MERGE TO GYRENE. 
505 
I paid little attention at the time. On my return to Tripoli however, 
Mukni, sultan of Fezzan, had just returned from a marauding expe- 
dition into the interior ; and in a conference I held with him, he 
assured me that within the last month he had passed through an 
ancient city, now called Ghirrza, abounding in spacious buildings, 
and ornamented with such a profusion of statues as to have all the 
appearance of an inhabited place. This account, supported by several 
collateral circumstances, impressed me with the idea of its being the 
celebrated Ras Sem, so confusedly quoted by Shaw and Bruce, and 
consequently inspired me with a strong desire to repair thither. 
“ Accordingly Colonel Warrington and I waited on the Bashaw, 
requesting permission to undertake the journey, with which he 
immediately complied. Only, as his eldest son, the Bey of Bengazi, 
was in rebellion against him, and might by seizing the Consul-general 
and myself demand terms which his Highness would find it difficult 
to accede to, he wished us to proceed Muth a small force to the 
mountains, and there be reinforced according to the actual state of 
the country. His Highness also signified his desire that Seedy 
Amouri, his son-in-law, and Seedy Mahomet his nephew, should 
accompany us. He moreover furnished us with his Teskerah (an 
authority for being gratuitously subsisted by the Arabs), though we 
never used it but to insure a supply, and always made a present in 
return, proportionate to the value of the articles provided, being of 
opinion that availing ourselves otherwise of this document would be 
detrimental to future travellers. 
“On the 28th of February 1817, we left Tripoli before sunrise, 
