334 
BENGAZI. 
It may be, however, that the nature of the place, rather than the 
construction of the passage in question, has in fact suggested this 
reading to us : for on the borders of the lake, which still communi- 
cates with the Harbour of Bengazi, is a spot of rising ground, nearly 
insulated in winter, on which are the remains of ancient building ; 
and which, at the time when the harbour vras deeper, and the lake 
itself practicable for vessels must have been (occasionally, at least) 
completely surrounded with water. Here then might have stood 
the temple of Venus mentioned in the passage above, and the intro- 
duction of the word f^aXia-rcx, by Strabo (taken in the sense of mostly, 
or generally), in speaking of the island in question, would seem to 
confirm this position. 
Berenice (he tells us) is placed on the Point of Pseudopenias, near 
a certain lake called Tritonis, in which there is mostly an island (su n 
(j^Xicrra, vri(riov g<rr<), with a temple Upon it dedicated to Venus. We 
may remark, in support of this supposition, that it is probable, from 
the position of the rising ground alluded to, that it was not at all 
times surrounded by water ; and that it was only in the winter sea- 
son, or at times when the sea advanced farther than ordinary, that it 
was completely an island. 
We may suppose, in receiving this island as the one mentioned by 
Strabo, that the circumstance just stated was alluded to by the 
geographer, when he informs us that there was usually an island in 
the lake ; but we do not mean to insist upon this reading of the pas- 
sage in question, and will confess, that it would probably never have 
* We have already assumed, upon reasonable grounds, that this was probably the case 
in earlier times. 
