When we had arrived within a day’s journey of Bengazi, the weather, which had hitherto been very fine for the time of year, began to show that the rainy season had commenced in good earnest, and we congratulated ourselves in having escaped it so long; for had the bad weather overtaken us sooner, it would effectually have put an end to our researches, and obliged us to advance as fast as possible upon Bengazi, the only place which could have sheltered us between Mesurata and Derna. Indeed, it would have been difficult to make any progress at all; for the ravines would, in a few hours, have assumed the form of torrents, and the marshy ground have become everywhere dangerous, and in most places wholly impassable; our camels besides would have fallen every moment under their loads, as they cannot keep their feet in slippery weather, and some of our horses would certainly have sunk under the exertions which would have been necessary to overcome these additional disadvantages. As it was, we had been obliged to lead two of the horses for several days before our arrival at Bengazi, and it would indeed be thought extraordinary, by those accustomed only to the horses of Europe, that any of them arrived there at all after the fatigues and privations which they had endured. They had all of them been rode through the whole of the day, over a country without any roads, for more than two months successively, exposed to the heat of the sun during the day, and without any shelter from the cold and damp of the night; while at the same time, instead of having any extra allowance to enable them to support this exertion, they were often left, unavoidably, for more than four-and-twenty hours, without anything whatever to eat or drink, and on one occasion were as much as four days without a drop of water of any kind. It may therefore be readily imagined that they were not in very excellent condition before half the journey had been accomplished, and indeed it was distressing to see the wasted carcasses which most of them presented on arriving in the neighbourhood of Bengazi; but we may venture to say that few, if any, European horses, under similar circumstances, would have survived the journey which they performed at all; much less have displayed the activity and spirit which never left them, under so much fatigue and privation.
We were often amused, in spite of his forlorn condition, with the spirit exerted on all occasions by an old white horse, which was rode by one of our servants; he had belonged for many years to a soldier of the Bashaw, and his face was well known to all the Arabs of Bengazi, as a constant appendage to the army which came there occasionally to collect the tribute. This fine-spirited animal, before the journey was half over, had scarcely a leg to stand upon, yet he never for a moment forgot his military habits, and would arch his neck, and curvet, and throw himself back on his haunches at the slightest application of the spur. No fatigue or exhaustion could ever make him forget that he had once been a charger of some consideration: even in walking he would lift up his legs, and step out, with all the parade and importance of a horse trained at Astley’s or the Circus; throwing his head about, at the same time, from one side to the other, as if he took a delight in displaying his long mane, and shewing himself off to advantage.
It may well be supposed that no exertions of our own were at any time wanting to procure food and water for the weary animals who had so amply deserved them; but we could only carry a certain portion of corn with us from Tripoly, and when this was exhausted we were obliged to depend upon occasional supplies from the Arab tents we met with in our route, and the scanty pasturage which the Syrtis afforded.
The distance at which some of the wells were placed from each other was the occasion of our being often without water; and our horses, though suffering greatly from thirst, would frequently refuse to drink the water which we were glad to drink ourselves, when it chanced to be more than usually brackish.
It often happened when they had been long without water, or were more than ordinarily fatigued with the day’s exertions, that some of them would refuse to eat at all, though they had been without food the whole of the day, as well as all the night which preceded it.
They were never in the habit of being fed more than once a day, which was in the evening, when we stopped for the night; so that if they refused to eat their corn at that time, or before starting the next morning, it was more than probable that they would get nothing till the tents were pitched again, after sunset, on the evening succeeding. Under these circumstances they would perhaps have to trot hard the whole day, and occasionally to gallop, when we were pressed for time; sometimes along the loose sand on the beach, and at others up and down hill in every direction, wherever there was anything to examine: all this often happened during a hot southerly wind, and under a burning sun, which kept them in a continual fever, without their appearing to sustain any particular inconvenience, or to be more than usually exhausted at night[30].
The habit of feeding horses only once a day is common in Africa under the most favourable circumstances. Their meal is after sunset, and before their corn is given them they are generally allowed to drink as much as they like. After this they get neither corn nor water till the same time on the following day. Some of the Arabs make a constant practice of obliging their horses to go two days without drinking, in order to accustom them to support with a better grace the privations they must occasionally be exposed to in the desert; a mode of training which would probably have the same effect on our English horses as that which is said to have resulted from the well-known experiment of the Frenchman, who had just contrived to make his horse do without food, when he was unluckily prevented by the death of the animal from availing himself of so important an advantage.
A few weeks’ repose in a comfortable stable at Bengazi was, however, sufficient to restore most of our horses to their former strength and condition; and they afterwards carried us in very good style over the steep woody hills and rugged passes of the Cyrenaica.
From Carcora to Bengazi the country improves at every step, and we soon found ourselves surrounded by extensive crops of barley and abundance of excellent pasturage: this increase of produce was naturally attended by a corresponding increase of population, and numerous flocks and herds were everywhere seen where the soil was not appropriated to cultivation. A great part of the country from Ghimenes to Bengazi is encumbered by blocks of stone, placed upright in long lines, which are crossed at right angles by others, so as to form a complete labyrinth of inclosures. This peculiarity appears to be occasioned by the nature of the soil, which, although rich and excellent, is covered everywhere with a surface of stone of various thickness, which it is of course necessary to break up and remove, in order to cultivate the soil beneath it. To move the blocks, which are taken up altogether from the ground, would be an endless and perhaps a superfluous labour; and they have accordingly been ranged in the manner we have mentioned, serving at the same time as boundaries to property and as impediments to the approach of an enemy. Before we were well acquainted with the nature of these inclosures, we thought to pass in a straight line across them to the several ruins which attracted our attention; but after leaping our horses over some of them, and making them scramble over others, we soon found the labour was endless; and that the longest way about, as the old proverb teaches us, was in reality the shortest way home. Instead of attempting, in consequence, to advance any farther in a direct line to the object of our inquiry, we sought for some path between the walls which might lead us as near to it as possible. After some little trouble, we discovered that long alleys were occasionally left in different directions, serving as roads to the places of greatest resort. These we afterwards found it most advisable to follow, though they did not lead us quite in the direction we wished; and having got as near to our object as they could carry us, we had seldom many walls to scramble over before we reached the place where it stood. It is probable that some of these walls are of very considerable antiquity; for the soil in this neighbourhood could not at any time have been cultivated without removing the crust of stone from its surface; but we could not discover any inscriptions upon them, though we often examined them with the hope of being able to do so. We observed that in the vicinity of the forts the walls were usually placed much closer together, and the inclosures were in consequence smaller than in other parts.
The extensive plain in which the town of Bengazi is situated, is bounded to the southward by the range of high land, on whose summit Cyrene once stood so conspicuously; and the whole of the plain at the foot of this range is covered with vegetation from the hills to the sea. The sight, we believe, was refreshing to all parties; for our very horses and camels appeared to partake of the pleasure which we could not avoid feeling ourselves in contemplating so agreeable a scene. One of our party was dispatched in advance to Bengazi, accompanied by the Bashaw’s Chaous, to apprize the British resident of our approach, and to concert with him such measures as might be necessary for our accommodation in the town, where the violence and long duration of the winter-rains would oblige us, we well knew, to remain for some time. It was night before they reached the salt lake by which Bengazi is nearly surrounded, and which it was necessary to cross before they entered the town; the rains which had already fallen had swelled it more than the Chaous had anticipated, and the darkness of the night rendered it difficult for him to find the spot at which it was necessary to ford it. After wandering about the banks for some little time in uncertainty, and trying several plans without success, they at length reached the opposite shore; though not before their horses had plunged into several holes, from which they could only extricate themselves by swimming. On the following day our whole party arrived at Bengazi, and were received with every mark of attention and politeness by Signor Rossoni, the British Vice-Consul, to whom the necessary instructions from Mr. Consul Warrington had already been forwarded. We found that Signor Rossoni was already in treaty for the house of an Arab Shekh, one of the best which the place afforded, and only waited our arrival to arrange the terms on which we were willing to take it: these were soon settled, and we took possession of our new abode the day after our arrival in the town, and began to make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would allow, under the disadvantages of a rainy winter, at Bengazi.