Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/372

 alone deciphered over one thousand inscriptions, and the great collection of "Algerian Inscriptions" already contains over fifteen hundred from this place, including some of great historic value. The sites have been determined of two camps, one that of the Third Legion, the best preserved of all in the Roman world. In its centre still stands a large portion of the Prætorium, now converted into a museum. Of the forty triumphal arches seen by Peyssonnel in the last century, when the city was still almost entire, four only are now standing. Most of the other buildings, except the tombs lining the Roman way, have also been demolished _ to supply materials for the construction of barracks, houses, and prisons.

The henshir of Timegad, 12 miles east of Lambessa, is all that remains of the Roman Thamugas, which was even a more magnificent place than its neighbour. South of this point the narrow Fum Ksantina gorge, separating the plateaux of Bu-Driasen and Kharruba, is crowned with circular tombs, pillars, and the remains of some large buildings. In the Batna district are also many other vestiges of the prehistoric and Roman epochs, the most remarkable of which is the Medracen (Medghasen), on the margin of a sebkha 18 miles north-east of Batna, and not far from the Ain-Yakut station on the Constantine railway. This is a sepulchral monument in the same style as that of the Christian Lady near Tipaza, consisting of a circular mass, 580 feet round, supporting a cone and surrounded by sixty columns.