“When we 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 over-taken 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 every where 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 winch 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 any thing whatever to eat or drink, and on one occasion, were as much as four days without a drop of water of any kind. 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.
“The harbour of Bengazi appears to have been formerly capable of containing good-sized vessels, and, even in the recollection of some of the present inhabitants, the Bashaw’s ships were accustomed to lie, where now only boats can be accommodated. At present it can only be entered by small vessels, drawing seven or eight feet water, and that merely in moderate weather. It is well protected from the sea by reefs of rocks, between which the entrance is so narrow as to render a pilot necessary.”
Having now reached the spot where moat authors have placed the Gardens of the Hesperides, the Messrs. Beechey addressed themselves to the examination of this memorable site of remote mythology; and have elucidated the question in a manner at once satisfactory and entertaining. They subsequently visited and obtained plans of the ancient cities
