The principal buildings are situated on the right or east bank of the ravine. They consist of a Byzantine fortress, theatre, forum, triumphal arch, a large temple, and innumerable other buildings too much ruined to admit of absolute identification.
The first of these was originally of Roman construction. The regular and careful masonry of that people can be recognised in some few places. A posterior restoration by the Byzantines can also be easily identified, as they invariably employed the cut stones of the former buildings, without much regard to perfect adaptation, using also tombstones, and any other material that came most easily to hand. The third restoration is of a very inferior character, the stones being small, irregular, and very loosely put together. The general plan of the enclosure and a great part of the walls are still entire. It is a large quadrangle, about 120 yards by 98, flanked on each side by salient towers three in number. That on the eastern side is not in the middle, and is much more salient than those at the angles. In the part of this tower facing the interior may be seen the remains of a circular brick dome, the crown of which has disappeared, and in its place there is a rude attempt to complete it by means of loosely piled stones. Some remnants of columns are seen in the interior court belonging to a small building, perhaps a church. With the exception of this fortress the city does not appear to have been fortified; no traces of circumvallation can be observed.
The theatre was cut in the abrupt northern flank of a hill, the opposite side of which gradually slopes towards the south. This monument was of considerable dimensions, and as the materials employed were not of a costly nature, we are led to suppose that it was intended for the accommodation of a large population. Nevertheless the building was executed in a substantial manner, the walls being generally of solid rubble masonry faced with cut stones of considerable dimensions. In the interior, where the masonry may have been covered with cement or other material, the angles were made sharp by brickwork. Although the columns found on the spot are all in stone of an inferior description, they are numerous; on the stage may be counted the remains of fourteen.
The building which, with great probability, has been styled the forum, consists of a long colonnade running parallel to an extensive and beautiful valley, bounded by picturesque hills, the general direction of which is from E. to W. Walking under the shade of this colonnade, the inhabitants must have enjoyed one of the most charming views which it is possible to imagine. The back part was formed of a continuous wall, against which were constructed ranges of small buildings, which were probably shops, separated here and there by openings giving access to the body of the forum. Towards the S. extremity of the colonnade, which was of great length, another range of columns runs at right angles to it, and probably formed a second side to the forum; further south are to be seen, still erect, several columns belonging to a building advancing into the valley. Other buildings, particularly on the northern side and touching the colonnade, are highly interesting.
Great numbers of inscriptions lie scattered about in this neighbourhood, commemorative of historical events: such as the Parthian War; of Roman Emperors and of distinguished soldiers and citizens, with which the forum seems to have been filled; many of these are broken and mutilated, but some are in a perfect state of preservation.
Amongst others there are two fine pedestals of white marble of octagonal shape, bearing identical inscriptions; one is broken, but the other is quite entire and measures five feet in height, each face being from twelve to twenty inches wide. This inscription is the one mentioned by Bruce as that of Marcellianus; it runs as follows:—
The words LEG III have been chiselled out and again engraved on a lower level than the rest of the inscription.
This forum is the building described by Bruce as ‘the remains of a temple, only a piece of side wall now standing.’ The passage in his diary regarding the interment of the statue deserves the attention of future explorers. I only regret that his manuscripts were not in my possession prior to our visit. I have a distinct recollection of seeing the mutilated remains of a statue on the spot, which may have been that of Antoninus, and it is very probable that the bust of Faustina may still be where Bruce buried it.
While this work was going through the press, I have had the pleasure to receive part of the report of Professor Masqueray on his recent explorations at Timegad.[81] He has had the good fortune to discover in an Arab house at Enchir Terfas, on the left bank of the Oued Soutz, about 1,500 metres distant from this part of the ruins, several interesting fragments of inscriptions, which throw great light upon several already published by M. Renier, and one in a single block, which though incomplete, is highly valuable.
This is a dedication to Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and Geta, of A.D. 199, the date of the second nomination of Caracalla to the Tribunal power. When the memory of Geta was abolished, his name was erased and other titles of Caracalla inserted. There is no doubt that these stones were taken to their present position from the forum.
M. Masqueray has also disinterred two very remarkable inscriptions, containing lists of the magistrates of Thamugas, placed according to their ranks, and amongst others the names of the curator and the three perpetual flamens who presided over the restoration of the Capitol, which took place in the reign of Valentinianus and Valens, between 364 and 367.
Towards the north-west of the town, nearly in the axis of the colonnade of the forum from which at all events it formed a striking view, exists the triumphal arch forming the subject of one of Bruce’s illustrations (Plate VI.), and which is one of the most important monuments of the kind in Algeria. It consists of three openings, the central one thirteen feet eight inches wide and the side ones seven feet two inches; above the latter are square niches for statues. The monument is of the Corinthian order; each front is decorated by four fluted columns nineteen feet six inches high, occupying the angles and the spaces between the arches. To each column corresponds a pilaster, both raised on a common pedestal.
Plate VI.
J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.
ARCH OF THE GODS AT THAMUGAS (TIMEGAD)
FAC-SIMILE OF INDIAN INK DRAWING BY BRUCE.
HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.
The entablature connects all the columns and pilasters together, and was itself surmounted by an attic, with an entablature, a portion of the architrave of which now alone remains. Over the two lateral arches and the square niches and supported by the two columns are two curved pediments, the cornices of which, as also the main cornice profile round, are set back over the columns, an arrangement not unfrequent in the colonies of the Empire. The attic, intended no doubt to receive the dedicatory inscription and perhaps also to support sculpture, appears to have extended over the whole top of the building. None of the original inscription remains in place, but fragments have been found below and near the forum, on which the following words have been read:—
M. Léon Renier restores this as follows:—
The two façades are identical in feature and each is in itself perfectly symmetrical, except that the capitals of the two middle columns on the southern façade, instead of having the angle of the abacus supported by volutes, have eagles in their place. The square niches have had each their separate entablature, and columns supported by sculptured brackets; all the arches have archivoltes.
The mass of the monument is of sandstone, but the columns, capitals and bases of the pilasters, brackets and entablature are entirely of white marble, as was also the crowning of the attic; the sides of the attics were certainly covered by slabs, most probably of the same material. The débris from the entablature and the upper part of the building has fallen round the base of the monument, burying it as far as the imposts of the lower arches.
M. Masqueray has found amongst the ruins of the Byzantine Citadel an inscription which proves that this building was called the arch of the Gods, ARCVM PANTHEVM, and that it was customary to ornament it with statues, some of which may probably still exist amongst the stones and soil with which the base is encumbered.
The next important building is the Capitol or Temple of Jupiter, of which very little now remains, but that little coupled with Bruce’s beautiful sketch of it shows that it must have been a very splendid edifice (Plate VII.)
A large peristyle existed before it, to which access was gained by a flight of six or eight steps. None of the columns are now erect; but splendid fragments, nearly six feet in diameter, lie scattered about. Five are represented as still standing in Bruce’s time, supporting a small portion of the entablature; they were of the Corinthian order, and fluted.
The foundations and part of the superstructure of the principal façade or entrance to the cella are still in place; this was most powerfully constructed and measures nearly six feet in thickness, the stones varying from three to five feet in length from two to three feet in breadth and twenty inches in height. An attic base, in blue limestone, lying on the spot measures six feet in breadth at its plinth. The most massive parts were built of rubble, encased in cut stone masonry composed of blocks of great size.
An inscription was here found on four stones, surrounded by a moulding, of which the following is a copy, completed by M. Léon Renier.
Pro magnificentia saeculi dominorum nostrorum Valentiniani et Valentis, semper Augustorum et perpetuorum, porticus capitolii, seriae vetustatis absumptus et usque ad ima fundamenta conlapsus, novo opere perfectus, exornatusque dedicavit Publilius Caeionius Caecina Albinus, vir clarissimus, consularis, curantibus Aelio Juliano iterum rei publicae curatore, Flavio Aquilino flamine perpetuo, Antonio Petroniano flamine perpetuo Antonio Januiariano flamine perpetuo.[83]
The palm-trees to the right of the picture have beyond all doubt been added by Balugani, to increase the effect of the pictures. No palm-trees exist within many miles of this place, and it is impossible to believe that the simple beauty of the architecture here depicted, and these distorted and misplaced trees could have been executed by the same hand.
Plate VII.
J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.
CAPITOL, THAMUGAS (TIMEGAD)
FAC-SIMILE OF INDIAN INK DRAWING BY BRUCE (AND BALUGANI?)
HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.
FOOTNOTES:
[73]Peyssonnel, ap. D. de la Malle, i. p. 347.
[74]See Léon Renier, Inscr. No. 1505.
[75]Ap. Mabillonium Analect. t. iv.
[76]Lib. vi. tit. 22, l. 2.
[77]Morcelli, Af. Chr. i. p. 305.
[78]Sic in original.
[79]L. Renier, Inscr. 1518.
[80]L. Renier, Insc. No. 1480.
[81]Rev. Afr., vol. xx. p. 164.
[82]L. Renier, Insc. No. 1479.
[83]Léon Renier, Insc. No. 1520.
LEAVE TIMEGAD — FOUM KOSENTINA — MEGALITHIC REMAINS — OUM EL-ASHERA — EL-WADHAHA — ASCENT OF CHELLIA — AIN MEIMOUN — LIONS.
On May 3 we left Timegad, not without considerable regret that we could not afford to spend a longer time there. We would fain have made some excavations, as there is no more promising field for antiquarian research in Algeria, but the season was advancing, and we were compelled to move onwards. We crossed the Oued Taga and the unusually rich and well-watered plain of Firis, the west side of which is bounded by the Oued Foum Kosentina, River of the Gorge of Constantine. This is formed by two streams, the Seba Rekoud and the Oued el-Ahmer, which have worn for themselves deep channels, the precipitous banks of which are in some places five or six hundred feet high. A remarkable tongue of land is enclosed between them, which, probably on account of a certain general resemblance to the plateau on which the city of Constantine is situated, has been named Ktäa Kosentina, and the river Oued Foum Kosentina.
The numerous Roman remains all over the plain of Firis prove that no part of the Aures was more thoroughly colonised by this great people. Lower down the plain, the river formed by the junction of the Oued Taga and the Foum Kosentina, takes the name of Oued Rabooäa, on which are the Bordj and flour-mill of our friend Si Bou Dhiaf. The latter is of French construction, and brings him in a very considerable revenue. The native mills are of the rudest construction, and are rapidly falling into disuse wherever a European one has been erected.
The whole of this district is of the deepest interest to the student of pre-historic archæology. The hills on the west and south of Firis, Djebel Kharouba and Djebel Bou Dreicen are high, barren of undergrowth but well covered with small trees, especially the Betoum, or Pistachia Atlantica. The rock crops out in every direction, and is a sandstone with a very laminated stratification, capable of being easily detached in large slabs of no great thickness.
These hills are covered with countless numbers of the most interesting megalithic remains. Their variety is considerable, but the most ordinary type is that of a low circular structure, nearly level with the earth at the upper part of its base, and varying in height according to the slope of the hill on the opposite side, from three to eight feet, and containing from four to eight courses of rough dry masonry.
The walls are generally about six feet in thickness, the tombs from sixteen to thirty-three feet in diameter, containing a central chamber of irregular form covered by a large slab of stone. A very small number of these have been opened, but such as have been examined were found to contain human bones, and the body appears to have been doubled up by the disarticulation of the femur, so that the feet touched the skull. A few vessels of rude pottery have been found.
In some places the monuments are close together, in others they are separated by a number of tombs of the ordinary dolmenic type, as if the latter were intended for people of less consideration than those for whom the circular ones were constructed.
Below the south slope of Djebel Kharouba on the Oued el-Ahmer, or Red River, so called from the peculiar tint of the earth on its banks, is the village of Oum el-Ashera, or Mother of Ten, where we passed the night. The distance from Timegad is only nine-and-a-half miles, and occupied three hours.
It is a small and unimportant place, of the usual construction, situated at the mouth of a narrow gorge through which the stream breaks into the plain, but to the east of it is a pleasant turfy plateau, which seems as if it had been made by nature expressly as a camping-ground for those who may come to explore the neighbourhood.
On May 4 our journey also was a short but rather adventurous one. We purposed proceeding only as far as El-Wadhaha, a distance of seven-and-a-half miles, the most convenient place whence to ascend Djebel Chellia. The route was unusually mountainous, a constant succession of thickly wooded hills and valleys. When we left the weather was fine though somewhat showery, but we had not been many minutes on the road before the rain began to descend in torrents. The streams increased so rapidly that retreat was hopeless, and we were never sure that we should be able to continue our road. Si Bou Dhiaf who still accompanied us urged us onwards, but our beasts could not increase their pace. We floundered bravely through mud and water till we reached our halting-place, where fortunately the tents had been sent in advance, and pitched before the storm began. A fire was immediately lighted, not of little pieces of wood but with whole trees, so fierce and blazing, that it dried us even as we stood around it in the rain. All the evening it continued to pour and it was nightfall before our baggage arrived, and we could obtain a change of clothing. The Government mules are not well adapted for difficult mountain travelling. Being shod they are much more inclined to slip on bad stony roads than the native animals, and they have not the same marvellous instinct for picking their steps. There never was an animal so unjustly calumniated as a mule. I know none more sagacious, except perhaps the donkey. A horse may be forced to face anything, he has no self-reliance and trusts entirely to the superior intelligence of his rider; but no power on earth will force an Arab donkey or mule to take a single step in advance against its own conviction, and his instincts as to the safety of a road are always superior to his rider’s opinions. We went over some very difficult roads, but none of our animals left to his own sagacity ever came to grief.
El-Wadhaha is merely a place where the Chawia are in the habit of encamping. There is no village near and the only reason for selecting it is, that there is abundance of wood and water procurable, and it is a convenient place for commencing the ascent of Chellia, which we did early on the following morning. Fortunately the storm of the previous day had passed by, and the day was bright and cool.
Djebel Chellia is the highest peak in Algeria, but, rising as it does from very high ground, it is not nearly so imposing as Djurdjura. There was not a trace of pathway visible, but it was very easy and pleasant riding over its grassy slopes, bare of trees but carpeted with the most exquisite wild flowers, amongst which were yellow tulips, blue pansies, and forget-me-nots, and a lovely little white flower resembling a daisy. We saw many which we had never observed elsewhere, and we deeply regretted every hour of the journey that Dr. Hooker, who had originally intended to join the party, had been prevented from accompanying us.
Nearer the summit we passed through woods and clumps of cedars, in which there were more dead than living trees, some still erect, others torn up by their roots, bearing testimony to the violence of the storms which prevail here in winter. There was no great quantity of snow remaining; in sheltered places we saw banks four feet in depth, and the highest point was covered with it. This is accounted for by the previous rainy season having commenced late: very little snow fell before February, and it is only that of November and December which gets sufficiently frozen to last well into summer. We found the ascent by no means difficult, and hardly ever dismounted from our mules till within a few hundred yards of the top; but, had it been hedged about by all manner of dangers and difficulties, the beauty of the ride up and the glorious panorama from the top would have repaid us for them all.
It might almost be thought that Virgil, if he ever visited Africa at all, had this particular peak in view, when alluding to—
The highest point of the small range, which goes by the name of Djebel Chellia, is 7,611 feet above the sea—only twenty-three feet higher than Djebel Mahmel, and sixty-nine more than the highest peak of Djurdjura. On the summit is a rude hut and stone enclosure, the marabout of Sidi Mohammed Kultoom, who used to make this his residence whenever it was possible to remain there; the Chawia still make pilgrimages to it and offer sacrifices of sheep at the shrine of the holy man. We left a record of our visit in a bottle on the summit, carefully secured to a stone; but I fear it stands a great risk of being removed, not for the value of the autograph, but rather for that of the precious vessel in which it was enclosed. Empty bottles are not so common in the Aures as they are elsewhere. An addition to our party was waiting for us at the top; this was the limit of Bou Dhiaf’s command, and he had here to hand us over to Si Mustafa, the Kaid of Bou Hammama, who with his Khalifa both in their official scarlet bernouses, had come to welcome us and conduct us to where we were to spend the night.
The view from the summit is most extensive. In the foreground is the massif of the Aures itself, containing numerous ranges, generally richly wooded, some scarped and precipitous, others striated like agate by the upheaval of the oolitic strata of which they are composed, while on one or two the tops have been worn away between the strata, leaving the latter like huge lines of defence guarding the summits. Beyond this from north to east the hills between Constantine and Ain Beida bound the horizon, and the Sebkhas or salt lakes are distinctly seen in the middle distance. Behind the hills to the south, glimpses are obtained of the Sahara, while the north-west is bounded by the mountains behind Batna.
The slopes of the mountain exposed to the north and west, the prevailing direction whence come the wind, rain and snow of winter, are richly clothed with forest almost to their base. The southern slopes, exposed to the hot wind of the desert, are much more arid.
We descended the opposite side of the mountain through the valley of Tizou-ghaghin, in which a stream rises near the top and encircles the western slope, till it is met by the Oued el-Khezoum, descending from another portion of the summit. It would be difficult to find a more charming ride, at first through a forest of cedar with here and there an old gnarled yew, but both these trees are slowly disappearing. The highest parts of the range are perfectly bare, though an occasional whitened stump shows that even they were once wooded; lower down dead trees are still erect, and the ground is covered with others that have fallen, or have been torn up by the roots. These become more and more mixed with living trees as the traveller descends, till the dense forests on the lower slope are reached.
But even here destruction is doing its work, principally owing to numerous communities of hairy processional caterpillars, which spin a web-like nest on the higher branches destroying all vegetable life as their ravages descend.
After leaving the region of cedars the lower parts of the mountain present new features of grandeur and interest. Ilex, pistachia and juniper begin to appear, and soon the road passes through a dense forest of Aleppo pines, which for picturesque beauty can hardly be surpassed in any part of the country. Eventually we entered the well-watered plain of Melagou, and turning eastward found ourselves at the small village of Bou Hammama.
We had sent our camp on by an easier route, so everything was ready for our reception, the usual dhifa was cooked and only waiting to be eaten. Si Mustafa is quite a different type from Bou Dhiaf, and we remarked that the meeting between them on the top of Chellia was not very cordial. He is not a man of ancient family, nor in fact is he in any way connected with the Aures. His ancestors were Turks and he has risen through military service elsewhere to a high position, which ended in his being appointed by the French, Kaid of Bou Hammama. The district appears a fine one, but the village itself is the poorest we have yet seen, and is only occupied during a certain portion of the year. At other times the inhabitants live in tents, following their flocks wherever pasture is most abundant. To-day we rode about twenty-two miles, which occupied us six hours and a half.
On May 6 we started for Ain Meimoun, a distance of nineteen miles. After crossing the plain of Melagou the road enters an undulating plain, and for some distance is comparatively uninteresting. At last it passes into the long and fertile valley of Noughis, one continuous stretch of corn and meadow land. Its general direction is from west to east. It is bounded on the north by low hills and on the south by a lofty range, clothed to its summit with forests of oak below and cedars above. These mountains, facing as they do the north, from which point all the rain of winter comes, retain their mantle of snow till late in spring. Thus the numerous springs and streams are well supplied, and continue to flow even in summer.
There is no doubt that during the Roman occupation this valley was as carefully terraced and watered as the Oued Abdi is now; traces of retaining walls are still visible, though none of the massive foundations so common elsewhere are to be seen. After a long ride through a country which seems to weary the traveller by its monotonous richness, the culminating point is reached and the streams, which have hitherto flowed towards the west, now run in a contrary direction. In the middle of the narrow pass forming the watershed, called Cherf-Noughis, is a mound on which are the remains of what was no doubt a military post, intended to command it. The view from this spot is very beautiful. To the west is the long plain from which we had just passed, bounded by the ever-narrowing hills on either side, till the vista is shut in by the distant peak of Chellia. To the east in the valley of Tasgeen is a total change of scenery. Every trace of monotony has disappeared; the green pasture land mixing with the darker tints of the forest give both softness and grandeur to the landscape, while in the distance, instead of the mountain scenery of the Aures, the view is bounded by the Sebkhas, or salt lakes of the Nememcha and the plain beyond. The road still continues along the north side of the plain, winding amongst the most exquisite forest scenery till it reaches Ain Meimoun.
Here we were met by Si Ismael, the Kaid of Khenchla, quite a different type from any we had seen before. He is a young and handsome Lieutenant of Spahis, belonging to one of the best families in the province of Oran. He speaks French with perfect fluency, and both frequents and seems to enjoy European society.
This place takes its name from a beautiful and copious spring situated just on the edge of the forest, and at the top of a rich clearing, which it serves to irrigate. There is no village here, but both a civil and a military establishment for preparing cedar timber. The former sends the wood for sale to Batna, Constantine and elsewhere; the latter supplies the public works in process of construction at Ain Khenchla, to which place there is a road practicable for carts. No more pleasant spot could be found for a halt. The traveller might fancy himself in one of the finest parts of Switzerland, but with a new and delightful sensation added, the scent of the freshly sawn cedar with which the air is embalmed. If he is a sportsman he may chance to get a shot at a lion. This is perhaps the only part of the Aures where they still exist. We met a brother of the far-famed Chassaing working at the timber-yard. He told us that he had himself killed seven, and that his brother had bagged between fifty and sixty before his death, and that, though they are exceedingly rare now, two had been heard during the previous night.
These grand old cedar forests are the glory of Algeria. Influences which it is difficult to control are causing their gradual disappearance, and there was a time when the reckless extravagance with which the timber was consumed threatened to consummate the evil even in our own time. But greater order has now been introduced into the administration. Wise laws have been framed to prevent the destruction of forests, and we hope that we may never have to lament the disappearance of this noble tree in the words of Shakespeare when he describes the fall of Warwick—
This was the last night we spent actually in the Aures Mountains. We now entered the plains which skirt their northern base.
FOOTNOTES:
[84]Æn. Lib. iv. 246-251 (Dryden).
AIN KHENCHLA — ACROSS THE PLAINS OF THE NEMEMCHA TO TEBESSA.
From Ain Meimoun to Ain Khenchla is 17½ miles, which occupied us five hours. We carefully avoided the carriage road, and took the more enjoyable one through the forests with which the hills are covered. Here and there we came to an open space generally full of Roman remains, but we saw none of especial interest.
About half way is an elevated plateau, called El-Kaläa, or El-Geläa as it is more frequently pronounced, the fortress, from which there is a most commanding view of the extensive plain below, and the distant hills, as far as Constantine. In the foreground is one of the Sebkhas, bordered by a crystalline belt of salt and sand, contrasting strongly with the brilliant vegetation around.
Between four and five miles from Khenchla is the Oued el-Hamma, a beautiful stream, passing at the foot of Djebel Serdsum. A spring of almost boiling water issues from a mass of Roman masonry and flows into the main stream, producing at the junction a most agreeable temperature for hot baths: lower down are the ruins of piscinæ, and a few yards off traces of many Roman buildings of the usual solid construction, showing that this was a favourite watering-place of the inhabitants of Mascula. On nearing the modern village, the spring from which it derives its name is passed in a garden of fine old fig-trees. Near it an ancient reservoir was discovered, 82 feet long by 33 broad and 6 deep, which has been restored by the Engineer Department and now forms a handsome public fountain.
The identity of Ain Khenchla with the ancient Mascula admits of no doubt, its distance from known points would prove the fact, even had not an inscription been found recording that, about A.D. 370, Publius Cæcina Albinus rebuilt the town which before had been destroyed.
This interesting inscription has thus been restored:
Pro splendore felicium sæculorum dominorum nostrorum Valentiniani et Valentis semper Augustorum . . . atæ . . . ve . . . . omni Masculæ . . . . a fundamentis construxit (atque dedicavit) Publilius Caeionius Caecina Albinus vir clarissimus consularis sexfasculis provinciæ Numidiæ Constantinæ.[85]
Mascula is more famous in ecclesiastical than in profane history. Several of its inhabitants are celebrated in Roman Martyrology, especially Archinimus who was condemned to death by Genseric. Its Bishop Clarus attended the Council of Carthage in A.D. 255. Another, Donatus, yielded to the persecutions of Florus pro-consul of the district, and revealed the place where the holy books had been concealed. He was the first of the recreant bishops who was interrogated by Secundus Tigisitanus on the subject, before the Council of Cirta in 305. Another bishop, Januarius, was exiled by Huneric in 494, and a second of the same name assisted at the Council of Carthage in 525.
The value of Mascula as a strategic position, situated as it is in a wide and fertile plain just beyond the northern slopes of the Aures Mountains, has always been recognised. It is probably here that Solomon placed his camp during his second expedition, and there is reason to believe that it is the Malich, the scene of one of the battles of Sidi Okba.
After the first Arab invasion it was still inhabited. El-Adouani thus alludes to it: ‘At the foot of the Mountains of Amamra there are three cities, Baghai, Khenchla, and Guessas, inhabited by Christians, each one surrounded by vast gardens irrigated by the waters descending from Djebel Mahmel.’[86]
Khenchla has now been created a European centre of colonisation, chief place of a circle, with a Commandant Supérieur, Bureau Arabe and a small garrison. Colonists have been attracted to the spot not only by its fine climate, resembling very much that of Provence, but by concessions of from 60 to 100 acres of land given by the State. The great fertility of the soil, its proximity to vast forests and the mineral riches of its mountains, ought to secure the prosperity of this fine though distant settlement. To these advantages may be added its position midway between Batna and Tebessa, and in close proximity to the openings of the various valleys traversing the Aures. It was made the centre for supplying the armies of General Herbillon in 1847, and of General St. Arnaud in 1850, in their expedition against the Nememchas.
We had been overtaken by heavy rain soon after passing Oued el-Hamma, and on our arrival at Khenchla, whither our baggage had preceded us, we were dismayed to see the tents standing in a lake of mud and water. To sleep there was impossible. Fortunately we were once more in civilisation, and found an excellent auberge, in which we passed the night most comfortably. The station was in a great state of excitement, owing to a visit which was hourly expected from the Bishop of Constantine. The bad state of the roads had evidently detained him, and I believe it was dark before His Grandeur arrived. On the following morning the Commandant showed us all over the station and the various public buildings which he has constructed by means of the troops under his command.
He has had the good sense to build all the inscriptions and fragments of sculpture, which he has found, into the walls of the military cercle; the only way of preserving them on the spot, and preventing their being carried off by sacrilegious relic-hunters. He assisted us to procure fresh mules for our baggage and horses for our own use, and generally to arrange for our journey to Tebessa. Here we dismissed the Government mules we had brought from Batna and their attendant tringlots. We were quite sorry to part from the latter; they were the best natured and most helpful fellows possible, always ready to serve us in a thousand ways; never grumbling at any hardships or difficulties that they had to encounter.
Bruce’s route must have passed very close to this place; the only record, however, for our guidance is a memorandum:—
The 13th [December, 1765], encamped at four miles from Baggai, continued our course towards the S.E. of Aures.
The present road from Ain Khenchla to Ain Beida, on which there is a regular line of omnibuses, passes close to the ruins of Kasr Baghai, the ancient Bagaia; a city which had already attained considerable importance during the Imperial era, as is proved by numerous inscriptions. During the time of St. Augustine it was one of the African cities in which Christianity had attained the most progress. Several councils were held here; but religious dissensions soon began to produce their destructive effect; the Donatists burnt the Basilica and committed the sacred books to the flames.[87] Solomon was charged by Justinian to re-establish order in Africa. One of his captains, Gantharis, sent to operate in Mount Aures, established his camp at Bagaia; Procopius says that it was then in ruins. It is probable that the Byzantines then built or restored the immense fortification, the trace of which is still entire. It consists of an irregular quadrilateral figure, the sides varying in length from 770 to 1,227 feet, with round towers at three of the angles, and a square one at the fourth. The wall is further strengthened at irregular distances by square salient towers. On the N.W. side is a second enclosure or citadel; near the W. angle are the remains of a Mohammedan mosque, decorated with ancient columns still standing.
Instead of following the diligence route, we determined to continue our course straight to Tebessa, over the immense plains forming the summer pasture grounds of the great Berber tribe of Nememcha. The whole country is covered with Roman remains, showing that in former times the land was much more susceptible of cultivation than it is at present. This is attributable in a great measure to the total disappearance of the forests which once covered it. We were especially struck at the frequent occurrence of buildings used for the manufacture of olive oil, in districts where not a tree is to be seen for miles around. Vines were no doubt extensively cultivated, but we only saw one in all our journey, and that was an extremely old plant, which according to Arab tradition has existed since the Roman era.
At about seven miles from Khenchla is a beautiful clear spring, issuing from a Roman wall, and surrounded by ruins of important buildings; it is called Tazou-garet. At Ain Bedjen, fourteen miles further on, is another spring, and here we halted for the night (May 8). We congratulated ourselves on having exchanged our mules for horses; the former are invaluable in the mountains, but their pace is extremely fatiguing over a long plain, the tedium of which can only be alleviated by an occasional gallop.
On the 9th we breakfasted at Ain Kemellel, seven miles from our last halting-place; this is another clear stream flowing amongst Roman ruins; it is absolutely devoid of shade, but an Arab tent had been pitched for our accommodation, in which we rested an hour or two during the hottest part of the day.
It was late in the evening before we reached Oglet-ed-dib, about twenty miles from Ain Bedjen and ten west of Djebel Tasbent. The Smala of the Kaid of the district happened to be here; he himself was absent, but he was represented by his brother. This was the only occasion during our journey on which we met with an ungracious reception, but that even was only for a moment; the Kaid’s brother subsequently gave us the usual dhiffa, and himself accompanied us to Tebessa. Tasbent is a bold, flat-topped mountain, an excellent point to steer by in these interminable plains. Near its northern slope is a Roman mausoleum in a good state of preservation. It consists of two stories; the upper one was shut in by a wall in the direction of the north-west, from which bad weather usually comes, and open towards the east, with two free columns forming a niche for the reception of a statue. It was probably the tomb of a Romanised Numidian; it bears the following inscription:—