Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/415

 HARBOUR*. 393 The whole question still remains to be decided. Criticism has demolished nearly all that Beule thought he had established. The most probable part of his restoration is the circular island which occupies the centre of the inner basin ; it must have been about two and a quarter acres in extent. When the harbour was ex- cavated this island was left standing, and wherever the clayey sandstone of the site was wanting the deficiency was made up by regular courses of large tufa blocks. The area thus obtained was inclosed by a quay supported by two concentric walls of equal height. The width of the quay was thirty-one feet including the walls ; on the north a causeway thirty-two feet wide connected the island with the land ; this causeway was bisected at about half its length by a transverse opening fifteen feet wide through which small boats could pass. There must have been a bridge over the opening, like the canal bridges at Venice. As for FIG. 269. Cornice moulding. From Beule. the war-galleys, there was plenty of room for them on each side of the causeway, which was at the farther end of the dock, opposite to the entrance from the commercial harbour." Beule also discovered a few remains of the Carthaginian admiral's palace. Large and carefully dressed stones seem to have been used upon it. On several blocks which have been recognized as parts of a cornice a coat of stucco, painted red and yellow, may still be clearly traced. We give the profile of a moulding on several of these blocks (Fig. 269). It recalls the section used by the Greeks with their Doric order ; some more mouldings of the same class are heavy and halting in execution. The building itself must date from the Punic period ; like the colonnade about the basin it seems to have been decorated in pure Greek style but without much care or taste. No shafts or capitals have been found. 1 BEULE, Fouilles a Carthage, p. 100. VOL. I. i E