282 BENGAZI.

our departure from Tripoly. Shortly after our arrival, the heavy rains commenced, and continued with little interruption, until the beginning of March, accompanied with constant gales of wind from the north-east and north-west. The state of the town during this period may truly be said to have been miserable ; the houses being chiefly put together with mud, were continually giving way, and falling in ; and we were frequently apprized of occurrences of this nature, in our own immediate neighbourhood, by the shrieks and cries of women, whose families had been sufferers on some of these occasions.

The streets during part of the time were literally converted into rivers ; the market was without supplies, owing to the impossibihty of driving cattle into the town ; and the number of sheep and goats which perished in the neighbourhood of Bengazi, from the extreme inclemency of the weather, amounted (we were informed) to several thousands. F or ourselves, we were fortunate in having one room in our house which was capable of resisting the rain, the terrace on its roof having been cemented by one of the Beys, wdio had occupied it a short time before ; and this, we really believe, was the only room in the town which could be fairly considered weather-proof. The court-yard round which our apartments were built (if they may be dignified with so imposing an appellation) assumed for a long time the appearance of a pond, and a narrow space was only left here and there on its borders, by which we could pass from one room to another.

From the state of our own house, which we have already said