Chapter IX (2)

It was impossible not to laugh when the fact became current that some of the Dúbbah’s camels had been stolen, and we really believe that every individual of our party, with the exception of himself and his sons, were wicked enough to enjoy the circumstance, and to consider it as an excellent joke. No sooner were the traces observed by the Dúbbah of the man’s footsteps who had carried off his camels, than he knew them to be those, at least so he declared, of our obstinate friend the shepherd above mentioned. The man certainly never made his appearance again while we remained in the neighbourhood, and it is probable that he took this summary process of paying himself for the sheep which had been so unceremoniously transferred from his flock to our kitchen kettle.

Three camels were no doubt something more than a fair remuneration for the loss of a single sheep; but then something was to be allowed for the risk of the raid, and everybody owned that the camels had been lifted in a very neat and expeditious manner, such as would not have disgraced the keenest moss-trooper on record in the annals of Border exploits. The animals had perhaps been supposed to be ours; or it may be that the reaver was not particular as to property, and had merely contented himself with taking as much as he could carry off, without reference to the doctrine of retribution. Be this as it may, the visitation had in reality fallen upon the head of the proper person; for had it not been for the intrigues of the Dúbbah, our obstinate friend would have been happy to sell us as many sheep as we might have required of him; and we were all too well convinced of this circumstance to regret the loss which the old Shekh had sustained.

Our stock of provisions, both for ourselves and our horses, was by this time so much diminished, that we had (we know not whether to say luckily or unluckily) no absolute occasion for the camels which were missing; and the remaining ones had little more to carry, in addition to their former loads, than a collection of empty baskets and boxes, which could now only serve to feed the flames or the camels themselves[27]. There was in consequence no occasion for delaying our advance, by seeking to replace the loss sustained; and we continued to move on as usual, with no other motive for discontent than the absence of old Shekh Mahommed, whom we sadly longed to plague on his indifference to the summons which had been so loudly and unceasingly given him by the “_useless_ cur Morzouk, who _always_ barked without the slightest occasion.” But the Dúbbah had taken horse before the camels were loaded, and was following the tracks of his lost animals as fast as he could spur his old mare.

At a short distance from Rhout el Assoud, we observed, to the north eastward, about a mile distant from the shore, six rocks connected by breakers, under which there appeared to be good anchorage for small vessels: the coast opposite them is low, and formed in shallow sandy bays, some of which have rocks extending across their entrance, and would afford protection for boats. At night we halted at Shohàn, without having seen a single living object during the day. On a hill near Shohàn are the remains of a Maràbut, overlooking a large plain covered with brushwood. From this hill we could perceive the ruins of two forts situated upon eminences to the south eastward. On the following day, after travelling eight hours along a plain, bounded by marsh and sand-hills towards the sea, we reached Carcora, where we hoped to find the place described by Captain Lautier on the north side of the bay, in which he states that he discovered an ancient well containing many Greek inscriptions[28]. All our researches, however, on this point were unavailing; and the Arabs we met with about Carcora were all positive in affirming that no such well existed. We had the more reason to regret our failure, as the inscriptions (should they have turned out to be legible) would most probably have given us names and dates which might have been essentially useful to us, and could scarcely have failed of being interesting. There are at Carcora two coves which would serve for boats; they may be known by some high sand-hills lying between them, and by two ruins situated upon the hills inland nearly abreast of them[29]. With the exception of these coves, there is nothing whatever of any interest on the coast between Carcora and Bengazi. Inland, however, there are many ruins of ancient forts, and considerable remains of building, which become more numerous and interesting as they approach Bengazi. At Ghimenes, which is a day’s journey to the northward of Carcora, there are several interesting remains of ancient forts; some of which are altogether on a different plan from those which have been already described. They are built of large unequal-sized stones, put together without any cement, and made to fit one into another in the manner which has been called Cyclopian. Their form is a square, with the angles rounded off, and some of them are filled up with earth, well-beaten down, to within six or eight feet of the top; the upper part of the wall being left as a parapet to the terrace, which is formed by the earth heaped within it.

In the centre of the terrace we sometimes found the foundations of building, as if chambers had been erected upon it; the roofs of which, in that case, must have been higher than the outer walls which formed the parapet; and a space seems always to have been left between these central buildings and the parapet, in which the garrison placed themselves when employed in defending the fort. An opening like a window was observed in the parapet of one of the Cyclopian castles at Ghimenes, which might have been used for drawing up those who entered the fort, as there was no other mode of entrance whatever. In fact there could scarcely have been any communication between the upper and lower parts of these erections; for the whole space between the walls was filled up with earth in the manner already related, to within a few feet of the top. We noticed near most of them a small rising ground, with one or two wells in it, having remains of building about it; they were generally within fifty yards of the fort, by which they were commanded.

The castles have most of them been surrounded with a trench, on the outer side of which there is generally a low wall strongly built with large stones. Some of the trenches which have been excavated in the solid rock of the soil are of considerable depth and width; and in one instance, occurring between Ghimenes and Bengazi, we observed chambers excavated in the sides of the trench, as we find to be the case in that which surrounds the second pyramid, and which is equally formed in the rocky soil on which the building stands, although of course on a much larger scale. The trench of the fort here alluded to is about five-and-twenty feet in width, and its depth about fifteen; the fort itself is an hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and ninety in width, of a quadrangular form, and in the centre of each of its sides is a quadrangular projection, sloping outwards from the top, of twenty feet in length by twelve, which appears to have served both as a tower and a buttress.

The measurements are here given in the rough, but they will be found in detail by a reference to the ground-plan and elevation No. 9, in the plate containing the details of some of the forts which have been noticed in the course of the journey.

In some instances we found wells in the trenches surrounding the forts, at others, within the outer walls; and more frequently without the forts altogether, among traces of building in their immediate vicinity. The remains of building last mentioned were sometimes very considerable; but the ground-plans alone of these are now extant, from which little more may be collected than that the chambers were built in squares, ranged in line with some attention to regularity, though differing a good deal in size. Tombs are occasionally found excavated in the neighbourhood of such forts as are built on a rocky soil; but we never were fortunate enough to find any thing in them which could point out decidedly the mode of burial which had been adopted. Some of these were entered by wells of different depths, and others by approaches cut in the rock, sloping down from the upper part of the door, like those in front of the Kings’ tombs at Thebes.

The remains about Ghimenes and Imshaila may answer to those of the Diachersis Præsidium of Ptolemy; but we are not aware of any remains which may be pointed out on the coast as those of the Turris Herculis, or of the Diarrhœa Portus, of this geographer.

When we had arrived within a day’s journey of Bengazi, the weather, which had hitherto been very fine for the time of year, began to show that the rainy season had commenced in good earnest, and we congratulated ourselves in having escaped it so long; for had the bad weather overtaken us sooner, it would effectually have put an end to our researches, and obliged us to advance as fast as possible upon Bengazi, the only place which could have sheltered us between Mesurata and Derna. Indeed, it would have been difficult to make any progress at all; for the ravines would, in a few hours, have assumed the form of torrents, and the marshy ground have become everywhere dangerous, and in most places wholly impassable; our camels besides would have fallen every moment under their loads, as they cannot keep their feet in slippery weather, and some of our horses would certainly have sunk under the exertions which would have been necessary to overcome these additional disadvantages. As it was, we had been obliged to lead two of the horses for several days before our arrival at Bengazi, and it would indeed be thought extraordinary, by those accustomed only to the horses of Europe, that any of them arrived there at all after the fatigues and privations which they had endured. They had all of them been rode through the whole of the day, over a country without any roads, for more than two months successively, exposed to the heat of the sun during the day, and without any shelter from the cold and damp of the night; while at the same time, instead of having any extra allowance to enable them to support this exertion, they were often left, unavoidably, for more than four-and-twenty hours, without anything whatever to eat or drink, and on one occasion were as much as four days without a drop of water of any kind. It may therefore be readily imagined that they were not in very excellent condition before half the journey had been accomplished, and indeed it was distressing to see the wasted carcasses which most of them presented on arriving in the neighbourhood of Bengazi; but we may venture to say that few, if any, European horses, under similar circumstances, would have survived the journey which they performed at all; much less have displayed the activity and spirit which never left them, under so much fatigue and privation.

We were often amused, in spite of his forlorn condition, with the spirit exerted on all occasions by an old white horse, which was rode by one of our servants; he had belonged for many years to a soldier of the Bashaw, and his face was well known to all the Arabs of Bengazi, as a constant appendage to the army which came there occasionally to collect the tribute. This fine-spirited animal, before the journey was half over, had scarcely a leg to stand upon, yet he never for a moment forgot his military habits, and would arch his neck, and curvet, and throw himself back on his haunches at the slightest application of the spur. No fatigue or exhaustion could ever make him forget that he had once been a charger of some consideration: even in walking he would lift up his legs, and step out, with all the parade and importance of a horse trained at Astley’s or the Circus; throwing his head about, at the same time, from one side to the other, as if he took a delight in displaying his long mane, and shewing himself off to advantage.

It may well be supposed that no exertions of our own were at any time wanting to procure food and water for the weary animals who had so amply deserved them; but we could only carry a certain portion of corn with us from Tripoly, and when this was exhausted we were obliged to depend upon occasional supplies from the Arab tents we met with in our route, and the scanty pasturage which the Syrtis afforded.

The distance at which some of the wells were placed from each other was the occasion of our being often without water; and our horses, though suffering greatly from thirst, would frequently refuse to drink the water which we were glad to drink ourselves, when it chanced to be more than usually brackish.

It often happened when they had been long without water, or were more than ordinarily fatigued with the day’s exertions, that some of them would refuse to eat at all, though they had been without food the whole of the day, as well as all the night which preceded it.

They were never in the habit of being fed more than once a day, which was in the evening, when we stopped for the night; so that if they refused to eat their corn at that time, or before starting the next morning, it was more than probable that they would get nothing till the tents were pitched again, after sunset, on the evening succeeding. Under these circumstances they would perhaps have to trot hard the whole day, and occasionally to gallop, when we were pressed for time; sometimes along the loose sand on the beach, and at others up and down hill in every direction, wherever there was anything to examine: all this often happened during a hot southerly wind, and under a burning sun, which kept them in a continual fever, without their appearing to sustain any particular inconvenience, or to be more than usually exhausted at night[30].

The habit of feeding horses only once a day is common in Africa under the most favourable circumstances. Their meal is after sunset, and before their corn is given them they are generally allowed to drink as much as they like. After this they get neither corn nor water till the same time on the following day. Some of the Arabs make a constant practice of obliging their horses to go two days without drinking, in order to accustom them to support with a better grace the privations they must occasionally be exposed to in the desert; a mode of training which would probably have the same effect on our English horses as that which is said to have resulted from the well-known experiment of the Frenchman, who had just contrived to make his horse do without food, when he was unluckily prevented by the death of the animal from availing himself of so important an advantage.

A few weeks’ repose in a comfortable stable at Bengazi was, however, sufficient to restore most of our horses to their former strength and condition; and they afterwards carried us in very good style over the steep woody hills and rugged passes of the Cyrenaica.

From Carcora to Bengazi the country improves at every step, and we soon found ourselves surrounded by extensive crops of barley and abundance of excellent pasturage: this increase of produce was naturally attended by a corresponding increase of population, and numerous flocks and herds were everywhere seen where the soil was not appropriated to cultivation. A great part of the country from Ghimenes to Bengazi is encumbered by blocks of stone, placed upright in long lines, which are crossed at right angles by others, so as to form a complete labyrinth of inclosures. This peculiarity appears to be occasioned by the nature of the soil, which, although rich and excellent, is covered everywhere with a surface of stone of various thickness, which it is of course necessary to break up and remove, in order to cultivate the soil beneath it. To move the blocks, which are taken up altogether from the ground, would be an endless and perhaps a superfluous labour; and they have accordingly been ranged in the manner we have mentioned, serving at the same time as boundaries to property and as impediments to the approach of an enemy. Before we were well acquainted with the nature of these inclosures, we thought to pass in a straight line across them to the several ruins which attracted our attention; but after leaping our horses over some of them, and making them scramble over others, we soon found the labour was endless; and that the longest way about, as the old proverb teaches us, was in reality the shortest way home. Instead of attempting, in consequence, to advance any farther in a direct line to the object of our inquiry, we sought for some path between the walls which might lead us as near to it as possible. After some little trouble, we discovered that long alleys were occasionally left in different directions, serving as roads to the places of greatest resort. These we afterwards found it most advisable to follow, though they did not lead us quite in the direction we wished; and having got as near to our object as they could carry us, we had seldom many walls to scramble over before we reached the place where it stood. It is probable that some of these walls are of very considerable antiquity; for the soil in this neighbourhood could not at any time have been cultivated without removing the crust of stone from its surface; but we could not discover any inscriptions upon them, though we often examined them with the hope of being able to do so. We observed that in the vicinity of the forts the walls were usually placed much closer together, and the inclosures were in consequence smaller than in other parts.

The extensive plain in which the town of Bengazi is situated, is bounded to the southward by the range of high land, on whose summit Cyrene once stood so conspicuously; and the whole of the plain at the foot of this range is covered with vegetation from the hills to the sea. The sight, we believe, was refreshing to all parties; for our very horses and camels appeared to partake of the pleasure which we could not avoid feeling ourselves in contemplating so agreeable a scene. One of our party was dispatched in advance to Bengazi, accompanied by the Bashaw’s Chaous, to apprize the British resident of our approach, and to concert with him such measures as might be necessary for our accommodation in the town, where the violence and long duration of the winter-rains would oblige us, we well knew, to remain for some time. It was night before they reached the salt lake by which Bengazi is nearly surrounded, and which it was necessary to cross before they entered the town; the rains which had already fallen had swelled it more than the Chaous had anticipated, and the darkness of the night rendered it difficult for him to find the spot at which it was necessary to ford it. After wandering about the banks for some little time in uncertainty, and trying several plans without success, they at length reached the opposite shore; though not before their horses had plunged into several holes, from which they could only extricate themselves by swimming. On the following day our whole party arrived at Bengazi, and were received with every mark of attention and politeness by Signor Rossoni, the British Vice-Consul, to whom the necessary instructions from Mr. Consul Warrington had already been forwarded. We found that Signor Rossoni was already in treaty for the house of an Arab Shekh, one of the best which the place afforded, and only waited our arrival to arrange the terms on which we were willing to take it: these were soon settled, and we took possession of our new abode the day after our arrival in the town, and began to make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would allow, under the disadvantages of a rainy winter, at Bengazi.

Bengazi is allowed to have been built upon the site once occupied by the town of Berenice, the most western city of the Pentapolis; but before we proceed to describe this part of the Cyrenaica, it will be proper to look back upon the tract of country already before the reader, and, in taking a general view of the gulf and shores of the Greater Syrtis, to bring together some of the most prominent remarks of ancient writers respecting it.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: In this neighbourhood was the cave of the formidable Lamia, so much dreaded by the children of the ancients. It is described by Diodorus as situated in a deep valley formed in the rocks which occur soon after Automala; that is, in passing from east to west, for such was the course of the army of Ophellas, which is stated by the historian to have passed it in their route to join the forces of the tyrant Agathocles. The account which he gives of this afflicted royal lady, whose misfortunes at length rendered her so savage and remorseless, is such as to render it probable (if the story may be relied upon) that she really at one time existed in this part of Africa. At least the mode in which the fabulous parts of her history are accounted for appears to be sufficiently rational, and the place of her residence is very decidedly pointed out.—(See Diod. lib. xx. p. 753—4.)]

[Footnote 2: Ιδρυμενον κατα τον μυχον του κολπου παντος·—Lib. xvii. p. 836.]

[Footnote 3: In _intimo sinu_ fuit ora Lotophagon, &c.—Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 5.]

[Footnote 4: Ho pure fatto attenzione in tutti questi giorni se scorgera, _anche in distanza, alcuna schiera di monti che da ponente si protendesse al levante_, onde riconoscere se la giogaia dell’ Atlante realmente si prolonga ne’ monti della Cirenaica, o bensì se rimpetto al Golfo della Gran Sirte fosse interrotta. Ma nulla ho osservato che possa confermare questa prolungazione. (P. 91), Ital. edition.]

[Footnote 5: . . . Giacchè in quest’ ultimo recinto del Mediterraneo non _ho visto che sabbie ne altri monti che di sabbie_. (P. 92.)]

[Footnote 6: The Psylli we are told by Pliny, on the authority of Agatharcides, were so called from their King Psyllus, whose tomb is said to have been somewhere in the Greater Syrtis. They were remarkable for their power of charming serpents; and possessed some innate quality of body which was considered to be destructive to these reptiles; so much so that the very smell of them was supposed to lull a serpent asleep. They had a singular custom of exposing their children to the most venomous kinds of serpents, in order to convince themselves of their legitimacy. If the serpents, on whom the trial was made, did not fly from the children exposed to them, it was concluded to be a proof of decided illegitimacy, since the animals, they imagined, could not avoid doing so, had the infants been really descended from this gifted tribe.

It has been observed by other writers, that the Psylli merely cured the bite of serpents by sucking the poison from the wound, and that they were therefore more indebted for their reputation to their courage, than to any peculiar qualification of nature.]

[Footnote 7: Ed io inclino tanto più a credere quest’ ampia depressione di suolo giungere fino al gran deserto, poichè per quanto posso congetturare dal cammino fatto non sarebbe improbabile che l’estremità del golfo si prolungasse assai più a mezzodì di quel che trovasi nelle migliori carte, nelle quali non saprei sopra qual fondamento è stata stabilita. È per me di qualche peso la relazione del Cap. Lautier, il quale non navigò certamente oltre il 30° 27′ 11″ di latitudine, ma da questo punto non iscoprì il fondo del golfo, nè v’ era apparenza di prossimità al continente. Ho ferma credenza che migliori osservazioni confermeranno questa mia congettura.—(p. 94.)]

[Footnote 8: For Strabo tells us (lib. iii. p. 171), in alluding to the custom practised by the ancients, of erecting columns on particular occasions, that the monuments raised to the memory of the Philæni were situated nearly midway in the Syrtis—at least, such is the sense in which we must take this passage, to make it at all consistent with the position allotted to the Philænean altars in the seventeenth book. Although we may certainly read in the passage we are about to quote, above mentioned, “midway in the country _between_ the _Syrtes_”—for the Syrtes are here mentioned in the plural—and this circumstance would otherwise rather tend to confirm the position of the altars in the table of Peutinger (as mentioned by Cellarius, lib. iv. cap. 3, sec. 3.) which is between the two Gulfs of Syrtis. “At, in Peutingeriana tabula vetusta, (says Cellarius) redactæ hæ aræ sunt fere ad minorem Syrtim, ut dubitare possis de situ et positione ex tot auctoribus jam descripta.” Strabo’s words are—και ὁι φιλαινων λεγομενοι βωμοι, κατα μεσην, που, την μεταξυ των Συρτεων γην.]

[Footnote 9: Bell. Jugurth. (79.)]

[Footnote 10: Major Rennell has observed on this subject—“At the date of Hannibal’s expedition to Italy, B. C. 217, the Carthaginian empire extended eastward to the Philænean altars, which stood at the south-east extremity of the Greater Syrtis. The story of the Philæni, as it is told, is in some points very improbable. It is said that the parties set out from their respective capitals, Carthage and Cyrene, and met at the place where the altars afterwards stood. Now the altars were situated at about seven-ninths of the way from Carthage towards Cyrene; and the deception would have been too gross had it been pretended that the Carthaginian party had travelled seven parts in the nine, while the Cyrenean party had travelled no more than two such parts of the way. Would either party have trusted the other with the adjustment of the time of setting out? Perhaps they mutually set out at the opposite extremes of the territory in dispute, and not from their respective capitals.”]

[Footnote 11: That is, if we may read the passage in the third book of Strabo, quoted above, in the sense which we imagine he intended; if not, he contradicts himself.]

[Footnote 12: Ειθ᾽ οι φιλαινων βωμοι και μετα τουτους Αυτομαλα φρουριον, φυλακην εχον, ιδρυμενον κατα τον μυχον του κολπου παντος.—Lib. xvii.]

[Footnote 13: We have adopted the positions assigned by Strabo to these places, as being more exactly defined; and because it may be presumed that he saw the objects which he describes, with the exception of the altars of the Philæni, which he has stated to have been no longer extant in his time.]

[Footnote 14: Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 5.]

[Footnote 15: Ejus promontorium est Borion, ab eoque incipiens ora quam Lotophagi tenuisse dicuntur, usque ad Phycunta (et id promontorium est) importuoso litore pertinet. Aræ ipsæ nomen ex Philænis fratribus traxere, qui contra Cyrenaicos missi, &c.—De Situ Orbis, lib. i. cap. vii.]

[Footnote 16: Vide Procopius (De Ædificiis, lib. v.)]

[Footnote 17: . . . ωδευσε δε πεζος εν αμμω βαθεια και καυμασι.—Lib. xvii. p. 836.]

[Footnote 18: Pharsalia, lib. ix.]

[Footnote 19: Ager in medio arenosus, una specie; neque flumen, neque mons erat, qui finis eorum discerneret, &c.—(Bell. Jugurth. 79.)]

[Footnote 20: The water is, however, more frequently found among the sand on the beach than elsewhere; but it scarcely seems necessary that the whole extent of the sand-hills should be traversed by the army on this account. Their guides must have known where the water was to be found, without the necessity of traversing so many miles of sand-heaps in search of it.]

[Footnote 21: We have already assumed that the greater number of the forts in the Syrtis have, in our opinion, been constructed by the Romans.]

[Footnote 22: A few miles inland of Braiga, at a place called Attallàt, are the remains of a castle, whose outer walls are still standing to a considerable height; it is a quadrangular building, surrounded by a trench; and within it we observed the remains of an arch constructed without a key-stone, in the manner of one at Tabilba, which we shall allude to in describing that place.]

[Footnote 23: Αυτομαλα φρουριον, φυλακην εχον, &c.

It appears, upon the authority of Diodorus Siculus, that the fortress of Automala was already erected when Cyrene was first occupied by the troops of Ptolemy Lagus: for the army which was led by his general Ophellas to the assistance of the tyrant Agathocles, then at war with the Carthaginians, pitched their tents, we are told, in the neighbourhood of Automala, having consumed eighteen days in their march to that fortress from the Cyrenaica.

Οκτω και δεκα μεν ουν ημερας οδοιπορησαντες, και διελθοντες σταδιους τρισκιλιους, κατεσκηνωσαν περι Αυτομαλας.—Lib. xx. p. 753-4.

If it could be positively ascertained from what point of the Cyrenaica the army of Ophellas set out on their journey across the Syrtis, we should have the position of Automala sufficiently well ascertained; but the historian merely states, that when everything was prepared for the expedition, Ophellas set his army in motion, without mentioning the precise point from which they set out, and that the distance which they accomplished in eighteen days, as far as Automala, was three thousand stadia. Had there been any point in the bottom of the gulf which could be decidedly fixed upon as the μυχος, or innermost recess of it, in which Strabo has placed Automala, there would be no occasion for any other evidence of its position; but the coast is so straight at the bottom of the gulf, that it is not possible to fix with accuracy upon any one point which may be taken as the μυχος in question. Sachreen is certainly the most southern point, but the difference of latitude between this place and the other parts of the coast which form the bottom of the gulf is so trifling, that it can scarcely be said to amount to anything at all.

Braiga is the nearest place to Sachreen where any remains are found which will answer to Automala, and that is twenty miles distant from it, in making the circuit of the coast.]

[Footnote 24: It may be added, that the forts in the neighbourhood of Braiga and Tabilba, erected among the hills a little inland, are very interesting, and much more perfect than usual. A fortnight or three weeks might be very profitably and agreeably spent in making out the interior ground-plans of these buildings.]

[Footnote 25: Εχει δε το μεταξὺ διαστημα και λιμενες ου πολλους, υδρεια δε σπανια.—Lib. xvii. p. 836.]

[Footnote 26: That of Aspis—καλλιστος των εν τη Συρτει.]

[Footnote 27: It must be observed, that an old wicker-basket is by no means an unsavoury dish for a hungry camel, and the animals in question had already dined off much tougher materials; for the date-stones which we had occasionally given them, in the absence of other tenderer meat, were eaten up with a relish which left little room for doubting the speedy disappearance of hampers and baskets, whenever we might afford to serve them up as entremets.]

[Footnote 28: Nel fondo di questo seno v’ ha un pozzo di acqua dolce, ove si attinge a una grandissima profondità, sopratutto in estate. È rotondo, con una scalinata interna, per la quale vi si puo facilmente discendere. Ad ogni dieci scalini vi si trovano scolpite inscrizione in Greco. Furono impiegate nel mese di Settembre ottanta tre braccia di corda per attignerle l’ acqua.—(Della Cella: Viaggio da Tripoli, &c. p. 220-21.)]

[Footnote 29: At the foot of the sand-hills at Carcora there are some springs of fresh water, remarkably sweet and good, within a few feet of an extensive salt-marsh, and on the same level with it. The circumstance is worthy of remark, although there are other instances of similar occurrences.]

[Footnote 30: The horses, when we stopped, were ranged in a line along a thick cord, to which their fore legs were fastened; and a smaller cord was passed from this to one of their hind legs, to prevent them from kicking one another.]

_Shewing the difference between the coastlines as delineated in former charts and that obtained by the late Survey the shaded line representing the latter made in 1821 & 1822._

_By Captn. F. W. Beechey R.N._

_J. & C. Walker Sculpt._

_Published as the act directs, April 1827, by J. Murray, Albemarle St. London._]