only not the Sultan's-would be hailed with general

satisfaction.

Abd-el-Kader is married, and I took down his account of the price he paid for his wife. To her father

dollars and a

he gave thirteen sheep, valued at two half each, with a hundred dollars in cash; and to the lady herself, a pair of silver bracelets (souar or debalg), weighing thirty-five dollars, dress-stuffs to the same amount, furniture, carpets, &c., to the value of fifty dollars; these, with some other expenses, made the cost of his wedding amount in all to three hundred dollars. He confirmed to me the truth of an Arab custom, which I had before heard of from others, that of giving to the mother of the bride a sum varying from a hundred to five hundred piastres, as the price of the milk with which she had suckled her daughter. The sheep and the money are not returned in any shape, as, on her father's death, his wife's brother succeeds to them, and on his death the next male heir. "Well," I said, "you will acknowledge that here you literally buy your wife?”— to which he retorted, "Of course we do; while in Europe it is the wife who buys her husband; we are up to that;" and he chuckled, and seemed to think he had paid me off with interest.

After passing the pools, where I had stayed so long, we came in sight of the line of the fortifications, which

Chap. XI.

RUINS OF TOLMETA.

143

are now almost buried in sand, and of one of the city gates, still an imposing mass. The plain where Tolmeta stood did not become visible until we had crossed the low ridge formed by the fallen walls. Great was the disappointment I experienced on my first view of the city, and greater became my disappointment the more I saw of it. Three columns standing over large covered cisterns, and two smaller ones not far distant, the ruined apse of a Christian church (probably of the fourth century), catch the eye; but the general impression of the entire surface is that of a huge piece of new macadamisation, so thickly is the ground strewed with small fragments. The celebrated barracks have been lately despoiled, by truly Vandalic hands, of the curious inscription which rendered the building so interesting, and to obtain which the greater part of the front facing the sea has been overthrown. The destruction of it seems to have been as wanton as the labour of it must have been great, the architecture being of the most solid description. I was told that in attempting their removal one of the slabs was so broken that the author of this devastation left it lying on the ground; and that after an interval of two or three years, when he had learnt in Paris that an inscription, of which a third part is wanting, is worthless, he sent for the remaining fragments, which were already illegible.

It then A ved Nor luc, gable of takin

ws.option, one would sti

wy 5 et 1 bare me, a est of it, an have l the on y mobWat

vising Polemais soargis ex

and the disosi on its interer still os val

ednung, v.ich Leben described as Dir, a r The carne a tin. ta! of remarkable pur tea

Da trad. :

clumsy, sıl bal

wide space any 1. Ci

aeratecture in a good styl

ta vaulted builuit. 3. and are

t 1 g oply a few feet above the s

g, not even be guess dat;

the cationes of an amphitheatre

a di orv, having no fature of interés 1, co1, catalog of he runs within the ton. T

estions towards the sea, consisting of a solemn fors,

a well prestryd, though nearly buried in

I

the most conspicuous object is the gatera, 1: alre-dy mentioned, whose two flack towers ang

perly perfect.

On the stres of which in

Lull are many inscriptions, whose irregularity w al one to the idea that they are of very 1 cont GEN

7 to fancy then the work of ind.str.us

If those employed were incapable of taking an accurate copy of the inscription, one would suppose that they might at least have made a cast of it, and at less expense, and thus have left the only monument worth visiting in Ptolemais still retaining its external form, and the disposition of its interior still traceable, and unchoked by newly-made ruins. The three Ionic columns, which have been described as dating from the earliest times and of remarkable purity, seemed to me of a late epoch, when not a tradition of true beauty remained; they are clumsy, and badly chiselled, nor did I see in the whole space any fragments of sculpture or architecture in a good style of art. There are ten vaulted buildings, and a very large rectangle rising only a few feet above the soil, whose purpose cannot even be guessed at; scanty remains of a theatre, the outlines of an amphitheatre, formed in a quarry, having no feature of interest, complete the catalogue of the ruins within the town. The fortifications towards the sea, consisting of a series of forts, are well preserved, though nearly buried in sand; but the most conspicuous object is the gateway I have already mentioned, whose two flank towers are still nearly perfect. On the stones of which these are built are many inscriptions, whose irregularity would lead one to the idea that they are of very recent date, or even to fancy them the work of industrious idlers,