The face of the country, from the gulf just described to Derna, is very uneven, rocky, and unproductive, with the exception of some glens or recesses in the hilly parts, which are covered with beautiful evergreens. The territory belonging to the latter place consists of a narrow plain of most fertile land, situated upon a small bay, and girdled on the south by a range of hills which at either extremity dip into the sea. Within this enclosure flourish great numbers of palm-trees, whose rough tops are seen spreading over the softer forms of the vine, the pomegranate, the fig, olive, and apricot.

In the centre of the plain, and surrounded by gardens full of orange and lemon-trees, the exterior of the town is seen to great advantage; but though its streets are more than usually regular, the houses are very low and small; and, being built only of pebbles cemented with clay, appear very uncomfortable. Their dwellings, indeed, exhibit the most painful evidence of the ignorance and idleness of the people; for the adjacent hills abound with excellent limestone, as well as with timber of the most suitable description for domestic architecture. Two abundant springs of pure water issue from the rocks which overhang the town; one of which, collected in an aqueduct, supplies the inhabitants, and serves to irrigate the contiguous fields; while the other is conveyed to Demensura, a village about a mile distant. This copious moisture applied to the surface, combined with that which filters from the rocks through the subsoil, gives rise, in the glowing climate of Africa, to a strength of vegetation of which Europe can present no example.

Derna, we are told, contains all the elements of an abundant subsistence for a large population. Excellent meat and milk are brought thither by the Arabs, who feed their flocks on the neighbouring hills; the valley is admirably fitted to bear all kinds of corn; the most exquisite fruits abound throughout the winter; and the natives have it in their power to carry on a lucrative trade in the honey which is produced in great quantities by the prodigious swarms of bees that multiply on the rocky heights. But these sources of prosperity are dried up by the withering influence of a despotic government. The laws afford no protection; and confidence between the sovereign and the people has entirely disappeared. Besides, the more peaceful residents are never

safe from the incursions of the Bedouins, who frequently enter the town in armed bands, and indulge in the most savage plunder. Fatalism, too, that offspring of Mohammedan superstition, continually exposes the occupants of the town to the ravages of the plague, which is conveyed to them through their intercourse with Egypt. A few years ago, that destructive disease raged so fiercely, that the number of its inhabitants was reduced from 5,000 to 700.

The natural advantages belonging to this district, which, in the hands of a civilized people, might be converted into the means of distinguished wealth and power, are, to a certain extent, neutralized by the want of good harbours. This defect has been considered as the principal reason why no foreign nation, desirous of having a permanent footing in that section of the Mediterranean, has attempted to establish itself at Derna. The bay, it is clear, offers, no secure asylum for shipping, while the anchorage-ground is described as being intersected by sharp calcareous strata, which would soon tear in pieces the strongest cables.*

A ravine which stretches back from the town into the mountains is of considerable extent, having on its sides some picturesque gardens adorned with trees. In the rainy season a large body of water rushes down into the sea, and is sometimes so deep and rapid as to become wholly impassable, separating one half of the houses from the other. On the eastern bank is the principal burying-ground of the place, distinguished in particular by a lofty tomb, raised on four arches, under which the body is laid, with its usual covering of snowwhite cement, and a carved turban at the head. Above the

Mr. Blaquière remarks, that "the bay is exposed to easterly and northerly winds, but has excellent anchorage, and ships of any class may approach near the shore, it being very bold. It is important to observe, that vessels passing by Derna may obtain supplies of water and fresh provisions at a very trifling expense; and Lord Keith's fleet received supplies from this place during the memorable campaign of Egypt. The French government, aware of the importance of Derna, sent Gantheaume with his squadron and a body of troops there in 1799, to disembark them for the purpose, as he informed the governor, of re-enforcing the army of Bonaparte in Egypt; but his re quest was not acceded to, owing to the jealousy of the pacha, and the French admiral did not think it prudent to force a land ing."-Letters from the Mediterranean, vol. ii., p. 6.

own a few sepulchres may be observed, though in a very decayed condition, which must have been originally excavated out of the solid rock. Fragments of columns, and some large stones, evidently prepared for more stately buildings than the walls of Arab houses, indicate that Derna once accommodated a people to whom the arts and comforts of life were not altogether unknown.

A French author, whose name has been already mentioned, is of opinion that the proper city has entirely disappeared, and that its place is supplied by five villages; two of which, Eljebeli and Mansour, are erected either immediately over, or closely adjoining to, ancient sepulchral grottoes. This departure from the custom of the Moslem has been justified by necessity, or at least by the great usefulness of such excavations in so rainy a country; and hence, without perplexing themselves with any inquiries as to the primary use of these vaults, they have converted them into workshops and receptacles for grain. The inhabitants construct their houses in such a manner that these caves are included in their yard or court. Viewed as objects of art, they present nothing remarkable, being equally devoid of inscriptions and of every other species of ornament. The workmanship, in short, is very rude. The grottoes of the latter village are hewn in the sides of the mountain, the rocky surface of which is sometimes bare, and sometimes covered with verdure. The largest has been converted into manufactories, containing one or more looms, perfectly resembling those still used in the hamlets of the south of France.

In the neighbourhood there are other excavations of a similar description. Some at a little distance eastward from the city are called Kennissiah, or the Churches. These are found at the summit of the steep rocks that border this part of the coast, and against which the sea dashes its waves. Steps, still seen at intervals, have been formed to the very top of the elevation; but the water which issues from the clefts of the rocks, and a carpeting of moss, render the pathway slippery, and even dangerous. The ascent being accomplished, there is seen a little semicircular esplanade, round which runs a low bench, designed as a resting-place to the families of Derna who repair thither to perform their funeral-rites. The largest of the grottoes appears to be an aucient sanctuary, afterward converted into a Christian chapel.

All the others must have been merely tombs; though the irregularity of their position and the inequality of the rocks render their appearance extremely picturesque. Arches and niches are to be seen in them of every form and dimension, from the full Roman semicircle to the perfect ogive of the middle ages.

The district of Derna has acquired a factitious importance from a modern arrangement, by which it is made to comprehend the Cyrenaica together with the five Grecian towns whence originated the name of Pentapolis. The history of Cyrene, the oldest of these establishments, is given by Herodotus in his usual manner, mixing fable with facts, and connecting real events with the legends of a superstitious age. A colony of Spartans having joined the descendants of certain Phoenicians in the Island of Calista, engaged in a variety of exploits suitable to the spirit of the times, under Theras their chief. Migrating from place to place, they at length agreed to consult the oracle as to their final residence; when their leader received instructions to build a house in Libya. Some time elapsed before the meaning of the prophetess was clearly understood; nor was it until after they had been taught by severe suffering the true import of the response, that a party under Battus, the son of Polymnestus, guided by Corobius, a native of Crete, set sail for Africa, and landed on an island situated in the Gulf of Bomba.*

Following the directions of the oracle, the new settlers removed from Platea, the island on which they first took up their abode, and making choice of the high ground on the shore of the neighbouring continent, built there the city of Cyrene, about the third year of the thirty-seventh Olympiad, nearly six centuries and a half before the reign of Tiberius Cæsar. After the death of Battus and his son Arcesilaus, another migration from Greece added so much to their numbers that it became necessary to extend their borders into the Libyan territory. The natives applied to Egypt for help against the invaders; and an army sent by Apries, the Pharaoh Hophra of the Scriptures, soon appeared on the western edge of the Desert, prepared to check the inroads of the Lacedæmonian colonists. But the skill and resolution of

* Herodot. Melpomene, c. 147–169.

these foreigners proved equal to the emergency which was thus created; for, meeting the Egyptians at a place indicated by Herodotus, near the Fountain of Theste, they inflicted upon them so severe a defeat, that few were left to convey to Memphis the tidings of their calamity. Success, however, did not cement the bonds of their union, nor confer security upon their rising commonwealth. On the contrary, a series of dissensions led to the separation of a large body, who, abjuring the authority of their prince, founded a new establishment at Barca as the rivals or enemies of their Grecian brethren.

This misunderstanding was soon followed by war, in which the Cyrenians sustained some heavy losses. Insurrection and murder carried their horrors into both countries, and the interposition of Egypt was again implored by Pheretime, the mother of Arcesilaus, the fourth of the name. Aryandes, the deputy of Darius Hystaspes, listened to the complaint of his royal supplicant, and sent to the scene of contention an able general at the head of a commanding force; but before adopting decisive measures, he despatched a messenger to the people of Barca, desiring to be informed whether they were guilty of the crimes laid to their charge. On their acknowledging that they had put to death the King of Cyrene, he gave orders that his troops should advance, accompanied by a fleet, which proceeded along the coast. After a long siege, Barca fell into the hands of the Persian leader, who, in violation of a sacred promise, committed the inhabitants to the revenge of the enraged Cyrenians, by whom they were ' butchered in the most inhuman manner. The town itself appears to have fallen into decay, and, at no great distance of time, to have been relinquished in favour of the port, which gradually rose into some consequence.

From this period till the conquest of the Persian empire, the affairs of Cyrene are hardly mentioned in contemporaneous history. Aristotle remarks that, in his time, the government was republican; and it is not improbable that, after the extinction of their royal line and the success of the army directed by Aryandes, the whole country became subject to the oriental viceroy, in the form of a province. At the time when the dispute took place between the people of Carthage and the Cyrenians, concerning the limits of their respective domains, it may be presumed, from the account L