Note 16 — Chapter II · THE MEDITERRANEAN COLONIZATION OF AFRICA

This is an interesting observation. Not only does the statement repeatedly occur in the writings of ancient Greek and Roman geographers that the African elephant was found wild in Mauretania in these times, but this animal is pictured in the remarkable rock engravings in the Sus country in the extreme south of Morocco and in the central and south-eastern part of Algeria, besides being represented in the Roman mosaics of Tunisia, now exhibited at the Bardo Museum near Tunis. (See for this the travels of the Moroccan Jewish Rabbi, Mordokhai, the various works recently published by Mons. Gautier of the University of Algiers, and the researches of Professor A. Pomel.) The Phoenicians tamed the African elephant, found wild in the forests of Western Tunisia, which was a somewhat smaller breed than the Indian elephant or the elephant of tropical Africa, yet a typical African elephant in its large ears. It was more often figured on Roman medals and in Roman sculpture than the Indian type.