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THROUGH BARBARY,

BY

THOMAS SHAW,

D.D. F.R.S.

R. SHAW was born at Kendal in Westmor

Dland, about the year 1992. Having receiv

ed the early part of his education at the grammar fchool of that place, he was removed to Queen's College, Oxford, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1716, and three years after entering into holy orders, he was appointed chaplain to the English factory at Algiers.

In this fituation, he availed himself of the opportunity which was prefented him, of making excurfions into different parts of Barbary, and of defcribing the country. He also travelled into Syria and the Holy Land, and appears to have been a diligent and accurate obferver of whatever fell under his view. Poffeffing a confiderable fhare of learning, biblical as well as claffical, he was enabled to draw a comparison between ancient and modern scenes, and to set many disputed points in a true light. His travels were published at Oxford fome years after his return, which was in 1733, and have always been esteemed for the folidity of his obfervations, rather than VOL. XII,

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for

for the brilliancy of the ftyle. In 1740 he was nominated by his college principal of St. Edmund Hall, and at the fame tinie prefented to the living of Bramley in Hampshire. He was alfo regius profeffor of Greek at Oxford till his death, which happened on August 15, 1751.

Our author, in his account of Barbary, has departed from the usual mode of travellers, in neglecting to mention time, place, and incident, which certainly leffens the intereft of the narrative, though it gives a better opportunity of fyftematic arrangement, which was no doubt the grand object he propofed to himself in deviating from the ufual practice.

In the feveral maritime towns of Barbary, fays our author, where British fractories are established, I was entertained with extraordinary marks of generofity and attention; being fupplied with every comfort and convenience which could be defired. In the interior towns and villages, there is generally a house set apart for the reception of ftrangers, with a proper officer to attend it, where perfons are lodged and entertained for one night at the expence of the community, but except in thofe public receptacles, I met with no houfes of entertainment in the whole courfe of my travels.

To furnish ourselves with tents, would not only have been very expenfive and troublesome, but would have excited the fufpicion of the Arabs. In our peregrinations, therefore, when we did not fall in with the hovels of the Kabyles or the encampments of the Arabs, we had nothing to protect us from the fcorching fun by day, nor the cold by night, fave the accidental fhelter of a rock, a cave, or a grove of trees.

When

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When this happened, which indeed was but feldom, our horfes were the greatest sufferers, though they were our firft care. The Arabs, when we fortunately fell in with their encampments, gratuitoufly entertained us for one night with a fufficient quantity of provifions for ourfelves and our cattle. We were first prefented with a bowl of milk, and a little basket of dried fruit; and then the mafter of the tent, to prove his hofpitality, fetched us either a kid, a goat, a lamb, or a fheep, half of which was immediately boiled for us, and ferved up with cufcufu, and the remainder was usually roafted and reserved for our breakfast or dinner next day.

Though the tents of these roving herdsmen protected us from the weather, they were fo infefted with vermin and infects, that we could have little comfortable reft, even had we been freed from the ftronger apprehenfions of being ftung by venomous reptiles. Indeed, upon the fight of a ferpent, a thaleb, or writer, who happened to be one of my Spahees, after he had muttered a few words, bid us take courage, as he had rendered it perfectly innocuous by his charms and incantations; but it required fome faith to diveft ones felf of fear, and befides the mifchief might have been done before the charmer was apprized of our danger.

returns.

In proportion as we were well or ill entertained by these people, I was liberal or fcanty in my A knife, a couple of flints, or a little English gunpowder, was always acceptable to the mafter of the tent; and when his wife made our cufcufu favoury and with expedition, we complimented her with a pair of fciffars, a large H 2

needle

needle or a fkain of thread, which the received with a thousand thanks.

During the exceffive heats of fummer, and particularly when we were under the apprehenfion of falling in with the Arab freebooters, we travelled by night. At this feafon," the lions roaring after their prey," the leopards, hyænas, and a variety of other ravenous beafts, calling to and anfwering each other in notes of love or correfpondence, broke in upon the folitude of the fcene, and filled us with awe.

Sometimes we travelled for twelve or fifteen hours together; but an ordinary day's journey, exclufive of the time taken up in making obfervations, feldom exceeded eight or nine hours. We conftantly rofe at break of day, in the mild feafon of the year, and fetting forward with the fun, travelled till the middle of the afternoon, when we began to look out for the encampments of the Arabs, which were difficult to find, except by the fmoke, the barking of their dogs, or the fight of fome of their rambling flocks. Indeed, they pitch their tents in the most fequeftered spots, to avoid being interrupted by fuch vifiters as ourselves. In our journey, whenever

We chanc'd to find

A new repaft, or an untafted fpring,
We bleft our flars, and thought it luxury.

ADDISON.

In the Holy Land and upon the confines of the Red Sea, it is proper to have a strong body of conductors; but in Barbary, where the Arabs are under great fubjection, I was feldom attended by more than three Spahees and a fervant, all well

armed.

armed. However, when we approached the independent tribes on the frontiers of different ftates, or when two contiguous clans were at va riance, I was obliged to augment our numbers, and to be prepared for the defensive.

It is always prudent for a traveller to drefs in the habit of the country, or like one of the Spahees. The Arabs are jealous of strangers, fufpecting them to be spies, fent to take a furvey of their country for the sake of invafion; for they have no idea that Chriftians fhould travel, merely out of curiofity, or a love of fcience.

No contemplative mind can avoid falling into a train of serious reflections, when the fcenes of ruin and defolation, which are fo frequent in this country, fall under review. A traveller is struck with the folitude of the few domes and porticos that are left standing, which history informs him were crowded with inhabitants: where Syphax and Mafiniffa, Scipio and Cæfar; where the orthodox Chriftians and the Arians, the Saracens and the Turks, have in their turns given laws. Every pile, every heap of ruins points out to him the weakness and instability of all human art and contrivance, and reminds him of the myriads that lie buried below, now wrapped in the shades of oblivion.

Two of the most confiderable diftricts of that part of Africa, now diftinguished by the name of Barbary, are the kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis. The former is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the eaft by the River Zaine, the ancient Tufca, which feparates it from Tunis; on the fouth by the Zaara, or the Defert, and on the weft by the Mountains of Trara, which divide it from Morocco. According to the most exa&t obfervation

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