Chapter III

Departure of the Expedition from Tripoly — Passage through Tagiura — Fertile appearance of the latter — Its Mosque, and actual remains — Tagiura considered as the site of Abrotonum — Existence of a salt-water lake at Tagiura, consistent with Strabo’s account of Abrotonum — Present tranquil condition of the country in this neighbourhood contrasted with its dangerous state in the time of Consul Tully — Sand-heaps to the eastward of Tagiura — Remarks on their formation, and on the accumulation of sand in other places — Dangers of the sand-storm considered — Passage over the sandy tract to the eastward of Tagiura — Arrive at Wady Ramleh — Stormy weather at that place — Take leave of our European friends who had accompanied us from Tripoly — Continuance of the gale — Arrive at Wady’m’Seyd — Attempt to pass, without success, across the sand-hills to the coast. — Arrive at Guadigmata — Position of Graphara, as laid down by Scylax, considered. — Ancient remains discovered by Captain Smyth in the neighbourhood of Wady’m’Seyd and Abdellata. — Remarks on these, considered as the remains of Graphara — Scuffle with the Arabs at Sidy Abdellati — Remains at that place indicative of an ancient military station — Cross the range of Sélem — Extensive view from its summit over the fertile plains of Lebida and Jumarr — Rains still continue — Distress of the camels — Meet with the English Consul on his return from an excursion to Lebida — Report of a troop of marauding Arabs lying in wait for our party.

On the 4th of November our arrangements were completed, and we were able to send the greater part of our baggage to the tents which had been pitched in a garden without the town; on the following morning we took a final leave of Tripoly, and set out on our journey to Tagiura.

Our party consisted of three Europeans, who acted equally as interpreters and servants, a Tchaous, or janissary, belonging to the Bashaw, Shekh Mahommed el Dúbbah, with five other Bedouin Arabs, and three Arabs of Tripoly to look after the horses, making altogether (ourselves included) eighteen.

After passing through the Messeah, or cultivated district in the neighbourhood of Tripoly, and along the large Salt Marsh, mentioned in Tully’s Memoirs, which was now completely covered with water, we entered the scattered villages of Tagiura. They are surrounded by gardens, yielding abundant crops of corn, fruit and vegetables, and shaded by thickly-planted date and olive-trees, which are equally valuable to the inhabitants. We find Tagiura described by Leo Africanus as a country containing a good many villages, or hamlets, and many gardens of date and other fruit trees; and its present general appearance is probably little different from that which it presented in the time of this geographer.

In consequence of a considerable emigration from Tripoly, this country (he adds) became “assai nobile e civile;” but we must confess that there are at present very little remains of its importance, or extraordinary civilization; unless a large mosque, of some apparent antiquity (highly reverenced by its Mahometan population) and the good-humoured hospitality with which we were received by the natives, may be considered as examples of both.

The people, however, appeared to be contented and happy, and greeted us with many friendly salutations as we passed through their highly-cultivated country. Some Roman columns, which are said to be in the interior of the mosque, would seem to point out its vicinity to an ancient site[1]; and if we must necessarily consider Tagiura to occupy the position of any ancient town, we should suppose it to stand on that of Abrotonum.

But it will be found, upon inquiry, that there are considerable difficulties attendant on such a conclusion. For Abrotonum is stated by Scylax to have been two days’ sail from Leptis Magna[2]; and the distance between Tagiura and Lebida (already identified with Leptis Magna) is no more than 59 miles.

The mean rate allowed by Major Rennell, for the sailing of the vessels of the ancients, is 35 miles per day; so that the distance between Leptis Magna and Abrotonum should, at this rate, be 70 miles. It is true that the rate of Nearchus, in the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf, as estimated by the same author, is no more than 22½ and 30 miles; but this was occasioned by circumstances not attendant on voyages in general, and must be considered (says the Major) as an unusually low rate.

Another difficulty arises from the mention of Abrotonum as a _port_, as well as a city, in the passage we have quoted from Scylax; for Tagiura cannot be said to possess one.

It will here immediately occur to the reader, that Tripoly has a very good port; and that the distance of that town from Lebida will answer remarkably well with the distance of Scylax in question: for Tripoly may be estimated at 67 miles from Lebida, which will be within three of the 70 miles mentioned as the distance between Leptis Magna and Abrotonum. Both these circumstances together will therefore appear very strongly to favour the supposition that Tripoly is Abrotonum; while a third, which we have already mentioned, _viz._, that Oea is not stated to be a port by ancient writers, (at least, not that we have been able to learn,) will contribute to strengthen the idea.

These facts would undoubtedly make it seem very probable that Modern Tripoly is the Abrotonum of Scylax; but then the authorities of D’Anville and Cellarius, and these are no slender authorities, concur in placing that town on the site of Oea, as which we have accordingly considered it[3].

We will not pursue the question further; but will leave our readers to judge how far Abrotonum may be placed at Tagiura under the circumstances which we have already stated; merely adding, that the fertile plains of Tagiura are admirably calculated for the position of a town, and that many a pleasant day has been spent among their villages and gardens by the European inhabitants of Tripoly, who often make parties to visit them.

We may at the same time contrast the present quiet state of Tagiura with that in which it was found by Consul Tully a short time before the accession of Sidi Yusuf. It was then considered necessary, in visiting this place, although during what were called tranquil times, that the party of the Consul, amounting to upwards of forty, should be increased by the addition of several of the Bashaw’s Chaouses; and it was afterwards reported to His Highness, that he had had, notwithstanding this prudent precaution, a very narrow and fortunate escape.

We found the roads to, and through, Tagiura in most places inundated by the heavy rains which had fallen before the commencement of our journey; a circumstance which, if it did not expedite our travelling, had certainly the good effect of rendering it more pleasant, by cooling the atmosphere and preventing the sand from flying. This was the more fortunate, as the gardens to the eastward of the town are bounded by a dreary tract of sandy desert, which we were obliged to cross. The approach to it was indicated by numerous hillocks of sand accumulated about the date-trees on the outskirts of the villages, leaving their heads exposed, at various heights above the sand, while some of them scarcely appeared above the summit. Judging from the present appearance of Tagiura, we should imagine that many gardens, situated on its eastern limits, have been completely overwhelmed by these heaps.

Any object which is stationary would arrest the progress of sand borne towards it by the violence of the wind; and the low enclosures of Arab gardens in exposed situations might in a few years disappear altogether.

We are not, however, inclined to attribute quite so much to the overwhelming properties of sand, as many other travellers have done; and we do not think that the danger of being actually buried will appear, on consideration, to be altogether so great, to those who are crossing sandy deserts, as writers of high respectability have asserted. The sand which encounters a body in motion, would pass it, we should imagine, without accumulation; and the quantity which might even be heaped upon sleepers could scarcely be more than they might easily shake off in waking. We shudder at the dreadful accounts which have been recorded of whole caravans, and whole armies, destroyed by these formidable waves of the desert; and when our pity is strongly excited by such relations, we are seldom inclined to analyze them very deeply. But a little reflection would probably convince us that many of these are greatly exaggerated: some, because the writers believed what they related; and some, because they wished their readers to believe what they might not be quite convinced of themselves.

In fact, we think it probable that they who have perished in deserts, from the time of the Psylli and Cambyses to the present, have died, as is usual, before they were buried, either from violence, thirst, or exhaustion[4].

The idea in question has, however, become very general; and we can neither attribute much blame to the reader who believes what is related on respectable authority, or to the writer who simply informs us of what he himself considers to be true. To him whose only view is to excite interest by exaggeration, we may, at least, say it seems to be superfluous: for the hardships and dangers of a journey over the sandy desert may be fully sufficient to satisfy the most adventurous, and to exhaust the most robust, without calling up the airy forms of imaginary horrors, to lengthen out the line of those which really present themselves[5].

But if the desert have terrors peculiar to itself, it has also its peculiar pleasures. There is something imposing, we may say sublime, in the idea of unbounded space which it occasionally presents; and every trifling object which appears above its untenanted surface, assumes an interest which we should not on other occasions attribute to objects of much greater importance.

The little romance which its stillness and solitude encourage, is at the same time grateful to the feelings; and one may here dream delightfully of undisturbed tranquillity and independence, and of freedom from all the cares, the follies, and the vices of the world. Whenever the wind is cool, without being too strong, the purity of the air is at once refreshing and exhilarating; and, if his stock of water be not very low, the traveller feels disposed to be well pleased with every thing[6].

Such was precisely the feeling with which our party entered upon the tract of sandy desert before them. We were glad to escape from the continual din and bustle which had attended our preparations at Tripoly; and the very absence of harassing workmen and tradesmen was alone a source of real satisfaction: the coolness of the sea-breeze was unusually refreshing, at least, we persuaded ourselves that it was so; and the anticipation of an interesting journey was acting very strongly upon our minds.

After quitting the cultivated grounds of Tagiura, the traveller is left to pursue his course (in going eastward) as his experience or his compass may direct—there being no indication whatever of any track in the sands of the wide plain before him. As our principal object, in this part of our journey, was to obtain a correct delineation of the coast, we pursued our route along the margin of the sea; which from Tagiura to Cape Sciarra takes the form of a bay, at the head of which lies Wady Ramleh. It was late in the afternoon of the sixth when we reached the Wady, and came up with the party who had preceded us in advance with the camels and heavy baggage.

Wady Ramleh, or Rummel (as it is sometimes pronounced, which signifies, in Arabic, sandy river, or sandy valley), is a small, but constant stream of pure water, which finds its way across the desert from the mountains to the southward. The bed of the stream is much below the surface of the soil; and judging from its width, and the steep banks which confine it, we should conclude that at the periods when the freshes come down from the mountains, Wady Ramleh may be swelled into a considerable body of water. Here our day’s journey finished, and we pitched our tents near the stream, making them as comfortable as a stormy night would allow of for the friends who had accompanied us from Tripoly[7]. On the following morning the rain fell in torrents; and as the prospect afforded by the weather was not very inviting, we would not allow our companions to stray farther with us from home; but took our leave of them, as we flattered ourselves, with mutual regret, and they retraced their steps towards Tripoly, while we continued our journey to the eastward.

The wind had by this time increased to a violent gale, and we were very soon wet to the skin: but although such a state may not appear to be at all times an enviable one, it was in fact very much so on this occasion; for the clouds of sand which would have been hurled in our faces by the wind, had the surface of the desert been less wet, would have proved a much greater annoyance. With this reflection we pursued our journey very contentedly, and our Arab friends, composing Shekh Mahommed’s escort, appeared to be equally well satisfied; for they soon began to open the several budgets of songs with which an Arab is never unprovided, roaring them out to the full extent of their well-practised and powerful lungs, till they fairly drowned the noise of the gale.

At 10 A.M. we passed through Wady’m’Seyd, a small stream somewhat inferior to Wady Ramleh, and soon entered upon the extensive plain of Jumarr. Wady’m’Seyd may be termed the eastern limit of the long sandy tract which stretches from thence far to the westward, and passing to the southward of Tripoly, is bounded, in that direction, by the Gharian mountains.

The sandy nature of the ground to the westward of Wady’m’Seyd had latterly led us away from that part of the coast, and we now endeavoured to regain the beach; but the sands were so soft that our horses sank up to their saddle-girths, and our utmost efforts to reach it were unavailing: we were in consequence obliged to give up the attempt, and leave this portion of the coast line incomplete. Among the sand-hills we found several patches of rocky ground strewed with fragments of pottery, but no vestiges of building were discernible. The plain of Jumarr, from the excellence of its soil, would no doubt be extremely productive; but notwithstanding this advantage, and its vicinity to the metropolis, a small part of it only is cultivated, and but few Arab tents were to be seen. The Gharian range may here be considered to be about seven miles from the coast; and the heavy rains and torrents from the mountains have made several large ravines in this neighbourhood, which crossed our path in their passage to the sea: the most considerable of these are Wady Terragadt and Wady Booforris. Soon after four o’clock we reached Guadigmata, where we found a small Arab encampment, and pitched our tents for the night.

It is in the neighbourhood of Guadigmata, between that place and Wady’m’Seyd, that we must look for the Graphara of Scylax. For as that city is described by the geographer as being midway between Abrotonum and Leptis Magna, that is, a day’s sail from each—Guadigmata being 26 miles from Lebida, and the whole distance from Lebida to Tagiura 58½—it follows that the site of Graphara might be fixed three miles to the westward of Guadigmata; which would place it at 29 miles’ distance from each of the cities in question, or half way between Lebida and Tagiura [8].

There are, however, no remains to the westward of Guadigmata (between that place and Wady’m’Seid) that we could perceive in our route; but two miles beyond Guadigmata there are some remains of building on a rising ground to the eastward of it, which are too much buried under the soil to allow us to give any satisfactory description of them. Two large upright stones, which seem to have been the jambs of a gateway, are all that are now standing; and not even the ground plans of other parts of these remains could be obtained without excavation. We learnt, however, from Captain Smyth that, in the neighbourhood of Wady’m’Seyd, there is a small boat-cove resembling an ancient cothon; and near it the ruins of several baths with tesselated pavements; which must have been situated on that part of the coast which we were not able to visit, for the reasons mentioned above. To the eastward of these, another small port was also discovered by Captain Smyth (formed by a point of land between the Wadies of Ben-z-barra and Abdellata), at which the produce of the country is shipped off in the summer. The mouth of the Abdellata is described by this officer as forming a picturesque cove, and he observed on its left bank (a little way inland) a village consisting of troglodytic caverns, excavated in the sand-stone rock; many of which being furnished with doors, are used by the natives instead of the usual matamores, or subterranean storehouses, as granaries.

The former of the ports here described may possibly have been that of Graphara required; but as there are more extensive remains in the neighbourhood of that at Abdellata (or Abdellati), which we shall presently have occasion to mention, we will not venture to fix it as such decidedly.

On the day after our arrival at Guadigmata, the weather proving still very bad, we did not proceed on our route; but spent the day in examining and securing our baskets of provisions many of which we found to have been wet through, and in making those other little arrangements which, notwithstanding all precautions, are usually found to be necessary a day or two after the commencement of a long journey.

We continued our route on the following morning, and found the country beyond become gradually hilly, and the road to be again intersected by Wadys, or ravines, extending themselves from the mountains to the sea[9]. By four we had arrived at Sidy Abdellàti: so called from a celebrated Marábut, whose tomb, surrounded by gardens and date-trees, stands conspicuous on the banks of one of the Wadys. The country about it is everywhere well cultivated, the wells are numerous, and the hills were covered with sheep and goats; but notwithstanding the numerous flocks in our neighbourhood, we found considerable difficulty in procuring a single lamb for our party.

While we were here a disturbance took place which had, at one time, assumed rather an alarming appearance. Our camel-drivers had allowed their beasts to stray over the cultivated grounds of the neighbouring Arabs, who came to demand remuneration, or to revenge themselves, in the event of not obtaining it, upon the owners of the camels[10]: the latter, together with our Arab escort, formed a tolerably strong party, and thinking themselves in a condition to do so, did not hesitate to resist the demand; a scuffle accordingly took place, in which many blows were exchanged, baracans torn, and knives and pistols brought into action. The arrival of Shekh Mahommed put an end to the fray before any serious consequences had ensued, and he satisfied the assailants by reprimanding the camel-drivers, and promising to make them keep their animals within bounds. We were ignorant ourselves of the cause of the disturbance, and seeing our party suddenly attacked, we naturally ran to their assistance, which certainly would not have been the case had we known they had been the aggressors. This made us more cautious afterwards, as we found that our drivers took advantage of the strength of the party to improve the condition of their camels.

The most conspicuous character in this disturbance was a trusty black slave of our conductor the Dúbbah, who appeared to have inherited from his master the art of raising his voice above that of every other person. Having had his pistols wrested from him, he was so hurried away by the violence of his passion as to seem quite unable to give it sufficient vent; and had just raised his knife to plunge it into an Arab, when he was prevented by one of our party, who presented a musket at him and deprived him of his weapon; for although he was fighting on our side, we were not of course desirous that he should proceed to such unjustifiable extremes.

The remains of some strongly-built forts, of quadrangular forms, occupying the heights which command the road, sufficiently point out Sidy Abdellàti as an ancient military station; and indeed, had we found there no vestiges of antiquity, we should have been induced from the nature of the ground to look for some indications of fortification; since the advantages of position, of soil, and of water, which it possesses, are too great to have been overlooked by the ancients.

About the tomb of the Marábut which we have mentioned above, there are frequent traces of building; and the tomb itself is constructed with the fragments of more ancient structures; while the beach and its neighbourhood are strewed with a quantity of pottery and glass. These ruins, although they now, with the exception of the Marábut and the forts, consist only of loose stones and imperfect ground-plans, appear to be more indicative of the site of an ancient town than those which we have mentioned at Guadigmata; and, if Graphara could be placed so near as twenty miles to Leptis Magna, they might probably be considered as its remains. The quadrangular forts which we have just mentioned as occupying the heights of Sidy Abdellàti, might in that case have belonged to a station attached to the town; and the port discovered by Captain Smyth at Abdellata (mentioned above) may then be taken as the one intended by Scylax.

Without carrying the subject further, we may say, in conclusion, that Sidy Abdellàti has undoubtedly been a strong military station, whatever pretensions it may have to be considered as the site of Graphara.

After leaving this place, the road led us, through the valley of Selîn, to a tolerably wide stream called Neggázi, which, winding between the hills, gave an unusual interest to the view. We continued our route for a short time along its banks, and then ascended the range of hills called Sélem, which branches off from the Terhoona[11] range and extends to the sea. From the top of Sélem there is an extensive view westward, over the plain of Jumarr, as far as the sandy desert; and on the eastern side of the ridge there is another view, equally imposing, over the plain of Lebida; so that in spite of the torrents of rain which still continued to deluge us, we could not help stopping occasionally to admire them.

From the summit of this range we noticed several remains of what appeared to be towers, conspicuously situated on the peaks of the hills to the northward; and which, from the strength of their position, might have bid defiance to any attack that could be made upon them: their situations appear to have been chosen with the intention of their being easily distinguished one from another, so as to answer the purpose of communication. The valleys of this range are capable of the highest degree of cultivation, but their fertility has only been partially taken advantage of by the Arabs of the neighbourhood. In some of them we noticed vines and olive-trees flourishing most luxuriantly between patches of ground producing corn and vegetables. Descending on the eastern side of the range, the road lies along the side of the mountain, and several ruins of forts and tombs are conspicuous on either side of it: here also are several remains of ancient wells, and we noticed one, in particular, which had fragments of marble columns lying near it. During the whole of this day the road was so slippery, in consequence of the heavy rains, that our camels could with difficulty proceed: they were continually falling under their burthens, and the alarm which their unsteady footing occasioned them added greatly to the distress of their situation. In the evening we pitched our tents in a valley about a mile from Mergip tower, where we met the English Consul on his return from an excursion to Lebida: he informed us of a report which was in circulation at that place, of a troop of marauding Arabs being in wait for our party two days south of Mesurata. This report was corroborated by Shekh Mahommed el Dúbbah, who seemed inclined to make it of some importance.

We suspected, from the Shekh’s manner, that he had himself circulated this story to enhance the value of his protection; and we were determined in consequence not to appear to believe it. As we did not however think it right to omit some precautions, in the event of the report proving after all to be true, we requested the Consul to mention it when he returned to the Bashaw; who might then take whatever measures he should judge to be necessary on the occasion.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: This circumstance is however by no means conclusive, even supposing the columns to be as stated; for Leo Africanus informs us that modern Tripoly was built from the ruins of Leptis Magna, after the final destruction of that city: and the columns in question might as easily have been brought from Lebida, as the materials employed in building the town of Tripoly.]

[Footnote 2: Απο Νεαπολεως, της Καρχηδονιων χωρας, Γραφαρα πολις. Ταυτη παραπλους ἡμερας μιας. απο δε Γραφαρων, Αβροτονον πολις καὶ λιμην. Ταυτη ὁ παραπλους ἠμερας μιας.]

[Footnote 3: Supposing Tripoly to be Oea, we must look for Abrotonum in some place as near to that city as possible; for the distance given by Scylax from Abrotonum to Leptis Magna will become more and more perplexing as we continue to place it farther to the eastward of Oea. Tagiura, under this supposition, is the site we should allow to Abrotonum; but the difficulties which we have stated are against such a conclusion, and we confess that we are unable to reconcile the contending authorities[a].

Neither Sabrata nor Oea (as we shall hereafter mention) appear to have existed in the time of Strabo: the first town which is mentioned by that geographer to the eastward of the Lesser Syrtis, after the lake Zuchis, and the town of the same name (famous for its purple dye and its salted provisions), is that of Abrotonum in question[b].

No distance is given by Strabo from Zuchis to Abrotonum; but the mention of a lake much smaller than that of Zuchis, immediately before Abrotonum, (as will be seen in the quotation below,) is consistent with the idea that Tagiura might be the place of the city intended; for we have stated that there is a lake a little to the westward of Tagiura; and although it is of tolerable size, it is nevertheless much smaller than that of Zuchis, which is estimated by Strabo at 400 stadia.]

[Footnote a: In Ptolemy we find Abrotonum placed to the westward of Oea; and in Pliny to the eastward of Taphra (or Graphara) neither of which positions tend to simplify the matter in question.]

[Footnote b: Μετα δε την Συρτιν Ζουχις εστι λιμνη . . . καὶ παρ᾽ αυτην πολις ομωνυμος . . . ειτ᾽ αλλη λιμνη πολυ ελαττων· καὶ μετα ταυτην Αβροτονον πολις, καὶ αλλαι τινες. (Lib. 17. κεφ. Γ. § 18.) It must be recollected that Strabo is passing from west to east, and that this is also the course of the Expedition.]

[Footnote 4: The Psylli inhabited the southern parts of the Greater Syrtis, and are said to have been altogether destroyed by clouds of sand which overwhelmed them in their passage to the interior. The Nubian army of Cambyses is thought to have experienced a similar fate.—_Vide_ Herodotus, lib. iv.]

[Footnote 5: We would not here be thought to allude to any particular writer; but merely to the general practice, which has obtained in all ages, of exaggerating the effects of the sand-storm in desert travelling; which, without amplification, is sufficiently obnoxious in its genuine native dangers and inconveniences.]

[Footnote 6: These solitary enjoyments are by no means overdrawn; every traveller accustomed to desert journeys must have experienced them: and the late lamented Burckhardt has frequently been heard to declare, that his most pleasant hours in travelling have been passed in the desert.]

[Footnote 7: Lieut. Clapperton, Mr. Carstenson, and some other friends from Tripoly, had rode with us thus far on our journey.]

[Footnote 8: That is, if we suppose Tagiura to be the site of Abrotonum, as we have ourselves already admitted, under the difficulties stated above, and in the absence of more decided information than we have been able to obtain on the subject.]

[Footnote 9: From Guadigmata, two ruins (Selma and Ipsilàta) appear conspicuous on high and pointed hills at the distance of about seven miles; they seem to have been watch-towers commanding the plain; but our guides could only tell us they were _Gussers_, a name which they applied indiscriminately to ruins of every description.]

[Footnote 10: These were the camel-drivers themselves.]

[Footnote 11: The Terhoona range is a branch of the Gharian.]