The plain of Kosantina was intersected by a river, and of immense fertility. Upon this plain numerous structures in an ancient style of architecture were scattered about, and excellent gardens were planted on both sides of the stream, to which you descended by steps cut in the solid rock. Between the city and the river is a Roman triumphal arch, supposed by the inhabitants to have been an ancient castle, which, as they affirm, afforded a retreat to innumerable demons, previous to the Mussulman conquest of the city, when, from respect to the true believers, they took their departure. In the midst of the stream a very extraordinary edifice was seen. Pillars, walls, and roof were hewn out of the rock; but, notwithstanding the singularity of its construction, it was put to no better use than to shelter the washerwomen of the city. A very remarkable warm bath, likewise, was found in the vicinity of Kosantina, around which, attracted by some peculiarity in the soil, innumerable tortoises were seen, which the women of the place believed to be demons in disguise, and accused of causing all the fevers and other diseases by which they might be attacked. A little farther towards the east, close to a fountain of singular coldness, was a marble structure adorned with hieroglyphics and enriched with statues, which in the eyes of the natives were so close a resemblance to life that, to account for the phenomenon, they invented a legend, according to which this building was formerly a school, both masters and pupils of which were turned into marble for their wickedness. In his way from Kosantina to Tunis, he passed by two cities, or rather names of cities, the one immortalized by the prowess and enterprise of its children, the other by the casual mention of the loftiest of modern poets; I mean Carthage and Biserta. The former fills all ancient history with its glory; but the reader would probably never have heard of the latter but that its name is found in Paradise Lost:— And all who since, baptized or infidel, Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, Or whom _Biserta_ sent from Africk shore, When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell By Fontarabia. Carthage, though fallen to the lowest depths of misery, still contained a small number of inhabitants, who concealed their wretchedness amid the ruins of triumphal arches, aqueducts, and fortifications. Proceeding westward from Tunis as far as the desert of Barca, and visiting all the principal towns, whether in the mountains or the plains, without meeting with any personal adventures which he thought worthy of describing, he returned to Fez, and prepared for his second journey to Timbuctoo and the other interior states of Africa.