follow, though they did hot lead us quite in the direction we wished;
and having got as nèar to our object as they could carry us, we had
sèldom many walls to scramble over before we reached the place
where it stood. I t is probable that some of these walls are of very
considerable antiquity; for the soil in this neighbourhood could not
at any time have been cultivated without removing the crust of stone
from its surface ; ' but we could not discover any inscriptions upon
them, though we often examined them with'the hope of being able
to do so. We observed that in the vicinity of the forts the walls
wérè usually placed much closer together, and the inclosures weré in
consequence smaller than in other parts.
The extensive plain in which the town of Bengazi is situated, , is
bounded to the southward by thè range of high land, on whose
summit Gyrene once stood so conspicuously ; and the whole of the
plain at thè foot of this range is covered with vegetation from
the hills tó the sea. The sight, we believe, was refreshing to all
parties ; for our very horses and camels appeared to partake of the
pleasure which we could not avoid feehng ourselvés in contemplating
sò agreeable a scene. One of our party was dispatched in
advance to Bengazi, accompanied by the Bashaws Chaous,'to apprize
the British resident of bur approach, and to concert with him
such measures as might be necèssary for our accommodation in thè
town, where the violence and long duration of the winter-rains
would oblige us, we well knew, to remain for some time. I t was
night’ bèfore they reached the salt lake by which Bengazi is nearly
surrounded, and which it was necessary to cross before they entered
the town; the rains which had already fallen had swelled it more
than the Chaous had anticipated, and the darkness of the night rendered
it difficult for him to find the spot at which it was necessary
to ford it. After wandering about the banks for some little time in
uncertainty, and trying several plans without success, they at length
reached the opposite shore; though not before their horses had
plunged into several holes, from which they could only extricate
themselves by swimming. On the following day our whole party
arrived at Bengazi, and were received with every mark of attention
and politeness by Signor Rossoni, the British Vice-Consul, to whom
the necessary-instructions from Mr. Consul Warrington had already
been forwarded. We found that Signor Rossoni was already in treaty
for the house of an Arab Shekh, one of the best which the place
afforded, and only waited our arrival to arrange the terms on which
we were willing to take i t : these were soon settled, and we took
possession of our new abode the day after our arrival in the town,
and began to make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would
allow, under the disadvantages of a rainy winter, at Bengazi.
-Bengazi is allowed to have been built upon the site'once occupied
by the town of Berenice, the most western . city of the Pentapolis ;
but before we proceed to describe this part of the Cyrenaica, it will
be proper to look back upon the tract of country already before the
reader, and, in taking a general view of the gulf and shores of the
Greater Syrtis* to bring together some of the most prominent
remarks of ancient writers respecting it.