xxn INTRODUCTION.

Accordingly, when the necessary dispositions had been made, Lieu-

tenant Beechey was appointed on the part of the Admiralty to under-

take the coast line from Tripoly to Derna, — if practicable, as far as Alexandria ; and Mr. Tyndall, a young gentleman on board the Adventure, was directed to assist him in the survey. Earl Bathurst

appointed Mr. Beechey to examine and report on the antiquities of the

country, and Mr. Campbell of the Navy was soon after nominated to

accompany the expedition as surgeon. The party w^as embarked

on board His Majesty’s Ship Adventure, and sailed from England early in J uly with Captain Smyth, proceeding directly to Malta :

there they were joined by Lieutenant Coffin of the Navy, who had

come out in the Adventure, and who handsomely volunteered his

services on shore, which were accepted without hesitation. A short

time was sufficient to complete the few remaining preparations, and the expedition left Malta for Tripoly.

We have already said that it had been in contemplation to extend

our journey farther to the eastward, and to examine the country

between that place and Alexandria, in which it seemed probable that

interesting remains might be found. We had in that event pro-

posed to return by Siwah, and along the track of Horneman to Augila ; from which place we should have re-entered the Greater

Syrtis, and explored some of the more inland parts of it in the course

of our journey back to Tripoly. Circumstances, however, which it

will not here be necessary to explain, prevented our going farther

eastward than Derna, and limited the period of our stay in the Pen-

tapolis to a much shorter period than we had originally calculated upon. Our work has in consequence assumed the form of a Journal,

and has become more contracted on points of unquestionable interest, and more diffuse in matters which would otherwise have been

omitted, than it would have been in the character which we wished

it to have taken. We do not, however, mean to apologize for having