242 MAETIN L. EOUSE^ ESQ.^ ON " PEOCOPlUS's AFEICAN 



was not one of these, as Avell he may have been, there woulcl 

 at least be many to report to him how strangely that welt 

 was adorned. Now Angustine of Hippo tells ns that in his 

 time the Carthaginians and the peasants around Carthage 

 called themselves Canaanites, and that the language of the 

 Carthaginians was just like Hebrew; whije Jerome also 

 says that the Punic (or Carthaginian) and the Hebrew 

 tongue differed little from each other; and Jerome died as 

 late as 420 A.D., and Augustine ten years later still.* Are 

 we to suppose that this Phoenician language, which had 

 survived the Roman yoke for 500 years, was crushed out by 

 Vandal rule in 100? Of course not. Therefore there were- 

 plenty of educated men of Punic (Phoenician or Canaanite) 

 speech who could interpret the words upon the pillars to 

 Althias and Procopius. 



But an accidental circumstance greatly hastened my 

 departure for Numidia. Early in the month of May I 

 learnt that a friend of mine, long settled in Tunis, 

 was about to start for a fortnight's recreation, or change 

 of employment, in visiting the chain of Mount Aures 

 (the Aurasium mentioned in the second quotation) that 

 he might gain a first knowledge of the Shawia language 

 for a missionary society under whom he works ; and, as h& 

 has an exceedingly good knowledge of Arabic in its various^ 

 dialects, and I had none, I thought the opportunity of 

 combining our travels was not to be missed. So, finding,, 

 through correspondence, that he would be in Constantine by 

 Saturday, the 25th, I started from London on the evening 

 of the 21st, reached Marseilles very early on the 23rd, 

 leaving thence at noon, crossed the Mediterranean in 81 

 hours to Philippeville, and very early the next morning 

 wound my way up through the mountains to that wondrous, 

 city on a rock, Constantine, the ancient Cirta. 



The following Tuesday morning saw us rumbling in the 

 train to Taxas, which I had ascertained to be the nearest 

 railway station for Ain el Bordj, from whicli it is 14 kilo- 

 meters distant in the great plain of Beheira el Twila. But, 

 finding on his way that the Arabs called this station not 

 Taxas but Tagasa, and that there was a well 4 kilometers 

 off to the south (from which it had evidently taken its name) 

 called by them " Ain Tagasa," my friend reminded me that 



* Quoted in the Annuaire of the Socie'te Arclieologique cle Constantine 

 vol. xix, pp. 103-104. 



