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 TUNIS 31 at intervals between November and April, but droughts prevail during the rest of the year. Wheat, barley, and maize are raised, but dates furnish a great part of the subsistence of the inhabitants. Olives, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and various drugs and dyes are grown ; and the fruits of southern Europe are abundant. The principal domestic animals are horned cattle, mules, and camels ; the breed of horses, once famous, has been allowed to degenerate. The tunny and sponge fisheries on the coast are important. The lion, panther, lynx, ounce, wolf, and boar are the principal wild animals found in the country. The people of the in- terior are principally Arabs and Kabyles, while those of the coast comprise Turks, Moors, Jews, and Christians, with various degrees of mixture. They are generally good-looking, but very ignorant. The language is a dialeet of Arabic, but an Italian idiom ia used by the traders. The Arabs resemble the Bedouins of Arabia in their mode of life, but are inhospi- table to strangers. The Kabyles live on the mountains in villages of rudely constructed huts, and subsist chiefly on dates, bread, and milk. Arms are carried by all classes, and on the borders of Algeria the inhabitants do not acknowledge allegiance to either government. The religion is strict Mohammedanism. The principal manufactures are woollen fabrics, particularly the red caps so much worn along the shores of the Mediterranean ; considerable numbers of skins are tanned and dyed ; and trade is carried on with Europe and the inte- rior of Africa. The government of Tunis, though nominally dependent on Turkey, and called a regency, is in reality a perfectly inde- pendent and absolute despotism. The sove- reign is known as the bey. He pays no trib- ute, but is nominally restrained from making war or ceding territory without the consent of the sultan. The Turkish law of succession to the throne prevails. There are many ancient ruins in different parts of Tunis, more particu- larly in the valley of the Mejerda, where at Dukhah (anc. Thugga) are temples, an arch, cisterns, baths, bar- racks, gates, theatres, an aqueduct, and many inscriptions. The great aqueduct which con- veyed the water 52 m. from the mountain of Zagwam to Carthage can still be traced along the whole line, while some remaining por- tions rise to the height of 98 ft. Under the Romans this country formed the province of Africa, and was divided into Zeugitana in the north and Byzacena in the south ; and its most important cities were Carthage, Utica, 799 VOL. xvi. 3 Hippo Zarytus (Bizerta), Hadrumetum, Lep- tis Minor, Thapsus, and Zama. In A. D. 429 it was taken by the Vandals, and a century afterward became subject to the Greek empire, under which it remained till N. Africa was overrun by the Mohammedans in the latter part of the 7th century. Early in the 18th century it became independent. Louis IX. of France in 1270 made an unsuccessful crusa- ding expedition against it, and died before the capital. In 1535 Charles V., after defeating the pirate Khair ed-Din Barbarossa and cap- turing Goletta and the city of Tunis, made the country tributary to Spain ; but in 1574 it was conquered by the Turks. The Moors ultimate- ly enforced their right of electing their own bey, agreeing only to pay a certain tribute to the sultan at Constantinople. The pirates of Tunis subsequently became very daring, but in Cromwell's time received severe chastise- ment from the British under Admiral Blake, and afterward from France and Holland. In 1816 the Tunisians agreed to renounce piracy and Christian slavery. Under Ahmed Bey (who succeeded in 1837) and his successors, Mohammed Bey (1855) and Mohammed Sadyk Bey (1859), various reforms were effected, in- cluding the suppression of the slave trade and of many monopolies and oppressive taxes, the establishment of military conscription and of mixed tribunals, and the creation of a munici- pal government for the capital. French influ- ence has long been predominant in the coun- try. II. A city (anc. Tunes or Tunis), capital of the state, on the W. side of a lagoon near the mouth of the river Mejerda, connected with the gulf by the narrow channel of Go- letta, 400 m. E. of Algiers, in lat. 36 46' K, Ion. 10 9' E. ; pop. estimated at 120,000. It is surrounded by a double wall 5 m. in circuit, and defended by a strong castle, which com- mands the approach from the sea, and by sev- eral forts. Its appearance from a distance is The Bey's Palace, Tunis. imposing, but the streets are narrow and dirty, and the houses generally consist of a single story withoxit windows on the exterior. The town is well supplied with water. Among