Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/36

 the island mentioned by the ancient writers as standing in the middle of the harbour and crowned by a temple of Venus, now replaced by the tomb of a Marabut. Other lakes or morasses stretch north and south, separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow strip of coastline. Yet Benghazi is less insalubrious than most other

places on this seaboard, thanks to the winds which carry off the miasma rising from the surrounding lagoons. But the houses swarm with insects, and Benghazi is proverbially known as the "kingdom of flies."

Being in constant relations with the oases of the interior, whence, till recently,