“It appears to be chiefly from Leo Africanus that modern historians have derived their idea of what they term the district and desert of Barka. Yet the whole of the Cyrenaica is comprehended within the limits which they assign to it; and the authority of Herodotus, without citing any other, would be amply sufficient to prove that this tract of country not only was no desert, but was at all times remarkable for its fertility.... The impression left upon our minds, after reading the account of Herodotus, would be much more consistent with the appearance and peculiarities of both, in their actual state, than that which would result from the description of any succeeding writer.... The district of Barka, including all the country between Mesurata and Alexandria, neither is, nor ever was, so destitute and barren as has been represented: the part of it which constitutes the Cyrenaica is capable of the highest degree of cultivation, and many parts of the Syrtis afford excellent pasturage, while some of it is not only adapted to cultivation, but does actually produce good crops of barley and dhurra.” (Captain Beechey, Expedition to Northern Coast of Africa, ch. x, pp. 263, 265, 267, 269: comp. ch. xi, p. 321.) [73] Justin, xiii, 7. “Amœnitatem loci et fontium ubertatem.” Captain Beechey notices this annual migration of the Bedouin Arabs:— “Teucheira (on the coast between Hesperides and Barka) abounds in wells of excellent water, which are reserved by the Arabs for their summer consumption, and only resorted to when the more inland supplies are exhausted: at other times it is uninhabited. Many of the excavated tombs are occupied as dwelling-houses by the Arabs during their summer visits to that part of the coast.” (Beechey, Exp. to North. Afric. ch. xii, p. 354.) And about the wide mountain plain, or table-land of Mergê, the site of the ancient Barka, “The water from the mountains inclosing the plain settles in pools and lakes in different parts of this spacious valley; and affords a constant supply during the summer months, to the Arabs who frequent it.” (ch. xiii, p. 390.) The red earth which Captain Beechey observed in this plain is noticed by Herodotus in regard to Libya (ii, 12). Stephan. Byz. notices also the bricks used in building (v. Βάρκη). Derna, too, to the eastward of Cyrene on the sea-coast, is amply provided with water (ch. xvi, p. 471).