| Washington
noted as follows:
Moon fine & clear - for the last time from ye terrace of our pavillion saw ye sun rise from behind the Atlas. Noon fine clear weather. Preparing departure. Noon fine clear weather |
| N.B. I was incessantly occupied from a very early hour with my despatches for the Secretary of State & could not spare time to visit the terrace this morning to witness once more the resplendent arrows of Apollo shoot over the shoulders of mighty Atlas. |
4 pm entered the city by the Bab et Tobool or Gate of the Tambourine leaving on our right Bab el Roum or Rome. This gate is by far the best specimen of stone work that we have seen or that I believe now exists in this city & I suspect also to be of at least as great antiquity as any other which would seem to be implied by the name Roum or Rome which I certainly heard one man apply to it as I inquired in passing today when strange to say notwithstanding all our inquiries of for objects of curiosity or antiquity we now & by accident saw it for the first time. The people told me also that it led to the Sultan's palace. It may also be noted here that whenever a building is of an antiquity beyond the memory of the Moors they speak of it as Romee or d'Enzari, that is to say of the Romans or Christians.(8)
{395} This gate whatever its name whether Ben l Arb or Bab el Roum is for the most part, I think constructed of a darker stone that their other buildings & I could guess (from the short observation I was permitted to make of it in passing at a distance of about twenty yards) that its ornamental parts at least are of a slate stone. The ornaments I may also note are in a bolder relief & in a larger style than the rest of the Moorish works I have anywhere seen.
Thence we passed on by the wall of the Millah & left the crumbling city by the bab el Ghamat - this gate is said to have been so named for nearby antient town of Ghmaat (the Aghinets of Leo) that the road to that place now in ruin and of which the mountain people say few traces remain, only indeed, as they report, the foundations of the encircling wall & again it amy be noted as to the antiquity of Ghumat that the country people reported to us at Annizat that Ghumat flourished when the Christians were at Tashghemoot.
We all looked back for the last time - and I at least not without regret - to the garden of the Mhamooneea distinguished at this distance by its tall cypresses & poplars; for although far away from all I hold most dear I had passed a month very pleasantly considering the varied occupation even in my imprisonment & the numerous objects of novel interest that duly presented themselves.
Crossed the bed of the stream called Wad
Isseel & thence coasted the eastern wall as far as the Bab
Ailan when we turned ENE & encamped on a large cemetery at sunset.
| "Evening cloudy - large halo round ye
moon"
"Bearings from Camp
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