IN MDCCCXXI. AND MDCCCXXII.
COMPREHENDING AN ACCOUNT OF
THE GREATER SYRTIS ANDCYRENAICA;
AND OF THE ANCIENT CITIES COMPOSING
THEPENTAPOLIS.
BY CAPTAIN F. W. BEECHEY,R.N., F.R.S.,
AND
H. W. BEECHEY, Esq., F.S.A.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXVIII.
LONDON:
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES,
Stamford-Street.
DEDICATION.
[iv]TO
THE RIGHTHONOURABLE
THE EARLBATHURST,
AND
THE RIGHTHONOURABLE
THE LORDVISCOUNT MELVILLE,
&c. &c. &c.
My Lords,
We beg leave to submit toyour inspection our account of the Proceedings of the Expedition towhich we had the honour of being appointed by your Lordships; andto express our best thanks for the flattering encouragement whichit receives from the sanction of your Lordships’ names.
A book of travels in countries so interesting as those to whichour researches have been directed, would once have been considered,however indifferently it might be written, as a tribute of morethan ordinary value to its patrons. But so much has been effected,during your Lordships’ administration, for the advancement ofscience and general knowledge, that a traveller of our own timesappears before the public, unassisted by the presence of thatlittle cloud of mystery through which he would formerly have beenseen to so much advantage; and his work must no longer depend forits attractions upon[v]wonders which have ceased to be marvelled at; or hair-breadthescapes, which have now become familiar, and no longer excite anawe, almost amounting to reverence, for those who return to tell ofthem. Our book will, however, possess the advantage of novelty; forthe country through which we have passed is, even in the presentday, little known to the general reader; and its remains have neverbeen described with sufficient accuracy to make them properlyintelligible. We confess that our narrative will chiefly be foundacceptable to those who are interested in the description ofantiquities, and have pleasure in tracing the connexion between thepast and the present in countries described by ancient poets andhistorians. We must even allow that those parts of our journalwhich have been