Chap. 1.] 
AGCOUNT or COUKTEIES, ETC. 
381 
and it is a well-known fact, that on the flight of the bar- 
barians our troops reached Mount Atlas. It became a boast, 
not only among men of consular rank, and generals selected 
from the senate, who at that time held the command; but 
among persons of equestrian rank as well, who after that 
period held the government there, that they had penetrated as 
far as Mount Atlas. There are, as we have already stated, five 
Boman colonies in this province ; and it may very possibly ap- ^ 
pear, if we listen only to what report says, that this mountain 
is easily accessible. Upon trial, however, it has been pretty 
generally shown, that all such statements are utterly fal- 
lacious ; and it is too true, that men in high station, when 
they are disinclined to take the trouble of inquiring into 
the truth, through a feeling of shame at their ignorance arc 
not averse to be guilty of falsehood ; and never is implicit 
credence more readily given, than when a falsehood is sup- 
ported by the authority of some personage of high considera- 
tion. Tor my own part, I am far less surprised that there are 
still some facts remaining undiscovered by men of the eques- 
trian order, and even those among them who have attained 
senatorial rank, than that the love of luxury has left any- 
thing unascertained; the impulse of which must be great 
indeed, and most powerfully felt, when the very forests are 
ransacked for their ivory and citron-wood \ and all the rocks 
of Grsetulia are searched for the murex and the purple. 
Trom the natives, however, we learn, that on the coast, at 
a distance of 150 miles from the Salat, the river Asana^ pre- 
sents itself; its waters are salt, but it is remarkable for its 
fine harbour. They also say that after this we come to a 
river known by the name of Fut^, and then, after crossing 
another called Vior which lies on the road, at a distance of 
200 miles we arri ve at Dyris"^, such being the name which in 
their language they give to Mount Atlas. According to their 
had been on terms of strict alliance with the Roman people, who had 
decreed him a toga picta and a sceptre, as a mark of their friendship. 
• ^ Ivory and citron-wood, or cedar, were used for the making and in- 
laying of the tables used by the Roman nobility. See B. xiii. c. 23. 
2 Supposed by some geographers to be the modern Wadi-Tensift. It 
has been also confounded with the Anatis (see note p. 369) ; while 
others again identify it with the Anidus. It is more commonly spelt 
' Asama.' ^ Or Phuth. It does not appear to have been identified* 
The range is still called by the name of Daran. 
