ruins and isolated tombs, or Mansolaea are extensive; – the finest part is the Camp of Mars, on account of the numerous streets of tombs cut in the rocky mountains. The various ruins make it extremely easy to determine the limits of the city.’ Do you recollect any temples there? ‘The ruins of a temple near the fountain are partly buried; and all there is remaining in sight are some columns and several statues, the latter so mutilated that they look like amorphus blocks of marble. Excavation in this part would probably be very productive.’ Does the fountain still afford good water, and are there any inhabitants in Cyrene? ‘The fountain always gives abundance of the purest water, for which reason there are always upwards of four or five hundred Arab tents in the town.’ What is the population of Derna? ‘Emigration and the plague have reduced it to about 360 souls.’ Are there still any troglodytes, or inhabitants of caves, and are they numerous? ‘The district between Marza Suza and Cyrene is full of caverns in the very heart of the mountains, into which whole families get by means of ropes, and many are born, live, and die in these dens without ever going out of them; their Bedouin relations in the neighbourhood provide them with food, and there preserve their property from the raping of inimical tribes; the friendly Arabs collect in these holes a sufficiency of water for all their wants.’ What is the disposition of these people? ‘They are savage, untractable, and dangerous, the government of the country itself never having been able to reduce them.’ Do you consider a landing at Bomba as safe? ‘Being situated on the limits of Tripoli and Cairo, it is inhabited by tribes that have been driven away by their respective governments, so that they continually molest pacific tribes, and the caravans destined for Mecca.’
“Such, my Lord, is the sum of the most direct and credible information I have been able to collect; besides which I have made many other enquiries, and have also constructed a map of the march of the said army, by inference; but I hope I have shewn your Lordship that this interesting portion of geography (seated so near to civilized Europe) need no longer remain a blank; and also that its examination may lead to satisfactory ulterior results, at to the confluence of the Nile and the Niger, and the actual state of the level of the countries south of Bournou, compared with Abyssinia, and the west coast of Africa. And this, if I may be allowed to express my opinion, is the only practicable road to Europeans, – for I have ever considered the difficulties and diseases, incident to the swampy banks of rivers in a tropical climate (at all times replete with decomposing vegetable substances), so insurmountable, that I have never been surprised at their failure.
“I have the honor to subscribe myself, my Lord, your Lordship’s most obedient, &c. &c.
“Right Hon. Lord Viscount Melville,
&c. &c. &c.
