316 
BENGAZl. 
materials for building it, than to send a few men to excavate in the 
neighbourhood, and with them a camel, or two or three asses, to trans- 
port what is dug up to the spot which has been fixed upon for the 
house. If the fragments which are found should prove too large for 
removal (which is generally the case) they are broken into smaller 
pieces, without the least hesitation or concern, till they are reduced to 
a convenient size for loading, and are afterwards broken again into still 
smaller pieces, as occasion may require, on the place where the house 
is built. ]\Iany valuable remains of antiquity must have disappeared 
in this way, but it is probable, at the same time, that many still exist 
to reward the expense of excavation ; and we have little doubt, that 
statues and inscriptions, numerous fragments of architecture, and 
good collections of coins and gems, might still be obtained within the 
distance of half a mile round Bengazi. On the beach to the north- 
ward and to the north-eastward of the town, where a bank of twenty 
and thirty feet (more or less) is formed of the rubbish of one of 
the ancient cities, coins and gems are continually washed down in 
rainy weather ; and the inhabitants of Bengazi repair in crowds to 
the beach, after storms, and sift the earth which falls away from the 
cliff, disposing of whatever they may find to the few Europeans of 
the place *. 
When we reflect that Berenice flourished under Justinian, and that 
* An excellent collection of these remains of Grecian art has been recently sold for a 
considerable sum®, by a relation of the Vice-Consul of Bengazi, who had not been many 
years resident there. 
a Six thousand dollars, as we were informed. 
