N U M I D I A. 
cd it in common with Africa Propria. Dr. Shaw has ren¬ 
dered it probable, that the river which formerly went 
under the denominations of Malva, Mahana, Mulucha, 
and Molochath, is the fame with that now called Mul- 
looiah by the Algerines; in which cafe, the kingdom of 
Numidia mult have extended upwards of 500 miles in 
length: its breadth, however, cannot be fo well afcer- 
tained ; but, fuppofing it to have been the fame with that 
of the prel'ent kingdom of Algiers, in the narrowed part 
it mull have been at lead 4.0 miles broad, and in the 
•wideft upwards of 100. 
In the times of the Carthaginians, Numidia contained 
the two powerful nations of the Maffyli and the Majja- 
fyli. Numidia, including Numidia Propria, or the coun¬ 
try of the Maflyli, and Mauritania Caefarienfis, or that 
of the Maflaefyli, extended from 34. 5. to 37. N. lat. and 
from 1. 15. W. to 9. 16. E. of London. 
Numidia Propria, or, as it is fometimes called, Terra 
Metagonitis, was feparated from the proper territory of 
Carthage by its eaftern boundary, the river Tufca, and 
from the kingdom of the Maflaefyli, or Mauritania Caefa- 
rienlis, according to Pliny, by the Ampfaga. This feems 
to correfpond with that part of the province of Conftan- 
tina lying between the Zaine and the Wed el Kibeer, 
which is above 130 miles long, and more than 100 broad. 
On the fea-coaft this province is, in general, mountainous 
and rocky, and therefore called by Abulfeda, not impro¬ 
perly, El Adwah, The High or Lofty. The principal 
places in this province were Cirta, Vaga, Azama, Collops 
Magnus, Tacatwa, Hippo Regius, Tabraca, Naragara, 
Sicca, Thirmida, Suthul, and Madaura. The mountains 
were the ridge that terminated the country between the 
parallels of Sitifi and Cirta, called by the ancients Bu- 
zara, Thambes, extending to Tabraca, the Mampfarus 
of Ptolemy, which feparated the Sahara from Mauritania 
Stifenfis, and the Mons Audus of Ptolemy, or the Mons 
Aurafius of the middle ages, known among the Turks 
by the name of Jibbel Aurefs. The rivers are the Amp¬ 
faga, the Arrnua of Pliny, or modern S'ei-boufe, the Ru- 
bricatus of Ptolemy, or Ma-fragg of the Algerines, and 
the Tufca, now called the Zaine. 
The limits and extent of the Regio Maffefylorum of 
Strabo, or the Mauritania Caefarienfis of Dio, being the 
trafl lying between the Mulucha and Ampfaga, are af- 
certained by the determination of thofe of Numidia in 
general, and Numidia Propria, or the country of the 
Maflaefyli, in particular. The length of the former pro¬ 
vince, indeed, much exceeded that of the latter ; but its 
breadth was not confiderable, being at a medium only 
about 20 leagues, except in that part which bordered 
upon the confines of the Maflyli. It lay betwixt lat. 34. 
30. and 37. N. and extended from Ion. 1. 15. W. to 6. 30. E. 
from London. It included that part of the country of 
the Weftern Moors, bounded on the weft by the Mul- 
looi’ah, and on the eaft by the mountains of Trara; thofe 
provinces of the kingdom of Algiers, called Tlemfan and 
Titterie ;• together with the weftern part of that known 
, by the name of Conftantia. The principal towns were 
Igilgili, Saldae, Rulazus, Rufucurium, Rufconium, Ico- 
fium, Tipafa, Jol, Canucius or Ganugus, Cartenna, Ar- 
fenaria, Quiza, Siga, Sitifi, and Satafi, Auzia or Auzea, 
Tubuluptus, &c. &c. The promontories were the Audus 
and Vabar of Ptolemy, the Promontorium Apollinis, or 
Cape Tennes of modern geographers, the Promontorium 
Magnum of Ptolemy, now called by failors Cape Hone, 
being a continuation of the mountains of Trara. The 
remarkable mountains are part of Mount Atlas, the Za- 
lacus of Ptolemy, Mount Malathubalus, the Durdus of 
Ptolemy, the Mons Phrursefus, and the Montes Chal- 
corychii. The moll remarkable rivers were the Audus, 
the Sifaris, the Niflava, or prefent Boujeiah, the Sarbatis, 
now the Yfler, the Savus, or modern Hameefe, the Chi- 
nalaph of Ptolemy, or Shelliff of the Algerines, the Car- 
tennes, theFlumen Salfum, at prefent called the Wed el 
Mailah, and Afi'ara or lifer of Abulfeda. The only 
331 
illands that deferve attention, are the Acra of Scylax,. 
forming the modern part of Harlhgoone, and the Tres In- 
fulae of Antoninus, about ten miles north-well of the 
river Mulucha. 
The moll celebrated antiquarians agree, that thetrafl, 
extending from the ifthmus of Suez to the Lake Tritonis r 
was chiefly peopled by the defcendants of Mizraim ; and 
that the pollerity of his brotherPut, or Phut, lpread them- 
felves all over the country between that lake and the 
Atlantic Ocean. To this notion Herodotus gives great 
countenance; for he tells us, that the Libyan Nomades, 
whofe territories to the weft were bounded by the Triton y 
agreed in their cultoms and manners with the Egyptians ; 
but that the Africans, from that river to the Atlantic 
Ocean, differed inalmoftall points from them. Ptolemy 
mentions a city called Putea, near Adrametum; and 
Pliny, a river of Mauritania Tingitana, knoum by the 
name of Fut, or Phut; and the diftridl adjacent to this 
river was called Regio Phutenjis, which plainly alludes to 
the name of P/mi. That word dignifies “fcattered ordif- 
perfed,” which very well agrees with what Mela and 
Strabo relate of the ancient Numidians ; fo that we may, 
without any fcruple, admit the aborigines of this country 
to have been the defcendants of Phut. 
The h/ftory of Numidia, during many of the early ages, 
is buried in oblivion. It is probable, however, that as the 
Phoenicians were mailers of a great part of the country, 
thefe tranfadlions had been recorded, and generally known 
to the Carthaginians. King Iarbas probably reigned 
here as well as in Africa Propria, if not in Mauritania, 
and other parts of Libya, when Dido began to build Byrfa. 
It appears from Jdllin, that, about the age of Herodotus, 
the people of this country were called both Africans or 
Libyans, and Numidians. Jultin likewife intimates, that 
about this time the Carthaginians vanquilhed both the 
Moors or Mauritanians and the Numidians; in confe- 
quence of which, they were excufed from paying the tri¬ 
bute which had hitherto been demanded of them. 
Although a confiderable part, if not the whole, of In¬ 
terior Numidia was independent of the Carthaginians, the 
Numidians always afliftdd the Carthaginians in their wars; 
and the Carthaginian form of government prevailed in 
every part of Numidia fubjedl to the Hate of Carthage, 
though in other parts abfolute monarchy was eftablilhed. 
The principal objedls of worlhip, among the firil Numi¬ 
dians, were the fun and moon ; and, where the dominion 
of Carthage extended, divine honours were paid to the 
Phoenician and Greek deities. Notwithftanding the bar¬ 
barity of the Numidians, fome of them ul'ed letters, not 
very unlike thofe that made up the Punic alphabet, as ap¬ 
pears from the legends of feveral ancient Numiffian coins. 
The Numidians were divided into tribes, nomes, or hordes; 
and their circular dou-wars were compoled of their ma- 
palia, correfponding to the hhymas, or tents, of the mo¬ 
dern Bedow'eens. Thefe mapalia were lecured from the 
heat and inclemency of the weather by a covering of hair¬ 
cloth. They were all of the fame oblong form, refem- 
bling the inverted bottom of a Ihip. A whole tribe en¬ 
camped together; and, having confumed the produce of 
one fruitful lpot, migrated to another. Some of them 
lived in fixed habitations or cottages, made of hurdles 
daubed over with mud, or conftrufted of flight materials, 
and thefe they called magaria. The towns or villages 
formed of theie huts are at prefent built upon eminences ; 
and, as Dr. Shaw informs us, they are called dajhkras. 
The Numidians rode without faddles, and many of them 
without bridles, whence Virgil calls them “ Numidae in- 
frteni and, as their principal ftrength confilted in their 
cavalry, they were accuftomed to the management of 
horfes from their infancy. The next brother of the king, 
and not his eldeft fon, fucceeded to the crown in Numidia. 
The diet of the Numidians confifted chiefly of herbs, 
grain., pulfe, and water; and they feldom uled wine or 
flefli. Many of the poorer clafs went almoft naked ; but 
thofe of any falhion wore their garments lool’e, without 
fa fit 
