CHAPTER IX.

Barren and desolate appearance of the Country in the Neighbourhood

of Muktáhr — Sulphur Mines at Kebrīt — Extensive Marsh near

Muktáhr — Arrive at Sachrīn, the southernmost Point of the

Gulf — Singularly desolate and comfortless Appearance of it —

Examination of the Coast from the Heights of Jerīa — Extreme

Difference of its Outline from that laid down in modern Charts —

Suggested Causes of this Error — Accumulation of Sand on the Beach

in this Neighbourhood — Alarm of Signor Della Cella in passing

it — Causes of this Accumulation considered — Character of the

Country at the Bottom of the Gulf — Observations of Signor Della

Cella respecting it — Allusion of the Doctor to the Expedition of

the Psylli — Remarks on the Latitude of this part of the Gulf —

Monuments of the Philæni — Record of their Patriotism by Sallust

— Various Positions of the Philænian Altars by the Ancients

— Boreum Promontorium and Oppidum of Cellarius — Suggested

Causes of their Position by this Author in the Bottom of the Gulf

— Observations on the Nature of the Soil of the Greater Syrtis

— Allusion to the March of Cato across it — Island called

Bushaifa at the Bottom of the Gulf — Gradual Improvement in

the Appearance of the Country — Arrival at Braiga — Remains

observed there — Harbour of Braiga — Heaps of Sulphur lying on

the Beach there for Embarkation — Salt Lake and Marsh at Braiga

below the Level of the Sea — Well-constructed Forts at Braiga

— Braiga considered as the Site of Automala — Contest between

the Avarice and Conscience of the Dúbbah — Its Termination in

Favour of the latter — Arrival at Tabilba — Excavations and

Remains there — Tabilba considered as the Maritimæ Stationes of

Ptolemy — Arrive at Ain Agàn — Chain of Salt Lakes and Marshes

said to extend two Days to the South-eastward — Island of Gàra,

probably the Gaia of Ptolemy — Wells of Sweet Water, Two Miles

to the North-east of Shiebah — Abduction of a Lamb from an Arab

Shepherd by our Party — Consequences of this Measure — Departure

of the Dúbbah in search of his Camels — Arrival at Carcora —

Two Boat Coves observed there — Springs of Fresh Water within a

few feet of a Salt Water Lake — Arrive at Ghimēnes — Forts and

Remains there — Excavated Tombs in the Neighbourhood — Change

of Weather experienced — Wasted Condition of our Horses from

Fatigue and want of Water — Hardy Constitution of the Barbary

Horses — Treatment of them by the Arabs — Improved Appearance

of the Country in approaching Bengazi — Singular Fences of Stone

generally adopted in this part of the Country — Causes of their

Erection — Position of Bengazi — Fertile Appearance of the

Country about it — Arrival at Bengazi — Friendly Reception

of our Party by Signor Rossoni, the British Resident there —

Establish ourselves in the Town for the rainy Season.

The country which we travelled over after quitting Linoof was stony

and perfectly barren: no living creature made its appearance there,

with the exception of a single hyæna, and a species of wild bull

which the Arabs call Bograh-wash, both of which ran off on perceiving

us. Our route for the last two days had been over the rocky ground

a little inland, but the coast between Hudīa and Muktahr is low,

with sand-hills here and there almost the whole way; and has many

small bays formed between very low rocky flats, which are in most

parts not more than a foot above water.

Muktahr is the boundary of the districts of Syrt and Barca, the line

being marked by small piles of loose stones; and from here there is

a road branching off to some sulphur-mines called Kebrīt, which are

situated a day and a half to the southward. The sulphur is brought on

camels from these mines to Braiga, where vessels occasionally arrive

to receive it; and it is probably from that circumstance that the

part of the gulf in this neighbourhood is called by the Arabs, Giun

el Kebrit (Gulf of Sulphur). Near Muktahr is a remarkable table-hill

called Jebbel Allah, and an extensive salt lake (Esubbah Muktahr),

along the edge of which we passed for a few miles, and then crossing

a ridge called Jerīa, proceeded on a few miles further to Sachrīn,

where we pitched the tents for the night.

We had now arrived at the most southern point of the Gulf of

Syrtis, and few parts of the world will be found to present so

truly desolate and wretched an appearance as its shores in this

neighbourhood exhibit. Marsh, sand, and barren rocks, alone meet

the eye; and not a single human being, or a trace of vegetation,

are to be met with in any direction. The stillness of the nights

which we passed in this dreary tract of country was not even broken

by the howlings of our old friends the jackalls and hyænas, which

prowled about our tents in other parts of the Syrtis; and it seemed

as if all the animated part of creation had agreed in the utter

hopelessness of inhabiting it to any advantage[1].

Sachrīn may be said to be the bottom of the gulf, and it was here

more particularly desirable to ascertain the exact form assumed by

the coast in terminating this extensive bay. We proceeded therefore,

early on the morning after our arrival here, to the high land which

we have mentioned at Jerīa, for the purpose of comparing the actual

form of the gulf at this point with that which is assigned to it by

the geographers who have hitherto described it. A thick mist for

some time concealed every part, but it cleared off before noon,

and we had then an extensive view of the whole line of coast. We

had the various charts before us, and the opportunity which now

offered itself was as favourable as could possibly be wished. But how

different was the form which now presented itself to our observation,

from that which appeared in the authorities which we were enabled

to compare with it. Instead of the narrow and cuneiform inlet in

which the gulf has in modern charts been made to terminate, we saw

a wide extent of coast, sweeping due east and west, with as little

variation as possible; and in the place of the numerous ports and

sinuosities which appeared in the maps before us, we saw a shore

but very slightly indented, which offered no possible security to

vessels of any description.

The chart ascribed to Ptolemy is the only one we are acquainted with

which approaches to something like the actual form of the coast;

and every step which modern geographers have receded from this

outline has been a step farther from the truth.

It is difficult to say on what authorities the narrow inlet was

originally introduced which terminates the gulf in the charts above

mentioned; unless, indeed, the terms which have been used by ancient

geographers, in describing this part of the Greater Syrtis, may be

supposed to have occasioned the idea. The castle of Automala is

mentioned by Strabo as situated in the _innermost recess_ of the

gulf[2]. And Pliny speaks of the coast inhabited by the Lotophagi

(which he places in the Greater Syrtis) as being equally in the

_innermost_ part of the bay[3]. It may be possible that these terms

have induced the more recent geographers to consider the gulf

as terminating in an inlet, and to hazard, on their authority,

the introduction of that which is now in question in the absence

of any accurate survey. If such meaning can be supposed to have

been extracted from the term used by Strabo, his authority might

certainly have been safely relied upon by those who employed it

on this occasion without any reproach to their caution; since this

geographer himself visited the coast in a vessel, and may therefore

be supposed to have seen what he described. However this may be,

we can positively assert that no inlet whatever exists in the Gulf

of Syrtis; and that the direction of the coast at the bottom of the

gulf is, as nearly as possible, due east and west for a whole day’s

journey together; turning afterwards to the northward so slightly,

that this difference is scarcely perceptible to the eye. A large

tract of quick sand is also laid down by many in this part of the

Gulf of Syrtis; but we have traversed the sand and the sand-hills

which are found here, on horseback, in almost every direction,

and may safely affirm that they afford as good a footing as any

dry sand or sand heaps can be supposed to present. If any other

authority may be acceptable in proof of the extreme dryness of the

sand in this neighbourhood, we have only to cite that of Doctor

Della Cella to put everything like scepticism on this point at

rest. “Woe be to us,” exclaims this gentleman, (in describing

the sandy tract here alluded to) “if a sirocco, or southerly wind,

had unhappily overtaken us in this place, the whole army would have

been buried beneath the sands which the action of the winds here

raised up in waves no less formidable than those of the sea!”

Now if anything like moisture had really existed in the formidable

particles which caused the Doctor such alarm, he might have looked

in defiance at every point of the compass, without anticipating,

with so much well-described horror, the fatal consequences which

would have resulted to himself and the whole army, had the wind

been unfortunately to the southward.

The anticipation of this premature burial was occasioned by the

passage of Signor Della Cella and the army over a long range

of sand-hills thrown up on the beach in this neighbourhood; and

which are supposed by the Doctor to have been blown there from the

Great Desert to the southward. Of this latter circumstance we have

certainly some doubt; and can more readily imagine the “seven hours

and a half of real misery” endured by our traveller, “under

the influence of a burning sun,” in passing the sand-hills

here mentioned, than we can suppose these unwelcome impediments

themselves to have travelled from the desert in the interior. For

all the sand-hills which encumber the beach in these parts, as well

as all others which we recollect to have seen in the Syrtis, are,

in our opinion, blown up from the beach itself, and not from the

desert to the southward.

The tract of country, at the same time, which intervenes between

these sand-hills and the desert is perfectly clear from any

encumbrance of the kind; which could scarcely be the case if the

masses on the beach had passed over it in their passage from the

Sahara; but Signor Della Cella is further confirmed in his opinion

by the circumstance of his not having been able to perceive, though

he looked, he says, very attentively, any chain of high land in

the interior, between the sand-hills which he mentions and the

desert[4]. “In the tract of country which lies at the bottom of

the gulf” he saw nothing whatever but sand, and no hills whatever

but[5] sand-hills.

From this circumstance the Doctor derives a new proof that the

sand-hills have travelled from the southward; and in further proof

of the non-existence of any chain of hills in this quarter, he has

instanced the passage of northerly winds from the Mediterranean,

to find their equilibrium in the southern regions of Africa; which

passage they could not have effected, he supposes, if they had had a

chain of hills to get over in their journey! The Doctor then proceeds

to relate the expedition of the Psylli, as recorded by Herodotus,

in further support of his position[6]; but in telling us that when

these unfortunate gentlemen arrived on the confines of the desert,

they were all of them buried in the sands which there assailed them,

he does not express the surprise which might be expected at their

not having met with a similar accident long before they arrived

at that point; for this misfortune might assuredly have happened

with equal probability before they set out on their journey to

the southward, if the whole of the country, as we are informed by

the Doctor, consisted of nothing else, from the desert to the sea,

but the formidable red sand which at last put an end to them. The

fact is, however, that the “ampia depressione” which is stated

by Signor Della Cella to exist between the bottom of the gulf and

the great desert, is unfortunately interrupted by a chain of hills,

a little inland, of at least four or five hundred feet in height;

and we will venture to assert that, in the whole of the tract which

has here been described by the Doctor, there is no part where high

land does not intervene between the sand-hills and the desert

alluded to. We are sorry to place so substantial an impediment

in the way of the northerly wind, which the Doctor imagines could

not go to the southward to gain its equilibrium if such a bar were

placed in its route; but if the whole country from the sea to the

Niger were never again to be refreshed with this desirable breeze,

we must still be obliged to leave our hills where we saw them in

spite of so severe a misfortune. In stating that the level supposed

to exist between the bottom of the Gulf of Syrtis and the great

desert is not uninterrupted by hills, we must also observe that

these hills are not of sand, and that a great portion of marshy

and stony land is mingled with the sand which the Doctor states

to be exclusively found there. We must at the same time remark,

that the only part where the sand is red is in the neighbourhood of

the sulphur mines; and this peculiarity may be considered as wholly

occasioned by the nature of the soil where it is found. It is besides

of so fine a texture as to partake more of the nature of dust than

of desert sand, which is neither so red nor so light. It is not

raised up in large heaps like the sand on the beach, but scattered

over the surface in little hillocks, on which a scanty vegetation is

occasionally observable. In fact this substance has no resemblance

whatever either to the sand on the beach or to that of the desert,

and it ceases altogether with the soil which occasions it. How Signor

Della Cella could have confounded it with the sand heaps thrown up

on the beach we are at a loss to imagine; for these are considerably

whiter than the desert sand, while the light powder in question is

considerably redder. Besides, the sand-hills continue long after

this substance has ceased to appear; and in the parts where they

are found in the greatest masses there is not a particle of red

sand to be seen. At the same time that we differ on this point

with Signor Della Cella, we must also confess that his conjecture

with respect to the extension of the gulf to the southward is not

better founded than his remarks on the extension of the sand. For

it is somewhat remarkable, that while the shape of the bottom of

the gulf has been so very incorrectly laid down in modern charts

as it is found to have been, the latitude which has been assigned

to it by the same authorities is as near the truth as possible;

and we may safely affirm that the most southern part of the Gulf

of Syrtis does not approach at all nearer to the desert than it

is made to do in the charts alluded to by Signor Della Cella,

notwithstanding the confidence with which the Doctor maintains a

contrary opinion, on the authority of his friend Captain Lautier[7].

It is somewhere at the bottom of the Syrtis[8] that we must have

looked for the monuments erected to the Philæni, had they still

been in existence; it appears however, as we have before mentioned,

on the authority of Strabo, that they were no longer extant in the

time of that geographer. But if the pillars have disappeared which

marked the spot where the brothers were interred, the record of their

patriotism still exists in the pages of history; and the account

which has been given of this disinterested sacrifice by Sallust

may not perhaps be unacceptable to the reader[9]. “At the time

(says that historian) when the Carthaginians ruled over a great part

of Africa, the people of Cyrene were also powerful and opulent. A

sandy plain was on the frontiers of the two countries, the surface

of which was uniform and unbroken, and neither mountain nor river

appeared in it, by which the boundary of these kingdoms might be

determined; a circumstance which occasioned many frequent and bloody

wars between them. After various alternate successes and defeats,

they entered into the following agreement; that certain persons

deputed by each state should leave their home on an appointed day,

and that the place where the parties might meet should be considered

as the boundary of the kingdoms.”

“Two brothers, named Philæni, were appointed on the part

of Carthage, who contrived to travel faster than the deputies

from Cyrene, but whether this was occasioned by accident, or the

indolence of the Cyreneans, I have not been able (says the historian)

to ascertain.”

“Stormy weather (he adds) might undoubtedly occasion delays in

such a country, as well as it is known to do at sea: for when violent

winds prevail in level and barren tracts, the sand which is raised by

them is driven so forcibly into the faces and eyes of those who cross

them, that their progress is considerably impeded. So soon as the

people of Cyrene were aware of the ground which they had lost, and

reflected on the punishment which would await them, in consequence,

on their return, they began to accuse the Carthaginians of having

set out before the appointed time; and when a dispute arose on the

subject, they determined to brave everything rather than return

home defeated. In this state of affairs, the Carthaginians desired

the Greeks to name some conditions of accommodation; and when the

latter proposed that the deputies from Carthage should either be

buried on the spot which they claimed as the boundary, or allow

them to advance as far as they chose on the same conditions, the

Philæni immediately accepted the terms, and giving themselves

up to the service of their country, were buried alive on the spot

where the dispute had occurred. On the same spot two altars were

consecrated to their memory by the people of Carthage, and other

honours were also decreed to them at home[10].”

In the old map of Peutinger (as we have stated above) we find

the Philænean altars placed much farther to the westward in

the neighbourhood of the little Syrtis; but the authorities of

Ptolemy[11], Strabo, Pliny, and Mela, are sufficient to fix them

in the Greater Syrtis; and as they are expressly stated by Strabo

(lib. 17) to have occurred before Automala[12], in passing from

west to east, we must suppose them to have existed somewhere in the

tract of country just described, since the fortress of Automala is

laid down by that geographer in the bottom of the gulf[13]. There

is a difficulty in reconciling the accounts of Pliny and Mela on

this point; for the Philænean altars are mentioned by the former of

these writers as placed on the eastern boundary of the country of the

Lotophagi, which he lays down in the bottom of the gulf[14]. Mela may

be understood to assign the same position to the altars (although

something appears wanting in the text in this part to connect the

two sentences together)[15]; but then he makes the country of the

Lotophagi commence at the Borion (Boreum) Promontorium, and finish

at the promontory of Phycus (answering to Ras Sem), and this will

place the Lotophagi far in the Cyrenaica, and out of the Gulf of

Syrtis altogether, which finishes at the Boreum Promontorium.

It seems to be with the intention of reconciling these accounts

in some degree, that Cellarius has placed a Boreum Promontorium

and Oppidum in the bottom of the gulf. And he is indeed somewhat

justified in doing so, by the position assigned to a city called

Boreum (βοριον) by Procopius, which is mentioned by that

writer as the most western city of the Pentapolis, and distant about

four days from Augila. This is the city which we have mentioned,

in speaking of Hudīa, as having been inhabited by Jews of the

Cyrenaica; it was exempt from the payment of tribute and duties,

and was fortified at the same time with the adjacent country, by the

command of the emperor Justinian[16]. But the Borion Promontorium

is at the same time mentioned by Pliny as the eastern extremity of

the Gulf of Syrtis, as which it is also considered by Ptolemy and

Strabo; so that except we may allow that there were two places of

this name, we can see no mode of reconciling so many contradictory

statements. This accommodation, as we have mentioned above,

appears to have been intended by Cellarius, who has marked one of

his promontories at the eastern boundary of the gulf, and placed

the other at the bottom of it.

We cannot quit this subject without observing that the idea which

appears to have been entertained by the ancients of the soil of the

Greater Syrtis, is not confirmed by an inspection of the country

in question. Cato is described by Strabo as having marched his

army across the Syrtis through deep and burning sands[17], and

Lucan has given so exaggerated an account of the same march, as

to make his description almost wholly poetical[18]. Sallust also,

in his account of the Philæni, describes the “level and sandy

plain, in which these monuments were erected, without either river

or mountain by which they might be distinguished[19]”. But there

is no sandy plain of this description in the bottom of the Syrtis;

and, although there is no river, there are certainly mountains, if

hills of solid stone, of from four to six hundred feet in height,

may be entitled to that distinction.

It is true that the chain of hills at the bottom of the gulf run

in an east and westerly direction, and might not, on that account,

be well calculated for objects by which limits in the same direction

might be ascertained; but the account given by Sallust would lead

us to imagine (as it seems to have done Signor Della Cella) that

the place was without any inequalities of this nature whatever.

Again, if it be true that Cato marched his army over the sand-hills

which appear to have been so laboriously traversed by the army

which the doctor accompanied, it was certainly no very good proof

of the patriot’s generalship; for, with the exception of one

place, where the passage is occasionally impeded by marshy ground,

reaching close up to the foot of the sand-hills on the beach, there

could have been no occasion for crossing the sand at all, since the

country to the southward of it is clear [20]. The same may be said of

the whole tract of country in general, where sand-hills are found in

the Syrtis and Cyrenaica; the sand-heaps being confined to the beach

alone, and not overspreading the whole face of the soil. Indeed,

after passing the bottom of the gulf, the country at the back of

the sand-hills becomes very capable of cultivation, and affords, in

many places, an excellent pasturage. So that if we should consider

the Syrtis in general as a large unbroken body of sand, which the

ancients seem mostly to have done, we should certainly form a very

wrong idea of the nature of the country in question.

North-west of Sachreen, which may be considered as the bottom of

the gulf, at about a mile and a quarter from the shore, is a small

islet called Bushaifa, with breakers east and west of it; and to

the southward is a large marsh, with a ruin on a small rising ground

inland of it: from here a valley extends eastward between the high

land to the southward and some sand-hills on the coast. The road

lies tolerably close along the sides of these sand-heaps, which

in some places rise abruptly from the edge of the marsh, leaving a

very narrow path between the two. It was probably here that Signor

Della Cella and the army which he accompanied chose the passage

over the sand-hills in preference to that along the marsh at the

foot of them; or it may be possible that the water of the marsh

reached too close to the sand-hills when they passed, to allow of

any choice of road at all. We however found the path at the foot

of the sand-hills very practicable, although we were occasionally

obliged to pass singly along it. Had these sand-hills been capable

of suddenly detaching large masses from their summits or sides, we

might occasionally perhaps have been buried _pro tempore_ under their

weight, and might, in some places, have experienced considerable

difficulty in extricating ourselves at all; but we must confess

that we did not anticipate any very fatal effects from the action

of southerly winds; nor did we believe it very probable that an

avalanche of sand would seize the precise moment in which we were

passing under it to precipitate itself upon our heads. Two hours,

we should imagine, would fully suffice for the accomplishment of

the passage between the marsh and the sand-hills, at any season in

which it might be practicable; and if double that time be allowed

for the passage over the hills in question, when that below might

be impassable from the rise of the water in the marsh, we should

conclude it would be amply sufficient. As there is no other part

of the gulf in which it could, at any time, be absolutely necessary

to pass over the sand-hills at all, we are at a loss to imagine why

the army of the Bey, and that of his Roman predecessor, should have

given themselves so much trouble in crossing them. Immediately after

the marsh commences pasture land, and after five hours’ journey

from Sachreen, we arrived at a place called Gartubbah, where we

found some Arab tents, and established ourselves for the night.

The next morning we proceeded on to Braiga, where we were led to

expect, from the report of our Arab guides, that we should find

a harbour full as good as that of Tripoly. Braiga has been a

strongly-fortified post, as appears from the remains of several

well-constructed and spacious castles which have been erected

there. On the western point of the bay which constitutes the mersa

(or harbour) is some tolerably high land, on which one of the

forts has formerly stood; but which is now so much destroyed

and encumbered with rubbish, as to offer little interest on

examination. Along the same range of hills are other remains of

building, originally connected with this fort, part of which we were

induced to excavate, but found the chamber which we cleared to have

been merely a storehouse for grain, or a reservoir for preserving

water. It had been excavated in the rock, on the top of the range,

and may be considered as offering an excellent example of the durable

quality of the cement employed by the Romans in its formation[21]:

for the stone in which it had been excavated had crumbled away,

and left the cement with which the interior had been coated standing

upright in its original position, in defiance of the storms of wind

and rain which must have frequently assailed it from the sea.

We found some Greek and Roman characters traced in the interior,

and the representation of a ship and a palm-tree, of which copies

will be found annexed, together with plans of the forts and of the

chamber excavated. The surface of the cement on which these objects

had been sketched was as smooth and as perfect as it could have been

at any time, and we were in hopes, when we first saw the drawings,

that others would be found on further excavation, and probably some

inscription in Greek or Latin, by which we might have dated these

productions. No other drawings or letters however were found, and

we were obliged to content ourselves with taking copies of those

described, and in making the plan of the chamber.

The ground about this excavation, and, indeed, along the whole range,

was strewed with fragments of pottery and glass, among which we

found a brass coin of Augustus Cæsar in a very tolerable state of

preservation. While the excavations were going on in this quarter

(for the outer wall of one of the forts was also cleared a few feet,

in order to obtain the measurements of the gateway by which it had

been entered) the plan of the harbour had been completed, as far

as it was possible without boats, and the reefs were set down by

bearings and estimated distance. The best landing for boats was found

to be under the high point which we have mentioned to the westward,

on which the fort excavated had been built; and on the beach at

this angle were several heaps of sulphur, collected in equal-sized

masses for embarkation, which had been brought on camels from the

mines to the southward, and were said to belong to Mahommed Ali,

the Pasha of Egypt. South-west of this point there is a large salt

lake and marsh, which are evidently below the level of the sea,

as we perceived a stream of salt water oozing from out a porous

part of the rock on the sea-side, about eight feet above the level

of the lake, and running into it. The land at the east and western

extremities of the lake is so low, as to render it very probable

that it may once have communicated with the sea, and that the

point on which the fort stands may have been an island. If there

should prove to be sufficient water in the harbour of Braiga, it is

probable that good anchorage would be found there, with all winds,

behind reefs of breakers extending across the mouth of it: it may

be easily distinguished by the very high sand-hills at the back

of it, and by the ruin on the rocky point mentioned at its western

extremity. Among these sand-hills are some wells, in which the water,

though several hundred feet above the level of the sea, is perfectly

brackish. Beyond them to the southward is a hilly country covered

with verdure, in which a number of camels were feeding, and numerous

flocks of sheep and goats; but although we found ourselves in the

midst of such plenty, we were unable to purchase a single sheep, in

consequence of our friend the Dúbbah’s manœuvres. At Gartubbah,

which possessed the same advantages, we were equally unable to

succeed in a similar attempt. Among the green hills just mentioned

are several ruins of forts, of the same quadrangular form as usual,

and which have been built with large stones very regularly shaped;

so that Braiga may be considered as a military station, and must have

certainly been one of importance[22]. If it be necessary to give it

an ancient name, we should consider it as the site of Automala, which

was also a military station, according to the account of Strabo[23].

Automala, it is true, has been laid down by this geographer at the

innermost part of the gulf, which must be taken as the most southern

point of it; and the coast had already begun to bend to the northward

before we arrived at Braiga. But a place which would answer to the

description here given of Automala, could scarcely have disappeared

altogether; and there is no place of any kind at the bottom of

the gulf before the occurrence of Braiga. The coin of Augustus,

which was found among the ruins of Braiga, would afford some proof

of its having existed in the time of that emperor, and the form

and solidity of the buildings which are found there sufficiently

point it out as a fortified position. No fortified place is however

mentioned to have existed in this neighbourhood, except Automala;

and if Braiga may not be considered as the remains of that fortress,

it has been wholly overlooked by the ancient authorities, and we

know of no name which can be properly bestowed upon it.

We should be the more inclined to consider the fortifications

of Braiga as those which are mentioned at Automala, from the

circumstance of their vicinity to other remains, which answer

extremely well to those of the _maritimæ stationes_ laid down in

the map of Ptolemy. In this map, the stations are placed a little

to the northward of Automala, with no other place intervening;

and the position of Braiga with regard to Tabilba, which answers

precisely to the _maritimæ stationes_, is exactly that assigned

to Automala in the order here adopted by Ptolemy.

Sachreen may undoubtedly be considered as the extremity of the gulf

in its present state; but a place which was only twenty miles distant

from it might well have been said to be situated in this recess, by a

person who viewed it from the sea, particularly when the outline of

this part of the gulf is considered at the same time. Braiga, from

the sea, must have, besides, been at all times very conspicuous; and

we can scarcely imagine that the fort which stands so high above the

beach there would have been unnoticed by Strabo, had it existed in

his time, which we may suppose with probability that it did. He has,

however, noticed only Automala; and it remains to be considered how

far we are really authorized in assuming these places as the same,

upon the data already before the reader[24].

Before we left Braiga, one of the Arabs of the place brought a

present of five lambs to the tents, and gave them in charge to

Shekh Mahommed el Dúbbah, who, thinking that this would prove a

most excellent opportunity of showing his generosity to the best

advantage, as well as his extraordinary influence with the Arabs

of the place, in being able to procure sheep when we could not

purchase them at all, made his appearance with great ceremony at the

entrance of our tent, with two of the lambs above mentioned. After

many compliments and professions of service, he offered the two

lambs as a present from himself, and begged we would do him the

favour to accept them. As we had lately found reason to be much

dissatisfied with the Dúbbah’s conduct, we did not choose to be

under an obligation to him; and having given him to understand the

reason of our refusal, declined accepting the lambs as a present,

but offered at the same time to purchase them. The old Shekh looked

disconcerted, as we intended he should be, and slowly retired

from the tent. And now began a parley between his avarice and his

conscience, which terminated at length in favour of the latter;

for, though not very tender on most occasions, this inward monitor

of our worthy conductor would not allow him to receive money for

what he knew was already our own, although it did not object to let

him take the credit of presenting it to us. The result was, that he

soon after paid us a second visit, bringing with him the two lambs

as before, but which he now acknowledged were intended as presents

to us, instead of to himself, as he assured us he had imagined:

he informed us, at the same time, that the Arab who brought them

was a shepherd belonging to the Bashaw, who wished to shew us what

attentions were in his power, and had presented us with the best that

he had. The other three lambs, he said, were really intended for him;

but we afterwards found, from the shepherd in question, that the

whole number had been presented to us. We also discovered that the

reason why we could not, on many occasions, procure sheep or goats

from the Arab tents which we passed on our journey, at which we had

often been surprised, was because two of our party, followers of the

Dúbbah, had usually gone before on pretence of reconnoitring, and

had strictly enjoined the Arabs not to sell us anything whatever. We

afterwards recollected, in confirmation of this manœuvre, that the

only times when we had been able to purchase sheep were those at

which we had accidentally been in advance of this worthy couple;

and the Arabs we chanced to meet seldom failed on these occasions

to ask us, of their own accord, whether we did not want a sheep or

a goat, some butter, manteca, or other articles of provision, which

they would have been able to furnish us with, and which they would,

in fact, have been glad to dispose of. We could assign no other

motive for this conduct on the part of our Arab guides, than the

wish of making us as dependent as possible upon themselves, that

they might either have an opportunity of showing their influence,

or of planning with more effect some scheme to impose upon us. Yet

the very same people who would take so much trouble to forward

their own interested views, at the expense of another, would in all

probability consider themselves greatly to blame, or at any rate

highly disgraced, if they suffered a hungry traveller, of whatever

creed or nation, to leave their own tents unsatisfied, should he

apply to them for relief. But such is the inconsistency of Arab

character; and it may perhaps be said, that he who should consider

them as a generous nation, because they practised this species of

hospitality, would be as much deceived in his opinion of them, as

he would be who should imagine that they have no liberal feelings,

because they are well skilled in selfish tricks and manœuvres.

On leaving Braiga, we travelled over a hilly country to the eastward,

and passed two interesting ruins of ancient forts, of which we

contrived to obtain plans. About noon we halted near a bold rocky

promontory, called by the Arabs Tabilba, on which are the remains

of a castle. On a hill just above it are the ruins of a very strong

fortification, which was connected with the castle by a wall of

five feet in thickness carried quite round the precipice on which

it stood. This was defended on the inland side by a fosse of thirty

feet in width excavated in the solid rock; and the rubbish extracted

from it was piled up to form a bank on the outer side. On the beach

are the remains of a wall remarkably well constructed, or it never

could so long have resisted the violence of the surf which beats

against it. It appears to have formed part of a landing-place or quay

which has originally been built in its immediate neighbourhood. The

interior of the rock on which the castle stands has been excavated

into numerous galleries and chambers, which seem to have answered

the purpose of barracks. Some of these are very spacious and very

well finished; but the dash of the sea, which now washes through

the exterior chambers, has completely destroyed their surface, and

has left them in parts so little foundation as to render it very

dangerous to enter them. In fact, the base of the rock in which

these excavations have been made is perforated like a honeycomb

by the continual action of the sea, which now washes through the

hollows with a roar which may be heard at a considerable distance,

and must in stormy weather be tremendous. In one of the chambers

were several Greek inscriptions which have been written with ink

on the walls; but they are now so indistinct, that we could not

succeed in copying more than a few words of one of them.

They are written in what may be called the running-hand of the

Greeks of the Roman Empire, and it is probable that one much

accustomed to this character might succeed, with the assistance of

a strong and steady light, and the frequent application of water

to the inscriptions, in making out more than we were able to do

with the little time we had at our disposal, and the light we

were able to procure. In other parts of the rock were excavated

tombs, some of which were entered by a quadrangular well, in the

manner of those common in Egypt. We found nothing in any of them

but scattered bones, from which we were not able to ascertain the

mode of burial adopted. There can be no doubt that great part of

the rock just described has already been washed away by the sea,

which has here gained considerably on the land; and several wells

are now observable some feet under water, which were of course

originally above its level.

In the wall fronting the south, we observed part of an arch

protruding itself from among the rubbish which encumbered it;

and found, on clearing it, that it had been constructed without a

key-stone, of square blocks, arranged so as to touch each other at

the bottom, and having the interstices above filled up with good

cement, which appeared to be more durable than the stone. We found

other examples of arches so constructed in different parts of the

Syrtis and Cyrenaica. The appearance of the top of the arch just

described had given us hopes of discovering an entrance to some

part of the fortification through the wall in which it was formed;

but we found to our disappointment, on clearing it from the rubbish,

that what we thought would prove the entrance extended no more than

three feet from the external surface; and that all farther advance

was prevented by a solid wall built across it, which appeared to be

part of the original structure. Among the rubbish we found a silver

coin, and several copper ones, so corroded that it was impossible

to ascertain their antiquity.

We should willingly have given a much longer time to the examination

of the ruins at Tabilba than the few hours we were enabled to

bestow upon it; but the lateness of the season left us no choice

on the subject, and we had already spent more time at Braiga than

we could well afford to employ in such researches. It must however

be confessed, that if we had doubted the probability of being able

to return and examine them with greater minuteness, we might have

been tempted to stay longer at many places in the Syrtis than we

should perhaps have been authorized in doing.

We have no hesitation in supposing Tabilba to be the site of the

_maritimæ stationes_ of Ptolemy. Its position corresponds so

well with that assigned to the naval stations in question, and its

remains are so well calculated to induce the belief that they have

originally been appropriated to the defence and accommodation of

a considerable number of men, that we cannot be sceptical on the

occasion. On either side of the promontory on which the castle has

been built is a small sandy bay, neither of which at present affords

any shelter for vessels, but from which the galleys of the ancients

might have been easily drawn up on the beach, when it might not

have been practicable for them to keep the sea.

This mode of sheltering their vessels was common to the Greeks and

Romans, to whom a port, such as in our days would be considered a

good one, appears to have been by no means necessary. We are told

indeed by Strabo, that this part of the coast was very sparingly

provided with ports and watering-places[25], and the harbour which

he calls the best in the Syrtis is now no harbour at all[26]. Mersa

Braiga is in fact the only port in the gulf which can at all be

considered as such, in our estimation of the term; and here the

shelter is only afforded by breakers, and could not prevent the small

vessels of the ancients from being driven on shore in stormy weather.

On the day after our arrival at Tabilba we continued our journey

along the coast, and proceeded to Ain Agàn, passing two ruins

of forts conspicuously situated on the hills. The beach in this

neighbourhood presents a very dreary prospect; but the scene is

much improved after passing the wady, and the country then begins

to be cultivated. Many flocks of sheep and goats soon presented

themselves to our view, and tents were scattered about in all

directions. We procured from the Arabs here a scanty supply of corn

for our horses, of which the poor animals stood very much in need;

but we were obliged to apply for it in a more decided tone than we

had hitherto found it necessary to assume on such occasions, as the

Arabs, though they had plenty, were not very willing to part with

it. There are some wells of brackish water at Ain Agàn, which is

however the best that this neighbourhood affords, and we were glad

to fill all our water-skins with it before we proceeded any farther.

A few miles from Ain Agàn is a remarkable hill, called Aàlum

Limàrish, the summit of which overlooks an extensive tract of

country, and Mersa Braiga may be plainly distinguished from it. To

the southward of Aàlum Limàrish we observed a chain of lakes

and swamps, which the Chaous informed us extended two days to the

south-eastward. They communicated with the wady at Ain Agàn, and

might once have joined the sea; the water in them is quite brackish.

To seaward we observed an island about a mile in length, with

breakers east and west of it extending a considerable distance; from

which we may infer that it was once much larger. The Arab name for

this island (which is Gàra) too much resembles that of Gaia, one

of those laid down by Ptolemy, to leave much doubt of their being

the same. Gàra is situated farther to the north eastward than the

island which we allude to in the map of Ptolemy, and is besides

nearer the coast; but the similarity of the names cannot here be

overlooked, and we do not hesitate to identify it with Gaia. At

about a mile from the shore, nearly opposite Aàlum Limarish, is

a remarkably white rock, about forty feet high, and steep on all

sides; it has breakers scattered about it, and should not be closely

approached till better known: beyond this rock, which is called

Ishaifa, we perceived the sea breaking heavily over another rock,

as much as four miles from the shore, which extends itself in reefs

towards Gàra. There are two other islands laid down by Ptolemy in

the Gulf of the Greater Syrtis; but one of these is placed in the

neighbourhood of Aspis, where we could perceive nothing whatever

like an island, and the other is laid down so far in the centre

of the Gulf, that we could not certainly have seen it had it been

still in existence. On coming abreast of Gàra, which lies about six

miles off shore, we had a good opportunity of observing it with our

glasses; it appeared to be covered with verdure, and we thought we

perceived some appearances of building upon it; it rises in white

cliffs from the sea, in some parts very abruptly, but the table-land

on their summits was green when we passed it. It was in vain that we

longed for some means of crossing over to this island, for there is

not a boat or a vessel of any description to be found from one end

of the Gulf of Syrtis to the other; but we consoled ourselves with

the idea that it would be visited by the officers of the Adventure,

which we afterwards found to have been the case. In passing by Ain

Agàn, the Shekh of the place paid us a visit; but as we found that

we could obtain no information from him, and he soon discovered that

there was little chance of getting any bàkshis from us, the visit

was not of very long duration. From Aàlum Limàrish to Sheibah,

the country is much encumbered with sand-hills, which are however

partially covered with vegetation; and finding we made but little

progress in passing among them, we kept along the beach, which

is hard and level as far as Rhout el Assoud, so called from its

dark colour. Near Sheibah we found the water tasted very strong

of sulphur, besides being brackish and stinking, but among some

sand-hills two miles beyond it there were several wells of sweet

water; a circumstance which it is essential to know, as the water

of Sheibah can scarcely be called drinkable, and there is no other

but that just alluded to at less than two days from the place.

On our way to Rhout el Assoud we passed several flocks of sheep,

but could not persuade the shepherd to part with a single one. As we

were now heartily tired of being so often refused what there seemed

to be no sufficient reason for withholding, we told the man that

we should act as the Bashaw’s people would on similar occasions,

if he did not think more considerately on the subject; which was as

much as to say, that if he would not part with his sheep voluntarily,

we should certainly make bold to take it without his leave; the only

difference being, that His Highness’s people would have taken the

animal without paying for it, while we were quite ready to pay the

full price of it. But the Arab, who had evidently been tampered with

by the Dúbbah, was steady in his decided refusal; and we were too

hungry to wait very long in endeavouring to reason him out of his

obstinacy. Besides, we had already proposed an alternative, and could

not with credit avoid putting our threat in execution. As neither

our dignity, therefore, nor our appetites, would allow us to discuss

with our obstinate Arab friend the propriety or impropriety of eating

his mutton against his will, we judged it better to dispense with

all such logical minutiæ on a subject where the parties were not

likely to agree, and, dropping the argument, we took up the sheep,

and tendered the money we had offered for it. Our opponent, however,

was still as obstinate as before in refusing to take our piastres,

though he saw a fat sheep take its departure from his flock, and

occupy a position upon our Chaous’s shoulders, while nothing

remained to him in lieu of it. We had no doubt, on our leaving

him, that he would change his mind before long, and told him,

in consequence, where we meant to pitch our tents, that he might

come for his money at his own leisure and convenience. But the

sheep was killed and eat, at least a good part of it, and still no

shepherd appeared; and we went to sleep in full assurance that he

would come the next morning before the camels were loaded. During

the night our Arab watch-dog kept up a continual barking, very much

to the annoyance of old Shekh Mahommed, who was always rejoiced to

have any opportunity of finding fault with poor Morzouk, whom he

frequently honoured with the titles of useless cur, noisy rascal,

and other equally flattering appellations. Our whole party, however,

were too much tired with the day’s exertions to pay any particular

attention to this warning; and indeed it must be said that our

shaggy young guardian was too much in the habit of employing his

nights in barking merely for his private amusement, to render any

further notice of him absolutely necessary, than that of lifting up

occasionally the canvass of the tent to throw a stick or a stone at

him, accompanied in general with some little verbal admonition. No

one, however, was kept awake on this occasion, so far as we have

been able to learn, but old Shekh Mahommed el Dúbbah; and we have

reason to believe that his opinion of Morzouk’s sagacity was not

quite so indifferent after this night’s alarm, as it had been

before its occurrence; for the first thing which he discovered on

turning out in the morning, which he usually did very early, was

that three of his camels were missing; and on summoning his people,

and searching everywhere in the neighbourhood, no traces whatever

could be seen of them, but the track of their footsteps in the sand,

with those of a man in their company.

It was impossible not to laugh when the fact became current that

some of the Dúbbah’s camels had been stolen, and we really

believe that every individual of our party, with the exception of

himself and his sons, were wicked enough to enjoy the circumstance,

and to consider it as an excellent joke. No sooner were the traces

observed by the Dúbbah of the man’s footsteps who had carried off

his camels, than he knew them to be those, at least so he declared,

of our obstinate friend the shepherd above mentioned. The man

certainly never made his appearance again while we remained in the

neighbourhood, and it is probable that he took this summary process

of paying himself for the sheep which had been so unceremoniously

transferred from his flock to our kitchen kettle.

Three camels were no doubt something more than a fair remuneration

for the loss of a single sheep; but then something was to be allowed

for the risk of the raid, and everybody owned that the camels had

been lifted in a very neat and expeditious manner, such as would not

have disgraced the keenest moss-trooper on record in the annals of

Border exploits. The animals had perhaps been supposed to be ours;

or it may be that the reaver was not particular as to property,

and had merely contented himself with taking as much as he could

carry off, without reference to the doctrine of retribution. Be

this as it may, the visitation had in reality fallen upon the head

of the proper person; for had it not been for the intrigues of the

Dúbbah, our obstinate friend would have been happy to sell us as

many sheep as we might have required of him; and we were all too

well convinced of this circumstance to regret the loss which the

old Shekh had sustained.

Our stock of provisions, both for ourselves and our horses, was by

this time so much diminished, that we had (we know not whether to

say luckily or unluckily) no absolute occasion for the camels which

were missing; and the remaining ones had little more to carry, in

addition to their former loads, than a collection of empty baskets

and boxes, which could now only serve to feed the flames or the

camels themselves[27]. There was in consequence no occasion for

delaying our advance, by seeking to replace the loss sustained;

and we continued to move on as usual, with no other motive for

discontent than the absence of old Shekh Mahommed, whom we sadly

longed to plague on his indifference to the summons which had been so

loudly and unceasingly given him by the “_useless_ cur Morzouk, who

_always_ barked without the slightest occasion.” But the Dúbbah

had taken horse before the camels were loaded, and was following

the tracks of his lost animals as fast as he could spur his old mare.

At a short distance from Rhout el Assoud, we observed, to the north

eastward, about a mile distant from the shore, six rocks connected by

breakers, under which there appeared to be good anchorage for small

vessels: the coast opposite them is low, and formed in shallow sandy

bays, some of which have rocks extending across their entrance, and

would afford protection for boats. At night we halted at Shohàn,

without having seen a single living object during the day. On

a hill near Shohàn are the remains of a Maràbut, overlooking

a large plain covered with brushwood. From this hill we could

perceive the ruins of two forts situated upon eminences to the

south eastward. On the following day, after travelling eight hours

along a plain, bounded by marsh and sand-hills towards the sea,

we reached Carcora, where we hoped to find the place described

by Captain Lautier on the north side of the bay, in which he

states that he discovered an ancient well containing many Greek

inscriptions[28]. All our researches, however, on this point were

unavailing; and the Arabs we met with about Carcora were all positive

in affirming that no such well existed. We had the more reason to

regret our failure, as the inscriptions (should they have turned

out to be legible) would most probably have given us names and

dates which might have been essentially useful to us, and could

scarcely have failed of being interesting. There are at Carcora

two coves which would serve for boats; they may be known by some

high sand-hills lying between them, and by two ruins situated upon

the hills inland nearly abreast of them[29]. With the exception

of these coves, there is nothing whatever of any interest on the

coast between Carcora and Bengazi. Inland, however, there are many

ruins of ancient forts, and considerable remains of building, which

become more numerous and interesting as they approach Bengazi. At

Ghimenes, which is a day’s journey to the northward of Carcora,

there are several interesting remains of ancient forts; some of

which are altogether on a different plan from those which have been

already described. They are built of large unequal-sized stones,

put together without any cement, and made to fit one into another in

the manner which has been called Cyclopian. Their form is a square,

with the angles rounded off, and some of them are filled up with

earth, well-beaten down, to within six or eight feet of the top;

the upper part of the wall being left as a parapet to the terrace,

which is formed by the earth heaped within it.

In the centre of the terrace we sometimes found the foundations of

building, as if chambers had been erected upon it; the roofs of

which, in that case, must have been higher than the outer walls

which formed the parapet; and a space seems always to have been

left between these central buildings and the parapet, in which the

garrison placed themselves when employed in defending the fort. An

opening like a window was observed in the parapet of one of the

Cyclopian castles at Ghimenes, which might have been used for

drawing up those who entered the fort, as there was no other mode

of entrance whatever. In fact there could scarcely have been any

communication between the upper and lower parts of these erections;

for the whole space between the walls was filled up with earth in the

manner already related, to within a few feet of the top. We noticed

near most of them a small rising ground, with one or two wells in

it, having remains of building about it; they were generally within

fifty yards of the fort, by which they were commanded.

The castles have most of them been surrounded with a trench, on the

outer side of which there is generally a low wall strongly built

with large stones. Some of the trenches which have been excavated

in the solid rock of the soil are of considerable depth and width;

and in one instance, occurring between Ghimenes and Bengazi, we

observed chambers excavated in the sides of the trench, as we find

to be the case in that which surrounds the second pyramid, and which

is equally formed in the rocky soil on which the building stands,

although of course on a much larger scale. The trench of the fort

here alluded to is about five-and-twenty feet in width, and its

depth about fifteen; the fort itself is an hundred and twenty-five

feet in length, and ninety in width, of a quadrangular form, and

in the centre of each of its sides is a quadrangular projection,

sloping outwards from the top, of twenty feet in length by twelve,

which appears to have served both as a tower and a buttress.

The measurements are here given in the rough, but they will be found

in detail by a reference to the ground-plan and elevation No. 9,

in the plate containing the details of some of the forts which have

been noticed in the course of the journey.

In some instances we found wells in the trenches surrounding the

forts, at others, within the outer walls; and more frequently without

the forts altogether, among traces of building in their immediate

vicinity. The remains of building last mentioned were sometimes very

considerable; but the ground-plans alone of these are now extant,

from which little more may be collected than that the chambers were

built in squares, ranged in line with some attention to regularity,

though differing a good deal in size. Tombs are occasionally found

excavated in the neighbourhood of such forts as are built on a rocky

soil; but we never were fortunate enough to find any thing in them

which could point out decidedly the mode of burial which had been

adopted. Some of these were entered by wells of different depths,

and others by approaches cut in the rock, sloping down from the

upper part of the door, like those in front of the Kings’ tombs

at Thebes.

The remains about Ghimenes and Imshaila may answer to those of

the Diachersis Præsidium of Ptolemy; but we are not aware of any

remains which may be pointed out on the coast as those of the Turris

Herculis, or of the Diarrhœa Portus, of this geographer.

When we had arrived within a day’s journey of Bengazi, the

weather, which had hitherto been very fine for the time of year,

began to show that the rainy season had commenced in good earnest,

and we congratulated ourselves in having escaped it so long; for

had the bad weather overtaken us sooner, it would effectually have

put an end to our researches, and obliged us to advance as fast as

possible upon Bengazi, the only place which could have sheltered us

between Mesurata and Derna. Indeed, it would have been difficult to

make any progress at all; for the ravines would, in a few hours,

have assumed the form of torrents, and the marshy ground have

become everywhere dangerous, and in most places wholly impassable;

our camels besides would have fallen every moment under their loads,

as they cannot keep their feet in slippery weather, and some of our

horses would certainly have sunk under the exertions which would

have been necessary to overcome these additional disadvantages. As

it was, we had been obliged to lead two of the horses for several

days before our arrival at Bengazi, and it would indeed be thought

extraordinary, by those accustomed only to the horses of Europe,

that any of them arrived there at all after the fatigues and

privations which they had endured. They had all of them been rode

through the whole of the day, over a country without any roads,

for more than two months successively, exposed to the heat of the

sun during the day, and without any shelter from the cold and damp

of the night; while at the same time, instead of having any extra

allowance to enable them to support this exertion, they were often

left, unavoidably, for more than four-and-twenty hours, without

anything whatever to eat or drink, and on one occasion were as much

as four days without a drop of water of any kind. It may therefore

be readily imagined that they were not in very excellent condition

before half the journey had been accomplished, and indeed it was

distressing to see the wasted carcasses which most of them presented

on arriving in the neighbourhood of Bengazi; but we may venture to

say that few, if any, European horses, under similar circumstances,

would have survived the journey which they performed at all; much

less have displayed the activity and spirit which never left them,

under so much fatigue and privation.

We were often amused, in spite of his forlorn condition, with the

spirit exerted on all occasions by an old white horse, which was

rode by one of our servants; he had belonged for many years to a

soldier of the Bashaw, and his face was well known to all the Arabs

of Bengazi, as a constant appendage to the army which came there

occasionally to collect the tribute. This fine-spirited animal,

before the journey was half over, had scarcely a leg to stand upon,

yet he never for a moment forgot his military habits, and would

arch his neck, and curvet, and throw himself back on his haunches

at the slightest application of the spur. No fatigue or exhaustion

could ever make him forget that he had once been a charger of

some consideration: even in walking he would lift up his legs, and

step out, with all the parade and importance of a horse trained at

Astley’s or the Circus; throwing his head about, at the same time,

from one side to the other, as if he took a delight in displaying

his long mane, and shewing himself off to advantage.

It may well be supposed that no exertions of our own were at any

time wanting to procure food and water for the weary animals who

had so amply deserved them; but we could only carry a certain

portion of corn with us from Tripoly, and when this was exhausted

we were obliged to depend upon occasional supplies from the Arab

tents we met with in our route, and the scanty pasturage which the

Syrtis afforded.

The distance at which some of the wells were placed from each other

was the occasion of our being often without water; and our horses,

though suffering greatly from thirst, would frequently refuse to

drink the water which we were glad to drink ourselves, when it

chanced to be more than usually brackish.

It often happened when they had been long without water, or were more

than ordinarily fatigued with the day’s exertions, that some of

them would refuse to eat at all, though they had been without food

the whole of the day, as well as all the night which preceded it.

They were never in the habit of being fed more than once a day,

which was in the evening, when we stopped for the night; so that if

they refused to eat their corn at that time, or before starting the

next morning, it was more than probable that they would get nothing

till the tents were pitched again, after sunset, on the evening

succeeding. Under these circumstances they would perhaps have to

trot hard the whole day, and occasionally to gallop, when we were

pressed for time; sometimes along the loose sand on the beach, and

at others up and down hill in every direction, wherever there was

anything to examine: all this often happened during a hot southerly

wind, and under a burning sun, which kept them in a continual fever,

without their appearing to sustain any particular inconvenience,

or to be more than usually exhausted at night[30].

The habit of feeding horses only once a day is common in Africa under

the most favourable circumstances. Their meal is after sunset, and

before their corn is given them they are generally allowed to drink

as much as they like. After this they get neither corn nor water

till the same time on the following day. Some of the Arabs make a

constant practice of obliging their horses to go two days without

drinking, in order to accustom them to support with a better grace

the privations they must occasionally be exposed to in the desert;

a mode of training which would probably have the same effect on

our English horses as that which is said to have resulted from the

well-known experiment of the Frenchman, who had just contrived to

make his horse do without food, when he was unluckily prevented

by the death of the animal from availing himself of so important

an advantage.

A few weeks’ repose in a comfortable stable at Bengazi was,

however, sufficient to restore most of our horses to their former

strength and condition; and they afterwards carried us in very good

style over the steep woody hills and rugged passes of the Cyrenaica.

From Carcora to Bengazi the country improves at every step, and

we soon found ourselves surrounded by extensive crops of barley

and abundance of excellent pasturage: this increase of produce

was naturally attended by a corresponding increase of population,

and numerous flocks and herds were everywhere seen where the soil

was not appropriated to cultivation. A great part of the country

from Ghimenes to Bengazi is encumbered by blocks of stone, placed

upright in long lines, which are crossed at right angles by others,

so as to form a complete labyrinth of inclosures. This peculiarity

appears to be occasioned by the nature of the soil, which, although

rich and excellent, is covered everywhere with a surface of stone

of various thickness, which it is of course necessary to break

up and remove, in order to cultivate the soil beneath it. To move

the blocks, which are taken up altogether from the ground, would

be an endless and perhaps a superfluous labour; and they have

accordingly been ranged in the manner we have mentioned, serving

at the same time as boundaries to property and as impediments to

the approach of an enemy. Before we were well acquainted with the

nature of these inclosures, we thought to pass in a straight line

across them to the several ruins which attracted our attention;

but after leaping our horses over some of them, and making them

scramble over others, we soon found the labour was endless;

and that the longest way about, as the old proverb teaches us,

was in reality the shortest way home. Instead of attempting,

in consequence, to advance any farther in a direct line to the

object of our inquiry, we sought for some path between the walls

which might lead us as near to it as possible. After some little

trouble, we discovered that long alleys were occasionally left in

different directions, serving as roads to the places of greatest

resort. These we afterwards found it most advisable to follow,

though they did not lead us quite in the direction we wished;

and having got as near to our object as they could carry us, we

had seldom many walls to scramble over before we reached the place

where it stood. It is probable that some of these walls are of very

considerable antiquity; for the soil in this neighbourhood could

not at any time have been cultivated without removing the crust of

stone from its surface; but we could not discover any inscriptions

upon them, though we often examined them with the hope of being

able to do so. We observed that in the vicinity of the forts the

walls were usually placed much closer together, and the inclosures

were in consequence smaller than in other parts.

The extensive plain in which the town of Bengazi is situated, is

bounded to the southward by the range of high land, on whose summit

Cyrene once stood so conspicuously; and the whole of the plain at

the foot of this range is covered with vegetation from the hills to

the sea. The sight, we believe, was refreshing to all parties; for

our very horses and camels appeared to partake of the pleasure which

we could not avoid feeling ourselves in contemplating so agreeable

a scene. One of our party was dispatched in advance to Bengazi,

accompanied by the Bashaw’s Chaous, to apprize the British resident

of our approach, and to concert with him such measures as might be

necessary for our accommodation in the town, where the violence and

long duration of the winter-rains would oblige us, we well knew, to

remain for some time. It was night before they reached the salt lake

by which Bengazi is nearly surrounded, and which it was necessary

to cross before they entered the town; the rains which had already

fallen had swelled it more than the Chaous had anticipated, and the

darkness of the night rendered it difficult for him to find the spot

at which it was necessary to ford it. After wandering about the banks

for some little time in uncertainty, and trying several plans without

success, they at length reached the opposite shore; though not before

their horses had plunged into several holes, from which they could

only extricate themselves by swimming. On the following day our

whole party arrived at Bengazi, and were received with every mark of

attention and politeness by Signor Rossoni, the British Vice-Consul,

to whom the necessary instructions from Mr. Consul Warrington had

already been forwarded. We found that Signor Rossoni was already

in treaty for the house of an Arab Shekh, one of the best which the

place afforded, and only waited our arrival to arrange the terms on

which we were willing to take it: these were soon settled, and we

took possession of our new abode the day after our arrival in the

town, and began to make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances

would allow, under the disadvantages of a rainy winter, at Bengazi.

Bengazi is allowed to have been built upon the site once occupied

by the town of Berenice, the most western city of the Pentapolis;

but before we proceed to describe this part of the Cyrenaica,

it will be proper to look back upon the tract of country already

before the reader, and, in taking a general view of the gulf and

shores of the Greater Syrtis, to bring together some of the most

prominent remarks of ancient writers respecting it.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: In this neighbourhood was the cave of the formidable

Lamia, so much dreaded by the children of the ancients. It is

described by Diodorus as situated in a deep valley formed in the

rocks which occur soon after Automala; that is, in passing from

east to west, for such was the course of the army of Ophellas,

which is stated by the historian to have passed it in their route

to join the forces of the tyrant Agathocles. The account which he

gives of this afflicted royal lady, whose misfortunes at length

rendered her so savage and remorseless, is such as to render it

probable (if the story may be relied upon) that she really at one

time existed in this part of Africa. At least the mode in which

the fabulous parts of her history are accounted for appears to

be sufficiently rational, and the place of her residence is very

decidedly pointed out.—(See Diod. lib. xx. p. 753—4.)]

[Footnote 2: Ιδρυμενον κατα τον μυχον του κολπου παντος·—Lib.

xvii. p. 836.]

[Footnote 3: In _intimo sinu_ fuit ora Lotophagon, &c.—Nat. Hist.

lib. v. cap. 5.]

[Footnote 4: Ho pure fatto attenzione in tutti questi giorni se

scorgera, _anche in distanza, alcuna schiera di monti che da ponente

si protendesse al levante_, onde riconoscere se la giogaia dell’

Atlante realmente si prolonga ne’ monti della Cirenaica, o bensì

se rimpetto al Golfo della Gran Sirte fosse interrotta. Ma nulla

ho osservato che possa confermare questa prolungazione. (P. 91),

Ital. edition.]

[Footnote 5: . . . Giacchè in quest’ ultimo recinto del Mediterraneo

non _ho visto che sabbie ne altri monti che di sabbie_. (P. 92.)]

[Footnote 6: The Psylli we are told by Pliny, on the authority of

Agatharcides, were so called from their King Psyllus, whose tomb

is said to have been somewhere in the Greater Syrtis. They were

remarkable for their power of charming serpents; and possessed some

innate quality of body which was considered to be destructive to

these reptiles; so much so that the very smell of them was supposed

to lull a serpent asleep. They had a singular custom of exposing

their children to the most venomous kinds of serpents, in order to

convince themselves of their legitimacy. If the serpents, on whom

the trial was made, did not fly from the children exposed to them,

it was concluded to be a proof of decided illegitimacy, since the

animals, they imagined, could not avoid doing so, had the infants

been really descended from this gifted tribe.

It has been observed by other writers, that the Psylli merely

cured the bite of serpents by sucking the poison from the wound,

and that they were therefore more indebted for their reputation to

their courage, than to any peculiar qualification of nature.]

[Footnote 7: Ed io inclino tanto più a credere quest’ ampia

depressione di suolo giungere fino al gran deserto, poichè per

quanto posso congetturare dal cammino fatto non sarebbe improbabile

che l’estremità del golfo si prolungasse assai più a mezzodì

di quel che trovasi nelle migliori carte, nelle quali non saprei

sopra qual fondamento è stata stabilita. È per me di qualche peso

la relazione del Cap. Lautier, il quale non navigò certamente

oltre il 30° 27′ 11″ di latitudine, ma da questo punto non

iscoprì il fondo del golfo, nè v’ era apparenza di prossimità al

continente. Ho ferma credenza che migliori osservazioni confermeranno

questa mia congettura.—(p. 94.)]

[Footnote 8: For Strabo tells us (lib. iii. p. 171), in alluding

to the custom practised by the ancients, of erecting columns on

particular occasions, that the monuments raised to the memory of

the Philæni were situated nearly midway in the Syrtis—at least,

such is the sense in which we must take this passage, to make it at

all consistent with the position allotted to the Philænean altars in

the seventeenth book. Although we may certainly read in the passage

we are about to quote, above mentioned, “midway in the country

_between_ the _Syrtes_”—for the Syrtes are here mentioned in

the plural—and this circumstance would otherwise rather tend to

confirm the position of the altars in the table of Peutinger (as

mentioned by Cellarius, lib. iv. cap. 3, sec. 3.) which is between

the two Gulfs of Syrtis. “At, in Peutingeriana tabula vetusta,

(says Cellarius) redactæ hæ aræ sunt fere ad minorem Syrtim,

ut dubitare possis de situ et positione ex tot auctoribus jam

descripta.” Strabo’s words are—και ὁι φιλαινων λεγομενοι

βωμοι, κατα μεσην, που, την μεταξυ των Συρτεων γην.]

[Footnote 9: Bell. Jugurth. (79.)]

[Footnote 10: Major Rennell has observed on this subject—“At the

date of Hannibal’s expedition to Italy, B. C. 217, the Carthaginian

empire extended eastward to the Philænean altars, which stood at

the south-east extremity of the Greater Syrtis. The story of the

Philæni, as it is told, is in some points very improbable. It

is said that the parties set out from their respective capitals,

Carthage and Cyrene, and met at the place where the altars afterwards

stood. Now the altars were situated at about seven-ninths of the

way from Carthage towards Cyrene; and the deception would have

been too gross had it been pretended that the Carthaginian party

had travelled seven parts in the nine, while the Cyrenean party had

travelled no more than two such parts of the way. Would either party

have trusted the other with the adjustment of the time of setting

out? Perhaps they mutually set out at the opposite extremes of the

territory in dispute, and not from their respective capitals.”]

[Footnote 11: That is, if we may read the passage in the third book

of Strabo, quoted above, in the sense which we imagine he intended;

if not, he contradicts himself.]

[Footnote 12: Ειθ᾽ οι φιλαινων βωμοι και μετα τουτους Αυτομαλα φρουριον,

φυλακην εχον, ιδρυμενον κατα τον μυχον του κολπου παντος.—Lib. xvii.]

[Footnote 13: We have adopted the positions assigned by Strabo to

these places, as being more exactly defined; and because it may

be presumed that he saw the objects which he describes, with the

exception of the altars of the Philæni, which he has stated to

have been no longer extant in his time.]

[Footnote 14: Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 5.]

[Footnote 15: Ejus promontorium est Borion, ab eoque incipiens

ora quam Lotophagi tenuisse dicuntur, usque ad Phycunta (et id

promontorium est) importuoso litore pertinet. Aræ ipsæ nomen ex

Philænis fratribus traxere, qui contra Cyrenaicos missi, &c.—De

Situ Orbis, lib. i. cap. vii.]

[Footnote 16: Vide Procopius (De Ædificiis, lib. v.)]

[Footnote 17: . . . ωδευσε δε πεζος εν αμμω βαθεια και καυμασι.—Lib.

xvii. p. 836.]

[Footnote 18: Pharsalia, lib. ix.]

[Footnote 19: Ager in medio arenosus, una specie; neque flumen, neque

mons erat, qui finis eorum discerneret, &c.—(Bell. Jugurth. 79.)]

[Footnote 20: The water is, however, more frequently found among the

sand on the beach than elsewhere; but it scarcely seems necessary

that the whole extent of the sand-hills should be traversed by the

army on this account. Their guides must have known where the water

was to be found, without the necessity of traversing so many miles

of sand-heaps in search of it.]

[Footnote 21: We have already assumed that the greater number of

the forts in the Syrtis have, in our opinion, been constructed by

the Romans.]

[Footnote 22: A few miles inland of Braiga, at a place called

Attallàt, are the remains of a castle, whose outer walls are still

standing to a considerable height; it is a quadrangular building,

surrounded by a trench; and within it we observed the remains of

an arch constructed without a key-stone, in the manner of one at

Tabilba, which we shall allude to in describing that place.]

[Footnote 23: Αυτομαλα φρουριον, φυλακην εχον, &c.

It appears, upon the authority of Diodorus Siculus, that the fortress

of Automala was already erected when Cyrene was first occupied

by the troops of Ptolemy Lagus: for the army which was led by his

general Ophellas to the assistance of the tyrant Agathocles, then

at war with the Carthaginians, pitched their tents, we are told,

in the neighbourhood of Automala, having consumed eighteen days in

their march to that fortress from the Cyrenaica.

Οκτω και δεκα μεν ουν ημερας οδοιπορησαντες, και διελθοντες

σταδιους τρισκιλιους, κατεσκηνωσαν περι Αυτομαλας.—Lib. xx. p. 753-4.

If it could be positively ascertained from what point of the

Cyrenaica the army of Ophellas set out on their journey across the

Syrtis, we should have the position of Automala sufficiently well

ascertained; but the historian merely states, that when everything

was prepared for the expedition, Ophellas set his army in motion,

without mentioning the precise point from which they set out,

and that the distance which they accomplished in eighteen days,

as far as Automala, was three thousand stadia. Had there been any

point in the bottom of the gulf which could be decidedly fixed upon

as the μυχος, or innermost recess of it, in which Strabo has

placed Automala, there would be no occasion for any other evidence

of its position; but the coast is so straight at the bottom of the

gulf, that it is not possible to fix with accuracy upon any one

point which may be taken as the μυχος in question. Sachreen is

certainly the most southern point, but the difference of latitude

between this place and the other parts of the coast which form the

bottom of the gulf is so trifling, that it can scarcely be said to

amount to anything at all.

Braiga is the nearest place to Sachreen where any remains are found

which will answer to Automala, and that is twenty miles distant

from it, in making the circuit of the coast.]

[Footnote 24: It may be added, that the forts in the neighbourhood

of Braiga and Tabilba, erected among the hills a little inland, are

very interesting, and much more perfect than usual. A fortnight or

three weeks might be very profitably and agreeably spent in making

out the interior ground-plans of these buildings.]

[Footnote 25: Εχει δε το μεταξὺ διαστημα και λιμενες ου πολλους,

υδρεια δε σπανια.—Lib. xvii. p. 836.]

[Footnote 26: That of Aspis—καλλιστος των εν τη Συρτει.]

[Footnote 27: It must be observed, that an old wicker-basket is

by no means an unsavoury dish for a hungry camel, and the animals

in question had already dined off much tougher materials; for the

date-stones which we had occasionally given them, in the absence of

other tenderer meat, were eaten up with a relish which left little

room for doubting the speedy disappearance of hampers and baskets,

whenever we might afford to serve them up as entremets.]

[Footnote 28: Nel fondo di questo seno v’ ha un pozzo di acqua

dolce, ove si attinge a una grandissima profondità, sopratutto in

estate. È rotondo, con una scalinata interna, per la quale vi si puo

facilmente discendere. Ad ogni dieci scalini vi si trovano scolpite

inscrizione in Greco. Furono impiegate nel mese di Settembre ottanta

tre braccia di corda per attignerle l’ acqua.—(Della Cella:

Viaggio da Tripoli, &c. p. 220-21.)]

[Footnote 29: At the foot of the sand-hills at Carcora there are

some springs of fresh water, remarkably sweet and good, within a

few feet of an extensive salt-marsh, and on the same level with

it. The circumstance is worthy of remark, although there are other

instances of similar occurrences.]

[Footnote 30: The horses, when we stopped, were ranged in a line

along a thick cord, to which their fore legs were fastened; and

a smaller cord was passed from this to one of their hind legs,

to prevent them from kicking one another.]

[Illustration: _CHART_

_Shewing the difference between the coastlines as delineated in

former charts and that obtained by the late Survey the shaded line

representing the latter made in 1821 & 1822._

_By Captn. F. W. Beechey R.N._

_J. & C. Walker Sculpt._

_Published as the act directs, April 1827, by J. Murray, Albemarle

St. London._]