Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile I E-Book

James Bruce

• Herausgeber: James Bruce
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

However little the reader may be conversant with ancient histories, in all probability he will know, or have heard this much in general, that the attempt to reach the Source of the Nile, the principal subject of this publication, from very early ages interested all scientific nations: Nor was this great object feebly prosecuted, as men, the first for wisdom, for learning, and spirit (a most necessary qualification in this undertaking) very earnestly interested themselves about the discovery of the sources of this famous river, till disappointment followed disappointment so fast, and consequences produced other consequences so fatal, that the design was entirely given over, as having, upon the fairest trials, appeared impracticable. Even conquerors at the head of immense armies, who had first discovered and then subdued great part of the world, were forced to lower their tone here, and dared scarcely to extend their advances toward this discovery, beyond the limits of bare wishes. At length, if it was not forgot, it was however totally abandoned from the causes above mentioned, and with it all further topographical inquiries in that quarter.
Upon the revival of learning and of the arts, the curiosity of mankind had returned with unabated vigour towards this object, but all attempts had met with the same difficulties as before, till, in the beginning of his Majesty’s reign, the unconquerable spirit raised in this nation by a long and glorious war, did very naturally resolve itself into a spirit of adventure and inquiry at the return of peace, one of the first-fruits of which was the discovery of these coy fountains, till now concealed from the world in general.

Leseprobe

James Bruce

Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile I

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Table of contents

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAP. I.

CHAP. II.

CHAP. III.

CHAP. IV.

CHAP. V.

CHAP. VI.

CHAP. VII.

CHAP. VIII.

CHAP. IX.

CHAP. X.

CHAP. XI.

CHAP. XII.

CHAP. XIII.

BOOK II.

CHAP. I.

CHAP. II.

CHAP. III.

CHAP. IV.

CHAP. V.

CHAP. VI.

CHAP. VII.

CHAP. VIII.

FOOTNOTES:

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

However little the reader may be conversant with ancient histories, in all probability he will know, or have heard this much in general, that the attempt to reach the Source of the Nile, the principal subject of this publication, from very early ages interested all scientific nations: Nor was this great objectfeeblyprosecuted, as men, the first for wisdom, for learning, and spirit (a most necessary qualification in this undertaking) very earnestly interested themselves about the discovery of the sources of this famous river, till disappointment followed disappointment so fast, and consequences produced other consequences so fatal, that the design was entirely given over, as having, upon the fairest trials, appeared impracticable. Even conquerors at the head of immense armies, who had first discovered and then subdued great part of the world, were forced to lower their tone here, and dared scarcely to extend their advances toward this discovery, beyond the limits of bare wishes. At length, if it was not forgot, it was however totally abandoned from the causes above mentioned, and with it all further topographical inquiries in that quarter.Upon the revival of learning and of the arts, the curiosity of mankind had returned with unabated vigour towards this object, but all attempts had met with the same difficulties as before, till, in the beginning of his Majesty’s reign, the unconquerable spirit raised in this nation by a long and glorious war, did very naturally resolve itself into a spirit of adventure and inquiry at the return of peace, one of the first-fruits of which was the discovery of these coy fountains1, till now concealed from the world in general.The great danger and difficulties of this journey were well known, but it was likewise known that it had been completely performed without disappointment or misfortune, that it had been attended with an apparatus of books and instruments, which seldom accompanies the travels of an individual; yet sixteen years had elapsed without any account appearing, which seemed to mark an unusual self-denial, or an absolute indifference towards the wishes of the public.Men, according to their different genius and dispositions, attempted by different ways to penetrate the cause of this silence. The candid, the learned, that species of men, in fine, for whom only it is worth while to travel or to write, supposing (perhaps with some degree of truth) that an undeserved and unexpected neglect and want of patronage had been at least part of the cause, adopted a manner, which, being the most liberal, they thought likely to succeed: They endeavoured to entice me by holding out a prospect of a more generous disposition in the minds of future ministers, when I should shew the claim I had upon them by having promoted the glory of the nation. Others, whom I mention only for the sake of comparison, below all notice on any other ground, attempted to succeed in this by anonymous letters and paragraphs in the newspapers; and thereby absurdly endeavoured to oblige me to publish an account of those travels, which they affected at the same time to believe I had never performed.But it is with very great pleasure and readiness I do now declare, that no fantastical or deformed motive, no peevish disregard, much less contempt of the judgment of the world, had any part in the delay which has happened to this publication. I look upon their impatience to see this work as an earnest of their approbation of it, and a very great honour done to me; and if I had still any motive to defer submitting these observations to their judgment, it could only be that I might employ that interval in polishing and making them more worthy of their perusal. The candid and instructed public, the impartial and unprejudiced foreigner, are tribunals merit should naturally appeal to; it is there it always has found sure protection against the influence of cabals, and the virulent strokes of malice, envy, and ignorance.It is with a view to give every possible information to my reader, that in this introduction I lay before him the motives upon which these travels were undertaken, the order and manner in which they were executed, and some account of the work itself, as well of the matter as the distribution of it.Every one will remember that period, so glorious to Britain, the latter end of the ministry of the late Earl of Chatham. I was then returned from a tour through the greatest part of Europe, particularly through the whole of Spain and Portugal, between whom there then was an appearance of approaching war. I was about to retire to a small patrimony I had received from my ancestors, in order to embrace a life of study and reflection, nothing more active appearing then within my power, when chance threw me unexpectedly into a very short and very desultory conversation with Lord Chatham.It was a few days after this that Mr Wood, then under-secretary of state, my very zealous and sincere friend, informed me that Lord Chatham intended to employ me upon a particular service; that, however, I might go down for a few weeks to my own country to settle my affairs, but by all means to be ready upon a call. Nothing could be more flattering to me than such an offer; when so young, to be thought worthy by Lord Chatham of any employment, was doubly a preferment. No time was lost on my side; but, just after my receiving orders to return to London, his Lordship had gone to Bath, and resigned his office.This disappointment, which was the more sensible to me, that it was the first I had met in public life, was promised to be made up to me by Lord Egremont and Mr George Grenville. The former had been long my friend, but unhappily he was then far gone in a lethargic indisposition, which threatened, and did very soon put a period to his existence. With Lord Egremont’s death my expectations vanished. Further particulars are unnecessary, but I hope that at least, in part, they remain in that breast where they naturally ought to be, and where I shall ever think, not to be forgotten, is to be rewarded.Seven or eight months were past in an expensive and fruitless attendance in London, when Lord Halifax was pleased, not only to propose, but to plan for me a journey of considerable importance, and which was to take up several years. His Lordship said, that nothing could be more ignoble, than that, at such a time of life, at the height of my reading, health, and activity, I should, as it were, turn peasant, and voluntarily bury myself in obscurity and idleness; that though war was now drawing fast to an end, full as honourable a competition remained among men of spirit, which should acquit themselves best in the dangerous line of useful adventure and discovery. “He observed, that the coast of Barbary, which might be said to be just at our door, was as yet but partially explored by Dr Shaw, who had only illustrated (very judiciously indeed) the geographical labours of Sanson2; that neither Dr Shaw nor Sanson had been, or had pretended to be, capable of giving the public any detail of the large and magnificent remains of ruined architecture which they both vouch to have seen in great quantities, and of exquisite elegance and perfection, all over the country. Such had not been their study, yet such was really the taste that was required in the present times. He wished therefore that I should be the first, in the reign just now beginning, to set an example of making large additions to the royal collection, and he pledged himself to be my supporter and patron, and to make good to me, upon this additional merit, the promises which had been held forth to me by former ministers for other services.”The discovery of the Source of the Nile was also a subject of these conversations, but it was always mentioned to me with a kind of diffidence, as if to be expected from a more experienced traveller. Whether this was but another way of exciting me to the attempt I shall not say; but my heart in that instant did me justice to suggest, that this, too, was either to be atchieved by me, or to remain, as it had done for these last two thousand years, a defiance to all travellers, and an opprobrium to geography.Fortune seemed to enter into this scheme. At the very instant, Mr Aspinwall, very cruelly and ignominiously treated by the Dey of Algiers, had resigned his consulship, and Mr Ford, a merchant, formerly the Dey’s acquaintance, was named in his place. Mr Ford was appointed, and dying a few days after, the consulship became vacant. Lord Halifax pressed me to accept of this, as containing all sort of conveniencies for making the proposed expedition.This favourable event finally determined me. I had all my life applied unweariedly, perhaps with more love than talent, to drawing, the practice of mathematics, and especially that part necessary to astronomy. The transit of Venus was at hand. It was certainly known that it would be visible once at Algiers, and there was great reason to expect it might be twice. I had furnished myself with a large apparatus of instruments, the completest of their kind for the observation. In the choice of these I had been assisted by my friend Admiral Campbell, and Mr Russel secretary to the Turkey Company; every other necessary had been provided in proportion. It was a pleasure now to know that it was not from a rock or a wood, but from my own house at Algiers, I could deliberately take measures to place myself in the list of men of science of all nations, who were then preparing for the same scientific purpose.Thus prepared, I set out for Italy, through France; and though it was in time of war, and some strong objections had been made to particular passports solicited by our government from the French secretary of state, Monsieur de Choiseul most obligingly waved all such exceptions with regard to me, and most politely assured me, in a letter accompanying my passport, that those difficulties did not in any shape regard me, but that I was perfectly at liberty to pass through, or remain in France, with those that accompanied me, without limiting their number, as short or as long a time as should be agreeable to me.On my arrival at Rome I received orders to proceed to Naples, there to await his Majesty’s further commands. Sir Charles Saunders, then with a fleet before Cadiz, had orders to visit Malta before he returned to England. It was said, that the grand-master of that Order had behaved so improperly to Mr Hervey (afterwards Lord Bristol) in the beginning of the war, and so partially and unjustly between the two nations during the course of it, that an explanation on our part was become necessary. The grand-master no sooner heard of my arrival at Naples, than guessing the errand, he sent off Cavalier Mazzini to London, where he at once made his peace and his compliments to his Majesty upon his accession to the throne.Nothing remained now but to take possession of my consulship. I returned without loss of time to Rome, and thence to Leghorn, where, having embarked on board the Montreal man of war, I proceeded to Algiers.While at Naples, I received from slaves, redeemed from the province of Constantina, accounts of magnificent ruins they had seen while traversing that country in the camp with their master the Bey. I saw the absolute necessity there was for assistance, without which it was impossible for any one man, however diligent and qualified, to do any thing but bewilder himself. All my endeavours, however, had hitherto been unsuccessful to persuade any Italian to put himself wilfully into the hands of a people constantly looked upon by them in no better light than pirates.While I was providing myself with instruments at London, I thought of one, which, though in a very small form and imperfect state, had been of great entertainment and use to me in former travels; this is called a Camera Obscura, the idea of which I had first taken from the Spectacle de la Nature of the Abbé Vertot. But the present one was constructed upon my own principles; I intrusted the execution of the glasses to Messrs Nairne and Blunt, Mathematical instrument-makers opposite to the Exchange, whom I had usually employed upon such occasions, and with whose capacity and fidelity I had, after frequent trials, the greatest reason to be satisfied.This, when finished, became a large and expensive instrument; but being separated into two pieces, the top and bottom, and folding compactly with hinges, was neither heavy, cumbersome, nor inconvenient, and the charge incurred by the additions and alterations was considerably more than compensated by the advantages which accrued from them. Its body was an hexagon of six-feet diameter, with a conical top; in this, as in a summer-house, the draughtsman sat unseen, and performed his drawing. There is now, I see, one carried as a show about the streets, of nearly the same dimensions, called a Delineator, made on the same principles, and seems to be an exact imitation of mine.By means of this instrument, a person of but a moderate skill in drawing, but habituated to the effect of it, could do more work, and in a better taste, whilst executing views of ruined architecture, in one hour, than the readiest draughtsman, so unassisted, could do in seven; for, with proper care, patience, and attention, not only the elevation, and every part of it, is taken with the utmost truth and justest proportion, but the light and shade, the actual breaches as they stand, vignettes, or little ornamental shrubs, which generally hang from and adorn the projections and edges of the several members, are finely expressed, and beautiful lessons given, how to transport them with effect to any part where they appear to be wanting.Another greater and inestimable advantage is, that all landscapes, and views of the country, which constitute the background of the picture, are real, and in the reality shew, very strikingly indeed, in such a country as Africa, abounding in picturesque scenes, how much nature is superior to the creation of the warmest genius or imagination. Momentary masses of clouds, especially the heavier ones, of stormy skies, will be fixed by two or three unstudied strokes of a pencil; and figures and dress, in the most agreeable attitudes and folds, leave traces that a very ordinary hand might speedily make his own, or, what is still better, enable him with these elements to use the assistance of the best artist he can find in every line of painting, and, by the help of these, give to each the utmost possible perfection; a practice which I have constantly preferred and followed with success.It is true, this instrument has a fundamental defect in the laws of optics; but this is obvious, and known unavoidably to exist; and he must be a very ordinary genius indeed, and very lame, both in theory and practice, that cannot apply the necessary correction, with little trouble, and in a very short time.I was so well pleased with the first trial of this instrument at Julia Cæsarea, now Shershell, about 60 miles from Algiers, that I commissioned a smaller one from Italy, which, though negligently and ignorantly made, did me this good service, that it enabled me to save my larger and more perfect one, in my unfortunate shipwreck at Bengazi3, the ancient Berenice, on the shore of Cyrenaicum; and this was of infinite service to me in my journey to Palmyra.Thus far a great part of my wants were well supplied, at least such as could be foreseen, but I still laboured under many. Besides that single province of ruined architecture, there remained several others of equal importance to the public. The natural history of the country, the manners and languages of the inhabitants, the history of the heavens, by a constant observation of, and attention to which, a useful and intelligible map of the country could be obtained, were objects of the utmost consequence.Packing and repacking, mounting and rectifying these instruments alone, besides the attention and time necessary in using them, required what would have occupied one man, if they had been continual, which they luckily were not, and he sufficiently instructed. I therefore endeavoured to procure such a number of assistants, that should each bear his share in these several departments; not one only, but three or four if possible. I was now engaged, and part of my pride was to shew, how easy a thing it was to disappoint the idle prophecies of the ignorant, that this expedition would be spent in pleasure, without any profit to the public. I wrote to several correspondents, Mr Lumisden, Mr Strange, Mr Byers, and others in different parts of Italy, acquainting them of my situation, and begging their assistance. These gentlemen kindly used their utmost endeavours, but in vain.It is true, Mr Chalgrin, a young French student in architecture, accepted the proposal, and sent a neat specimen of rectilineal architecture. Even this gentleman might have been of some use, but his heart failed him; he would have wished the credit of the undertaking, without the fatigues of the journey. At last Mr Lumisden, by accident, heard of a young man who was then studying architecture at Rome, a native of Bologna, whose name was Luigi Balugani. I can appeal to Mr Lumisden, now in England, as to the extent of this person’s practice and knowledge, and that he knew very little when first sent to me. In the twenty months which he staid with me at Algiers, by assiduous application to proper subjects under my instruction, he became a very considerable help to me, and was the only one that ever I made use of, or that attended me for a moment, or ever touched one representation of architecture in any part of my journey. He contracted an incurable distemper in Palestine, and died after a long sickness, soon after I entered Ethiopia, after having suffered constant ill-health from the time he left Sidon.While travelling in Spain, it was a thought which frequently suggested itself to me, how little informed the world yet was in the history of that kingdom and monarchy. The Moorish part in particular, when it was most celebrated for riches and for science, was scarcely known but from some romances or novels. It seemed an undertaking worthy of a man of letters to rescue this period from the oblivion or neglect under which it laboured. Materials were not wanting for this, as a considerable number of books remained in a neglected and almost unknown language, the Arabic. I endeavoured to find access to some of those Arabian manuscripts, an immense collection of which were every day perishing in the dust of the escurial, and was indulged with several conversations of Mr Wall, then minister, every one of which convinced me, that the objections to what I wished were founded so strongly in prejudice, that it was not even in his power to remove them.All my success in Europe terminated in the acquisition of those few printed Arabic books that I had found in Holland, and these were rather biographers than general historians, and contained little in point of general information. The study of these, however, and of Maracci’s Koran, had made me a very tolerable Arab; a great field was opening before me in Africa to complete a collection of manuscripts, an opportunity which I did not neglect.After a year spent at Algiers, constant conversation with the natives whilst abroad, and with my manuscripts within doors, had qualified me to appear in any part of the continent without the help of an interpreter. Ludolf4had assured his readers, that the knowledge of any oriental language would soon enable them to acquire the Ethiopic, and I needed only the same number of books to have made my knowledge of that language go hand in hand with my attainments in the Arabic. My immediate prospect of setting out on my journey to the inland parts of Africa, had made me double my diligence; night and day there was no relaxation from these studies, although the acquiring any single language had never been with me either an object of time or difficulty.At this instant, instead of obtaining the liberty I had solicited to depart, orders arrived from the king to expect his further commands at Algiers, and not to think of stirring from thence, till a dispute about passports was settled, in which I certainly had no concern, further than as it regarded me as his Majesty’s actual servant, for it had originated entirely from the neglect of the former consul’s letters directed to the secretary of state at home, before my coming to Algiers.The island of Minorca had been taken by the French; and when the fort of St Philip surrendered by an article common to all capitulations, it was stipulated, that all papers found in the fort were to be delivered to the captors. It happened that among these was a number of blank Mediterranean passes, which fell therefore into the hands of the French, and the blanks were filled up by the French governor and secretary, who very naturally wished to embroil us with the Barbary states, it being then the time of war with France. They were sold to Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other enemies of the Barbary regencies. The check5(the only proof that these pirates have of the vessels being a friend) agreed perfectly with the passport filled up by the French governor, but the captor seeing that the crew of these vessels were dark-coloured, wore mustachoes, and spoke no English, carried the vessel to Algiers, where the British consul detected the fraud, and was under the disagreeable necessity of surrendering so many Christians into slavery in the hands of their enemies.One or two successful discoveries of this kind made the hungry pirates believe that the passport of every vessel they met with, even those of Gibraltar, were false in themselves, and issued to protect their enemies. Violent commotions were excited amongst the soldiery, abetted under hand by several of the neutral consuls there. By every occasion I had wrote home, but in vain, and the Dey could never be persuaded of this, as no answer arrived. Government was occupied with winding up matters at the end of a war, and this neglect of my letters often brought me into great danger. At last a temporary remedy was found, whether it originated from home, or whether it was invented by the governor of Mahon and Gibraltar, was never communicated to me, but a surer and more effectual way of having all the nation at Algiers massacred could certainly not have been hit upon.Square pieces of common paper, about the size of a quarter-sheet, were sealed with the arms of the governor of Mahon, sometimes with red, sometimes with black wax, as the family circumstances of that officer required. These were signed by his signature, countersigned by that of his secretary, and contained nothing more than a bare and simple declaration, that the vessel, the bearer of it, was British property. These papers were calledPassavants. The cruiser, uninstructed in this when he boarded a vessel, asked for his Mediterranean pass. The mailer answered, He had none, he had only a passavant, and shewed the paper, which having no check, the cruiser brought him and his vessel as a good prize into Algiers. Upon my claiming them, as was my duty, I was immediately called before the Dey and divan, and had it not been from personal regard the Turks always shewed me, I should not have escaped the insults of the soldiery in my way to the palace. The Dey asked me, upon my word as a Christian and an Englishman, whether these written passes were according to treaty, or whether the wordpassavantwas to be found in any of our treaties with the Moorish regencies? All equivocation was useless. I answered, That these passes were not according to treaty; that the wordpassavantwas not in any treaty I knew of with any of the Barbary states; that it was a measure necessity had created, by Minorca’s falling into the hands of the French, which had never before been the case, but that the remedy would be found as soon as the greater business of settling the general peace gave the British ministry time to breathe. Upon this the Dey, holding severalpassavantsin his hand, answered, with great emotion, in these memorable terms, “The British government know that we can neither read nor write, no not even our own language; we are ignorant soldiers and sailors, robbers if you will, though we do not wish to rob you; but war is our trade, and we live by that only. Tell me how my cruisers are to know that all these different writings and seals are Governor Mostyn’s, or Governor Johnston’s, and not the Duke of Medina Sidonia’s, or Barcelot’s, captain of the king of Spain’s cruisers?” It was impossible to answer a question so simple and so direct. I touched then the instant of being cut to pieces by the soldiery, or of having the whole British Mediterranean trade carried into the Barbary ports. The candid and open manner in which I had spoken, the regard and esteem the Dey always had shewed me, and some other common methods with the members of the regency, staved off the dangerous moment, and were the means of procuring time. Admiralty passes at last came out, and the matter was happily adjusted; but it was an affair the least pleasing and the least profitable, and one of the most dangerous in which I was ever engaged.All this disagreeable interval I had given to study, and making myself familiar with every thing that could be necessary to me in my intended journey. The king’s surgeon at Algiers, Mr Ball, a man of considerable merit in his profession, and who lived in my family, had obtained leave to return home. Before I was deprived of this assistance, I had made a point of drawing from it all the advantages possible for my future travels. Mr Ball did not grudge his time or pains in the instruction he gave me. I had made myself master of the art of bleeding, which I found consisted only in a little attention, and in overcoming that diffidence which the ignorance how the parts lie occasions. Mr Ball had shewn me the manner of applying several sorts of bandages, and gave me an idea of dressing some kinds of sores and wounds. Frequent and very useful lessons, which I also received from my friend Doctor Russel at Aleppo, contributed greatly to improve me afterwards in the knowledge of physic and surgery. I had a small chest of the most efficacious medicines, a dispensary to teach me to compound others that were needful, and some short treatises upon the acute diseases of several countries within the tropics. Thus instructed, I flatter myself, no offence I hope, I did not occasion a greater mortality among the Mahometans and Pagans abroad, than may be attributed to some of my brother physicians among their fellow Christians at home.The rev. Mr Tonyn, the king’s chaplain at Algiers, was absent upon leave before I arrived in that regency. The Protestant shipmasters who came into the port, and had need of spiritual assistance, found here a blank that was not easily filled up; I should therefore have been obliged to take upon myself the disagreeable office of burying the dead, and the more chearful, though more troublesome one, of marrying and baptizing the living; matters that were entirely out of my way, but to which the Roman Catholic clergy would contribute no assistance.There was a Greek priest, a native of Cyprus, a very venerable man, past seventy years of age, who had attached himself to me from my first arrival in Algiers. This man was of a very social and chearful temper, and had, besides, a more than ordinary knowledge of his own language. I had taken him to my house as my chaplain, read Greek with him daily, and spoke it at times when I could receive his correction and instruction. It was not that I, at this time of day, needed to learn Greek, I had long understood that language perfectly; what I wanted was the pronunciation, and reading by accent, of which the generality of English scholars are perfectly ignorant, and to which it is owing that they apprehend the Greek spoken and written in the Archipelago is materially different from that language which we read in books, and which a few weeks conversation in the islands will teach them it is not. I had in this, at that time, no other view than mere convenience during my passage through the Archipelago, which I intended to visit, without any design of continuing or studying there: But the reader will afterwards see of what very material service this acquaintance was to me, so very essential, indeed, that it contributed more to the success of my views in Abyssinia than any other help that I obtained throughout the whole of it. This man’s name was Padre Christophoro, or Father Christopher. At my leaving Algiers, finding himself less conveniently situated, he went to Egypt, to Cairo, where he was promoted to be second in rank under Mark, patriarch of Alexandria, where I afterwards found him.Business of a private nature had at this time obliged me to present myself at Mahon, a gentleman having promised to meet me there; I therefore sailed from Algiers, having taken leave of the Dey, who furnished me with every letter that I asked, with strong and peremptory orders to all the officers of his own dominions, pressing recommendatory ones to the Bey of Tunis and Tripoli, states independent, indeed, of the Dey of Algiers, but over which the circumstances of the times had given him a considerable influence.The violent disputes about the passports had rather raised than lowered me in his esteem. The letters were given with the best grace possible, and the orders contained in them were executed most exactly in all points during my whole stay in Barbary. Being disappointed in the meeting I looked for at Mahon, I remained three days in Quarantine Island, though General Townsend, then deputy-governor, by every civility and attention in his power, strove to induce me to come on shore, that he might have an opportunity of shewing me still more attention and politeness.My mind being now full of more agreeable ideas than what had for some time past occupied it, I sailed in a small vessel from Port Mahon, and, having a fair wind, in a short time made the coast of Africa, at a cape, or headland, called Ras el Hamra6, and landed at Bona, a considerable town, the ancient Aphrodisium7, built from the ruins of Hippo Regius8, from which it is only two miles distant. It stands on a large plain, part of which seems to have been once overflowed by the sea. Its trade consists now in the exportation of wheat, when, in plentiful years, that trade is permitted by the government of Algiers. I had a delightful voyage close down the coast, and passed the small island Tabarca9, lately a fortification of the Genoese, now in the hands of the regency of Tunis, who took it by surprise, and made all the inhabitants slaves. The island is famous for a coral fishery, and along the coast are immense forests of large beautiful oaks, more than sufficient to supply the necessities of all the maritime powers in the Levant, if the quality of the wood be but equal to the size and beauty of the tree.From Tabarca I sailed and anchored at Biserta, the Hippozaritus10of antiquity, and thence went to pay a visit to Utica, out of respect to the memory of Cato, without having sanguine expectations of meeting any thing remarkable there, and accordingly I found nothing memorable but the name. It may be said nothing remains of Utica but a heap of rubbish and of small stones; without the city the trenches and approaches of the ancient besiegers are still very perfect.After doubling Cape Carthage I anchored before the fortress of the Goletta, a place now of no strength, notwithstanding the figure it made at the time of the expedition of Charles V. Rowing along the bay, between the Cape and this anchorage, I saw several buildings and columns still standing under water, by which it appeared that old Carthage had owed part of its destruction to the sea, and hence likewise may be inferred the absurdity of any attempt to represent the site of ancient Carthage upon paper. It has been, besides, at least ten times destroyed, so that the stations, where its first citizens fell fighting for their liberty, are covered deep in rubbish, far from being trodden upon by those unworthy slaves who now are its masters.Tunis11is twelve miles distant from this: It is a large and flourishing city. The people are more civilized than in Algiers, and the government milder, but the climate is very far from being so good. Tunis is low, hot, and damp, and destitute of good water, with which Algiers is supplied from a thousand springs.I delivered my letters from the Bey, and obtained permission to visit the country in whatever direction I should please. I took with me a French renegado, of the name of Osman, recommended to me by Monsieur Bartheleny de Saizieux, consul of France to that state; a gentleman whose conversation and friendship furnish me still with some of the most agreeable reflections that result from my travels. With Osman I took ten spahi, or horse-soldiers, well armed with firelocks, and pistols, excellent horsemen, and, as far as I could ever discern upon the few occasions that presented, as eminent for cowardice, at least, as they were for horsemanship. This was not the case with Osman, who was very brave, but he needed a sharp look-out, that he did not often embroil us where there was access to women or to wine.One of the most agreeable favours I received was from a lady of the Bey, who furnished me with a two-wheeled covered cart, exactly like those of the bakers in England. In this I secured my quadrant and telescope from the weather, and at times put likewise some of the feeblest of my attendants. Besides these I had ten servants, two of whom were Irish, who having deserted from the Spanish regiments in Oran, and being British born, though slaves, as being Spanish soldiers, were given to me at parting by the Dey of Algiers.The coast along which I had sailed was part of Numidia and Africa Proper, and there I met with no ruins. I resolved now to distribute my inland journey through the kingdom of Algiers and Tunis. In order to comprehend the whole, I first set out along the river Majerda, through a country perfectly cultivated and inhabited by people under the controul of government, this river was the ancient Bagrada12.After passing a triumphal arch of bad taste at Basil-bab, I came the next day to Thugga13, perhaps more properly called Tucca, and by the inhabitants Dugga. The reader in this part should have Doctor Shaw’s Work before him, my map of the journey not being yet published; and, indeed, after Shaw’s, it is scarcely necessary to those who need only an itinerary, as, besides his own observations, he had for basis those of Sanson.I found at Dugga a large scene of ruins, among which one building was easily distinguishable. It was a large temple of the Corinthian order, all of Parian marble, the columns fluted, the cornice highly ornamented in the very best style of sculpture. In the tympanum is an eagle flying to heaven, with a human figure upon his back, which, by the many inscriptions that are still remaining, seems to be intended for that of Trajan, and the apotheosis of that emperor to be the subject, the temple having been erected by Adrian to that prince, his benefactor and predecessor. I spent fifteen days upon the architecture of this temple without feeling the smallest disgust, or forming a wish to finish it; it is, with all its parts, still unpublished in my collection. These beautiful and magnificent remains of ancient taste and greatness, so easily reached in perfect safety, by a ride along the Bagrada, full as pleasant and as safe as along the Thames between London and Oxford, were at Tunis totally unknown. Doctor Shaw has given the situation of the place, without saying one word about any thing curious it contains.From Dugga I continued the upper road to Keff14, formerly called Sicca Venerea, or Venerea ad Siccam, through the pleasant plains inhabited by the Welled Yagoube. I then proceeded to Hydra, the Thunodrunum15of the ancients. This is a frontier place between the two kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, as Keff is also. It is inhabited by a tribe of Arabs, whose chief is a marabout, or saint; they are called Welled Sidi Boogannim, the “sons of the father of flocks.”These Arabs are immensely rich, paying no tribute either to Tunis or Algiers. The pretence for this exemption is a very singular one. By the institution of their founder, they are obliged to live upon lions flesh for their daily food, as far as they can procure it; with this they strictly comply, and, in consideration of the utility of this their vow, they are not taxed, like the other Arabs, with payments to the state. The consequence of this life is, that they are excellent and well-armed horsemen, exceedingly bold and undaunted hunters. It is generally imagined, indeed, that these considerations, and that of their situation on the frontier, have as much influence in procuring them exemption from taxes, as the utility of their vow.There is at Thunodrunum a triumphal arch, which Dr Shaw thinks is more remarkable for its size than for its taste or execution; but the size is not extraordinary; on the other hand, both taste and execution are admirable. It is, with all its parts, in the King’s collection, and, taking the whole together, is one of the most beautiful landscapes in black and white now existing. The distance, as well as the fore-ground, are both from nature, and exceedingly well calculated for such representation.Before Dr Shaw’s travels first acquired the celebrity they have maintained ever since, there was a circumstance that very nearly ruined their credit. He had ventured to say in conversation, that these Welled Sidi Boogannim were eaters of lions, and this was considered at Oxford, the university where he had studied, as a traveller’s license on the part of the Doctor. They took it as a subversion of the natural order of things, that a man should eat a lion, when it had long passed as almost the peculiar province of the lion to eat man. The Doctor flinched under the sagacity and severity of this criticism; he could not deny that the Welled Sidi Boogannim did eat lions, as he had repeatedly said; but he had not yet published his travels, and therefore left it out of his narrative, and only hinted at it after in his appendix.With all submission to that learned university, I will not dispute the lion’s title to eating men; but, since it is not founded upon patent, no consideration will make me stifle the merit of Welled Sidi Boogannim, who have turned the chace upon the enemy. It is an historical fact; and I will not suffer the public to be misled by a misrepresentation of it; on the contrary, I do aver, in the face of these fantastic prejudices, that I have ate the flesh of lions, that is, part of three lions, in the tents of Welled Sidi Boogannim. The first was a he-lion, lean, tough, smelling violently of musk, and had the taste which, I imagine, old horse-flesh would have. The second was a lioness, which they said had that year been barren. She had a considerable quantity of fat within her; and, had it not been for the musky smell that the flesh had, though in a lesser degree than the former, and for our foolish prejudices against it, the meat, when broiled, would not have been very bad. The third was a lion’s whelp, six or seven months old; it tasted, upon the whole, the worst of the three. I confess I have no desire of being again served with such a morsel; but the Arabs, a brutish and ignorant folk, will, I fear, notwithstanding the disbelief of the university of Oxford, continue to eat lions as long as they exist.From Hydra I passed to the ancient Tipasa16, another Roman colony, going by the same name to this day. Here is a most extensive scene of ruins. There is a large temple, and a four-faced triumphal arch of the Corinthian order, in the very best taste; both of which are now in the collection of the King.I here crossed the river Myskianah, which falls into the Bagrada, and continuing through one of the most beautiful and best-cultivated countries in the world, I entered the eastern province of Algiers, now called Constantina, anciently the Mauritania Cæsariensis, whose capital, Constantina, is the ancient metropolis of Syphax. It was called Cirta17, and, after Julius Cæsar’s conquest, Cirta Sittianorum, from Caius Sittius who first took it. It is situated upon a high, gloomy, tremendous precipice. Part only of its aqueduct remains: the water, which once was carried into the town, now spills itself from the top of the cliff into a chasm, or narrow valley, above four hundred feet below. The view of it is in the King’s collection; a band of robbers, the figures which adorn it, is a composition from imagination; all the rest is perfectly real.The Bey was at this time in his camp, as he was making war with the Hanneishah, the most powerful tribe of Arabs in that province. After having refreshed myself in the Bey’s palace I set out to Seteef, the Sitifi18of antiquity, the capital of Mauritania Sitifensis, at some distance from which I joined the Bey’s army, consisting of about 12,000 men, with four pieces of cannon. After staying a few days with the Bey, and obtaining his letters of recommendation, I proceeded to Taggou-zainah, anciently Diana Veteranorum19, as we learn by an inscription on a triumphal arch of the Corinthian order which I found there.From Taggou-zainah I continued my journey nearly straight S. E. and arrived at Medrashem, a superb pile of building, the sepulchre of Syphax, and the other kings of Numidia, and where, as the Arabs believe, were also deposited the treasures of those kings. A drawing of this monument is still unpublished in my collection. Advancing still to the S. E. through broken ground and some very barren valleys, which produced nothing but game, I came to Jibbel Aurez, the Aurasius Mons of the middle age. This is not one mountain, but an assemblage of many of the most craggy steeps in Africa.Here I met, to my great astonishment, a tribe, who, if I cannot say they were fair like English, were of a shade lighter than that of the inhabitants of any country to the southward of Britain. Their hair also was red, and their eyes blue. They are a savage and independent people; it required address to approach them with safety, which, however, I accomplished, (the particulars would take too much room for this place), was well received, and at perfect liberty to do whatever I pleased. This tribe is called Neardie. Each of the tribe, in the middle between their eyes, has a Greek cross marked with antimony. They are Kabyles. Though living in tribes, they have among the mountains huts, built with mud and straw, which they call Dashkras, whereas the Arabs live in tents on the plains. I imagine these to be a remnant of Vandals. Procopius20mentions a defeat of an army of this nation here, after a desperate resistance, a remnant of which may be supposed to have maintained themselves in these mountains. They with great pleasure confessed their ancestors had been Christians, and seemed to rejoice much more in that relation than in any connection with the Moors, with whom they live in perpetual war: they pay no taxes to the Bey, but live in constant defiance of him.As this is the Mons Audus of Ptolemy, here too must be fixed his Lambesa21, or Lambesentium Colonia, which, by a hundred Latin inscriptions remaining on the spot, it is attested to have been. It is now called Tezzoute: the ruins of the city are very extensive. There are seven of the gates still standing, and great pieces of the walls solidly built with square masonry without lime. The buildings remaining are of very different ages, from Adrian to Aurelian, nay even to Maximin. One building only, supported by columns of the Corinthian order, was in good taste; what its use was I know not. The drawing of this is in the King’s collection. It was certainly designed for some military purpose, by the size of the gates; I should suspect a stable for elephants, or a repository for catapulta, or other large military machines, though there are no traces left upon the walls indicating either. Upon the key-stone of the arch of the principal gate there is a basso-relievo of the standard of a legion, and upon it an inscription, Legio tertia Augusta, which legion, we know from history, was quartered here. Dr Shaw22says, that there is here a neat, round, Corinthian temple, called Cubb el Arrousah, the Cupola or Dome of the Bride or Spouse. Such a building does exist, but it is by no means of a good taste, nor of the Corinthian order; but of a long disproportioned Doric, of the time of Aurelian, and does not merit the attention of any architect. Dr Shaw never was so far south as Jibbel Aurez, so could only say this from report.From Jibbel Aurez nothing occurred in the style of architecture that was material. Hydra remained on the left hand. I came to Cassareen, the ancient Colonia Scillitana23, where I suffered something both from hunger and from fear. The country was more rugged and broken than any we had yet seen, and withal less fruitful and inhabited. The Moors of these parts are a rebellious tribe, called Nememshah, who had fled from their ordinary obligation of attending the Bey, and had declared themselves on the part of the rebel-moors, the Henneishah.My intentions now were to reach Feriana, the Thala24of the ancients, where I expected considerable subjects for study; but in this I was disappointed, and being on the frontier, and in dangerous times, when several armies were in the field, I thought it better to steer my course eastward, and avoid the theatre of war.Journeying east, I came to Spaitla25, and again got into the kingdom of Tunis. Spaitla is a corruption of Suffetula26, which was probably its ancient name before it became a Roman colony; so called from Suffetes, a magistrature in all the countries dependent upon Carthage. Spaitla has many inscriptions, and very extensive and elegant remains. There are three temples, two of them Corinthian, and one of the Composite order; a great part of them is entire. A beautiful and perfect capital of the Composite order, the only perfect one that now exists, is designed, in all its parts, in a very large size; and, with the detail of the rest of the ruin, is a precious monument of what that order was, now in the collection of the King.Doctor Shaw, struck with the magnificence of Spaitla, has attempted something like the three temples, in a stile much like what one would expect from an ordinary carpenter, or mason. I hope I have done them more justice, and I recommend the study of the Composite capital, as of the Corinthian capital at Dugga, to those who really wish to know the taste with which these two orders were executed in the time of the Antonines.The Welled Omran, a lawless, plundering tribe, inquieted me much in the eight days I staid at Spaitla. It was a fair match between coward and coward. With my company, I was inclosed in a square in which the three temples stood, where there yet remained a precinct of high walls. These plunderers would have come in to me, but were afraid of my fire-arms; and I would have run away from them, had I not been afraid of meeting their horse in the plain. I was almost starved to death, when I was relieved by the arrival of Welled Hassan, and a friendly tribe of Dreeda, that came to my assistance, and brought me, at once, both safety and provision.From Spaitla I went to Gilma, or Oppidum Chilmanense. There is here a large extent of rubbish and stones, but no distinct trace of any building whatever.From Gilma I passed to Muchtar, corruptly now so called. Its ancient name is Tucca Terebinthina27. Dr Shaw28says its modern name is Sbeeba, but no such name is known here. I might have passed more directly from Spaitla southward, but a large chain of mountains, to whose inhabitants I had no recommendation, made me prefer the safer and plainer road by Gilma. At Tucca Terebinthina are two triumphal arches, the largest of which I suppose equal in taste, execution, and mass, to any thing now existing in the world. The lesser is more simple, but very elegant. They are both, with all the particulars of their parts, not yet engraved, but still in my collection.From Muchtar, or Tucca Terebinthina, we came to Kisser29, which Dr Shaw conjectures to have been the Colonia Assuras of the ancients, by this it should seem he had not been there; for there is an inscription upon a triumphal arch of very good taste, now standing, and many others to be met with up and down, which confirms beyond doubt his conjecture to be a just one. There is, besides this, a small square temple, upon which are carved several instruments of sacrifice, which are very curious, but the execution of these is much inferior to the design. It stands on the declivity of a hill, above a large fertile plain, still called the Plain of Surse, which is probably a corruption of its ancient name Assuras.From Kisser I came to Musti, where there is a triumphal arch of very good taste, but perfectly in ruins; the merit of its several parts only could be collected from the fragments which lie strewed upon the ground.From Musti30I proceeded north-eastward to Tubersoke, thence again to Dugga, and down the Bagrada to Tunis.My third, or, which may be called my middle journey through Tunis, was by Zowan, a high mountain, where is a large aqueduct which formerly carried its water to Carthage. Thence I came to Jelloula, a village lying below high mountains on the west; these are the Montes Vassaleti of Ptolemy31, as the town itself is the Oppidum Usalitanum of Pliny. I fell here again into the ancient road at Gilma; and, not satisfied with what I had seen of the beauties of Spaitla, I passed there five days more, correcting and revising what I had already committed to paper. Independent of the treasure I found in the elegance of its buildings, the town itself is situated in the most beautiful spot in Barbary, surrounded thick with juniper-trees, and watered by a pleasant stream that sinks there under the earth, and appears no more.Here I left my former road at Cassareen, and proceeding directly S. E. came to Feriana, the road that I had abandoned before from prudential motives, Feriana, as has been before observed, is the ancient Thala, taken and destroyed by Metellus in his pursuit of Jugurtha. I had formed, I know not from what reason, sanguine expectations of elegant remains here, but in this I was disappointed; I found nothing remarkable but the baths of very warm water32without the town; in these there was a number of fish, above four inches in length, not unlike gudgeons. Upon trying the heat by the thermometer, I remember to have been much surprised that they could have existed, or even not been boiled, by continuing long in the heat of this medium. As I marked the degrees with a pencil while I was myself naked in the water, the leaf was wetted accidentally, so that I missed the precise degree I meant to have recorded, and do not pretend to supply it from memory. The bath is at the head of the fountain, and the stream runs off to a considerable distance. I think there were about five or six dozen of these fish in the pool. I was told likewise, that they went down into the stream to a certain distance in the day, and returned to the pool, or warmest and deepest water, at night.From Feriana I proceeded S. E. to Gafsa, the ancient Capsa33, and thence to Tozer, formerly Tisurus34. I then turned nearly N. E. and entered a large lake of water called the Lake of Marks, because in the passage of it there is a row of large trunks of palm-trees set up to guide travellers in the road which crosses it. Doctor Shaw has settled very distinctly the geography of this place, and those about it. It is the Palus Tritonidis35, as he justly observes; this was the most barren and unpleasant part of my journey in Africa; barren not only from the nature of its soil, but by its having no remains of antiquity in the whole course of it.From this I came to Gabs, or Tacape36, after passing El Hammah, the baths which were the Aquas Tacapitanas of antiquity, where the small river Triton, by the moisture which it furnishes, most agreeably and suddenly changes the desert scene, and covers the adjacent fields with all kinds of flowers and verdure.I was now arrived upon the lesser Syrtis, and continued along the sea-coast northward to Inshilla, without having made any addition to my observations. I turned again to the N. W. and came to El Gemme37, where there is a very large and spacious amphitheatre, perfect as to the desolation of time, had not Mahomet Bey blown up four arches of it from the foundation, that it might not serve as a fortress to the rebel Arabs. The sections, elevations, and plans, with the whole detail of its parts, are in the King’s collection.I have still remaining, but not finished, the lower or subterraneous plan of the building, an entrance to which I forced open in my journey along the coast to Tripoli. This was made so as to be filled with water by means of a sluice and aqueduct, which are still entire. The water rose up in the arena, through a large square-hole faced with hewn-stone in the middle, when there was occasion for water-games or naumachia. Doctor Shaw38imagines this was intended to contain the pillar that supported the velum, which covered the spectators from the influence of the sun. It might have served for both purposes, but it seems to be too large for the latter, though I confess the more I have considered the size and construction of these amphitheatres, the less I have been able to form an idea concerning this velum, or the manner in which it served the people, how it was secured, and how it was removed. This was the last ancient building I visited in the kingdom of Tunis, and I believe I may confidently say, there is not, either in the territories of Algiers or Tunis, a fragment of good taste of which I have not brought a drawing to Britain.I continued along the coast to Susa, through a fine country planted with olive trees, and came again to Tunis, not only without disagreeable accident, but without any interruption from sickness or other cause. I then took leave of the Bey, and, with the acknowledgments usual on such occasions, again set out from Tunis, on a very serious journey indeed, over the desert to Tripoli, the first part of which to Gabs was the same road by which I had so lately returned. From Gabs I proceeded to the island of Gerba, the Meninx39Insula, or Island of the Lotophagi.Doctor Shaw says, the fruit he calls the Lotus is very frequent all over that coast. I wish he had said what was this Lotus. To say it is the fruit the most common on that coast is no description, for there is there no sort of fruit whatever; no bush, no tree, nor verdure of any kind, excepting the short grass that borders these countries before you enter the moving sands of the desert. Doctor Shaw never was at Gerba, and has taken this particular from some unfaithful story-teller. The Wargumma and Noile, two great tribes of Arabs, are masters of these deserts. Sidi Ismain, whose grandfather, the Bey of Tunis, had been dethroned and strangled by the Algerines, and who was himself then prisoner at Algiers, in great repute for valour, and in great intimacy with me, did often use to say, that he accounted his having passed that desert on horseback as the hardiest of all his undertakings.About four days journey from Tripoli I met the Emir Hadje conducting the caravan of pilgrims from Fez and Sus in Morocco, all across Africa to Mecca, that is, from the Western Ocean, to the western banks of the Red Sea in the kingdom of Sennaar. He was a middle-aged man, uncle to the present emperor, of a very uncomely, stupid kind of countenance. His caravan consisted of about 3000 men, and, as his people said, from 12,000 to 14,000 camels, part loaded with merchandise, part with skins of water, flour, and other kinds of food, for the maintenance of the hadjees; they were a scurvy, disorderly, unarmed pack, and when my horsemen, tho’ but fifteen in number, came up with them in the grey of the morning, they shewed great signs of trepidation, and were already flying in confusion. When informed who they were, their fears ceased, and, after the usual manner of cowards, they became extremely insolent.At Tripoli I met the Hon. Mr Frazer of Lovat, his Majesty’s consul in that station, from whom I received every sort of kindness, comfort, and assistance, which I very much needed after so rude a journey, made with such diligence that two of my horses died some days after.I had hopes of finding something at Lebeda, formerly Leptis Magna40, three days journey from Tripoli, where are indeed a great number of buildings, many of which are covered by the sands; but they are of a bad taste, mostly ill-proportioned Dorics of the time of Aurelian. Seven large columns of granite were shipped from this for France, in the reign of Louis XIV. destined for one of the palaces he was then building. The eighth was broken on the way, and lies now upon the shore. Though I was disappointed at Lebeda, ample amends were made me at Tripoli on my return.From Tripoli I sent an English servant to Smyrna with my books, drawings, and supernumerary instruments, retaining only extracts from such authors as might be necessary for me in the Pentapolis, or other parts of the Cyrenaicum. I then crossed the Gulf of Sidra, formerly known by the name of the Syrtis Major, and arrived at Bengazi, the ancient Berenice41, built by Ptolemy Philadelphus.The brother of the Bey of Tripoli commanded here, a young man, as weak in understanding as he was in health. All the province was in extreme confusion. Two tribes of Arabs, occupying the territory to the west of the town, who in ordinary years, and in time of peace, were the sources of its wealth and plenty, had, by the mismanagement of the Bey, entered into deadly quarrel. The tribe that lived most to the westward, and which was reputed the weakest, had beat the most numerous that was nearest the town, called Welled Abid, and driven them within its walls. The inhabitants of Bengazi had for a year before been labouring under a severe famine, and by this accident about four thousand persons, of all ages and sexes, were forced in upon them, when perfectly destitute of every necessary. Ten or twelve people were found dead every night in the streets, and life was said in many to be supported by food that human nature shudders at the thoughts of. Impatient to fly from these Thyestean feasts, I prevailed upon the Bey to send me out some distance to the southward, among the Arabs where famine had been less felt.I encompassed a great part of the Pentapolis, visited the ruins of Arsinoe, and, though I was much more feebly recommended than usual, I happily received neither insult nor injury. Finding nothing at Arsinoe nor Barca, I continued my journey to Ras Sem, the petrified city, concerning which so many monstrous lies were told by the Tripoline ambassador, Cassem Aga, at the beginning of this century, and all believed in England, though they carried falsehood upon the very face of them42. It was not then the age of incredulity, we were fast advancing to the celebrated epoch of the man in the pint-bottle, and from that time to be as absurdly incredulous as we were then the reverse, and with the same degree of reason.Ras Sem is five long days journey south from Bengazi; it has no water, except a spring very disagreeable to the taste, that appears to be impregnated with alum, and this has given it the name it bears of Ras Sem, or the Fountain of Poison, from its bitterness. The whole remains here consist in the ruins of a tower or fortification, that seems to be a work full as late as the time of the Vandals. How or what use they made of this water I cannot possibly guess; they had no other at the distance of two days journey. I was not fortunate enough to discover the petrified men and horses, the women at the churn, the little children, the cats, the dogs, and the mice, which his Barbarian excellency assured Sir Hans Sloane existed there: Yet, in vindication of his Excellency, I must say, that though he propagated, yet he did not invent this falsehood; the Arabs who conducted me maintained the same stories to be true, till I was within two hours of the place, where I found them to be false. I saw indeed mice43, as they are called, of a very extraordinary kind, having nothing of petrifaction about them, but agile and active, so to partake as much of the bird as the beast.Approaching now the sea-coast I came to Ptolometa, the ancient Ptolemais44, the work of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the walls and gates of which city are still entire. There is a prodigious number of Greek inscriptions, but there remain only a few columns of the portico, and an Ionic temple, in the first manner of executing that order; and therefore, slight as the remains are, they are treasures in the history of architecture which are worthy to be preserved. These are in the King’s collection, with all the parts that could be recovered.Here I met a small Greek junk belonging to Lampedosa, a little island near Crete, which had been unloading corn, and was now ready to sail. At the same time the Arabs of Ptolometa told me, that the Welled Ali, a powerful tribe that occupy the whole country between that place and Alexandria, were at war among themselves, and had plundered the caravan of Morocco, of which I have already spoken, and that the pilgrims composing it had mostly perished, having been scattered in the desert without water; that a great famine had been at Derna, the neighbouring town, to which I intended to go; that a plague had followed, and the town, which is divided into upper and lower, was engaged in a civil war. This torrent of ill news was irresistible, and was of a kind I did not propose to wrestle with; besides, there was nothing, as far as I knew, that merited the risk. I resolved, therefore, to fly from this inhospitable coast, and save to the public, at least, that knowledge and entertainment I had acquired for them.I embarked on board the Greek vessel, very ill accoutred, as we afterwards found, and, though it had plenty of sail, it had not an ounce of ballast. A number of people, men, women, and children, flying from the calamities which attend famine, crowded in unknown to me; but the passage was short, the vessel light, and the master, as we supposed, well accustomed to these seas. The contrary of this, however, was the truth, as we learned afterwards, when too late, for he was an absolute landsman; proprietor indeed of the vessel, but this had been his first voyage. We sailed at dawn of day in as favourable and pleasant weather as ever I saw at sea. It was the beginning of September, and a light and steady breeze, though not properly fair, promised a short and agreeable voyage; but it was not long before it turned fresh and cold; we then had a violent shower of hail, and the clouds were gathering as if for thunder. I observed that we gained no offing, and hoped, if the weather turned bad, to persuade the Captain to put into Bengazi, for one inconvenience he presently discovered, that they had not provision on board for one day.