Indeed, after passing the bottom of the gulf, the country at the back
of the sand-hills becomes very capable of cultivation, and affords, in
many places, an excellent pasturage. So that if we should consider
the Syrtis in general as a large unbroken body of sand, which the
ancients seem mostly to have done, we should certainly form a very
wrong idea of the nature of the country in question.
North-west of Sachreen, which may be considered as the bottom
of the gulf, at about a mile and a quarter from the shore, is a small
islet called Bushaifa, with breakers east and west of i t ; and to the
southward is a large marsh, with a ruin on a small rising ground inland
of i t : from here a valley extends eastward between the high
land to the southward and some sand-hills on the coast. The road
lies tolerably close along the sides of these sand-heaps, which in some
places rise abruptly from the edge of the marsh, leaving a very narrow
path between the two. I t was probably here that Signor Della
Celia and the army which he accompanied chose the passage over
the sand-hills in preference to that along the marsh at the foot of
them; or it may be possible that the water of the marsh reached too
close to the sand-hills when they passed, to allow of any choice of
road at all. We however found the path at the foot of the sandhills
very practicable, although we were occasionally obliged to pass
singly along it. Had these sand-hills been capable of suddenly
detaching large masses from their summits or sides, we might occasionally
perhaps have been buried pro tempore under their weight,
and might, in some places, have experienced considerable difficulty
in extricating ourselves at a ll; but we must confess that we did not
anticipate any very fatal effects from the action of southerly winds ;
nor did we believe it very probable that an avalanche of sand would
seize the precise moment in which we were passing under it to precipitate
itself upon our heads. Two hours, we should imagine, would
fully suffice for thé accomplishment of the passage between the
marsh and the sand-hills, at any season in which it might be practicable
; and if double that time be allowed for the passage over the
hills in question, when that below might be impassable from the rise
of thé , water in the marsh, we should conclude it would bé amply
sufficient. As there is no other part .of the gulf in which it could,
at any time, be absolutely necessary to pass over the sand-hills at all,
we are at a loss to imagine why the army of the Bey, and that of his
Roman predecessor, should have given themselves ; so much trouble
in crossing them. Immediately after the marsh commences pasture
land, and after five hours’ journey from Sachreen, we arrived at a
place called Gartubbah, where we found some Arab tents, and established
ourselves for the night.
The next morning we proceeded on to Braiga, where we were led
to expect, from the report of our Arab guides, that we should find
a harbour full as good as that of Tripòly.' Braiga has been a
stronglyrfortified post, as appears from the remains of several well-
constructed and spacious castles which have been erected there.
On the western point of the bay which constitutes the mersa (or
harbour) is some tolerably high land, on which one of the forts has
formerly stood; but which is now so much destroyed and encumbered
with rubbish, as to offer little interest on examination. Along