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description of this region, though not altogether in accordance 
with, yet more approximates to, the character of the district at the 
present day. 
He represents it, however, as very rich, and in this he is 
upheld by other contemporary writers. About the time of the 
Christian era to be a Libyan land-owner, was to be rich to a 
proverb. Italy, like England at the present day, did not grow 
sufficient corn for its own subsistence. The Roman province of 
Africa, the modern Tunis, was its granary, and more especially the 
granary of Rome. That this was the case is incontrovertible. 
The land was covered with wealthy cities, and was an important 
factor in every civil war. In short, we may say that it was the 
battle of Thapsus and the conquest of this region, which gave 
Rome its first emperor. 
For ages Europeans have been prevented through the fanati- 
cism of the Moslems from going far from the shore, but recent 
explorations lead us to suppose that the country is covered in an 
extraordinary degree with the ruins of great cities, of which, 
probably, not more than a fourth have been visited or are known. 
Davis, the explorer of Carthage, in the course of a not very 
protracted journey, found everywhere the remains of what must 
have been magnificent cities. He speaks of passing as many as 
twenty ruined villages, mostly Roman, but nameless, in the course 
of a single day. At Mokthar, a few days’ journey from Tunis, are 
the remains of a large city, six miles in circumference, with suburbs 
of larger extent, and the ruins of triumphal arches, mausoleums, 
walls, gates, etc., and the whole plain studded with the evidence of 
a vast city. 
In estimating from their ruins the population of ancient towns, 
we must bear in mind that the remains usually only represent the 
public buildings, and the houses of a few of the richest inhabitants. 
The great mass of the people lived in mud hovels, and even mere 
booths, and many no doubt, as at present in Naples, in the open 
air. Consequently when we find a plain of several miles in extent, 
covered with ruins, we have before us evidence of the existence of 
a population much greater than at first sight might be imagined. 
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