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

by Frederick William Beechey; H. W. Beechey

We cannot quit this subject without observing that the idea which appears to have been entertained by the ancients of the soil of the Greater Syrtis, is not confirmed by an inspection of the country in question. Cato is described by Strabo as having marched his army across the Syrtis through deep and burning sands[17], and Lucan has given so exaggerated an account of the same march, as to make his description almost wholly poetical[18]. Sallust also, in his account of the Philæni, describes the “level and sandy plain, in which these monuments were erected, without either river or mountain by which they might be distinguished[19]”. But there is no sandy plain of this description in the bottom of the Syrtis; and, although there is no river, there are certainly mountains, if hills of solid stone, of from four to six hundred feet in height, may be entitled to that distinction.

It is true that the chain of hills at the bottom of the gulf run in an east and westerly direction, and might not, on that account, be well calculated for objects by which limits in the same direction might be ascertained; but the account given by Sallust would lead us to imagine (as it seems to have done Signor Della Cella) that the place was without any inequalities of this nature whatever.

Again, if it be true that Cato marched his army over the sand-hills which appear to have been so laboriously traversed by the army which the doctor accompanied, it was certainly no very good proof of the patriot’s generalship; for, with the exception of one place, where the passage is occasionally impeded by marshy ground, reaching close up to the foot of the sand-hills on the beach, there could have been no occasion for crossing the sand at all, since the country to the southward of it is clear [20]. The same may be said of the whole tract of country in general, where sand-hills are found in the Syrtis and Cyrenaica; the sand-heaps being confined to the beach alone, and not overspreading the whole face of the soil. Indeed, after passing the bottom of the gulf, the country at the back of the sand-hills becomes very capable of cultivation, and affords, in many places, an excellent pasturage. So that if we should consider the Syrtis in general as a large unbroken body of sand, which the ancients seem mostly to have done, we should certainly form a very wrong idea of the nature of the country in question.

North-west of Sachreen, which may be considered as the bottom of the gulf, at about a mile and a quarter from the shore, is a small islet called Bushaifa, with breakers east and west of it; and to the southward is a large marsh, with a ruin on a small rising ground inland of it: from here a valley extends eastward between the high land to the southward and some sand-hills on the coast. The road lies tolerably close along the sides of these sand-heaps, which in some places rise abruptly from the edge of the marsh, leaving a very narrow path between the two. It was probably here that Signor Della Cella and the army which he accompanied chose the passage over the sand-hills in preference to that along the marsh at the foot of them; or it may be possible that the water of the marsh reached too close to the sand-hills when they passed, to allow of any choice of road at all. We however found the path at the foot of the sand-hills very practicable, although we were occasionally obliged to pass singly along it. Had these sand-hills been capable of suddenly detaching large masses from their summits or sides, we might occasionally perhaps have been buried pro tempore under their weight, and might, in some places, have experienced considerable difficulty in extricating ourselves at all; but we must confess that we did not anticipate any very fatal effects from the action of southerly winds; nor did we believe it very probable that an avalanche of sand would seize the precise moment in which we were passing under it to precipitate itself upon our heads. Two hours, we should imagine, would fully suffice for the accomplishment of the passage between the marsh and the sand-hills, at any season in which it might be practicable; and if double that time be allowed for the passage over the hills in question, when that below might be impassable from the rise of the water in the marsh, we should conclude it would be amply sufficient. As there is no other part of the gulf in which it could, at any time, be absolutely necessary to pass over the sand-hills at all, we are at a loss to imagine why the army of the Bey, and that of his Roman predecessor, should have given themselves so much trouble in crossing them. Immediately after the marsh commences pasture land, and after five hours’ journey from Sachreen, we arrived at a place called Gartubbah, where we found some Arab tents, and established ourselves for the night.

The next morning we proceeded on to Braiga, where we were led to expect, from the report of our Arab guides, that we should find a harbour full as good as that of Tripoly. Braiga has been a strongly-fortified post, as appears from the remains of several well-constructed and spacious castles which have been erected there. On the western point of the bay which constitutes the mersa (or harbour) is some tolerably high land, on which one of the forts has formerly stood; but which is now so much destroyed and encumbered with rubbish, as to offer little interest on examination. Along the same range of hills are other remains of building, originally connected with this fort, part of which we were induced to excavate, but found the chamber which we cleared to have been merely a storehouse for grain, or a reservoir for preserving water. It had been excavated in the rock, on the top of the range, and may be considered as offering an excellent example of the durable quality of the cement employed by the Romans in its formation[21]: for the stone in which it had been excavated had crumbled away, and left the cement with which the interior had been coated standing upright in its original position, in defiance of the storms of wind and rain which must have frequently assailed it from the sea.

We found some Greek and Roman characters traced in the interior, and the representation of a ship and a palm-tree, of which copies will be found annexed, together with plans of the forts and of the chamber excavated. The surface of the cement on which these objects had been sketched was as smooth and as perfect as it could have been at any time, and we were in hopes, when we first saw the drawings, that others would be found on further excavation, and probably some inscription in Greek or Latin, by which we might have dated these productions. No other drawings or letters however were found, and we were obliged to content ourselves with taking copies of those described, and in making the plan of the chamber.

The ground about this excavation, and, indeed, along the whole range, was strewed with fragments of pottery and glass, among which we found a brass coin of Augustus Cæsar in a very tolerable state of preservation. While the excavations were going on in this quarter (for the outer wall of one of the forts was also cleared a few feet, in order to obtain the measurements of the gateway by which it had been entered) the plan of the harbour had been completed, as far as it was possible without boats, and the reefs were set down by bearings and estimated distance. The best landing for boats was found to be under the high point which we have mentioned to the westward, on which the fort excavated had been built; and on the beach at this angle were several heaps of sulphur, collected in equal-sized masses for embarkation, which had been brought on camels from the mines to the southward, and were said to belong to Mahommed Ali, the Pasha of Egypt. South-west of this point there is a large salt lake and marsh, which are evidently below the level of the sea, as we perceived a stream of salt water oozing from out a porous part of the rock on the sea-side, about eight feet above the level of the lake, and running into it. The land at the east and western extremities of the lake is so low, as to render it very probable that it may once have communicated with the sea, and that the point on which the fort stands may have been an island. If there should prove to be sufficient water in the harbour of Braiga, it is probable that good anchorage would be found there, with all winds, behind reefs of breakers extending across the mouth of it: it may be easily distinguished by the very high sand-hills at the back of it, and by the ruin on the rocky point mentioned at its western extremity. Among these sand-hills are some wells, in which the water, though several hundred feet above the level of the sea, is perfectly brackish. Beyond them to the southward is a hilly country covered with verdure, in which a number of camels were feeding, and numerous flocks of sheep and goats; but although we found ourselves in the midst of such plenty, we were unable to purchase a single sheep, in consequence of our friend the Dúbbah’s manœuvres. At Gartubbah, which possessed the same advantages, we were equally unable to succeed in a similar attempt. Among the green hills just mentioned are several ruins of forts, of the same quadrangular form as usual, and which have been built with large stones very regularly shaped; so that Braiga may be considered as a military station, and must have certainly been one of importance[22]. If it be necessary to give it an ancient name, we should consider it as the site of Automala, which was also a military station, according to the account of Strabo[23].

Automala, it is true, has been laid down by this geographer at the innermost part of the gulf, which must be taken as the most southern point of it; and the coast had already begun to bend to the northward before we arrived at Braiga. But a place which would answer to the description here given of Automala, could scarcely have disappeared altogether; and there is no place of any kind at the bottom of the gulf before the occurrence of Braiga. The coin of Augustus, which was found among the ruins of Braiga, would afford some proof of its having existed in the time of that emperor, and the form and solidity of the buildings which are found there sufficiently point it out as a fortified position. No fortified place is however mentioned to have existed in this neighbourhood, except Automala; and if Braiga may not be considered as the remains of that fortress, it has been wholly overlooked by the ancient authorities, and we know of no name which can be properly bestowed upon it.

We should be the more inclined to consider the fortifications of Braiga as those which are mentioned at Automala, from the circumstance of their vicinity to other remains, which answer extremely well to those of the maritimæ stationes laid down in the map of Ptolemy. In this map, the stations are placed a little to the northward of Automala, with no other place intervening; and the position of Braiga with regard to Tabilba, which answers precisely to the maritimæ stationes, is exactly that assigned to Automala in the order here adopted by Ptolemy.

Sachreen may undoubtedly be considered as the extremity of the gulf in its present state; but a place which was only twenty miles distant from it might well have been said to be situated in this recess, by a person who viewed it from the sea, particularly when the outline of this part of the gulf is considered at the same time. Braiga, from the sea, must have, besides, been at all times very conspicuous; and we can scarcely imagine that the fort which stands so high above the beach there would have been unnoticed by Strabo, had it existed in his time, which we may suppose with probability that it did. He has, however, noticed only Automala; and it remains to be considered how far we are really authorized in assuming these places as the same, upon the data already before the reader[24].