Chapter VIII

WHEN our workmen left us, and the excavations were stopped in the end of April, we had a considerable collection of valuable sculptures in our tomb, but were still uncertain whether we should be furnished by the Government with the means of sending them home. To determine the best method of conveying them to the shore, should the means of doing so be granted, we had carefully examined the country between Cyrene and the coast. The greatest difficulty to be overcome was the descent of the Augubah, or lower range of precipitous hills near the sea, to which our attention was, therefore, specially directed. We soon found, however, that little or no choice was left us, the only practicable pass near Cyrene being on the track of the ancient road to Apollonia, now called Marsa Sousah. It was evident that the transport of the statues over such a road would be a work of great labour and considerable difficulty; but, at the same time, we thought it quite a feasible undertaking. We accordingly sent a report of our proceedings to Lord Russell as early as the month of February, soon after the discovery of the Bacchus, and enclosed a detail of the means we considered best adapted for the carriage of that statue and such others as might afterwards be found. His lordship readily granted the required means, and, at his request, a man-of-war, with all the stores and appliances we had suggested, was ordered to proceed to Marsa Sousah to embark the sculptures. Owing, however, to the want of communication with Europe, we did not receive the reply to our report until after the actual arrival of the vessel in the month of May. About the same time a letter reached us from Mr. Panizzi, principal Librarian of the British Museum, informing us that the Trustees had voted us a subsidy of £100 towards defraying the expenses of the expedition.

H.M.S. _Assurance_, Commander C. M. Aynsley, arrived off Marsa Sousah on the 10th of May, but finding a strong breeze blowing towards the shore from the north-west, she steamed on about fifteen miles to the eastward, and anchored in a more sheltered position behind Ras El Hilal. As the fact of our being at Cyrene was by this time well known throughout the country, the officers of the _Assurance_ had no difficulty in finding an Arab to whom they could make themselves understood, and who was forthwith despatched with a letter to inform us of their arrival. After walking all night he reached our quarters early in the morning. As we had hitherto received no letters from England, we were most agreeably surprised by the good news he brought us, and gave him an unusually liberal backshish in consequence. Independently of the encouragement and assistance given us by the arrival of the vessel, we were, of course, delighted with the prospect of seeing some of our own friends and countrymen after our solitary residence of five months among negroes and Bedouins. We immediately saddled our horses and started for Ras El Hilal without delay, accompanied by the Arab who brought the letter, and by our friend Amor Bon Abdi Seyat and his brother. Great part of the road along the shore from Marsa Sousah was over sharp rocks and across deep rugged wadys, so that it was with difficulty that we reached Ras El Hilal after an eight hours’ ride. We there found some of the officers on shore shooting, with whom we went on board for the night, leaving our horses in charge of Amor and his brother.

Ras El Hilal, behind which the _Assurance_ was anchored, is the site of the ancient Naustathmus, of which almost no remains are now to be seen.

The following morning, May 12th, the wind having moderated, the vessel steamed round to Marsa Sousah, and anchored about half a mile from the shore. A party of thirty blue jackets and marines, who were all that could be spared from the ship, were immediately landed, under the command of Lieutenant Luard, R.N., and encamped on the beach. The waggons and stores of all sorts were then disembarked, and two ship’s carpenters sent to Cyrene to make packing-cases for the marbles. Amor and his friends meanwhile scoured the country in all directions to get camels to carry the plank and stores up to Cyrene, but had considerable difficulty in finding a sufficient number, as the Arabs were all at work getting in their harvest. After two days’ delay we at last got about a dozen collected at the camp on the beach. Besides those required for the carriage of the planks and stores to Cyrene, a number of camels were wanted to accompany the working party with the waggons to carry the sailors’ tents and baggage, and keep them supplied with water. An arrangement was accordingly made with the drivers, by which we agreed to pay a certain sum _per trip_ for each camel carrying a load to Cyrene, and a certain sum _per diem_ for each camel that remained with the waggon party. The tents and baggage were consequently placed in one heap, and the stores for Cyrene in another, the drivers being allowed to distribute the work among themselves as they pleased. The usual tiresome wrangling over the division of the loads ensued, as a matter of course, and on this occasion it lasted all day. Towards evening the different burdens were at last adjusted, and the camels loaded. We congratulated ourselves that we were now on the point of effecting a start, when the owners of the camels that were loaded with the sailors’ baggage changed their minds, and said they would either go up to Cyrene or not go at all. Argument and expostulation were in vain; they coolly unloaded the camels and took their departure. We were accordingly obliged to pitch our tents again for the night, and remain where we were as patiently as possible.

Next day we fortunately met our friend Mohammed El Adouly, who undertook to supply us with a sufficient number of camels, and to superintend the drivers himself. We were thus saved a great deal of trouble and delay, as he carried out his contract to our entire satisfaction.

We started from Marsa Sousah with the two waggons on the 14th, and reached the foot of the Augubah the same night. Next morning we dragged the waggons one at a time up the slope of the hill, until further progress became impossible. The only way of getting them to the top was by unscrewing all the connecting bolts, and carrying the separate pieces on the men’s shoulders. Owing to the steepness of the narrow rocky path, and the weight of the wheels and many of the other pieces, this was a work of great labour; but the sailors had made up their minds that it must be done, and they did it accordingly. It was only after three days’ incessant toil that they got everything to the top, when the waggons were again put together, and the journey resumed in the usual way. Our progress, however, was slow; as, throughout a great part of the way, a road had to be cleared and made before it was possible to get the waggons dragged along. Except at one or two places, the party was barely strong enough to drag one waggon at a time, although our numbers were by this time increased by the arrival of seven blacks from Benghazi.

Our usual method of proceeding was as follows:—We got up at daybreak, had breakfast, and started with the waggons before sunrise. We remained at work till eight or nine o’clock, when the party returned to the camp and rested till about three in the afternoon, when the tents were struck and packed with the baggage on the camels. From the distance traversed in the morning, it was easy to foresee what point would be reached before night. A convenient place for encampment was therefore chosen after the morning’s work, and two or three men were sent on with the baggage in the afternoon, to pitch the tents and cook the men’s supper, before their arrival with the waggons at sunset. The men worked most cheerfully, and seemed quite to enjoy the change from shipboard. After supper, their great amusement was to build large bonfires all round the camp, for the purpose, as they said, of keeping off the wild beasts. Even after their hard day’s work, they used to sit round the fires telling stories and singing songs till far into the night, much to the wonder of the Arabs and negroes who were in the camp.

Meantime the carpenters had packed the statues, so that on our arrival at Cyrene on the 24th, the loads for the waggons were ready. On one waggon we placed the Bacchus and the largest of the small statues, and on the other the Apollo in three cases. The smaller objects, such as heads, statuettes, &c., were packed in small boxes to be carried by camels. We were obliged to leave three of the largest of the small figures, and also the statue of Hadrian, as there was no room for them in the waggons, and they were too heavy for the camels.

We started from Cyrene on the morning of the 29th, and, taking only one waggon at a time, reached the plain at the base of the hills the same night. The five following days were spent in crossing the lower plateau to the top of the Augubah, where we arrived on the 3rd of June. The wheels of the waggons were by this time considerably shaken by the heavy jolting over rocks and stones, but still remained unbroken.

We had now to face our chief difficulty, the descent of the Augubah. After considering every possible way in which it could be done, we decided on lowering the waggons straight down the face of the hill by means of tackle. The least rugged part of the hill being selected, our first care was to provide the means of making fast the lowering tackle, which was done by placing heavy boat’s anchors in holes cut for the purpose in the rock. The front axle of the waggon was then lashed to the body of the carriage to prevent the fore wheels from getting locked against the sides of the waggon, and thereby upsetting it. A tackle, consisting of a 3½-inch rope, rove through two double blocks, was then made fast to the anchors, and to the centre of the fore axle, and the waggon lowered slowly, hind wheels foremost. About one-third of the way down, there was a nearly level ledge or terrace, forming part of the ancient road to Apollonia, which served as a convenient halting-place from which to make a fresh start. To reach this point, however, the waggons, as they were being lowered, had to be guided in a slanting direction across the face of the hill, which was safely done with the first waggon by means of handspikes. Not content to “let well alone,” we unfortunately thought to improve upon this simple method in the lowering of the other one. In addition to the anchors already in position, another was placed some distance to the right, and directly above the part of the terrace to which the waggons had to be taken. After the waggon had been lowered to a convenient place, the standing part of the tackle was to be transferred from the first anchor to the second one, thereby causing the waggon, when the lowering was continued, to slant across to the right until it was directly under the second anchor, to which the whole tackle was then to be transferred, and the waggon lowered straight down to the halting-place on the terrace. It was, in fact, an application of the principle of the _whip_ used for taking weights over a ship’s side. Unfortunately, the second anchor was not properly placed in the hole made for it. The petty officer sent to look after it, instead of letting it remain as we had left it, thought he had improved its hold by placing it horizontally in a cleft of the rock, so as to act not as an _anchor_, but as what is called a _toggle_. The result was, that whenever it felt the indirect strain of the slanting motion of the waggon, it at once tilted up and lost its hold. To our horror, away went the waggon at a tremendous pace, and the anchor after it almost flying. For a second or two the destruction of the waggon and the Apollo seemed inevitable, as it was heading straight for a precipice two or three hundred feet in height, when, to our relief, it gave a great bound, and landed itself in a large cavity in the rock. Strange to say, not even a spoke of a wheel was broken. With considerable difficulty we got it out of its lodgment, and along the terrace to the part selected as the starting-point for the further lowering to the bottom of the hill. Here the face of the hill presented a continuous slope, about 400 yards in length, and so steep that it was impossible to climb it at some parts, except on hands and feet. All the ropes the ship could afford were spliced to make a tackle of sufficient length. The anchors were again placed in holes cut in the rock, and the fore axles of the waggons lashed as before. The great danger to be avoided was the _serging_ of the waggon, caused by the elasticity of such a length of tackle. To prevent this, a few men with handspikes went with the waggon to keep it moving as uniformly as the nature of the ground would admit. Both waggons reached the bottom without accident, and were saluted on their arrival there by three hearty cheers from the whole party.

The following day the _Assurance_ anchored abreast of the Augubah, and the waggons were dragged to the beach, where a triangle was set up in water deep enough for a loaded boat. The waggons were then run under it, and the cases, one by one, weighed and lowered into the ship’s boats. On the same day, Mohammed El Adouly’s camels brought down the last of the smaller cases; so that before night everything was on board.

For the success of all the operations connected with the transport and embarkation of the statues we were greatly indebted to Captain Aynsley, the officers, and crew of the _Assurance_, and particularly to Lieutenant Luard and the working party under his command. He was himself indefatigable in his exertions to get the work carried on, and his orders were most cheerfully obeyed by the men, whose “pluck” and determination overcame every obstacle.

Early the following morning, the 8th of June, the _Assurance_ left for Malta, and we returned to our solitary residence at Cyrene.