destructive method of the Arabs in impoverishing the land around
their dowars, till it becomes exhausted, without any attempt to nourish
or assist the soil, is e v e r y where visible, by the many bare spots
whence the tents have been shifted to more fertile situations, which
for the same reason soon become, in their turn, deserted also.
I first visited Leptis in May, 1816, to examine into the possibility
of embarking the numerous columns lying on its sands, which
the Bashaw of Tripoly, had offered to His Majesty. The ruins
had a very interesting appearance, from the contrast of their fallen
grandeur with the mud-built villages of Lebidah and L'egatah,
and the Nomadic tribes scattered around. The city, with its immediate
suburb, occupies a space of about ten thousand yards, the
principal part of which is covered by a fine white sand, that,
drifting with the wind along the beach, has been arrested in its
progress by the ruins, and struck me at the moment as having
probably been the means of preserving many specimens of art, which,
from the numerous pillars, capitals, cornices, and sculptured fragments
strewed around, I could not but suppose to have been
extremely valuable, more especially, since having been the birthplace
of the Emperor. Severus, he might have enriched it with
presents; besides which it had been highly favoured for its adherence
to the Boman interest during the Jugurthine war. In addition
to these circumstances, the fact of Leptis once being sufficiently
opulent to render in tribute a talent a day; prompted me, on my
arrival at Malta, to recommend it as an eligible field for an extensive
excavation.
TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI.
On.my return thither in January, 1817, I was surprised, on riding
over the ruins, to find that many of the most valuable columns,
which were.standing in thepreceding May, had either been removed,
or were lying broken on the spot, and even most of those still remaining
had had their astragal and torus chipped off. I discovered, on inquiry,
that a report had been circulated by the Tschaouses on my
former visit, of an intention to embark them for England; and as it
had long been a quarry whence the Arabs supplied themselves with
mill-stones, they had in the interval been busily employed in breaking
up the columns for that purpose, providing not only for the present,
but also for future supply. This extensive destruction was prompted
by the peculiar construction of the Moorish oil-mills, they being built
with, a circular, surface, having a gentle inclination towards the
centre, round which a long stone traverses, formed by about one-
third of a shaft, .
On the 25th, however, having arranged my tents and instruments,
I commenced an excavation near the centre of the city with
a party of eight Arabs, whom I increased the following day to a hundred;
and as they quickly gained the use of the English spade and
mattock, the work proceeded with celerity. But I soon had the mortification
of perceiving, from numerous local evidences, that Leptis had
been completely ravaged in former times, and its public edifices demolished
with diligent labour, owing perhaps to the furious bigotry
of the Carthaginian bishops, who zealously destroyed the Fagan
monuments in every place under their control. Or it might have
been partly effected by the vengeance of the Barbarians for the
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