XIII.] EXPEDITIONS IN AFRICA. 291
country, and in addition to these a multitude of civilians
resorted thither from various parts of the empire, so that in the
course of time Dacia became thoroughly Romanised. In order to
secure the communication between these newly acquired domains
and the neighbouring provinces, Trajan erected the famous bridge
across the Danube that bore his name, the remains of which are
still visible near Orsova below the rapids and narrow passage of
the stream called the Iron Gate. A century and a half later than
this, in the reign of Aurelian, it was found expedient to withdraw
the Roman colonists into Moesia on the right bank of the river,
where they were constituted into a new province, called the Dacia
of Aurelian; but a clear evidence of their occupation of the
northern district remains in the modern Roumanian language,
which is as lineal a descendant of Latin as French and Italian
are.
Some additional material was also contributed towards the
knowledge of the interior of Africa by two ex-
0 . Suetonius
peditions which took place during the reigns of
Claudius and Nero. In the year 42 A.D. Sueto-
nius Pauiiinus—the same who, as we have seen,
subsequently distinguished himself in Britain—having been
appointed proprsetor of Mauretania, carried his arms across the
Atlas chain, which, as it was the winter season, he found covered
with snow. He then advanced through the desert in burning
heat, until he reached a river called Ger, the neighbourhood of
which abounded with elephants and other wild beasts1. The
name here given has induced some geographers to conjecture that
the stream which was intended is the Niger; but there can be
little doubt that it was one of those which run southwards from
the Atlas and lose themselves in the Sahara, for the word gir in
the Berber language, signifies 'running water,' and even at the
present day it is attached to a river which follows that direction.
The other expedition, for which Seneca is our chief Nero.sEs-
authority, though it is also noticed by Pliny, was petition to the
despatched by Nero, and was pacific in its character, N e*
being prompted by a spirit of enquiry. Its object was to explore
the sources of the Nile; and it advanced in the first instance as far
* Pliny, ff. N. 5. 14, 15.
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