CARTH AG ENA, a sea-port town of Spain, situated in the province of Murcia. It was founded by Asdrubal in the year of Rom.; 5'21. It was first called Al' TV Car thage, being intended by the Carthaginian colonists to rival their A fricanAapital : and afterwards it received front the Romans the name of Carthago Spartaria, on account of the great quantity of spurt or broom which grows in its vicinity. Anciently it was the principal place of a Roman province, hence called Provincia Car thaginiensis ; and the scene of great contention, first be tween the Romans and Carthaginians, and then between the Romans and Barbarians. In the year 421, it was taken and utterly destroyed by the Vandals; but was en tirely rebuilt by Philip 11. for the sake of its excellent harbour. The town stands on the declivity of a hill, and is separated from the harbour by a small plain. On the south and the west are high mountains and barren rocks. Towards the north and cast it is open, and communi cates with an extensive valley, which is of a finely va ried surface, has a fertile soil consisting of a sort of red earth, and frequently returning sixty fold, produces dif ferent kinds of grain, and abounds in elms, poplars, olives, figs. pomegranates, &c. The streets are spa cious, but very IC NV of them arc good. The Louses arc in general flat roofed, and sufficiently commodious. On the top of the hill commanding the city there is a castle, which is rather in a state of decay ; and on the adjoining heights there are walls of considerable strength, erected for the defence of the harbour, arsenal, and dock-yard. The public buildings are not remarkable. They are chiefly the new parade, which is raised on a regular plan—the royal hospital, which is a large establishment, intended for the rt ception of the sick both in the navy and army—the cathedral, which is a miserable pile, and, since the bishop's see was removed to Murcia, has been degraded to the rank of a parish church—the convents, none of which deserve particular notice—the arsenal, which is a spacious square situated to t, e soutn-wr st of the town, under the mountains, defenceless on 1,,e land side, but protected by cannon in its approach from the sea—and the dock-yards, consisting of wet-docks. wnere
the men of war are moored each of them opposite to the door of its own magazine of stores, and of dry-thcks. so much infested with water oozing from the marshy soil, that they would never be clear of it, were it not for se veral fire-engines, which are continually goi..g, and a great pump, which is wrought without intermission by multitudes of Spanish criminals and Barbary staves. The harbour is the best in Spain, so good, that Andrew Doria, the famous Genoese admiral, was wort to say, he knew but three good ports, and these were June, July, and Carthagena. There is none, indeed, which sur passes it in regularity and safety. It is very spacious, and so deep, that vessels may be moored close to the and; and in one position in it, a large fleet may lie in bite utmost security, completely out of the view of all ships that may be at sea, or even in the narrow part of the entrance to the harbour. Its great outline, which is in the figure of a heart, is entirely formed by the hand of nature. On the east and west, high naked mountains rise very steep from the water's edge; and on the north, a low and narrow ridge of hills, on which the city stands, shuts out the view of the inland country. The entrance, which is defended by two redoubts, has the island Es combrera lying off it, in such a way as to shelter it from the violence of the winds and waves. And, indeed, so perfectly is it protected by the high hills which sur round it, that from the mole—which is nothing more than a pitiful platform, though protected by twelve pieces of cannon—the entrance of the harbour and ba sin alone are visible, and even in the time of a storm the water remains calm and unruffled. In the centre of the haven, however, in a line between the mouth and the mole-gate, there is a ledge of rocks, which being only five feet under water, and not indicated by any breakers, is attended with danger to strange ships and careless pilots.