The train next passes (on the left) the scanty ruins of the last Fortress built by Abd el-Kâder affording a view of Saïda as we look back, and ascends between barren hills to the tableland on the S. margin of the Tell Atlas. 136½ M. Aïn-el-Hadjar (3360 ft.; ‘rock-spring’), a village of 1500 inhab. in a fertile well-watered district, with a military prison.
On the bleak tableland, between the region of the Hassasna on the N.E. and the Maalif Plain on the S.W., we pass several small stations. 157 M. Kralfallah (3638 ft.), with great stacks of esparto grass, was the scene of the massacre of the Spaniards at the hands of Bou-Amama (p. [222]) in 1881.
The train now descends to the Hauts-Plateaux (p. [169]), where an occasional caravan or a few grazing camels only are seen, while the vegetation is limited to saline plants and patches of esparto grass (p. [171]). 166 M. El-Beïda (3497 ft.), the first fortified station. 171 M. Modzbah (3471 ft.), with its great stacks of esparto grass and the goods-station of a branch-line to (22 M.) Marhoum, used solely for the esparto traffic.
192 M. Le Kreider (3241 ft.; Hôt. de Paris, R. 2, déj. 1½, D. 2 fr.), on the N. bank of the Chott ech-Chergui (p. [169]). commanded by a small fort on the hill above it, was founded in 1881 as a military base of defence against the partisans of Bou-Amama. The barracks, in the neo-Moorish style, are surrounded with plantations which are watered by means of a wind-pump.
We at length reach the salt-marshes, pass between low sand-hills, and are carried through the masses of mud by means of a short embankment to (201 M.) Bou-Ktoub or Bou-Guetoub (3264 ft.), the starting-point of a road to Géryville (66 M.; diligence). We then mount gradually to the N. spurs of the Sahara Atlas (p. [170]). Stations uninteresting.
242 M. Méchéria (3806 ft.; Hôt. des Voyageurs; pop. 700), at the foot of the Jebel Antar range, contains barracks for convicts of the foreign legion and a small mosque.—The train again traverses the Hauts-Plateaux. To the left rises the distant Jebel el-Malha. Near (262½ M.) Naâma (3825 ft.) is the salt-lake of that name, not visible from the train.
384 M. Mékalis (4311 ft.), the highest point on the line, with a few fruit-trees. The train now crosses the watershed between the Hauts-Plateaux and the Sahara, and descends into the Faïdjet el-Betoum, a broad valley so named after its terebinths (Pistacia Terebinthus L.; Arabic b’tom or betoum). The valley is flanked on the E. by Jebel Aïssa (7336 ft.), and on the W. by Jebel Morghad (7008 ft.), the two highest of the Montagnes des Ksour, as the Sahara Atlas is usually called here. Beyond (299 M.) Tirkount appear in the foreground Jebel Mekter (6762 ft.), with a Poste Optique or signal-station, used at the time of the conflicts with Bou-Amama, and the long chain of sand-hills near Aïn-Sefra.
305½ M. Aïn-Sefra (3577 ft.; Hôt. de France or Plasse, R. 3, déj. 3, D. 3½ fr.; 5 Hôt. des Voyageurs, both in the chief square, very plain; Café Bienvenu), not founded until 1881, with a strong garrison and about 1400 inhab., is grandly situated in a broad valley between Jebel Aïssa and Jebel Mekter. The village, lying on the left bank of the Oued Aïn-Sefra (‘yellow spring’), was devastated by an inundation in 1904. A market (Mon.) is held here for the Berbers of the environs, who still speak Tamâzirt (p. [94]). An iron bridge crosses to the Barracks, a neo-Moorish building. Through the Berber Village (ksar, p. [281]) behind the barracks we may climb in ¾ hr. to the top of the reddish-brown *Sand Hills, formed by disintegration of the rock, which give the landscape its very peculiar character, and whose shifting sands threaten to overwhelm Aïn-Sefra in spite of the sheltering plantations.
The famous oasis of Tiout, 10½ M. to the E. of Aïn-Sefra and 3 M. to the N. of the railway-station of Tiout (p. [203]), is a favourite goal of tourists. A horse or mule should be ordered in good time, cheapest at the ‘Subdivision’ (2 fr.; attendant 1½–2 fr.); the traveller may shorten the long ride by returning from Tiout by train. The track leads through the broad, shadeless valley, some way from the brook Aïn-Sefra; we have a fine retrospect of Aïn-Sefra and its sand-hills. We pass several red-sandstone rocks. About halfway the rail. station of Tiout and the oasis beyond it come in sight.
In this little oasis (3445 ft.), one of the highest palm-oases in the Atlas, lies an interesting Berber Village (pop. 400). The low-lying gardens, protected by high mud-walls, yield fruit and vegetables under the shade of the well-kept date-palms. Their irrigation is provided by a small Reservoir to the N. of the village, a charming spot, where we may rest under the palms on the bank of the brook. A few minutes’ walk from this point, to the N.E. of the village, rises a reddish rock, on which, about 65 ft. above the valley, protected by a grating, are traced figures of animals and hunters (archers), a prehistoric curiosity, called the Hadjra Mektouba, with later Libyan-Berber and Arabic inscriptions.