Graham, Alexander: Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa ; based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country (London [u.a.], 1902)

Africa under Hadrian

ii5

are 13 feet wide and nearly 15 feet thick, the spans of the
arches being 15 feet. The foundations consist of several courses
of cut stone, and the superstructure is built up in sections 3 feet
8 inches high. On the upper surface of each section, channels
6 inches square and 2 feet 3 inches long are left by the insertion
of a mould. There were five such channels on the faces, and
three generally in the thickness. In these were laid strips of
olive-wood 1 inch or more thick and 6 inches wide. When the
material was well consolidated and dry, strong mortar 2\ inches
thick, containing a large admixture of wood-ashes, was laid
over the entire surface, filling up the channels. Wooden pegs
were driven in at intervals in order to ascertain and secure
a perfectly level bed for the next section, and so on up to the
summit sixty or more feet from the ground. There is a course
of cut stone at the springing of the arches, and the voussoirs
are 2 feet on the face, but of two or more stones in depth.

The stability of this form of construction is shown by the
excellent condition of portions of the aqueduct now standing,
although they have been subjected to repeated earthquakes.
In some parts the Arabs, with their usual destructiveness, have
removed more than half the stones forming the bases of these
gigantic piers without affecting the superstructure, and in others
whole piers have fallen or been thrown down, leaving the duct
poised in mid-air without apparent support.

In an article on Pise,1 written some years ago, it is stated
that the walls of most of the houses on the banks of the Rhine
were built of nothing but earth, with planks of wood laid at
intervals in the body of the material, care being taken that the
ends of the planks were not exposed to the air. In taking
down old houses of pise the wood has been found to be perfectly
sound, and in some cases the original colour had been retained.
The rich traders of Lyons, we are told, had no other way of
building their country-houses.

The entire aqueduct of Carthage, as the work of the infidel,
would have been destroyed by the Arabs centuries ago if some
Eastern story-teller had not woven a legend in its favour, and
attributed its construction to a true follower of the Prophet.
The story says that, under the Carthaginian rule, a neighbour-
ing king, who was a good Mohammedan, fell in love with the

1 Rees's Cyclopedia, art. Pise.

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