The Washington herald., 1909-10-24
TREASURES IN ANCIENT SHIPS
From Barbary Coast Comes Delight
ful Tale OF Gold and Jewels.

ful Tale OF Gold and Jewels.
From Che New YORK sun.
From the Barbary coast. that abode Of
pirates now the goal OF travellers seeking
sunshine, comes a delightful tale OF treas
I ure trove. surprising gold and Jewels.
rescued from the sea. The place Is
Tunis. which family marks the site OF
Carriages empire. now under the con-
troll Of the French. who have established
there the usual administrative officials.
among them a director Of antiquities
/ That ohce IS doing excellent work !n the
exploration Of Carthage and its district.
and deserves the remarkable good for
tune that has attended its marine ven
ture.
some time ago the wreck of an ancient
ship was located by fishermen In fairly
shallow water OF Mahdia. The stretch
ot sea intervening between that coast and
Sicily-Malta lies I'm twas a great high
way OF commerce between East and West
IN ancient DAYS ora Of The two paths by
which .seaborue fr&rhts between Greece
and Rome could pass. From Barka 10
Tun!s THAI coast. the region OF the Syrtes
aestuOsas. with its storms and shadows
with It's record Of disasters. was infa-
nous in classical literature. NJ A. Mer-
I'm. the director OF antiquities at Tunis.
decided that it was worth while to find
out what there was In the ship. and
divers were set 90 work last summer.
They discovered a treasure much Ike
that which was fshed I'D from The tip OF
Greece, on the island OF Cerlgotto. a few
years ago, seemingly a shipload OF the
plumber that Luclus Mummius or his sue
cessors stripped from Hellas after the
conquest The brief summary I'm the
kolnlsche Zeitung Of what has been
brought 10 the surface in one season viii
make the mouths OF Psychologists aud
art lovers water. Marbles OF great artis-
ne worth, hronzes In profusion. and even
parts Of the ships material euuiprnent.
The bulk Of the cargo consisted Of mar
Die columns. most OF them about thirteen
feet long and twenty-five inches IN diam
eter; the divers brought one up so that
It's architecture and ornamentatIon might
be inspected. There are besides many
marble statues, busts. and other cary
lngs used In construction. and many OF
these have been raised up. whole or IN
pieces. All the marbles, naturally. have
suffered from the barnacles. Among
tnein are statuette of the hunting Ar
tennis. faUn, ten heads OF stayrs larger
than lie statuettes Of women and chill
dren, tombstone RELIEF showing six fig
ures al funeral banquet There are four
immense milk Jars with n bacchic relief
running around them equal to the IA
nous Borghese vase I'm the Louvre. There
are also inscriptions which prove that the
vessel sailed from AttiCa and enable an
approximate date to be set.
The bronzes are likewise numerous and
are chiefly of the character Of parts of
buildings or of furniture: an Eros that
served for a candelabra. a fine head OF
Athene with the helmet. Artemis with
her culver. masks Of bearded men and
hacchantes, heads OF animals. a springing
panther that served as a handle. and
number OF beautiful lamps More In
teresting even are the remains OF the
snip Itself; the neutrality-suspicious. that
held water, oil and wine-in one remnants
or pitch We're left. an earthenware lamp
with It's wick; two hand mills for corn
all as they sank 1900 years ago And
apparently only small part OF the car
80 has been salved so far
new romance Is added TO the Med
iterranean; the shadows Of the African
coast are almost boundless and the sands
on the shore have been barely scratched.
A golden age seems 10 be at hand for
archaeology