but scarce one has energy to move.

The day has indeed been a hot one even for the southern edge of the
Libyan desert. The cream coloured oxen stand with their heads down,
lazily whisking away with their tails the flies that torment them. The
horses standing near suffer more; the lather stands on their sides,
their flanks heave, and from time to time they stretch out their
extended nostrils in the direction from which, when the sun sinks a
little lower, the breeze will begin to blow.

The occupants of the grove are men of varied races, and, although there
is no attempt at military order, it is clear at once that they are
divided into three parties. One is composed of men more swarthy than
the others. They are lithe and active in figure, inured to hardship,
accustomed to the burning sun. Light shields hang against the trees with
bows and gaily painted quivers full of arrows, and near each man are
three or four light short javelins. They wear round caps of metal, with
a band of the skin of the lion or other wild animal, in which are stuck
feathers dyed with some bright colour. They are naked to the waist, save
for a light breastplate of brass. A cloth of bright colours is wound
round their waist and drops to the knees, and they wear belts of leather
embossed with brass plates; on their feet are sandals. They are the
light armed Numidian horse.

Near them are a party of men lighter in hue, taller and stouter in
stature. Their garb is more irregular, their arms are bare, but they
wear a sort of shirt, open at the neck and reaching to the knees, and
confined at the waist by a leather strap, from which hangs a pouch of
the same material. Their shirts, which are of roughly made flannel, are
dyed a colour which was originally a deep purple, but which has faded,
under the heat of the sun, to lilac. They are a company of Iberian
slingers, enlisted among the tribes conquered in Spain by the
Carthaginians. By them lie the heavy swords which they use in close
quarters.

The third body of men are more heavily armed. On the ground near the
sleepers lie helmets and massive shields. They have tightly fitting
jerkins of well-tanned leather, their arms are spears and battleaxes.
They are the heavy infantry of Carthage. Very various is their
nationality; fair skinned Greeks lie side by side with swarthy negroes
from Nubia. Sardinia, the islands of the Aegean, Crete and Egypt, Libya
and Phoenicia are all represented there.

They are r