366
A window has been formed in part of the wall for the purpose
of giving light to an upper story, which, together with the window
itself appears to have made no part of the original plan ; an
addition has also been made to the exterior, (marked by shading lines
in the ground-plan,) and forming, with what has been already
described, a square of something less than fifty feet. There is no
appearance of any door in this additional wall, which has been very
strongly built, and it completely prevents all access from without to
the door of the original building. The object of this has no doubt
been security, and the whole structure appears to have been intended
as a station for troops and was probably one of the fortresses
repaired by Justinian. Its height may be about five-and-twenty feet,
(we mean the height of the original building, few the added part
does not seem to have been ever raised to half that elevation), and it
is still surmounted by a cornice part of which is, however, cut away.
There are several other strong towers at no great distance from
Gusser el To wee], nearer to the foot of the mountains, and-a communication
appears to have been kept up all the way from Bengazi to
Ptolemeta. There are also several well-built and spacious arched
cisterns, and other structures partly built and partly excavated, in
this tract of country; as also many subterranean storehouses for
grain; and a month or two might eertainly be spent with great advantage
in examining the space between the sea and the mountains,
from Bengazi to Birsis and Teuchira.
1