Xll 



THE PREFACE. 



Of Thefe I had not the good Fortune to pur chafe many 

 that were either "valuable or curiom. Thoje that are purely 

 African, or carry along with them at Ιβαβ the Infignia 

 and Char aclerifiicks of that Country, may he accounted the 

 rarefl ; though indeed fome of them have been already taken 

 Notice of by Agoftini, Paruta, and other authors. 

 However as thoje which I have collect ed, may perhaps be 

 the compleatefi Series of the Kind^ I have given the Draw- 

 ings and Defcriptions of them in the CoUeclion ofPapers that 

 are inferted after the Obfervations. 



If we except the MiiTilia, (as fome Medalifts call the 

 fmall Brajs Coins of the Lower Empire ,) the moft common 

 are thofe of the Antonines, i?/ Alexander Severus, of 

 the Tounger Gordian , and of Philip ; in whofe Times 

 Africa feems to have been the mofl adorned with Roman 

 Edifices. Some Pieces of G la fs- Money alfo are found now 

 and then by the Arabs, in the Ruins of fuch of their antient 

 Buildings, as are fuppofed to have been raijedby Occ'ba 

 and Ben Eglib. For thefe Buildings, no lefs than thofe 

 erected by the Carthaginians and their immediate Sucr- 

 ceffors, have been fubject to their Changes and Revolutions. 

 AU the Coins ^ which I have feen of this Kind, were flat 

 on the one Side, and impreffed on the other, with the Ma- 

 hometan Creed , ^^J^ J^-^ ^*=^ *^^i ^"^ ^^^^ ^ There is 



no God but God; Mo-hammed is the Apoftle of 

 God. 



In putting together the Fhyfic aland MifceJlaneous Obfer- 

 vations, I have endeavoured to ufe all the Brevity and Me- 

 thod, the SubjeB would allow \ avoiding alfo, as much as 

 poffible, the Repetition of what has been already taken Notice 

 of by former authors. The Regifler of the Weather , 

 (p. 2 1 ^.) was kept at the Houfe of the French Miffionaries 

 above-mentioned, and therefore I can plead only the ^JMerit 

 of being an Affiflant in that Branch of the Natural Hifiory, 



In drawing up likewife the Catalogue of Plants, which 

 contains near a hundred and forty unknown ^i^qqiqs, Ire- 

 ceivedgreat Affiflance from Mr. Profeffor Dillenius, whofe 



Character 



