Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolisBeechey, Frederick William
History
Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolis
Beechey, Frederick William
Sidra, Gulf of (Libya); Tripoli (Libya) -- Antiquities; Tripoli (Libya) -- Discovery and exploration
To return to our subject, we may remark, in conclusion, that a very
considerable part of the population of Zelīten are Jews; and we
were informed that the manufactures of the place are chiefly in the
hands of these people: we found them uniformly civil, obliging, and
industrious, and though much persecuted by the Mahometan inhabitants,
they appear to support their ill fortune contentedly.
On the morning of the 18th we left Zelīten, and entered immediately
upon an extensive plain, for the most part overrun with squills
and brushwood. Two roads cross this plain, one to Mesurata, the
other to Benioleed: we took the former, as nearest to the sea;
and at the distance of a few miles beyond Zelīten, we observed
several scattered heaps of ruins on either side of the road; most
of these have been built on artificial mounds, with trenches round
them, and appear to have formed parts of a military position; but
everything was so much mutilated and buried, that much time would
have been necessary to make out their plans, which would scarcely
indeed have recompensed the labour of excavation.
At sunset we arrived at Selin, where the tents were pitched near
an ancient well, forty feet in depth, and containing a good supply
of sweet water. At the distance of about two hundred yards from
the well, we perceived upon a hill the remains of what appeared to
have been a fort; and many fragments of buildings were discernible
here and there in the neighbourhood. This place seems to be the
Orir of Dr. Della Cella, but we could perceive no traces of the
Mosaic pavement which he mentions, nor anything to mark the spot as
the site of an ancient city. The Doctor has fixed upon Orir as the
position of Cinsternæ; and the circumstance of its occurring (in
passing from west to east) immediately before the promontory which
forms the western boundary of the Greater Syrtis, would, in truth,
seem to favour the idea. But Zelīten appeared to us more adapted
for the site of a city, and the remains of that place had more
the character of parts of a town than those which were observable
at Selin. We should conceive that the ruins to the eastward of
Zelīten were those of a connected series of forts, and that no other
buildings had been attached to them than such as are usually found
in the neighbourhood of a military position. Cinsternæ, however,
was a town of so little importance, that whether its site be fixed
at Zelīten or Selin is a matter of very trivial consideration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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