These approaches to the town, for there are several of them, as will be seen by the plan, have the appearance of ruined and deserted streets; the tombs ranged on each side of them supplying the places of houses. The solemnity, we can scarcely say the gloom, of this effect is, however, enlivened by the variety of style which characterises the architecture, as well as by the difference in the plans and sizes of the tombs, and in the degrees of labour and finish bestowed upon them. The earlier tombs may be distinguished by their simplicity and good taste, the later by a more ornamented and a more vitiated style. A similar difference of style may be observed in the busts and statues, which are scattered about among the tombs; some of which have the Greek and some the Roman cast of countenance and costume, portrayed in the several manners peculiar to each nation, according to the age of the performance. We were at first induced to stop at every object of importance which presented itself in our passage through these regions of the dead; but we soon found that such delays, however agreeable, would make it night before we reached the city itself if we continued to indulge in them as our inclination prompted; and we bade our conductor (the chaous from Bengazi) lead on to that part of it which he himself considered to be most worthy of particular attention. The taste of the African displayed itself on this occasion precisely in the manner which we had expected it would do; and after passing for some little distance along the edge of a ravine where we perceived the remains of an aqueduct, he descended by a gentle slope into a level spot of ground, overspread with remains of building, till we found ourselves at the foot of a perpendicular cliff and heard the grateful sound of running water. Nothing further was necessary to rouse the drooping energies of our horses, fatigued with the day’s journey, and parched with thirst from the heat of the weather; they sprang forward instinctively, without the stimulus of whip or spur, and plunging up to their knees in the cool clear stream drank deep of the fountain of Cyrene. We are by no means indifferent to the beauties of antiquity,—nay we often imagine ourselves to be among their most ardent admirers; but we confess, to our shame, that, on this occasion, we followed the example of the poor beasts who carried us, and, springing from our saddles, took a copious draught of the fountain before we turned to pay our homage to the shrine from which it flowed[21]. FOOTNOTES: