Traces of Christianity are still visible in the remains of a handsome church in this city, which may perhaps be attributed to the piety or the munificence of Justinian, so conspicuously displayed in similar structures throughout his extensive dominions. The account which Bruce has given us of Ptolemeta proves evidently that he confounded it with Teuchira, since he tells us of its _walls_, “which he found _entire_, on which were a prodigious number of Greek inscriptions;” whereas there are no remains of walls at Ptolemeta, (with the exception of a noble gateway by which those which once existed were connected,) that are more than a foot above the ground; and we have already stated, that the walls of Teuchira correspond with Bruce’s description. The same writer adds that he found nothing at Arsinoe, or at Barca, and we are somewhat at a loss to know what places he intends to point out as the spots which he considers to have been occupied by the two cities mentioned. We have given the details which we were enabled to collect of Teuchira at the end of the present chapter, and shall therefore abstain from further mention of it here, and proceed with the other parts of our narrative. We may, however, remark that it 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 Teuchira (we were informed) is uninhabited. Many of the excavated tombs, which we have mentioned above, are occupied as dwelling-houses by the Arabs during their summer visits to this part of the coast; and from the circumstance of their being much cooler at that season than the external atmosphere, are certainly very pleasant abodes. Here also, as at Carcora, we were very much annoyed with the parching sirocco wind; and our Chaous, from Bengazi, a very stout active fellow, was seized, in consequence, with a violent fever, and was unable to continue his journey. We left him, however, in very good hands, and he rejoined us, on his recovery, at Ptolemeta. From Teuchira to Ptolemeta is about eighteen miles (geographic), and the road between these places leads along the sea-coast, which gradually approaches the mountains. The soil is excellent, and the country is for the most part well cultivated; the wood being chiefly confined to the sides of the mountains and to those of the ravines which cross the road. In approaching Ptolemeta, the attention is first arrested by a large and very lofty quadrangular tomb, constructed on a basis of solid rock, which has been purposely insulated from the quarry in which it stands, and shaped also into a quadrangular form. This object assumes the appearance of a lofty tower, and forms a very striking feature in the scenery about Ptolemeta, being seen from a considerable distance.