Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/87

 t TRIPOLI. 67 name of Trijyolis. The decay and final extinction of this place dates probably from the eighth century of the new era. To the ruins of Sabratha and of the little hamlet resting under the old walls, the Italians have given the name of Tripoli Veccliio, or " Old Tripoli," a title unwarranted by history and without any Arabic equivalent. Farther on lies the little port of Zonrah, whose palm-groves, like those of Tripoli, are threatened by the encroaching sands. Zoaruh is the last town of Tripolitana in this direction. A neighbouring strip of sand, the Itus-el-Jfak/ibaH, has become famous for the vast salt beds it serves to protect. In the thirteenth century the Venetians obtained from the Emir of Tripoli the exclusive privilege of Morking the sebkha of the Ras-el-Makhbas, or Zoarah, and so important became this industry that the Republic appointed sjxjcial magistrates to regulate its opera- tions. P]very year at a stated period a Venetian fleet cast anchor in the Bay of Kas-el-Makhbas, and shipped cargoes of salt for the whole of North Italy, Switzer- land, Tyrol, and Dalmatia. But in the eighteenth century the Venetians were ousted by the Genoese as farmers of these salines. South and south-west stretches the frontier zone, which was long a sort of borderland, given up to lawless and marauding tribes. After the recent occupation of Tunis by the French, about 75,000 Arabs of the southern tribes took refuge in this almost desert region, and being unable to procure any sustenance from the thankless soil, took to raiding in all the surrounding territories. At present most of these fugitives have returned to their native steppes, leaving the wilderness again in the possession of the Is uails and a few other nomad trib I