56. From Tunis to Le Kef and Kalaâ-Djerda.
From Tunis to Le Kef, 125½ M., railway, two trains daily in 8¼–9 hrs. (fares 22 fr. 60, 17 fr. 15, 12 fr. 10 c.); also local trains from Tunis to Pont-du-Fahs and Gaffour.—From Tunis to Kalaâ-Djerda, 146 M., two trains daily in 10–11 hrs. (fares 26 fr. 30 c., 20 fr., 14 fr. 10 c.); also a local train between Gaffour and Kalaâ-Djerda.—Railway Restaurants at Gaffour and Les Salines only.
Tunis, see p. [329]. Our line diverges, to the S.E., near Bab Alleoua (p. [339]), from the Algeria and Bizerta line (RR. 51, 54) and skirts Lake Bahira below the Zaouïa Sidi Bel-Hassen (p. [339]).
2½ M. Djebel-Djelloud, close to the Jebel Djelloud (138 ft.) is the junction for Susa (R. 57) and has railway-works, large quarries, and lime-kilns.
The train now runs to the N.E. to (5 M.) Bir-Kassa.
Branch Line to La Laverie (17½ M. from Tunis, in ca. 1¾ hr.; 2 fr. 80, 2 fr. 10, 1 fr. 40 c.; many stops). Beyond (6 M. from Tunis) Bordj-Gourbel the Oued Miliane (p. [363]) is crossed. On the right bank is the fertile, olive-clad Plaine du Mornag. 13 M. Haut-Mornag-Crétéville, at the S. base of Jebel Bou-Kornin (p. [363]). Crétéville lies on the road from Tunis to Grombalia (p. [364]), near the grand Khanguet el-Hadjadj (‘pilgrim-pass’), a deep ravine between Jebel Bou-Kornin and Jebel Ressas (see below), through which formerly passed the traffic between the interior and the harbours on the E. seaboard. In this defile, now clothed with vineyards, lay the little town of Neferis, which was destroyed by the Romans at the same time as Carthage. 17½ M. (from Tunis) La Laverie (377 ft.) is a village of Italian miners, at the W. foot of Jebel Ressas (2608 ft.; ‘lead-mountain’), where lead-mines were already worked in Roman times.
Beyond (8 M.) Nassen we cross the Miliane. 12½ M. Khledia.
15 M. Oudna. In the hill-country, ½ hr. to the S.E., is the large Ferme Ducroquet, situated among the ruins of Uthina, one of the wealthiest towns of N. Tunisia in the Roman age. Of the public buildings nothing remains but the Cisterns and scanty traces of the Theatre and Amphitheatre. Among the ruins of private houses is the Palace of the Laberii (end of 3rd cent. A.D.), a fine specimen of a sumptuous African-Roman dwelling, with a large peristyle as its centre (comp. p. [290]) and numerous mosaics (now mostly in the Bardo Museum). The adjoining Balineum (baths) was long used, from the 5th cent. onwards, as a potter’s workshop. Fine view from the highest hill (407 ft.); on a lower hill is a Byzantine Fortress.
Beyond Oudna the line intersects the Roman *Aqueduct of Carthage (p. [359]), in a landscape bright with flowers in spring.
17½ M. Bou er-Rébia, on the Tunis and Zaghouan road (p. [359]).
22½ M. Djebel-Oust lies at the N. base of Jebel Oust (1800 ft.), on which are noteworthy remains of two large piscinæ, Roman irrigation-works, and marble quarries, worked since ancient times.
30½ M. Smindja or Depienne (450 ft.), a village of ‘colonists’ in the Plaine de Smindja, a dale, containing numerous ruins, at the foot of the Zaghouan hills.
Branch Line to Zaghouan (8 M., in ½ hr.; fares 1 fr. 45, 1 fr. 10 c., 75 c.; return-ticket from Tunis 9 fr. 75, 7 fr. 35, 5 fr. 20 c.). At Moghrane (525 ft.), the only intermediate station, the two Roman aqueducts and the modern conduits (p. [339]) from Jebel Zaghouan and Jebel Djouggar unite.
The Road from Tunis to Zaghouan (34½ M.) leads past the Abattoirs (beyond Pl. E, 7) and the Sebkha es-Sedjoumi (p. [332]) to (8 M.) La Mohamédia, a poor village, with the decayed residence of Ahmed Bey (p. [344]). It crosses the Oued Miliane near the arches of the Roman aqueduct, here 66 ft. high, and beyond Bou er-Rébia (p. [358]) leads along the E. slope of Jebel Oust to (34½ M.) Zaghouan. A branch of the road from La Mohamédia, passing Oudna (p. [358]), also leads to Zaghouan.
Zaghouan (821 ft.; Hôt. de France, déj. 3 fr., plain but quite good, orders should be given in advance; pop. 1200, incl. 530 Europeans, mostly Ital.), Arab. Zaghwân, a charming place, specially in spring, lies amidst olives, oranges, and cypresses on a terrace at the foot of Jebel Zaghouan (see below), ¼ hr. above the station. The Roman Triumphal Arch, at the entrance to the village, is the sole relic of the small town of Onellana (?); the columns of the nymphæum now adorn the Chief Mosque.
We may thence walk in ½ hr. to the Prise d’Eau (902 ft.), the reservoir of the new conduit which supplies both Zaghouan and Tunis with water from the Aïn Ayed. The direct route leads from the station past the barracks of the tirailleurs; or we may follow a rough but romantic path from the little town, through a secluded valley, where numerous nightingales nest among the oleander-bushes by the bed of the stream. From the Prise d’Eau a rocky path leads to the S.W. to the (12 min.) *Nymphæum (Temple des Eaux; Arabic Henchir Aïn-Kasba, ‘ruined castle of the fountain’), the well-house of the Carthage aqueduct (p. [348]), shaded by groups of splendid old trees. Near the basin are two flights of steps leading to the semicircle of the fountain-shrine, with its colonnade, twenty-four empty niches for statues, and a domed central chamber, the ante-room of the cella.
*Jebel Zaghouan (4245 ft.), the ancient Mons Ziquensis, the finest mountain in Tunisia, offers from the summit, called Râs el-Kasa, a superb panorama of the greater part of N. Tunisia and of the E. coast as far as Susa. It is ascended from the Nymphæum path in 4 hrs., past the kubba of Sidi Sala Bou-Ghobrin (2264 ft.) and the zinc-mines (with their humble canteen), and lastly by rough and toilsome paths. Less extensive, but also very grand, is the view near the Poste Optique (3199 ft.), 2 hrs. above the Prise d’Eau (bridle-path; mule 2–3 fr.).
Our train, running to the S.W. with a fine view of Jebel Zaghouan on the left, now intersects the Smindja plain and reaches the Fahs er-Riah, the fertile upper basin of the valley of the Oued Miliane, which is here formed by the Oued Jarabia and the Oued el-Kébir. Its inhabitants are of the Riah tribe, descendants of the Beni Hilal (p. [323]).
40 M. Pont-du-Fahs (574 ft.). The village (Hôt. Calega, poor), occupied by immigrants, lies ½ hr. to the N.E., on the left bank of the Miliane. Behind it, on the spurs of Jebel Djaffar (1185 ft.), are the extensive ruins of Henchir-Kasbat (702 ft.), the ancient Thuburbo Majus; in the forum are two ruined temples, one of them, dedicated to Mercury, dating from 211 A.D.; there are also triumphal arches, thermæ, and a Byzantine fortress.
On the right rises the curiously shaped Jebel Klab (1204 ft.). We cross the Oued el-Kébir and run to the W. through the Jarabia valley to (48½ M.) Tarf ech-Chena, 3 M. to the N.W. of Apisa Majus. Farther on almost the only habitations visible are the tents and gourbis (twig-huts) of nomadic tribes.
Beyond (55½ M.) Bou-Arada we cross the watershed between the Oued Miliane and the Oued Siliana (p. [354]).
65 M. El-Aroussa, station for Ksar Hellal, which has an early-Christian chapel of trefoil form. 70 M. Sidi-Ayed, on the Oued Siliana. We then ascend the winding valley to the S.W.
75 M. Gaffour (about 1080 ft.; Rail. Restaurant, with rooms), with its railway-works, is the station for the large estate of the Société Foncière de Tunisie, 72,500 acres in area, where extensive corn-fields are seen in spring. From Gaffour a road, tolerably fit for driving in dry weather, leads over Jebel Sidi Abdalla Ben-Cheid (2070 ft.) to Teboursouk (Dougga; comp. p. [354]).
82 M. El-Akhouat, in the valley of the Oued Soufi, near the zinc-mines on Jebel el-Akhouat (2061 ft.); 86½ M. Le Krib, on the S. edge of the fertile Plaine du Krib.
93 M. Sidi Bou-Rouis, on the Oued Tessa (p. [357]), which here forms a wide bend to the E. round Jebel Maïza (2920 ft.). To the left rises the chain of Jebel Massouge (3019 ft.). 103 M. Le Sers, on the N. margin of the broad dale of that name (Arabic Bled es-Sers), one of the most fertile inland districts in Tunisia.
106 M. Les Salines (Rail. Restaurant), junction for Kalaâ-Djerda (see p. [361]), lies on the highroad from Le Kef to Souk et-Tléta and on a rough road to (19 M.) Maktar.
Maktar (3117 ft.; inn), the Maktarium of the Libyans and the Ælia Aurelia Augusta Mactaris of the Romans, to the W. of the richly wooded Hammada Kessera, is now a small village of ‘colonists’ with a fortified bordj (Contrôle Civil; containing an epigraphical collection), and is the administrative centre for the district of the Ouled Aoun and Ouled Ayar. Extensive orchards and Sunday market. Among the antiquities are numerous dolmens, Roman ruins (arch of Trajan of 116 A.D., mausolea, an aqueduct, etc.), and an early-Christian basilica.
The train next ascends to the N.W., between Jebel Maïza, on the right, and Jebel Lorbeus (2641 ft.), on the left, and crosses the Oued Lorbeus, up whose valley once lay the Roman Lares, later Lorbeus, a small town destroyed in 1048 by the Hilalides (p. [323]).—118 M. Zafran, on the spurs of Jebel Zafran. Traversing the bleak mountain plain of Bled Zafran we soon have a fine view of Le Kef and the barren Dyr el-Kef (p. [357]).
125½ M. Le Kef (2477 ft.; Hôt. Dalban, Milano, etc., very plain; pop. 7000, incl. 1400 Europeans, 900 of them Italians), superbly situated near an abrupt rocky slope, the S.W. spur of Dyr el-Kef, was down to modern times the chief town in W. Tunisia. In its earliest period it was famed for its temple of Astarte. After the first Punic war the discontented mercenaries (p. [332]) were banished hither. Under Augustus the town became a Roman colony named Sicca, with the cognomen of Veneria derived from its temple of Venus. Under the later Roman empire it was of great strategic importance, lying at the junction of the roads to Thacia (p. [357]), Theveste (Tebessa), Thagaste (p. [313]), and Simitthu (p. [326]); by the Arabs it was even regarded as the key of Algeria. During the Turkish period fierce battles were fought under its walls (in 1694, 1705, and 1807) between the beys of Tunisia and Algeria, and during the French advance in 1881 Le Kef was hardly a less important objective than Tunis itself. Since then the mosques have been open to visitors (tickets at the Contrôle Civil).
From the station (omnibus) we ascend through the new European quarter, with its red-tiled roofs, to (20 min.) the Boulevard de Tunis, once the rampart on the N.W. side of the town, where we have an extensive view. The only Roman ruins are the basin of Aïn el-Kef and the Thermae at the W. angle of the old town.
The old town, still enclosed on three sides by the mouldering Turkish wall, consists of narrow and irregular streets built partly out of Roman and Byzantine ruins. The old Dâr el-Bey is now the Hôtel de Ville. The Chief Mosque (Djamâa el-Kebîra) is built into the ruins of an early-Christian basilica (?).
The early-Christian *Church of St. Peter (Arabic Dâr el-Kuss) was a small columnar basilica of the early 5th cent, with nave and aisles (23 by 10½ yds.); but the narthex (vestibule, now used as a church) and the fine choir-recess have alone been left standing. Many Roman sculptures, mostly from a temple, have been built into the walls of the aisles, which were originally vaulted. The nave, which once had a timber roof, retains relics of its old mosaic pavement.
The zaouïa of Sidi Kaddour el-Mizouni, one of the three largest Tunisian establishments of the widely diffused Mohammedan brotherhood of the Kadria (p. [183]), enjoys a high reputation. The zaouïa of Sidi Salah ben-Aïssa, belonging to the Rahmania, contains a fine modern cenotaph of the saint.
Steep lanes and passages in steps connect the old town with the Turkish Kasba (now barracks).
Outside the town is a third early-Christian church, the so-called Kasr el-Ghûla (‘castle of ghosts’). The Roman Cisterns to the N. of the Kasba are still used.
From Le Kef to Souk el-Arba, see p. [326]; to Tunis, see R. 55.
The Railway to Kalaâ-Djerda runs to the S.W. from Les Salines (p. [360]) through the pass of Khanguet Fras to (112 M. from Tunis) Les Zouarines, in the plain of the Bled Zouarine.
119 M. Ebba-Ksour is the station for the ruins of Ebba, the Obba of the Carthaginians and Romans, destroyed by the Hilalides (p. [323]) in 1048, and for the village of Ksour (2164 ft.), on the N. edge of the rocky upland plain of Ouartane, the site of a Libyan-Phœnician town.
We cross the Oued Medeïna below the ruins of Medeïna, the Roman Althiburus (with theatre, capitol, triumphal arch, etc.). 125 M. Aïn-Mesria; 128½ M. Fedj el-Tameur, junction for (19½ M.) the mines of Slata.
The train next passes over the saddle between the lofty plateau of Khremensa, rich in phosphates, on the right, and Jebel Ayata (3480 ft.), on the left, and then descends past Jebel Zrissa, on the right, with its iron-mines, into the valley of the Oued Sarrath, the chief feeder of the Oued Mellègue (p. [327]).
138½ M. Oued-Sarrath (ca. 1900 ft.), on the right bank.
Branch Line from Oued-Sarrath (18½ M., in 1¼–1¾ hr.) down the left bank of the Sarrath viâ Majouba to Kalaât es-Senam (Hôt. de Jugurtha), the station for the great phosphate deposits of the Comp. des Phosphates du Dyr on the Jebel Kalaât es-Senam (4111 ft.). The top of the huge mountain, conspicuous far and wide, consists of a tableland, occupied by a deserted Berber village and an old Byzantine fort, accessible only by steep paths with steps.
The train skirts the Sarrath and then ascends the side-valley of Oued Haidra. On the left, Jebel Bou el-Hanèche (4040 ft.).
146 M. Kalaâ-Djerda (about 2130 ft.; hotel), near the rich phosphate mines of an Italian company on the hills of that name (2886 ft.).
A most interesting excursion may be taken to (11 M.) Haidra (about 2790 ft.), the Tunisian frontier custom-house, on the site of Ammaedara (Colonia Augusta Emerita Ammaedara), founded perhaps by Vespasian as a Roman colony of veterans, and in the later Roman age no less important than Tebessa. Originally a frontier-fortress it was, like Timgad (p. [289]), a model Roman camp. The Carthage and Tebessa road formed the Decumanus Maximus and the Kasserine and Gafsa road the Cardo Maximus. On the left bank the ruins have partly fallen into the bed of the Oued Haidra. The much smaller suburb lay on the right bank. The castellated *Byzantine Fortress of the time of Justinian (p. [541]), the largest in N. Africa, was built to guard the passage of the stream. Within the vast enclosure, 219 by 120 yds., are remains of a Byzantine basilica, cisterns, etc.—The imposing *Triumphal Arch of the time of Septimius Severus (p. [407]) was used by the Byzantines as a fort also. Near it are an early-Christian Basilica, with aisles and extensive Byzantine additions (curious, unexplained holes in the masonry; comp. p. [317]), and a second Basilica with double aisles and numerous tombstones. A column, 33 ft. high, is the sole relic of a Roman Temple, the only one of which there is a trace. High above the stream, almost intact, rises a Roman *Mausoleum, with an open loggia on the upper story.—From Haidra over (10½ M.) Jebel Kouïf to (26 M.) Tebessa, see p. [318].
A Road leads from Kalaâ-Djerda to Kasserine (43 M.; diligence to Thala daily, thence to Kasserine on Tues. and Frid. only) over the central Sahara Atlas (p. [320]) and through the valley of the Oued Hathob (p. [320]), by which of old the Arabs invaded Algeria. (From Kasserine to Feriana, see p. [371].) The only village on the route, as in the time of Marius (p. [384]) it was the only settlement between Lares (p. [360]) and Gafsa, is (8¾ M.) Thala (3337 ft.; Hôt. Recli, Hôt. Gros, both rustic; pop. 800, incl. 80 Europeans), which holds market (Sat.–Mon.) for the Arab-like Berber tribes of the Fraichich (the Frexes of Ptolemy) and Madjeur. It lies on the N.E. slope of Jebel Char (4321 ft.), 40½ M. to the N.E. of Tebessa (p. [315]). The Roman antiquities of the town, which was most prosperous under Diocletian, are uninteresting. Near the Esplanade, in the centre of the Roman town, are traces of a temple of Cælestis (p. [356]).