William Warde Fowler

“ On the other hand, the Gaetulians to the south of the Atlas range, on the date-producing slopes towards the Sahara, seem to have owned a precarious subjection to the kings of Mauretania, as afterwards to the Roman government. A large part of the country is of great natural fertility, and in ancient times produced large quantities of corn, while the slopes of Atlas were clothed with forests, which, besides other kinds of timber, produced the celebrated ornamental wood called citrum (Plin. Hist. Nat. 13-96) , for tables of which the Romans gave fabulous prices. ”

“ Of these colonies the most important, beginning from the west, were Lixus on the Atlantic, Tingis (Tangier) , Rusaddir (Melila, Melilla) , Cartenna (Tenes) , Iol or Caesarea (Cherchel) , Icosium (Algiers) , Saldae (Bougie) , Igilgili (Jijelli) and Sitifis (Setif) . ”