236 
JOURNEY FROM 
well calculated to induce the belief that they have originally been 
appropriated to the defence and accommodation of a considerable 
number of men, that we cannot be sceptical on the occasion. On 
either side of the promontory on which the castle has been built is a 
small sandy bay, neither of which at present affords any shelter for 
vessels, but from which the galleys of the ancients might have 
been easily drawn up on the beach, when it might not have been 
practicable for them to keep the sea. 
This mode of sheltering their vessels was common to the Greeks 
and Romans, to whom a port, such as in our days would be consi- 
dered a good one, appears to have been by no means necessary. We are 
told indeed by Strabo, that this part of the coast was very sparingly 
provided with ports and watering-places *, and the harbour which he 
calls the best in the Syrtis is now no harbour at all f. Mersa Braiga 
is in fact the only port in the gulf which can at all be considered as 
such, in our estimation of the term ; and here the shelter is only 
afforded by breakers, and could not prevent the small vessels of the 
ancients from being driven on shore in stormy weather. 
On the day after our arrival at Tabilba we continued our journey 
along the coast, and proceeded to Ain Agan, passing two ruins of 
forts conspicuously situated on the hills. The beach in this neigh- 
bourhood presents a very dreary prospect ; but the scene is much 
improved after passing the wady, and the country then begins to 
be cultivated. Many flocks of sheep and goats soon presented 
* Ex SI Ss ro /xsra^u xoa Xi/xsves ov TtoWovs, v^peix Ss aitcma.. — Lib. xvli. p. 836. 
y That of Aspis — v-aXhioros ruv sv rn SiigTsi. 
