Silent their base commands I heard ; I go, prepared to meet the worst ; I bid you still, with aspect stern, Fools as they were, could not mine eye, Else had they sent this wasted frame Is yours; she knows it well, and you Ay, bend your brows, ye ministers Ye know no longer it is hers, Ye know her fleets are far and few, And Rome, the bold and free, Shall trample on her prostrate towers, One path alone remains for me- Thy triumphs, Rome, I shall not see, Then tell me not of hope or life; I have in Rome no chaste, fond wife, One word 'concentres for the slave, Wife, children, country, all-the grave. captiv'ity, imprisonment. | dissembled, feigned. cap'ture, seizure. concen'tres, embra'ces. consigned, commit'ted. defeated, overthrown'. des'tinies, fate. continued, last'ed. ec'stasy, rap'ture. DALE. mercenary, hire'ling. perchance', perhaps', pledged, plight'ed. progeny, off'spring. resources, means. swarthy, dark. ven'omed, poi'sonous. B. C. Punic War.-So the wars between | Carthage was completely destroyed, 146 Rome and Carthage (of which there were (See HISTORY OF ROME, Nelsons' three) were called by the Romans. The School Series, p. 61.) name Pœni (whence Punic) was given to the Carthaginians because of their Phoenician origin. In the third Punic War, 2 Lib'ya, the northern part of Africa. After the fall of Carthage, Libya became a Roman province. THE Sahara may be likened to a vast ocean separating the negro kingdoms of equatorial Africa from the more civilized states of the north; and the numerous oases1 with which it is studded are like so many islands in the midst of the desert waste. This waste, however, though 'destitute of everything helpful to human life and comfort, does not consist solely of barren sands. There is a vast extent of dry, stunted herbage, on which the camel can pasture; and thus a passage across the desert is rendered 'practicable, by routes which would be impossible were the Sahara what it is often represented as being-one wide sandy plain. In the desert, a route through the sand is always chosen in preference to any other; because in the sandy tracts springs are most likely to be found, and because the sand presents a soft dry bed on which the traveller can repose after the fatigues of the day. It is this 'preference of the natives which has led Europeans to suppose that the whole of the Sahara is a sandy waste. The character of the desert is very much the 'reverse of this, there being hundreds of miles of hard, firm soil, while hundreds more are a mixture of stony fragments and pebbles. Travelling on sand, there is of course no visible road, as the fierce winds that frequently recur soon 'obliterate all trace of footsteps. The guides, therefore, find their way by land-marks, which they carefully renew when necessary. These are often the most trifling objects, such as a tuft of herbage, a single plant, or the summit of a swell in the soil. In places where the plain is one void and arid flat, even such objects are wanting, and their place is supplied by heaps of stones or cairns, piled at great distances. Sometimes the route extends for ten or twelve days over a plain affording not a single drop of moisture! OASES. Along nearly the whole length of the northern shores of the continent there extends a fertile belt of land, called by the natives the Tell, the cultivation of which yields the means of Thebes, is one hundred and twenty miles in length. It is watered by a pleasant stream, with groves of palm and acacia on its banks. The oases invariably lie in the lowest levels of the soil, and doubtless owe their existence to the moisture which naturally gravitates2 towards such localities. Most of these isolated spots, even though hundreds of miles apart, enjoy a constant supply of water, and are favourable to the cultivation of the date palm and other fruit-trees, as well as of various kinds of vegetables. The date palm supplies a large proportion of the food of the dwellers in the desert. The tree is thirty-three years in coming to maturity; after which it will bear fruit for seventy years more, the annual crop of each tree averaging from three to four hundred pounds weight. Not only man, but all the animals of the desert can feed on the date. The fruit is easily preserved by packing it closely in woollen bags; and when thus compressed into solid masses it may be kept for several years. Sometimes a tree is tapped for the sake of its sap, which is much relished as a beverage, and which, when allowed to ferment,3 forms a drink resembling cider. A single tree will yield fourteen or fifteen quarts a day for two years, but will die if the drain be continued longer. Every part of the date palm is turned to profitable account. The wood is used for building, and for every kind of carpenterwork; the fibre is twisted into ropes; baskets are made of the branches; and sheep are fattened with the pounded stones of the fruit. The population of the desert is necessarily sparse and scanty, in proportion to its enormous area. It consists of various tribes of two distinct nations;—the Berbers, made up of descendants of the ancient Lib'yans, of the Romans, and of the Van'dals; and the Arabs, originally invaders, who yet retain, in no small degree, their original characteristics. The Berbers are the settled inhabitants of the oases, where the men cultivate the ground, and the women manage the manufactures. They maintain 'amicable relations with their nomadic1 brethren, to whom they are in the habit of confiding the care of such cattle as they possess, and of whose property they undertake the custody during the wanderings of the owners. The oasis generally contains a village (ksar), which is built of stone, and, together with the gardens, is walled in. Nothing is grown but what will produce food of some kind, and the utmost use is made of every foot of land and drop of water. At the same time, provision is made for defence, and sentinels are kept continually on the watch for an enemy. Outside the walls are the marabets, or 'sepulchres of the dead; upon which are lavished far more expense and taste than on the abodes of the living. Near each tomb rises a little sepulchral chapel, executed in a finished style of architecture, by the most skilful artisans that can be procured. These buildings are universally held sacred; and even the foe who would slaughter the living and make a prey of their property, leaves the restingplaces of the dead 'inviolate. THE ARABS. The life of the desert nomads, even when free from war and ⚫brigandage, is one of 'perpetual variety and excitement. They spend the winter and the spring in the wilderness, where, at these seasons, there are both water and pasture; but they remain in one spot only for a few days, striking their tents and migrating to another as soon as the pasture is consumed. As summer approaches, they resort to the oases where their property is kept; here they load their camels with 'merchandise, and journey northward. They arrive in the Tell just at harvesttime, when the price of corn is low. Here they pass the summer in barter and commerce, exchanging their woollen goods and dates for raw wool, sheep, &c. At the close of the summer they set off southward again, arriving at the oases in October, just as the dates are ripe. Their assistance is now valuable in gathering in the crops, which occupies them a month; and another month is spent in bartering their raw wool and other late purchases for a portion of the dates which they have helped to gather, and for manufactured garments made by the women. These they deposit in their magazines, and then withdraw again to the desert, with their flocks and herds. CARAVANS. There are two classes of caravans,5 either of which a traveller may join. The first, and most 'expeditious, is the gafa'la, or merchants' caravans, which start with some degree of regularity from certain depôts in the northern oases, and whose departures are always made known beforehand. The cameldrivers regulate the speed of the journey, generally travelling from twenty to twenty-five miles a day, save in regions infested by robbers, where they will occasionally double that rate of |