The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-07

Ei,l.r % T,IE DESERT. WHICH
~ EtING tNiiftIHiD Eh IhE
FRENCH.
Timead Has Eccn Dead Fifteen Hun
dred Years. But ii i NOM Coming
10 Iifc-It Was Twice a. Biz a.
ponupcii. and Had Mighty Temples.
Markets md Baths 4 Look at Its
Bou.g~ and Storce-tIe Ancient
Forum and the Arch "f 1raian.
Have vou eyer heard Of TiTngad. he
wonderful RUNE cit Of Roman Al
rice. which the French are now Dig
ring ont of the sandH II lies about
one hundred and fifty mi.ES south Oh
the Mediterranean, and perhaps three
hundred miles southwest Of Iunls. II
b. tust oyer the mountains from the
Gee.rt al sahara, on one 81 the lower
slopes 81 the Atlas. overlooking q val
lev rhich IL. the days Of Rome, must
have been enormously rich Pompeii
was in existence about three hundred
Years before Christ, and II WAS de-
stroyed by the eruption of Nesuyius,
70 A. -. 1t contained only twenty
OF thirty thousand people, and il was
not half the size Of this African city
nov being uncarthed.
Ancient I~haumgadi.
TImgad was founded Just twenty
one years after the destruction Of
PCmpeiI. 1t was built by the Emperor
IIajan, whose soldiers aided in its
construction. 1t was then known as
Thau!ngas or T~haumgadi. It was sit
ua1ed at the intersection of six Roman
roads, and was q fortified camp as
Wen as d great commercial city. The
excavations show that it must have
been q social capital as Well, inhabited
by many rich people and surrounded
BY all the ~luXuries Of Rome at the
height of its glory.
- "a. FNi14aII l.ca ), t41inin1fC
city. st Augustine was born near ii,
ana, in the seventh century, when the
Arab invasion occurred. it had a Chris
tian church, the ruins Of which still
exist. The city was destroyed by the
Arabs, ana since then, for more than
Il thousand years the rain and soil
Of the Atlas mountains and the dust
ana sands from the great Sahara have
drifted over it, covering its remains
layer by layer, until the greater part
of it has been lost from view.
Tie French Excavations.
For centuries only a few of the more
prominent Of the uins rose above
the surface. There were columns here
and there apparently growing gu of
the soil. Great mounds covered the hiatt
destroyed buildings, and it was not un-
I'll the French began their excavations,
along about twenty-five years age
that any one imagined that q great
citv lay buried beneath. At present
only Il comparatively small part of
the territory has been uncovered, but
the work is going on day by day. and
within q few years the whole city Will
he exposed to the fierce rays of this
African sun. | saw gangs Of men
working at the ruins as | wandered
about through them this afternoon, and
| photographed them as they raised
buried columns out Of the soil. The
part Of the city still untouched is
Enu1Ial far ahaua Jha HEIGHT of any
head, and the e~Xcavated streets run
riPht to the edge of the streets and
buildings. still buried.
The Road to Tim.ad.
came here from Algiers on the rail
road, a distance of about ESQ miles.
The nearest station was BAHAMA, Il
French town at the entrance of the
valley in which Tin@ad lies. There
hired a carriage and drove Tor
twenty-five miles UP this valley to the
site Of the excavations. The only
town we passed on the way was Lam
bese. This was also prominent in the
days OF the Romans. n it q ruins
thai would be considered wonderful
were they not overshadoWed by the
greater ones here. The road to Tim
CAD was built by the French. and it is
as good as was the Appian Way when
Timpau n Rome were Stlll III their
prime. The grades are so gentle that
our horses went on the trot, and We
covered the distance in less than three
hours. We met many soldiers at
Lamhese, but outside Of them nothing
but Arabs.
Now we crowded q caravan of cam
els going sullenly along, and now pass
ID villages Of low brown tents, he
homes of BedOuin shepherds who
were feeding their fiocks on the foot
hills Of the Atlas. At places IN the
valley, We saw Arabs ploWing: but the
soil is now semi-arid and it ShOWS but
little signs Of the fertility it must nave
had when this region was the granafN
of Rome. imagine that the rainfall
was then much greater than now, ana
it may be that the cutting away of the
forests has changed the weather OF
Algeria, as has been the case with
Spain. Palestine n other lands.
In tie Ruined City.
have already been here for the
better part of two days. | am living
at the little hotel which has been put
uD for the e~xcavatorS and strangers,
and have been going over the ruins
with an old French soldier, who has
long been connected With the work OF
unearthing the city.