Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward

by Frederick William Beechey; H. W. Beechey

When their surprise was a little abated our servants requested some water, but were told that there was none in the house; the girls inquiring at the same time where our people were going, and if they belonged to the English at Grenna. They replied in the affirmative, and said they had lost their way. One of the females then asked how many the party consisted of, and were answered, fifteen, though there were only two; the remainder, it was added, were close at hand in the wood. This embellishment was intended as a defensive measure to conceal the actual weakness of the company, for the elevated position of their fair auditors had not made the most favourable impression upon our servants; who suspected that persons living so far out of reach, must have stronger reasons for moving so far from their fellow-creatures, than was consistent with honesty and peaceable intentions. Accordingly when the girls had explained that the road which they were seeking led over the plain below, (where their fathers, they said, were cutting corn,) our wanderers turned to retrace their steps and descend the mountain-path as fast as possible; not a little anxious with regard to the reception they might experience on their route from neighbours of a more formidable description than the elevated little personages who had addressed them. As they began to descend one of the girls again called to them, and letting down a long rope made of twisted skins with knots in it two feet apart, desired them to make their water-skin fast to the end of it, with which, as the skin was empty, they willingly complied, choosing rather to run the risk of losing it altogether than to forego a possible chance of getting it replenished. The skin was quickly hauled up, and disappeared through the hole, leaving its owners in anxious suspense, not so much on account of the hide itself as of its anticipated contents. They had however no reason to repent of their confidence, for the skin very shortly made its appearance again and proved to be nearly full of water, to the delight of our thirsty attendants; who after expressing their gratitude for the supply, continued their journey with renewed strength and spirits, and arrived at Cyrene in the evening, as we have already mentioned above.

We found Mr. Campbell in quiet possession of the tents. He had had a good deal of trouble with our escort Boo Buckra, who had caught a fever, and nearly lost his life in consequence of repeatedly cramming himself with bazeen immediately after he had been physicked and bled.

On arriving at Cyrene we began to make inquiries respecting the water which we had been told we should find at Apollonia, and discovered that a spring in reality existed, at a short distance only from the place, but situated in the depth of a ravine, so as not to be easily perceived. We had observed the remains of an aqueduct, leading in the direction of this very ravine, and had an idea of exploring the wady in search of the spring which originally supplied it. But finding no stream crossing the plain or issuing from the ravine (or wady) in question, we concluded that it existed no longer; and as we had little time to spend in curiosity determined upon pushing on as fast as possible to Cyrene, where we knew that our resources were certain. Having made this discovery, which secured our supply of water, we determined to return without delay to Apollonia, and remain there till the fast of Rhamadàn should be concluded, during which time no Mussulman is allowed to eat or drink while the sun is above the horizon, and consequently the excavations would go on but slowly which we had already begun at Cyrene. Apollonia remained to be explored and laid down in our map, as no opportunity had been hitherto enjoyed of bestowing more than a slight inspection upon it.

While we were making the necessary arrangements for our departure, Shekh Aàdam, a man of some influence in the place, waited upon us with an order from Bey Mahommed enjoining him to render us every assistance in his power. We thought him accordingly a very proper person to accompany us in our visit to Apollonia, as his knowledge of the country would probably be of service in our researches, while his influence at the same time might prevent interruption. We had not indeed met with a single individual either at or in the neighbourhood of the place, excepting the two fair tenants of the cliff who dwelt among the haunts of the eagle; but as Arab tribes have in general no fixed habitation, but move as the season or circumstances direct, we could not tell how long we might remain unmolested in our rambles among its antiquities. Shekh Aàdam was in consequence attached to our party; and we again left Cyrene, on the 7th of June, with the intention of proceeding direct to Apollonia.

The road which leads to that place from the fountain winds along the foot of the upper range on which Cyrene is situated, and then taking a north-easterly direction, through a tolerably level and very fertile country, passes through the ruins of an ancient village, where a number of sarcophagi are still visible, ranged on either side of the path. Here the road turns more to the northward, and leading through a wood, over some stony hills, continues along a ridge between two deep ravines to the brow of the mountains which overlook Apollonia, down which it then winds in a zigzag direction, till it reaches the plain on the sea-coast below at no great distance from the port[4].

The whole of this road has been anciently paved, excepting the parts which have been cut through the rock, where deep marks of chariot-wheels are still observable. It has also had tombs on both sides of it, extending the greater part of the way, and has been defended by forts, the remains of which are visible near the edge of the lower range of hills. The country through which it passes is highly interesting and beautiful; near Cyrene it has been cleared from the wood which originally covered it, and appropriated to the cultivation of grain: this part is fertile in the extreme, and is succeeded by beautifully undulating ground overspread with flowering shrubs, which thicken as they approach the top of the lower range, where they are lost in dark forests of pine extending themselves down to the beach. The intermediate space between the corn-land and the forest has probably been laid out in villas and country residences, for we observed many ground-plans of buildings scattered over it which are not those of tombs or military works. As this part is wooded, the remains are not visible till they are very closely approached, so that there are probably many which have never been visited and certainly many which we never examined ourselves; not indeed owing to want of inclination, but to the circumstance of our not having more time at our disposal than was necessary for objects of more immediate importance.

On our return to Apollonia, by the road which we have just described, we noticed several excavated chambers in similar positions to those which our servants had mentioned: they were cut in a ravine to the westward of our path, many hundred feet above the level of the torrent, in places apparently inaccessible. We found, on inquiry, that whole families resided in them, ascending and descending by means of ropes; and indeed we ourselves could see persons in some of them who appeared to be reconnoitring our movements. It was late in the evening before we reached the plain upon which Apollonia is situated, and so dark in the thicker parts of the wood which reaches from the top to the bottom of the hills that we could scarcely distinguish our way. As we were leading our horses down a very steep part of the road we came suddenly upon a large hyæna, which we should not have seen if he had not been perched upon a mass of rock somewhat higher than our heads, lying close by the side of the path. The foremost of our party had drawn a horse-pistol and was in the act of presenting it to this unwelcome visitor, when he opened a howl which so startled our horses that we had the greatest difficulty in holding them, and turning himself round, walked slowly up the side of the hill, evidently in no way disconcerted at our appearance. As we did not wish to fire if it could have been avoided, we made no attempt to molest him in his retreat; for the report of our fire-arms would have alarmed the whole forest, which we understood to be much infested by hyænas and jackalls. As it was, the dismal howl which our shaggy friend uttered was echoed immediately by the shrill cries of numberless jackalls, none of which, however, were we able to see, and the plain was reached without interruption. We had been so much accustomed to the cry of the jackall, an animal very common in northern Africa, that it would not of itself have engrossed our attention for a moment; but although we had very frequently been disturbed by hyænas, we never found that familiarity with their howl or their presence could render their near approach an unimportant occurrence; and the hand would instinctively find its way to the pistol before we were aware of the action, whenever either of these interruptions obtruded themselves closely upon us either by night or by day. It must, however, be confessed that the cry of the jackall has something in it rather appalling, when heard for the first time at night; and as they usually come in packs, the first shriek which is uttered is always the signal for a general chorus. We hardly know a sound which partakes less of harmony than that which is at present in question; and indeed the sudden burst of the answering long-protracted scream, succeeding immediately to the opening note, is scarcely less impressive than the roll of the thunder-clap immediately after a flash of lightning. The effect of this music is very much increased when the first note is heard in the distance, (a circumstance which often occurs,) and the answering yell bursts out from several points at once, within a few yards, or feet, of the place where the auditors are sleeping. The jackall can never be a formidable animal to anything but sheep and poultry, unless, perhaps, when the number assailing is very great; but it is usually so little molested by the Arabs, whose dogs protect their live-stock from harm, that we have frequently gone close up within a few yards of one, before he would turn to walk away. The same indifference in retreating is also peculiar to the hyæna, who not only walks away very slowly when advanced upon, but appears at the same time to have a limping motion, as if he were lame of one leg. The hyæna most commonly seen in the north of Africa is that which is striped in the back, black and grey; its paws are scarcely more formidable than those of a large dog, but its teeth and neck are very strong, and there is no animal fiercer when wounded or closely attacked.

We arrived at Apollonia late in the evening, and set out early the next morning, to find the spring which was said to exist in a neighbouring ravine. We followed the course of the aqueduct mentioned above, which appeared to us to finish at the mouth of the wady; but our companion, Shekh Aàdam, pointed out to us a spot where it was continued over the hill and along the side of the precipice: this was probably done to avoid the rush of water which thunders down the vallies after rain, and brings with it large stones, trunks of trees, and other matters, sweeping everything before them in their course. As the aqueduct was constructed of stone, and covered over apparently with the same materials, besides being coated in the inside (or water-course) with cement, there does not seem to be any objection to its having been carried out of the level. We proceeded up the ravine nearly a mile and a half, and then came to a stream of water issuing out of the rock at some distance above, which descended in little cascades and was lost in the bed of the wady. The sides of this ravine are nearly perpendicular, and about five hundred feet in height: near the top we observed two caves, situated as those were which have already been described; and had some conversation with the people who appeared at the entrance of them. We made them understand that we should like to ascend and pay them a visit in their aërial abodes, but as they seemed to be unwilling to admit us, we did not press the subject any further[5]. The lower parts of the ravine are thickly covered with pine, olive, and carob trees, and the whole has a very wild and picturesque appearance.

The town of Apollonia, now called Suza Hammàm, from the number of wild pigeons that frequent it, is situated at the bottom of an open bay, formed between Ras El Hilal and the cape known by the name of Ras Sem. It stands close to the sea, upon a small eminence, or long narrow slip of elevated ground; and is situated at the extremity of a fertile plain, which extends itself from the foot of a ridge of mountains, distant a mile and a half from the sea coast, and running in an east and westerly direction. The length of the city may be reckoned at nearly three thousand English feet, and its greatest breadth at scarcely more than five hundred. It has been completely surrounded by a very strong wall, with quadrangular turrets on three of its sides, and circular ones of much larger dimensions on the remaining side (that to the westward). As the wall has been carried along the brow of the hill, more attention has been paid to its strength than to its symmetry, but the turrets are for the most tolerably equidistant, being about eighty yards apart. The two circular turrets at the north-western angle of the wall have been built with even greater attention to solidity than other parts of this well-defended town; for they have been exposed for ages past to the wash of the sea without suffering any material injury. On the northern and north-eastern sides, however, the sea has made considerable inroads, and very few traces of the wall are there remaining, some parts being wholly without any. The east end of Apollonia appears to have been fortified as a citadel, for which its elevated position above the rest of the town appears to have been admirably adapted. The cliff on which it stands rises perpendicularly from the lower part of the city, and could only be approached by a narrow pass and by a gate in the outer wall. The walls themselves are here doubled and still rise, though not entire, to a height of thirty and forty feet. The quarries which have been excavated about this and other parts of the walls, serving the purpose of an excellent fosse, contribute also very materially, as will be observed in the plan, to the strength of the city of Apollonia. The entrances to the town are all of them narrow (the widest of the gates being no more than five feet across); and their positions, in the angles formed by the wall with the turrets, are remarkably well chosen for the purposes of security and defence. There appear to have been seven gates on the south side of the city, including that belonging to the citadel, and one, near the centre, on the western side, which are all that we were able to discover any traces of: indeed this number of gates, for the size of the city, will be considered unusually large; and were it not for the intervention of the quarries between the city walls and the plain, would have tended to weaken the position. Opposite the largest of the gates on the south side of the town is a spacious semicircular excavation, the sides of which rise perpendicularly to a considerable height, and which appears to have formed an approach to the gate here alluded to. Close to this is a remarkably strong fort, built with sloping sides, like those at Ptolemeta, and others already described in the Syrtis. Here also pass the remains of the aqueduct which formerly supplied the town from a spring of most delightful water, situated at the extremity of the ravine which we have mentioned above, and distant nearly four miles from the town. The sea has encroached very considerably at Apollonia; and it is difficult to say, in what the shelter of the harbour consisted: the line of coast is too strait to afford any protection; and it seems probable, that the small island to the northward of the town, and a reef of rocks a little to the south-westward of this, constituted the only shelter which it afforded. We had imagined, that a communication might formerly have existed between the island and the reef of rocks here alluded to; but it soon appeared that the water was much too deep between these, to allow of any such idea being reasonably entertained. The same cause would also have operated very effectually in preventing the construction of an artificial communication between the points which we have just mentioned; for the heavy sea which rolls into the port in windy weather would soon have swept away anything less than the Breakwater at Plymouth. Had such a communication ever existed, the harbour would have been a most excellent one; but as we cannot suppose that it ever did, from the reasons which we have stated above, we may conclude, perhaps, that vessels usually laid under the lee of the island, and that when this was impracticable, they were drawn up on the beach. We may believe at the same time, that what art could effect in the flourishing periods of Cyrene was done for the improvement and the security of its port, as we find it to have been with regard to the defence of the town[6]. Extensive remains of building, apparently the foundations of a quay, are still visible, stretching out from the beach into the sea, at the depth of a few feet under water. Some quarries, which have been formed in the rock to the north-eastward of the town, are also now under water; and the insulated tomb, which forms so striking an object in the view we have given of Apollonia, is always surrounded by the sea when the wind sets in strong from the northward[7]. Other tombs on the beach are likewise filled on these occasions; as well as some large cisterns to the north-eastward of the town, through which the water roars with a noise like thunder, and dashes up through the apertures formed in them above. The cisterns here alluded to were probably appropriated to the use of the vessels in the harbour, which might have been watered from them very conveniently; and they might at all times have been kept filled with excellent water by means of the aqueduct mentioned above. We have already noticed the encroachments of the sea upon the land, which we ourselves have had occasion to observe in several parts of the coast from Tripoly to Bengazi, as well as those mentioned by other writers on the coasts of Tunis and Algiers. The present state of Apollonia affords another decided instance of the advance of the sea to the southward; and portions of the elevated ground on which the front of the town has been built are continually falling in from this cause. The scene of the principal theatre situated without the wall, to the eastward of the town, has been wholly swept away by the waves, although the quarry in front of it must have greatly contributed to break the force of the sea in this quarter. It will be seen by the plan of the town of Apollonia, that a part of this theatre is built against the wall of the citadel, and the other part against the high ground behind the subsellia. The seats appear in consequence to have been approached from above, we mean, from the ground on a level with the uppermost range; and as the greater number of the ranges are still very perfect, the effect of the whole building is that of a stupendous flight of steps leading down from the elevated ground against which they lean to the beach on a level with the orchestra. It is this effect, we presume, which induced Signor Della Cella to notice the seats of the theatre as a “magnificent staircase[8];” and it must be confessed that a more noble flight of steps will not often be seen than the one which is in question. This building, like those of a similar nature at Cyrene and Ptolemeta, has no interior communications; and the body of the people appear to have entered from above, as we have already observed. It is probable, however, that some approach to the orchestra (where the seats allotted to persons of rank were usually placed) was contrived from the lower ground upon a level with it; but the whole of that part has been so completely washed away, that we had no means of ascertaining what arrangements had been made there. The road to the theatre appears to have been through the quarries to the south-eastward of the town; and the gates by which the audience approached it were probably the two which lie to the eastward of the aqueduct, and that which was appropriated to the citadel[9].

Within the walls, to the southward of the town, there appears to have been a small building of a circular form, sunk below the level of the soil about it, in which there are traces of several ranges of seats, which might have belonged to a small theatre of some description, perhaps to an Odeum; but the whole is so much buried with soil, in which grass (when we saw it) was growing, that it would be impossible to obtain any details of it, without a good deal of previous excavation. It will be seen by a reference to the plate, p. 500, in which those details are given, that the ground-plans of some of the buildings of Apollonia may be made out with tolerable certainty[10]. The Christian churches, in particular, are very decided; as well as the remains of a noble building of a similar form at the western extremity of the city. The handsome marble columns, which now encumber the structures which they once contributed so materially to adorn, afford evident proofs that no expense had been spared in the erection of these magnificent buildings; for the material of which their shafts are composed is not found in this part of the coast of Africa, and must have been transported at great labour and cost from the quarries of distant places[11]. On the centre of the shaft of some of these columns we found the figure of a large cross engraved; they have all been originally formed of single pieces, some of which still remain entire, and would be no unappropriate or inconsiderable ornaments to churches of modern construction. The discovery of these splendid monuments of Christianity in a country now labouring under ignorance and superstition, afforded pleasing memorials of early piety, and recalled the active times of Cyprian and Anastasius, of the philosophic Synesius, (himself a Cyrenean) and other distinguished actors in those memorable scenes which northern Africa (from Carthage to Alexandria) once presented to an admiring world. But the grass is now growing over the altar-stone, and the munificence which gave birth to the structures here alluded to is visible only in their ruins[12].