•226 
JOURNEY FROM 
the same range of hills are other remains of building, originally con- 
nected with this fort, part of which we were induced to excavate, 
but found the chamber which we cleared to have been merely a store- 
house for grain, or a reservoir for preserving water. It had been ex- 
cavated in the rock, on the top of the range, and may be considered 
as offering an excellent example of the durable quality of the cement 
employed by the Komans in its formation * : for the stone in which 
it had been excavated had crumbled away, and left the cement with 
which the interior had been coated standing upright in its original 
position, in defiance of the storms of wind and rain which must have 
frequently assailed it from the sea. 
We found some Greek and Eoman characters traced in the interior, 
and the representation of a ship and a palm-tree, of which copies will 
be found annexed, together with plans of the forts and of the cham- 
ber excavated. The surface of the cement on which these objects 
had been sketched was as smooth and as perfect as it could have 
been at any time, and we were in hopes, when we first saw the 
drawings, that others would be found on further excavation, and 
probably some inscription in Greek or Latin, by which we might 
have dated these productions. No other drawings or letters how- 
ever were found, and we were obliged to content ourselves with 
taking copies of those described, and in making the plan of the 
chamber. 
The ground about this excavation, and, indeed, along the whole 
* We have already assumed that the greater number of the forts In the Syrtis have, 
in our opinion, been constructed by the Romans. 
