Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolisBeechey, Frederick William
History
Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolis
Beechey, Frederick William
Sidra, Gulf of (Libya); Tripoli (Libya) -- Antiquities; Tripoli (Libya) -- Discovery and exploration
of life have accustomed them to expect, and to support without any
other effects than the temporary fatigue of the exertion. If the
journey should be long, the tent is seldom unpacked till they have
arrived at the place of their destination, and the whole party sleep
very soundly on the ground, in the midst of their sheep and cattle,
till the first appearance of day-light summons them to rise and
take up their burdens, which have probably in the mean time been
usefully employed in affording them the luxury of a pillow.
On quitting the hills among which our late acquaintance were
encamped, we passed along the track of Ras Houeijah (the promontory
above mentioned), and were detained some time in consequence of
the lake having terminated in a swamp, which extended to the sea,
and in which our horses sank so deep as to render great caution
necessary. The land at the back of the marsh rises tolerably high,
and was better peopled than any part we had yet seen in the district
of Syrt. At about one o’clock we reached Wady Shegga, a large
fiumara so called, and having procured some brackish water a little
way up it, continued our route till we reached some Arab tents,
where we halted for the night. At Shegga we found the remains of some
forts, strongly and regularly built, and of the same quadrangular
form with those which we have already described. On a large mound of
rubbish we also observed a Marábut, rudely built with the stones
of fallen structures about it. In a valley belonging to the chain
of hills which runs at the back of Shegga are considerable traces
of small buildings, rudely put together with the unshaped stones
of the soil. They consist principally of strait lines and parts of
squares, built with very little regularity, and occupying both sides
of the valley. Traces of walls may also be still observed across
the valley, which is furrowed and torn up by the passage of torrents
rushing down in the rainy season from the hills, but which seems to
have formerly contained much more building than can be perceived in
it at present. The rain seems to have been also a principal agent
in destroying the buildings on the sides of the valley; but the
loss which has been sustained is scarcely to be regretted; since
neither these structures, nor those which occupied the centre of the
valley, could ever have been of any importance, although they have
certainly been very numerous. Before the entrance of the valley,
near the forts which have been mentioned, are also seen traces of
building, but which do not seem to have been much more important
than those which we have just alluded to. On the whole, nothing
more can well be collected from these remains, than that the place
has been formerly the site of a small town, which must always have
been a very miserable one. There is however a good deal of pasturage
in the neighbourhood, occasioned by the plentiful supply of water
from the hills, and we found ourselves surrounded on all sides by
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