TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
247 
ther, which had hitherto been very fine for the time of year, began 
to show that the rainy season had commenced in good earnest, and 
we congratulated ourselves in having escaped it so long ; for had the 
bad weather overtaken us sooner, it would effectually have put an end 
to our researches, and obliged us to advance as fast as possible upon 
Bengazi, the only place which could have sheltered us between 
Mesurata and Derna. Indeed, it would have been difficult to make 
any progress at all ; for the ravines would, in a few hours, have 
assumed the form of torrents, and the marshy ground have become 
everywhere dangerous, and in most places wholly impassable ; our 
camels besides would have fallen every moment under their loads, as 
they cannot keep their feet in slippery weather, and some of our 
horses would certainly have sunk under the exertions which would 
have been necessary to overcome these additional disadvantages. 
As it was, we had been obliged to lead two of the horses for several 
days before our arrival at Bengazi, and it would indeed be thought 
extraordinary, by those accustomed only to the horses of Europe, 
that any of them arrived there at all after the fatigues and priva- 
tions which they had endured. They had all of them been rode 
through the whole of the day, over a country without any roads, for 
more than two months successively, exposed to the heat of the sun 
during the day, and without any shelter from the cold and damp of 
the night ; while at the same time, instead of having any extra allow- 
ance to enable them to support this exertion, they were often left, 
unavoidably, for more than four-and-twenty hours, without anything 
whatever to eat or drink, and on one occasion were as much as four 
