THE TOWER OF HUMAN HEADS, IN THE ISLAND OF JERBI. BY T. W. AVELING. THE origin of this singular tower is generally ascribed to the fierce revenge by which the inhabitants of this island were incited, after they had obtained a victory over an army of the Spaniards, that, failing in reducing the city of Tripoli, against which it had been sent in 1561, made an attack upon Jerbi, and in the most wanton and cruel manner sacked the town and butchered the inhabitants. Scattered in various directions, and confident in their strength, they were suddenly surprised by a party of the islanders, who, rallying at a distance from the town, and led on by their chief, Yokdah, whose daughter had been brutally treated by one of the Spanish officers, massacred an immense number of the enemy. Most of those who escaped to the ships were taken by the Turkish fleet, which met them at a short distance from Jerbi, and succeeded in capturing all the Spanish vessels except five, which bore to their country the disastrous intelligence of the total failure of the expedition. The heads of those who fell in the island were all collected, and cemented together, forming a tower, as represented in the accompanying plate. Through the lapse of time, and the action of the sea, it is much diminished in its dimensions, although it is said still to be about twenty feet high, and ten feet in diameter. THE day wore heavily, but when evening came There had been sounds Of fearful import rolling o'er the sea; And with the ceaseless roar of rushing streams, Lay mute and breathless, with the blood-stained brow The conflict o'er-the rage of battle past— A ghastly tower along the wave-worn beach,' In his light bark he skims, directs the eye Oh, plume thy radiant wings, Religion mild! Or in the sunny vales, or on the hills, The kingdom of our God and of his Christ." |