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 Chap. 6.] ACCOinrT OF COTJNTEIES, ETC. 401 an inscription stating that this was the place where precious stones were produced. Up to the present time it has been found impracticable to keep open the road that leads to the country of the Garamantes, as the predatory bands of that nation have filled up the Avells with sand, which do not require to be dug for to any great depth, if you only have a knowledge of the locality. In the late war^ however, which, at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Yespasian, the Eomans carried on with the people of (Ea, a short cut of only four days' journey was discovered ; this road is known as the " Prceter Caput Saxi^." The last place in the territory of Cyrenaica is Catabathmos, consisting of a tovm, and a valley M-ith a sudden and steep descent. The length of C}Tenean Africa, up to this boundary from the Lesser Syrtis, is 1060 miles ; and, so far as has been ascertained, it is 800^ in breadth. CHAP. 6. (6.) — LIBYA MAEEOTIS. The region that follows is called Libya Mareotis^, and borders upon Egypt. It is held by the Marmaridae, the Adyrmachidae, and, after them, the Mareotae. The di- stance from Catabathmos to Paraetonium is eighty-six travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, where, confirming the statement here made by Pliny, they foxmd quartz, jasper, onyx, agates, and comeHans. alluded to by Phny ia C. 4. 2 "Past the head of the rock." Marcus suggests that this is the Gibel-Gclat or Rock of Gelat spoken of by the Enghsh travellers Den- ham, Clapperton, and Oudney, forming a portion of the chain of Guriano or Gyr. He says, that at the foot of this mountain travellers have to pass from Old andTsewTripoU on their road toMissolat, tlioMaxala of Phny, and thence to Gerama or Gherma, the ancient capital of Fezzan. 3 As Marcus observes, this would not make it to extend so far south as the sixteenth degree of north latitude. ^ The Mareotis of the time of the Ptolemies extended from Alexandria to the Gulf of PHnthinethes ; and Libya was properly that portion of territory which extended from that Gulf to Catabathmos. PHny is in error here in confounding the two appellations, or rather, blending them into one. It includes the eastern portion of the modern Barca, and the western division of Lower Egypt. It most probably received its name from the Lake Mareotis, and not the lake from it. VOL. I. 2d
 * Mentioned by Tacitus, B. iv. c. 50. The town of (Ea has been