the right of the Italian consul to maintain some windows looking
into the American court. The Neapolitan consul was the original party
enlisted against the American consul. There was repeatedly a sort of
border warfare, with an appeal to arms on two different occasions. The
controversy was revived in all its fierceness soon after my arrival at
Tunis, and was brought to a satisfactory conclusion only after a great
amount of time had been spent in collecting testimony, and the Italian min-
istry duly enlightened in regard to the nature of the case. American
rights were thus finally secured and all cause for future difficulty removed.
(M.) State Revenues and Expenses.
The most hopeful view of Tunisian finances is the following, presented
by the late Mr. Cubisol :
REVENUES OF THE STATE.
Taxes collected on provisions sold at the different markets in
the regency,
$1,141,668
Taxes on rents,
551,180
Custom house revenue,
178,808
Taxes on the date trees of the Gereed and Gabes,
310,000
Taxes on tbe olive trees of the Sahel, Sfax, Gerba and Gabes, 310,000
Taxes on the olive trees of Tunis, Soliman, Menzel, Bizerta,
Zaughan, Tebourba and Ras-Jebel,
201,500
Taxes on the above for the throne,
55,800
Taxes for the supervision of the olive trees,
37,200
Tithes of the wheat and barley,
260,400
Poll tax of $4.50 on 300,000 men,
1,350,000
Rent of government lands,
99,200
Taxes for the investiture of 24 kaids and 36 sheiks over terri-
torial divisions,
898,380
Total,
$5,394,136
EXPENSES OF THE STATE.
Regular army,
Irregular army,
Arsenal and navy,
His Highness the Bey,
The royal family,
$1,000,000
125,000
375,000
250,000
125,000
.
1
548
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
.
.
Ministers of state,
Investiture of kaids, sheiks, etc.,
Miscellaneous,
Interest on public debt,
125,000
62,500
437,500
2,400,000
-
Total,
$4,900,000
According to this estimate, the revenues of the state exceed the expenses
by $494,136. This shows well on paper. But the facts of the case are
not so agreeable nor so satisfactory to the creditors of the Bey. The
expenses of the government never fall below the estimate, while the
revenues, being dependent on abundant crops and the loyalty and honesty
of the subjects, often fail.
(N.) Reply to an Israelitish Memorial.
In the year 1866, the Secretary of the American Board of Israelites
sent to the Department of State at Washington a memorial setting forth
certain grievances of the Tunisian Jews, and requesting the friendly offices
of our government in their behalf. A copy of that memorial was com-
municated to me at Tunis, recommending such unoficial aid as I could
render. Appended will be found the substance of my reply to that com-
munication.
The condition of the Jews of Tunis is a subject of decided interest to
me and has received much attention during my residence in this place.
I have thrown what influence I have possessed in favor of the broad prin-
ciples of civil and religious liberty alike for Jews and Gentiles. On receiv- .
ing the memorial of the American Israelites, I placed a copy of it before.
the Bey. I did this, not in an official way, but as it were to show my
good will by giving the government an opportunity to make its own expla-
nations. Addressing me as a friend, the Boy replies : "The American
Israelites are mistaken in regard to the treatment which their co-religion-
ists receive here. No odious discriminations are made by law, and we
call you to witness that our court and the important officers in our king-
dom are fully represented by Jews. Jews are among our doctors, bankers
and confidential advisers, while they are relieved from service as soldiers
and ar not burdened with taxes."
I have not yet found a Jew or a Christian prepared to controvert this
statement of the Bey, though I have invited to my office some of the
most intelligent and respectable Jews residing here, and have conversed
upon the subject with most of my colleagues. The statement of the
American Board of Israelites is pronounced by all parties to be inaccurate
and unjust in its reference to the Tunisian government. I believe the
impression to be general if not universal here, that the treatment of Jews
is fair if not generous. Jews are permitted to have their own tribunals in
all matters between each other; and. my most experienced colleagues
assure me that more complaints are brought to their knowledge against
arbitrary and tyrannical rabbis, than against Mussulman officials.
THE BEY AND JEWISH SUBJECTS.'
549
It is probable that Jews are occasionally ill-treated or denied justice by
Mussulman officials; so also are Mussulmans occasionally and often ill-
treated by their co-religionist officials with but little chance of redress;
whereas the Jews have, besides their friends in the government, strong
supporters in every consulate and vice-consulate in the regency. Jews
and Christians were once slaves here, but this state of things no longer
exists. The tables are now completely turned. Jews and Christians now
occupy places of responsibility and power. Jews are the brokers, bankers,
money lenders and merchants of the regency; and when they combine,
they can make the Bey tremble on his throne.
The Bey has not the power to enact, nor would he dare try to execute,
any such injustice as is laid to his charge by the American Israelites.
There are influences here more powerful than his religion to regulate his
conduct towards his Jewish, subjects. He knows that the Jews, though
they may be despised by him, have able friends, not only here, but
throughout Christendom, to advocate and sustain their civil and religious
rights; and therefore he is inclined as a matter of policy to deal gently
and justly with them. The Bey is aware that a single case of downright
injustice towards a Jew may involve him in serious trouble, while he
knows a hundred cases of injustice towards Mussulmans may pass unno-
ticed. No legal decision is made by the government against a Jew, how-
ever unjust his cause, which is not carefully scrutinized and often followed
by a wholesale misrepresentation of the facts. Nay, some foreign Jews,
supposed to be employed here for political and partisan purposes, appear to
have little else to do than sending forth to the European press garbled
statements and exaggerated accounts of the Bey's treatment of Jews. It
is but just, however, to say that this course of conduct is generally discoun-
tenanced by the respectable Israelites of Tunis.
My conviction is that moral action is needed more than politics or
diplomacy to elevate the condition alike of Jows and of Gentiles in this
regency. Jews, Mussulmans and Christians here appear to me in one
respect very much alike. Their religion consists in dogmas to be quar-
relled about, rather than in a spirit of love and good will to be lived
and breathed.
There are here Bedouin or Nomad Jews as well as Mussulmans, living
in tents and wandering from point to point with their flocks and herds.
On my recent visit to Gerba, I saw several villages of Jews whose only
fear seemed to be,-not of the Tunisian government, but of those who
cast aside its jurisdiction, as was done during the late insurrection. · When
the government is strong they are best protected, and they aro brutally
robbed and their lives endangered only in times of revolt, when the func-
tions of the government are suspended.
(0.) Consular Officers at Tunis.
UNITED STATES.-Joseph Ettienne Famin, a French merchant, was the
agent of the United St tes at Tunis from May, 1796, till March, 1799.
550
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
William Eaton was the first consul of the United States for the city and
kingdom of Tunis. He began his services in March, 1799, shortly before
signing the treaty of peace with the Bey of Tunis, and continued them
till March, 1803. General Eaton on leaving Tunis, visited the United
States and returned the following year to the Mediterranean, where he
performed a most brilliant military feat. Hastily collecting a body of
Mussulmans and Christians in Egypt, he marched across the desert of
Barca, took Derne and menaced and frightened the reigning Dey of
Tripoli, who, finding that he was to be encountered by land as well as by
sea, speedily demanded terms of peace. Consul Lear, encouraged by naval
officers who were jealous of the land force, yielded to this request, and the
Tripolitan war was thus terminated, much to the disgust of Eaton, and in
violation of the compact with Hamet Bashaw, the rightful ruler of the
country, who coöperated with Eaton in this remarkable expedition. The
honor of our flag was, however, vindicated, and the usurper, Joseph Bashaw,*
was humiliated. America, then in her infancy, struck the first effective
blow against the Barbary Corsairs, and the account of that enterprise, in
connection with which the name of Eaton, as well as that of Decatur, must
ever be honored, now constitutes one of the brightest pages in our nation's
history. General Eaton died in April, 1811, aged 49 years.
George Davis, a surgeon in the navy, was charged with the duties of the
office in March, 1803, and continued till August 17th, 1805.
James Dodge, also a surgeon in the navy, received his first commission
from Commodore Rodgers, August 17th, 1805, and died in the consulate,
November 22d, 1806. His remains are in the Protestant Cemetery at
Tunis.
Charles D. Coxe, from November 22d, 1806, till December 14th, 1814;
was transferred to Tripoli.
M. M. Noah, from December 14th, 1814, till September 21st, 1815.
Left Ambrose Allegro in charge. He wrote an interesting book of travels
and became subsequently distinguished as a politician and journalist.
Died 1851, aged 66.
Thomas D. Anderson, from December 21st, 1815, till 2d of January,
1818. The account of his difficulties encountered in consequence of his
refusal to kiss the Bey's hand is very interesting.
Charles Folsom, from January 2d, 1818, till October 19th, 1819. Vice
Admiral Farragut pursued his studies a considerable time under Mr.
Folsom's charge at Tunis. Mr. Folsom is still living at Cambridge, Mass.
Townsend Stith, from the 19th of October, 1819, till the 16th of August,
1823. Left Ambrose Allegro in charge.
Samuel D. Heap, a surgeon in the navy, from January, 1824, till April
* The son of his successor, the last Dey of Tripoli, who was driven from his throne in
1838, resides at Tunis, a pensioner on the bounty of the Bey. He owes no good will to
either Turkey or England, and has slight hoges of ever returning to his native land.
He is of & social nature, though saddened by his experience as an exile.
LIST OF CONSULAR OFFICERS.
551
21st, 1825. Signed a treaty with the Bey of Tunis on the 24th of Febru-
ary, 1824.
Charles D. Coxe, from April 21st, 1825, till September, 1826. Trans-
ferred to Tripoli, where he died.
Samuel D. Heap, from September, 1826, till March 1st, 1842.
William B. Hodgson, from March 1st, 1842, till May 5th, 1842. Left
W. R. B. Gale, an American merchant, in chargo.
John Howard Payne, from the 11th of May, 1843, till the 15th of Sep-
tember, 1845. Left Joseph Gaspary, American agent at the Goletta, in
charge.
Samuel D. Heap, from the 20th of October, 1845, till the 30th of June,
1851.
John Howard Payne, from June 30th, 1851, till his death in the Ameri-
can Consulate April 1st, 1852. His remains are in the Protestant Ceme-
tery at Tunis. Left Joseph Gaspary in charge. (See notice on page 539.)
Samuel D. Heap, from April, 1853, till his death in the American Con-
sulate on the 2d of October, 1853. His remains are in the Protestant
Cemetery at Tunis. Lewis Ferrière, English Vice Consul, and David
Porter Heap were successively charged with the duties of the office.
William Penn Chandler, from the 17th of July, 1854, till the 30th of
August, 1858. Left David Porter Heap in charge.
John Merritt, from January 20th, 1859, till the 27th of June, 1859.
Left Nathan Davis, an English subject, in charge.
George W. S. Nicholson, from the 8th of October, 1859, till the 6th of
July, 1862.
Amos Perry, from the 6th of July, 1862, till the 10th of September,
1867. Left Charles Cubisol, agent at the Goletta, in charge.
Gwin Harris Heap, from the 14th of November, 1867.
In the course of about seventy years America has had sixteen different
consular officers at Tunis. Messrs. Coxe and Payne were each twice
appointed consul, and Dr. Hoap four times. Three of these sixteen consu-
lar officers, viz., Messrs. Dodge, Payne and Heap, Sr., died in the consulate
and have monuments erected over their remains in the Protestant Ceme-
tery at Tunis.
Several other appointments were made at different times, and one consul
arrived at Tunis only to find himself superseded and his successor in
possession of the archives.
FRANCE.—The consulate that has been the longest established at Tunis
is that of the French. This contains the original treaty signed in 1270,
shortly after the death of St. Louis, and many other documents of great
interest, as shown in the invaluable work of Mr. Rousseau, repeatedly
referred to in these pages. The full list of French conşular officers from
1583 to 1855 is given in Mr. Rousseau's book.
1855, Leon Roches, Consul-General and Chargés d'Affaires.
1863, De Beauval,
1865, De Bellecourt,
1867, De Botmilieu,
552
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
GREAT BRITAIN.—The consulate of England was established with the
treaty in 1662, though it appears from monuments in the Protestant Ceme-
tery that British consular officers resided at Tunis at an earlier period.
1804, Sir Richard Oglander, Agent and Consul-General.
1822, Alexander Tulin, Esq.,
(ad interim).
1824, Sir Thomas Reade,
1849, Sir Edward Baynes,
1855, Richard Wood, Esquire,
SPAIN.—Treaties were made at an early period between Spanish princes
and Tunis. When the first consulate was established in the Spanish
name does not appear on record at Tunis, the old official documents having
been long since removed to Spain. Independent of the Spanish domina-
tion (1535-1570) Spain was for a long time a leading Christian power at
Tunis.
Spanish Consuls-General and Chargés d'Affaires from the treaty of
Paris, 1792:
1792, Suchita; 1796, Guillen Buzaran (Ignacio) left in charge.
1796, Soler (Jayme); 1798, Guillen Buzaran (Ignacio) left in charge.
1800, Soler (Arnoldo) left in charge.
1802, Guillen Buzaran (Manuel Ventura).
1802, Noguera.
1804, Sequi; 1808, Soler (Arnoldo) left in charge.
1811, Soler (Arnaldo); 1816, Soler (Pedro) left in charge.
1817, Soler (Pedro); 1821, Soler (Carlos) left in charge; 1827, De Ossa
left in charge ; 1828, De Lesseps left in charge; 1832, Deval left in charge.
1832, Rizzo (Juan Bautista); 1847, Rizzo (Folipe) left in charge.
1847, De Malagamba ; 1858, Rizzo (Felipe) left in charge.
1859, De Barros; 1861, De Fortuny left in charge.
1862, Romea ; 1864, Alvarez Perez left in charge.
1864, De Navarro.
SWEDEN AND Norway. — The first treaty of peace and commerce
between Sweeden and Tunis was concluded by Mr. Logie, Swedish consul
at Algiers, in 1736, since which time there have been seven consular
officers, as follows:
Rönling, from 1737 to 1759.
Ferner, from 1760 to 1764.
Molinari, from 1764 to 1779.
Charles Tulin, (Senior) from 1779 to 1808. He was succeeded by his
eldest son.
Charles Tulin, (Jr.) from 1808 to 1832. Was appointed in 1829 Consul
General for Sweden and Norway. Was succeeded by his brother.
G. A. Tulin, from 1832 to 1864. Was charged by the Prussian govern-
ment to represent Prussia at the Court of Tunis. Was succeeded by his
eldest son.
Charles Tulin, from 1864.
CONSULS. THE POLITICAL FUTURE.
553
Tulin, father and two sons, occupied the Swedish consular mansion 85
consecutive years.
ITALY.—The consulate of Naples was established in 1816 and that of
Sardinia in 1822. The Italian consulate general, embracing all Italy with
the exception of the province of Venice, whose consulate was given up
about the beginning of this century, was established in 1860. Its agents
and consuls-general have been as follows:
1860, F. Mathieu.
1861, E. Fasciotti.
1862, E. Bensa.
1863, F. Gambarotta.
1865, G. Luigi Pinna.
Austria.--G. G. Morlatto, appointed consul-general in 1850.
HOLLAND.—The consulate of Holland was established with the treaty in
1662. The office of consul has been held by the highly respected family
Nyssen, for nearly a century. Mr. Charles Nyssen is now the consul, and
also the agent of Russia.
The consulate of Denmark was established in 1751, and that of Belgium
in 1839. Mr. Charles Cubisol represented these two powers at Tunis for
many years up to the time of his death in 1868. Mr. William Schmidt
was appointed commercial consul of Portugal in 1864 ; Dr. Abraham
Lumbroso, consul-general and diplomatic agent of San Marino in 1865;
and about the same time Mr. Charles Cubisol was sprinkled with decora-
tions and inducted into a like high-sounding office to represent the Prince
of Monaco. The republic of San Marino is represented by an Italian
baron, and has a bigger flag at Tunis than the United States.
(P.) The Politicul Future of the Country.
Just as I was leaving Tunis, after having endured the heat of the sum-
mer of 1867, and breathed a noxious air that brought cholera and death to
thousands around me, I received from an eminent diplomatic source a
pointed inquiry, whose definite answer, which was then confidential, implied
on my part some insight into the future. Though not a prophet, nor the
son of a prophet, I embraced my privilege as å Yankee and guessed.
Since then, I have seen no reason to change my views. As the great
ship canal across the isthmus of Suez progresses under French auspices,
Tunis, centrally situated on the great highway between the canal and the
ocean acquires a new importance which the French people and government
are not slow to appreciate and turn to their account. They see on the
Tunisian coast better harbors and a richer soil than are to be found in
their Algerine possessions, and they evidently mean to bring them under
their control. Instead of being animated by a chivalrous spirit and a
.
70
554
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
desire to diffuse the blessings of civilization, they seem disposed to take
advantage of the weakness of this government to extend their power and in-
crease their territorial possessions. Despite his graceful air and comely looks,
the French eagle is savagoly rapacious; and now the British lion, which
seeks the gratification of his own appetite, is powerless to restrain. the soar-
ing and plunging movements of this keen-eyed bird. The American cagle,
distrustful of both the bird and beast that hovered and prowled around his
western domains in the season of his exposure, contents himself with simply
noting passing events. The inquiry and reply were as follows:
answers.
WHAT IS TO BE THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF TUNIS ?
This question is often put, and gives rise to a variety of speculations and
Frenchmen apparently regard Tunis as the supplement of
Algeria. Englishmen see here an important source of supplies for Malta,
and Italians claim special consideration on account of their language and
customs, which have to some extent prevailed here from the Roman period
to the present time. Italy has the largest colony hcro; England has the
most pressing need of supplies for Dalta ; but France has the greatest
force at hand to control the country.
Politically, too, France has the most intimate relations with Tunis.
From the beginning of the war against Algiers, the French have been
near neighbors of the Bey, and much of the time have been patronized as
his special friends. On one occasion they prevented the Ottoman fleet from
an organized effort to get control of this government. They have employed
the full range of diplomatic arts to introduce and keep up intimate rela-
tions between the two countries. The French consul at length acquired a
leading, not to say controlling, influence with tho Bey. He was consulted,
and his aid was regarded as needful to the success of all important enter-
prises. French subjects were invited to fill places of emolument and
trust, and to them were given the most important contracts, such as estab-
lishing telegraphic communication between different parts of the regency,
making loans to the government almost on their own terms, and introduc-
ing water into the city and its environs from the mountains of Zaughan.
With French influence thus strongly established and recognized, in the
year 1864 a French consul with little experience in the country attempted
to inaugurate a new line of policy, boldly trcating the Bey as a French
vassal by interrupting his vessels in his own waters, demanding the dis-
missal of some of his ministers, and recommending other important changes
in the government. Not being able to execute this line of policy without
resorting to force (from which measure the consul did not shrink), and
giving serious offence to other nations, the French government withdrew
this consul and has since sont other officers who have pursued a more con-
ciliatory course. Still, during their administration, the Bey has been
made to feel the arbitrary power of the French government.
When the Bey was relieved of the presence of the offensive consul, it
was regarded as a victory on his part and was so proclaimed abroad. But
THE GALLIC EAGLE IN AFRICA.
555
ness.
I believe France took this step both because she did not wish to encounter
the displeasure of other nations and especially because she was not disposed
unnecessarily to have another religious war similar to that waged in
Algeria. But her ultimate purposes in regard to this country are scarcely
to be questioned. While she watches it with a vigilant cye lest it escape
her irritating touch, she sees that gentleness is in general better than harsh-
Feeling secure of her plunder, she can afford to await the maturity
of plans of slow development.
If the French were to take forcible possession of the regency', other
nations might protest, and Mussulmans might massacre and plunder. The
seizure could be made and the country held. Difficulties would, however,
naturally arise in regulating many complicated affairs while encountering
the hatred of Mussulmans and the ill-will of Europeans. In view of all
the facts in this case, France decides to await the progress of events. Her
experience in Algeria and in Dexico probably serves as a warning. Her
legitimate influence as a powerful neighbor of the Boy is great, and she
has but to persist in the maintenance of apparently friendly relations, and
seize every petty occasion to assert her presumed authority, to secure pres-
ent advantages and a final triumph.
Tunisia is destitute of the elements of life and progress which alone can
long save her from falling an easy prey to a stronger power. The policy
of her adoption leads directly to ruin. Instead of being judiciously taxed
to secure a revenue, a considerable part of the country is annually over-
run by an army, pillaging and plundering in the name of the government,
and the poor Arabs are fast becoming so miserable and so desperate in
their misery as to demand rather than repel foreign intervention; and
consuls, who exerted their utmost energy to overcomc French intrigues
during the late rebellion, are now apparently disposed to menace the Bey
with French intervention to induce him to pay his debts, the responsibility
of which rests heavily upon some of them. While the Bey pays fifty
thousand francs a year to a French subject to promote his interests at
Paris, the interests of the French government at Tunis are believed to be
gratuitously watched and promoted by both French and Tunisian subjects
who are ever near the Bey.
I am, then, persuaded that this country will at length come under the
acknowledged protection and control of France, if not with the consent
and approbation of other nations, probably without violent opposition.
Such at least is the manifest tendency of affairs at the present time, not-
withstanding a species of state-craft employed to produce a counter result.
The malady is too deeply seated to be overcome by empirics in the name
of diplomacy. The Gallic eagle, already scenting the prey, prepares to
clutch it, despite the lion's growl and all the shrieks and howls that may
be raised as he enjoys his repast.
556
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
(Q.)
A Day at Carthage and Tunis.
(COPY OF A LETTER.)
Tunis, April 20, 1867.
As I have read the chatty letters in the “Home Weekly," from Paris
and New York, I have thought that a second letter, from even such an
out-of-the-way place as Tunis, might not prove unreadable. It is our very
out-of-the-wayness (don't look too carefully in Webster) that adds a zest to
the life otherwise so dull. The great things seem small, and the small
things great, as seen through our Eastern spectacles. Will you put on the
glasses_let them be of rose-color-and the seven-league boots, to visit
with me, for just one day, my Eastern home? See, as we approach the
Goletta, the port of Tunis, how the blue waves of the Mediterranean dash
against the shores of Dido's ancient home. There are but few ruins of
Carthage remaining, but those few are well worthy of the sight-seer's
attention. Cisterns are there of such a size, that one feels fairly lost
inside, and, though very ancient, yet in excellent preservation. There we
find a ricketty old ladder, that tempts the courageous to descend only to
have an underground prospect. Shall we try it? The first round makes
us shiver, but, after that, we go bravely on, and are repaid by finding bits
of the little jars that the ancients used as drinking cups. Here the water
used to come, not by aqueducts or pipes, but fresh from the Giver's hand,
as poured out from the heavens. A little further on we come to the tombs,
where they are constantly excavating the beautiful jewelry, of every kind,
that so far outshines the best efforts of the present day. But, after all, the
spot that most attracts us is the very summit of the hill, crowned by the
little chapel, built in honor of St. Louis. Here is a view so beautiful,
that we can but feel tempted to wish we could stay always and feast
our eyes.
However, this lingering over beautiful scenery will not bring us to
Tunis, and we have yet something to see there. After a drive of ten miles
we alight, and go at once to tho bazars, which are full of curious sights
and sounds. From beautiful Nature we see the reverse picture-Nature
in man left without cultivation; and fortunate will it be for you if you
keep your good temper in all the pushing and screaming. Let us avail
ourselves of one of the consular janissaries, who will scream "Balek ! balek !"
(take care), till you begin to wonder if that one word constitutes his whole
dictionary “Balek," however, aided by the stick, is very effective.
As you are a stranger, you must want to buy, and fifty people will soon
be around you, pressing upon you all their wares, and in the jewelry bazar
there are really very rare and costly things for sale. By dint of shouting
in an unknown tongue, and gesticulations that remind you that all their
bones do shake," you are at last tired out, and you move on to the clothing
bazar, followed by the disappointed looks of your fifty friends. Here are
the gayest colors, in tho choicest silks and wools, woven together to make
BAZARS AND A JEWISH WEDDING.
557
the famed bernouse; and this time you are tempted beyond endurance.
You must buy, and buy largelŷ, for not even Paris has the veritable
material.
But see, the sun is getting low, and you must remember we are not in
Paris, where the evening only seems a more brilliant day. Are you too
tired for anything more? Travellers cannot afford to say so. Let us take
you to a Jewish wedding, .in the real primitive style, making you dream
you have gone back a few centuries in existence. We are told the bride's
family is not very rich. " Tant mieux !" We shall then be sure not to
have any foreign inroads. We enter into what they call the patio, which,
in this case, happens to be uncovered, and see a motley crowd, that hardly
look to us like human beings in the dim light of the three or four candles.
We are all waiting for the bride, and at last our patience is rewarded by
seeing something that seems more like a bundle of clothes stationed upright
than anything else. But this living bundle is helped to walk by some one,
who slowly pilots her near a table, when, presto! by a dexterous move-
ment, you suddenly see the bride, mounted on a chair on the table, and
you remain with the impression that she has been spirited up to her lofty
perch. This high seat, you are told, is typical of a throne, and it gives
us a splendid chance to see the native dress of the country--close fitting
pantaloons, braided in gold, with a loose "juba," or sack, reaching nearly
to the knees, and so much gold and silk about the head that you are left
to wonder what there is inside. This bride thinks as much of having a
stylish and elegant trousseau to prosent her husband as if she were some
fair American,
Fastened to the wall are numerous charms, such as forms of a hand, a
fish, a star, and all these are to keep off the evil eye. In front of the
bride is a little dish of henna, with which to redden her nails, for this is
esteemed a mark of great beauty here.
Without any warning, we hear such a variety of noises, of cymbals,
women's tongues and other sounds, that you think the evil spirits have
come in person, to show their defiance of charms. But, no! the chief
sounds come from two or three poor Jewesses, who are doing their very
best to keep off the bad spirits.
By this time, we begin to recover from our surprise at these startling
sounds, and very naturally we ask for the bridegroom. With a look of pity
for our ignorance, we are told that the future husband does not come near
the bride until near tho end of the wedding, and to expect him before
would be highly indecorous. But a Jewish wedding is an affair of no
slight moment, and lasts not five minutes, but eighteen days, during
which both parties concerned have time enough for reflection. I am afraid
people would think it too much trouble to get married, if the same length
of time were needed in all countries.
But it is nearly midnight, and our day in Tunis is full enough of
incident to let us off from any more sight-seeing.
H.
558
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
(R.) List of Ancient and Modern Geographical Names.
}
Ammedera,} Hydra.
ANCIENT NANE. MODERN NAME.
ANCIENT NAME, MODERN NAME.
(Aggarsel) Nepte, Nefta.
Mileum,
Milo.
Arce Aegimuri (isle), Zimbra.
Musti,
Mest.
Aspis and Clypea, Gallipia & Kellibia.
Mutia,
Ain Kedim.
Assuras,
Zanfour.
Neapolis,
Nabel.
Bagrada (river), Majerda.
Oppidum Naterense, Mater.
Bisica Lucania,
Testour.
Miditanum, Meded.
Byrsa (citadel of
Palus Tritopis,
Sebka Pharoon.
St. Louis,
Carthage),
Promontorium
Ras-el-Mekki.
Caput Yada,
(cape) Capoudia.
Apolinis,
Carpis,
Corbus.
Promontorium
Carthage,
} Cape Blanc.
Carthago
Candidum,
Capsa,
Gafsa.
Promontorium
Casæ Nigræ or
Pulchrum,
Cape Zebih.
Promontorium
Cercina (isles), Kerkenna.
Mercurii,
Cape Bon,
Cirta,
Constanstine,
Radis,
Adis.
Civitas Tiburscen-
Sbiah (near Cabon-
Teboursuk.
Ruspæ,
sium,
dia),
Colonia Suffetana, Sbaiba.
Ruspina,
Monastir.
Colonia Julia Curubis, Courba.
Scillium,
Casreen,
Colonia Scillitana
Sicca Veneria,
Kef.
Casreen.
and Scillium,
Sinus Neapalitanus, Gulf of Hammamet.
Colonia Suffetula,
Sbaitla,
Syllectum,
Selecta,
Gergis,
Zarzize.
Syrtis Major,
Gulf of Sidra.
Hadrumetum,
Susa.
Syrtis Minor,
Gulf of Gabes.
Hippo Regia,
Bona.
Tagaste,
Tagelt (near Souk
Hippo Zarrytus
Arras).
Bizerta.
and Darrytus,
Tacape,
Gabes.
Horrea Coelia,
Hergla.
Taphnura,
Sfax.
Sheba (near Capou-Thabraca,
Tabarca.
Justinapolis,
dia),
Thapsus,
Dimas.
Latomies and Ras- Thebeste,
Tebessa.
Latomie,
el - Kebir (great Thignica,
Ain Tunga.
caverns).
Thala,
Thala.
Leptis Magna, Lebida.
Tonia and Ligula, Goletta.
Leptis Parva,
Lemta.
Thusuros,
Toxer.
Lambesa,
Lambessa,
Thysdrus,
El-Gem.
Lares,
Lorbes.
Tuburbo (Minus), Tebourba.
Mactar or Mactari-
Tugga,
Dugga.
Mactar.
tanum Oppidum,
Tucca Terebinthina, Dugga.
Maxula and
Tunis,
Tunis.
Hammam-el-Lif.
Aquæ Calidæ,
Turris Hannibalis, Media.
Meninx and
Utica,
Bou Shahter.
Gerba.
Lotophagitis,
Uthina,
Oudena.
Megara (suburb of
Usaletus Mons,
Gebel Ousselat.
Marsa.
Carthage),
Vacca and Vaga,
Beja.
Megalopolis,
Soliman.
Vicus Augusti,
Cairwan.
Membrossa,
Medjez-el-Bab. Zeugitanus Mons, Gebel Zaughan.
cl
While the identity of most of the above-named places is beyond ques-
tion, the proof is not so conclusive in regard to a few of them as to pre-
clude doubt and discussion. One recent traveller and explorer explains his
reasons at length for believing that Zama Regia stood on the site of Giama,
about 100 miles southwest of Tunis. The same kind of engineering,
exploration and research are required to identify and illustrate the great
battle-ground between Carthage and Rome, as have been employed in
elucidating the African campaign of Julius Caesar.
INDEX.
8,9
Page.
Page.
Page.
Ægades,
64 Belisarius,
Creeds, 289–295, 318
Ægimurus, v. Zimbra.
151-154, 423, 450 Cyreno,
Æneas,
17, 420 Bilingual inscription, 12, 13, 19, 20, 36, 127
Ablutions,
300, 301
457, 458 Date palm, 370, 371
Aborigines (v. Berbers Bou-Shahter,
Dervishes,
320
and Kabyles),
11
14, 132, 416, 443 Deys, 184-188, 535
Africa ferax, 6, 519 Bomilcar,
35, 37 Dido, 14-17, 114, 115
Agathocles, 33-40, 46 Boundary,
3
420,434, 528
Ahmed Bey, 203-206 Brutus,
22 Dinners, Arab, 284
Agriculture,372-374,526 Bull of Phalaris, 28, 116 Dionysius, 28-31
Alexander, the Great, 36 Byrsa, 16–18, 432, 441 Duillius,
51-53
Allobrogians, 77 Byzantines,
Dugga, 457, 458
Alms-giving, 301
149–154, 460, 456 Eaton, General, 550
Alps, crossing the, 78, 79 Cæsar, 125–134, 449 Education, 263, 475, 476
America, Mission to, Cairwan, 230, 411-415
502, 516, 541
207, 531 Camart, cape,
18 Ecnoma, battle of, 55
Amusements, 398, 515 Camicus, river of, 32 El Gem,
446-449
Amphitheatres,
Cannæ, battle of, Essadak Bey, 525
430, 446-449
83, 84, 86, 108 Ethiopian,
Antiochus, 100-102 Carthagena,
73 Europeans,
Aqueduct of Carthage, Canaanites, 9, 483
398-401, 505-517
432, 459-461 | Capucins, 187, 514 Exorcists,
329
Aqueducts of Tunis, Caravans, 269, 270, 479 Expenses, State, 547
387, 403, 461 Casreen,
452 Fabius, 76, 81-88, 108
Aristocracy, 261–264 Cato,
125–134 | Fasting, 302-315
Arabs, 257, 259, 265 Cemeteries, 393, 394 Fatimite Califs, 157
Arab conquest, 155–159 Centumvirate,
25 Fides Punica,
71
Archeological sketch, Circumcision, 298, 299 Finances,
428-461 Ceres,
208, 447, 477-482
Army,
470–475 Charitablo Institutions, Funerals, 393, 497, 498
Athenean fleet, 25
476, 477 | Fish,
376-378
Astrology,
332 Cincinnatus,
56 Fraternities,
321
Atlantide,
231 Charles V., 171-176 | Freemasonry,
542
Baba Ali,
536 Christianity, 134-149 Future, political, 553
Bagrada, 14, 226, 227 Climate,
361 Geology, 4, 228, 229, 379
Pairan, 308-314, 529 Clusium,
80 Gelon,
Barbarrossa,
Claudius, Appius, 47 | Gerba, 231, 380, 425, 451
169–174, 415 Coins,
539 Gereed, 230, 372, 383
Barca party, 72, 73, 101 Consuls,
424, 426, 451
Bardo,
402-404 401, 509, 516, 525, 550 Getulians,
9
Веја, ,
415 Constitution, 206, 207 | Goletta, 402-407, 442
Berbers, 10, 237, 258, 271 Corvi,
ül, 52 | Government, 462
Beys, 188-208, 536 Courts, 397, 463-469,544 Hadrumetum,
Bizerta, 409, 4101 Couscousou,
280
96, 422, 440
29, 30
.
23, 24
560
CARTHAGE AND TUNIS.
538, 549
Page.
Page.
Page.
Hamilcar Barca, 63-72 Mohammedia,
Sbaitla,
:: 450
Hanno's conspiracy, 32
416-418, 459 Sfax,
423, 456
Hanno party,
Moors, 9, 20, 185, 237 Sheep,
374
70, 72, 73, 86, 87
250, 280 Sittius,
128, 129
Hannibal, 73–109, 425 Mosques, 325, 389, 476 Sidi-Bou-Said, 407
Hafsites, 159-181 Monastir, 423, 449 Shaw's Book, 538.
Hasdrubal, 72–74 Muley Hassan, 168–177 Shylocks,
4.01
Harvests,
364-368 Mussulmans,
289 Scipio,
91-109
Halycus, river, 33 Myla, battle of, 51 Sheiks,
264
Hashem, his death, 532 Names, ano't&mod., 558 Sisters of Charity, 186
Heeren,
43 Navarino,
199 Slavery, 208-222, 319
Henna, 351, 366 Necropolis of Carthage,
Hercules, 12, 36, 106
439 Sophonisba,
92
Heroditus,
8 Negroes, 217, 255 Skulls, tower of, 179
Heron,
23 Nobility, 261-264 Spanish conquests, 71-74
Hiero, 47, 49, 69 Olives,
365–370 Spanish domination,
· Himera,
23–26 Ophellas,
36-38
171-183
Horses,
375 Pass,
276 Superstitions, 326–333
Hospitality, 283–288 Payne, J. H., 394, 539 Symbols,
18
Houses,
388 Phænicians, 10, 13, 19 Tabarcans,
416, 416
Hunting,
268 Phileni,
20 Tarquins,
22
Hydra,
454 Pilgrimage, 315-318 Tibboos,
10
Jews,
483-504 | Piracy, 208-221, 530 Timoleon, 31-33
Jewesses, 496, 497 Phocians,
20 Thala,
453
Jewish quarters, 389 Plague, 21, 27, 29, 185 Thapsus,
423, 449
Joshua,
9, 483 Philopoemen, 103 Thermæ,
27
Jugurtha, 122-125 Philip,
167 Thermopylæ,
24
Justice, 464-468, 544 Pliny,
364, 371 Touaregs,
10, 270
Kabyles, v. Berbers, Polygamy, 354, 355 Thrasimenus,
10, 237–277 Prayer,
299 Treaty, 21, 31, 40, 64, 97
Kaids,
469, 470 Population,
Triton, lake, 8, 231, 426
Kasbah,
391 8, 19, 225-280, 396 Tribes, 241-250, 259
Koran,
295 Prisons, 467, 469 Tunis,
385-402
Kef, 66, 427, 457 Procopius,
9 Turkish rule, 181-184
Kerkenna, 231, 424, 468 Pyrrhus, 40-42, 51, 103 Uniforms,
313
Lacedemonians, 19 Ptolemy,
60 Utica, v. Bou Shahter,
Latitude, 3, 226, 361 Punishments, 467, 468
14, 31, 416, 443
Libyans, 9-11, 19, 46 Ramadan, 302–315 Vandals, 149-155
Liebig,
232 Races, 4-13, 236-239,271 Virgil, 15, 420, 442
Life, popular, 399 Radis, battle of, 56 War, Mercenary, 66–71
Dago & Malthus, 21, 22 Rebel chiefs, 534 War, 1st Punic, 46-66
Mamertines, 46-48 Regulus,
65–61 War, 2d Punic, 74-98
Marabouts, 263, 275 Rome, 42, 65, 81, 85 War, 3d Punic, 109-117
Marius, 123, 124, 232 Revenues, State, 547 Warglias,
256
Marsa, 408, 443 St. Augustine, 134-149| Weights,
539
Massinissa, 109-125 | St. Cyprian, 136, 137 | Winds, African, 363
Mathos,
67–70 St. Louis, 159-167, 430 Wife of Hasdrubal,
Marcellus, 87, 89, 109 St. Vincent de Paul, 185 114, 115, 434, 435
Marriages,
Sabbath, Moslem, Women, Moorish, 251
339-342, 500, 501, 557
325, 326 252, 265, 266, 274, 326
Measures,
539 Saguntum, 73-90
334-360
Mechanics, 381, 382 Sallust, 8, 9, 11, 453, 470 Xanthippus, 57-62
Media,
423, 450 Salamis,
24 Xerxes,
22, 23
Minister, Prime, 510 Saracens, 250, 448 Zama,
93-109
Moloch,
27 Sålutations, 277-281 Zawia,
262
Mohammed,
Shekir, 200-203 Zaughan, 418, 460, 543
295-298, 335-337 | Saturn,
36 Zimbra,
81, 84
64, 232
JUN 2 8 1916
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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