Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/29

 Inland Tribes. tions scattered in the pages of these writers appear to us poor and shadowy. We incline rather to those who point to Africa as the primitive home of the Sardinians, or at least as the starting-point whence they sallied forth to occupy the hilly range of the island. The position of Sardinia and the direction of its relief seem to colour this supposition ; for it lies nearer the coast of Africa than that of Sicily and the Italian peninsula, as may be distinctly seen when the main outlines of the island are alone visible from a short distance at sea. This proximity of the Afric continent had not escaped the observation of ancient writers 1 — the larger valleys of Corsica open to the east thus affording easy access to Italian immigrants desirous to penetrate inland. It is not so in Sardinia, where streams of any importance take a west and south-west direction, and where also rich, productive stretches are found, yielding readily ample means of subsistence to a new comer. Sardinia has its face turned to the Spanish and African main ; it turns its back, so to speak, to Italy, and may be compared to a building having its front, doors, and windows to the west and south. 2 On the east coast rise lofty mountains, and masses of rugged rocks or cliffs divide narrow gorges or ravines, investing the landscape with a gloomy, weird aspect. Hence the spacious and secure havens which are found in swift succession on the south and west seaboard are unknown along this line, where from the mouth of the Saepris (Flumendosa) to the extreme north point of the island Terranova, is the only harbour in which the mariner may take refuge. It stands on the site of Olbia, a Greek city, which was taken and, maybe, rebuilt by the Carthaginians. In the Roman epoch it was an important centre. Before the con- struction of roads through this rocky range, Olbia had no outlet, and afforded at best shelter to immigrants glad enough to run in their crafts in tempestuous weather. When they landed, how- ever, they saw themselves completely encircled by steep declivities that required toil and much patient labour to make them produc- critical observations by Pais upon the small reliance to be placed upon this hypothesis {La Sardegna, etc., pp. 16-22. Rome, 1881). 1 " The journey from Sardinia to Africa is one day and one night; from Sardinia to Sicily, two days and one night" (Syclax, Perip., p. 7). The distance between Cagliari and Cape Carthage is well within 200 kilometres, and the crossing may be effected in less than twelve hours. 2 Reclus, Nouvelle Géographie Universelle, torn. i. p. 582. The same observation is found in Pausanius (X. xvii. 6).