On the morning after our arrival at Lebida the Shekh of the place came to pay us a visit, and to offer his assistance in procuring us coins and gems, which are constantly found among the ruins by the Jews, who pay a consideration to the Bashaw for the exclusive enjoyment of this privilege. The offer of our new friend was readily accepted, and he himself very cordially entertained by his brother Shekh, Mahommed el Dúbbah; but, his supper being eaten, we never heard more of him or of the antiquities which he professed to procure for us.
The effects of a heavy storm, which had occurred on the preceding night, obliged us to remain at Lebida the whole of this day, in order to dry our provisions and clothes; for we had no sooner pitched the tents, on the evening of our arrival, than we were overtaken by a violent storm of thunder and lightning, accompanied by continued gusts of wind, which kept us employed during the greater part of the night in attending to the tent-pegs.
In the mean time, the rain never ceased to fall in torrents, and soon made its way, impelled by the force of the wind, through every part of a good substantial canvass; one of our tents was completely upset, and the whole of our party, with the better half of the baggage, were wet through long before the dawn of day. Towards morning, however, the storm died away, and the first appearance of the sun, in a tolerably clear sky, was in truth a most comfortable prospect. As it promised to be fine for the rest of the day, we soon spread out our baggage to dry, and gladly availed ourselves of the delay this operation occasioned to walk over the ruins of the town.
Our camel-drivers, however, who had been hired by the journey, were not so well satisfied with this detention, and were urgent in persuading us to advance: but a trifling bakshees[13] soon quieted their remonstrances, and they made up their minds very contentedly to the arrangement. We now began to measure a short base by latitudes, in order to fix a few points with more accuracy; and it was necessary to make use of the summit of a neighbouring hill for one extremity of the base. This spot was the place of residence of a most devout and highly-reverenced Marábūt, the admiration and the terror of the people of Lebida; and as we were proceeding to ascend the hill, our steps were arrested by the voice of the Tchaous whom the Bashaw had commissioned to attend us. As soon as he came up, he began very gravely to assure us, that the holy enthusiast would by no means allow us to encroach upon his domains with impunity; and proceeded to state that he would most certainly kill every person of our party who should dare to ascend, and afterwards sacrifice him (the Tchaous) himself, for having allowed us to intrude upon his retirement. It may be imagined that none of us had any particular wish to offend the holy personage in question; but the hill which he occupied was unluckily the most convenient which could be selected for our purpose; and we did not think it quite necessary to give up our base on the grounds of so ridiculous an objection. The attempt was accordingly made, and the base properly measured, without either of the dreadful results which had been anticipated; and the parties, on descending, received the serious congratulations of the Arabs on having had, what they called, so unexpected and providential an escape.
This formidable personage is the Marábūt mentioned by Della Cella as having threatened to eat him alive; and the Doctor was assured, by a black slave who stood near him, that he was perfectly capable of fulfilling his extraordinary threat[14].
So much has been written on the subject of these knavish fanatics, that we shall not here attempt any description of them: every book of travels in Mahometan countries contains more or less notice of the wondrous feats which are attributed to them, and of the no less remarkable credulity of those whom they impose upon[15]. We may, however, observe that the country between Lebida and Mesurata, and more especially the neighbourhood of the last-mentioned place, is much infested by these artful and unblushing pretenders to piety and supernatural powers.
On the morning of the 15th we left the ruins of Lebida, and passing between the gardens which are scattered over its plain, proceeded on our road to Zeliten. About nine miles to the eastward of Lebida is the stream called Wad’ el Kháhan, which we found to possess more pretensions to the title of river than any which we had hitherto seen. It appears to have its rise in the mountains to the southward; and after spreading itself in shallows over a rocky bed, it falls about twenty feet, and continues its course, though very slowly, to the sea. The banks of Wad’ el Kháhan are in some places high, sloping down to the water’s edge, and are covered with underwood, among which a few trees may occasionally be observed to rise. The verdure of its banks give it an agreeable appearance, and some remains of building, which are seen here and there through the soil, contribute to increase the interest of the stream.
By the side of the road, at about a mile and a half from where the river empties into the sea, are the remains of the aqueduct mentioned above, which supplied the city of Lebida; and other traces of building are occasionally observable in its neighbourhood. Here also may still be observed the same morasses which formerly characterized this spot, and gave occasion for the construction of the causeway, still existing, which is mentioned by Strabo as having been built by the Carthaginians[16]. All these circumstances contribute to point out Wad’ el Kháhan as the Cinyphus, and as such we may reasonably consider it.
The morass is extremely dangerous to cross without a guide, and two of our party, who were unprovided with one, experienced much difficulty in crossing a small quicksand situated between the marsh and the sea. There is another part of this quicksand, more to the eastward, which it was wholly impossible to cross; our horses, in attempting it, sank up to the saddle-girths, and the severity of the Arab spur alone prevented them from sinking much deeper. We may add that the exhalations which rise from the marsh appear to be very unwholesome, for one of our Arab escort, who slept a short time by the side of it, while we were making some observations, was shortly afterwards seized with violent cold shiverings, and every symptom of fever.
At the north-eastern extremity of the morass is the promontory called Tabia Point, on which we found the ruins of what appears to have been a tomb, and at the distance of about a quarter of a mile from the shore may be observed a reef of rocks, which will occasionally afford shelter for boats; the part thus protected is called by the Arabs Marsa Ugrah, from its vicinity to the village of that name. These rocks were above water when visited by Captain Smyth in 1817; but, in consequence, probably, of the prevalence of northerly gales, they were covered when we passed along the coast, and cannot therefore at all times be depended upon for protection.