About 8 M. to the W. of Aïn-Sefra, on the road to Aïn-Sfissifa (4176 ft.) and the Moroccan oasis of Ich (3724 ft.), is the copper-mine of Hasi-ben-Hedjir.
Beyond Aïn-Sefra the train (with the engine now at the other end) follows the valley of that name and rounds the Jebel Mekter group in a long curve to the E. Beyond (312½ M.) Tiout (oasis, p. [202], visible on the left) it descends to the S., lastly through masses of débris and rock-cuttings, to (321 M.) Aïn-el-Hadjadj. We then pass through a defile between Jebel Mekter and Jebel Djara. To the left, framed by rocks, lies a low reddish-brown sand-hill.
Farther on, to the left, between Jebel Djara and Jebel BouLeghfad (5545 ft.), opens the broad mountain-valley of the Rouïba, which at (328 M.) Rouïba joins the Aïn-Sefra to form the Oued en-Namous. The train turns to the S.W., at the S. base of Jebel Mekter, a little to the right of the palm-oasis of Moghrar-Tahtâni (2710 ft.; ‘lower Moghrar’), famed for its prehistoric rock-drawings. 340 M. Moghrar-Foukâni (‘upper Moghrar’), beyond which we pass its *Palm Oasis, overlooked by a kubba on a low hill.
We next pass through the Gorges de Moghrar, a sandstone ravine full of rocky débris, into El-Faïdja, a valley at the S. base of the Mir el-Jebel (6790 ft.) and Jebel Mezi (6988 ft.). 359 M Djenien-bou-Resg (3254 ft.) has a Redoute, or fortified camp (on the left), in the style of a Roman camp, a small palm-oasis, and a pretty military club in the Moorish style, shaded with palms.
The train enters the valley of the Oued Dermel, one of the sources of the Oued Zousfana. In the distance we sight Jebel Beni Smir and Jebel el-Maïz (p. [204]). An iron bridge carries the train across the Dermel, usually dry, to the ruins of (379 M.) Duveyrier, at the mouth of the Oued Douis, which has been deserted since an inundation in 1904. We then descend between low ranges of hills, Jebel Tamednaïa (2953 ft.) on the left, on the margin of the desert, and Djermân-Tahtâni and Jebel el-Haïmer on the right, to the Zousfana (beyond rises the old fort of Campo), where the palms of Beni-Ounif become visible.
396 M. Beni-Ounif de Figuig (2707 ft.; Hôt. du Sahara, B. 1½, déj. 3, D. 3½, pens. 12 fr., plain but good; advisable to secure rooms beforehand by telegraph; 1300 inhab.), founded in 1903, as being then the terminus of the railway, adjacent to a ksar, or Berber village (ât ouinîfi), and a Camp Militaire, is now a free mart, rapidly growing in importance. Its total trade with Morocco and the Tuat oases amounts to about 4 million francs. The few and quiet streets, planted with palms, present a marked contrast to those of Biskra, which is now overrun with tourists. The white domed building near the railway-station serves at once as a church, a town-hall, and a law-court. Behind it is a fondouk (p. [281]).
The only sights are the Zaouïa Sidi Slîmân ben-Bou-Smaha, the chief sanctuary of the Ouled Sidi-Cheikh, a Berber tribe of S. Oran, and the Ksar (p. [281]), a poor village inhabited by Harrâtin (p. [94]), at the back of the barracks quarter, where the mode of irrigating a palm-oasis may be observed.
Beni-Ounif, situated in a rocky wilderness, commanded on the N. and W. by jagged and fissured mountains, Jebel Beni Smir (6857 ft.), Jebel el-Maïz (6037 ft.), and Jebel Grouz (5328 ft.), and separated from Figuig by a chain of low barren hills, possesses to the full the fascination of a Sahara landscape (p. [172]). The most striking view, especially towards evening, of Beni-Ounif, the palm-oasis, and the village of Figuig, as well as of the spurs of the Sahara Atlas, is obtained from Jebel Melias (3986 ft.), a spur of Jebel Grouz, 2 hrs. to the N. of the little town. For this ascent, and for all the longer excursions, travellers must procure an escort of Cavaliers du Maghzen (p. [390]), who usually provide horses for the journey (horse for half-a-day 2½–3, whole day 5 fr.; fee to each ‘cavalier’ 2 fr.). Application for the escort has to be made at the Bureau Arabe (p. [174]) in the Camp Militaire.
*Figuig, to the N. of Beni-Ounif, first visited by a European, Gerh. Rohlfs, in 1862, is the largest and most fertile oasis in the Sahara Atlas of Oran (containing about 400,000 date-palms). According to the treaty of 1845 it belongs to Morocco, but only nominally since its bombardment by French troops in 1903. From the earliest times the oasis has been in high repute. It embraces seven villages (ksûr), in three groups, the Feghiha castra tria of antiquity. In the early 16th cent. Leo Africanus extols the artistic skill of the inhabitants; their industries, however, are now limited to the weaving of burnouses and carpets (similar to the knot-worked carpets of Fez) and to the manufacture of small articles in leather. The place is inhabited by Berbers, besides a large number of Jews, the Harrâtin, and a few negro slaves. Tamâzirt (p. [94]) is their chief language, but Arabic also is spoken at places.
The S. margin of the oasis, and its boundary towards Beni-Ounif, is formed by a range of hills running from Jebel Melias (see above), W. to E., to Jebel el-Haïmer (p. [203]), and crossed by four passes, the Col des Moudjâhdine, the Col de la Juive (Arabic Teniet el-Ihûdia), the Col de Zenâga, and the Col de Taghla or Tarla. The shortest route is viâ the Col de Zenâga, commonly called El-Kheneg (‘the pass’). By this route the whole excursion, there and back, takes 5–6 hrs.; but, time permitting, it is preferable to go by the Col de Taghla, watered by the Zousfana, and bounded on the E. by the sombre rocks of Jebel Sidi-Youssef (3484 ft.), and to return by the Col de Zenâga or the Col de la Juive, a full day’s expedition. The ascent of one of the hills adjoining these passes (stout boots advisable) in the company of an escort is to be recommended on account of the fine view.