Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/19

 HISTORIC EETROSPECT. 8 Historic Retrospect. On the North African seaboard the rounded mass of the plateau of Barku corresponds with the region of Tunis, which limits the Gulf of Cabes towards the west, and projects in the Carthaginian headlands in the direction of Sicily. The two territories resemble one another in their geographical position, their climate, und products. They also played their part in the history of the old world, one through its Hellenic colonies, the other through its Phoenician republic. In comparing Cyrene with Carthage, observers have dwelt on the natural advantages of the former, and have expressed their surprise that it never rose to the same pitch of commercial prosperity as its western rival. It is, however, to be observed that for the purposes of international trade Carthage really occupied a position far superior to that of the maritime cities of Cyrenaica. Forming no part of the Greek world, it did not reach the same standard of general culture ; and although not lacking great thinkers, it never exercised the same influence in the development of the arts and sciences. But on the other hand. Carthage played a far more considerable part in the commercial world. Being hemmed in on all sides by the wilderness, the plateau of Cyrene drew from the interior a very limited quantity of supplies, imported by the difficult and tedious route of the oases ; hence its natural trading relations were rather with the Hellenic islands and peninsulas facing it on the opposite side of the Mediterranean. But the more favourably situated city of Carthage necessarily became the chief outlet of a vast and populous region stretching far into the interior of the continent. Almost within sight of Sicily, and standing on the great Mediterranean strait, where converge the main water highways from Greece and Spain, it commanded the central position of the whole maritime basin. Over the Greek cities it enjoyed the further advantage of being situated nearer to the " Columns of Hercules," and its vessels were the first to plough the waters of the boundless ocean. Wasted by the Arabs, especially during their second invasion in the middle of the eleventh century, the inhabitants of Barka lost their trade and culture ; the land lapsed into barbarism, its ruined cities and its burial-places became the haunts of wild beasts. The myth of Hercules and Antaeus personifies the struggles of the Greek settlers against the natives of Cyrenaica, the Libyan giant drawing fresh strength from the ground each time he touched his mother, Earth. But, not- withstanding the fable, which records the victory of Hercules, it was Autajus who triumnhed in the end. However, the type of the ancient Berber population does not seem still to prevail. Diversely modified by crossings with Greeks, Negroes, and Turks, the Libyan stock has been further replaced, or almost entirely trans- formed, by Arab intermixture. Future immigration will give the political ascen- dancy to the Europeans ; but the local element will doubtless always remain the most numerous here, as elsewhere throughout North Africa. The pending annexation of Cyrenaica to the cultured world has already been sufficiently prepared by the researches of modern explorers. At the beginning of