244 JOURNEY FROM as the inscriptions (should they have turned out to be legible) would most probably have given us names and dates which might have been essentially useful to us, and could scarcely have failed of being interesting. There are at Carcora two coves which would serve for boats; they may be known by some high sand-hills lying between them, and by two ruins situated upon the hills inland nearly abreast of them *. With the exception of these coves, there is nothing whatever of any interest on the coast between Carcora and Bengazi. Inland, however, there are many ruins of ancient forts, and considerable remains of building, which become more numerous and interesting as they approach Bengazi. At Ghimenes, which is a day’s journey to the northward of Carcora, there are several interesting remains of ancient forts ; some of which are altogether on a different plan from those which have been already described. They are built of large unequal-sized stones, put together without any cement, and made to fit one into another in the manner which has been called Cyclopian. Their form is a square, with the angles rounded off, and some of them are filled up with earth, well-beaten down, to within six or eight feet of the top ; the upper part of the wall being left as a parapet to the terrace, which is formed by the earth heaped within it.

In the centre of the terrace we sometimes found the foundations of building, as if chambers had been erected upon it ; the roofs of * At the foot of the sand-hills at Carcora there are some springs of fresh water, remarkably sweet and good, within a few feet of an extensive salt-marsh, and on the same level with it. The circumstance is worthy of remark, although there are other instances of similar occurrences.