244 
JOURNEY FROM 
as the inscriptions (should they have turned out to be legible) 
would most probably have given us names and dates which 
might have been essentially useful to us, and could scarcely 
have failed of being interesting. There are at Carcora two 
coves which would serve for boats; they may be known by some 
high sand-hills lying between them, and by two ruins situated 
upon the hills inland nearly abreast of them *. With the exception 
of these coves, there is nothing whatever of any interest on the 
coast between Carcora and Bengazi. Inland, however, there are 
many ruins of ancient forts, and considerable remains of building, 
which become more numerous and interesting as they approach 
Bengazi. At Ghimenes, which is a day’s journey to the northward 
of Carcora, there are several interesting remains of ancient forts ; 
some of which are altogether on a different plan from those which 
have been already described. They are built of large unequal-sized 
stones, put together without any cement, and made to fit one into 
another in the manner which has been called Cyclopian. Their 
form is a square, with the angles rounded off, and some of them are 
filled up with earth, well-beaten down, to within six or eight feet 
of the top ; the upper part of the wall being left as a parapet to the 
terrace, which is formed by the earth heaped within it. 
In the centre of the terrace we sometimes found the foundations 
of building, as if chambers had been erected upon it ; the roofs of 
* At the foot of the sand-hills at Carcora there are some springs of fresh water, 
remarkably sweet and good, within a few feet of an extensive salt-marsh, and on the 
same level with it. The circumstance is worthy of remark, although there are other 
instances of similar occurrences. 
