took especial care, notwithstanding the beauty of the descent, to
keep closer to the high rock on one side of the road than to the
edge of the charming precipice on the other.
There is a good deal of building, of very, excellent construction,
about the stream which runs along the bottom of the ravine; and
the water seems originally to have been inclosed,, and covered in, and
(we think) also raised to a considerable height above its bed, (as
appears to have been the case in the fountain of Apollo,) to be distributed
over the country in its neighbourhood. I t is difficult to
say in what precise manner this end may have been accomplished;
and whether or not the water so raised was connected with the aqueduct
which has. already been mentioned as running down to this
ravine from the edge of the cliff above the principal fountain; and
which we have also stated appears to have crossedit, and to have
been continued on the opposite side. As the supply from both
fountains is plentiful and constant it would be well worth the labour
and expense of preserving; and the level of both would render
them comparatively useless to the town; as well as to the high
ground about it, unless some means of raising the water were resorted
to. They who had leisure to examine the remains of building
connected with these two streams, attentively; and were able,
at the same time, to bring to the search a sufficient knowledge
of the principles of hydraulics and hydrostatics, would find the
inquiry a very interesting one; for our own part we confess that,
without enjoying either of these advantages, we were usually tempted
to bestow a portion of our time, when passing along the ravine in
question, in trying to collect from the existing remains how far they
may have been conducive to the object we have attributed to them.
At something less than a quarter of a mile from the commencement
of this ravine, the stream which flows down it is joined by another,
issuing out from the rock on its western side, and a basin has been
formed in the rock itself for its reception. In front of this third fountain
there are considerable traces of building, which are however so
much buried by the accumulation of soil, and encumbered with shrubs
and vegetation, that nothing satisfactory can be made out from them.
T h e : spot is now (like that in front of the fountain of Apollo) a
favourite retreat for the sheep and cattle of the Bedouins who occasionally
visit Cyrene; and our appearance often put them to a precipitate
flight, and the old women and children, who usually tended
them, to a good deal of trouble in collecting them together again,
These annoyances (we must say, in justice to the sex) were borne for
the most part very good-naturedly ; and we usually joined them in
pursuit of the family quadrupeds with every disposition to assist them
to the utmost. Indeed the Arab women in general, of all ranks and
ages, are remarkable for patience and good nature; and we have often
seen both, these qualities in our fair African friends, put to very
severe trials without suffering any apparent diminution. Their-
greatest failings seem to be vanity and jealousy; and these are
surely too natural and too inconsiderable to merit any seriouS reprehension,
more especially in a barbarous nation. Curiosity is at the
same time, with them, as it is said to be with the sex in general, a
quality in very extensive circulation; and if we could have stopped