memorable treachery of the Leptitani. From whatever cause it proceeded,
the destruction is complete ; most of the statues are either
broken to pieces, or chipped into shapeless masses, the arabesque
ornaments defaced, the acanthus leaves and volutes knocked off the
fallen capitals, and even part of the pavements torn up ; the masSy
shafts of the columns alone remaining entire.
With a view of gaining further information, I opened an extensive
Necropolis, but with little success. There were neither vases
nor lachrymatories, but only a coarse species of amphorae and some
paterae, with a few coins, neither rare nor handsome, mostly brass,
and principally of Severus, Pupienus, Alexander, Julia Mammea,
Balbus, and Gordianus Pius. A number of intaglios of poor execution
were picked up in different parts, as also some very common
Carthaginian medals, but nothing indicating high antiquity or tasteful
skill. Willing, however, to make as fair a trial as possible, I continued
excavating until the 12th of February, when, having explored
the principal Basilica, a triumphal arch, a circus, a peristyleum, and
several minor structures, with only a strengthened conviction of the
precarious chance of recovering any specimens of art worth the
labour and expense of enlarged operations, I determined to desist.
In the course of the excavation I had an opportunity of observing,
that the period of the principal grandeur of the city must have
been posterior to the Augustan age, and when taste was on the
decline; for notwithstanding the valuable materials with which it
was constructed, it appears to have been overloaded with indifferent
ornament, and several of the mutilated colossal statues I found,
were in the very worst style of the Lower Empire. There are also
many evidences of the city having been occupied after its first and
violent destruction, from several of the walls and towers being built
of various architectural fragments confusedly heaped together.
Although there are several exceedingly fine brick and cementi-
tious edifices, most of the walls, arcades, and public buildings, are
composed of massy blocks of freestone, and conglomerate, in layers,
without cement, or at most with very little. The temples were
constructed in a style of the utmost grandeur, adorned with immense
columns of the most valuable, granites and marbles, the shafts
of which consisted of a single piece. Most of these noble ornaments
were of the Corinthian order; but I also saw several enormous masses
of architecture, ornamented with triglyphs, and two or three cyathi-
form capitals, which led me to suppose that a Doric temple, of
anterior date, had existed there. On a triple plinth near them I observed
a species of socte, used in some of these structures as the
base of a column, with part of the walls of the Celia, surrounded by
a columnar peristyle.
The city was encompassed by strong walls of solid masonry, pierced
with magnificent gates, and was ornamented with spacious porticoes,
sufficient portions of which still remain to prove their former splendour.
I t was divided from its principal suburb to the east by a
river, the mouth of which forming a spacious basin, was the Cothon,
defended at its narrow entrance by two stout fortifications; and
branching out from them, may be observed, under water, the remains
of two large moles. On the banks of this river, the bed of which is