Facsimile · p. 207
TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 169 and a buildipg called by the natives Kumia (or Christian), but which has nothing to mark it as such, nor anything to recommend it to further notice. The country from Zalfran to Hamed Garoosh becomes gradually higher, and in the valleys is well cultivated. We noticed many flocks of sheep and goats, some oxen and camels, and found in all parts hares, plovers, quails, curlews, wild-ducks, a few snipes, and a multitude of jackalls, which latter were indeed, throughout the journey, our constant companions. The evening setting in stormy, with heavy rains, we were very late in reaching our tents, and having passed unexamined some part of the coast, we remained at Shuaisha the whole of the following day (the 16th) in order to complete it. Between Jedeed and Shuaisha the coast is formed in small bays, and has some sunken rocks very close in shore : at about a quarter of a mile from the latter place, to the westward, we found the remains of a building shewing itself through the side of the cliff which covered it; its height from the foundation was about twenty-five feet, but its plan could not of course be obtained without previous excavation. At nine o’clock, on the ITth, we left Shuaisha, passed Marabut Duscarga (the remains of an old fort), and in seven hours reached Medinet Sultan, where we found a good supply of sweet water.
Medinet Sultan has been an important military position, as the remains of several strongly-built fortresses still remaining there attest ; these buildings, like those at Zaffran, are quadrangular, and the foundations of strong walls, communicating with the forts, are seen to cross them in various directions.
The plans of the buildings are more perfect than those of Zaffran, and are upon a larger scale ; those of the walls, however, could not be z