MERGE TO GYRENE. 
469 
conjecture from the frequent remains of building which we had met 
with in our journey to this place, as w^ell as from the occasional 
marks of chariot-wheels impressed in the rocky soil we had passed 
over, that the road which we had taken was the same with that for- 
merly used in travelling from Cyrene to Darnis now Derna*. 
The next morning we continued our course east-south -east, and 
began to ascend by a very bad, stony pathway, which took us four 
hours to surmount, winding all the time through ohve and fir trees 
thickly planted in every direction. About noon we reached the 
brow of the range which separated us from the town of Derna, and 
here began the most difficult part of our journey, the descent into 
the plain below. The face of the mountain is devoid of vegetation, 
occasionally polished like glass ; and its inclination approaches in 
many places far too closely to the perpendicular to render it safe as 
a road. Indeed it is in so many parts scarcely practicable, that we 
could not help wondering, when we arrived at its foot, how we had 
contrived in any way to descend it without breaking our own and 
our horses’ necks in the attempt. 
There was neither road nor pathway to be found, and we were 
obliged to scramble down in the best way we could, sometimes 
stumbling over rugged and encumbered parts of the mountain, and 
* This observation is not applicable to the latter part of the ground we travelled 
over, which could not certainly have ever formed part of a road either ancient or 
modeim ; and it was wholly owing to the ignorance of our Chaous, who persisted that 
we were in the right track, that we were induced to attempt it. 
