TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 247 ther, which had hitherto been very fine for the time of year, began to show that the rainy season had commenced in good earnest, and we congratulated ourselves in having escaped it so long ; for had the bad weather overtaken us sooner, it would effectually have put an end to our researches, and obliged us to advance as fast as possible upon Bengazi, the only place which could have sheltered us between Mesurata and Derna. Indeed, it would have been difficult to make any progress at all ; for the ravines would, in a few hours, have assumed the form of torrents, and the marshy ground have become everywhere dangerous, and in most places wholly impassable ; our camels besides would have fallen every moment under their loads, as they cannot keep their feet in slippery weather, and some of our horses would certainly have sunk under the exertions which would have been necessary to overcome these additional disadvantages.

As it was, we had been obliged to lead two of the horses for several days before our arrival at Bengazi, and it would indeed be thought extraordinary, by those accustomed only to the horses of Europe, that any of them arrived there at all after the fatigues and privations which they had endured. They had all of them been rode through the whole of the day, over a country without any roads, for more than two months successively, exposed to the heat of the sun during the day, and without any shelter from the cold and damp of the night ; while at the same time, instead of having any extra allowance to enable them to support this exertion, they were often left, unavoidably, for more than four-and-twenty hours, without anything whatever to eat or drink, and on one occasion were as much as four