4 cæ sa r ’s c am p .
eastern countries ; and soon finding myself amongst a
host of old acquaintances, for I had spent many a
pleasant winter in Egypt, ransacking every corner of
it from the sea to the second Nile cataract, I found
shelter during the few days I intended to rest here in
the pretty suburban villa at Ramleh belonging to an
English friend whose hospitality is well known to his
countrymen ; and as this was but a short distance
from the site of Cæsar’s camp, a spot of great archaeological
interest, I did not neglect riding over and
giving it, as was soon too evident, a parting look ; for
alas ! there was hardly anything remaining to mark
the spot, barely one stone left upon another. But
man is doomed to disappointment, and on this occasion
mine was no greater than on visiting the ruins of
Carthage a few years later. Where, years ago, I used
to sit and cogitate amongst the debris of the old walls,
now a huge unsightly palace had sprung into existence,
encroaching upon the eastern boundary of the
camp. In those days sufficient masses of masonry had
still remained to give a fairly correct idea of what it
must have been nineteen centuries ago, in the time of
the Romans, when its walls enclosed a space of nearly
twelve acres, those facing north and south measuring
730 feet, and those east and west 665 feet each, thus
forming almost a square, each façade possessing eight
cæ sa r ’s cam p . 5
round towers, excepting the one in the south-west
corner, which was square and of larger dimensions.
The principal entrance-gate was in the middle of the
western face, therefore nearest to the old town of
Alexandria. The walls varied in thickness from twelve
to fifteen feet, and appear to have been about thirty
feet high. The old bits of masonry had for a long time
resisted all attempts on the part of the natives to
break them up by ordinary appliances ; indeed, blasting
they soon found to be the only means of carrying out
their work of destruction for the purpose of utilizing
the material to build foundations in execution of the
Khedive’s latest whim. There are indications that an
exit had also existed on the northern side, facing the
sea, probably for the purpose of landing and embarking
troops. Within its walls the camp had been provided
with wells and baths, a large square cistern built of
tufa down to a depth of thirty-five feet, and a fine
mosaic, strange enough, still in existence, representing
Bacchus, with grapes in the centre, and surrounded by
arabesques of handsome designs. This marks the spot
of the prgetorium, or the imperial residence. The
material, of which walls and towers had been constructed,
consisted of stones and pieces of marble of
no uniform size, set in cement of that pinkish colour
one notices in all Roman masonry, with double hori