some artificial mounds are constructed across the plain, by which the winter rains were conducted to the reservoirs, and carried clear of the city. On the east bank of the river are remains of a galley-port, and numerous baths, adjacent to a circus, formerly ornamented with obelisks and columns; and above which are vestiges of a theatre. Indeed the whole plain from the Mergip hills to the Cinyphus (now the river Kháhan) exhibits unequivocal proofs of its former population and opulence.
“Thus ended my unsuccessful research; but though no works of art were recovered, many of the architectural fragments were moved during the summer down to the beach, by Colonel Warrington, where I called for and embarked them, on board the Weymouth store-ship, for England; together with thirty-seven shafts, which formed the principal scope of the expedition. Still we were sorry to find, that neither the raft-ports nor the hatchways of the Weymouth were capable of admitting three fine Cipollino colunms of great magnitude, that, from their extreme beauty and perfection, we had been particularly anxious about.”
The fragments of ancient architecture thus rescued from oblivion by Captain Smyth and Colonel Warrington, were for a length of time to be seen in the court-yard of the British Museum; and are now at Windsor. From them, many of the light capitals which decorate the new edifices of our proud metropolis were copied. Nor was the attention of the enterprising and scientific sailor confined to sandy excavations; for we find him employed also in surveying the adjacent country, and, amongst other trips, travelling inland to Ghirza, in quest of the celebrated petrified city, by which he finally settled that amusing paradox.
“During the time that I was excavating amongst the ruins of Leptis Magna, (says he) the Arab Sheiks, who visited my tent frequently, remarked, that I should have a better chance of finding good sculpture in the interior, and made many vague observations on the subject, to which I paid little attention at the time. On my return to Tripoli, however, Mukni, sultan of Fezzan, had just returned from a marauding expedition into the interior; and in a conference I held with him, he assured me that within the last month he had passed through an ancient city, now called Ghirza, abounding in spacious buildings, and ornamented with such a profusion of statues as to have all the appearance of an inhabited place. This account, supported by several collateral circumstances, impressed me with the idea of its being the celebrated Ras Sem, ho confusedly quoted by Shaw and Bruce; and consequently inspired me with a strong desire to repair thither.
“Accordingly Colonel Warrington and I waited on the Bashaw, re-
