Chap. 6.] ACCOinrT OF COTJNTEIES, ETC. 401 



an inscription stating that this was the place where precious 

 stones were produced. 



Up to tlie present time it has been found impracticable 

 to keep open the road that leads to the country of the 

 Garamantes, as the predatory bands of that nation have filled 

 up the Avells with sand, which do not require to be dug for 

 to any great depth, if you only have a knowledge of the 

 locality. In the late war^ however, which, at the beginning 

 of the reign of the Emperor Yespasian, the Eomans carried 

 on with the people of (Ea, a short cut of only four days' 

 journey was discovered ; this road is known as the " Prceter 

 Caput Saxi^." The last place in the territory of Cyrenaica 

 is Catabathmos, consisting of a tovm, and a valley M-ith a 

 sudden and steep descent. The length of C}Tenean Africa, 

 up to this boundary from the Lesser Syrtis, is 1060 miles ; 

 and, so far as has been ascertained, it is 800^ in breadth. 



CHAP. 6. (6.) — LIBYA MAEEOTIS. 



The region that follows is called Libya Mareotis^, and 

 borders upon Egypt. It is held by the Marmaridae, the 

 Adyrmachidae, and, after them, the Mareotae. The di- 

 stance from Catabathmos to Paraetonium is eighty-six 



travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, where, confirming the 

 statement here made by Pliny, they foxmd quartz, jasper, onyx, agates, 

 and comeHans. 



* Mentioned by Tacitus, B. iv. c. 50. The town of (Ea has been 

 alluded to by Phny ia C. 4. 



2 "Past the head of the rock." Marcus suggests that this is the 

 Gibel-Gclat or Rock of Gelat spoken of by the Enghsh travellers Den- 

 ham, Clapperton, and Oudney, forming a portion of the chain of Guriano 

 or Gyr. He says, that at the foot of this mountain travellers have to 

 pass from Old andTsewTripoU on their road toMissolat, tlioMaxala of 

 Phny, and thence to Gerama or Gherma, tlie ancient capital of Fezzan. 



3 As Marcus observes, this would not make it to extend so far south 

 as the sixteenth degree of north latitude. 



^ The Mareotis of the time of the Ptolemies extended from Alexandria 

 to the Gulf of PHnthinethes ; and Libya was properly that portion of 

 territory which extended from that Gulf to Catabathmos. PHny is in 

 error here in confounding the two appellations, or rather, blending them 

 into one. It includes the eastern portion of the modern Barca, and the 

 western division of Lower Egypt. It most probably received its name 

 from the Lake Mareotis, and not the lake from it. 



VOL. I. 2d 



