Accordingly, when, the necessary dispositions had been made, Lieutenant
Beechey was appointed on the part of the Admiralty to undertake
the coast line from Tripoly to Dema,—if practicable, as far as
Alexandria; and Mr. Tyndall, a young gentleman on board the
Adventure, was directed to assist him in the survey. Earl Bathurst
appointed Mr. Beechey to examine and report on the antiquities of the
country, and Mr. Campbell of the Navy was soon after nominated to
accompany the expedition as surgeon. The party was embarked
on board His Majesty’s Ship Adventure, and sailed from England
early in July with Captain Smyth, proceeding directly to Malta:
there they were joined by Lieutenant Coffin of the Navy, who had
come out in the Adventure, and who handsomely volunteered his
services on shore, which weare accepted without hesitation. A short
time was sufficient to complete the few remaining preparations, and
the expedition left Malta for Tripoly-
We have already said that it had been in contemplation to extend
our journey farther to the eastward, and to examine the country
between that place and Alexandria, in which it seemed probable that
interesting remains might be found. We had in that event proposed
to return by Siwah, and along the trade oS Horneman to
Augila; from which place we should have re-entered the Greater
Syrtis, and explored some of the more inland parts of it in the course
of our journey back to Tripoly. Circumstances, however, which it
will not here be necessary to explain, prevented our going farther
eastward than Dema, and limited the period of our stay in the Pen-
tapolis to a much shorter period than we had originally calculated
upon. Our work has in consequence assumed the form of a Journal,
and has become more contracted on points of unquestionable interest,
and more diffuse in matters which would otherwise have been
omitted, than it would have been in the character which we wished
it to have taken. We do not, however, mean to apologize for having
done less than we might have done under the circumstances in
which we were placed; or to underrate the value of the matter which
we have been able to lay before the Public : the materials which we
had to work upon are in themselves sufficiently interesting to call
for the attention of those who read for information, and' the labour
which has been employed in collecting them (during the whole course
of a long and fatiguing journey) has not been thrown away upon
trifles.
We have given to the world (we may say with the greatest accuracy)
an extensive tract of coast which has been hitherto unsur-
Veyed, and of which our best charts afforded a very imperfect outline,
as will appear by a reference to the maps at the head of the
work.
We have obtained the plans of towns and places, (rendered interesting
by antiquity, and by the rank which they hold in the pages of
history,) of which we have hitherto had no details; and have
described, or made drawings of every object of note which has
presented itself on the field of our operations. In fact, whatever
may be the merit of our work in other respects, or the value attached
to our exertions, we are satisfied ourselves with the matter acquired
and with the labour and diligence which has been employed in collect
ing i t ; and it is because our materials are worthy of more attention
than we had time and opportunities to bestow upon them, that we
regret we are not able to offer them to the Public in a more complete
form than we have been able to give them. Had it been in our
power to employ excavation, on a more extensive scale than we did,
and to bestow as much time upon every object worth attention as its
importance appeared to demand, our work could have been a more
perfect one; that is to say, it would have treated of art, and its
details more exclusively (we mean the details of sculpture, architecture,
and painting,) than it does in the shape which it at present