six hours, we emerged from sand-hills, and were charmed with the view of date-trees and olives, white-thorn, and Spanish broom; yet the soil was dry and stony, and the few fields of grain discovered marks of a scanty vegetation. On the right, or south-east of our road, at the distance of about twenty miles, appeared the mountains of Gouriana and those of Messulata. Here, at the request of one of the shereefs, we marched about six miles to the southward of the road, among rocky hills, to visit an old Arab, his friend.

At seven o'clock the next morning, we pursued our journey. In three hours, we arrived at an extensive and beautiful plain, every where producing dates and olives. Two hours more brought us to the sea-coast, and to all that remains of the Roman town of Lebeda, the Leptis Magna of antiquity. Here are the ruins of a temple and of triumphal arches, of an aqueduct and baths. Here are pillars, broken statues, marbles with inscriptions, and a fine Roman pavement. Seven large columns of granite were transported from this place to France, by order of Louis the Fourteenth; the eighth was broken in its way to the vessel, and now lies upon the shore.

I remember the time when Napoleon was reviled for transporting the pictures of Italy to France. I will take it for granted that he was justly condemned; and I will ask, whether a column, a statue, or a basso-relievo, is not as much identified with the building of which it formed a part, and with the spot on which that building now stands, as a picture with the gallery in which it is hung, or the city in which that gallery is placed?

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If I were told that the pictures were taken by force, or extorted by conquest, I would ask, what other right had the Turks, who gave the colossal bust of Egypt, and the sculptures of Greece? And, if this were not satisfactory, I would enquire how many years, or how many generations, must pass away, before conquest could confer a right it did not possess at first?

If the unhallowed plea of expedience against right were urged; if I were told that these works of art were rescued from the depredations of barbarians, to be held in safe keeping; I should say that the question of their preservation could be best answered as many centuries hence, as they had already been in the possession of these barbarians. But who that has seen the columns of Egypt in their native country, where the rains. never descend, and the water never congeals, and has seen them lying prostrate on the humid court of the British Museum, exposed to the frosts and storms of England, but must look forward to their dissolution!

Eastward of Lebeda, for about twenty-five miles, the soil, though unaided by the Arabs who dwell upon it, presents to the view a continued scene of luxuriant vegetation. On the sixth day we were informed by some friendly Arabs that a party of a rebel tribe, amounting to forty or fifty in number, had attacked a small caravan from Mesurata, and, after killing four men, had carried off the camels and baggage. On this intelligence, my shereefs began to be apprehensive lest their descent from the Prophet should not be a sufficient protection; but I represented to them that, armed as we were, we were more than a match for such a

number of Arabs; and, pleased with an opinion which promised security, they fresh primed their muskets and pistols, and rode on with alacrity. At six o'clock in the evening, we encamped on a hill opposite the enemy's mountains, which were twelve or fifteen miles distant; and having lighted about seventy fires, to increase our consequence in their estimation, we had soon the satisfaction of observing that their fires were extinguished.

On the seventh day, we discerned a body of fifty or sixty Arabs stationed on a rising ground on our left. Consultation was now vain, for to retreat was impossible; we therefore committed our camels to the care of our negroes, with orders to drive them slowly, and keep them close together, and advanced to attack our foes. The Shereefs, myself, and my servants on horseback, led the van; while the people on foot were dancing, shouting, twirling their muskets over their heads, and running round each other like madmen, till they came within shot of their antagonists; when they suddenly dispersed, and each man squatted behind a bush, to shelter himself, and take aim at an enemy. The horse were now close upon their adversaries, and were levelling their pieces at the foremost of them, when one of the latter bade them not fire, for they were friends.

A moment's pause was followed by a mutual recognition, and the most extravagant marks of joy were exhibited on both sides. The dancing, the twirling of muskets, and the running round each other, which had been practised in defiance of a supposed enemy, were repeated to welcome the friend; and when the parties were tired, they sat down and congratulated each other on

DWELLING AT GOURIANA.

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their mutual safety. After this exchange of civilities, we pursued our way to Mesurata, where we arrived in the evening, and after a short stay at this place I returned to Tripoli.

From Tripoli, taking with me a chowse, or collector of the revenue, and two camels, I set out for the town of Benioleed, by way of the mountains of Gouriana, and proceeded about fifteen miles in the direction of south-south-west. On the second day, after a march of five hours, we halted at the tent of an Arab, who had joined us the preceding day. Our host set before us a large bowl of dates, mashed in hot oil, and having the appearance of soft soap; and while we made our repast, the ladies of the family sat looking at us through a small aperture in the carpet curtain behind which they were entrenched.

On the third day we found that the country had changed its appearance: the paths were uneven, and the ground, as we approached the mountains, became abrupt and irregular. In three hours we arrived at the foot of the pass, which is open to the north-east, and encompassed on the other three sides by lofty mountains. We were an hour in ascending the pass; when we arrived at a burrow, rather than a village; for the inhabitants of these mountains dwell in the bowels of the earth, and a stranger might pass through their country without suspecting that it contained the habitations of men. A description of the dwelling of the Sheik of the Beni Abbas will serve as a specimen.

A square pit was dug, from 25 to 30 feet on every side, and the same in depth; the walls were perpendicular rock, this pit formed the open court of the mansion, and in it, at about 10 feet below

the surface, was a well. The court was surrounded by arched rooms, excavated in the rock, and receiving light from the entrances; sometimes one of these occupied a whole side of the square; sometimes there were three or four rooms on a side. The entrance to the dwelling was 36 yards from the pit, and was closed by a strong, heavy, door. The passage was arched, perfectly dark, and cut in a winding direction, and had a door, like the former, at about ten yards from the bot tom. These passages are so long, that it is a proverbial expression among the Moors, on hearing a tedious tale, "It is like the entrance at Gouriana, it has no end." But after all the expedients that man can devise for his personal security, he is not safe from the hostility of his fellows. The Bashaw's army, unable to conquer the inhabitants of Gouriana, suffocated them in their dwellings.

The young men of the village of the Beni Abbas jumped from rock to rock like goats, and were as hardy as they were active, From the crag above the pass, we distinguished the whole of the country we had passed through from Tripoli. Beyond the village was a fine plain, covered with fields of corn and saffron, and plantations of olives, and apple and almond trees were planted between the ledges of the surrounding rocks.

On the fourth day of our journey we arrive ed at another subterraneous village, six miles from the former. At El Guasem, which was the name of this village, we passed the night in a small shed in which the present Bashaw of Tripoli, his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, had successively passed the night before us. This was situated at the foot of a small turret constructed