MERGE TO GYRENE. 
449 
question, in trying to collect from the existing remains how far they 
may have been conducive to the object we have attributed to them. 
At something less than a quarter of a mile from the commencement 
of this ravine, the stream which flows down it is joined by another, 
issuing out from the rock on its western side, and a basin has been 
formed in the rock itself for its reception. In front of this third foun- 
tain there are considerable traces of building, which are however so 
much buried by the accumulation of soil, and encumbered with shrubs 
and vegetation, that nothing satisfactory can be made out from them. 
The spot is now (like that in front of the fountain of Apollo) a 
favourite retreat for the sheep and cattle of the Bedouins who occa- 
sionally visit Cyrene ; and our appearance often put them to a pre- 
cipitate flight, and the old women and children, who usually tended 
them, to a good deal of trouble in collecting them together again. 
These annoyances (we must say, in justice to the sex) were borne for 
the most part very good-naturedly ; and we usually joined them in 
pursuit of the family quadrupeds with every disposition to assist them 
to the utmost. Indeed the Arab women in general, of all ranks and 
ages, are remarkable for patience and good nature ; and we have often 
seen both these qualities in our fair African friends, put to very 
severe trials without suffering any apparent diminution. Their 
greatest failings seem to be vanity and jealousy ; and these are 
surely too natural and too inconsiderable to merit any serious repre- 
hension, more especially in a barbarous nation. Curiosity is at the 
same time, with them, as it is said to be with the sex in general, a 
quality in very extensive circulation ; and if we could have stopped 
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