fertility of its neighbourhood. From Caralis they probably passed to
Nora, which lay on the same bay to the south-west; and from Nora they
rounded the south-western promontory of Sardinia, and established
themselves on the small island now known as the Isola di San Antioco,
where they built a town which they called Sulchis or Sulcis.[5135]
Sulcis has yielded votive tablets of the Phoenician type, tombs, vases,
&c.[5136] The island was productive of lead, and had an excellent
harbour towards the north, and another more open one towards the south.
Finally, mid-way on the west coast, at the northern extremity of the
Gulf of Oristano, the Phoenicians occupied a small promontory which
projects into the sea southwards and there formed a settlement which
became known as Tharras or Tharros.[5137] Very extensive remains, quite
unmistakably Phoenician, including tombs, cippi, statuettes in metal and
clay, weapons, and the like, have been found on the site.[5138]

The passage would have been easy from Sardinia to Corsica, which is
not more than seven miles distant from it; but Corsica seems to have
possessed no attraction for the Phoenicians proper, who were perhaps
deterred from colonising it by its unhealthiness, or by the savagery of
its inhabitants. Or they may have feared to provoke the jealousy of the
Tyrrhenians, off whose coast the island lay, and who, without having
any colonising spirit themselves, disliked the too near approach of
rivals.[5139] At any rate, whatever the cause, it seems to have
been left to the Carthaginians, to bring Corsica within the range of
Phoenician influence; and even the Carthaginians did little more than
hold a few points on its shores as stations for their ships.[5140]

If from Sardinia the Phoenicians ventured on an exploring voyage
westward into the open Mediterranean, a day's sail would bring them
within sight of the eastern Balearic Islands, Minorca and Majorca.