Recent Excavations at Carthage. 228 the purport of the inscription is consequently far from clear. Perhaps we may restore the commencement thus, " Basilicam hanc fundamenta tenus labentem dedicavimus ;" but the constant changes of persons in the remainder render it very obscure ; the word fastilanem may be connected with fastella, which Ducange explains as ligamen. Below the inscription are two youths holding in their right hards wreaths, and in their left fans with long handles. The style of art shown in this mosaic and the character of the inscription seem to belong to the fourth century after Christ." Three feet below it there was found another pavement with a pattern only ; and six inches below that a third pavement of an elegant geometrical design. The spot where the discovery took place is to the north of a ruin marked by Falbe No. 72, which he considers a gate of Carthage. If it were so, the mosaics belonged to some building outside the walls of the city. 3. The third mosaic was found in a bean-field to the east of the hill of St. Louis, and not far from the spot where the Punic tablets were discovered. The central portion consists of representations of a basket full of fish, and a wooden hod filled with fruit : these designs are executed in very vivid colours, some of the tessera being of glass ; round it is a wave pattern. The rest of the mosaic is pure white with a twisted border in colours. The whole is very elegant, and must have given a cool appearance to the room in which it was placed. 4. On the range of high ground between the hill of St. Louis and Sidi Bou- Said, Mr. Davis discovered the site of a lloman house, in which, at a depth of ten feet, several mosaic pavements were found. Mr. Davis informs us that .on the walls were faint remains of fresco paintings, and in one of the chambers or rather alcoves he found the lower portion, about a foot in depth, lined with thin slabs of white marble. The pavements were chiefly of geometrical pattern, and good in style and execution. 5. The next excavation in which mosaics were brought to light was on high ground, opposite to the Turkish fort Burj-Jedid, and overlooking the smaller cisterns for rain-water, from which it was distant about 200 paces. " Having nothing to guide me," says Mr. Davis, "above ground, I opened a series of zigzag trenches, and in "the course of a few days we came upon remains of ancient architecture. At one place we came upon four tombs at about four or five feet from the surface. From the position of the tombs it was evident that they were neither Moslem nor Christian ; and a few lloman coins and a Mosaics of a similar date, with inscriptions, do not appear to be uncommon in North Africa. See Kenier, Inscription Ror,mnes de F Alge'rie, Nos. 3700, 3701, 4057, 4058. Ame, Carrelag* tmai VOL. XXXVIII. 2 G
