132 REPORT—1868. 
sides of its ancient roads and on the faces of the valleys the most artistic and 
extensive rock-cut tombs in the world. The excavations conducted by Commander 
Porcher and Major Smith, R.E., had also revealed sculptures not inferior to those 
of the best period of Greece. The coast was dangerous to approach by sea, a 
defect mitigated during Roman occupation by the construction of harbours. Cy- 
rene is situated on the summit of hills overlooking the sea at a height of 2000 feet. 
After the cities were destroyed by successive barbaric invasions on the fall of the 
Roman Empire, tribes of Bedouins occupied the region, and pitched their tents under 
the shadows of amphitheatres and Christian churches. The fanatical Islamism of 
other countries of Northern Africa is unknown amongst the present inhabitants of 
the Cyrenaica, who only comply with a few of the external forms enjoined by the 
Koran. They are incapable of comprehending the significance and grandeur of the 
ruined cities they occupy, or of protiting by this beautiful and fertile tract of coun- 
try. The present population consists of three socially distinct classes of Arabs—the 
stationary, or city Arab, the armed Nomads, and the Bedouins. On the eastern 
frontier there is a mixture caused by the importation of Nubian or negvo slaves. 
At Bengazi (the ancient Berenice) may be seen every possible shade of mixture, 
the result of cross-breeding. The chief elements are the fair and high-bred Arab, 
the tall, well-shaped, black Nubian, and the woolly-haired negro; a resident 
Turkish garrison also takes its part in the general mixture. The Cyrenaica con- 
sists of a long strip of table-land, bounded on three sides by the desert, and on the 
fourth by the Mediterranean. Its geological formation consists of limestone, and 
the rock is much hollowed by caves. The country is remarkably fertile, and 
nothing can exceed the beauty of the scenery on the heights and among the ra- 
vines. From the upper plateau, on which Cyrene was built, the land descends in 
terraces to the coast, and it is on the slopes of these terraces that the Bedouin wan- 
derers are most seen. They are physically a finer set of people than the Bedouins 
of Syria, and more warlike and aggressive. When young, their skin is bronzed 
but very soft, and their dispositions timid and gentle; but as they grow older they 
become darker, their voices rough, and their manners thievish and treacherous. 
The women do much to destroy whatever charm Nature has given them by the 
habit of tattooing and, in some tribes, of slitting the right nostril. It is also common 
for mothers to lengthen the lower lips of their female children and tattoo the in- 
side, carrying over the lines of tattoo down to the chin. The Bedouins keep their 
type pure and their customs distinct ; nowhere can there be detected among them 
any mixture of race. Negroes are sometimes employed as labourers and are treated 
kindly ; but the author doubted if they are allowed to take a wife out of the tribe. 
The Bedouins with their cattle settle on the maritime plain in the spring and 
autumn, obtaining their supply of water, after the rains, from the old Roman 
reservoirs or wells. They have but few camels, but goats in abundance. Many 
families find excellent shelter in the numerous limestone caves, which also serve 
for herding the goats. On the plain are numerous surface cavities with small 
openings, which are uséd as caches, for the purpose of storing the fodder when the 
Bedouins retire to the upper grounds. The ah tombs at Cyrene are inhabited 
by the Sheikhs and other chief Arabs. A large entrance, raised slightly above the 
road, opens into a chamber of considerable height and size, and this usually com- 
municates with smaller chambers formerly used as sarcophagi. In one of these 
tombs the author was received by the governor and his staff on the occasion of his 
official visit. The Nomad tribes are dangerous and ageressive. The men are never 
without their guns, and if superior in numbers are menacing to strangers. They 
have a facility for rapidly conyerging upon any given point in considerable num- 
bers; and although many parts of the coast appear uninhabited, there is no part 
where, in a few hours, some hundreds of armed Bedouins would not assemble. 
On one occasion, when examining some ruins on an apparently uninhabited plain, 
covered knee-deep with wild roses, camomiles, and oleanders, the author and 
his party of officers and men were surprised to observe, in the course of half an_ 
hour, streams of Bedouins running down the neighbouring ravines to meet them. 
The Arab Nomads are not a joyous race; they have no amusements or games, 
and by disposition are sullen and solitary. 
