so prevalent, that doubts were expressed whether I should be able
to remove any one of those whom it had pleased Providence thus to
punish for their sins.
“ On the 6th, after our party had been joined by three mountain
chiefs, Mahmoud, Abdallah, and Hadgi Alii, with twenty-five Janissaries,
and fifteen camels laden with water, barley, tents, &c., we proceeded
over a hilly and bare country to the southward. On the 7th
we arrived at a well of bad water called Kanaphiz, in an open space
nearly surrounded by the Lodz hills. We found a small Kaffle
there from P ezzan, and purchased of the Moors a quantity of exquisite
Sockna dates, and some dried locusts. We were exceedingly
tormented here by the numerous ticks that swarmed over the whole
plain, and teazed alike both ourselves and our horses. On the 8th
having passed the range of Souarat, we advanced through a pretty
valley called Taaza, neglected, but evidently capable of improvement,
from the luxuriant myrtle, lotus, juniper, cypress, and other
plants, flourishing spontaneously. I also observed many trees
called Talha, from which a gum exudes resembling that brought
from the forests on the north-west of the Zaara; and probably it is
the same tree, for it is of stunted growth, with small brownish
leaves, though its character is rather that of a rhamnus than a
mimosa.
“ In the evening we arrived at a brackish well of great depth called
Zemzem, from having been blessed by a holy Marabut, and thence
is derived the name of the whole Wadie, which running towards
the north-east reaches the Syrtis below Turghar. Intending to
pitch our tents here, we had first to burn away the stubble to destroy
a species of venomous spider, from the bites of which we had two or
three narrow escapes, saving ourselves only by killing them suddenly
on the spot with a smart blow, the moment we saw them upon us.
Ghirrza, the scene of the extraordinary story so extensively propagated,
being only within three or four miles of this place, occasioned
me a restless night : so that early on the morning of the 9th I
eagerly sat off over the hills, and after a short ride the ruins of
Ghirrza abruptly met my sight.
“ I instantly perceived the error of some writers, in ascribing cold
springs and moving sands to this spot, for the site is mountainous
and bare, presenting only dreary masses of lime and sandstone,
intersected with the ramifications of the great wadie of Zemzem.
And although I had not allowed my imagination to rise at all in proportion
to the exhilarating accounts I had heard, I could not but be
sorely disappointed on seeing some ill-constructed houses of comparatively
modern date, on the break of a rocky hill, and a few tombs at
a small distance beyond the ravine. On approaching the latter I
found them of a mixed style, and in very indifferent taste, ornamented
with ill-proportioned columns and clumsy capitals. The regular
architectural divisions of frieze and cornice being neglected, nearly
the whole depth of the entablatures was loaded with absurd representations
of warriors, huntsmen, camels, horses, and other animals
in low relief, or rather scratched on thè freestone of which they are
constructed. The pedestals are mostly without a dye, and the sides
bore a vile imitation of arabesque decoration. The human figures