Remarks on the Soil of Bengazi and the Country in its Neighbourhood
— Distinction of Sex in the Palm-tree, &c., noticed by the Ancients
and by Mahometan Writers — Persian Anecdote of a Love-sick
Date-tree — Remarks of Shaw on the Propagation and Treatment
of the Palm — Arab Mode of cultivating the Sandy Tracts in the
Neighbourhood of Bengazi — Journey to Carcora — Completion of
the Coast-line from that Place to Bengazi — Return to Bengazi, and
Departure for Teuchira and Ptolemeta — Description of the Country
between Bengazi and these Places — Remains observable in this Track
— Correspondence of the Tower called Gusser el Towēl with that of
Cafez, mentioned by Edrisi — Probable Site of Adriane — Arrival
at Birsis — Remains in its neighbourhood, at Mably (or Mabny),
considered as those of Neapolis — Hospitality of the Arabs of
Birsis — Remains of Teuchira — Position of the City — Quarries
without the Walls covered with Greek Inscriptions — Teuchira a
Town of Barca — Walls of the City repaired by Justinian — No
Port observable at Teuchira — Mistake of Bruce in confounding
Teuchira with Ptolemeta — Good Supply of fresh Water at Teuchira
— The excavated Tombs of the ancient City used as Dwelling-houses
by the Arabs of the Neighbourhood — Indisposition of our Chaous
(or Janissary) — Route from Teuchira to Ptolemeta — Remains at
Ptolemeta — Port and Cothon of the ancient City — Other Remains
observable there — Ptolemaic Inscriptions — Picturesque Ravines
in the Neighbourhood of Ptolemeta — Position of the City —
Remains of Bridges observed there — Advantages of its Site —
Extreme Drought at Ptolemeta, recorded by Procopius — Reparation
of the Aqueducts and Cisterns by the Emperor Justinian — Existing
Remains of an extensive Cistern at Ptolemeta, probably among those
alluded to by Procopius — State of the Town, its Solitude and
Desolation — Luxuriant Vegetation which encumbered its Streets
when the Place was first visited by our Party — Change of Scene
on returning to it in Summer-time.
The soil of the Hesperides does not now produce that variety of
fruit which we find that it did in the days of its prosperity[1]; but
the palm and the fig-tree still flourish there in great abundance,
and it is merely from the want of attention, and not from any actual
change in the soil itself, that it does not afford the same variety
as formerly[2].
The fruit of the palm-tree forms too essential a part of Arab food
to allow of the necessary precautions being neglected for insuring
the growth and the ripening of dates; but the fig-trees are for the
most part wild, and produce only, a diminutive fruit, which never
comes to any perfection. It is a well-known fact in natural history,
that “these trees are male and female, and that the fruit will be
dry and insipid without a previous communication with the male.”
This peculiarity was discovered at a very early period, and has
been noticed by writers of various ages with much perspicuity and
detail. There appears to have been but little variation at any time
in the mode of performing these operations; and the manner in which
the palm-tree is described, by Pliny, to have been impregnated,
is the same with that which prevails in the present day.
A part of the blossom from the male tree is either attached to
the fruit of the female; or the powder from the blossoms of the
male is shaken over those which the female produces. The first of
these methods is practised in Barbary, (one male being sufficient,
as Shaw has observed, to impregnate four or five hundred female);
and the latter is common in Egypt, where the number of male
trees is greater[3]. Both these methods are described by Pliny,
(Hist. Nat. lib. xiii.) and the whole account which is there given
of the palm-tree and its several varieties is extremely accurate
and interesting. The attachment of this tree to a sandy and nitrous
soil, and its partiality at the same time for water; its inability to
thrive in any other than a dry and hot climate, its peculiar foliage
and bark, and the decided distinction of sex which is observable
in it, are all mentioned in detail by the Roman naturalist.
The remarks of Arab writers on the distinction of sex in the
palm-tree are nearly the same with those of Pliny; and a most
extraordinary confirmation of it will be found in a Persian anecdote
quoted by Silvestre de Sacy; from which it will clearly appear that
an unrequited and secret attachment to a neighbouring date-tree
had nearly caused the death of a too-susceptible female palm!
Osmai relates (says the story in question) that an inhabitant
of Yemama, a province in Arabia, once made him the following
recital. “I was possessor of a garden in which was a palm-tree,
which had every year produced me abundance of fruit; but two seasons
having passed away, without its affording any, I sent for a person
well acquainted with the culture of palms, to discover for me the
reason of this failure. “An unhappy attachment” (observed the
man, after a moment’s inspection) “is the sole cause why this
palm-tree produces no fruit!” He then climbed up the trunk, and,
looking round on all sides, discovered a male palm at no great
distance, which he recognised as the object of my unlucky tree’s
affection; and advised me to procure some of the powder from its
blossoms, and to scatter it over her branches. This I did (said the
Arab,) and the consequence was, that my date-tree, whom unrequited
love had kept barren, now bore me a most abundant harvest!”
The value of the palm-tree is not generally appreciated in Europe,
but it is highly prized in Asia and Africa. The followers of
Mahomet (as appears from Kazwini) believe it to be peculiar to
those favoured countries where the religion of the Prophet is
professed. “Honour the palm-tree,” (says this writer, in the
words of Mahomet himself,) “for she is your father’s aunt;”
and this distinction (he tells us) was given to it, because the
tree was formed from the remainder of the clay of which Adam was
created! It is propagated chiefly (as Shaw has informed us) from
young shoots taken from the roots of full-grown trees, which, if well
transplanted and taken care of, will yield their fruit in the sixth
or seventh year; whereas those that are raised immediately from the
kernels will not bear till about their sixteenth. Nothing further
is necessary to the culture of the palm-tree, than that it should
be well watered once in four or five days, and that a few of the
lower boughs should be lopped away whenever they begin to droop or
wither. “These” (observes Shaw), “whose stumps, or pollices,
in being thus gradually left upon the trunk, serve, like so many
rounds of a ladder, to climb up the tree, either to fecundate it,
to lop it, or to gather the fruit, are quickly supplied with others
which hang down from the crown or top, contributing not only to the
regular and uniform growth of this tall, knotless, beautiful tree,
but likewise to its perpetual and most delightful verdure. _To be
exalted_ (Eccles. xxiv. 14.) or _to flourish like the palm-tree_, are
as just and proper expressions, suitable to the nature of this plant,
as to _spread abroad like the Cedar_[4].”—(Psalm xcii. 11.)
In the immediate neighbourhood of the palm-trees above mentioned (we
mean those to the N.E. of Bengazi) are the sand-hills, which form
(together with the date-trees) the most remarkable objects on this
part of the coast. The occasional mixture of a little manure with
the sand, and the decay of vegetable matter, have contributed to
produce at the foot of these hills a very excellent soil; portions
of which are inclosed within hedges of the prickly-pear and aloe,
and near them may be seen a few miserable huts, the abodes of the
several proprietors. The chief produce of these little gardens may
be stated to be—melons and pumpkins of several kinds, melonzani,
or egg-plants, cucumbers, tomatas, red and green peppers, and some
few of the plants called bàmia.
The sand itself, with a little labour, is also made to produce
very abundantly; so much so, that any one who had seen the place
only in the summer time, would scarcely recognise it as the same
in the winter season, when covered with luxuriant vegetation. The
right of cultivation appears to be general; and a piece of ground
may be said to belong to the first person who takes the trouble
of inclosing and working it. This, in fact, is no more than just;
since the cultivated tracts, in this part of the plain, are merely
so many portions rescued from the sandy waste by the industry of
the individuals who select them; and must therefore be considered
as so many additions made by the original occupiers to the general
stock[5].
The first care of the cultivator is to turn up the sand, and spread
layers of faggots underneath: the sand is then replaced, and over
it is sometimes spread a mixed stratum of sand and manure.
Upon this the seeds are sown, and care is taken to keep the
land irrigated by means of numerous wells of a few feet only in
depth. Some of these are built round with rough stones, but the
water is always brackish, and occasionally stinking, owing to the
quantity of decayed roots, and other vegetable matter, with which
they are suffered to be clogged. By the adoption of this short and
simple process, the sand is soon rendered so productive, that the
Arabs prefer cultivating it, to the trouble of clearing the rich
soil beyond it, to the southward, of the broken stones and fragments
of building with which it is thickly interspersed.
When the rains had subsided, and the health of Lieutenant Beechey
(which had latterly prevented him from travelling) allowed of it,
we set out on our journey to Carcora; in order to complete that
part of the coast which had been left unfinished between Carcora and
Bengazi: two of our party had before made a trip, along the coast, to
Ptolemeta, and returned in high spirits with what they had met with
in that delightful part of the Pentapolis. On our route to Carcora
we had been very much annoyed with a violent and parching sirocco
wind, the heat of which would have been sufficiently disagreeable and
oppressive, without the extreme annoyance of thick clouds of sand,
whirling everywhere in eddies about us, which were driven with such
force into our eyes as almost to prevent our making use of them.
Having completed the unfinished part of the coast-line, we returned
back to Bengazi, and found everything prepared for our journey
to the eastward, through the diligence and activity of Lieutenant
Coffin, who had been left at Bengazi for that purpose. During our
absence at Carcora, Bey Halil had left the town, and pitched his
tents in the fine plain of Merge, a large tract of table-land on
the top of the mountains which bound Teuchira and Ptolemeta to the
southward. The object of his journey was to collect the tribute
from the neighbouring Bedouin tribes, and this is generally a work
of much time and trouble, without which the contribution would not
be paid at all. We had previously arranged with him that Hadood,
Shekh of Barka, should have camels in readiness (on our return
from Carcora) to carry our tents and baggage to the westward; but
finding they had not arrived, we with difficulty procured others,
and set out from Bengazi on the seventeenth of April for Teuchira,
Ptolemeta, and Cyrene.
The road from Bengazi to Teuchira and Ptolemeta lies through a
very fertile and beautiful country, though a comparatively small
portion of it only is cultivated. It may be described as a plain,
thickly covered with wood and flowering shrubs, stretching itself
from the sea to the foot of the mountains which form the northern
limits of the Cyrenaica, and narrowing every mile as you advance
towards Ptolemeta, where the mountains run down very close to the
sea. We have already stated that the space between this range and
Bengazi is about fourteen geographic miles; and the distance between
it and the sea, at Ptolemeta, is no more than a mile, or a mile and
a half; the whole length of the plain, from Bengazi to Ptolemeta,
being fifty-seven geographic miles. The sides of the mountains are
also thickly clothed with wood, chiefly pine, of various kinds,
and the juniper is found in great quantities among the other shrubs
which overspread them.
Ravines, whose sides are equally covered with wood and verdure, cross
the road very frequently, in their course from the mountains to the
sea; and most of these, as there is nothing like a bridge over any of
them, must be nearly impassable in winter. The force with which the
water rushes down the ravines in the rainy season is evident from
the slightest inspection; the ground being furrowed and torn up in
the parts which form the beds of the torrents, and encumbered with
trees and stones of various sizes, washed down from the mountains
and from the sides of the ravines. Open spaces are occasionally
met with in the woods, some of which are of considerable extent;
these were probably once cultivated, but are now thickly covered
with grasses of various kinds, among which we often observed a
great proportion of oats produced spontaneously from the soil[6].
Several towers of very solid construction are scattered over
this plain in various directions; and one of them will be found
to correspond very well with that called Cafez, by Edrisi. It is
situated at about the same distance (four miles) from the sea; and
has likewise a wood to the eastward of it, as he mentions[7]. It
may be reckoned at fifteen miles from Bengazi, and not far from
it, also to the eastward, are the lakes described by Edrisi in
the neighbourhood of Cafez, separated, exactly as he mentions,
from the sea by ridges of sand, and running along parallel with the
beach[8]. The water of these lakes is stated by Edrisi to be sweet,
but it is certainly, in the present day, brackish. The Arab name
of one of these (Zeiana, or Aziana) would seem to point out the
neighbourhood of Adriana, laid down by Cellarius between Berenice
and Arsinoe, or Teuchira; and many ground-plans of buildings,
chiefly dwelling-houses, may be observed at the distance of about
three-quarters of a mile from the lake, which probably occupy the
site of that town.
At sunset, on the second day, we arrived at Birsis, where there
are a number of wells, and mutilated fragments of building,
of which it would be impossible to make any satisfactory plan,
without a great deal of previous excavation. Birsis occupies a very
fertile plain, where there is usually an Arab encampment, and is
distant about thirty-one miles from Bengazi, and seven from the
city of Teuchira. It is five or six miles from the Cyrenaic range,
and about a mile and a half from the sea. A little to the S.W. of
Birsis, are other remains of building, which assume a more decided
character, and appear to have formed part of a town. Several arched
door-ways are still remaining, and some of the walls of the houses
are standing, to the height of about ten or twelve feet from the
present level. The spot on which they stand is now much overgrown
with high grass and shrubs of various kinds, and the buildings have
been occasionally added-to by the Arabs; so that it requires a good
deal of attention to make out their original plans. We were cautioned
by the natives, who saw us making our way through the high grass
and bushes which encumber the ruins, to beware of the serpents,
which they said were very numerous in the place; we, however, saw
no more than two, one of a dark colour, about five feet in length,
and another of smaller dimensions. The Arab name for this place is
Mabny, and Mably (as we heard it pronounced by different persons
residing on the spot); and appears to be a corruption of Napoli,
or Neapolis, with no other change than might reasonably be expected
from the peculiarities of Arab pronunciation[9].
Neapolis is, however, laid down by Ptolemy between the cities of
Teuchira and Ptolemeta; and Mably (or Mabny) is seven or eight
miles to the S.W. of the former of these places; so that it will
not correspond in position with the city which its name appears
to indicate. We may at the same time observe, that in the position
assigned by Ptolemy to Neapolis we could perceive no remains which
were indicative of a town; that we know of no town, described
under another name, as occupying the site of Mably; and that the
resemblance of that appellation to Nably, which would be the Arab
pronunciation of Neapolis, is too close to be wholly overlooked.
Between Birsis and the sea (from which we have already said it
is distant about a mile and a half) are the remains of two towers,
occupying the summit of a range of sand-hills on the beach, and which
we were unable to visit, in consequence of the marsh which runs along
the foot of the range, and separates it from the cultivated land. The
country about Birsis and Mably is highly productive, wherever it
is cultivated, and agreeably diversified with shrubs and brushwood,
among which are a few fig-trees. The plain is here about six miles
in breadth (from the sea to the foot of the mountains); and its
general appearance, as the Arab tents were seen to rear themselves
among the low wood and cultivated lands in which they were pitched,
was highly indicative of what one might imagine of patriarchal
comfort and tranquillity[10]. We found the Arabs very hospitable
and obliging, and one of our party, who had strayed from the rest,
and taken shelter at night-fall in one of their tents, was received
and entertained with great kindness and liberality; a sheep having
been killed expressly for his supper, and the women of the family
employed for two hours in preparing it, in the most savoury manner
with which they were acquainted. While the mutton was occupying the
united attention of the most accomplished cooks of the household,
(the mother, one of the wives, and the two eldest daughters of
the host) another wife had prepared a large dish of barley-cakes
and fried onions, over which was poured some hot melted butter: a
great portion of this very speedily disappeared before the repeated
attacks of the hungry guest, whose appetite for the savoury meat
which was afterwards served up to him was not quite so great as the
dish deserved; the skill of the young wife who had cooked the first
mess was in consequence highly commended by her spouse, who could
no otherwise account for the great portion of meat which was left,
than by supposing that the first dish was most to the stranger’s
taste; never dreaming that a pound of dough, besides butter and
onions, could in any way tend to diminish a man’s appetite.
Six miles beyond Birsis (in a north-easterly direction) are remains
of a much more imposing nature than any which we had hitherto
beheld. They are those of an ancient city, completely inclosed within
walls of uncommon strength and thickness, which are connected at
intervals by quadrangular towers, and entered by two strongly-built
gateways, placed opposite to each other on the east and west sides of
the city. The town of Teuchira (for it is that to which we allude)
is situated close to the sea, which, in this part of the plain, is
distant about four miles from the foot of the mountains. A part of
the town, as well as of the walls, is built upon a rising ground,
and the rest is on a level with the plain; one portion of it (to
the westward) has been built round a quarry, and what appears to
have been the citadel is also constructed on the edge of another
quarry to the eastward, which considerably strengthens its position.
Without the walls on both sides of the town (we mean on the east
and west sides) are also very extensive quarries, in which the tombs
of the early inhabitants of the place have at various periods been
constructed[11]. In these, as well as on the inner part of the city
walls, are a great many Greek inscriptions; such of which as our
time allowed us to copy, will be found at the end of the chapter,
with further details of the buildings; and in the mean time we
refer our readers to the plan of the city annexed.
Teuchira, or Tauchira, was a town of Barca, of considerable
antiquity: its name was changed under the Ptolemies to Arsinoe,
and subsequently (by Mark Antony) to Cleopatris; but its original
appellation has survived the others, and it is to this day
distinguished by the name of Tauchira, or Tocra, under which it is
known to the Arabs.
The walls of Teuchira (we are informed by Procopius[12]) were
repaired under the emperor Justinian, and they still remain in a
state of perfection which sufficiently proves the solidity of the
work. They are built of very massy blocks of stone, conformably
with the statement of the historian, many of which have formed
parts of much earlier buildings, as the inscriptions found upon
them demonstrate.
Very little of the history of Teuchira has come down to us; and we
scarcely know more of it, than that it formed one of the cities of
the Pentapolis. Although it is situated close to the sea, which
washes the northern face of it, Teuchira could never have been a
port; as it affords no protection whatever for vessels derived from
its natural position, and there are not the slightest traces now
visible of anything like a cothon having been constructed there;
which, indeed, it would have been folly to have attempted in the
exposed situation of the place[13].
Traces of Christianity are still visible in the remains of a handsome
church in this city, which may perhaps be attributed to the piety or
the munificence of Justinian, so conspicuously displayed in similar
structures throughout his extensive dominions. The account which
Bruce has given us of Ptolemeta proves evidently that he confounded
it with Teuchira, since he tells us of its _walls_, “which he found
_entire_, on which were a prodigious number of Greek inscriptions;”
whereas there are no remains of walls at Ptolemeta, (with the
exception of a noble gateway by which those which once existed were
connected,) that are more than a foot above the ground; and we have
already stated, that the walls of Teuchira correspond with Bruce’s
description. The same writer adds that he found nothing at Arsinoe,
or at Barca, and we are somewhat at a loss to know what places he
intends to point out as the spots which he considers to have been
occupied by the two cities mentioned. We have given the details
which we were enabled to collect of Teuchira at the end of the
present chapter, and shall therefore abstain from further mention
of it here, and proceed with the other parts of our narrative.
We may, however, remark that it abounds in wells of excellent water,
which are reserved by the Arabs for their summer consumption,
and only resorted to when the more inland supplies are exhausted;
at other times Teuchira (we were informed) is uninhabited. Many of
the excavated tombs, which we have mentioned above, are occupied
as dwelling-houses by the Arabs during their summer visits to this
part of the coast; and from the circumstance of their being much
cooler at that season than the external atmosphere, are certainly
very pleasant abodes.
Here also, as at Carcora, we were very much annoyed with the
parching sirocco wind; and our Chaous, from Bengazi, a very stout
active fellow, was seized, in consequence, with a violent fever,
and was unable to continue his journey. We left him, however, in
very good hands, and he rejoined us, on his recovery, at Ptolemeta.
From Teuchira to Ptolemeta is about eighteen miles (geographic),
and the road between these places leads along the sea-coast, which
gradually approaches the mountains. The soil is excellent, and the
country is for the most part well cultivated; the wood being chiefly
confined to the sides of the mountains and to those of the ravines
which cross the road. In approaching Ptolemeta, the attention
is first arrested by a large and very lofty quadrangular tomb,
constructed on a basis of solid rock, which has been purposely
insulated from the quarry in which it stands, and shaped also
into a quadrangular form. This object assumes the appearance of a
lofty tower, and forms a very striking feature in the scenery about
Ptolemeta, being seen from a considerable distance.
Signor Della Cella has supposed that this noble monument, “veramente”
(as he observes) “di regia grandezza,” was erected by the seventh of
the Ptolemies surnamed Physcon, or Euergetes the Second, purposely as
a tomb for himself.
It is probable, however, that the restless and ambitious spirit of
this prince looked forward at all times to the sovereignty of Egypt,
even after the mediation of the Romans, by which the Cyrenaica was
assigned to him as a kingdom. However this may be, it will be seen,
from the plan and section of the structure in question, (which we
have given in the details of Ptolemeta,) that it was not intended
for the tomb of a single person, but as that of a numerous family,
in which no one appears to have been particularly distinguished
from the rest. There was originally, perhaps, some inscription
over the entrance of the tomb by which the name and the honours
of the persons it inclosed were set forth; but as this part of
the structure has been purposely injured, it is probable that the
inscription, if ever there existed one, was at the same time effaced.
At any rate, though we looked very attentively for some appearance
of letters, we were unable to distinguish any; and we will merely
suggest, with regard to this mausoleum, that it was certainly
appropriated to some family of distinction, (it may be to some part
of that of the Ptolemies,) since there is none so conspicuous or
so handsome in any part of the neighbourhood of Ptolemeta.
The next object which presents itself in approaching the town is
the insulated gateway which we have mentioned above, standing now
like a triumphal arch overlooking the town, but which was originally
connected with the walls. On reaching the summit of the elevated spot
upon which this gateway has been erected, the remains of Ptolemeta
lie before you, stretched out in various parts of the beautiful
plain in which it is built, sloping down from the mountains to the
sea. It appears to have occupied about a square mile of ground,
and a more agreeable position could not anywhere have been chosen,
on this part of the coast of the Cyrenaica, than that which has
been fixed upon for the port of Barca.
The harbour has been chiefly formed by art (one side of it only
being sheltered by nature); and the remains of the cothon are still
very conspicuous, though much encumbered with sand[14].
An Amphitheatre and two Theatres are still visible at Ptolemeta:
the latter are close to the remains of a palace, of which three
columns only are now standing; and the former is constructed in a
large quarry, in which the seats have been partly excavated, those
parts only having been built which could not be formed in the quarry
itself. The interior court of the palace above-mentioned is still
covered with tessellated pavement, and beneath it are very spacious
arched cisterns, or reservoirs, communicating with each other,
and receiving air and light from the court-yard above them[15]. The
remaining columns of this building, which we imagine to have been a
palace, are those which Bruce has described as forming part of the
portico belonging to an Ionic temple, and as having been executed
“in the first manner” of that order. The details of them,
(he adds,) with all the parts that could be preserved, are in
the King’s collection. The proportions and style of the columns
in question do not (we must confess) appear, in our estimation,
to partake much of the early character of the Ionic; but were the
resemblance in reality much greater than it is, the existence of a
Greek inscription which is built into the basement of the columns,
bearing the names of Cleopatra and Ptolemy Philometor[16], (together
with another, turned upside down, mentioning that of Arsinoe
conjointly with Ptolemy and Berenice,) would prevent our attributing
an earlier date to them than the reigns of the sovereigns recorded.
The ravines which form the eastern and western boundaries of
Ptolemeta (particularly that to the eastward) are wild and romantic
in the extreme; and one might imagine one’s-self transported, in
winding along them, to the beautiful secluded valleys of Switzerland
and Savoy. It is true that in the Cyrenaica nature is on a less
extended scale than in the mountainous districts we have mentioned;
but it appears in a form no less captivating on that account;
and we will venture to say, that if a person who had travelled in
those countries should be suddenly dropt into the eastern valley
of Ptolemeta, without being told where he was, he would certainly
suspect himself to be in one of them. He would never, for a moment,
dream of being in Africa—that parched and barren region of desert
monotony so horrid in European estimation. For our own parts we
shall never forget the delight which we experienced, at every new
turn of the valley, as fresh objects of interest presented themselves
to our view on either side of this enchanting retreat.
We had already passed through a very interesting country, in our
journey from Bengazi to Ptolemeta; and we had long forgotten the
dreary swamps and insipidity of the Syrtis, where only _one tree_ had
been seen to rear itself in a space of more than four hundred miles.
It could not, therefore, be contrast that made the vallies of
Ptolemeta appear to us in such captivating forms and colours—it
was the simple impression which Nature’s favourite spots never
fail to create on the imagination—heightened only, perhaps,
by the solitude of the scene, and the wild, romantic elegance of
its character. There are beauties which may be felt, but cannot be
described; and the charm of romantic scenery is one of them.
We will not therefore attempt any other description of the eastern
valley of Ptolemeta, than by remarking that it rises gradually
from the sea, winding through forests of pine and flowering shrubs,
(which thicken as the sides of the mountain on which they grow become
higher and more abrupt,) till it loses itself in the precipitous part
of the range which bounds it to the southward, and which presents a
dark barrier of thickly-planted pines, shooting up into the blue sky
above them. The windings of the valley greatly add to its beauty,
and the scenery increases in interest at every turn, in tracing
it up towards the mountains in which it loses itself. Sometimes
the path is impeded by trees, which throw their branches across
it, leaving only a narrow passage beneath them; and sometimes, on
emerging from this dark and difficult approach, a broad sweep of
verdant lawn will suddenly present itself, fenced in, apparently,
on all sides, by high walls of various-coloured pines, rising one
above the head of the other, in all the grandeur of uniformity. On
reaching the opposite end of this verdant amphitheatre, a new scene
presents itself, before unsuspected; and the rambler, bewildered
with variety, finds himself utterly incapable of deciding which
pleases him most, or when he shall feel himself equal to the task of
tearing himself away from the spot. We confess that, when first we
discovered this valley, the shades of night surprised us before we
thought the sun had set, far in its deepest recesses; and we never
afterwards visited it without regretting that our occupations would
not allow us more leisure to admire it.
Among the trees which clothe the sides of the mountains are many
handsome stone sarcophagi of Greek and Roman workmanship, all of
which, however, we found had been opened; and among them seats of
the same material were occasionally observed to have been placed,
as if the spirits of the dead loved to linger about the spot which
had so much delighted them when living. We should willingly have
devoted a great portion of our time to the same pleasing occupation,
and have passed whole days in wandering among the tombs, in making
plans and drawings of them, and searching for inscriptions: but fate
had not decreed us so agreeable a lounge, and after securing in our
portfolios some of the principal objects of the place, we set out
without further delay for Cyrene, which we had determined (as our
time was now limited) should form the chief object of inquiry. We
had, however, arranged that, on our return from Cyrene, the plan
of the town and neighbourhood of Ptolemeta (which will be found
annexed) should be completed; and that drawings should be made of
such of the most conspicuous objects as had not been already secured,
all of which was eventually accomplished.
It will be seen, by a reference to the plan of Ptolemeta, that the
position of the town was remarkably well chosen. In its front was
the sea; and on either side a ravine, along which are still seen
traces of fortification, secured its flanks from any sudden attack;
while the only passes by which it could be approached from the high
ridge of mountains to the southward, were defended (as will appear
in the plan) by strong barriers drawn completely across them: the
whole town, at the same time, was originally inclosed within a wall
which may still be traced to considerable extent, running parallel
with the mountains at the back, and extending from these, along
the banks of the ravines, to the sea. Two bridges appear (from the
existing remains) to have been thrown across each of the ravines;
one of which is to this day tolerably perfect, and is faithfully
represented, in its actual condition, in the drawing which is given
of it (page 362); several forts were also scattered about in various
directions, both within and without the walls, contributing at once
to the beauty and security of the place. The situation of the town
in other respects was also remarkably good. It sloped down gradually
from the high ground which forms the foot of the mountains at its
back, (and which sheltered it from the southerly winds,) and must
consequently have enjoyed the full benefit of the cool northern
breezes, so grateful in all hot climates. In fact, there is no place
on the coast of Northern Africa, between Ptolemeta and Tripoly, which
can at all be compared with the former of these places, for beauty,
convenience, and security of position, Lebda alone excepted. We are,
however, informed, that the town of Ptolemeta suffered at one time
so severely from want of water, that the inhabitants were obliged
to relinquish their houses, and disperse themselves about the
country in different directions. The reparation of the aqueducts
and cisterns of the town, which, it seems, had fallen into decay,
restored Ptolemeta to its former flourishing state; and this act
is recorded, among many others of a similar nature performed at the
command of Justinian, in the eulogy of that emperor by Procopius. As
Ptolemeta is unprovided with springs, the care of its reservoirs
and aqueducts must have been at all times peculiarly essential;
and we find that its buildings of this class are among the most
perfect of its existing remains.
It is probable that the cisterns we have mentioned above, as being
situated under the tesselated pavement of the edifice which Bruce
calls a temple, were among those alluded to by Procopius. They
consist of two divisions of arched chambers, running parallel with
each other, which are connected by others of shorter dimensions,
running in an opposite direction. They communicate mutually, by
means of small door-ways, of the form which will be seen in the plan
(page 367), and circular apertures were left at intervals in the
roof, which received light and air from the court-yard above them,
and might have served equally as entrances to the cisterns, or as
places from which the water might be drawn up in buckets. They have
all of them been coated with an excellent cement, which is still,
for the most part, very perfect, and occupy a square of about an
hundred feet. We may suppose that these reservoirs were occasionally
available as supplies for the general use of the town, since the
remains of an aqueduct leading from them through the centre of it
are still visible, as will appear in the plan of Ptolemeta. There
are also remains of stone conductors leading into these cisterns from
the mountains at the back of the town, and as rain usually falls in
great quantities during the winter they must have been for the most
part well supplied. We searched in vain for some inscription on the
walls of these buildings which might throw light on the period of
their construction or restoration, but were unable to discover one
in any part of them: the arches which form the roofs are well turned
and constructed in the usual manner, with a key-stone. We may add,
that these cisterns still afford a very copious supply to the Arab
tribes of the neighbourhood, although no care is taken to lead the
rain into them; and we found the water which they contained on our
arrival at Ptolemeta uncommonly cool and delightful.
The greater part of the town, on our first visits to it, was thickly
overgrown with wild marigolds and camomile, to a height of four
and five feet, and patches of corn were here and there observable
growing equally within the city walls[17]. The solitude of the
place was at the same time unbroken by animals of any description;
if we except a small number of jackals and hyænas, which strayed
down after sunset in search of water, and a few owls and bats which
started out from the ruins as we disturbed them by our near and
unexpected approach. Appeals of this kind are always irresistible;
and the contrast which presented itself between the silence and
desolation which characterized the city of Ptolemeta when we
visited it, and the busy scene which a spectator of its former
wealth and magnificence would have witnessed under the Ptolemies
and the Cæsars, afforded a striking and, we must say, a melancholy
example of the uncertainty of all human greatness.
If the exuberant vegetation we have mentioned appeared to be rather
out of its place, it was not less a source of inconvenience than
regret, for we had the pleasure of being obliged to wade through
it up to our arm-pits in making our way to the different buildings;
and it may readily be imagined that this tiresome operation, after
the heavy rains which fell occasionally at night, was no treat
on a cool cloudy morning. The brushing through a turnip field,
or one of mangel-wurzel, which many of our readers have no doubt
often tried with a double-barrelled gun upon their shoulders,
is nothing to the tramping we have mentioned; for not only our
boots and trowsers were quickly wet through with the heavy drops
which we brushed from their lodgments, but our shirt-sleeves and
jackets, and sometimes even our turbans, were also well soaked on
these occasions. A very different scene presented itself on our
return from Cyrene, when the summer heat had begun to exert its
influence. Not a leaf or a stalk remained of all the impediments we
have alluded to, and the prevailing colour of the place, which we
had left a bright green, had been succeeded by a dusky brown. The
corn had been cut and carried, leaving scarcely any traces of its
having been formerly growing; and the ruins were left exposed, in
all their naked desolation, glaring on the eye of the spectator. We
had now to encounter inconveniences of a very different nature from
those which had originally presented themselves; but although they
were by no means less disagreeable, we had reason to rejoice in the
exchange. No impediment now remained to obstruct our approach to,
or to prevent our view of the buildings, and we were able to trace
the plans of them with much greater ease and accuracy than we could
on the former occasions. Having given a general view of the country
and remains between Bengazi and Ptolemeta, we will now retrace our
steps, and notice a few of the ruins which present themselves in
the route with somewhat more attention to detail.
Of the buildings which occur in passing from Bengazi to Teuchira,
the most conspicuous is that which we have already mentioned under
its modern name of Gusser el Toweel (the high tower), and which we
have supposed to be the same with that called Cafez by Edrisi, and
placed by him at the distance of a day’s journey from Soluc. It is
a quadrangular building of about thirty-six feet by twenty; which is
entered by a single door placed in the centre of one of its longest
sides. On one side of the building is a narrow chamber, occupying
the whole breadth of the interior, and on the opposite side is a
low archway, (of not more than six feet in height from the floor,
and sunk about four feet below it,) which is now almost filled up
with rubbish, and of which, we must confess, we were unable to
discover the use. The intervening space is left vacant, forming
a single room of something more than seventeen feet in length,
and occupying, like the narrow chamber which communicates with it,
the whole breadth of the inner part of the building.
A window has been formed in part of the wall for the purpose of
giving light to an upper story, which, together with the window
itself, appears to have made no part of the original plan; an
addition has also been made to the exterior, (marked by shading
lines in the ground-plan,) and forming, with what has been already
described, a square of something less than fifty feet. There is no
appearance of any door in this additional wall, which has been very
strongly built, and it completely prevents all access from without
to the door of the original building. The object of this has no doubt
been security, and the whole structure appears to have been intended
as a station for troops and was probably one of the fortresses
repaired by Justinian. Its height may be about five-and-twenty feet,
(we mean the height of the original building, for the added part
does not seem to have been ever raised to half that elevation),
and it is still surmounted by a cornice part of which is, however,
cut away. There are several other strong towers at no great distance
from Gusser el Toweel, nearer to the foot of the mountains, and a
communication appears to have been kept up all the way from Bengazi
to Ptolemeta. There are also several well-built and spacious arched
cisterns, and other structures partly built and partly excavated,
in this tract of country; as also many subterranean storehouses
for grain; and a month or two might certainly be spent with great
advantage in examining the space between the sea and the mountains,
from Bengazi to Birsis and Teuchira.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Vide Scylax, Theophrastus, and others.]
[Footnote 2: Signor Della Cella has remarked (p. 185,) that there
are _a few_ palm-trees in the neighbourhood of Bengazi, and a tract
or two of land sowed with barley (“alcune palme, e qualche tratto
seminato col orzo”—) all the rest is (he tells us) neglected
and uncultivated. But there are a _great many_ palm-trees in the
neighbourhood of Bengazi, on both sides of the harbour, and a great
proportion of cultivated land.]
[Footnote 3: The following is the process mentioned by Shaw.—“In
the months of March or April, when the sheaths that respectively
enclose the young clusters of the male flowers and the female fruit
begin to open (at which time the latter are formed and the first are
mealy), they take a sprig or two of the male cluster, and insert it
into the sheath of the female; or else they take a whole cluster of
the male tree, and sprinkle the meal, or farina of it over several
clusters of the female.” (Travels in Barbary, vol. i., p. 259-60).
The same author remarks that the palm-tree arrives at its greatest
vigour about thirty years after transplantation, and continues so
seventy years afterwards; bearing yearly fifteen or twenty clusters
of dates, each of them weighing fifteen or twenty pounds[a].
“Si parmi les palmiers (says the author of a treatise on
agriculture quoted by Kazwini, in the words of Silvestre de Sacy),
“Si parmi les palmiers on rapproche les individus mâles des
individus femelles, ces derniers portent des fruits en plus grande
abondance, parceque le voisinage favorise leurs amours; et si,
au contraire, on éloigne l’arbre femelle des mâles, cette
distance empêche qui’il ne rapporte aucun fruit. Quand on plante
un palmier mâle au milieu des femelles, et que, le vent venant à
souffler, les femelles reçoivent l’odeur des fleurs du mâle,
cette odeur suffit pour rendre féconds tous les palmiers femelles
qui environnent le mâle.”]
[Footnote a: Shaw has observed that “the method of raising the
Phœnix (φοινιξ) or palm, and, what may be further observed,
that when the old trunk dies, there is never wanting one or other
of those offsprings to succeed it, may have given occasion to the
fable of the bird of that name dying and another arising from it.”
(So Pliny, lib. xiii. c. 4.) Mirumque de ea accepimus cum phœnice
ave quæ putatur ex hujus palmæ argumento nomen accepisse, emori
ac renasci ex seipsa.]
[Footnote 4: The palm-tree, however, though a beautiful tree, is
sometimes, it appears, a very obstinate one; and the means which we
are told, on Arab authority, should be used to render it more docile
on these occasions would astonish the horticulturists of Europe.
When a palm-tree refuses to bear (says the Arab author of a
treatise on agriculture), the owner of it, armed with a hatchet,
comes to visit it in company with another person. He then begins
by observing aloud to his friend (in order that the date-tree
should hear him) “I am going to cut down this worthless tree,
since it no longer bears me any fruit.”—“Have a care what
you do, brother, returns his companion; I should advise you to do
no such thing—for I will venture to predict that this very year
your tree will be covered with fruit.” “No, no, (replies the
owner,) I am determined to cut it down, for I am certain it will
produce me nothing;” and then approaching the tree, he proceeds
to give it two or three strokes with his hatchet.—“Pray now! I
entreat you, desist” (says the mediator, holding back the arm
of the proprietor)—“Do but observe what a fine tree it is, and
have patience for this one season more; should it fail after that to
bear you any fruit, you may do with it just what you please.” The
owner of the tree then allows himself to be persuaded, and retires
without proceeding to any further extremities. But the threat, and
the few strokes inflicted with the hatchet, have always, it is said,
the desired effect; and the terrified palm-tree produces the same
year a most abundant supply of fine dates!!! (Extract from Kazwini,
Chréstomathie Arabe, tom. iii. p. 319.)]
[Footnote 5: The sandy tract here alluded to is merely formed by
deposites from the beach, and extends scarcely half a mile inland;
the country beyond it, all the way to the mountains, is a mixture of
rock and excellent soil, with no sand whatever, and is for the most
part, as we have mentioned, well wooded and covered with vegetation.]
[Footnote 6: A species of wild artichoke is also very commonly found
here, which is eaten raw by the Arabs; chiefly however for amusement,
as we see raw turnips eaten in other countries.]
[Footnote 7: See the plan of this tower. It is called by the Arabs
Gusser-el-toweel—the high tower—and is seen from a considerable
distance.]
[Footnote 8: Cafez autem est turris sita in media planitie
Bernic, habetque ad latus suum orientale sylvam propinquam mari,
et ipsa distat à mari IV. M. P. Non procul etiam à Cafez,
ex parte orientali adest lacus cum longitudine maris porrectus,
et collis arenæ ab eo divisus, cujus tamen aquæ dulces sunt:
occupat hic sua longitudine XIV. Milliaria, latitudine medium fere
milliare.—(Geog. Nubiensis, p. 93.)]
[Footnote 9: The M is frequently pronounced by the Arabs instead
of N; and the B always for the P, a sound which they have not in
their language; the L and the N are also often confounded by them,
as we find them to be frequently by the natives of other countries.
The Neapolis here mentioned must not be confounded with that which
has been identified with Leptis Magna.]
[Footnote 10: As we repassed the same plain in July, many heaps
of corn and barley were collected in various parts of it, and the
greater part of the verdure had disappeared. We found the oxen of
the place very busily employed in treading out the grain, in the
good old-fashioned way practised before the invention of flails;
while the Arabs, availing themselves of a little breeze of wind,
were occupied in tossing up the grain into the air which had been
already trodden out, in order to separate it from the husks, after
the manner often alluded to in Scripture. Among other instances of
this allusion, we may mention the fragments of Nebuchadnezzar’s
image, which are compared in Daniel (ii. 25.) to “the chaff of
the summer threshing-floor carried away by the wind.”]
[Footnote 11: The practice of excavating tombs in the neighbourhood
of ancient cities, in the quarries from which the stone was
procured for building them, is very general in this part of Africa,
and was probably first adopted from its convenience; little more
being necessary than to shape the excavated spaces to the size and
form required after the stone had been extracted for architectural
purposes.]
[Footnote 12: De Aedificiis.]
[Footnote 13: The water is also too deep to admit of one, and
becomes so on a sudden within a few feet of the beach.]
[Footnote 14: A further description of the Harbour and Cothon will be
found, with other details of Ptolemeta, at the end of the chapter.]
[Footnote 15: See the plan of these in the plate prefixed to page
367. The columns are given in the vignette at the beginning of
this chapter.]
[Footnote 16: The inscriptions will be found in the plate prefixed
to Chapter 14.]
[Footnote 17: After sowing the corn, the Arabs leave it to enjoy
the advantages of the winter rains, and never return to it till it
comes to maturity and is ready to be cut and carried away.]