478 MERGE TO GYRENE.

of Bujebara we came to a deep ravine, through which ran the largest body of water which we had seen in Africa ; it is called Wady Elthroon. The sides of this ravine, wliich proceeded from an immense fissure between the mountains, were thickly clothed with pine, cypress and olive-trees, and the river, which ran with some rapidity, was studded with small islands covered with oleanders, which we found in full bloom as we passed. Along the brink of the stream was spread a beautiful turf, which opened in little plots, broader or narrower, according to the nature of the ground, on which we threw ourselves down to take a few minutes rest and enjoy a long draught of the clear cool water and a short dream of Arcadian felicity. In truth, the spot was delightful— we scarcely recollect to have seen a more pleasing one anywhere— and to meet with such a scene in an African climate was to render the view doubly grateful.

Ascending the opposite side of the ravine, we entered a country fertile in corn and which seemed to be very well peopled ; here we found some ruins very much decayed and mutilated, apparently those of an ancient town of small dimensions, which, as its situation will be found to correspond, we will venture to suggest as the Erythron of Ptolemy; and indeed the similarity of the names would naturally lead to this conclusion.

On leaving Elthroon the road took a westerly direction, at the foot of the range, through a country well cultivated in some parts and in others overrun with pine-trees. At every mile we were interrupted by a provoking ravine, which we hardly knew whether most to admire for its beauty, or to exclaim against for the serious impediments