numerous towers and domes, the fan-like foliage of the palms, the spreading branches of the pines, and Mount Reale on the south towering over all with its vast mass of convents and churches."[5116] The harbour lies open to the north; but the Phoenician settlers, here as elsewhere, no doubt made artificial ports by means of piers and moles, which have, however, disappeared on this much-frequented site, where generation after generation has been continually at work building and destroying.  Panormus has left us no antique remains beyond its coins, which are abundant, and show that the native name of the settlement was Mahanath.[5117] Mahanath was situated about forty miles east of Eryx, on the northern coast of the island.

Solus, or Soloeis, the Soluntum of the Romans (now Solanto), lay on the eastern side of the promontory (Cape Zafferana) which shuts in the bay of Palermo on the right.  It stood on a slope at the foot of a lofty hill, overlooking a small round port, and was fortified by a wall of large squared blocks of stone,[5118] which may be still distinctly traced.  The site has yielded sarcophagi of an unmistakably Phoenician character,[5119] and other objects of a high antiquity which recall the Phoenician manner;[5120] but the chief remains belong to the Greco-Roman times.

The islands in the strait which separates the North African coast from Sicily were also colonised by the Phoenicians.  These were three in number, Cossura (now Pantellaria), Gaulos (now Gozzo), and Melita (now Malta).  Cossura, the most western of the three, lay about midway in the channel, but nearer to the African coast, from which it is distant not more than about thirty-five miles.  It is a mass of igneous rock, which was once a volcano, and which still abounds in hot springs and in jets of steam.[5121] There was no natural harbour of any size, but the importance of the position was such that the Phoenicians felt bound to occupy the island, if only to prevent its occupation by others.  The soil was sterile; but the coins, which are very numerous,[5122] give reason to suppose that the rocks were in early times rich in copper.

Gaulos (now Gozzo) forms, together with Malta and some islets, an insular group lying between the eastern part of Sicily and the Lesser Syrtis.  It is situated in Lat. 36º 2’, Long. 12º 10’ nearly, and is distant from Sicily only about fifty miles.  The colonisation of the island by the Phoenicians, asserted by Diodorus,[5123] is entirely borne out by the remains, which include a Phoenician inscription of some length,[5124] coins with Phoenician legends,[5125] and buildings, believed to be temples, which have Phoenician characteristics.[5126] Some of the blocks of stone employed in their construction have a length of nearly twenty feet,[5127] with a width and height proportionate; and all are put together without cement or mortar of any kind.  A conical stone of the kind known to have been used by the Phoenicians in their worship was found in one of the temples.[5128] Gaulos had a port which was reckoned sufficiently commodious, and which lay probably towards the south-east end of the island.