gradas (mod. Mejerda). On the
horizon, on the other side of the Gulf of Tunis, rise the chief heights
of the mountain-chain which was the scene of so many fierce struggles
between Carthage and Rome, between Rome and the Vandals:--the Bu-Kornain
("Two-Horned Mountain"), crowned by the ruins of the temple of Saturn
Balcaranensis; Jebel Ressas, behind which lie the ruins of Neferis;
Zaghwan, the highest point in Zeugitana; Hammam-Lif, Rades (Ghades,
Gades, the ancient Maxula) on the coast, and 10 m. to the south-west the
"white" Tunis ([Greek: Leukos Tunes] of Diodorus) and the fertile hills
of Ariana. All round Byrsa, alike on the plain and on the slopes, are
fields of barley, vineyards and patches of cactus, interrupted only by
huge heaps of rubbish and excavation-mounds, the haunts of green
lizards, and by houses and villages built of materials drawn for many a
century from the ancient ruins.

The ancient harbours were distinguished as the military and the
commercial. The remains of the latter are to be seen in a partially
ruined artificial lagoon which originally, according to Beule, had an
area of nearly 60 acres; there were, however, in addition a large quay
for unloading freight along the shore, and huge basins or outer harbours
protected by jetties, the remains of which are still visible at the
water-level. The military harbour, known as Cothon, communicated with
the commercial by means of a canal now partially ruined; it was circular
in shape, surrounded by large docks 16-1/4 ft. wide, and capable of holding
220 vessels, though its area was only some 22 acres. In the centre was
an islet from which the admiral could inspect the whole fleet.[1]

Among the other ruins which have been identified are the circus or
hippodrome, traversed by the railway at the north of the village of
Duar-es-Shat; the forum, between Cothon and Byrsa, where stood the
Curia, the regular place of assembly of the senate, and near which were
the moneychangers' shops, the tribunal, the temple of Apollo, and in the
Byzantine period the baths of Theodora. Three main streets led from the
forum to Byrsa.

The hill of St Louis, the ancient citadel of Byrsa, has a circuit of
4525 ft. It appears to have been surrounded at least at certain points
by several lines of fortifications. It was, however, dismantled by P.
Scipio Africanus the younger, in 146 B.C., and was only refortified by
Theodosius II. in A.D. 424; subsequently its walls were again rene