Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/78

 60 NORTU-WEST AFRICA. of about 12 miles from each other, and at an altitude of over 1,660 feet, were formerly fortifio<l, as indicated by their name, which means " fortress." The western Ghana still preserves a superb Roman gateway, dating from the time of the Antouiues, and presenting a singular contrast to the wretched Arab hovels resting against its massive buttresses. The eastern town is noted for its excellent dates, yielded by plantations irrigated with a brackish water from the imder- ground galleries of the /oga rats. JUisda, lying farther north in the upper valley of the TVady Sofejin, although containing scarcely five hundred inhabitants, is, nevertheless, a more important place than either of the Gharias, owing to its position on a much-frequented caravan route. At this point the road from Tripoli branches off in one direction towards the south-west, where it ascends the hamada in the direction of Ghadames, in the other southwards, across a series of ridges skirting the eastern edge of the Red Ilaniada in the direction of Murzuk. The inhabitants of Misda, of Berber origin, but largely assimilated to the Arabs, although still preserving traces of the national speech, belong entirely to the religious order of the Senusiya. At the time of Barth's visit, in 18o0, the convent possessed no wealth of any kind ; at present it owns vast landed estates. In the surrounding districts are scattered numerous ruins of tombs and other Roman monuments. Although, comparatively well peopled, the Jebel Ghurian and the mountains forming its western prolongation have no towns properly so-called, unless the subterranean dwelling of Zenthan be regarded as such. In this place the plateau is furrowed in every direction by ravines of slight depth, which serve as streets, on either side of which artificial habitations have been excavated in the rocky, cliffs, where the white limestone alternates with yellow marl deposits. The softer parts arc removed in such a manner as to give the group of caves the disposition of Moorish houses, with their courts and lateral chambers. But here the different apartments of the several stories communicate by means of an outer ledge or rocky projection, reached either by natural breaks and landings in the cHff, or by flights of steps made of superimposed slabs. These underground dwellings number altogether from one thousand to one thousand two hundred, giving an. approximate population of about six thousand to the town of Zenthan. Above and round about the caves are planted the olive groves, which form the chief resource of the inhabitants, arable lands being rare in this part of the plateau. The fertile soil, which might be washed away by the rains, is retained by walls round the roots of the trees. During field operations and harvest, the troglodytes leave their abodes and camp out, a change which often cures them of maladies contracted in their damp rocky retreats. Next to Zenthan, the two most important centres of population on the Jebel Ghurian, are the hamlets grouped round the Turkish castles of Kasr Ghurian and Kasr-el- Jebel. The whole district is relatively Avell peopled, containing, according to native report, as many as " a hundred and one " villages. But before meeting a city worthy of the name, the traveller must descend to the coast; here stands the capital, Tripoli^ which, however, is the only tftwn found