They are written in what may be called the running-hand of the Greeks of the Roman Empire, and it is probable that one much accustomed to this character might succeed, with the assistance of a strong and steady light, and the frequent application of water to the inscriptions, in making out more than we were able to do with the little time we had at our disposal, and the light we were able to procure. In other parts of the rock were excavated tombs, some of which were entered by a quadrangular well, in the manner of those common in Egypt. We found nothing in any of them but scattered bones, from which we were not able to ascertain the mode of burial adopted. There can be no doubt that great part of the rock just described has already been washed away by the sea, which has here gained considerably on the land; and several wells are now observable some feet under water, which were of course originally above its level. In the wall fronting the south, we observed part of an arch protruding itself from among the rubbish which encumbered it; and found, on clearing it, that it had been constructed without a key-stone, of square blocks, arranged so as to touch each other at the bottom, and having the interstices above filled up with good cement, which appeared to be more durable than the stone. We found other examples of arches so constructed in different parts of the Syrtis and Cyrenaica. The appearance of the top of the arch just described had given us hopes of discovering an entrance to some part of the fortification through the wall in which it was formed; but we found to our disappointment, on clearing it from the rubbish, that what we thought would prove the entrance extended no more than three feet from the external surface; and that all farther advance was prevented by a solid wall built across it, which appeared to be part of the original structure. Among the rubbish we found a silver coin, and several copper ones, so corroded that it was impossible to ascertain their antiquity. We should willingly have given a much longer time to the examination of the ruins at Tabilba than the few hours we were enabled to bestow upon it; but the lateness of the season left us no choice on the subject, and we had already spent more time at Braiga than we could well afford to employ in such researches. It must however be confessed, that if we had doubted the probability of being able to return and examine them with greater minuteness, we might have been tempted to stay longer at many places in the Syrtis than we should perhaps have been authorized in doing.