318 
BENGAZI. 
quarries are not far from the town : but two or three chambers only 
appeared, which did not seem to us to have been intended for places 
of burial, and the tombs of both cities must be looked for in the 
plain, under the soil or the sand which now conceals them 
The trees and shrubs which are growing in the quarries we allude 
to, and have rooted themselves, at the same time, in the sides of the 
rocks which they are formed in, give these places a very wild and 
picturesque appearance, not unworthy of the pencil of Salvator ; and, 
had not our time been fully occupied in research, when the weather 
allowed us to ramble, we should have been glad to have made some 
sketches of them. The caper plant is found there in great abun- 
dance, and spreads itself, like ivy, over the steep sides of the rocks, 
hanging down in the most luxuriant and beautiful clusters. 
In speaking of the steep rocks in which these quarries are formed, 
we must state, that they do not rise above the surface of the plain, 
but are sunk down, perpendicularly, to a considerable depth, so as not 
to be visible till they are closely approached. Besides the quarries 
here mentioned, some very singular pits or chasms, of natural forma- 
tion, are found in the neighbourhood of Bengazi : they consist of a 
level surface of excellent soil, of several hundred feet in extent, in- 
closed within steep, and for the most part perpendicular, sides of sohd 
rock, rising sometimes to a height of sixty or seventy feet, or more, 
before they reach the level of the plain in which they are situated. 
* In one of these quarries a large portion of the rock, shaped into a quadrangular 
form, has been insulated from the rest to serve the purpose of a tomb, after the manner 
of those at Ptolemeta. 
