TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
147 
and sizes, care being always taken, however, to leave a smooth sur- 
face on the slope of the glacis, in order to make the ascent more 
difficult. If we suppose that the greater number of these fortresses 
were built as defences against the attacks of the predatory natives, 
and not to resist the regular siege of a disciphned army, it may 
certainly be allowed that they were well calculated to afford security 
to their garrisons on such occasions ; but their resources must soon 
have been exhausted by a continued blockade, the space enclosed 
being inadequate to contain many stores or much provision. As, 
however, there could scarcely have been any accommodation for 
horses or cattle in the pyramidal-shaped forts, which are by far the 
most numerous, more provision might certainly have been stowed 
in them than would at first sight be imagined. From the extreme 
height of the habitable part of these buildings in proportion to its 
breadth, we may conclude that it possessed an upper story, or, it 
may be, two ; for otherwise a great portion of space would be thrown 
away : this fact, however, from their ruined state, could not be pro- 
perly ascertained. 
The roofs were most probably arched, for no wood is to be found 
in the Syrtis, and large blocks of stone could not always be procured, 
and would at any rate have been less convenient to employ than 
the small ones, which might be used in the arches^. From the cir- 
cumstance of finding no aperture in the sides of the buildings, we 
* Arched roofs are also common in the forts of the Cyrenaica ; but the sides both of 
the upper and lower stories, which fronted the centre, were probably left open, after 
the manner of galleries. 
