236 JOURNEY FROM well calculated to induce the belief that they have originally been appropriated to the defence and accommodation of a considerable number of men, that we cannot be sceptical on the occasion. On either side of the promontory on which the castle has been built is a small sandy bay, neither of which at present affords any shelter for vessels, but from which the galleys of the ancients might have been easily drawn up on the beach, when it might not have been practicable for them to keep the sea.

This mode of sheltering their vessels was common to the Greeks and Romans, to whom a port, such as in our days would be considered a good one, appears to have been by no means necessary. We are told indeed by Strabo, that this part of the coast was very sparingly provided with ports and watering-places *, and the harbour which he calls the best in the Syrtis is now no harbour at all f. Mersa Braiga is in fact the only port in the gulf which can at all be considered as such, in our estimation of the term ; and here the shelter is only afforded by breakers, and could not prevent the small vessels of the ancients from being driven on shore in stormy weather.

On the day after our arrival at Tabilba we continued our journey along the coast, and proceeded to Ain Agan, passing two ruins of forts conspicuously situated on the hills. The beach in this neighbourhood presents a very dreary prospect ; but the scene is much improved after passing the wady, and the country then begins to be cultivated. Many flocks of sheep and goats soon presented * Ex SI Ss ro /xsrau xoa Xi/xsves ov TtoWovs, vpeix Ss aitcma.. — Lib. xvli. p. 836. y That of Aspis — v-aXhioros ruv sv rn SiigTsi.