Motorists from Bona (p. [309]) to Tunis must go viâ La Calle (p. [131]), Tabarca (p. [327]), and Béja (p. [328]).
From Constantine to (134 M.) Souk-Ahras, see RR. 48, 49.—The line from Souk-Ahras to Tunis, opened in 1879 (before the establishment of the French protectorate), crosses the Tebessa line (R. 50) and then descends to the S. into the Medjerda Valley (pp. [313], 320), called by the Carthaginians Makar, and by the Romans Bagradas, the most fertile and most important in Tunisia.
Beyond (5½ M.) Tarja (1611 ft.) the valley forms a short ravine. 10½ M. Sidi-Bader, in a meadowy dale, the future junction of the line from Bona to the mines on Jebel Ouenza (p. [314]).
The train traverses a lonely mountain-region to (20½ M.) Oued-Mougras (1171 ft.), a finely situated village, and then runs through a narrow valley in the frontier-hills, with dense underwood, to (30½ M.) Sidi el-Hemessi (853 ft.), the last Algerian village.
37 M. Ghardimaou (673 ft.; Rail. Restaurant; Hôt. du Commerce; Algerian and Tunisian frontier, see above), a colonists’ village (Tues. market) at the entrance to the Regba, the upper plain of the Medjerda, which is fertile only in rainy seasons.
About 7 M. to the N. of Ghardimaou, beyond the Oued Raraï, lies Henchir Sidi Ali Bel-Kassem, on a hill between the Oued el-Hammam and the Oued Henja. This was the Roman town Thuburnica, among the ruins of which are the cellæ of two temples and a Byzantine fortress.
45 M. Oued-Meliz (584 ft.; Mon. corn-market), a village a little above the Oued Raraï (p. [325]) and the mouth of the Oued Meliz.
Oued-Meliz is the station for the village of Chemtou (590 ft.), 2 M. to the N.E., at the influx of the Oued Melah into the Medjerda, the Simitthu of the Carthaginian and Roman periods. Its once famous quarries of yellowish red ‘Numidian’ marble are now abandoned. Among the ruins are a Roman bridge across the Medjerda, where the old road to Le Kef diverges (p. [360]); also remains of the forum (44 by 27 yds.), of thermæ, cisterns, and an aqueduct; an interesting Roman wall on the bank of the Melah; the fairly preserved *Theatre; and, near the ancient Tabarca road, the burial-ground with its numerous tombstones. On the slope of the town-hill (830 ft.), which is crowned with a small Byzantine fortress, lies the so-called Temple des Boucliers, of the Punic and Roman periods.
50 M. Sidi-Meskine, at the mouth of the Regba, between Jebel el-Herrech (2277 ft.) on the left and Jebel Bou-Rebbah (2431 ft.) on the right. The train now enters the Dakla, the central plain of the Medjerda, about 25 M. long, partly swampy in winter and malarious and extremely hot in summer, which from ancient times till now has been the chief granary of Tunisia.
57½ M. Souk el-Arba (470 ft.; Rail. Restaurant; Hôt. du Commerce; Hôt. de France; pop. 1500), a thriving village of immigrant farmers, partly built with materials from Bulla Regia, and named after its Wednesday (‘fourth day’) corn-market, the most important in N. Tunisia next to those of Béja and Mateur. Road to Le Kef (p. [360]) viâ the small village of Nebeur, the terminus of the railway from Béja (p. [328]), with important iron-ore mines.