In our journey along the beach abreast of Maháda, we passed many fragments of wrecks which the violence of the surf had thrown far upon the shore; and observed a block of marble erected near the sea, with the following inscription:—
LA GABORE DU ROI
LA CHEVRETTE
1821.
LAT. 31° 35′, LONG. 13° 18′.
This had evidently been placed by the crew of the Chevrette, which had quitted Tripoly a few months before, to survey the gulf of the Greater Syrtis; and we afterwards learned that one of the boats of this vessel had been round it.
In order to compare longitudes with Captain Gautier who commanded the Chevrette, an able and scientific officer, a base was measured at this place, and reduced to the spot where the block of marble was erected; both were then reduced to the conspicuous position of Gusser el Jebha, and the comparisons were very satisfactory. A few miles farther, we perceived a piece of timber placed upright on the beach, and on examining it found some writing upon it in English, which stated that, on the 24th of October, His Majesty’s ship Adventure was lying eighteen miles to the northward of it. This we knew must have been left by the barge of the Adventure, which had been despatched by Captain Smyth, under the command of Mr. Elson, to proceed along the coast as far as it might be practicable; and we were glad to perceive, in these dreary and desolate regions, some traces of our English friends. Our party was soon collected round this old shattered post, and every one employed in searching for more writing, with all the eagerness of an antiquary poring over some valuable inscription. Nothing more was, however, to be discovered, and we took our leave of it with an interest at which we could not help smiling, when we looked at the ragged piece of timber which had excited it. On the evening of this day we pitched the tents at Jereed, a name bestowed by the Arabs upon some low and barren hills of sand-stone, for everything with them has a name: off this place lie some dangerous shoals, which broke, although the sea was tolerably quiet[10]. As the wind was blowing on shore, and the shoals beginning to shew themselves distinctly, we were desirous of remaining a day at Jereed, in order to mark their direction more minutely in the chart, particularly as it appeared, from the erection of the post above mentioned, that Captain Smyth had left the coast; but we found upon inquiry, that our horses would in this event be four days without drinking, and we were consequently obliged to proceed. We continued our route along the base of a low ridge of hills, at the back of which we observed a continuation of the great marsh, which was here very considerably narrowed; and arrived in the evening at Mahad Hassan, a little oasis which rises from the bed of the marsh, and consists of a few hills partially covered with pasturage. In the valleys between these we observed some wild olive-trees, and many remains of buildings were scattered over the ground in all directions[11]. Mahad Hassan is the first place after the long tract of marshy land which has any appearance of an ancient site. Its remains consist of a number of small quadrangular buildings, similar to the fortresses observable at the different stations all the way from this point to Derna. They are in a very dilapidated state, and it is difficult to say for what purpose they were intended. They seem to be too numerous and too close together to have been forts, though their form very closely resembles them; and they are by no means well calculated for dwelling-houses, unless we suppose it to have been necessary that every family should have its castle, unconnected with that of its neighbour, in which it was regularly intrenched. These little structures occupy the plains as well as the rising ground, and are in general from fifty to seventy and a hundred feet square; their height cannot now be ascertained, even from a computation of the quantity of rubbish with which each is surrounded, for the Arabs remove the stones to different places in the neighbourhood to build the rude tombs of their Marábūts and relations; many of which are raised on the site of the buildings themselves, and might sometimes be confounded with the original plan. Shrubs and bushes have overgrown the greater part of these ruins, and rooted themselves firmly in the masses of fallen stones, frequently at the height of twelve and fifteen feet from the ground. None of them are at present more than rude heaps of shattered stones, and the eye in passing over the spot would scarcely detect any regular plan, which is only indeed observable on attentive examination. Among the buildings may be seen a few wells, in one of which we had been told we should probably find a little sweet water, a luxury we had not enjoyed since we left Arár, as the water in the marshy ground is both salt and stinking. We were rather disappointed, however, on reaching it, to find that we had been anticipated by our Arab escort, who had rode on before on pretence of reconnoitring the country, and of endeavouring to procure some provision. It was evident at the same time, by the print of their horses’ hoofs, that they had not been contented with allaying their own thirst, but had satisfied also that of their horses, till the last drop of water was expended. At Mahad Hassan we found an Arab tent, and managed to procure a little milk from an old woman who dwelt in it with her two sons. These people were the only living things we had seen, jackalls, gazelles, and water-fowl excepted, since we quitted the little encampment at Sooleb. Sixteen miles south of Mahad Hassan, the marsh finishes at Giraff; we arrived there on the night of the 11th, and pitched the tents upon some sand-hills bordering a plain thickly covered with low brushwood, which extended as far as the eye could reach, and from its green appearance seemed to promise some signs of habitation. Our journey across the marsh had been monotonous and uninteresting in the extreme; no objects had appeared to enliven the scene, and no sounds were heard but the voices of our own camel-drivers, and the tiresome unvaried songs of our Arab escort, which usually consisted of no more than three or four words, repeated eternally without any change of tone, and apparently without the consciousness of the performers themselves.
The only sounds which broke in upon the stillness of the night were the prayers of our friend the Dúbbah as he chanted them at intervals in a low and drousy tone, and the howlings of his namesakes[12], who prowled about the tents, occasionally mingled with the shriller cries of the jackalls.
We had passed a tolerably comfortable night at Giraff, and were preparing to proceed early on our journey the following morning, when, to our no small surprise, we found that the camel-drivers refused to load their camels, and, on inquiring the cause of this strange behaviour, we were told they would not proceed any farther, unless we paid them their wages each day in advance. As this had not been our agreement with the Shekh of Mesurata, who had hired them for us at that place, we refused to comply with this ill-timed demand, for which there appeared to be no reason whatever. We well knew the impolicy of paying Arabs in advance, which is in fact giving up the best hold which can be acquired upon their conduct; and had the demand been even made with a much better grace, we should not certainly have complied with it. In the present case we refused it most decidedly, and told the mutineers that we should abide by our agreement and expected that they would keep theirs: we added that we were determined at all events to proceed, and that if they persisted in refusing to load the camels we should do so without farther ceremony ourselves. They made no reply, but instead of doing their duty, they all walked away together to a little eminence a few yards distant, where they were presently joined by all our Arab escort, with the exception of the Dúbbah; and began to prime their guns very ceremoniously, charging such of them with ball as did not happen to be already loaded. We took no other notice of this Arab manœuvre than by having our own fire-arms in readiness, and proceeded immediately to load the camels ourselves, in which we were assisted by the Bashaw’s Chaous, the Dúbbah all the while recommending us to comply with the demands of the malcontents. This we told him, however, we were determined not to do; and reproached him at the same time with the unfriendly part which he was himself taking on the occasion. It here became evident how little dependence was to be placed upon Shekh Mahommed el Dúbbah and his company, and we were glad to have discovered this circumstance so early, as it might prevent us from relying upon their co-operation, in cases of greater importance. We did not much expect that the Arabs would proceed to extremities, but our party, at all events, was quite as strong as theirs, and we were determined to carry our point. When the Camels were loaded, and we were about to drive them off, the warmth of our opponents had abated; for an Arab very easily makes up his mind to submission when he finds that the chances are not greatly in his favour; and they followed our party without offering further resistance, resuming by degrees their customary occupations. A little beyond Giraff is a small ravine or wady, called Ghebaiba, the banks of which present the only cultivation which is to be found in this neighbourhood; and near it, on a little rising ground, are the remains of some building, too much in ruin to admit of any satisfactory description, and which bears the same name as the wady. As we passed over the plain which occurs after Giraff, the country began to assume a more pleasing aspect. Instead of the dreary, level surface of the marsh over which we had lately travelled, we now passed over a succession of undulating ground, covered with pasturage, among which appeared flocks of sheep and goats, and here and there an Arab tent. But the most welcome objects which this change of soil afforded were the wells of sweet water which presented themselves at Zaffran, near one of which we encamped for the night; and after a few copious draughts, we soon forgot the nauseous flavour of that which we had lately been drinking, which nothing but necessity could have induced any one to swallow. We drew plentifully from the wells, which were very deep, and allowed our horses and camels to drink freely; a luxury which the poor animals had not enjoyed since leaving Mesurata, as their allowance even of the bad water had been necessarily limited, and for the last four days they had been without any. This privation, though not unusual in the Syrtis, was nevertheless severely felt by both horses and camels; and their breath during these intervals, particularly that of the camel, became extremely heated and offensive[13].
It is in this neighbourhood that we must look for the Aspis of Strabo, which is mentioned by that geographer as occurring after the lake, and for a port which he describes as the best in the Syrtis. “After the lake (are his words) is a place (called) Aspis, and a port (which is) the best of those in the Syrtis[14].” The first remains of building which occur after Sooleb (where the great body of the lake has already been said to finish) are those at Mahád Hassan, which is evidently an ancient site. To these remains succeed those of Zaffran, which are more important, and are placed in a much more desirable situation. They occur immediately after Giraff where the marsh finishes altogether, and are situated in a country abounding with pasturage, and furnished with a plentiful supply of sweet water. Zaffrán has been evidently a military station; and it is there that we began to perceive more clearly the nature of those numerous quadrangular buildings which are scattered in all directions over the Syrtis, in passing from Sooleb to Bengazi. These structures may be said to commence at Mahad Hassan; but they assume at Zaffran the appearance of regular forts, and may there be considered as the commencement of a chain of fortified posts extending itself through the whole of the Syrtis[15]. They usually occupy the higher grounds, although some of them are situated in the plains, and are generally so placed as to have been originally seen from each other. Indeed no opportunity appears to have been neglected by the ancients of securing the advantages of pasturage and water which occur in the regions of the Syrtis; wherever these exist we find fortresses erected, or regular stations established, which would materially contribute to facilitate the march of troops and to prevent at the same time the predatory incursions of the Arabs and the establishment of their tribes in these desirable positions.