282 
BENGAZI. 
our departure from Tripoly. Shortly after our arrival, the heavy 
rains commenced, and continued with little interruption, until the 
beginning of March, accompanied with constant gales of wind from 
the north-east and north-west. The state of the town during this 
period may truly be said to have been miserable ; the houses being 
chiefly put together with mud, were continually giving w^ay, and 
falling in ; and we were frequently apprized of occurrences of this 
nature, in our own immediate neighbourhood, by the shrieks and 
cries of women, whose families had been sufferers on some of these 
occasions. 
The streets during part of the time were literally converted into 
rivers ; the market was without supplies, owing to the impossibihty 
of driving cattle into the town ; and the number of sheep and goats 
which perished in the neighbourhood of Bengazi, from the extreme 
inclemency of the weather, amounted (we were informed) to several 
thousands. F or ourselves, we were fortunate in having one room in 
our house which was capable of resisting the rain, the terrace on its 
roof having been cemented by one of the Beys, wdio had occupied it 
a short time before ; and this, we really believe, was the only room 
in the town which could be fairly considered weather-proof. The 
court-yard round which our apartments were built (if they may be 
dignified with so imposing an appellation) assumed for a long time 
the appearance of a pond, and a narrow space was only left here 
and there on its borders, by which we could pass from one room 
to another. 
From the state of our own house, which we have already said 
