74 
JOURNEY FROM 
destructive method of the Arabs in impoverishing the land around 
their dowars, till it becomes exhausted, without any attempt to nou- 
rish or assist the soil, is everywhere visible, by the many bare spots 
whence the tents have been shifted to more fertile situations, which 
for the same reason soon become, in their turn, deserted also. 
I first visited Leptis in May, 1816, to examine into the possibihty 
of embarking the numerous columns lying on its sands, which 
the Bashaw of Tripoly had offered to His Majesty. The ruins 
had a very interesting appearance, from the contrast of their fallen 
grandeur with the mud-built villages of Lebidah and Legatah, 
and the Nomadic tribes scattered around. The city, with its imme- 
diate suburb, occupies a space of about ten thousand yards, the 
principal part of which is covered by a fine white sand, that, 
drifting with the wind along the beach, has been arrested in its 
progress by the ruins, and struck me at the moment as having 
probably been the means of preserving many specimens of art, which, 
from the numerous pillars, capitals, cornices, and sculptured frag- 
ments strewed around, I could not but suppose to have been 
extremely valuable, more especially, since having been the birth- 
place of the Emperor Severus, he might have enriched it with 
presents ; besides which it had been highly favoured for its adher- 
ence to the Koman interest during the Jugurthine war. In addition 
to these circumstances, the fact of Leptis once being sufficiently 
opulent to render in tribute a talent a day, prompted me, on my 
arrival at Malta, to recommend it as an eligible field for an extensive 
excavation. 
