TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
145 
retreated to the castles, where they shut themselves up, and refused 
to supply the caravan with water, of which they were greatly in need. 
As the wells were within the fortifications, there was nothing left for 
the caravan, under these adverse circumstances, but to carry the 
forts, and to supply themselves by force, or to continue their journey 
across the desert, at the risk, perhaps the certainty, of perishing 
with thirst. They soon determined to make an attack upon the 
castles, which, after a slight engagement, they succeeded in carrying ; 
and having obtained from the wells as much water as was necessarv, 
they proceeded on their route across the desert*.” 
In many of the forts which we visited in the Syrtis, one or two, 
and sometimes more, wells were still visible within the works 
(although, for the most part, they were filled up with mud and sand, 
or with the rubbish of the fallen materials of the buildings) ; and 
it is probable that all of them were originally provided with a con- 
venience so essential to the garrison. In some cases we found 
wells decidedly without the works, in places which appeared to be 
wholly undefended; except we may suppose them to have been 
within range of the archers and slingers from the walls, which did 
not always appear to have been the case. 
In such instances, however, we must not conclude that there were 
originally no wells within the forts, because none are found there at 
present ; for a single century of neglect would in many cases be 
sufficient to account for the disappearance of a well altogether. 
* Leo Africanus in Ramusio, quinta parte. 
U 
