506 MERGE TO GYRENE.

accompanied by the two Seedies, an escort of twenty-six Moorish cavalry, and several camels. Proceeding by the fertile grounds of Sahal, we rode southward in the direction of the hills ; but before quitting the plain, our companions saluted us and each other by firing their guns whilst riding at full speed, in imitation of desultory attack and defence, which, allowing for the difference of weapon, shewed a striking resemblance to their ISTumidian ancestors. As we advanced up the hills we found the country beyond the tower of Grara, neglected ; the clothing and equipments of the inhabitants were also more rude and scanty than in the plains.

“ On the 2nd of March we passed an old tower called Gusser-Kzab, in the plain of Frussa, where, about three years before, a considerable treasure had been discovered in gold and silver coins, of which however I was unable to procure a single specimen, they having been all taken to the coast of Tripoli, where they were most probably melted, and their date and story lost for ever. Proceeding from Frussa over a sterile and fatiguing district, we arrived about noon on the 3rd at the Wadie of Benioleet, where, having been expected, the principal people came out to welcome us, and some met us even as far off as the valley of Mezmouth. This, though only a distance of four or five miles, is a very laborious and dreary ride, over a rocky tract, exhibiting a remarkably volcanic appearance, from a black substance resembling porous lava, lying upon a bed of tertiary limestone, and forming, perhaps, a part of the Harutsch of Horneman. The melancholy aspect of these hills renders the first view of the Wadie of Benioleet, with its houses, fields, and palm trees, extremely pictur-