ly carried along with him more than three Sphahees, and a Servant; all of them well armed: Tho' they were fometimes obliged to augment their Numbers, particularly when they travelled among the Independent Arabs, upon the Frontiers of the neighbouring Kingdoms, or where two contiguous Clans were at variance. Thefe, and fuch like Harammees, as the Free-booters are usually called, muft be, our Author conjectures, what the Europeans mean by wild Arabs; notwithstanding there is no fuch Name peculiar to any Body of them, they being all of them the fame, and have all the like Inclinations (whenever a proper Opportunity or Temptation offers itfelf) of robbing, ftripping, and murthering, not Strangers only, but alfo one another. However, to prevent as much as poffible the falling into their Hands, the greatest Safety for a Traveller, at all times, is to be difguised in the Habit of the Country, or dreffed like one of his Spabees; for the Arabs are very jealous and inquifitive; fufpecting all Strangers to be Spies, and to be fent to take a Survey of thofe Lands, which, at one time or other (as they have been taught to fear) are to be reftored to the Christians.

The Horfes and Camels of these Countries keep generally one conftant Pace; the latter at the rate of two Miles and a half, the other of three Geographical Miles an Hour. Sixty of thefe, according to our Author's Computation, conftitute one Degree of a great Circle. The Space they travelled was first of all reckoned by Hours, and then reduced into Miles. Every Evening therefore, as foon as they arrived at their Connack (for fo the Spabees call the Tents or Places where they put up) our Author used to examine how many Hours, and in what Direction they had travelled that Day; making proper Allowances for the feveral Windings and occafional Deviations that were made out of

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the direct Road. In their Paffage through the Mountains and Forefts, or where the Plains were cut through with Rivers (for they met with no Inclosures any where to moleft them) it frequently happened, that when they had travelled eight Hours, i. e. twenty-four Miles, our Author found, by the Method above, that, as far as Longitude or Latitude were concerned, they were to be eftimated for no more than twenty or eighteen. As often alfo as he had an Opportunity, he took the Meridian Altitude with a brafs Quadrant of twelve Inches Radius, which was fo well graduated, that he could distinguish the Divifion upon the Limb to at least one 12th Part of a Degree. This Operation the Arabs call the Weighing of the Sun.

He had not the good Fortune, as he tells us, to purchase many Coins, in these his Travels, that were either valuable or curious. Those that are purely African, or carry along with them at leaft the Infignia and Characteristics of that Country, may be accounted the rareft; tho' indeed fome of them have been already taken notice of by Agostini, Paruta, and other Authors. However, as thofe he has collected may perhaps be the completeft Series of the Kind, he has given the Drawings and Descriptions of them in the Collection of Papers that are inferted after the Obfervations. If we except the Miffilia (as fome Medalifts call the fmall brafs Coins of the Lower Empire) the most common, he fays, are thofe of the Antonines, of Alexander Severus, of the younger Gordian, and of Philip; in whose Times Africa feems to have been most adorned with Roman Edifices. Some Pieces of glafs Money alfo are found now and then by the Arabs, in the Ruins of fuch of their ancient Buildings as are fuppofed to have been raised by Occ'ba and Ben Eglib. For thefe Buildings, no less than thofe erected by the Carthaginians and their imme

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diate Succeffors, have been fubject to their Changes and Revolutions. All the Coins which he has feen of this kind, were, as he tells us, flat on the one fide, and impreffed on the other with the Mahometan Creed, There is no God, but God; MO-HAMMED is the Apostle of God.

This is the Idea Dr. Shaw has given us of travelling, in general, in thefe barbarous and inhofpitable Regions, and of his Paffage, in particular, thorough them. As for the Geographical Obfervations on thofe Countries, which make up the greater Part of this Work, I fhall prefent the Reader with the shortest Specimen that can fuffice to furnish him with a tolerable Notion of them; referving for a distinct Article, confiderable Extracts from the phyfical and mifcellaneous Obfervations, which are far the more entertaining. To begin with the Geographical, our Author fays of the Kingdom of Tunis in general as follows:

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"The Kingdom of Tunis is bounded to the N. "and E. with the Mediterranean Sea; to the W. with "the Kingdom of Algiers; and to the S. with that "of Tripoly. It is from the Ifland of Jerba in N. "Lat. 33, 30' to Cape Ferra in N. Lat. 30°, 12′, "220 Miles in Breadth, and 170 only in Length: "Sbekkah, the moft advanced City of this King"dom to the Weftward, lying in 8°; and Clybea, "the fartheft to the Eaft, in 11°, 20' E. Long. from London.

"Of the modern Geographers, Luyts, by giv"ing this Kingdom 3° of Long. and 4° of Lat. "feems to have been the beft acquainted with the "Extent of it in general. For Sanfon, by placing "Cape Bon in N. Lat. 34, 15, and Capes or "Gabs in N. Lat. 3o, fituateth it more than 3o "too far to the South. Moll indeed bringeth it, 66 a few Minutes only, too far to the Northward; "but extendeth it to the Southward beyond the "Parallel

"Parallel of Tripoly; as De Lifle has likewife "done in his Royal Map of Africa. Whereas a "remarkable Chain of Mountains, in the same "Parallel with the Ifland of Ferba, are the Boun"daries of the Kingdoms of Tunis and Tripoly.

"If we attend to what the ancient Geographers "have faid in relation to this Kingdom, we fhall. "find great Errors and Disagreements. For Pto

lemy, not to mention his Pofition of Carthage, "and fo respectively of other Places, four Degrees "too far to the Southward, maketh the Latitudi"nal Distance betwixt the Promontory of Apollo, " and the Inland Meninx, to be no more than 1o, "55', tho' the Longitudinal, particularly between "Thrabáca and Clypea, is nearly the fame that "I find it. The Itinerary also, tho' a much better "Conductor in general than Ptolemy, may, as "Ricciolius hath already observed, be charged with "Faults and Contradictions: Whilft Pliny, by "putting the greatest Part of the Cities of this

Kingdom in an Alphabetical Order, very little inftructs us. Even in the Enumeration of the "maritime Towns of Bizacium, where he feems "to follow fome Method, yet, by placing Rufpina

after Leptis, he would infinuate, that the latter, contrary to what appears from Hirtius and other "Authors, was at a greater Distance from the

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leffer Syrtis. There appears to be an Error of "another kind, in making the Province of Biza"cium 200 Miles only in Compass; whereas, in bounding it to the N. and S. with the Parallels "of Adrumetum and Tacape, and to the W. with Sufetula (one of the western Cities of it) we "fhall have a Space of at least 500 Roman Miles in Circuit, which are twice the Number laid "down by our Author.

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"This Kingdom is not divided into Provinces like "that of Algiers; but the whole is under the imme

"diate Inspection of the Bey himself, who collects the "Tribute in Perfon. For which Purpose, he vifits with a flying Camp, once a Year, the principal "Parts of it; traverfing, in the Summer Seafon, "the fertile Country in the Neighbourhood of Keff and Bai-jah; and in the Winter, the feve"ral Districts betwixt Cairwan and the Fareede.”

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Another Specimen I fhall exhibit of the Geographical Part of this Work, is our Author's Description of the Prefent State of the once celebrated City of Carthage.

"The greatest Part of Carthage hath been built "upon three Hills, fomewhat inferior in Elevation "to those upon which Rome was erected. Upon "that which overlooketh the S. E. Shore, there is "the Area of a fpacious Room, with several smaller "ones hard by it. Some of them have had teffal

lated Pavements; but neither the Design nor the "Materials are worthy of our Notice. The Byrfa, "I prefume, had formerly this Situation. In row"ing along the Sea-fhore, the common Sewers dif

cover themselves in feveral Places; which, being "well built and cemented at first, Time hath not "in the leaft injured or impaired. The Cifterns "are other Structures, which have fubmitted the "leaft to the general Ruin of this City. Befides "those appertaining to particular Houses, there were "two Sets that belong'd to the Public; the greater whereof, which was the grand Refervoir for the Aqueduct, lay near the Weftern Wall of the City, and confifted of more than twenty conti-. "guous Cifterns, each of them about 100 Foot " long, and 30 broad. The leffer is in a higher

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Situation, near the Cotaon; having been con"trived to collect the Rain-water which fell upon "the Top of it, and upon fome adjacent Pave"ments, made for that Purpofe. This might be. "repaired with little Expence, the fmall earthen

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