If it could be positively ascertained from what point of the Cyrenaica the army of Ophellas set out on their journey across the Syrtis, we should have the position of Automala sufficiently well ascertained; but the historian merely states, that when everything was prepared for the expedition, Ophellas set his army in motion, without mentioning the precise point from which they set out, and that the distance which they accomplished in eighteen days, as far as Automala, was three thousand stadia. Had there been any point in the bottom of the gulf which could be decidedly fixed upon as the μυχος, or innermost recess of it, in which Strabo has placed Automala, there would be no occasion for any other evidence of its position; but the coast is so straight at the bottom of the gulf, that it is not possible to fix with accuracy upon any one point which may be taken as the μυχος in question. Sachreen is certainly the most southern point, but the difference of latitude between this place and the other parts of the coast which form the bottom of the gulf is so trifling, that it can scarcely be said to amount to anything at all. Braiga is the nearest place to Sachreen where any remains are found which will answer to Automala, and that is twenty miles distant from it, in making the circuit of the coast.] [Footnote 24: It may be added, that the forts in the neighbourhood of Braiga and Tabilba, erected among the hills a little inland, are very interesting, and much more perfect than usual. A fortnight or three weeks might be very profitably and agreeably spent in making out the interior ground-plans of these buildings.] [Footnote 25: Εχει δε το μεταξὺ διαστημα και λιμενες ου πολλους, υδρεια δε σπανια.—Lib. xvii. p. 836.] [Footnote 26: That of Aspis—καλλιστος των εν τη Συρτει.] [Footnote 27: It must be observed, that an old wicker-basket is by no means an unsavoury dish for a hungry camel, and the animals in question had already dined off much tougher materials; for the date-stones which we had occasionally given them, in the absence of other tenderer meat, were eaten up with a relish which left little room for doubting the speedy disappearance of hampers and baskets, whenever we might afford to serve them up as entremets.] [Footnote 28: Nel fondo di questo seno v’ ha un pozzo di acqua dolce, ove si attinge a una grandissima profondità, sopratutto in estate. È rotondo, con una scalinata interna, per la quale vi si puo facilmente discendere. Ad ogni dieci scalini vi si trovano scolpite inscrizione in Greco. Furono impiegate nel mese di Settembre ottanta tre braccia di corda per attignerle l’ acqua.—(Della Cella: Viaggio da Tripoli, &c. p. 220-21.)] [Footnote 29: At the foot of the sand-hills at Carcora there are some springs of fresh water, remarkably sweet and good, within a few feet of an extensive salt-marsh, and on the same level with it. The circumstance is worthy of remark, although there are other instances of similar occurrences.]