xxn 
INTRODUCTION. 
Accordingly, when the necessary dispositions had been made, Lieu- 
tenant Beechey was appointed on the part of the Admiralty to under- 
take the coast line from Tripoly to Derna, — if practicable, as far as 
Alexandria ; and Mr. Tyndall, a young gentleman on board the 
Adventure, was directed to assist him in the survey. Earl Bathurst 
appointed Mr. Beechey to examine and report on the antiquities of the 
country, and Mr. Campbell of the Navy was soon after nominated to 
accompany the expedition as surgeon. The party w^as embarked 
on board His Majesty’s Ship Adventure, and sailed from England 
early in J uly with Captain Smyth, proceeding directly to Malta : 
there they were joined by Lieutenant Coffin of the Navy, who had 
come out in the Adventure, and who handsomely volunteered his 
services on shore, which were accepted without hesitation. A short 
time was sufficient to complete the few remaining preparations, and 
the expedition left Malta for Tripoly. 
We have already said that it had been in contemplation to extend 
our journey farther to the eastward, and to examine the country 
between that place and Alexandria, in which it seemed probable that 
interesting remains might be found. We had in that event pro- 
posed to return by Siwah, and along the track of Horneman to 
Augila ; from which place we should have re-entered the Greater 
Syrtis, and explored some of the more inland parts of it in the course 
of our journey back to Tripoly. Circumstances, however, which it 
will not here be necessary to explain, prevented our going farther 
eastward than Derna, and limited the period of our stay in the Pen- 
tapolis to a much shorter period than we had originally calculated 
upon. Our work has in consequence assumed the form of a Journal, 
and has become more contracted on points of unquestionable interest, 
and more diffuse in matters which would otherwise have been 
omitted, than it would have been in the character which we wished 
it to have taken. We do not, however, mean to apologize for having 
