mity. Among these sand-hills are some wells, in which the water,
though several hundred feet above the level of the sea, is perfectly
brackish. Beyond them to the southward is a hilly country covered
with verdure, in which a number of camels were feeding, and numerous
flocks of sheep and goats ; but although we found ourselves in
the midst of such plenty, we were unable to purchase a single sheep,
in consequence of our friend the Dubbah’s manoeuvres. At Gar-
tubbah, which possessed the same advantages, we were equally
unable to succeed in a similar attempt. Among the green hills just
mentioned are several ruins of forts, of the same quadrangular form
as usual, and which have been built with large stones very regularly
shaped; so that Braiga may be considered as a military station, and
must have certainly been one of importance*. I f it be necessary to
give it ah ancient name, we should consider it as the site of Automala,
which was also a military station, according to the account of
Strabo t-
* A few miles inland of Braiga, at a place called Attallkt, are the remains of a castle,
whose outer walls'are still standing to a. considerable height; it is a quadrangular
building, surrounded by a trench; and within it we observed the remains of an arch
constructed without a key-stone, in the manner of one at Tabilba, which we shall
allude to in describing that place.
■f A v T O f x a X a (Qqovqiov, . (pyAaxojv e y o v , & c .
I t appears, upon the authority of Diodorus-Siculus, that the fortress of Automala
was already erected when Cyrene was first occupied by the troops of Ptolemy Lagus :
for the army which was led by his general Ophelias to the assistance of the tyrant Aga-
thocles, then at war with the Carthaginians, pitched their tents, we are told, in the
neighbourhood of Automala, having consumed eighteen days in their march to that fortress
from the Cyrenaica.
Oxrc«/ x t x i i s x a fA E v 'o i v '/)[/,£q x s o ^ o iT T o ^ /ia a v le i , x a i $ i e \Q o v t s s a r a t i t o v s r q u n u X i o u f ) xctTEa xv rn o ja ctv
A v roitctkusLib. xx. p. 753-4.
If it
Automata, it is true, has been laid down by this geographer at the
innermost part of the gulf, which must be taken as the most southern
point of it ; and the coast had already begun to bend to the
northward before we arrived at Braiga. But a place which would
answer to the description here given of Automala, could scarcely
have disappeared altogether ; and there is no place of any kind at
the bottom of the gulf before the occurrence of Braiga. The coin
of Augustus, which was found among the ruins of Braiga, would
afford some proof of its having existed in the time of that emperor,
and the form and solidity of the buildings which are found there
sufficiently point it out as a fortified position. No fortified place
is however mentioned to have existed in this neighbourhood, except
Automala ; and if Braiga may not be considered as the remains of
that fortress, it has been wholly overlooked by the ancient authori-
If it could be positively ascertained from what point of the Cyrenaica the army of
Ophelias set out on their journey across the Syrtis, we should have the position of
Automala. sufficiently well ascertained ; but the historian merely states, that when everything
was prepared for the expedition,^Ophelias set his army in motion, without mentioning
the precise point from which they set out, and that the distance, which they
accomplished in eighteen days, as far as Automala, was three thousand stadia. Had-
there been any point in the bottom of the gulf which could be decidedly fixed upon as
the or innermost recess of it, in which Strabo has placed Automala, there would
be no occasion for any other'evidence of its' position ; but the coast is so straight at the
bottom of the gulf, that it is not possible to fix with accuracy upon any one point which
may be taken as the (Avypsm question. Sachreen is certainly the most southern point,
but the difference of latitude between this place and the other parts of the coast which
form the bottom of the gulf is so trifling, that it can scarcely be said to amount to
anything at all. .
îi Braiga is ^ the nearest, place to Sachreen where any remains are found which will
answer to Automala, and that is twenty miles distant from it, in making the circuit of
the coast.