Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1815-12-02
THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE.

Extract Of Letter from a yot,sy officer tn tie
sNovy 10 his frieatds.
"Previons to our leaving Tlnis, we made an
excursion to the ruins of Carthage Our captain
accompanied by a number of his officers, Hft the
vessel early in the morning, and having procured
horses, reached the desolate scite of that once
powerful city, at nine o'clock git is situated a.
bout sixteen miles from Tunis, and 8 from the
Goletta, and is, from its antiquity and former
celebrity, justly an object ofcuriosity. We found
the remark of Tasso strictly correct
M frted Carthage source amidst the plains,
A trace If all her ruined pomp remains.''
All that the traveller can now discoveri is a
large extent of loose stones and fragments OF
marble, parts of pillars, cornices, &C. and some
very large cisterns to contain the water for the
city which was brought from great distance by
an aqueduct these are III tolerabte preservation.
We found also number of subterraneous pas
sages leading from one part of the city to an
other, man1 of which are inhabited by families
of miserable, half starved Turks, who appear To
regard with jealousy on contempt, those christi
ans whose curiosity attracts them to their abodes
We were unable to discover all the wonders de-
tailed by Lady Montague and Chataubriand, but
have selected fragment of the palace ofQueen
Dido, which for aught know, composed part Of
the very hall in which Eness relates his periiots
adventures - On our return to the vessel we
immediately got under weigh and made sail for
f-ipolI, concluding that commodore Bainbridge
had gone to that place. September I'd. on our
| arrival there, we learned from Mr. Jones, the
American consul, that the commodore had sailed
for Tunis four days previous. Commodore De
cstur had repeated his demands here for the same
cause, and met with the same success the bash
aw paid thirty thousand dollars and liberated tet
slaves, one ofwhom had been in captivity for fit
teen years He was very friendly and attentive IT,
the Americans when in slavery, and had been OF
service 10 them in several instances. The pre-
sent Bashaw IS the same who reigned during our
war with Tripoli, and remembers the hard
knocks which he received from Commodore Pre-.
bic. The wreck of the Philadelphia remains Just
at the entrance of the bay its stern post and some
OF its ribs, are discovered at low water, but are
somewhat dangerous when hidden, which is the
case at high tide. The commander of an English
~ struck on itw with his barge short time since
and narrowly escaped drowning. The bashaw.
has sort of "a box built out of the upper storyo
his palace to represent the stern of the phllade-
phia, in which We saw him repeatedly surrounded
| by his wives. The Ameri AN character is highl,
respected here, to which the resolute department
of Mr.. Jones has contributed in some degree
No indignIties were offered him during the con.
tinuance of his quarrel with the regency except
upon one occasion being ordered to hoist bis co
iors, he refused compliance, and It was threa-
tened 10 be done by force, but the bashaw desIst
| ed on finding HIM determined. While we re
NAMED he held diyan, to which our Captain was
invited and went, accompanied by those ofhis of
ticers who were provided with chapeaux de bras;
ne made many inquiries with respect TO our
country. and in return for an Indian war cIub
given hun by tie captain, presented silver
mounted Turkish sabre The CITY ofTripoli 1.
smaller than Tunis or Algiers, but It's inhabit
ants arernore civilized, or rather, less inimIcai
10 christians than those of the latter places"
Boston Daily .7duer.iser.