It Conveys The Water Used For Drinking, Into The Town, By
Means Of A Canal Along The Left Bank Of The Kadisha.
A few yards above
the aqueduct is a bridge across the stream.
I estimate the inhabitants of Tripoli at about fifteen thousand; of
these one-third are Greek Christians, over whom a bishop presides. I was
told that the Greeks are authorized, by the Firmahns of the Porte, to
prevent any schismatic Greek from entering the town. This may not be the
fact;--it is however certain, that whenever a schismatic is discovered
here, he is immediately thrown into prison, put in irons, and otherwise
very ill-treated. Such a statement can be credited by those only who are
acquainted with the fanatism of the eastern Christians. There is no
public building in the town deserving of notice. The Serai was destroyed
during the rebellion of Berber. The Khan of the soap manufacturers is a
large well built edifice, with a water basin in the middle of it.
Ten minutes above the town, in the Wady Kadisha, is a convent of
Derwishes, most picturesquely situated above the river, but at present
uninhabited. At half an hour's walk below the town, at the extreme angle
of the triangular plain, is El Myna, or the port of Tripoli, which is
itself a small town; the interjacent plain was formerly covered with
marshes, which greatly injured the air; but the greater part of them
have been drained, and converted into gardens. The remains of a wall may
still be traced [p.165]across the triangular plain; from which it
appears that the western point was the site of the ancient city;
wherever the ground is dug in that direction the foundations of houses
and walls are found; indeed it is with stones thus procured that the
houses in the Myna are built.
From the Myna northward to the mouth of the Kadisha runs a chain of six
towers, at about ten minutes walk from each other, evidently intended
for the defence of the harbour; around the towers, on the shore, and in
the sea, lie a great number of columns of gray granile; there are at
least eighty of them, of about a foot and a quarter in diameter, lying
in the sea; many others have been built into the walls of the towers as
ornaments. To each of the towers the natives have given a name. The most
northern is called Berdj Ras el Nahr, from its being near the Kadisha;
those to the south are Berdj el Dekye, Berdj el Sebaa [Arabic], or the
lion's tower;[The natives say, that on the shield carved above The
gateway of this tower two lions were formerly visible.--These were the
arms of Count Raymond de Thoulouse. I saw at Tripoli a leaden seal of
the Count, with a tower, meant probably for the Berdj el Sebaa, on the
reverse.] Berdj el Kanatter [Arabic]; Berdj el Deyoun [Arabic], and
Berdj el Mogharabe [Arabic].
The harbour of Tripoli is formed by a line of low rocks, stretching from
the point of the Myna about two miles into the sea, towards the north;
they are called by the natives Feitoun [Arabic]. On the north the point
of Tartous in some measure breaks the impetuosity of the sea; but when
the northern winds blow with violence, vessels are often driven on
shore.
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