Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/31

 CYRENE 16 palm, beneath which the family gathers after the day's work. Of all the gardens of Cyrenaica those of Dema best deserve the old name of the " Ilesperideei." Watered by two streams flowing from the neighbouring hills and ramifying in a thousand channels, the dense foliage of their verdant groves presents a striking contrast to the grey and bare rocks of the ravine. They yield figs, grapes, dates, oranges, citrons, and choice bananas, which with the wool, com, wax, and honey brought from the interior, the sponges fished up in the neighbouring shallows, and some woven goods of local manufacture, contribute to maintain a small export trade. The olive groves, which date from Roman times, no longer yield any products, and should be replaced by fresh plantations. The merchants of Dema keep up some relations with Benghazi, Malta, Canea, Alexandria, employing vessels of small tonnage, which cast anchor at some distance from the town iu a roadstead exposed to all winds except those from the west and south. During the rough weather in winter, they seek shelter in the Gulf of Bomba. In 1815, when the United States sent an expedition against the corsairs of Tripoli, a detachment of marines seized Derna, and erected a battery to the west of the town, the remains of which are still visible. The Americans also began to construct a harbour at the mouth of the ravine ; but their stay was too short to complete these works, and since then no further improvements have been attempted. The place has even fallen into decay, and in 1821 the plague is said to have reduced the population from 7,000 to 500. A large portion of Derna was at that time abandoned, and since the beginning of the century it has lost fully one-third of its inhabitants. "West of Derna the first harbour occuriing along the coast still preserves, under a slightly modified form, the name of " Port Saviour," given to it by some Greek authors. This is the Murm Sma, or Apollonia, of the Ptolemies. Thanks to its small harbour well sheltered behind a chain of islets and reefs, Susa at one time enjoyed considerable importance, as is attested by the remains of monuments still visible within the circuit of the old walls, and beyond them on a narrow chain of rocks running eastward. But the port has mostly disappeared, probably through the effects of a local subsidence, by which the coastline has been considerably modi- fied. Some old tombs and quarries are now found below the level of the Mediter- ranean, like the so-called " baths of Cleopatra " at Alexandria. Cyrene. Apollonia, however, never enjoyed an independent existence, having been merely the marine quarter of the far more famous Cyrene, which stood about 10 miles to the south-west, on the verge of the plateau, whence a view was commanded of the plains stretching away to the coast. It is easy to understand why the Dorians of Thera, who founded Cyrene " of the Golden Throne " over twenty-five centuries ago, abandoned their first settlements on the coast and selected this more elevated inland position, although they had at that time nothing to fear from the incursions of pirates. From this commanding point they were better able to over-