CHAPTER XIII.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Vide Scylax, Theophrastus, and others.[2]Signor Della Cella has remarked (p. 185,) that there area fewpalm-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 agreat manypalm-trees in the neighbourhood of Bengazi, on both sides of the harbour, and a great proportion of cultivated land.[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.”[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.[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.)[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.[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.[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.[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.)[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.[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.”[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.[12]De Aedificiis.[13]The water is also too deep to admit of one, and becomes so on a sudden within a few feet of the beach.[14]A further description of the Harbour and Cothon will be found, with other details of Ptolemeta, at the end of the chapter.[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.[16]The inscriptions will be found in the plate prefixed to Chapter 14.[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.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]Vide Scylax, Theophrastus, and others.

[2]Signor Della Cella has remarked (p. 185,) that there area fewpalm-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 agreat manypalm-trees in the neighbourhood of Bengazi, on both sides of the harbour, and a great proportion of cultivated land.

[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.”

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.”

[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.

(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.

[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.)

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.)

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.)

[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.

The Neapolis here mentioned must not be confounded with that which has been identified with Leptis Magna.

[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.”

[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.

[12]De Aedificiis.

[13]The water is also too deep to admit of one, and becomes so on a sudden within a few feet of the beach.

[14]A further description of the Harbour and Cothon will be found, with other details of Ptolemeta, at the end of the chapter.

[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.

[16]The inscriptions will be found in the plate prefixed to Chapter 14.

[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.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CITIES OF TEUCHIRA AND PTOLEMETA.

Actual Condition of the City of Teuchira — Perfect State and great Strength of its Walls — Suggested Period of their Erection — Mode in which they are constructed — Gates of the City — Narrow Passage communicating with them — Probable Advance of the Sea at Teuchira — Line described by the Walls — Estimated Circuit of them according to Signor Della Cella — Greek Inscriptions cut in various parts of them — Suggestions of Signor Della Cella respecting them — Actual Nature of the Inscriptions — Excavated Tombs in the Quarries of Teuchira — Egyptian Names of Months generally adopted by the Inhabitants of the City — General Nature of the Plans of the Tombs — Some of the Bodies appear to have been burnt, and others to have been buried entire — No Difference appears to have obtained at Teuchira between the Modes of Burial adopted by its Greek and Roman Inhabitants — Encumbered State of what are probably the earliest Tombs — Solitary instance of a Painted Tomb at Teuchira — Remains of Christian Churches, and other Buildings within the Walls — Disposition of the Streets — Remains without the Walls — No Statues, or Remains of them, discovered by our Party at Teuchira — Remarks on the Wall of Ptolemeta — Remains of a Naustothmos, or Naval Station, observed there — Other Remains of Building on the Beach near the Station — Further traces of the City-Wall — Dimensions of Ptolemeta — Remains of Theatres found there — Description of the larger one — Ruins described by Bruce as part of an Ionic Temple — Other Remains in the Neighbourhood of these — Remarks on the Style of some of the Buildings of Ptolemeta, as contrasted with those of Egypt and Nubia — Probable Date of its existing Remains.

Itwill be seen, by a reference to the plan of the city of Teuchira, that there is little now remaining within the limits of its walls to call for any particular details. The destruction of the town has, in fact, been so complete, that it is scarcely more than a heap of confused ruins; and the various fragments of building which are scattered over its surface encumber the ground-plans so effectually, that more labour and time would be necessary for their removal than the buildings would probably merit. It is evident that Teuchira has been intentionally destroyed; and that the solidity of its walls has aloneprevented them from being confounded in the general wreck. The perfect state in which these still continue to remain will, however, compensate for the losses we have sustained within their limits; and we may consider them as affording one of the best examples extant of the military walls of the ancients. Procopius has informed us that the city of Teuchira was very strongly fortified by the Emperor Justinian; and the restoration of the original wall which inclosed it (which we may suppose to have been laid in ruins by the Vandals) was probably the chief point to which the historian alluded. We are not aware of any data by which the precise period of the first erection of these walls may be ascertained; but their solidity would induce us to refer them to an epoch anterior to the time of the Ptolemies; while the regularity with which they have, at the same time, been constructed would prevent us from assigning to them a very early date[1]. It is well known that the most ancient walls which remain to us are as remarkable for the irregularity as they are for the solidity of their structure; and the termCyclopean, which has been generally applied to them, has almost become synonymous withirregular.

The existing walls of Teuchira have undoubtedly been constructed at a period when architecture had attained great perfection; the mode of building adopted in them is uniform and regular, well calculated from its nature to save labour and expense, and is such as could only have been successfully employed where the blocks ofstone used were large and heavy. Two ranges of stone, longitudinally placed, form the outer and inner surface of the structure; and these are crossed by a single block at regular intervals the length of which is the thickness of the wall: a space is left between the longitudinal ranges, about equivalent to the breadth of the stones which compose them; and this is filled up with what is usually termed rubble, (which here appears to be the refuse of the material employed,) and occasionally with a single stone. Little or no cement has been used in the building (so far at least as we were able to discover); and, indeed, the weight of the several blocks, with the pressure upon them, would seem to render it wholly unnecessary.

Six and twenty quadrangular turrets contribute at the same time to the strength and the defence of the wall; and two gates flanked with buttresses, projecting inwards, by which the entrance is defended, and placed opposite to each other on the east and western walls, are the only approaches to the town[2]. The entrance through these (as is usual in ancient towns) is by means of a narrow passage formed by the buttresses mentioned above; but the gate itself is not placed within the line of the walls, as we find to have been the case with that of Mycenæ, but ranges with them. Nearly in the centre of the southern wall there are two turrets of considerably larger dimensions than the rest, which are at the same time of a more recent construction,and immediately opposite to them is an outer wall of a semicircular form. We naturally searched here for another entrance to the town, but could find no appearance of there ever having been one: yet, except it were for the defence of a gateway, there does not seem to be any sufficient reason why these turrets should be larger than the rest; and if there were no entrance through them to the town there has been none on the south side at all[3]. On the north side of Teuchira (it will appear in the plan) no part of the city wall is remaining, and it is probable that it has been undermined by the sea which appears to have here advanced (as it has on other parts of the coast) beyond its original bounds.

The line described by the walls, although somewhat quadrangular, is by no means a regular figure—a diagonal drawn from the opposite corners, at the north-east and south-western angles, would be a line of about three thousand two hundred English feet; while that which would pass through the north-west and south-eastern angles would be about nine hundred feet shorter. The circuit of the walls has been estimated by Signor Della Cella at about two miles; but we found it, by measurement, to be less than a mile and a half; being comprised in a line of eight thousand six hundred English feet[4].On the interior of the wall, as we have already stated, there are a good many Greek inscriptions; but we were not fortunate enough to find their contents quite so interesting as Dr. Della Cella has supposed they might have been, when he tells us, that “all the annals of the city might perhaps be found registered on its walls[5].” We examined the whole space, however, very attentively and found only a collection of names, which we should scarcely have thought it worth while to copy had not the Doctor’s assertion made it necessary to shew what portion of information the inscriptions actually contained. They will be found, with other inscriptions from the excavated tombs of Teuchira, in page 386; and it will be seen that the names are chiefly Greek, and the character, for the most part, Ptolemaic; but no other dates could be found, on any part of the surface mentioned excepting the few which appear in the plate. The inscriptions alluded to by Signor Della Cella, on a quadrangular building towards the centre of the city, consist also wholly of names and dates; they are encircled by a wreath, and it will be seen by the plate that these names are for the most part Roman. A few names, within a similar enclosure, were also visible on the wall of a turret, one of which (the most legible) we have copied.

The excavated tombs in the neighbourhood of Teuchira contain a vast number of Greek inscriptions; but these also afford only names and dates, of different countries and periods; and the most interesting piece of information that we were enabled to derive fromthem, was the proof which they afford of the Egyptian names of months having been in general use in this part of the Cyrenaica.

Many of the tombs, and it is probable also most of the earliest, are now buried under a mass of drifted sand; and among these it is not unlikely that dates might be found of very considerable antiquity. From the wreck of materials, also, which encumber the city, some valuable inscriptions might possibly be obtained, but the labour of clearing the ground to search for them would perhaps be too great to be undertaken with propriety, on the mere chance of such discoveries.

Of the tombs at Teuchira into which we were able to penetrate, (we mean such as are not buried in sand,) there are none, that we could find, of any particular interest. They appear to have been at all times very rude, compared with those of Egypt and Cyrene, and the inscriptions upon them are in many instances very rudely cut. Most of them have only one chamber, three sides of which are sometimes occupied by places cut into the wall for the reception of bodies. Some have only two, and others again only one of these places, in which case (we mean the latter) it is usually found opposite to the door. In several of the tombs there are no places discernible for bodies, and rudely-cut columbaria are all that can be perceived in them; in others again we find both, but seldom placed in the same position with regard to each other.

We may infer from these circumstances, that some of the bodies were burnt, the ashes only being deposited in the tomb, and that others were buried entire after being, most probably, embalmed:and here we have a mixture of the Greek and Egyptian modes of burial, as might naturally, indeed, be expected[6].

Not a trace of the mode in which the bodies had been embalmed, nor indeed of any bodies at all, could we perceive either at Teuchira or Ptolemeta. Not a single fragment, either of any cinerary urn or of vases of any description. The dampness of the climate, in the winter season, would no doubt contribute very materially to the destruction of the bodies when the covers were once removed from the excavated places which contained them; but it is at the same time somewhat remarkable that not a single fragment of linen or bone could be met with (though we searched for them with great attention) by which the mode of burial could be ascertained. The cause of this is most probably the occupation of the tombs by the Arabs who, as we have stated above, make use of them occasionally as places of residence for themselves and their cattle; and would naturally throw out any similar remains when they chanced to be seized with a fit of cleanliness or industry.

The pottery would also very speedily disappear before the repeated attacks of the children; and such urns or vases as were found at all perfect would be employed by the women for culinary purposes, and depôts of various kinds, and would naturally be broken in the course of time however carefully they may have been preserved. The fragments thrown out would soon be buried in sand blown up into the quarries, in heaps, from the sea; and thus all traces mighteasily be lost as well of the bodies themselves, as of the vases and urns which contained the ashes. There appears to have been no difference whatever in the mode of burial practised by the Greeks and Romans of Teuchira, since many of the tombs, which are similar within, have on them the names of one and the other nation indiscriminately, and they are often seen mingled together on the same.

It is probable that the early tombs would be interesting, and that they would be found at the same time more perfect than the rest; for the sand has accumulated about them in such heaps as to have blocked up all access to them for ages. Those most buried are the tombs which are nearest the town, and they are also, we should imagine, the oldest; but we had no time to employ in excavating any of them, although we very much wished to do so.

There is one example of a painted tomb at Teuchira, in very bad taste, and this was the only one we could perceive that was so; it is probable, however, that most of them have been originally painted, and that what we see at present are the mere skeletons of the originals[7].

Of the buildings contained within the walls of the city, the most interesting of those whose plans were distinguishable, appeared to us to be the two Christian churches which will be found, with all the details we could procure of them, in the plate, page 367. In boththese it will be seen, that the part devoted to the altar was on the eastern side of the building; but the extreme length of one of them is much greater than usual, and it is not unlikely that the portion at its western extremity, although comprised in the same line of wall, was part of another building.

Near one of these (that to the eastward of the town) we found part of an entablature in the worst taste of the lower empire, which we conjectured to be the remains alluded to by Signor Della Cella, as probably having formed a part of the temple of Bacchus: it is true that they are mentioned by the Doctor as capitals and not as parts of the epistylia; but as the fragment is small, it is possible that such a mistake may have been made; and if this be not what is alluded to in the passage below, we confess that nothing else could be found among the ruins which would at all correspond with the description[8].

The streets of Teuchira appear to have been built in squares, and to have crossed each other at right angles. One large street seems to have passed completely across the town, from the eastern to the western gateway; and towards the centre of this we found some columns and the arch of a gateway which probably stood across the street. In various parts of the city, to the north-east and south-west of it in particular, there are imposing remains of fallen columns and entablatures, which have no doubt belonged to buildings of more than ordinary importance; but without excavation it would not bepossible to give any satisfactory account of them, and we have not ventured, in our plan of the town, to hazard any attempt at restoring them. There are also some interesting remains of buildings at the north-eastern angle of the city, where part of a quarry has been enclosed within the walls for the better defence of the place, to which indeed it effectually contributes; a strong fort has been built at this angle, in an elevated and commanding position, which appears to have been the citadel, orstrong-holdof the town. Without the walls, to the westward of the town, there are also some interesting remains, the plans of which we attempted to complete without success: we found there a group in alto-relief, apparently of Roman workmanship, of which we have given an outline at page 367. There were probably, in earlier times, many statues in the city of Teuchira; but none of them at present remain, not, at least, that we could discover; and they have, perhaps, not survived the barbarism of the Vandals, or the fanaticism and ignorance of those who have succeeded them.

We now pass to the remains of Ptolemeta; and shall begin by observing, that no traces of the wall, which originally enclosed it would present themselves to the notice of a casual observer in taking a general view of the town. On examination, however, in the neighbourhood of the gateway, with which it seems probable that walls have been connected, we discovered traces of them running straight down to the quarry, in which we have already mentioned the amphitheatre was built and excavated. Here we found that the wall had passed through the quarry; and that a portion of the rock had been left on each side of it, in the line of the wall’s direction, connectingthe part which ran down from the gateway with that which we discovered on the opposite side of the quarry, extending itself from thence to the sea. The remains of the wall between the quarry and the sea are very conspicuous and decided; they run down quite to the water’s edge, and are here about eight feet in thickness, and, in some parts, as much as twelve and thirteen feet in height[9]. Without these (to the westward), almost buried in sand, are the remains of the Naustathmos (or naval station), built for the protection of vessels: they begin from the wall, following the line of the beach towards the mouth of the western ravine, and were themselves protected from the sea by a breakwater of about fourteen feet in thickness. The walls of the υφορμοι (uphormoi)[10]are seven feet in thickness, and the spaces which they inclose, where the vessels were stationed, as much as thirty and forty feet across, in those parts which the sand had not altogether covered. To the westward of the ravine, other traces of wall are visible, extending themselves from that (in a line with the beach) along a road which leads towards the quarries, in which are the insulated tombs already alluded to, represented in plate (p. 355). Further traces of walls are observable running round this harbour towards the point marked A in the plan; and it seems to have been altogether divided from the inland country, as we findto have been usual with the ancients, more particularly in time of war[11]. We had no opportunities of ascertaining whether any other remains of a cothon are to be seen between the points A and B, where the χηλαι (keelai, or cornua), the claws, or horns (as they were called) of the harbour, would be looked for if any such had formerly existed. Remains of a wall running round the small port within the town (on the eastern side of point B), and which we may call the eastern harbour, are still visible; and a strong fort yet remains on either side of it, at the eastern and western extremity of the wall, which appears to have been often the case[12].

The Pharos, or light-house, if any such existed, was probably erected on the high ground on point B, in the neighbourhood of the fort at its eastern extremity, and columns and other fragments of building, at the back of the western port, point out the places of those structures usually erected by the ancients near their harbours, for the accommodation of the merchants and sailors: here also are the remains of a bridge which was formerly thrown across the ravine, running down to the wall of this port.

We have already said that traces of the city-wall are observable between the quarry which contains the amphitheatre and the gateway; and a portion of it may also be remarked extending from the latter to the mountains at the back of the town; where they are connected with other parts of it running along the foot of the range to the inner bank of the eastern ravine. There again decided remainsof the wall may be traced running parallel with the same ravine; and which, passing near the bridge represented in plate (p. 362,) continue towards the sea as far as the remains of the second bridge which we have already mentioned. Beyond this we could perceive no more traces of the wall; although it seems more than probable that it extended on this side to the beach, (as we find it to have done on the opposite side to the westward,) and that it passed along parallel with the sea, till it joined the portions connecting the two forts of the eastern harbour, which we have already observed to be remaining. We could not discover any traces of a gateway in the eastern wall of the city; but it is probable that there was formerly one on this side also, leading to the upper bridge, where some very strong works are still extant, in the form of a curve, as will appear by a reference to the plan.

It is difficult to say how these works were connected with the remains of the wall between them and the mountains; and had our time allowed it, we should have excavated about them for the purpose of discovering the connection.

We may reckon that the walls of Ptolemeta, when entire, inclosed a quadrangle of eighteen thousand English feet in circuit; and the line of wall which may be traced from the existing remains covers a space of at least thirteen thousand. A line drawn through the centre of the city, from north to south, would be about four thousand eight hundred feet in length; and that which should be drawn across it from east to west, about four thousand four hundred. The whole circuit of the city would thus be somewhat less than threeEnglish miles and a half[13]; its length, from north to south, something less than a mile[14], and its breadth from east to west something more than three-quarters[15].

Such of the plans of the buildings at Ptolemeta as could in their present state be satisfactorily made out, will be found in plate (page 385;) but although the forms of the theatres and amphitheatre prevent their being mistaken for other buildings, it would not be possible without excavation to make out their details with any accuracy. We have given our idea of the larger of the two theatres, from the appearance and the measurements of the existing remains of it[16], but the smaller one was too much ruined, and too much encumbered, to allow of our hazarding a similar attempt, and we have confined ourselves to its general dimensions, as given in the plan of the town. We may reckon the diameter of the orchestra of the larger theatre at about one hundred and forty-five English feet, and that of the part appropriated to the cunei, at about fifty of the same. The whole diameter of the theatre would thus be two hundred and forty-five feet. It will be observed that the area of the orchestra is very considerably larger than that occupied by the same part of the building in Greek and Roman theatres in general, and that the passages leading into it are wider in proportion to the cunei than usual. It will also be seen, from the absence of any prœcinctions, that there were no interior communications in this theatre, by which the spectators dispersed themselves over the body of the house: the only approach tothe seats having been by means of passages communicating directly with the orchestra from without, which appear to have been nearly on a level with the orchestra itself; the roofs of them, only, sloping somewhat in the direction of the seats themselves. As these (the seats) were comparatively few, and the spaces between the passages inconsiderable, there was no necessity for staircases, and we accordingly find no appearance of any communications of this nature. As it seems, however, that the lowest range of seats was raised a few feet above the level of the passage and of the orchestra, a short flight of steps would have been necessary, to render the access to them easy; and we thought we observed traces, in two or three of the divisions, of there having been one originally in each. The arched roofs of all the passages have fallen in, and every part of the theatre has suffered materially from the effects of rainy winters, rather than of time.

The depth of the proscenium appears to have been, as we have given it, about twenty-five feet, but we could recover no part of the stage with any tolerable accuracy, so that we have omitted it altogether.

The amphitheatre has been chiefly excavated (as we have already observed) in the quarry in which it stands, and a small portion of it only has been built, where the rock could not be made to serve. Here, as in the theatres, there appear to have been no interior communications; and the approach to the seats was probably from above, as well as from below, by means of the staircases between the several cunei only, no passages being anywhere observable. The whole of thisis so ruined, that we shall give no further details of it than we have offered to our readers, merely stating, that its form appeared to have been round, in which particular it differs from amphitheatres in general, which are usually of an oblong figure. The diameter of the circle may be reckoned at about two hundred and fifty English feet, including the cunei and arena.

The remains marked (a) are the same which Bruce describes as those of an Ionic temple; there is nothing, however, (that we can perceive) in the disposition of what still exists of their plan, to authorize such a conclusion; and we have considered them as the remains of a palace, or other residence of more than ordinary importance. The three remaining columns appear to have formed part of a colonnade extending itself round the court-yard, which has already been described as situated above an extensive range of cisterns: remains of tessellated pavement are still observable in the court-yard, and the walls which inclose it are very decided; the columns have been raised on a basement of several feet in height, as will be seen in the vignette in which they are represented. Without these, to the northward, are ranges of fallen columns of much larger dimensions than those we have just mentioned; but they are so much encumbered, that we have not ventured to lay them down in the plan: they are of the Corinthian order, and the capitals are well executed. A little beyond these, to the northward and north-eastward, are other remains of columns, which once belonged to a building of some importance, the plan of which cannot be given without excavation; and, indeed, we may observe, with respect to the numerous masses of fallen columns,and other parts of various buildings of more than ordinary consequence at Ptolemeta, that very little satisfactory information can be obtained of their plans, without a good deal of labour in clearing them, from the accumulation of soil, and the fragments of fallen building, with which they are encumbered. There is a structure of very large dimensions at the north-eastern part of the town, the outer walls of which are still standing to a considerable height; but the plan of its interior is not sufficiently apparent to authorize any restoration of it, and we will not even hazard a conjecture of its nature. On its northern face are three large quadrangular tablets of stone, built into the wall, each five feet in length by four in height, on which are cut the Greek inscriptions (marked 1), given in plate (page 385); and to the westward and south-westward of this building are many interesting remains of private dwelling-houses, palaces, baths, &c., which require a great deal of excavation. On a pedestal in one of these, is the inscription (4) in plate (page 385); most of them appear to have been Roman, and the capitals and bases of some of the columns belonging to them are very fanciful and overcharged with ornament. Some of the shafts of small columns in this mass of building are spiral, and formed of coloured marbles; and may probably be attributed to the time of Justinian, when the city revived under his politic munificence. If the taste displayed by the Greeks and Romans of this period had been at all in proportion to the expense which they lavished upon their public and private edifices of almost every description, the result would have been splendid in the extreme; but the costliness of material, and the labour employed in ornament, will notcompensate for the absence of this true test of genuine excellence; and we cannot venture to commend the strange mixture of received orders, and the wayward fancy employed in the invention of new ones, which are conspicuous in several parts of Ptolemeta.

It has been observed by Signor Della Cella, that the remains of this city are purely Egyptian; but we must confess that we were unable to discover the slightest resemblance of style in Ptolemeta to that which characterizes the architecture of Egypt. There is nothing at Ptolemeta (that we could perceive) which is not either Greek or Roman; and the profusion of unnecessary ornament, which generally distinguished the later productions of both these nations, is very different from that which is observable in Egyptian remains. The style of Egypt, though highly ornamental, is founded on established principles; and there is nothing incongruous or unmeaning in the most laboured decorations which are peculiar to it: proportion and simplicity are very rarely violated in the buildings either of Egypt or Nubia; and the great variety of ornament which appears in them never disturbs the general effect, or detracts from the imposing grandeur of the masses. Whenever the general form and larger parts of a building are simple and well proportioned, a great deal of ornament may be adopted in the detail, without injury to the effect of the whole; and as this is particularly the case in Egyptian architecture, the mind is strongly impressed with the pleasing character of the general mass, before it has time to notice any other peculiarities.

The same may be observed with respect to Gothic architecture; in which the almost infinite detail which it presents is not found todiminish either the simplicity, the grandeur, or the elegance of the whole. When the attention is turned from the general mass to the subdivisions, every portion, however small, is observed to have a meaning, in both styles of architecture here alluded to; and there is seldom any part of the ornament, either in Egyptian or in Gothic examples, which we wish to have removed from its place. In the capitals and shafts of Egyptian columns, (which are usually composed of different parts of the lotus, the leaves, the stalks, the open flower, or the bud, so combined and arranged as not to interfere with the simple and, generally, graceful outline of the whole,) the detail gives a lightness to the general mass which tends to improve its effect; and the simplicity of the general form exhibits the decoration to advantage: but in the later productions of Greece and Rome, a profusion of unmeaning ornament is employed, which rather gives an air of heaviness to the detail, than any appearance of lightness to the mass. The general forms are not, in fact, sufficiently important of themselves to create a favourable impression; and it will usually be found difficult, if not impossible, to make amends for this fault by decoration. We do not mean to assert that there are no examples of good taste at Ptolemeta; but it appears to us that by far the greater part of the buildings now remaining have been constructed since the place became a Roman colony; and that there are none to which a higher antiquity may be safely assigned (with the exception of some of the tombs) than the period at which the country was occupied by the Ptolemies.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Many of the stones employed in the restoration of the walls have belonged to more ancient buildings, and parts of handsome cornices, friezes, and capitals are often seen built in with the original structure; among these may be noticed fragments of Ptolemaic inscriptions, which are evidently not in their original places.[2]We must except a low, narrow door, through one of the turrets at the south-west angle, the mode of constructing which will appear in page 367. It seems to have been intended as a sally-port and one person only can pass through it at a time. From the remains about this angle, there appears to have been an outer wall of very inferior strength, but it seems to have made no part of the original plan.[3]Nearly opposite to these turrets, without the wall, are the remains of a very strong fort; and this circumstance would perhaps seem to favour the idea of there having been a gate in the place here alluded to, the entrance to which would have been well defended by the fort.[4]The turrets attached to the walls are also described by the same author asround; and it is difficult to imagine what could have occasioned this mistake, since they are all of them quadrangular, as will appear by the plan.[5]Le mura della città sono talmenti tapezzate di Grechi inscrizioni che forse trovansi qui registrati tutti gli annali di questa città. (Viaggio da Tripoli, &c. p. 199.)[6]The practice of burying the body entire was, however, very frequently adopted by the Greeks in other places, as we shall hereafter have occasion to mention.[7]Plans and sections of some of the tombs will be found in page 367, and we think the reader will not be able to trace so much resemblance between the style of Teuchira and that of Cyrene as Signor Della Cella has discovered, when he tells us that “Il fabricato di Tochira, dello stessissimo stile di quello di Cirene, la stessa copia, e struttura di tombi, conferma ciocchè di questa città lasciò scritto Erodoto,che usava le stesse leggi de’ Cirenei.”—(Page 199.)[8]Vi si scorgono pure gli avanzi di un tempio che io credo essere stato dedicato a Bacco, a giudicarne da’ capitelli, che giaciano affastellati fra le sue rovine, guarniti di foglie di viti con grappoli pendenti.—(P. 199.)[9]We mean, of course, in their present ruined state, for the original height of the wall cannot now be ascertained.[10]These divisions, composing the Naustathmos, were termed ορμοι (ormoi), υφορμοι (uphormoi), or ναυλοκοι (naulokoi), as mentioned in the account of the ports and harbours at the end of the Narrative.[11]See account of ports and harbours, (p. 21).[12]Ibid.[13]480 feet less.[14]480 less.[15]440 more.[16]See plate.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]Many of the stones employed in the restoration of the walls have belonged to more ancient buildings, and parts of handsome cornices, friezes, and capitals are often seen built in with the original structure; among these may be noticed fragments of Ptolemaic inscriptions, which are evidently not in their original places.

[2]We must except a low, narrow door, through one of the turrets at the south-west angle, the mode of constructing which will appear in page 367. It seems to have been intended as a sally-port and one person only can pass through it at a time. From the remains about this angle, there appears to have been an outer wall of very inferior strength, but it seems to have made no part of the original plan.

[3]Nearly opposite to these turrets, without the wall, are the remains of a very strong fort; and this circumstance would perhaps seem to favour the idea of there having been a gate in the place here alluded to, the entrance to which would have been well defended by the fort.

[4]The turrets attached to the walls are also described by the same author asround; and it is difficult to imagine what could have occasioned this mistake, since they are all of them quadrangular, as will appear by the plan.

[5]Le mura della città sono talmenti tapezzate di Grechi inscrizioni che forse trovansi qui registrati tutti gli annali di questa città. (Viaggio da Tripoli, &c. p. 199.)

[6]The practice of burying the body entire was, however, very frequently adopted by the Greeks in other places, as we shall hereafter have occasion to mention.

[7]Plans and sections of some of the tombs will be found in page 367, and we think the reader will not be able to trace so much resemblance between the style of Teuchira and that of Cyrene as Signor Della Cella has discovered, when he tells us that “Il fabricato di Tochira, dello stessissimo stile di quello di Cirene, la stessa copia, e struttura di tombi, conferma ciocchè di questa città lasciò scritto Erodoto,che usava le stesse leggi de’ Cirenei.”—(Page 199.)

[8]Vi si scorgono pure gli avanzi di un tempio che io credo essere stato dedicato a Bacco, a giudicarne da’ capitelli, che giaciano affastellati fra le sue rovine, guarniti di foglie di viti con grappoli pendenti.—(P. 199.)

[9]We mean, of course, in their present ruined state, for the original height of the wall cannot now be ascertained.

[10]These divisions, composing the Naustathmos, were termed ορμοι (ormoi), υφορμοι (uphormoi), or ναυλοκοι (naulokoi), as mentioned in the account of the ports and harbours at the end of the Narrative.

[11]See account of ports and harbours, (p. 21).

[12]Ibid.

[13]480 feet less.

[14]480 less.

[15]440 more.

[16]See plate.

JOURNEY FROM PTOLEMETA TO MERGE.

Departure from Ptolemeta — Romantic and Picturesque Appearance of the Road — Luxuriant Vegetation which adorned it — Arrive at the Summit of the first Range — Bedouin Tents on the Plain above — Pleasing Manners of their Inhabitants — Character of the Scenery on the Summit of the Lower Range — Beauty of the Route continues — Arrive at the Plain of Merge — Character and Position of the Plain — Our Camel-Drivers refuse to proceed — Artful Conduct of Abou-Bukra — Appeal to Bey Halil — Projected Mission to Derna — Abou-Bukra comes to Terms, and brings his Camels for the Journey — Pools of Fresh Water collected in the Plain of Merge — Use made of them by the Arabs — Prevalence of a Virulent Cutaneous Disease among the Arab Tribes of Merge and its Neighbourhood — Remains of a Town at one extremity of the Plain — Remarks on the District and City of Barka — Testimonies of Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, and Scylax, respecting the Port of Barca — Remarks on the Position of the City of that Name — Arab Accounts of Barca — Edrisi, Abulfeda, &c. — Unsatisfactory Nature of the Accounts in Question — Mode of reconciling the Arab Accounts of Barca with those of Scylax — Suggested Position of the Ancient City — Peculiarity of Soil attributed to Barca — Observations on its Produce and Resources — State of Barca under the Arabs — Decay of the Ancient City after the building of Ptolemais on the Site of its Port — The Barcæans remarkable for their Skill in the Management of Horses and Chariots — Their Country formerly celebrated for its excellent Breed of Horses — Degeneracy of the present Breed — Account of Barca by Herodotus — Other Accounts of its Origin — Siege and Plunder of the City by the Persians under Amasis — Subsequent state of the City till the building of Ptolemais.

Onour arrival at Ptolemeta, we had discharged the camels which we hired from the people of Bengazi, and waited the arrival of those which Hadood, Shekh of Barca, was to furnish us with, under whose escort we were to proceed to the eastern limits of the Bashaw’s dominions.

At Teuchira we had been joined, as we have already stated, byAbou-Bukra, the son of Hadood, and four days after our arrival at Ptolemeta the camels which we expected were brought from the mountains, and we set out on our journey to Cyrene. We left Ptolemeta on the twenty-seventh of April, and took the road leading through Merge, a large and fertile plain, situated on the top of the range which we have already described as lying to the southward of Ptolemeta. After repassing a part of the road, by which we had formerly travelled, we began to ascend a most romantic valley, a little to the westward of the town of Ptolemeta and leading up from the coast towards Merge. As we wound along the steep and narrow pathway which skirted the bed of the torrent below us, we found the place much more remarkable for its wildness and beauty than it was for the goodness of its roads; and had not our camels been accustomed to the mountains they would probably have given us a good deal of trouble. The sides of the valley were thickly clothed with pines, olive trees, and different kinds of laurel, interspersed with clusters of the most luxuriant honeysuckle, the fragrance of which, as we passed it, literally perfumed the air. Among these we distinguished myrtle, arbutus, and laurestinus, with many other handsome flowering shrubs, a variety of wild roses, both white and red, and quantities of rosemary and juniper. Scenes of this kind even in Europe would be highly appreciated; but to travellers in Africa, it may readily be imagined they could not fail of being more than usually grateful; and every fresh beauty which opened itself to our view was hailed with enthusiastic delight.

The very difficulty of the road added interest to the scene; and the mixture of what (with us) would have been garden shrubs, blooming, more luxuriantly than we ever see them in northern climates, amidst the wild crags of a neglected ravine, gave a finish and an elegance to its rugged forms which produced the most agreeable association of ideas.

But if we begin to indulge ourselves in recollections of this nature, we shall soon lose the thread of our narrative; and restraint is the more necessary on the present occasion, as the scenes which presented themselves one after the other, in our route from Ptolemeta to Merge, were nothing but a continued succession of beauties from the beginning to the end of our journey. In about an hour from the time when we began to ascend, we reached the top of the first hill, and were saluted by a wild-looking, dark-featured Arab, who presented us some honey in the comb which is procured in quantities from the neighbouring mountains. This was the first person we had met with in our passage up the ravine, and there was a wildness in his accent as well as in his appearance which suited admirably with the character of the scene. A little farther on we reached some Arab tents, scattered here and there among the bushes and trees, and such of the Bedouins whose tents we passed nearest to came out, and questioned us on the objects of our journey. We observed in these people the same peculiarities of look and accent which had struck us in our friend of the honeycomb, and they had a bluntness and independence of manner and appearance which afforded us, together with their simplicity, a good deal of pleasure and amusement.They welcomed us in the true patriarchal style, with an offer of shelter and refreshment, and we should have liked nothing better than spending a week or two among them, and rambling about the beautiful country which they occupied.

It often happens, however, that pleasure and duty are disagreeably inconsistent with each other; and the fine Arcadian lounge, that we should willingly here have indulged in, would not have much forwarded the objects of the mission[1]. The view which presented itself from the top of the hill was no less pleasing than those which we had enjoyed so much in ascending it. It had less of wildness than those of the ravine, but quite sufficient to give additional interest to the broad sweep of open country which lay stretched out before us, comprising a rich and varied succession of hills and vallies which lost themselves in the blue horizon.

The open tracts of pasture and cultivated land scattered over this charming scene were most agreeably diversified with clumps and thickets of trees, and with flowering shrubs and flowers, in greater profusion and variety than we had seen in our passage along the ravine. Everything around us was green and smiling; and whetherwe looked, in our progress, from the hill to the valley, or from the valley to the side of the hill, the view was equally delightful.

After quitting the Arab tents, we entered a most beautiful valley extending itself in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction; and three hours more, over hills and through vales, which it would be useless and almost endless to describe, we arrived at the plain of Merge, a long sweep of flat country of mingled pasture and cultivation, bounded on either side by a range of wooded hills about five miles distant from each other, and stretching from north-east to south-west as far as the eye could reach. The water from the mountains inclosing the plain settles in pools and lakes in different parts of this spacious valley; and affords a constant supply, during the summer months, to the Bedouin tribes who frequent it. Although the ranges of hills which we have described as inclosing it give to Merge the appearance of a valley, it must be recollected that it is situated on the top of a chain of mountains of no inconsiderable elevation; and if we have mentioned it as an extensive plain, it must also be considered as a tract of table-land raised far above the level of the sea. In looking over what we shall presently have occasion to mention respecting the town and the neighbourhood of Barka, it will be necessary to bear this in mind; but before we enter upon the subject we must add to our journal the few incidents which occurred during our stay at Merge.

It was not our intention to have remained a moment in this valley, as we were anxious to get to Cyrene as soon as possible; but on signifying our intentions of proceeding farther, (for the day was not halfspent,) the camel-drivers refused to go on, alleging that Abou-Bukra had hired them only to Merge. Abou-Bukra himself was not present at the time, having ridden towards the other end of the valley where the tents of Bey Halil, who had been some days at Merge, were pitched near the tomb of a celebrated Marábut. As we had no means of disproving the compact alleged, and the camel-drivers persisted in their refusal to proceed, we did not think it worth while to take any further trouble in endeavouring to overcome their scruples; we therefore ordered the tents to be pitched and rode on to Bey Halil, fully expecting that he would furnish us with other camels to enable us to continue our journey on the following morning. The Bey received us as usual with the greatest civility, and promised the camels at an early hour the next day, by which time, he added, Shekh Hadood would most probably arrive and take the charge of escorting us to Cyrene. The next day, however, no camels arrived, and we again rode down to the tents of Bey Halil to learn the reason of this unseasonable delay. We found the Bey’s tent filled with Bedouin Arab Shekhs, who appeared to be in grand consultation, and Halil had either been, or pretended to have been, persuading them to furnish us with camels for the journey. The result of the conclave was not, however, by any means favourable, for none of the worthy Shekhs present would let us have their camels for less than eighty dollars; a demand so extremely exorbitant that we did not hesitate a moment in declining it, and offered them at the same time thirty, expecting that they would relax, as is usually the case with them, when they found that we persisted in our refusal.

Half the day was, however, spent in sending backwards and forwards and still we could get no camels, Abou-Bukra himself making a thousand professions of his readiness to oblige us on all occasions, but giving us no proofs of it whatever. It required very little penetration to discover that this was evidently a concerted manœuvre; and that Bey Halil was either unable to make any satisfactory arrangement for us, or was himself a party in the plan. Abou Bukra was certainly the principal agent in the affair, and the whole plot was doubtless got up by him. He had mentioned no difficulties of the kind at Ptolemeta, because the camel-drivers of Bengazi would have offered to proceed with us to Cyrene, had he declined supplying us on reasonable terms. The eighty dollars required by all the Bedouin Shekhs was the sum which he wished to extract from us, and the circumstance of the whole assembly being unanimous in the demand was intended to be a proof of its fairness, he himself having made no offer whatever, on the plea of not having camels enough at his disposal. Bey Halil very probably did not wish to interfere in preventing his Arab friend from making what profit he could of us (such an act being considered by Mahometans in general as extremely unbrotherly, and not by any means called for); and with regard to the Arabs, they willingly lend their services to one another on all occasions of a similar nature[2].

Finding the chances against us on this tack, we determined to tryanother; there being no end to Arab extortion when you have once given them reason to suppose that you will submit to it. We accordingly arranged that two of our party should set out with all speed for Derna, to request Mahommed Bey would furnish us with camels, which we knew he would immediately do. This manœuvre succeeded, as we expected it would, in bringing about a favourable change; but we had determined, in the event of being obliged to put the threat in execution, to transport a tent and some provisions to Ptolemeta, on the horses, where our time would be employed to advantage till the camels from Derna arrived; and, as the distance from Merge to Ptolemeta was only a few hours, and the road could not be mistaken, this plan would have been easily effected.

Abou-Bukra, however, no sooner perceived that we were in earnest, than he offered to supply us himself with camels at a price of forty dollars; but as thirty was the sum we had ourselves proposed, we declared that we would not make any other alteration in it than by meeting him half way in his demand; and as he had begun to suspect that we kept to our word he made no further difficulty in the matter, and agreed to bring his camels at thirty-five. This he accordingly did, and Shekh Hadood not having yet arrived we quitted Merge the next day, under convoy of Abou-Bukra and our Bengazi Chaous, Rabdi, who had now recovered from his illness, and joined us to resume his office.

During the time of our stay at Merge, we received a present of several sheep from Bey Halil, for which we made a suitable return to the Chaous who brought them, and took the opportunity of sendingby him a token of our regard to our old friend Hashi, the Bey’s secretary.

We have already said that the water of Merge is collected in pools in different parts of the valley; and we soon found that in exchanging that of the wells and cisterns which we had quitted for it, we had not much improved the quality of our liquor. It was soon discovered that the water we procured from the pools was not quite so clear as it might have been, and we thought we perceived a peculiar taste in it which did not seem to be its natural flavour.

A very little observation convinced us we were right; for the pools were used by the Arabs, not only for drinking, but for washing and bathing also; and we soon found that the last-mentioned ceremonies, though not often resorted to by Arabs in general, were more particularly essential to the comfort of those at Merge, from circumstances which we would willingly conceal; since they will scarcely be considered as perfectly in character with the highly-romantic features of the country which they inhabited.

We are not, at the same time, prepared to assert, that the causes which more peculiarly call for ablution (considered as a matter of comfort) did not actually exist in patriarchal days amidst scenes such as we have described; and if we do not find them hinted at in the allusions to early times which are made in this age of refinement, it is only, perhaps, that too minute a detail would be inconsistent with the ideas which we wish to excite of our forefathers.

In confessing that the Arabs who washed themselves in the pools of Merge were induced to do so more frequently than they wouldotherwise have done, from the alleviation which this operation afforded to the pain of a well-known cutaneous disease, that it will not be necessary to name, we must state, at the same time, that it is by no means peculiar to them alone; since the greater part of the Arabs from Bengazi to Derna are afflicted with a similar complaint. As they have either no effectual remedy for the disorder, or neglect the precaution of applying it, the consequences must be distressing in the extreme to them; and it is certain, that their appearance is not often remarkably prepossessing, and, perhaps, as we have said, not altogether in character with the beautiful scenery about them. We shall insist, notwithstanding this unlucky objection, that the scenery of the country in the neighbourhood of Merge, is among the most beautiful that we have ever beheld; and that the people who inhabit it are not the less patriarchal in their manners, and customs, and appearance, because they happen to be afflicted with a cutaneous disease the name of which has not usually been associated, in modern times, with ideas of pastoral, or any other enjoyments. At the same time, we confess that we did not feel ourselves called upon to fill our water-skins any more from the pool which we had hitherto used, when we found for what purposes it was occasionally employed; although the Arabs themselves could see no sufficient reason why it should not be drank on that account.

Near the centre of Merge is a ruin now called Marábut Sidi Arhooma, and a few miles to the south-east of it are remains of an inconsiderable town which the Bey informed us had been built by acelebrated Shereef, but of which so little is now remaining that the plans of the buildings could not be satisfactorily ascertained.

The extensive plain (or valley) of Merge, for it is equally one and the other, may be considered as occupying a part of the territory within the ancient limits of Barca; and before we proceed with the details of our journey, it will be proper to turn our attention to the imperfect notices which have come down to us of the celebrated city of that name. The limits assigned to the district of Barca by the Arab historians and geographers comprise not only the whole of the Cyrenaica, but, according to some, the whole tract of country between Mesurata and Alexandria; while its actual limits (as we have stated elsewhere) commence at the bottom of the Syrtis, extending themselves eastward as far as Derna, and, as we were also informed, to the eastern extremity of the Bashaw of Tripoli’s dominions. The ancient country of Barca was, however, confined to the western parts of the Cyrenaica, and extended no farther in that direction than to the eastern limits of the Hesperides. The port of Barca, under the Lagidæ, received the name of Ptolemais, and we have the authorities of Strabo and Pliny for considering the last-mentioned city and that of Barca as the same[3]. Ptolemy has, however, distinguished Barca from Ptolemais, and Scylax has described the former of these cities as situated at the distance of one hundred stadia from the sea; so that no doubt can remain of their havingbeen different places[4]. As the distance of Scylax from the port to the city of Barca is given in distance from the sea, we must look for the latter (supposing the one hundred stadia to be correct, which we have no sufficient reason to doubt) in some part of that range of mountains which bounds the country between Bengazi and Ptolemeta to the southward; and it appears extremely probable, that its site should be looked for in some part of the plain of Merge: it may be, in the remains which have already been mentioned in the south-eastern part of the valley. Here, however, a considerable difficulty occurs, if the accounts of the city of Barca, which are given by early Arab writers, are at all to be depended upon as correct; for although these accounts, in many respects, will be found to be extremely unsatisfactory, they all appear to concur in placing the city in the neighbourhood of a mountainous country, but, at the same time, rather in a plain at the foot of it than in any part of the mountains themselves. The distance, however, of Barca from the coast unavoidably places it in some part of the range which we have mentioned; for there is no part of the plain between this range and the sea, (as will clearly appear by the chart,) which is distant anything like one hundred stadia from the coast, with the exception of that to the southward of Bengazi; and to suppose the town of Barca there would be absurd, for it would then be fifty miles distant from its port and only nine or ten from the more convenient harbour of Berenice. Edrisi has given us several distances to and from Barca; as—from Barca to Augela tenstations (or days’ journey), equal to two hundred and fifty Roman miles. From Barka to Alexandria—twenty-one stations, or five hundred and fifty M. P. From the promontory of Khanem (Cape Mesurata) to Barka—four hundred and eighty M. P. The intermediate places between Barca and Alexandria, and between Mesurata and Barka, are, at the same time, mentioned in detail; but as few of them correspond with the existing names of places in the same routes we have no means of checking the numbers as they occur, or of reckoning the distance of any known places in its neighbourhood from the city of Barca described. If the distances, also, be taken in the aggregate, they will be found too considerable to fix the site of the city with any sufficient precision. Were the places of Aurar and Alásal clearly decided upon we should have more available data; and particularly if distances had been given by Edrisi between Teuchira and Barca, and between Ptolemeta and the last-mentioned city. The other Arab accounts, which we allude to, of Barca, are as follows:—

In the work of Azizi, as cited by Abulfeda, we are told that “there aretwo mountains belonging to Barca, in which there is a great proportion of excellent soil, numerous springs of fresh water, and many tracts of cultivated land.” Provisions are mentioned as being at all times very cheap there, and the inhabitants exported wine, and pitch, extracted from the pine, to Egypt; together with a great many head of cattle of a small breed.

This refers to thedistrictor territory of Barca; and thecityof that name is described by the author just quoted as “situated inanextensive plain, the soil of which is of a reddish colour; it has been surrounded” (he adds) “with a wall ever since the time of Motewakkel, that is to say, from the year of the Hegira 240.”

Another Arab writer, whose name has not come down to us, informs us, as cited by Silvestre de Sacy (Chrestomat. Arabe, Tom. ii., p. 521), that “the city of Barca is situated in a country where the soil and the buildings are red; whence it happens that the clothes of those who reside there partake of the same colour.”

It is then stated that, “at six miles from Barca, is a mountain,” and without mentioning at all in what direction, the author goes on to say, that provisions were at all times very abundant and very cheap in the country; that the cattle thrived and multiplied in its pastures; and that the greater part of those killed in Egypt were supplied from it. Bricks, honey, and pitch[5](he adds) were also exported to Egypt, the latter of which was prepared in a place dependant upon Barca called Maka, situated on a high mountain, of difficult access, which it was impossible to ascend on horseback. In thecity of Maka(he goes on to state) was the tomb of Rowaïfa, one of the companions of Mahomet, (for it seems there were two of that name,) andthis citywas called, in the Greek language,Pentapolis[6], which means (says our author) five cities. The country (he adds) produced a great variety of fruits, and there was a great proportion of it covered with juniper; the people about it were of different Arab tribes, and of those called Lewata. On the road from Barca(he still continues) to Africa proper, is the valley of Masouyin (the pronunciation of which name, says De Sacy, is uncertain) in which are found remains of arches and gardens to the number, it is said, of three hundred and sixty; some of the gardens are cultivated, and the wilderness, or desert tract, from which the honey is procured, is situated in this valley.—(Chrestomat. Arabe, Tom. ii. p. 521, 2.)

In the Geographia Nubiensis, Barca is described as a town of moderate dimensions and narrow limits; and as being celebrated for an earth called by its name, which was of great service, when mixed with oil, in cutaneous diseases. It was of a reddish colour, and if thrown into the fire smelt strongly of sulphur, emitting at the same time a very offensive smoke: its taste is described asexecrable. (Geog. Nubien.p. 92.)

There can be no question that these writers had all of them the same place in view: the peculiarities which they attribute to it agree too well to doubt it; but there is nothing in the description of any by which the position of the city of Barca can be fixed (at least we cannot see that there is) with any tolerable degree of accuracy.

The only mode of reconciling the Arab accounts of Barca with the distance which Scylax has given of that city from the sea, is to suppose that the authors of them intended to describe it as situated in some plain within the limits of the range of mountains mentioned above; and, under this idea, the extensive plain of Merge appears to be the most eligible spot we are acquainted with for the position of the town we are speaking of.

The position of Merge with regard to Ptolemeta, which hasalready been identified with the ancient port of Barca, is extremely favourable to this supposition. Two ravines, one of which is an extremely good road, lead up directly to it from Ptolemeta; and the distance of any town, which might be built upon its plain, from the sea would correspond sufficiently well with that which we have quoted from Scylax. The peculiarities of soil which are attributed by Arab writers to Barca, are at the same time observable in the soil of the plain of Merge, which is of a decided reddish colour, and stains the clothes of those who lie down upon it, as we have occasion to know by experience. Again, one account says, that “six miles from Barca is a mountain;” and the ranges of mountains which inclose the plain (or valley) of Merge are also six miles distant from each other. Honey is also found in the valleys leading to Merge, as it is said to have been in those leading to Barca; and the Arabs are still in the habit of extracting a kind of resin, or turpentine, from the fir, which might be the “kidràn” of the writers we have quoted. These are all of them vague proofs, but, in the absence of better, we are content to receive them in corroboration of the idea that Merge is the plain intended by the writers in question; although, after all, it does not absolutely follow that the town described by them as Barca should be clearly established as theancienttown of Barca required.

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