‘The Christian who came to Constantine, with workmen of his nation, to construct the bridge formerly called El-Mechebka, and situated at the gate of El-Kantara, told His Highness Salah Bey, who repeated it to us, that the date of the construction of the ancient bridge, carved on the stone in ancient characters, was the 335th year of the era of Our Lord Jesus, on whom be prayer and peace! From the time of Our Lord Jesus to the present date, the end of Djemad eth-Thani, 1206 (February, A.D. 1792), 1792 years have passed, according to the calculation which has been made to us.
‘Written this Friday, the 20th of Djemad eth-Thani, 1206, the very day on which we have heard this statement.’
If this be correct, it must have been Constantine the Great who caused this bridge to be built, two years before his death, and one before his partition of the Empire.
On the 18th of March, 1857, only 65 years after it was rebuilt, at half-past seven A.M., one of the upper piers of the bridge, that nearest the town, gave way, carrying with it the two arches which it supported, also 24 yards of the aqueduct which supplied the city. After this accident it was found necessary to destroy the bridge altogether, which was done by means of artillery, on March 30 following. It was replaced by an iron structure in 1863, under the direction of the Department of Ponts et Chaussées. It is higher than the old one, and its axis, instead of passing by the natural vault where the remains of the Roman bridge are still visible, passes higher up the ravine.[31]
Bruce arrived at Constantine, from Tebessa, on November 30, 1765. The following is the only record he has left of his visit:—
I arrived just as the Bey went out to the camp. He had left orders to have everything ready for my reception. We were lodged in his own palace, and treated with the utmost magnificence, as well as the greatest attention, and six chosen Moorish horsemen, well acquainted with the language and the country, for the language is in many places difficult, appointed to accompany me wherever I intended to go.
It is situated on a rock, everywhere surrounded by a dreadful precipice, except on the south, where is the principal gate. The river Rummel runs below, in a very rocky channel, and near the bridge passes under an arch of natural rock, as it afterwards does through two others, the highest of which is about 120 feet high. A little to the westward of this the Rummel falls in a large cascade of above 100 feet, under the precipice on which stands the citadel, which is on the north side of the town, from whence they precipitate criminals, and is in height 434½ feet.
Dr. Shaw is much mistaken in the description of Cirta. The ports of the town are in a very bad state, so is Cassir Goulah, all of the time of Constantine. The aqueduct is very inconsiderable, and of no height, and was never otherwise, the water from Physgeah being chiefly carried along the mountains.
I made a drawing of the precipice on which the town stands, and whence a torrent falls.
This, unfortunately, is not extant.