546 An Account of Mr. Brown's Travels 



five hours and a half. As they had little hope of finding 

 any more water between that and Siwa, they were obliged 

 to ufe all poffible diligence on the route, fo that they ar- 

 rived there on Friday ihe 9th at eight in the evening. 



Siwa, which anfwers the dcfcription given of the Oazes^ 

 is a fmall fpot furrouuded on all fides by defert land. It was 

 about half an hour from the time of their entrance on this 

 ter-ritory, by a path bordered with date-trees, that they ar- 

 rived at the town which gives name to the diftrift. They 

 difmounted, and feated thcmfelves, as is ufual for ftrangers 

 in that country, on a misjed, or place employed for prayer, 

 adjoining to the tomb of a Marabuf, or holy pcrfon. In a 

 lliort time the chiefs came to congratulate them on their 

 arrival, after which they condufted them to an apartmentj 

 not indeed very commodious, but the bed they were pro- 

 -vided with; and, after a {liort interval, a large difli of rice 

 and fome boiled meat were brought in, the fchechs attend- 

 ing while the company was ferved, which confifted of Mr. 

 Brown's interpreter, his conductor, two other Bedouins^ 

 their companions, and himfelf. 



It being dilcovcred that Mr. Brown, though in theTurkifli 

 drefs, was a Chrlrtian, he experienced fome bad treatment 

 from the populace, and was obliged to confine himfelf to 

 his apartment for two or three days. On the fourth, how- 

 ever, he was allowed to wrJk abroad and to obferve what 

 w-as remarkable in the place. Having walked about two 

 miles he arrived at what they called the Ruins, or Hirh^-, and 

 was furprifcd at finding liimfelf near a buijding of undoubted 

 antiquity, and, though fmall, in every view worthy of no- 

 tice. It was a fingle apartment built of maflTy ftone of the; 

 fame kind as thofe of which the pyramids confift, and co- 

 vered originally with fix large and folid blocks that reach 

 from one. wall to the other. The length he found thirty- 

 two feet in the clear, the height about eighteen, ther width 

 fifteen. A gate, fituated at one extremit}^, forms the prin- 

 cipal entrance; and two doors alfo, near that extremity, 



open 



