Engraved from a Drawing taken on the spot by H. Beechey.
SINGULAR POSITION OF TWO INHABITED CAVES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF APOLLONIA.
Published March 1827, by John Murray, London.
CHAPTER XVII.
Arrival of Captain Smyth at Derna — Our Party set out from Cyrene to meet him — Remains of Ancient Forts, and Sarcophagi observed on the Journey — Marks of Chariot-wheels in the Stony Track indicative of an ancient Road — Barren Appearance of the Mountains which rise at the back of Derna — Perilous Descent from their Summit to the Plain below — Exhausted condition of our Horses in accomplishing it — Arrive at Derna, where we found the Adventure, and wait upon Captain Smyth — Description of the town of Derna — Ravages occasioned by the Plague there — Prompt Measures of Mahommed Bey in subduing it — Some Account of Mahommed Bey — Civility and attention received by our Party from Signor Regignani the British Agent at Derna — Take leave of Mr. Tindall, who sails on board the Adventure — Departure from Derna on our road to Apollonia — Gradual increase of Vegetation observed on the Route — Thickly-wooded Ravines and dangerous Passes on this Road — Beautiful Stream at Elthroon — Arrive at El Hilal — Capacious Harbour at that place — Ancient Remains observed there — Arab Encampment at El Hilal — Dishonest Conduct of our Chaous — Arrive at Apollonia — No Water to be found there — Begin to dig a Well in order to procure some, our stock being wholly exhausted — Bad Success of this attempt — Continue our Journey to Cyrene — Miss the Path over the Mountain, and lose our way among the thickets and underwood — Inconvenience of this mistake to all Parties — Find the right track, and at length reach the Fountain of Apollo — Rencontre of our Servants with some female Inhabitants of the Mountain — Singular position of the Caves which they lived in — Gain intelligence at Cyrene of a Spring in the neighbourhood of Apollonia — Set out again for that place — Description of the Road — Architectural Remains, and beautiful appearance of the Country through which it passes — Meet with an Hyæna in the dusk of the evening — The forest much infested by these animals and Jackalls — Peculiarities of both — Arrive at Apollonia, and find the Spring described to us — Other Caves in the Mountain — Unwillingness of their Inhabitants to admit us — Description of the City of Apollonia.
We had been about three weeks at Cyrene, busily employed in walking over the ground, and in making plans and drawings of the remains of antiquity which it presented, when news was brought to us from the Vice-Consul at Derna that H. M. S. the Adventure had arrived there. As we particularly wished to communicate with Captain Smyth, we left Mr. Campbell in charge of the tents and set out on our journey to the eastward. We continued to descend for the first hour, taking the route of Safsaf, where there are extensive remains of building, and soon came to a stony, uninteresting country, partially cultivated, and much overrun with brushwood; at noon we had reached a place called Tereet where we perceived the remains of ancient forts and those of some tombs and sarcophagi. We found ourselves here in the neighbourhood of an Arab encampment, and continuing our route over a country that appeared to have been cleared for the purposes of building, arrived by two o’clock at Lamlada, another ancient station, occupied, like that already mentioned, by Arabs. The nature of the ground continued very much the same with that which we had already passed over, except that it was more hilly; and by five we had arrived at Goobba, where we found many remains of building and a welcome supply of fresh water from a spring. We observed that the tombs here had architectural fronts similar to those which we have spoken of at Cyrene. As the evening was fast closing in, we did not stop to give these much attention, but proceeded on to Beit Thiarma where we pitched our tent late at night. At this place there is a spring of fresh water, built round, and upon a hill close to it the remains of an ancient fort. We had reason to conjecture from the frequent remains of building which we had met with in our journey to this place, as well as from the occasional marks of chariot-wheels impressed in the rocky soil we had passed over, that the road which we had taken was the same with that formerly used in travelling from Cyrene to Darnis now Derna[1].
The next morning we continued our course east-south-east, and began to ascend by a very bad, stony pathway, which took us four hours to surmount, winding all the time through olive and fir trees thickly planted in every direction. About noon we reached the brow of the range which separated us from the town of Derna, and here began the most difficult part of our journey, the descent into the plain below. The face of the mountain is devoid of vegetation, occasionally polished like glass; and its inclination approaches in many places far too closely to the perpendicular to render it safe as a road. Indeed it is in so many parts scarcely practicable, that we could not help wondering, when we arrived at its foot, how we had contrived in any way to descend it without breaking our own and our horses’ necks in the attempt.
There was neither road nor pathway to be found, and we were obliged to scramble down in the best way we could, sometimes stumbling over rugged and encumbered parts of the mountain, and slipping along at others over a hard, polished surface, which was still more difficult to pass than they were. When we arrived at a descent more than usually perpendicular, we had the greatest difficulty, after sliding down ourselves, to make our poor horses follow us; and it was truly distressing, as well as provoking, to see these fine animals reduced to a condition in which they did not appear to have the power of exerting the slightest portion of their natural energy. Their eyes appeared starting from their heads, and their nostrils were distended to the utmost extent; a mass of white foam was collected round their mouths, mixed with blood which the sharp Mamaluke bit had drawn forth in our endeavours to keep them from falling down the cliff, and the perspiration which terror and fatigue (without mentioning the heat of the sun) had drawn forth, literally ran down in streams from their bodies. They became at length so helpless and so completely overcome, that we doubted whether we should ever get them down the cliff at all, and indeed our own fatigue and continued anxiety would not have rendered us very effective conductors if the descent had lasted much longer. Yet our horses had been accustomed to roads of every description, or rather to countries with no roads at all, and had often laboured through deep and heavy sands, and over rugged and mountainous passes, in the course of their journey from Tripoly. They had also an advantage in having only three shoes, which prevented them from slipping about so much as they would otherwise have done; and in short they went through this arduous part of their journey much better than most horses would have done, and much better perhaps than we had any reason to expect from the nature of the pass which they descended. It will scarcely be necessary to add that on reaching the bottom of the precipice (for so we must call it) we stopped to recruit the exhausted strength of all parties before we set out for the town: our horses had had several very heavy falls, but fortunately experienced no material injury; and after leading them on till they were sufficiently recovered, we were able to mount them again and continue our route along the sea-side to Derna, where we arrived in the evening and found the Adventure at anchor in the roadstead. We lost no time in waiting upon Captain Smyth, who informed us that he had succeeded in completing the coast line between Derna and Alexandria.
The town of Derna is situated at the mouth of a large ravine, and is built on a low point of land running out from the foot of a range of barren mountains distant about a mile from the coast. It is supposed to be built on the site of the ancient Darnis, but there are scarcely any remains of building at the present day which have claims to particular notice. It is amply provided with water (the first requisite for a town in hot climates), and well situated at the entrance of a large ravine, or fiumara, along which a part of it is built.
The houses are much better than those at Bengazi and are surrounded by gardens producing abundance of grapes, melons, figs, bananas, oranges, greengages, and other fruit; they have also the advantage of being well sheltered by thick groves of date-trees, which give a very pleasing appearance to the town, and contribute materially to the comfort of the inhabitants by forming a perpetual shade. A delightful stream of water gushes out from the rock above the town, passing through several streets in its course, and irrigating the gardens, and even the corn-fields in its neighbourhood. In short the actual resources of Derna give it a very decided advantage (in point of comfort) over every other town in the Bashaw’s dominions. A very pleasant wine (we were told) is made from the grapes of this place, all of which is consumed by the natives themselves, in spite of the prophet’s injunctions.