112 M. Tazmalt (902 ft.; Hôt. des Voyageurs), ½ M. to the N.W. of the station, the first village in the province of Constantine, with extensive olive-groves, lies near the Oued Beni Mellikeuch. This, like Maillot, is a station for the Tirourda Pass (R. 39).—To the S. of the railway rise the Beni Abbès Mts.
Below (115 M.) Allaghan (774 ft.) the Sahel valley contracts. On the left rises the Piton d’Akbou, crowned with a late-Roman tomb of the 3rd cent, (a step-pyramid on a square base), but not visible from the train. On the right, beyond the mouth of the copious Oued Bou Sellam (p. [269]), which rises in the mountains of Little Kabylia (p. [266]), the serrated Jebel Gueldaman (2638 ft.) juts far into the valley.
122 M. Akbou (1050 ft.; Hôt. du Sahel; Hôt. Bellevue; pop. 1200; Mon. market), a large village, is the starting-point of a path to the Col de Chellata (p. [260]). Grand eucalypti in the environs.
Far away to the left as we proceed towers Jebel Arbalou (p. [262]). 126 M. Azib-ben-Ali-Chérif (512 ft.); 128½, M. Ighzer-Amokran, at the mouth of the brook of that name. The broad floor of the valley is clothed with meagre underwood.
133 M. Takritz, or Takriets (364 ft.), is the station also for Seddouk, 5½ M. to the S.E.; 136 M. Sidi-Aïch (295 ft.) has a Wednesday market well attended by the neighbouring Fenaïa (p. [261]) and Beni Himmel tribes. Olives abound on the hill-sides farther on; in the valley below is a small grove of fig-trees.
142 M. Il-Maten (361 ft.), on the left bank of the Sahel, whose valley, now called La Soummam, is fever-stricken lower down.
On the left bank of the Sahel, near Tiklat, a village about halfway between Il-Maten and El-Kseur, are the interesting ruins of the Roman town of Thubusuctu or Thubusuptus. Fragments of the walls of the baths, 33 ft. high, are still standing; the great Cisternes d’El-Arouia are 83 yds. long and 41 yds. wide; and there are relics of two aqueducts besides many tombs.
147 M. El-Kseur-Amizour. The village of El-Kseur (p. [261]) lies ½ M. to the N., on the Azazga road; that of Oued-Amizour is 3¾ M. to the S.E. of the station. 149½ M. Tombeau de la Neige.
154½ M. La Réunion (53 ft.), on the slope to the left, is near the mouth of the Oued Rhir or Ghir. Road (8 M.) to Toudja (p. [262]).
The train, running to the N.E., now enters the plain at the mouth of the Sahel. Fine view, to the right, of the Gulf of Bougie and the hills of Little Kabylia. In the foreground, beyond the wooded and fertile Plaine, watered by the Oued Srir, appears Jebel Gouraya (p. [265]).