TEMPLE AND FOUNTAIN AT ZAGHWAN. 67 heart sunk within me, when, ascending one of its hills, I beheld nothing more than a few scattered and shapeless masses of masonry. Yes, all vestiges of the splendour and magnificence of the mighty city had passed away, and its very name is now unknown to its present inhabitants." TEMPLE AND FOUNTAIN AT ZAGHWAN. AFRICA. ANCIENT Carthage was supplied with water from the fountains of Zung-gar and Zaghwan, by means of an aqueduct, the remains of which, still surviving, prove it to have been one of the most stupendous works of antiquity. The ruins have been traced for seventy miles, over an unequal and rugged country, and several hundred of its arches may still be seen. This extensive structure has been a task of extraordinary labour and expense, particularly that part which runs along the peninsula, the front being elegantly faced with hewn stone. At Arriana, a village five miles north from Tunis, a range of its arches remain, all perfect, seventy feet in height, and supported by columns sixteen feet square. The conduit carried along upon these arches, was vaulted over, and coated inside with a tenacious cement, which has been discoloured to a height of three feet, by the deposit from the stream running through it. Sir G. Temple visited the Fountain of Zaghwan from Tunis, crossing in his route the Milean river, Catada fluvius of the ancients, and traversing a level plain intersected by the colossal ruins of the aqueduct, (a plain resembling altogether the Campagna of Rome,) reached the city of Udina. This extensive and once splendid city, noticed by Ptolemy, although neglected by Shaw and D'Anville, must have been, in its days of prosperity, a magnificent place. a magnificent place. Here are the ruins of an acropolis, resembling, in position, that at Athens: large cisterns, supported by square pillars, as those at Hippona, and still retaining their covering of cement; the remains of a palace, smaller cisterns, fragments of temples, an aqueduct, vestiges of a theatre, and a bridge of three arches in tolerable preservation. The greater portion of these buildings is of hewn stone, of large dimensions. Udina is now uninhabited, but occasionally affords shelter to a few wandering Arabs, who pitch their tents within the silence and shadow of its ruined walls. From this to Zaghwan the road lies through a rugged region, infested with wolves, but plentifully supplied with partridge. The Kazbah, or temple, built over the fountain that supplied Carthage with water by means of the great aqueduct, is situated at the base of the Jebel Zow-wan, or Zaghwan, at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea, and at the distance of two miles from the town of the same name. The ground-plan of the Kazbah is of the horse-shoe form, having conjugate diameters of one hundred and eighteen feet in length, with a cella at the southern 68 TEMPLE AND FOUNTAIN AT ZAGHWAN, point, measuring eighteen feet six inches in depth, by fifteen broad, and twenty-four feet in height, to the corner of the vaulted roof. The rest of the temple was open, but enclosed by a corridor, or piazza, fifteen feet wide, the arches and roof of which were sustained by twenty-six Corinthian columns, fourteen feet high: the back walls were adorned with corresponding pilasters. Each interpilastral space is occupied by a niche, intended, most probably, to contain the statue of some of those deities, under whose immediate protection all fountains and rivers were supposed to be placed; while the statue of Minerva, Diana, or the fountain-nymph, may be supposed to have occupied the more honourable niche within the cella of the temple. The enclosing walls have a thickness of three feet six inches, and appear to have been protected by an outer work, never raised to any height above the ground-level around. Two flights of steps led to the entrance of the covered portico, or arcade, and an ascent of three steps conducted into the cella from the area of the temple. Immediately between the entrances to the portico is situated the spring itself, enclosed within masonry formed into the figure of 8, and approached by a continuous flight of steps around its margin. Its surface extends twenty-nine feet in length, by sixteen in breadth. The temple at Zung-gar is similar to this, except that, immediately over the fountain, is a beautiful dome, ornamented with three niches for the reception of the statues-the whole of the Corinthian order. On the frieze of the portal is the following inscription,―rorisii totiusque divinæ domus ejus civitas zucchara fecit et dedicavit. Zowan, or Zaghwan, anciently Tuburbo major, is twelve leagues distant from Tunis, and on the same meridian. It contains, at this day, a population of twelve thousand, most of whom are employed in the dyeing of Shasheahs, red Tuniseen caps, and in the bleaching of linen. The waters of the fountain possess a peculiar property of imparting brilliancy to the colour, and securing it from decay. The dye employed is the kermez, procured at Beyjeh, to which sometimes cochineal is added. The town is delightfully situated at the foot of the Jebel ez Zaghwan, whose perpendicular cliffs tower over its walls, and throw their dark shade occasionally over the rich fruitgardens that adorn the environs. The air is rendered refreshing also by the numerous rivulets that gush from the mountains, and fall down the steep fronts of the Jebel, giving motion to mills, and lasting animation to the scene. Above an ancient entrancegate to the town of Zaghwan, which looks south-east, is a ram's head in basso-relievo, with the word auxilio, in large letters, underneath: from which it has been conjectured that this place was under the immediate presiding care of Jupiter Ammon. It is also imagined, and with much appearance of truth, that the Jebel ez Zaghwan is the Mons Ziguensis of Victor, the precise place where the Zyantes of Herodotus gathered their famous honey and from the extensive and splendid prospect it affords, it was probably the spot whence Agathocles beheld the countries both of the Adrumetines and Carthaginians : |