The very difficulty of the road added interest to the scene; and
the mixture of what (with us) would have been garden shrubs,
blooming, more luxuriantly than we ever see them in northern climates,
amidst the wild crags of a neglected ravine, gave a finish and
an elegance to its rugged forms which produced the most agreeable
association of ideas.
But if we begin to indulge ourselves in recollections of this nature,
we shall soon lose the thread of our narrative; and restraint is the
more necessary on the present occasion, as the scenes which presented
themselves one after the other, in our route from Ptolemeta
to Merge, were nothing but a continued succession of beauties from
the beginning to the end of our journey. In about an hour from the
time when we began to ascend, we reached the top of the first hill,
and were saluted by a wild-looking, dark-featured Arab, who presented
us some honey in the comb which is procured in quantities from the
neighbouring mountains. This was the first person we had met
with in our passage up the ravine, and there was a wildness in his
accent as well as in his appearance which suited admirably with the
character of the scene. A little farther on we reached some Arab
tents, scattered here and there among the bushes and trees, and such
of the Bedouins whose tents we passed nearest to came out, and
questioned us on the objects of our journey. We observed in these
people the same peculiarities of look and accent which had struck us
in our friend of the honeycomb, and they had a bluntness and
independence of manner and appearance which afforded us, together
with their simplicity, a good deal of pleasure and amusement.
They welcomed us m the true patriarchal style, with an offer of
shelter and' refreshment, and we should have liked nothing better
than spending a week or two among them, and rambling about the
beautiful country which they occupied.
I t often happens, however, that pleasure and duty are disagreeably
inconsistent with each other; and the fine Arcadian lounge, that we
should willingly here have indulged in, .would not have much forwarded
the objects of the mission*. The view which presented itself
from the top of the hill was no less pleasing than those which we had
enjoyed so much in ascending it. I t had less of wildness than those
of the ravine, but quite sufficient to give additional interest to the
broad sweep of open country which lay stretched out before us, comprising
a rich and varied succession of hills and vallies which lost
themselves in the blue horizon.
The open tracts of pasture and cultivated land scattered over this
charming scene were most agreeably diversified with clumps and
thickets of 'trees, and with flowering shrubs and flowers, in greater
profusion and variety than we had seen in our passage along the
ravine. Everything around us was green and smiling; and whether
* I t was to the rus in urbe that our destiny called us—to the 'irohis EXAevtr waXsaoV
ovofAa jta i ff£/Avov— vuv v ew is , x a i x am ty n s y xou. {¿eya eqeiiriov ! as Cyrene is pathetically
described by Synesius; and we are sorry to say th a t the term rus in urbe may now be
well applied to this once beautiful city with even more correctness than to Ptolemeta;
which we have already described as covered with vegetation, and presenting the appearance
of a solitary grass-grown tract of country, rather than of a once populous town.
Cattle feed everywhere among the ruins of Cyrene, and its whole aspect is infinitely
more rural than civic.