BUGIA, by the Africans called Bugeiah, a maritime town of Africa, in the kingdom of Algiers, and once the capital of the province of that name. It is supposed to be the Salda of Strabo, built by the Romans. It hath a handsome port formed by a narrow neck of land running into the sea; a great part of whole promontory was formerly faced with a wall of hewn stone; where was likewise an aqueduct, which supplied the port with water, discharging it into a capacious basin; all which now lie in ruins. The city itself is built on the ruins of a large one, at the foot of a high mountain that looks towards the north-east; a great part of whose
walls run up quite to the top of it; where there is also a castle that commands the whole town, besides two others at the bottom, built for a security to the port. The inhabitants drive a considerable trade in ploughshares, mattocks, and other iron tools, which they manufacture from the neighbouring mines. The town is watered by a large river, supposed to be the Nasava of Ptolemy. The place is populous, and hath a considerable market for iron work, oil, and wax, which is carried on with great tranquillity; but is no sooner over than the whole place is in an uproar, so that the day seldom concludes without some flagrant instance of barbarity. E. Long. 4. N. Lat. 35. 30.