MERGE TO GYRENE.

469 conjecture from the frequent remains of building which we had met with in our journey to this place, as well as from the occasional marks of chariot-wheels impressed in the rocky soil we had passed over, that the road which we had taken was the same with that formerly used in travelling from Cyrene to Darnis now Derna*.

The next morning we continued our course east-south -east, and began to ascend by a very bad, stony pathway, which took us four hours to surmount, winding all the time through ohve and fir trees thickly planted in every direction. About noon we reached the brow of the range which separated us from the town of Derna, and here began the most difficult part of our journey, the descent into the plain below. The face of the mountain is devoid of vegetation, occasionally polished like glass ; and its inclination approaches in many places far too closely to the perpendicular to render it safe as a road. Indeed it is in so many parts scarcely practicable, that we could not help wondering, when we arrived at its foot, how we had contrived in any way to descend it without breaking our own and our horses’ necks in the attempt.

There was neither road nor pathway to be found, and we were obliged to scramble down in the best way we could, sometimes stumbling over rugged and encumbered parts of the mountain, and * This observation is not applicable to the latter part of the ground we travelled over, which could not certainly have ever formed part of a road either ancient or modeim ; and it was wholly owing to the ignorance of our Chaous, who persisted that we were in the right track, that we were induced to attempt it.