Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/234

 20-1 Recent Excavations at Carthage. A second period of desolation followed, more complete and prolonged than the first. The solitude of the wasted city was then disturbed only by the Moslem or the Frank seeking to abstract her buried marbles, or carry off the decorations of her ruined edifices, to ornament some mosque or cathedral. After a lapse of six centuries she witnessed a sad expenditure of treasure and blood in the mis- carriage of the ill-fated crusade of St. Louis of France ; which, though disastrous to its leader, who there died, was not unfruitful in its results ; since it is owing to that unfortunate expedition that the flag of France now floats over the ancient citadel of Carthage, and that the chapel of St. Louis crowns one of her highest eminences. Little could the Tynan colonists, when landing on the coast of Libya, have foreseen the future greatness of the city which they were about to found ; and yet that greatness depended in no small degree on the excellence of the site which they selected. About midway along the southern shore of the Mediterranean, where the coast of Africa takes a sudden turn to the north, and approaches nearest to the island of Sicily, there project two great promontories, Cape Farina and Cape Bon, which form the modern Gulf of Tunis. From the west side of this xull' a peninsula juts out towards the east, terminating in a broad triangular head; the most northern point of which is a hill of moderate height called .Jcbel (Jamart ; the eastern point is the lofty hill terminating in Cape Carthage, and crowned by the modern village of Sidi Bou-Said ; and between the latter and Cjlamart is a fertile plain, called El Mersa, full of gardens, among which the most remarkable object is a villa belonging to the Bey of Tunis. From Sidi Bou-Said a range of low hills slopes off towards the south, gradually receding from the shore, and terminating in an eminence of about two hundred feet, now known by the name of St. Louis. Still further southwards is a narrow isthmus or tongue of sand, dividing the waters of the Lake of Tunis from the sea, the communication between the two being by means of a narrow outlet called Goletta. A short distance to the west of the hill of St. Louis is the village of Malkah, built on the ruins of the great cisterns which supplied Carthage with water. From this spot may be traced the remains of a large aqueduct, stretching along the isthmus which connects the peninsula with the mainland. This isthmus is now of considerable width, but the extensive salt marsh or sebkha, on its northern side, seems to confirm the idea which has l>een entertained by geologists, that the bind has gained on that side very extensively by the deposits of the River Mejerdah ; which have also interposed a considerable space between Utica and the sea.