they have received.

One of the most beautiful and highly-prized marbles of ancient Rome
was the species which is familiar to every visitor under the name of
_Giallo antico_. It must have existed in immense quantities in the
time of the emperors, for fragments of it are found almost everywhere,
and it is the variety that is most frequently picked up and converted
into ornamental articles. It is easily recognised by its deep
brownish-yellow colour, resembling somewhat the yellow marbles of
Siena and Verona, though invariably richer and brighter. All the
varieties are traversed more or less by veins and blotches of a darker
yellow or brownish hue, which give them a charming variety. The
texture is remarkably fine and close-grained. In this respect _giallo
antico_ can be distinguished from every other marble by the touch.
When polished it is exquisitely smooth and soft, looking like ivory
that has become yellow with age. No fitter material could be employed
for the internal pavements or pillars of old temples, presenting a
venerable appearance, as if the suns of many centuries had stained it
with their own golden hue. From the fact that it was called by the
Romans _Marmor Numidicum_, we are led to infer that this marble was
quarried in Numidia, and was brought into Rome when the region was
made a Roman province by Julius Caesar. It was probably known to the
Romans in the time of Jugurtha; but the age of luxury had not then
begun, and Marius and Sulla were more intent upon the glories of war
than upon the arts of peace. The quarries on the slopes of the Atlas,
worked for three hundred years to supply the enormous demand made by
the luxury of the masters of the world, were at last supposed to be
exhausted; and the idea has long prevailed that the marble could only
be found among the ruins of the Imperial City. But four or five years
ago, the sources from which the Romans obtained some of their most
precious varieties of this material have been rediscovered in the
range of mountains called Djebel Orousse, north-east of Oran in
Algeria. All over an extensive rocky plateau in this place numerous
shallow depressions plainly indicate the existence of very ancient
quarries. A large company has been formed to work and export the
marble, which may now be had in illimitable quantity. The largest
specimens of _giallo antico_ existing in Rome are the eight fluted
Corinthian pillars, thirty feet high and eleven feet in circumference,
w