[Footnote 8: The noxious qualities of the night air in these swampy regions were occasionally severely felt by our party; one of our servants was seized with a fever while at Sooleb, and we were apprehensive that he would not be able to proceed for some days; but after being bled rather copiously he found himself better, and was the next day in condition to travel with the camels. The atmosphere after sunset was always very chilly in the Syrtis, and there was usually a heavy deposit of dew; a very offensive smell was also experienced in many parts of the marsh.] [Footnote 9: Gusser is a term indiscriminately applied by the Arabs to ruins of every description.] [Footnote 10: Monsieur Lautier has some remarks upon this part of the gulf, which do not appear to be very intelligible.—See the account of his voyage in Della Cella, p. 216. These observations are alluded to in the hydrographic remarks attached to the journal.] [Footnote 11: Edrisi has mentioned a tower called Hassān, which he places at four days’ journey from the western point of the Syrtis—and Mahād Hassān is four days’ journey from Mesurata, at the rate of between thirteen and fourteen geographical miles per day.] [Footnote 12: We have already stated that Shekh Mahommed was called el Dúbbah, or the Hyæna.] [Footnote 13: The camel has been known to go as much as ten days without water, but they suffer very much from an abstinence of three and four days.] [Footnote 14: Μετα δε την λιμνην τοπος εστιν Ασπις, και λιμην καλλιστος των εν τῆ Συρτει.—Lib. 17, p. 836.] [Footnote 15: Buildings of the same nature are also found in the Cyrenaica.] [Footnote 16: Aspis is laid down in Ptolemy on the western side of the gulf, at about sixty miles within the promontory of Triæorium; but this distance would only bring us within nine miles of Jaireed, and we have already stated that Mahād Hassān is the first place in the Syrtis (travelling eastward) which can be considered as an ancient site. Strabo’s lake finishes at Sooleb, but there are no remains of building in the neighbourhood of that place, nor between it and Mahād Hassān.] [Footnote 17: The naval station above mentioned, at the junction of Strabo’s lake with the sea, is not styled λιμην, but υφορμος; and we may conclude from this circumstance that it was formed by art, and not by any of those peculiarities of coast which usually constitute a fort.] [Footnote 18: It is formed by a rocky projection, which appeared to have been partly natural and partly artificial; and though its inconsiderable size would not allow vessels in it to ride clear of the surf in a gale of wind, yet in moderate weather there would be quite sufficient shelter for them to load and unload; and in the event of a gale they might easily have been hauled up on the beach.—See the plan of Mersa Zaffrān annexed.]