— Remains of an Aqueduct — Fountain of Cyrene. On the morning of the 29th, we left the plain of Merge and proceeded on our journey to Cyrene. The road, after crossing the plain, leads over a rugged hill in which it has been cut; and we soon found from the deep and continued marks of chariot-wheels that we were following an ancient track. From the hill we descended into a beautiful valley named Bogràta where we found some ancient wells situated upon a rising ground in the centre of it, at which we watered our horses. From hence we proceeded through a hilly country, well clothed with trees of various kinds, and pitched our tents for the night at Hareebe, a delightful valley, studded with olive-trees, and possessing two wells of good water. The next day we passed through other remarkably fine vallies, which we found for the most part cultivated, and through copses and thickets of pine, cedar, laurel, laurestinus, carob, cypress, myrtle, box, arbutus, and various other trees and shrubs, which were flourishing in the greatest luxuriance. Among these the convolvulus and honeysuckle twined themselves; and red and white roses, marigolds, and other flowers, with a great variety of beautiful ferns, were everywhere scattered over the hills and vallies[1]. The forms of the landscape were at the same time remarkably picturesque; and here and there a ruin of some ancient fortress, towering above the wood on the summit of a hill, contributed to give character to the scene. Our attention was occasionally called away (in climbing up, or descending the steep and rocky sides of some of the hills over which we passed) by the difficulty and danger of the roads; and our horses were continually slipping on the hard glassy surface which they presented; notwithstanding we had used the precaution of taking off one of their shoes and the others were frequently dropping off of themselves, owing to the wearing away of the nails. As we passed some of the woods our guides begged we would keep together lest we should be fired at by some ill-disposed persons from among the bushes; but we soon found this caution to be perfectly unnecessary, and continued to stray away in all directions without experiencing the least molestation.