Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-11-21
QUEEN DlDos WONDERFUL CITY.
A Visit to Ancient Carthage-Marvels in
M~asonry-The Famous Aqueduct.
tCor. Boston Herald

A Visit to Ancient Carthage-Marvels in
Masonry-The Famous A~queduct.
tCor. Boston HERALD
The first important evidence-aside
from the remnants of the old city walls
that we have arrived at the site of
ancient Carthage is the debris and
crumpled masonry of what appears to
be the ruins o. an old amphitheatre of
great size. Even these relics have nearly
disappeared below the surface of the
earth on which We stand, and the large
hollow excavation, in which are discern
ible broken masses Of masonry and
traces of crumbling arches and under
blance to the crater of IN extinct vol
cano. We go to the plains below where
evidences multiply that a great and i'm
portant city ice stood here. Cropping
out of the hillside that slopes away to
the sea, and in isolated places on the
plains are remnants of high arches and
walls, tumbled in chaotic confusion to-
gether, as if originally they had been
rent and torn to pieces by successive
earthquakes.
On the plaills and about a quarter OF
a mile from the sea, the dragoman took
me to the famous cisterns which have
evidently been discovered since the COM
mencement of the present century. De-
scending some rough improvised steps
to a depth of about fifteen feet, we
come to a long excayated gallery or
passageway, on the right of which are
built side by side the immense cisterns
twenty, Of more, in number, which
must be $50 feet in length, forty feet in
width, and as much in depth. Looking
through openings which each of them
had, | could see that they were all con-
nected together by arches in the par
tition walls, 70 that water would flow
through them to the same height and
depth, thus forming one immense reser-
voir to supply the inhabitants in case of
siege or drought. With the exception
of two or three of the cisterns, whose
arched roofs had partly fallen in, the
masonry of all seemed to be as hard and
perfect as when first built over 1000
years ago.
In their construction, the thin bricks,
such as were manufactured by the
aneients for building purposes, were
used, being about one and one-half
inches thick, twelve or fourteen inches
long and six or eight inches wide. The
mortar, or cement, between the bricks
was as hard as flint, and | failed to dis
cover any signs of its crumbling or dis
placement by the wear of centuries.
The cisterns are partially filled with
water, but how it got there is a mystery
to all travellers, as the aqueduct which
one fed it has been in ruins several
hundred years, and there is no other
~perceptible source from whence they
could have got their present supply.
This a%queduct, in the days when Garth
age was in its glory, was one of the
wonders of the then known world, being
longer and built more massive and
grand than the famous aqueduct built
by the Romans at about the same period
of history to supply their city with
water. 1t was a work of enormous la
Dor and expense, being constructed en-
tirely above ground, and reaching a dis
lance of nearly seventy miles across the
country from the mountains of Zunghar
to the cisterns in Carthage.
From the cisterns we go down to the
sea shore, where We find large clusters
of ruins of greater magnitude than any
W. have seen, and which must be the
remains of theatres or temples that
were of colossal size. Immense walls of
masonary, broken columns and pillars
and sections of arches are piled promis-
cuously together, as if they had Teen
shattered to pieces by the earth uakc.
The sea here has so far en~croaciied
upon the original shore that ruins for
nearly half a mile in length and a quar-
ter of a mile in width are co cred with
water. The dragoman tells me in his
broken English that boatmen rowing
along the beach can look down upon the
ruins of roofless buildings, and can
trace out the courses of arious streets.
Wandering over the plains, we come
to a spot where the dragoman calls my
attention to q deep e.cavation that re-
so.nbles somewhat the dismantled shaft
of a coal mine. iointing down, he tells
me there are more ruins, and that it
was here where stood Queen Dido's pal
ace. Scrambling down rs best We
could the rough passage way to the dis
lance of twenty feet or more, we come
to a series of large, high, yaulted apart
.ments that remind me of the excaya-
tions in Rome known as C.tsar's palace.
The dragoman lights a candle that he
mas Win ulW anu We luSpect DIS uuT-
riedly as possible the damp, subterran-
can rooms, but finding little to repay US
fsr our trouble.
There are traces in these cayernous
apartments that indicate they were
built with royal magnificence. The
vaulted arches and high walls show
where they were covered with beautiful
mosaics, frescoes and other gorgeous
or~namentation, which despoilers have
carried away and the hand of time has
o~bliterated. The wealth of Carthage,
when it was in its glory, must have
been fabulous.